The exterior of Bridgeport City Hall in Bridgeport.
Ned Gerard, Staff photographer / Hearst Connecticut MediaHours after Hearst Connecticut Media Group published an investigation Thursday outlining the City of Bridgeport’s record of stonewalling residents’ request for public records – and violating the state’s transparency laws more often than any other municipality – Mayor Joe Ganim announced plans to “remove the bottleneck delay.”
A backlog of about 2,000 pending records requests are awaiting processing by the Office of the City Attorney. That pileup has resulted in some requestors waiting years for records and led to hundreds of complaints to the state’s Freedom of Information Commission, which has grown increasingly frustrated with the city’s non-compliance.
“They’re continually — continually — not living up to the law,” FOIC Christopher Hankins said during a meeting in August. “This is an ongoing pattern of conduct.”
The city said Thursday it plans to train staff in each department on how to process records requests to phase out its practice of funneling requests through the city attorney’s office, which generated a growing backlog. The city attorney’s office had complained for years it did not have enough staff to manage an influx in requests.
In a letter to all department heads, which the city released Thursday, the city’s chief administrator outlined the new plan and said departments must schedule and complete training by March 17.
“The City of Bridgeport will begin the process of assigning responsibility for processing FOI requests directly to the city department to which the request is addressed. This new procedure will reduce unnecessary middleman delay, which the FOI Commission has indicated will no longer be tolerated,” Janene W. Hawkins wrote.
Hawkins said the move means Bridgeport will begin “responding to FOI requests in the same manner customarily utilized by other Connecticut municipalities.” The memo also outlined which areas of the Freedom of Information Act each department will be trained to use.
Under the new plan, residents will also be able to make requests directly to the department they’re seeking records from, rather than going through the city attorney’s office. The backlog of about 2,000 open records requests will also be re-routed to departments with those records.
“The City Attorney’s Office will remain available to provide legal support to all city departments as these charges are implemented,” the city said in a press release Thursday.
The stories published by Hearst Connecticut Media Thursday morning included a statement from City Attorney Mark Anastasi promising a plan was underway to overhaul record requests – but the city did not release the plan, training schedule or any further details.
Dorothy Washington, who has been waiting on the city to release records into the police department’s investigation into the untimely death of her sister Brenda Lee Rawls 14 months ago said she isn’t hopeful this change will help her get the records and some closure.
“I can’t trust them. I can’t trust [that] the police department is going to release the records either,” she said during an interview after the announcement was made. “I am not optimistic about putting it into their hands.”
The city has several complaint cases due to go before the FOIC in the coming weeks in which a commission hearing officer has found the city has violated open records or meeting laws.