Does the Board of Finance Think It’s Above the Law?

Over the past several weeks, I’ve received documents through a Freedom of Information request that raise serious questions about how the Pomfret Board of Finance filled a recent vacancy — and how town officials have handled public money belonging to the Board of Education.

This is not about personalities.

This is not about politics.

This is about process, transparency, and the law.

And the documents tell a story that the public deserves to see.

Part 1: Filling a Vacancy — But Not in Public

Under Connecticut’s Freedom of Information laws, the public’s business must be conducted in public meetings, with:

• A properly posted agenda

• Public notice

• Public discussion

• A public vote

  
  

What the FOIA documents show instead is this:

• Private email chains between Board of Finance members discussing the vacancy

• Private interviews conducted with the two candidates

• Discussions that included disparaging political commentary

• No properly noticed public meeting where these interviews or deliberations occurred

• No public vote at the time the decision was made
  

Only after a formal FOIA complaint was filed did records begin appearing online that should have existed before the vacancy was filled:

• An agenda uploaded weeks later

• Meeting minutes edited and reposted

• Documentation created after the fact that attempts to resemble a lawful meeting record
  

That is not how open government works.

Public decisions cannot be made privately and documented publicly later.

Part 2: The FOIA Timeline

It took over 7 weeks and multiple follow-ups to receive partial compliance with my FOIA request.

When the documents finally arrived, they confirmed:

• Interviews were conducted outside of a public meeting

• Deliberations occurred in email chains

• The preferred candidate appeared to be decided before any public action
  

If the decision was already made privately, the public meeting becomes nothing more than theater.

That is exactly what Connecticut FOIA law is designed to prevent.

EMAIL EXCHANGE WITH CANDIDATES SHOWING THEY WERE ASKED TO COME TO A PRIVATE INTERVIEW, NOT A PUBLICLY NOTICED MEETING:

BOARD BUSINESS BEING CONDUCTED OVER EMAIL, DISCUSSIONS ABOUT WHO WOULD BE "REASONABLE REPUBLICANS" TO REACH OUT TO...THE ACTUAL CANDIDATE THEY USED TO FILL THE POSITION IS MENTIONED IN THESE EMAILS:

DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE CANDIDATES AND THEIR EXPERIENCE, UNPROFESSIONAL COMMENT STATING: "DARN IT. I HOPED THAT WE COULD HAVE AVOIDED THE INTERVIEW PROCESS AND JUST APPOINTED MIKE":

Part 3: The Non-Lapsing Fund Confusion — And a Bigger Problem

At the same time this was unfolding, I had been asking questions for months about confusion surrounding the Board of Education’s non-lapsing fund.

What I have now learned is deeply concerning.

It appears the Town and the Board of Finance believed they had the authority to take money from the Board of Education’s non-lapsing fund and appropriate it into the town’s general fund without a vote of the Board of Education.

There is one problem with that.

They do not have that authority.

Under Connecticut General Statute §10-248a, a Board of Education may establish a non-lapsing account, and only the Board of Education may deposit into or expend from that account, subject to statutory rules and local ordinance. There is no statutory authority for a Board of Finance to appropriate those funds into town revenue without Board of Education action.

So the question becomes:

• Did someone authorize this without lawful authority?

• Did leadership not understand the statute?

• Or did they understand it and simply hope no one would notice?

And this is where the conversation stands........................

Part 4: “Nothing to See Here”

During my campaign to join the Board of Ed, some of these same officials took to social media and even the Pomfret Times to publicly state:

“The audits are clean.”

“There’s nothing to see here.”

“She doesn’t understand municipal finance.”

But now, when I ask for the specific statutory authority that allowed these actions?

Silence. Deflection. No answers.

I am still waiting for the First Selectman to cite the statute that gave the Board of Finance the authority to take Board of Education non-lapsing funds and convert them into town general fund revenue for the town to then vote on.

Because from everything I can find in Connecticut law, that authority does not exist.

It never made sense to me that they kept saying that it was voted on by the town, but I couldn't find where they had that kind of authority.

It also raised concerns for me that this particular meeting with the Town Manager and the First Selectman was nearly held without public notice. And when notice was eventually posted, it was not distributed in the same manner as other Board of Education Finance Committee meetings that are routinely sent to board members. On Friday, I followed up by email to ask when the meeting was scheduled to take place. I only knew to ask because I had raised the issue at our meeting on Wednesday prior. One would expect, given the repeated claims of transparency, that the details would have been shared proactively. Instead, I was told these meetings did not require notice. After I cited the applicable FOIA requirements, I received no further response. The notice ultimately appeared quietly on the school’s website, but it was never sent to the board, nor were my questions answered.

This Isn’t About Apologies. It’s About Accountability.

I was told I owe these officials an apology.

That I need more training before speaking on these issues.

But the documents, the timelines, and the statutes suggest something very different:

The taxpayers of Pomfret are owed an explanation.

They are owed transparency.

And they are owed a government that follows the law, not a government that backfills paperwork after complaints are filed.

The Bottom Line

If you are an elected official and you don’t want the public involved…

You are in the wrong job.

I will continue asking questions.I will continue requesting records.

And I will continue insisting that our town government operate the way Connecticut law requires: in public, transparently, and by the book.

Because that is what Pomfret residents deserve.

Disclaimer: This blog is written in my personal capacity and reflects my own opinions, interpretations, and concerns regarding public governance and transparency. It does not disclose confidential or privileged information and does not represent an official position of the Board of Education or the Town.