Ken Sokolowski
Wethersfield

Dear Neighbors serving on the Town Council,
Ms. Therrien,
Ms. Sassano,

re: The Proposal to radically change and cripple the form, the content and the access to the minutes of the boards, commissions and committees of the Town of Wethersfield.

Good evening,

This proposal to misinterpret the FOIA and to change the format and content of our boards and commissions is short-sighted and is not in the best interest of those to whom you ultimately answer - we the people - citizens of Wethersfield.

Wethersfield is home to descendants of the Mayflower. Wethersfield is home to descendants of the American Revolutions. Wethersfield is home to current and past members of our Armed Forces and their descendants - some of whom have given all that they had to give -to protect our Country and its underlying principles.

Not only would the implementation of this proposal be imprudent, it flies in the face of our American heritage. We the people have a right and responsibility to oversee those - like yourselves - who we allow to lead us and control the administration of our layers of government. This responsibility of oversight has not been, is not, and should not be limited to periodic elections or referenda - nor will concerned citizens allow it to be.

By now, all of you should have reviewed all of the material that has been provided to you at a local on-line forum - a link to which I have emailed each of you (with no evidence of failed receipt). I have used that medium to stimulate and aggregate ideas about this proposal. Like an clam, there may have been a little grit, but the rest should have fed you well with the good information.

There is more than enough information there to convince receptive and responsible public servants like yourselves to quash this proposal. Considering what is at stake - the public's right to meaningful information and to our right - no, our civic responsibility - to oversee our government - you should have no problem defeating this proposal.

If not, consider the following aspect which was not pursued on that forum:

The municipality called the Town of Wethersfield has not developed an adequate, secure, public, information infrastructure necessary to go beyond the hardcopy minutes on which we presently rely - and which we are satisfied with - for a healthy level of detail about the proceedings of our local government at all of its levels.

We in Wethersfield have not seen the Town create consistently high quality recordings of our boards and commissions, for the benefit of the public. We don't want to do without - nor should that even be considered as an option. We want the recordings to be of a quality that even one of our hearing or visually compromised citizens can appreciate, both in audio and video.

We in Wethersfield have not seen our Town produce consistently high quality and reliable broadcasts of our boards and commissions, for the benefit of the public. The Silas Deane Middle School apparently has A-V capabilities than our Town Hall has not. Are only the non-voting children allowed to use and benefit from technology while the voting public is deprived of information which it needs to learn about the workings of its government?

We in Wethersfield have not seen our Town produce a method to catalog and preserve those recordings. We have not learned of any effort to preserve these recordings for a meaningful period be it for 5, 7 or 10 years duration. By today's standards, tapes are a poor and vulnerable medium. Are backups onto more durable optical media made of all the recordings before staff or citizens are allowed to access a duplicate?

We in Wethersfield have not seen our Town produce easy, public access to these recordings, even those of questionable quality, if they can even be found. Apparently there is no dedicated, secure computer terminal on which a few members of the public can access the preserved recordings in the library, let alone in Town Hall proper. And to think, Cox Cable offers movies on demand to a multitude!

We in Wethersfield have not addressed the issue of how long these recordings are to be kept for the benefit of posterity - of all places -in the oldest Towne of Connecticut. We keep sifting the sands beneath our feet looking for artifacts and information to further elaborate our old history, and yet, the Town allows this "history in the making" to decay and disappear due to neglect, lack of oversight, lack of hindsight or lack of foresight.

Until you, the Town leaders and your administration and its town staff, place a much, much higher value on the adult education of our voting, taxpaying populace, you cannot afford to strip the flesh or viscera from our minutes. You need to be paving the roads of our municipal information highways and byways into the 21st century.

Apparently, lacking a statutory definition of "minutes", some are willing to twist the intent of the Freedom of Information Act to their own convenience. And to think, this is all to make the responsibility of following the FOIA a little easier and maybe a little cheaper.

Please, rise to level of a patriot.

The burdens of our republic are worth the effort to keep the public informed.

The burden of public office - which you have taken upon yourselves - includes accepting the comments, advice, and the oversight of the public who put you where you are today. Accept that yoke with dignity. Delight in doing the job well, and not necessarily easier or more expeditiously

Please keep the format and content of the minutes of OUR Town Council meetings, and those of OUR other boards and commissions in the way they have been in the recent past.

Please defeat this proposal - you owe it to the public - we the people - citizens of Wethersfield.

Thank you.

Last Edit: Jan 3, 2006, 6:14pm by FootDoc.Weth »

Dr.Ken Sokolowski
- FOOT HEALTH SERVICES -
Wethersfield, CT, 06109 U.S.A.
Phone: (860) 529-6845