HAMDEN -- A state Freedom of Information hearing officer has ruled that a 400-page report on the conduct of former Fire Marshal Brian Badamo should be released to the New Haven Register.
Hearing Officer Lisa Fein Siegel, in a proposed final decision on March 29, said that after an inspection of the report, which investigated conflict of interest allegations against the fire marshal, "it is found that all of the requested records pertain to a legitimate matter of public concern," and that the information in the records "is not highly offensive to a reasonable person."
Those two elements must be established in determining whether a disclosure of records would constitute an invasion of personal privacy, according to the Supreme Court, in a Connecticut case known as Perkins v. Freedom of Information Commission.
Notified by the town that there was a request for his records, Badamo intervened, saying in early June 2011 he didn't want his personnel file to be released. Siegel concluded that the town had no duty under the FOI Act to notify Badamo of the request for the records and should have "promptly disclosed the report to the complainants." (Besides the Register and reporter Ann DeMatteo, former Fire Chief Timothy Sullivan asked for the report; the FOIC consolidated his complaint with the Register's.)
Siegel is recommending that the New Haven Register receive the report, free of charge. The complaint is scheduled to be disposed of at a meeting of the full FOIC at 2 p.m. April 25 at the commission office in Hartford. The commission will take oral arguments at the time, and is expected to rule on the case.