Middletown GOP Chair to Mayor Drew: Obey the Law Fill Committee Seats

It isn't for lack of willing citizens that's behind unfilled city committees.  Local Middletown Republican Town Committee Chairman Ken McClellan recently sent a letter to Mayor Dan Drew and copied to media outlining the mayor's lack of attention to state statute in filling empty committee seats in a timely manner and with legally required balances of majority and minority political party representation. McClellan states he tried to work with the Mayor's aide Joe Samolis and City Treasurer Quentin Phipps to get the matter resolved on several occasions. to with no results. McClellan also describes instances where individuals were encouraged to change political parties to fill seats. These instances, McClellan points out, Mayor Drew acted immediately to put that individual on a committee.  (That's some dirty sh*t.) As McClellan points out, this puts any decisions by committees in violation in jeopardy of not being legal; and lawsuits for the city costs us the taxpayers money! Didn't Drew campaign on ending lawsuits?

 McClellan does the job that the Council Clerk ought to be doing outlining which committees are in violation.  Marie Norwood, Council Clerk, a position that was upgraded to over $90K a year in salary, is on the Technology Committee and in charge of keeping council meeting minutes & therefore up to date records of committee appointments as made by the Mayor and approved by the Common Council. These should be made available on the city's website. The City website operates on circular logic with no conclusions. The city site has links to committee lists under the "Community Involvement", however; no lists are attached, only outdated meeting minutes for some of the committees.

What's with all the sloppy practices?  As mayor, Drew also set forth an official rule that all committees were to meet after 7 pm so that members of the working public could better attend. Many committees, such as Design Review & Historic Preservation (DRHP) meet much earlier in the day violating the decree. Harbor Review hasn't met in months, despite recent attention to riverfront redevelopment. Redevelopment Agency & the Riverfront Redevelopment Committee have taken several months of hiatus for unknown reasons, much to the disadvantage of the public. Here is a link to the yearly meeting schedule of the Riverfront Comm. which basically says it will meet when "needed" which from the looks of it means never. DRHP and others are permitted to operate outside of Robert's rules, issue rulings without legal quorums, and don't keep accurate meeting minutes. Speaking of representation, Mayor Drew often names committees "task forces" to attempt to thwart the state statutes of minority representation- 'ala the Task Force on Government Efficiency. Try getting meeting minutes, schedules or agenda's from the City's website and one will find many committee's minutes are several YEARS out of date.  Despite the progress to decommission the City sewage plant and allow new development of the riverfront, the Riverfront Comm., according to the city website last met in May 2014- almost a year ago. As McClellan points out, the last minutes for Redevelopment Agency are from 2011! Who knows what meets when or what goes on! 

Unfortunately this thwarting of the law is nothing new.  McClellan has been attempting since 2013 to get accurate committee lists directly from city hall and he hasn't been the only one . Also, in a 2013 via an official FOI request filed with the Town Clerk MRTC Vice Chair William Wilson tried to obtain list of vacant committee seats & active members from Norwood whom indicated to Wilson the lists of committee members could not be provided because they "did not exist." Wilson's FOI letter can be read here.

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Middletown Republican Town Committee

PO Box 1121

Middletown, CT 06457

March 30, 2015

Mayor Daniel Drew

City of Middletown

245 DeKoven Drive

Middletown, CT 06457

Subject:  Board and Commission Appointments

Many appointed commissions are out of date or out of balance without the representation required by the state statute.

This non-compliance means that some commissions are not properly constituted, and opens any decisions rendered by those commission to challenges.  In the case of Inland Wetland Commission, whose decisions have a financial impact on home owners, businesses and developers, it opens the possibility of lawsuits challenging decisions.

Since February of 2013, I have tried repeatedly to get a current list of appointments, and to work with Mayor Drew to ensure that all boards and commissions are properly and fully staffed.  Mayor Drew, on various occasions you asked me to work with Joe Samolis and the City Treasurer, Quentin Phipps, to bring the list up to date, and to receive recommendations on minority party appointments.  Neither has responded to my requests for information, and the mayor has acted extremely slowly on the recommendations that I have made.  You did, however, act quickly when an individual, after a lifetime as a registered Democrat, changed party affiliation to Independent, and was appointed to a minority seat on a commission within 2 weeks.  While possibly legal to appoint someone that quickly after a change in party affiliation, it definitely violates the spirit of minority party representation required by the state statute.

The ‘current’ appointment list published by the city does not match the member lists published for various commissions or the city website.  Neither list matches the members listed in Meeting Minutes published by the various committees.  So it is not possible to know who the members are, what political party they represent, or what actual vacancies exist, in order to make nominations to fill those vacancies.  It makes it difficult to determine if the individuals attending meetings and voting on issues were properly appointed.

The Inland Wetland is an example.  The current composition of the commission, according to the city website, is:

Joe Carta  (Dem)

Robert E. Whitney Jr.  (Dem)

Hector Bartoli (Dem)

Fred J. Terrasi (Rep)

Trevor H. Davis Jr. (Dem)

David Pritchard (Dem)  (Listed as Republican on official appointment list.)

Daniel Paul Pelletier (Rep)

Paul Henry Turenne (Dem)

Member – Vacant

Member – Vacant

Alternate – Jack Pieper (Dem)

Alternate – Gabriel Russo (Dem)

Alternate – Vacant

Alternate – Vacant

Alternate – Vacant

David Pritchard is listed as a Republican on the list of members, however, the David Pritchard on the committee is a registered Democrat.  His son, of the same name and address is registered as a Republican.  If this is a mistake on the part of the Mayor, it is certainly a careless error.  The result of this error is that, with two vacant seats, and both Alternates being Democrats, the commission has a de facto 8 to 2 membership, even though the state statute requires 1/3 membership be non-majority party, which would be 4 members.  As such, this commission is currently not legally constituted under the state statute, and any decisions rendered are subject to challenge.  

Redevelopment Agency:   Joseph Tine is currently listed as a member, on the city web-site, although he passed away last year.  The most recent published minutes available on the website for the Redevelopment Agency are from May 2011.

Conservation Commission

The member list in the meeting minutes do not match the members listed on the city website, and does not match the report I received from the council clerk.

Website Members	March 15 Meeting Minute Members
Kate Miller(Chair) (D) Sheila Stoane(Vice-Chair) (U, Former D) Liv Baker Jane Brawerman (D) Ellen Lukens (I) Steven Ladd (D) Lee Sawyer Jonathan Morris Joan Liska (I) Diane McGrath Vacancy David O'Brien (alternate) (D) Vacancy(alternate) Vacancy (alternate)	Chairperson Kate Miller (19) Vice-Chair  Jonathan Morris (17) Shelia Stoane (16) Diane McGrath (17) Steven Ladd (16) Jane Brawerman (19) Joan Liska (20) Lee Sawyer(17) Liv Baker (16) Eric Mosher (15) Ellen Lukens (17) Alternate: Michael Singer (16) Alternate: David O’Brien (19) Alternate: Vacancy (16)

Eric Mosher is listed as a member whose term expires this year, but he’s not listed on the website member list.  Michael Singer is listed in the minutes as attending meetings, but is not listed in the City website as an appointed member.  Are these two legally  members or not?

In addition, Shelia Stoane was registered as a Democrat until shortly before she was appointed to a ‘minority’ seat on the Conservation Commission.  She changed her party affiliation to Independent and was quickly appointed to the Conservation Commission by Mayor Drew.  I also understand that she spoke to Mayor Drew about an appointment before changing her party affiliation.   Her appointment violates the spirit of the minority representation provision in the state statute.  Several Republicans have requested and have been recommended for appointments to the Conservation Commission, all of which have been ignored.   The current composition of the commission may be technically legal, but  could be open to challenge in court.

Citizen’s Advisory Committee

Website Members

March 15 Meeting Minute Members

Deborah Kleckowski (Common Council Seat) Grady Faulkner (Common Council Seat) John Rumberger (Middletown Housing Authority Seat) Vincent Szynkowicz (Planning and Zoning Commission Seat) Robert Blanchard (At-Large Seat) Linda Szynkowicz (At-Large Seat) Ronnie Bantum (Low/Moderate Income Seat) Harvey Cushing (Elderly Seat) Richard Pelletier (Disabled Seat) Sean King (Westfield Seat- Census Tract 5412, 5413, 5414) Jessica Broderick (Westfield Seat- Census Tract 5412, 5413, 5414) Pat Murray (Downtown Seat- Census Tract 5411, 5415, 5416, 5417) Karlene Duplessis (Downtown Seat- Census Tract 5411, 5415, 5416, 5417) Howard Reid (South Farms Seat -Census Tracts 5418, 5419, 5420, 5421, 5422) Susan Owens (South Farms Seat- Census Tract 5418, 5419, 5420, 5421, 5422)

D Kleckowski G Faulkner R Rumberger V Szynkowicz R Blanchard L Szynkowicz R Bantum H Cushing R. Pelletier S King J Broderick K Duplesis H Reid S Owens

Pat Murray is listed as a member on the city website, but are not listed in the meeting minutes, either as present or absent.  Is this a valid vacancy or an oversight?  Party affiliation is also not available, making it impossible to determine if the commission is properly constituted.

The examples above are not the full scope of the issues with appointments to boards and commissions.  There are other problems, both with vacancies and non-compliance with party affiliation requirements.  As I said earlier, I, as Chairman of the Republican Town Committee have tried to work with Mayor Drew, and at his request, with his designated representatives, with no positive results, which has prompted me to write this letter.  

But the real danger of not filling the commission seats properly, in accordance with state statute, and by not complying with minority representation, as required by the state statute, is the liability to which the city is exposed.  If the commission is out of compliance, that brings all of its actions into question, and an aggrieved party could cite this as a basis for appeal and potentially, a lawsuit.  And lawsuits, as the Mayor has told us, are not good for the City of Middletown

I would like to continue to work with you and your staff to correct these discrepancies, and would appreciate your response.

  

Kenneth A. McClellan

Chairman

Middletown Republican Town Committee

Citizens Sue P&Z Commission over MX Zone Change

Jennifer Proto and husband lawyer Jared Proto are suing the P&Z Commission and Acquisitions Holdings LLC over the MX Zone change which passed last month.

 Earlier in the month Jared Proto filed a FOIA request asking for a years worth of correspondence from the commission and department. BOE member founder and editor of the Middletown Eye Blog resident of downtown Ed McKeon, along with the Proto's lead citizens in protest of the zone change. McKeon is one of 7 village district residents who comprise Blue House LLC; the members of which bought a older home on College Street to fix up and sell. On his blogs and facebook pages, Ed McKeon solicits residents to send money to the legal fund set up by the Proto's to sue the commission.

After the vote, Director of Planning and Zoning William Warner issued a memo to clarify questions regarding alleged  historic properties affected by the zone change.

This week the Historic Preservation and Design Review Commission will review the design proposed by Centerplan Development LLC for the property at the corner of Washington St. Centerplan was the proponent of the MX zone change.

The notice of the suit can be read here:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1OYjxtLEgUwLWViN3h5NWg4ZDA/edit?usp=sharing

The FOIA Request to P&Z from Jared Proto:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1OYjxtLEgUwM0RKN2gyTGdfcW8/edit?usp=sharing

A Statement of Clarification about the MX Zone change and historic properties from Director of Planning and Zoning William Warner:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1OYjxtLEgUwSll6WmtXLXFrRzQ/edit?usp=sharing

Zoning Text Changes  and agenda: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/02/major-zone-changes-on-agenda-for-pz.html

Wilson FOI Results: Alternative Senior Center Bill 90 Days Later

Over a 3 months ago Republican Town Committee Vice Chair William Wilson sent an FOI request to the City of Middletown asking for answers to a variety of public information questions. His letter was sent on
December 18, 2012.
Wilson's Original Letter and list of questions can be found here:
http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/we-need-your-help.html

Although the Senior Center Committee had already engaged an architect to do schematic studies and analyze statistical data about program usage to determine the best location and program for the proposed Senior Center in Middletown, and concluded that Eckersley Hall would fit the bill, Mayor Dan Drew chose to hire another architect and do his own study. Mayor Drew proposed that an addition be put onto City Hall and with a "new council chamber overlooking the river" be included. The senior center location at Eckersley Hall and subsequent bonding for the project passed by an overwhelming majority by referendum.  Maybe Drew was jealous of the Community Health Center's glass pent house?

 Prior to this, but after the initial determination of adaptive reuse of Eckersley Hall was determined to be the best location for the senior center, taxpayers paid $3,600.00 for the schematic design and report investigating a City Hall location. 

We don't know what was concluded; as the report has never seen the light of day, however, after 3 months the bill atleast is public. Something to remember come election season!
Read the bill here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1OYjxtLEgUwZWpSVmxxMnlnSEU/edit?usp=sharing

Finally: Water & Sewer Investigation Report Reveals Disfunction

Professor Douglas Rae Investigation of Water & Sewer: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1OYjxtLEgUweUYya3A1b2I3cnc/edit?usp=sharing
Subcommittee Findings: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1OYjxtLEgUwa2FCcUZwUjlBTTg/edit?usp=sharing
Water & Sewer Attachments: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1OYjxtLEgUwTHFCbjVEV0pDeG8/edit?usp=sharing
Water & Sewer Sub Committee Findings:https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1OYjxtLEgUwYUpaaUFqME9PTGc/edit?usp=sharing

The Water & Sewer Debacle:

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2008: In 2008 $100,000 had been spent to overhaul the department including a reorganization plan that according to Mayor Giuliano, was never enacted by W&S Director Guy Russo as ordered.W&S was supposed to have made as of 2008 after the department had to be taken over by then Finance Director James Reynolds due to lost of funds, had still not been implemented. In addition to the extreme departmental debt and numerous warnings to basically fix things before they hit the fan, an  unprecedented number of grievances by employees were filed at this time and on the job accidents spiked leading to the logical conclusion that at the very least management needed to  be scrutinized

2009: Candidate Dan Drew stated on record in an interview with the Wesleyan Argus that:"Not to mentioned our city's sewer department is in dire straits financially. If it were privately owned, it would declare bankruptcy. We don't know where we're going right now."

In 2011 the Common Council voted to investigate the Water & Sewer department “to investigate

The underlying basis which led Mayor Sebastian N. Giuliano to order moving the Water and Sewer

Department’s administrative staff from headquarters on Berlin Street to City Hall.” This “investigation” was in response to a letter from the WPCA (Water Pollution Control Authority) objecting to this move. Apparently, the WPCA did not believe that the mayor had discretion to move the Director and Deputy Director to City Hall.  A firestorm of debate ensued with the end result being $10,000, yes, 10 thousand dollars being spent on this matter!
 

The Charter, Chaper 111 sec. 8, provides the Council to conduct an investigation; Council-not a consultant.  Disregarding the Charter, Professor Douglas W. Rae was hired by the sub-committee, Councilwoman Kasper, Councilman Bibisi, Council Klattenberg and former Councilman Bauer, to assist in the investigation by conducting preliminary interviews with key department and personnel.  The backstory is that there was and still continues to be management issues within the department.  The problem was not former Mayor Giuliano moving staff it was the incompetence of the “management team” and the grievances filed.

So, the Council decides to spend $10,000 because a Mayor moved staff, the investigator never interviewed all the employees of Water and Sewer and the $10,000 conclusion, “Water and Sewer’s central administrative spine is broken” according to the final report.  In the end, nothing changed, management has yet to withdraw from the Teamsters Union (Mayor Drew deciding not to adhere to the recommendation of the report), management HAS NOT received any training as indicated necessary in the report. 

 In conclusion, $10,000 was spent and NOTHING has been done.

 
The public needs to be aware that the report was done “illegally” because Council did not perform the investigation. Water and Sewer management continue to manage in the same “broken” manner with the same problems still present.  And, the public should demand to know why former Mayor Giuliano’s move of the director and deputy director set the stage for a $10, 000 report yet Mayor Drew has moved people and offices without so much as a peep from the Council. 

 
The entire Water and Sewer Investigation Report dated March 5, 2012 is posted for your review. The $10,000 question-“Was $10,000 wisely spent or squandered?”

2013: Several requests to get this report via FOI were made and dismissed.http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/wilson-foi-results-transparency-not.html

How many cycles do water bills have to go out with wrong information before anything is done?

MRTC Vice Chairman William Wilson's Comment on Today's Pro- Drew Article in the Middletown Press.

 Originally Published in The Middletown Mess.

Why wasn't there a report from China? You go there to represent the city but, what happened while you were there? We have a spending report that I had to FOI "by the way", but it leaves out things such as: What  you did while in China, and what else did you have to spend money on besides travel and hotels?

Did you eat while you were there or did someone else pay for your food? Simple things that should be answered. It was the taxpayers who footed this bill.

William Wilson,
MRTC Vice Chair

Editor's note: It is looking like taxpayers footed the bill for Mayor Dan Drew to go to the Presidential Inauguration and "represent Middletown" by standing in a crowd of a few million people as well.

Wilson FOI Results: Transparency? Not Really.

Over a month ago Republican Town Committee Vice Chair William Wilson sent an FOI request to the City of Middletown asking for answers to a variety of public information questions. His letter was sent on December 18, 2012. On January 4th, 2013 the Insider asked readers to help out by sending in copies of the same letter to try and get answers. By law, the only documents that fall under FOI are those already created, however, the fact that the answers to some of the questions below have no existing documentation by the Water Department is  troubling fact in itself! Only a receipt was provided for the plane ticket to China, no report as promised or itinerary from Mayor Drew Director Guy Russo of the Water & Sewer Department finally answered a few of the questions Wilson proposed on January 13, 2012, over 30 days later. By law, a response must be given in 4 days as to status. The memo was dated on Dec. 21, but was not emailed from the City until January 13 due to an"internal glitch", however it still shows that according to the email trail, Director Russo did not respond to the Town Clerk,who followed proper procedure, until January 11..  No word on the existing report that cost the City $10K in April of 2012 but never presented to the Council, that was conducted by an outside investigation team to determine why the department was loosing money so rapidly. This was mentioned in greater detail by the Letter to the Editor by John Milardo: His Town

Wilson's Original Letter and list of questions can be found here:
http://www.middletowninsider.com/2013/01/we-need-your-help.html

On Fri, 1/11/13, Russo-Driska, Sandra MiddletownCT.gov> wrote:

From: Russo-Driska, Sandra

MiddletownCT.gov>
Subject: FW: FOI Reuest - William Wilson
To: "'William wilson'"
Cc: "Russo, Guy"
Date: Friday, January 11, 2013, 4:14 PM

Bill,

This was apparently sent via interoffice email, however, due to an apparent glitch at our end, I do not have it in my FOI folder, sent box, or deleted box.  I apologize.  Here is Director Russo's response to your FOI request.

Let me know if you need further assistance.

Sandra Russo-Driska
Town Clerk

__________________________________________

From: Russo, Guy
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 4:09 PM
To: Russo-Driska, Sandra
Cc: DeSena, Linda
Subject: FW: FOI Reuest - William Wilson

Memo: Original here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1OYjxtLEgUwMFJNck10b01SeFU/edit
To: Sandra Driska-Russo, City and Town Clerk

From: Guy P. Russo, Director of Water & Sewer

Date: December 21, 2012

Re: William Wilson, FOI Request of December 18, 2012

Please note that in response to item numbers 1 – 4 of the subject FOI Request, that the Water & Sewer Department Offers the following:

1.How many discharges from the sewer treatment located at 100 River Road have there been in the last 5 years?  How many gallons per discharge into the Connecticut River during that time? Please provide any DEP reports of spillage & discharge for the last 5 years.
1) The Water and Sewer Department has a total of 219 pages of paper reports filed with DEEP (nee DEP) addressing this information request. We request prepayment of reproduction costs at the rate of $0.50/page, for a total of $109.50. Please advise if this is acceptable to the requester, and if so when prepayment has been received by your office, and we will provide the copies. Please advise.

2. Please provide me the relevant reports to disclose any and all spills into the Connecticut River stemming from Middletown's sewage treatment plant and relevant systems dating back five years. Have there been any other spills as documented by the City of Middletown into the Connecticut river where sewage has been discharged or overflowed? Please provide any and all  bypass reports.
2)  The Water and Sewer Department has a total of 9 pages of paper reports filed with DEEP (nee DEP) addressing this information request. We request prepayment of reproduction costs at the rate of $0.50/page, for a total of $4.50. Please advise if this is acceptable to the requester, and if so when prepayment has been received by your office, and we will provide the copies. Please advise.

3. Please provide documentation to answer the following question: Have there been any fines due to discharges or spills during the past five years to the Water and Sewer department? If so, when, why and for what amount?
3)  The Water and Sewer Department has no documents responsive to this request.

4.Please provide information regarding billing oversight at the Water & Sewer department. How many billing complaints have been filed in the past five years? How many customers have been misbilled? Please provide a record of this and the remedy.
4)  With regards to this inquiry, I request that Mr. Wilson be asked for specifics as I am not sure what more specific documents/reports he is looking for. If there are specific reports or documents, I will then be able to adequately respond. Additionally, some of this request would involve the creation of documents/reports that do not exist. Please inquire of Mr. Wilson as to how he would like to proceed.

Cc: Mayor Daniel Drew Timothy Lynch, City Attorney

We Need Your Help

A few weeks ago, William Wilson, vice chair of the Middletown Republican Town Committee sent letters to the Mayor, Town Clerk, and Water & Sewer Director under FOI for some documents that would show where tax payer money is being sent. Below is his letter. We are told, he has only received the receipt for Mayor Drew's plane ticket to China, and nothing more. The questions below are very important to tax payers. Do not let your city government get away with ignoring the voice of the people. They can ignore one, but not many! 
Download the FOI Here
If you care about where your money is going copy and paste this letter, sign your name & address, and either email or send to: 
question@MiddletownCT.gov 
cc: TownClerk@MiddletownCT.gov
Town Clerk, City Hall
245 deKoven Drive
Middletown, CT 06457 

To: The Town Clerk of the City of Middletown,
     I am sending this letter as an FOI request to be answered by the appropriate parties within the City of Middletown. I would like the all the relevant reports that will answer the questions below.

1.How many discharges from the sewer treatment located at 100 River Road have there been in the last 5 years?  How many gallons per discharge into the Connecticut River during that time? Please provide any DEP reports of spillage & discharge for the last 5 years.

2. Please provide me the relevant reports to disclose any and all spills into the Connecticut River stemming from Middletown's sewage treatment plant and relevant systems dating back five years. Have there been any other spills as documented by the City of Middletown into the Connecticut river where sewage has been discharged or overflowed? Please provide any and all  bypass reports.

3. Please provide documentation to answer the following question: Have there been any fines due to discharges or spills during the past five years to the Water and Sewer department? If so, when, why and for what amount?

4.Please provide information regarding billing oversight at the Water & Sewer department. How many billing complaints have been filed in the past five years? How many customers have been misbilled? Please provide a record of this and the remedy.

5. Please provide receipts& expense report for the Mayor's trip to China. Please also provide the detailed summary report he told the Common Council he would provide at the Common Council meeting immediately following his return. Please include a detailed list of whom he met with.

6. Please provide copies of the documents prepared by the architect hired by the Mayor to do drawings of a proposed addition to house the senior center at City Hall.

7. Please provide a list of open commission seats as of the date of this letter. A list is provided to the Common Council at the Mayor's request but not to the public.

8. In March or 2012, a report was summarizing for the Common Council stating that results of the independent investigation of the Water & Sewer Dept. A report was created at the expense of $10k. Please provide a full copy of this report.

All subsequent data provided may be returned to me as printable pdf files in digital format on CDs I will provide, in lieu of paper copies at the City's earliest convenience.

Sincerely,  Your Name & Address Here

City FOI Request - A Call for Transparency

William Wilson, vice chair of the Republican Town Committee submitted the letter below last week to City Hall (and the Insider) as an FOI request.   In April of 2012, upon his return to from China (of which he was not asked to go on, nor did he approach the Council with this venture prior, but asked to join the trip), Mayor Drew promised the Common Council on record he would provide a detailed report of his tax payer funded trip and findings regarding the supposed possible sale of the Aetna property to unnamed Chinese companies . 
Wilson also asked a variety of other relevant questions about where your tax money is going as well. 
The Insider has been told Wilson has received a copy of the Mayor's plane ticket, but no other answers have been provided. All we want for Christmas is peace on earth and government transparency, how about you?

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: The Town Clerk of the City of Middletown,

I am sending this letter as an FOI request to be answered by the appropriate parties within the City of Middletown. I would like the all the relevant reports that will answer the questions below.

1.How many discharges from the sewer treatment located at 100 River Road have there been in the last 5 years?  How many gallons per discharge into the Connecticut River during that time?

2. Please provide me the relevant reports to disclose any and all spills into the Connecticut River stemming from Middletown's sewage treatment plant and relevant systems dating back five years. Have
there been any other spills as documented by the City of Middletown into the Connecticut river where sewage has been discharged or overflowed? Please provide any and all  bypass reports.

3. Please provide documentation to answer the following question: Have there been any fines due to discharges or spills during the past five years to the Water and Sewer department? If so, when, why and for what amount?

4.Please provide information regarding billing oversight at the Water& Sewer department. How many billing complaints have been filed in the past five years? How many customers have been misbilled? Please
provide a record of this and the remedy.

5. Please provide receipts& expense report for the Mayor's trip to China. Please also provide the detailed summary report he told the Common Council he would provide at the Common Council meeting immediately following his return. Please include a detailed list of whom he met with.

6. Please provide copies of the documents prepared by the architect hired by the Mayor to do drawings of a proposed addition to house the senior center at City Hall.

7. Please provide a list of open commission seats as of the date of this letter. A list is provided to the Common Council at the Mayor's request but not to the public.

All subsequent data provided may be returned to me as printable pdf files in digital format on CDs I will provide, in lieu of paper copies at the City's earliest convenience.

Sincerely, William Wilson
                Middletown, CT 06457     
cc:
Mayor Dan Drew
Common Council Clerk, Marie Norwood
Town Clerk City of Middletown, Sandra Driska
Director Guy Russo, Water & Sewer Department
Republican Town Committee Chair Ken McClellan