The election is over. Congratulations to the winners!
I am now in the process of writing a new book titled “The Campaign Diet”. It will teach you how to get the strongest legs and knuckles you’ve ever had. j/k
This blog will be changing web hosting from wordpress.com to the domain I purchased for it back in the beginning of the year. This will give me greater ability to host videos, documents and generally utilize technology to keep you updated on the happenings in East Hartford Government.
As you may know I have received the endorsement of the Republican Town Committee for a Town Council seat. As I move into the campaign I have to deal with the quirks that being a candidate brings.
After discussing what it means to be a candidate and have a personal blog with the SEEC it was determined that state law doesn’t address the issue of candidate blogs which historically cross over with campaign coverage.
Because the law is not clear I have decided to suspend posting to the blog for the duration of the campaign. Instead when the campaign website is announced I will blog from there.
I fully expect that Ladyx’s blog will ensure that this one is not missed.
I received a letter from the state FOI commission today with the docket and ombudsman information for my complaint against the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee. It is Docket #FIC 2009-341.
I have sent Mayor Currey a request for an update on her investigation which has supposedly been going on for over a month with no results. I also asked her to recommend to the Town Council that the property transfer and contract authorizations be rescinded and the town’s actual property disposition methods be referred to the I&A committee to ensure they are in compliance with the ordinances.
Melody,
It has been just over 2 weeks since I delivered 37 pages of supporting documents for my public hearing testimony to your office. Have you made any progress into your investigation regarding my testimony? I am particularly interested in the legal process followed in disposition of the property.
I recently received documents from the Town Council Office in response to an FOI Request which clearly demonstrate that the method used to dispose of the policy is not in accordance with Section 10-19 of the town ordinances. In light of this I would appreciate it if you would issue a recommendation to the Town Council that they rescind the motions approving the property transfer and giving pre-approval to a sales contract which were approved on June 16th, 2009 and recommend that the Investgation & Audit committee investigate the process employed by the Town of East Hartford in disposing of town owned (taxpayer owned) property.
The entirety of the FOI documents can be found here:
http://brainflation.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/foi-docs.pdf
Jon Searles
(860) 930-4149
Also I sought an update on the development status from Jeanne Webb. This is the update:
Jon - Our developer is waiting for the HUD NOFA to be announced. As
soon as it is announced, they will be putting an application together.
We do not move to final disposition on Daley Court until all criteria
for the development have been met.
In the mean time, we have extended their developer status until February
1, 2010 or until the HUD application is approved, which ever is the
earlier of the 2 dates.
We do not have any scheduled meetings in the summer and will hold our
next meeting on September 16, 2009.
UPDATE: It seems I forgot to attach the PDF scan of the documents. The link is now at the bottom.
I received a rather thick stack of papers from the Town Council Office yesterday in reply to my FOI request. As expected the FOI demonstrates that the legal process for the town to dispose of town property was ignored while the town made up their own process as they went along.
At the bottom is a rather large PDF (180 Pages) which comprises the entire packet I received. I encourage you to review it. It contains the RFPs that went out in 2006 and 2008 as well as responses. The rest consists of various communications, memos and meeting minutes regarding Daley Court. Also there is one lone set of minutes evidencing the approval of the Burnside Avenue Redevelopment Plan from back in 1997.
To summarize how the law was broken the following procedures required by 10-19 are evidenced not to have been followed:
The Mayor did NOT recommend the disposition of Daley Court in writing.
The Council did NOT refer this recommendation to the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee.
The Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee did NOT determine whether to seek bids or negotiate directly.
The Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee did NOT issue an RFP.
The Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee did NOT publicly open RFP responses.
The Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee did NOT bring all the bids along with a recommendation to the Town Council.
What did happen is that the development department in conjunction with the Redevelopment Agency decided they wanted to dispose of Daley Court which as evidenced by Jeanne’s own communications with the Mayor was NOT owned or controlled by the Redevelopment agency which means the redevelopment agency had no authority to dispose of the property or issue bids. The Redevelopment Agency referred their RFP to the Town Council who referred it to the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee who approved it, something they had no authority to do.
In fact, the Redevelopment Agency doesn’t even have the authority to take the Daley Court Property because the Burnside Avenue Redevelopment Plan doesn’t appear to have ever been re-approved by the town council. State law is clear that a redevelopment plan expires after ten years if not amended or re-approved. The plan expired in 2007.
What’s really interesting is that the RFP response by Sheldon Oaks is not the project that was approved by the Redevelopment Agency or the Town Council. In fact the original response by Sheldon Oaks is easily not the best proposal received. How is that Sheldon Oaks was able to change their project and acquisition price AFTER the RFP? The Council never voted to negotiate with any bidder so how was it that negotiations were made? Was any other bidder given this same consideration?
There is only one thing for the Council to do now. They must rescind the motions approved and immediately refer this issue to the Investigation and Audit Committee to determine why nobody followed the law and why the Chairman of the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee, Mr. Bill Horan, didn’t insist that the law governing the actions of his committee be followed.
Following up on Daley Court further I have submitted an FOI request to the Town Council Office to evidence the compliance, or lack thereof, with section 10-19 of the Town Ordinances which governs the disposition of town owned property.
Angela,
I would appreciate your assistance in providing the the following records in accordance with the requirements of the FOI Act.
1) A copy of any written communication from Mayor Melody Currey to the East Hartford Town Council or it’s subcommittees regarding 582 Burnside Avenue, AKA 590 Burnside Avenue, AKA Daley Court.
2) A copy of the agenda and minutes of the East Hartford Town Council meeting at which Mayor Melody Currey’s written request to dispose of 582 Burnside Avenue, AKA 590 Burnside Avenue, AKA Daley Court was referred to the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee.
3) A copy of any appraisal dated 2006 or later of 582 Burnside Avenue, AKA 590 Burnside Avenue, AKA Daley Court which was acquired by the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee
4) A copy of any written communication, memo, minutes or agenda from 2006 or later addressing an appraisal or whether to acquire an appraisal of 582 Burnside Avenue, AKA 590 Burnside Avenue, AKA Daley Court.
5) A copy of any minutes, agenda, memo or communication of the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee in which the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee determined whether to seek bids for, or negotiate directly with a buyer for 582 Burnside Avenue, AKA 590 Burnside Avenue, AKA Daley Court.
6) A copy of any public notice of a request for bids on 582 Burnside Avenue, AKA 590 Burnside Avenue, AKA Daley Court from the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee published in a newspaper.
7) A copy of the minutes and agenda of the meeting of the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee at which the committee opened bids for 582 Burnside Avenue, AKA 590 Burnside Avenue, AKA Daley Court.
8) A copy of the minutes and agenda of the meeting of the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee at which the committee approved a recommendation to dispose of 582 Burnside Avenue, AKA 590 Burnside Avenue, AKA Daley Court to one of the bidders, reject all bidders and submit another request for bids or negotiate with another person.
9) A copy of the minutes and agenda of the Town Council meeting at which the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee submitted the bids for 582 Burnside Avenue, AKA 590 Burnside Avenue, AKA Daley Court or other written memo or communication evidencing a submission of bids on the property to the Town Council.
10) A copy of any emails to or from the Town Council, its subcommittees, clerk or members referencing 582 Burnside Avenue, 590 Burnside Avenue or Daley Court.
11) A copy of the agenda and minutes of the Town Council meeting at which the Burnside Avenue Redevelopment Plan was last amended, approved or renewed.
If any of these requests can not be met because the information does not exist please indicate this.
Thank You,
Jon Searles
51 Spaulding Circle
East Hartford, CT 06118
(860) 930-4149
A return receipt indicating that Angela opened the email was received at 8:47AM 07/16/09:
Your message
To: Attenello, Angela
Cc: Currey, Melody
Subject: FOI Request - Information on Daley Court
Sent: Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:30:05 -0400
was read on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:47:44 -0400
A response was received shortly thereafter at 8:48 AM on 07/16/09:
Your request has been forwarded to the Council Chair.
Angela Attenello
Town Council Clerk
The thought of growing up to be a rocket scientist or astronaut seems to have lost its cool in competition with the instant success of American Idol. Perhaps this is due to the natural human tendency towards laziness. Or perhaps it’s because we don’t watch enough shuttle launches with our kids.
Tonight you can rectify the problem. Tune in around 7PM to see NASA launch one of the last 8 shuttle missions at 7:13PM.
I have been informed by Paul Roczynski that hard copies will be
furnished to my office in the near future. Thank you.
Mayor Melody A. Currey
(860) 291-7200
Town Hall
740 Main Street, East Hartford, CT 06108
mcurrey@ci.east-hartford.ct.uswww.ci.east-hartford.ct.us
All e-mails received or written at this address are subjected to the
Freedom of Information rules and regulations.
Jonathan Searles
51 Spaulding Circle
East Hartford, CT 06118
July 6, 2009
Mayor Melody Currey
Town of East Hartford
740 Main Street
East Hartford, CT 06108
Dear Melody:
Attached are thirty seven pages of supporting documentation for my public testimony of June 16th 2009 regarding the Daley Court property disposition.
No position on the Daley Court property transfer has been taken by the East Hartford Republican Town Committee and as such this is not an EHRTC issue. In the future any requests or questions you or the Town Council may have regarding my testimony or documentation should be communicated to me directly. Neither EHRTC Chairman Paul Roczynski nor the EHRTC have been involved at any point with my research, testimony or follow up on the property transfer and as such Mr. Roczynski is not a proper avenue for questions or communication on this issue.
Please distribute this letter and attached documentation to the Town Council and any other interested parties.
In this time of struggle in which our government once again embraces the tyranny of government for the few at the expense of the many we must not forget what the 4th of July means. It does not represent an epic struggle to find a seat for the local fireworks or a never before seen achievement in pool sales.
The 4th of July is about remembering those who cleared this rocky road of freedom and remembering why they bothered to do so in the first place. As Congress lay chains upon us slowing our every step we must remember that we and we alone have the power to throw off these chains and strike down the despots. They tell us that we must bear our chains to be free. I say I have never seen a free man in chains.
A phone call from Republican Chairman Paul Roczynski spawned the following email to the mayor.
Melody,
I received a phone call from Republican Chairman Paul Roczynski this morning regarding my testimony at the Daley Court public Hearing on the 16th of June. He informs me that during a conversation between Paul and yourself you had expressed a concern that I had not yet provided you with documentation to support my public testimony.
Our grievances with the state of government in Washington, DC go well beyond one administration, a few policies, specific politicians, or a particular political party. The fuel behind our passion derives from the bipartisan destruction of our individual liberties, disrespect for our economic, social, and political well-being, and the shredding of our constitution.
To reclaim our independence and American civic traditions, the following are four key principles and positions that we must demand from our representatives.
PRINCIPLES
Bailouts, Taxes, and Spending Responsibility
There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations, and government should never grant private organizations license to commit criminal or fraudulent acts. We must also seek greater transparency of the Federal Reserve System through investigation, evaluation, and audit of its relationships with banking, corporate, and other financial institutions.
Respect the Integrity of the Constitution
We believe that the Constitution was instituted to restrain the arbitrary exercise of government power and to safeguard liberty. A government that routinely disregards the Constitution for the sake of political expediency cannot long remain a defender of the rights of its citizens.
Reducing the National Debt
We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust; it has greatly diminished the power of our dollar and threatens to undo decades of economic progress.
Individual Freedom
We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons.
The Town Council meeting on the 16th was a truly interesting combination of arrogance, intelligence and poor representation. I was stunned at the turnout in the chamber. Hearing the many students and parents who came forward to the microphone speak drove home just how impressive and passionate these young minds are. I applaud those who came out to defend their music, sports and honor programs. You did well.
The arrogance of the Board of Education, particularly Chairwoman Mary Alice Dwyer Hughes, in using unarguably vital pieces of the high school experience to manipulate funding and avoid the serious restructuring in the education budget that they were tasked with this year should offend us all as taxpayers. Instead of seeking out true long term savings the Board of Education created an instant crisis by putting Music, Sports and Honors classes on the chopping block. It only takes 5 minutes of thought to realize that the Board of Education would never have gone through with this plan had they been called on their dirty bluff. They have to be elected this year too after all.
The Town Council for their part had the forethought to plan for a potential state budget crisis and put aside 2 million dollars to make up the difference in the event of a state funding shortage. Not only did the BoE fail to make the meaningful cuts needed in the budget but they demanded this 2 million dollars of reserve funds and redirected the blame for their failure onto the Town Council by ginning up misplaced outrage arguing that it’s the lack of the 2 million dollars of reserve funds that is responsible for the cuts in these core programs. Mary Alice Dwyer Hughes took the position of ringleader and lead arm twister.
As bad as this strong arm manipulation by the BoE was I just can’t help but feel the Council is more to blame for it than the Board of Education. Marcia LeClerc gave a concise sound reason for the funds being placed in reserve. The state may come up short and the reserve funds are a necessary safety. She then made a logical leap that I couldn’t follow. She and the rest of the council supported giving the funds to the Board of Education based on the recommendation of the Mayor despite the fact that exactly the same unknown budget conditions existed that made the reserve funds necessary to begin with. What happens if the the funding doesn’t stay the same? I guess it’ll be an “oops, who could have known” moment on the council.
Worse is that the BoE ended up with a million dollar surplus from the last fiscal year. This means two things. First, despite complaining last year that funding was inadequate we paid them a million more than they needed. Second, with the 2 million reserve and 1 million surplus combined the BoE won’t even need to follow through with many of the cuts it already made. Our Town Council has utterly failed us in this issue by failing to hold the BoE to any kind of fiscal restraint in this recessionary period and failing to protect us from a possible state funding shortfall. A responsible council would have called out the political stunt on the 16th for what it was and sent the BoE back to their budget books to decide if they really wanted to campaign on cutting music, sports and honors.
With almost 2 weeks having passed since the public hearing and subsequent action on the Daley Court property I am becoming concerned that the investigation which was promised at the meeting may have concluded before it was announced.
I have sent a request for a meeting, on the record, to the Mayor in hopes that the lingering questions can be resolved.
Melody,
I still have some concerns regarding the process by which the East Hartford Town Council came to their decision to transfer the title for 582(590) Burnside Avenue to the East Hartford Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday the 16th of June 2009. I can’t seem to find a singular or combined set of ordinances or state statutes that describe the process taken and the ones I’ve found seems to contradict the process employed by the Town Council.
I was encouraged by your statement on the 16th that you were going to look into the claims I made at the hearing starting on the morning of Wednesday the 17th. Unfortunately I have not heard anything more on this investigation and the as yet unresolved questions could have a serious impact upon the ability of the citizens to trust their government. Such a mistrust would be entirely undesirable.
I would like to meet with you, and any others who you feel may be helpful, on the record to discuss the specific legal process followed in the disposition of the property to the East Hartford Redevelopment Agency.
Also, I received and reviewed the discussion agenda for the Green Committee meeting I was unable to attend. I would look forward to a tour of the recycling facility. The last 2 weeks of July would work great.
Jon Searles
(860) 930-4149
The JI, Reminder and Gazette have mentioned the Daley Court events. Unfortunately due to the JI’s relatively recent subscriber model I can no longer link their stories.
I received a response to my request from the Mayor on 06/26/09 at 7:21 PM.
I am awaiting word from the state's attorney concerning next steps.
Depending on his reply, I will be in touch or his office will on this
issue.
Mayor Melody A. Currey
(860) 291-7200
Town Hall
740 Main Street, East Hartford, CT 06108
mcurrey@ci.east-hartford.ct.uswww.ci.east-hartford.ct.us
A neighbor has lost his indoor cat. The cat has been missing since Friday the 19th and was last seen Sunday in the vicinity of Maple Street and Spaulding Circle. See the included flier for a photo and the number to call if you have seen the cat.
Finally I have processed the documents and video from the hearing last Tuesday. Video is below and the documents are at the bottom. You be the judge. I’ll be glad to answer questions through the comments section.
History shows that Mr. Horan reads this blog. Here is a challenge Mr. Horan, as Chairman of the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee, show me the law that WAS followed in the council’s disposition of the property because I have listed the law that I believe wasn’t.
Council Calls Public Hearing To Order
Chair of Redevelopment Agency Speaks
Developers Bill & Dan Speak
Jon Searles (Me) Speaks
Mayor Currey Addresses Council
Council Debates and Passes Transfer and Sale Motions
** If any of the below documents give you an error please update your adobe reader to 6.1 or better or let me know about the problem so I can down convert the document for compatibility.**
As I stated tonight when I gave my public testimony regarding Daley Court, I have documents to back up everything I said. Soon I will process the relevant parts of the council video and scan in the relevant documents which are not already scanned in for the review of the general public.
In the meantime I have a few comments.
First, I sincerely hope the Mayor is honestly going to start an investigation tomorrow. I have documents.
Second, if Mr. Kehoe was interested in the accuracy of any of my statements or information he could have asked me to demonstrate the information during my comments or when the questions arose. I was sitting right there. Instead he attempted to impugn my character, research and the accuracy of my data. It is evident based on the course he chose that finding out the truth was not his goal.
Third, I invite any media outlet to contact me to verify my information. My claims will stand, theirs wont.
Fourth, I am disappointed that the matter was not referred to the Investigation & Audit Committee for review despite documentation to warrant it.
All in all it was a great night for the citizens of East Hartford because those on the council and in town hall are on notice that at least one person is watching.
I’ve been working on my public comment for the public hearing on the 590 Burnside Avenue deal (Daley Court) for a while and can’t believe how long it has gotten. Clearly there is a lot wrong with this deal and few answers.
Here’s what I have for comments so far. Keep in mind they are written in the confused and improper form in which they flow out of my head.
It’s come to my attention that the new version of Adobe creates documents which aren’t fully backwards compatible and as such the FOI complaint I posted may not be readable for everyone. Here is the complaint set to compatibility all the way back to Acrobat 4.X.
As I researched the chain of events that led to the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee’s recommendation to the Town Council regarding Daley Court I found something odd. The committee never gave such a recommendation… or at least according to the town website they didn’t. After visiting the Town Council office I learned that the Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition committee had held two secret meetings in May in which they made decisions on Daley Court and the Kilty Farms property.
According to the FOI act the town is required to give at least 24 hours notice on the town website whenever a special meeting of any of it’s bodies are called. This is to ensure that the public can attend if they so choose. After all, the public comment section of the agenda is pointless if the public isn’t notified.
No notice was filed for either the 05/14/09 or 05/19/09 Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition Committee meetings on the town website and minutes for the 05/14/09 meeting, in which the Daley Court recommendation was made, were not even posted until 06/11/09, the day after I made a trip to the council office to figure out what happened.
In response I have filed an appeal (complaint) with the State FOI Commission in response to these violations of the FOI act seeking an order against such secret meetings and a nullification of any business conducted in those meetings.
My public comment for Tuesday night (assuming this doesn’t kill the agenda item) is still being written and so far is far too long and hasn’t covered all the bases. There is a lot wrong with how this project is being moved along and sadly it appears that nobody even knows it’s wrong because it’s how things are done in East Hartford… wrong.
