The machines are often used to soothe babies. On Tuesday one was used to shield public officials from any members of the public armed with bionic hearing.
Town Clerk Janet Waugh plugged in the noisemaker as Aldermen convened an executive session — a type of meeting closed to the public.
The secret discussions are allowable under state law in certain circumstances.
Executive sessions have been held in Ansonia’s grand City Hall for generations. Sometimes, from the hallway just outside, you can make out a word or two from the louder elected officials. Complete sentences? Nah.
But nothing, nothing escaped from the Aldermanic Chambers Tuesday.
For about 20 minutes or so, the device droned on until the Aldermen were done.
“MmmmaaaaAhrooooshhhhhhh,” the machine said, doing a bad electronic impersonation of a babbling brook.
This could have very well been the first time a machine was used to proactively suppress eavesdropping since Ansonia was incorporated as a city in 1893.
And yet no one wanted to take credit for the innovation.
After the closed-door session, corporation counsel John Marini and economic development director Sheila O’Malley would not say who suggested using the noise machine as a defense mechanism.
When asked if she had brought the machine in, Waugh shook her head no.
Actually, she totally brought it in, Marini and O’Malley said later.
Here’s a transcript of the Q&A the Valley Indy had with Marini and O’Malley.
Valley Independent Sentinel: “At whose direction was the noisemaker installed?”
John Marini: “I think it was just a creative decision.”
VIS: “By whom?”
Marini: “Well, we don’t want to give anyone away.”
VIS: “Is that really a big problem, people overhearing executive session discussions?”
Marini: “People hanging around the door … “
VIS: “Can you provide an example where that’s been a problem for the city and the Board of Aldermen?”
Marini: “There’s never been a time that we have known that someone’s eavesdropped.”
VIS: “How much of an expenditure was it?”
Marini: “I think someone brought it from their house.”
Sheila O’Malley: “Someone said to us that they were standing over by the Erlingheuser Room (across the hall) and could hear everything we were saying … We had a couple of people that said something, not last meeting but the meeting before last. I asked them to kind of repeat some of the stuff and they were able to.”
VIS: “So nobody from the city directed that to be put in?”
Marini: “There was no direction.”
Executive Sessions, Explained
The state’s Freedom of Information Act mandates that public agencies like Ansonia’s Board of Aldermen conduct their business in public.
But the law grants a series of narrow exceptions allowing public agencies to discuss certain things behind closed doors, or in “executive session.”
Those exceptions are:
- individual officers or employees (unless the person to be discussed asks the discussion to be public)
- strategy concerning pending claims or litigation
- security matters
- real estate deals
During Tuesday’s meeting, Aldermen discussed a modification to a taxes-for-demolition deal it had struck previously with Ansonia Copper & Brass; the blight lien the city has filed against the owner of 501 E. Main St.; and the possible sale of the ATP/Palmer buildings on Main Street.
To their credit, city officials answered detailed questions about the topics after the executive session ended.
