48 Conn. App. 529 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1998
Opinion
The plaintiff town of Windham appeals from the judgment rendered by the trial court dismissing its administrative appeal, taken pursuant to General Statutes § 4-183, from a final decision of the freedom
The undisputed facts are as follows. The Windham board of selectmen is a public agency within the meaning of General Statutes § l-18a (a).
The commission ruled that the plaintiff violated General Statutes § 1-21 by holding a meeting without notice. The trial court upheld the commission’s decision that a meeting of the Windham board of selectmen (1) to discuss why an item needed to be considered in executive session, (2) to gather support for such a session,
The Windham board of selectmen consists of eleven selectmen. Six members constitute a quorum. At the March 20, 1995 gathering, only four members of the board were present.. As a result, there was no quorum and, therefore, no meeting as defined by § l-18a (b).
The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded with direction to render judgment sustaining the plaintiffs appeal.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
General Statutes § l-18a (b) provides in relevant part: “ ‘Meeting’ means any hearing or other proceeding of a public agency, any convening or assembly of a quorum of a multimember public agency ... to discuss or act upon a matter over which the public agency has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power. ‘Meeting’ shall not include . . . communication limited to notice of meetings of any public agency or the agendas thereof. ...”
General Statutes § l-18a (a) provides: “ ‘Public agency’ or ‘agency’ means any executive, administrative or legislative office of the state or any political subdivision of the state and any state or town agency, any department, institution, bureau, board, commission, authority or official of the state or of any city, town, borough, municipal corporation, school district, regional district or other district or other political subdivision of the state, including any committee of, or created by, any such office, subdivision, agency, department, institution, bureau, board, commission, authority or official, and also includes any judicial office, official or body or committee thereof but only in respect to its or their administrative functions.”
Both parties conceded during oral argument that a quorum of the board was not present at the March 20, 1995 gathering. In addition, there was no evidence presented that it was anticipated that a quorum of the board would be present at the March 20, 1995 gathering. See Grimes v. Conservation Commission, 243 Conn. 266, 270, 703 A.2d 101 (1997) (special meeting of municipal conservation commission qualifies as “meeting” pursuant to § 1-18a [b] where it was anticipated that quorum would be present).