To The Editor:

The Bee reported that dozens of residents attended the February 20, 2024 Economic Development Commission meeting, most of whom were there to oppose the sale of 6 Commerce Road, a topic noted on the agenda as required by the Freedom of Information Act. The Bee described the meeting as contentious and confrontational.

The agenda for the next EDC meeting, on March 19, did not mention 6 Commerce Road. Yet near the end of the meeting Chairman Robinson said “I have really just one thing I’d like to say as quietly as I can [to the giggles of another member of the commission]” and then reported that the town attorney had said the EDC “may not be doing things quite right” and that “the process [for selling 6 Commerce Road] will change.”

This announcement was obviously planned by the chairman and it and the discussion that followed should have been on the agenda. I believe it wasn’t because Mr Robinson, who, along with the first selectman, supported selling the property, didn’t want a repeat of the previous meeting.

Such a blatant and self-serving disregard of a basic FOIA requirement should have prompted our first selectman to call for the removal of Mr Robinson under the authority granted him in the Town Charter, or at least to publicly rebuke him, to prevent the EDC chairman from conducting any more of the public’s business “as quietly” as he can.

But what did our first selectman do? Nothing, even though, as he told the Bee, he has had FOIA training “at least a dozen times” and that “it is not new to [him].” It should not be new to Mr Robinson either. They both know that subjects to be discussed at a public meeting must be on the agenda.

By not holding Mr Robinson accountable for the apparent FOIA violation our first selectman didn’t fulfill his responsibility as Newtown’s chief executive and administrative officer and as an ex officio member of the EDC to enforce transparency at the commission’s meetings. Is this an example of the “steady, transparent leadership” he wants voters to believe he has demonstrated?

I cannot say whether the first selectman’s failure to act was willful or negligent. But either way he has had plenty of time to do what he should have done in the beginning and yet he still hasn’t done anything. I can only conclude that he condones Mr Robinson’s decision not to include 6 Commerce Road on the agenda.

I will not vote to reelect a first selectman who does not respect the FOIA and stand up for the public’s right to know what its servants are up to. Will you?

P.S. If we can post a policeman at the transfer station to monitor the color of residents’ garbage bags, surely we can come up with a way to monitor whether the EDC is following the FOIA. Isn’t that at least as important as whether our garbage bags are orange or blue?

Glen Swanson

Sandy Hook