WESTON — At what point do requests for public information become harassment? That's a question the state Freedom of Information Commission may have to decide between the school system and a local couple that have filed more than 100 Freedom of Information Act requests in the past few years.
Weston couple Gregg and Jennifer Haythorn have filed the requests with the town of Weston and the Board of Education. The information they have sought ranged from email records to town invoices, land sale records, text messages and more. Both the town and school board petitioned the Freedom of Information Commission for assistance. While the town and couple have settled their dispute, negotiations remain underway with the schools.
"At this time, we are in good faith engaged with the petitioning Weston board leadership in settlement discussions mediated by the (FOIC)," Gregg Haythorn said in an interview. "We have always had, and will always only have, the best interests of the entire Weston community, WPS students, and Weston's fine school district in mind through every stage of the FOIA process.
Haythorn declined to comment on the details of the requests and case out of "respect and appreciation" for the commission and those who serve on the boards and commissions in town.
Russell Blair, director of education and communications with the commission, said both the town of Weston and Board of Education filed a petition for relief from vexatious requesters. This is pursuant to a provision of the Freedom of Information Act from 2018, where the commission can determine a requestor to be vexatious, which means they are intending to harass.
A Petition for Relief from Vexatious Requestors dated March 3 from Weston against Gregg and Jennifer Haythorn states the couple has filed FOIA requests since 2020, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On March 10, 2020, Gov. Ned Lamont mandated that each municipality authorize its respective board of finance to adopt the budget for the fiscal year, rather than comply with requirements for in-person voting by local residents, the document states.
"They soon became obsessed with the idea that the Town and the BOE had conspired together behind closed doors to orchestrate public input in support of the proposed budget, and then to use that public input as a proxy to sway the votes of the BOF members," the petition reads.
More requests followed. At the time of the petition filing, the town had received more than 37 requests from the respondents, and the total rose to more than 100 when including requests made of the schools.
Legal fees totaled approximately $250,000 total, which comes from tax dollars.
At the time of the petition filing, an exhibit showed that the Executive Director Colleen Murphy said the Haythorns had filed 22 complaints directly to the commission. All but one, at the time, had been dismissed. It has since been withdrawn.
“The (respondents’) large number of complaints has overburdened the Commission," Murphy said in the petition.
Blair said if the commission grants a petition, the requester can be barred from making any public record requests with that agency for up to one year.
This process involves reviewing multiple factors, including the number of requests they have made; the scope of those requests; the nature, content, language or subject matter of the requests; and if there is a pattern of this conduct that is an abuse of FOIA rights, he said.
The petition is reviewed by the commission's executive director. If they determine a hearing is not warranted for the matter, a recommendation is made to the commission to dismiss the petition and they then vote to accept or reject that recommendation, Blair said.
If the director determines a hearing is warranted, though, the parties are notified and one is scheduled, he said. A ruling must come within a year of the filing.
On March 24, the town and requestors came to an agreement in which they would remove all pending and prior FOIA requests against the town, in exchange for the town revoking its petition with the FIC.
However, the matter is still pending with the Board of Education.
Blair said there is not a specific timeline for if or when the Board of Education decision will come, other than it must be within a year of filing.
"My understanding is that settlement discussions are ongoing," he said, "but if a settlement is not achievable then the executive director will decide whether a hearing is warranted.
Blair added that, from the commission's perspective, the town and the Board of Education are separate, public agencies, so the action of one case would not affect the outcome of another, as it relies on separate evidence.
First Selectwoman Samantha Nestor did not sign the agreement, but publicly stated she accepted the decision in a March 24 Board of Selectmen meeting. The other selectmen, Martin Mohabeer and Amy Jenner, signed it.
"I embrace the idea of a reset," Nestor said in the meeting.
However, she said she received complaints from staff members and volunteers of the town, in part because the petition was filed for a measure of relief to halt the requests for about a year.
The motion passed 2-1 with Nestor voting against.
"I am respecting the majority decision," she said.
There have been 11 total PRVRs filed across the state with the commission, Blair said. Of those, two petitions were granted after hearings, two were withdrawn and one was denied without a hearing, Blair said.
The rest are pending or were rejected for technical reasons and refiled, which counts as a new petition, he added.
"The commission typically resolves about two-thirds of its complaints through mediation and complaint review, with the other third proceeding to a hearing," Blair said, which is what happened with the town side of the complaint.
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