Your Right To Know

Ousted Student Newspaper Adviser Drops Grievance

by | Aug 20, 2014 8:50 pm | Comments (0)

A Shelton High School teacher stripped of her role as the student newspaper’s adviser withdrew a grievance she had lodged protesting the move.

A hearing was scheduled Aug.11 for three school board members to hear the grievance filed by Carolyn Finley appealing her reassignment in May by Beth Smith, the high school’s headmaster.

But a union official withdrew the grievance on Finley’s behalf after unsuccessfully trying to get a reporter thrown out of the proceeding.

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Ansonia Schools Outsource Instructional Assistant Jobs To Save Money

by | Aug 4, 2014 11:43 pm | Comments (0)

Ansonia school officials will meet with dozens of special education instructional assistants this week to fill them in on a plan to outsource their jobs to a private company.

The move will save the school district roughly $100,000, according to school officials.

Meetings are scheduled for Tuesday (Aug. 5) and Friday (Aug. 8) to inform the employees on the change. School officials say everyone currently employed as special education instructional assistants will have the opportunity to keep their jobs, though they could face pay cuts once the new company takes over.

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FOI Expert Calls Derby’s Policy On Budget Meetings ‘Weak’

by | May 12, 2014 1:27 pm | Comments (0)

The Derby tax board’s practice of not making minutes available to the public within seven days of a meeting doesn’t jive with the public’s right to know, according to two experts on the state’s open government laws.

Earlier this month, the Valley Indy reported that no minutes were available in the Derby Town Clerk’s office for any tax board budget meetings dating back to February.

While minutes were available for the board’s monthly meetings, there was no record of any of the seven additional budget meetings held by the tax board.

By law, minutes are supposed to be available to the public within seven days.

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Are We Jerks When It Comes To The Freedom Of Information?

by | May 5, 2014 3:57 pm | Comments (0)

A story published last week at ValleyIndy.org sparked a debate between Derby resident Rick Dunne and Derby reporter Eugene Driscoll.

The story was ostensibly about a routine Derby tax board meeting, but the Valley Indy raised questions as to whether the budget process conforms with state’s Freedom of Information Act.

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Derby Tax Board Considering Small Tax Increase, Budget Meetings Lack Minutes

by | Apr 30, 2014 5:18 pm | Comments (0)

The Derby tax board is mulling a budget that would raise taxes by about 1.2 percent.

The 11-person board 10-person board is scheduled to adopt a preliminary budget for 2014 – 2015 at a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 6 in the Aldermanic Chambers on Derby City Hall’s second floor.

A public hearing will then be scheduled.

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Letter Reveals Trouble Between Mayor, Former City Employee

by | Mar 12, 2014 8:31 pm | Comments (0)

FILE PHOTOMayor David Cassetti said he fired the city’s economic development director after just six months on the job because he wouldn’t implement the city’s economic development plan; didn’t launch a website to promote economic development, and he needed too much help from other staffers to complete tasks that were assigned to him.

The information comes from a letter dated March 11 from Cassetti to Peter Kelly, who was hired as the city’s economic development director in September.

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Ansonia Holds Invite-Only Meeting On Public Matter

by | Feb 4, 2014 9:52 pm | Comments (0)

Photo:Ethan FryMore than a dozen government officials met Jan. 28 at Ansonia City Hall to talk for nearly 90 minutes about what the city should do with two publicly-owned properties downtown.

After discussing a number of options, they directed the city’s new grant writer to pursue funding for a feasibility study that would recommend a highest and best” use for the buildings.

If you didn’t hear about the meeting beforehand, it’s because no one did — except, apparently, for the officials who took part.

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Is It Safe? Memos Unearth New Concerns Over Pollution At O’Sullivan’s Island In Derby

by | Jan 22, 2014 3:34 pm | Comments (0)

Six internal memos dating back to 2010 warned Derby’s former mayor about possible pollution at O’Sullivan’s Island as the mayor and his administration kept assuring the public the park was safe in the wake of a $4 million federal cleanup.

The memos have never previously been shared with the public.

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Is Arrest Info None Of Your Business?

by | Jan 9, 2014 7:49 pm | Comments (0)

Nearly six years ago, state police charged a Shelton resident with trying to kill his father on Route 8 in Derby.

The criminal case against the man, Toai Nguyen, ended in 2010, when he was sentenced to a two-year jail term.

But at the state Supreme Court in Hartford Thursday, Nguyen’s arrest was the subject of an argument between lawyers for the state’s Freedom of Information Commission and the state police over just how much information law enforcement agencies are obligated to disclose to the public about arrests.

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