This collection includes important elements of a critical two week period in the civic life of Wethersfield, Connecticut.
Wethersfielders like myself and other civic minded citizens felt that our traditional style (form and content) of the minutes of our municipal boards and commissions, which minutes' format we appreciated and had come to rely on, were threatened by a proposal brought forth by the Council Majority during a regular meeting of the Wethersfield Town Council on December 19, 2005.
Paramount among the issues which provoked us to challenge this proposal was the right of American citizens to oversee our elected leaders and those who were chosen as administrators by them. Oversight relies on access to information about and from the multifaceted entities and agencies of our Town, State, and Federal goverments. A critical part of this oversight relies of a healthy level of detail used in the creation of the minutes of these bodies. These details contribute to the legislative history of the eventual motions and votes. Such well detailed minutes, though not transcripts of the proceedings of these bodies, allow future elected leaders, administrators and members of the empowering public to better understand the issues and considerations given to those issues prior to their adoption, defeat or other disposition during meetings of these bodies. We the people insisted upon it.
We considered the attempt to change the format (and content) of our minutes to hinge on either an unfortunate or intentional misinterpretation of the letter of the law (Connecticut General Statutes) which defines the Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) and its duties, abilities and limitations. We considered the misguided effort on the part of the Council Majority to rely on a legislative gap, the lack of a clear statutory definition of 'motions and votes' and 'minutes' as applies to the FOIA and FOIC. The proposed format and content very closely resembles (if not duplicates) that which was specifically created for, and which has been imposed upon the citizens of, our historical offspring, the Town of Rocky Hill, CT.
This compilation is incomplete. A few other relavent items will be added when they are obtained. However, this constitutes the heart of the discussion from the perspective of those who have contributed to these items here.
A local, on-line forum - http://wethersfield.proboards26.com - served an important web-log function for the real-time collection of several of the entries and as a repository for them. It also served as a convenient point of focus for the broadcasting of information and alerts to the citizenry and to our elected leaders, our appointed administrators, and the media at both the local and state level.
Due to the number and volume of information gathered, the following table of contents was created. Items for your consideration are listed in chronological order. Each page to which these links point includes a navigational link to allow you to return to this page, either via your [Back] buttons or the [Return to T.O.C.] links.
