BRIDGEPORT REPORT
BRIDGEPORT ---- A
little-known City Hall committee which makes key decisions on multi-million
dollar school construction projects is routinely violating the state freedom of
information law by failing to post timely minutes of its meetings.
The School Building
Committee, which is now working on the $127 million Bassick High School
project, has been weeks and even months late in filing its minutes for regular
meetings this year.
The state Freedom of
Information Act stipulates that all public agencies must file their minutes for
public inspection within seven days of their meetings.
The Pequonnock has
filed a complaint about the school building committee’s late filings with the
state Freedom of Information Commission. That agency enforces the state FOI
law, which guarantees that the meetings and records of all local and state
agencies be open and accessible to the public.
Meanwhile, a City
Council member is blasting the building committee for a "lack of transparency" and
calling for changes in the committee’s power.
Councilman Jorge
Cruz of the South End said not only is the committee failing to provide a
record of their meetings by the legal deadline, but presenting minutes which
are, in his view, very inadequate.
“I personally was in
two of the building committee meetings and I heard a lot of discussions
regarding funding for Bassick High school and the relocation to the University
of Bridgeport. The minutes I have
reviewed have left out the details of the discussions and I find it offensive
to me and to the residents of Bridgeport Connecticut. The question is WHY?”
Cruz asked
The councilmember went
on to say, “I am feeling very uncomfortable with the fact that the building
committee has sole independence of approving and allocating large sums of money
without any full Council discussions and approval it is time for this Council
to revisit the responsibilities of the building committee and make the
necessary changes so that the building committee exercises a more transparent
approach for the betterment of our integrity.”
 |
| Bassick High School. City officials plan to replace this with a new $127 million facility at the University of Bridgeport. The committee planning this project has been violating the state freedom of information law by withholding minutes of its meetings for weeks and months at a time. |
Unlike the Board of
Education, the School Building Committee is not well-known to the public,
though the panel makes major decisions about the use of city funds for new
schools.
The committee is a
hybrid group, composed of City Council members, Board of Education members,
city development officials, and others.
Trying to find
information about the committee from the city’s website, both its meeting
schedules and minutes, is not easy. This reporter was told earlier in the year
that the committee is under the umbrella of the City Council. But on the city
website, the City Council does not include the School Building Committee as one
of its committees.
Only at the bottom
of the page covering council committees and their members, is is there a
reference to the School Building Committee, under the title “Liaisons to
various boards and committees.” There you find three councilmembers, Marcus
Brown, Aidee Nieves and Ernest Newton listed as being members of the School
Building Committee.
But under the
category “City Departments, Agencies and
Offices”, on the city website, the school building committee is not listed.
Information about
meeting notices and minutes of the group was finally located by scrolling under
the subject “City Council” and then “Agendas and Minutes” and finding “School
Building Committee,” along with a hodgepodge of other city offices, not listed
in alphabetical order.
Over the past year,
the School Building Committee has taken important actions relating to the construction
of a new Bassick High School. Last year,
after the Ganim administration abruptly reversed course and decided to build a
new high school at the University of Bridgeport and not on a site on State
Street, the committee authorized the payment of $6 million of city funds to
acquire land for construction.
The action became
controversial when several current and former council members said the
committee by itself could not approve the $6 million payment to UB. The
transaction had to be approved by the City Council, they said, and since it
wasn’t, the expenditure was illegal.
City Council Member
Maria Pereira claimed that the FBI is investigating the legality of the $6
million payment, but federal officials would not confirm this.
Recently, the School
Building Committee approved a proposal to add another $12 million to the
Bassick project as well as plans to demolish dormitories at UB to make way for the
school.
In contrast to other
public bodies, such as the City Council and the Board of Education, the minutes
of the school building committee are spare and provide little detail. There is
no recounting of back-and-forth discussions between committee members.
The minutes of the
school committee do record the votes that have taken place and the names of the
people attending. As such, the panel is probably meeting the minimal
requirements for the contents of minutes set forth in the state FOI law.
Attempts to reach
committee co-chair Aidee Nieves (who is also city Council President) for
comment were unsuccessful.
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