Sunday, January 31, 2010 3:12 AM EST
BY JIM MOORE REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
TORRINGTON — An arbitration hearing on the city's largest union contract was closed to the public Saturday at the request of the Torrington Education Association.
A three-member panel led by attorney and arbiter J. Larry Foy overruled the objection of a reporter who argued the move violates the Freedom of Information Act and that the public's interest would be best served by a hearing open to the public.
Foy said that despite a reporter's confirmation from the Freedom of Information Commission last week that arbitration hearings should be public, the state Supreme Court has yet to settle that question, despite rulings in two similar cases.
"It's all closed, at least until a court of competent jurisdiction rules that this panel is a public agency," Foy said.
At stake are the annual salaries of about 380 teachers who will collectively earn $26.1 million in 2009-10 in 2010-11 and 2011-12. The school board and the union agreed to a wage increase for the final two years of the current three-year deal that would have cost taxpayers an additional $1.14 million, according to board estimates. The City Council rejected those raises Dec. 21 in a 3-0 vote.
That vote sent the contract to Saturday's arbitration hearing. The arbiters heard from the school board, the union, and City Council members about their respective views on what the teachers should be paid. The hearing included no negotiation, said William Joslyn, the school district's human resources director.
Foy said the panel, which must choose the "last, best offer" of one side or the other and cannot legally split the difference, will rule by Feb. 25. If the ruling is rejected by the City Council, the salary agreement will return to arbitration before a panel of three neutral arbiters who will review the transcript of Saturday's hearing, and exhibits, but will not hold another hearing.
The panel convened shortly after 9 a.m. in the school district central office. Along with Foy, the panel included arbiters Martin Gould, chosen by the union, and Victor Schoen, who represents the school board's interests.
School board attorney Victor Muschell told the panel that board did not object to an open hearing.
Gail McKinley-Anderson, a Connecticut Education Association field representative, argued that the Connecticut Supreme Court decided the issue in 1995, when it overturned a prior decision by the Freedom of Information Commission which ruled Glastonbury teacher contract arbitration proceedings should be open to the public.
McKinley-Anderson said the state's highest court ruled then that "the exchange of last best offers clearly is exempt from the public," though the question of whether the hearing itself is exempt from the state's open meeting requirement was "postponed for another day."
McKinley-Anderson said it was impossible to hold the hearing without disclosing the contents of each side's proposal. "Each and every word of an individual testifying goes to the support of the last, best offers," she said.
The Freedom of Information Act requires meetings of public agencies to be public, with few exceptions. One such exception is "strategy or negotiations with respect to collective bargaining." Saturday's hearing included no contract talks, just testimony to the panel.
A Sunday Republican reporter objected to the closed hearing, saying the panel is a public agency, as defined by law, because public funds are expended on their services. Administration officials said the cost of Saturday's proceeding, and the deliberations and ruling to follow, could cost $15,000 to $17,000, half of which would be paid by the city.
Superintendent Christopher G. Leone said the final bill, to be split with the union, could reach $30,000.
To read the complete story see The Sunday Republican or our electronic edition at http://republicanamerican.ct.newsmemory.com.