Is it a dire emergency? One can only surmise as to why there is a double bill venue at 6 pm on Monday at Bristol City Hall. The two special meetings scheduled for Monday, December 28th are both regarding the sale of property on Bristol's former mall site. Both the Board of Finance and the Special City Council meeting are scheduled for the same time. This sale of the public's property happens to be subject to a waiver of the City of Bristol's procedures.
The Board of Finance agenda states:
The Board of Finance agenda states:
" To waive Section 2.G.2 of the Purchasing Policies regarding disposition of real estate, relative to the sale of property at Depot Square to Bristol Hospital and to take any action as necessary"
The City Council's agenda states:
"To convene into Executive Session to discuss an offer to purchase City owned property at Main Street and Riverside Avenue."
and
"To reconvene into Public Session and take any action as necessary regarding an offer to purchase City owned property at Main Street and Riverside Avenue."
I fear that there may be reason for public concern. It appears that the last article to appear in The Bristol Press about the issue may indeed be the last article published there by the city's favorite civic reporter. His resignation, which has garnered national news attention, sheds light onto his wife's reason for resigning in 2011 and it's relationship to the hospital's affairs, stating that she,
"quit in disgust after Mr. Schroeder cut a deal with a major advertiser, the local hospital, to keep a damaging news story under wraps."
Both of the Collins' have resigned while controversy was amidst regarding the hospitals' affairs. I honestly do not know if they are relative or just coincidental. . One thing for sure is that regardless of the intent of Connecticut's Sunshine Laws, Steve Collins' FOI request regarding the Letter of Intent pertaining to the conditions of the sale to Bristol Hospital was recently rejected by the City of Bristol. The reason stated was,
"because it was a preliminary draft"
Mr. Collins' request further states that under sec. 1-210(b)(1) of the State of CT General Statutes that,
"preliminary drafts or notes" can be exempt from FOI "provided the public agency has determined that the public interest in withholding such documents clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure."One would think that public deals concerning public land and possible public debt would be subject to public disclosure. If the public interest is not determined by the public itself then what can be said for representative government? Who decides what is best for the "greater good" or the "common good of Bristol" if it is not the citizens themselves?
As revealed in the article,
"Among the questions that city officials are weighing is how to cope with the parking needs for a building with 250 or more employees... "
Apparently, a consolidation of downtown offices and a consumption of available parking lot will place an unnecessary burden on patrons in the name of new construction and relocation. As I have indicated in the past, the downtown plans have always been to include public parking garages that would come at a high and unnecessary cost to taxpayers. Could that be a condition of the sale? If so, will taxpayers' hands then be tied?
We cannot be sure what to expect under these circumstances. But under these circumstances, it's hard not to ask a moral question.
Has the City of Bristol declared itself the sole arbitrator of it's own dealings with public money and public land?
I guess we will find out Monday the 28th.
There is no public comment scheduled for the meetings.
