Your Right To Know

Ansonia Gov’t Goes 1-1 Regarding The Public’s Right To Know

by | May 21, 2024 6:50 pm | Comments (0)

ANSONIAAnsonia city officials improperly prevented a city resident from reviewing public documents, according to a report pending in front of the state’s Freedom of Information (FOI) Commission.

Last year, Ansonia resident and former mayoral candidate Thomas Egan lodged two complaints with the FOI Commission after requesting to look at documents relating to Ansonia’s budget.

According to his complaints, he met budget director Kurt Miller at city hall and asked to review a spreadsheet used to craft the city’s budget, along with several other documents.

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Ansonia Board Of Education Forgoes Budget Vote

by | May 14, 2024 2:13 pm | Comments (0)

ANSONIAWhile Mayor David Cassetti’s administration says his proposed budget fully funds city schools, the Ansonia Board of Education has not actually voted on a recommended budget for the coming year.

The nonvote underlines how the budget formulation process in Ansonia has changed under Mayor Cassetti.

Previously, the school board used to vote on a budget in public, and then send the budget to Ansonia City Hall. 

The ultimate decision on the school district’s bottom line – and the bottom line only – would be voted upon by the Board of Aldermen, or, before a 2014 charter change, the Board of Apportionment and Taxation.

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Former Seymour Police Officer Surrenders Certification

by | Apr 19, 2024 6:59 am | Comments (0)

Former Seymour Police Officer Jonathan Martin, in a photo taken from Facebook.

SEYMOUR – A former Seymour police sergeant subject to five internal affairs investigations in two years voluntarily surrendered his Connecticut Police Officer Certification.

The move means the former officer, Jonathan Martin, cannot work in law enforcement in Connecticut. However, he can apply to get his certification back next year. 

His name will be included on a national list of decertified officers, and he will appear on the state’s Police Officer Standards & Training (POST) website.

Jonathan Martin has voluntarily surrendered his certification and the case has been closed,” Richard Green, a POST spokesman, told the Valley Indy via an email.

The Valley Indy left a message with Martin’s lawyer.

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‘Informal Discussion On Various Subjects’ Triggers Transparency Debate In Derby

by | Mar 25, 2024 4:47 pm | Comments (0)

The agenda from a March 19 meeting of the Derby Planning & Zoning Commission.

DERBYLast week members of the city’s planning and zoning commission discussed three potential development applications without telling the public in advance.

The move sparked a freedom of information debate between Mayor Joseph DiMartino’s administration and longtime P&Z commission chairman Ted Estwan.

The agenda for the March 19 meeting of the Derby Planning & Zoning Commission listed an informal discussion with Attorney Dominick Thomas on various subjects.”

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Navel Gazing Live On YouTube: The Ansonia Budget Story

by | Mar 8, 2024 11:55 am | Comments (0)

On Friday, March 8 at 12 p.m. on YouTube, Valley Indy reporters Eugene Driscoll and Jasmine Wright will talk about the story The Valley Indy published this week called Ansonia Connecticut Opts To Break The Rules For Budget Prep.”

What did we get right? What did we get wrong? Fair? Unfair?

We’ll take questions from the chat — but you’ll need to sign into your YouTube or Google account. You can watch the stream in the player above once we’re live (but you’ll need to be on YouTube to comment).

We’ll talk about how the article came about and we’ll react to some of the reactions we’ve seen online.

Enjoy!

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Ansonia Opts To Break The Rules For Budget Prep

by | Mar 3, 2024 5:22 pm | Comments (0)

ANSONIA – For the ninth year in a row Ansonia Aldermen voted to follow a budget schedule that violates the city charter, except for one Republican who said he would not break the oath of office he pledged just three months ago.

I understand that most of my colleagues do not share my concern about this,” Alderman Steven Adamowski said during a Feb. 13 meeting of the Ansonia Board of Aldermen. Suffice it to say that for myself, I don’t like being in a position where I take an oath of office to support the charter and ordinances in December and end up violating it several months later.”

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Derby Mudslide Lawsuit Resolved, Details Withheld

by | Jan 23, 2024 7:26 pm | Comments (0)

Heavy rain washed out a construction site off Hawthorne Avenue in Derby in September 2018.

DERBY — A lawsuit triggered by a mudslide in west Derby is over, according to a lawyer representing the plaintiffs.

What I can tell you is that the parties reached an agreement to resolve the matter to their mutual satisfaction. Beyond that statement I cannot comment any further,” said Peter A. Berdon, a lawyer with Berdon, Young & Margolis in New Haven.

Berdon represented a dozen property owners who filed a lawsuit against Derby, engineering companies, three construction companies and others in 2019, a year after a September 2018 rainstorm caused mud, water and rocks to cascade from a city/school district construction project.

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Seymour Cop With Long Disciplinary Record Was Allowed To Retire In ‘Good Standing’

by | Oct 5, 2023 6:55 pm | Comments (0)

Former Seymour Police Officer Jonathan Martin, in a photo taken from Facebook.

SEYMOUR – A former Seymour police sergeant facing possible decertification by the Connecticut Police Officer Standards and Training Council was allowed to collect roughly a year’s salary and retire in good standing.’

That’s according to a settlement reached between former Seymour Police Sgt. Jonathan Martin and the Town of Seymour. The settlement agreement was approved in a unanimous, bipartisan vote by the Seymour Board of Selectpersons in February.

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Court Asks Whether Ansonia Resident's Appeal Should Be Tossed

by | Jul 5, 2023 3:18 pm | Comments (0)

ANSONIA — An appellate court is considering whether to dismiss a lawsuit opposing the process by which an Olson Drive property was sold to a private developer.

If the court follows through, it will be the second time the claim has been tossed.

Resident Matt McGowan filed a lawsuit against the city in June 2022 arguing Mayor David Cassetti’s administration did not follow proper procedures on the state or local levels when the city purchased land on Olson Drive from the Ansonia Housing Authority and then sold it to a company owned by developer John Guedes.

McGowan was represented by Tom Egan, an Ansonia attorney now seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for mayor.

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Seymour Schools Settle Lawsuit For $35,000

by | Jun 28, 2023 5:30 am | Comments (0)

SEYMOUR — The Seymour Board of Education voted on June 20 to pay $35,000 to the school district’s former facilities manager in order to settle a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Joseph Falzone had filed a lawsuit in 2019 against the school district and the town claiming he was forced out after former business manager Rick Belden and former associate superintendent Vonda Tencza found him asleep at his desk in August 2018.

Falzone said he suffered from sleep apnea, a medical condition that affects sleep and prevents the body from getting enough oxygen, according to his lawsuit.

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