The city of Hartford violated state public records laws when it refused to release executed contracts related to its new minor league baseball stadium, according to a ruling this week by the state’s Freedom of Information Commission.
Back when the stadium deal was still coming together, the big questions were how much would it cost, who would pay for it, and what was in the fine print. So, in February, WNPR asked for executed contract documents related to the stadium and its surrounding development.
But the city declined. Hartford officials said that some, but not all of the contracts involving the baseball stadium had been finalized. So the ones that had been signed were being held “in escrow," which it said meant that the documents didn’t have to be released until later.
WNPR filed a complaint with the state FOI Commission. At the commission's hearing on the matter, Hartford Chief Operating Officer Darrell Hill offered no state or federal law to justify his approach. Instead, he said he was withholding public documents as he would papers in a private real estate deal -- nothing would be released until the whole deal was done.
Eventually, Hartford did release the documents. But its legal position didn’t satisfy the commission, which voted unanimously that the city had violated the state’s public disclosure laws. It ordered the city to comply with state statutes going forward.
In response, the city said it respects the commission’s decision and will not appeal.
"Our intent was always to release all of the documents that were executed at once so as not provide partial information," said Maribel La Luz, the spokeswoman for Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra. "That's what we did. Once all of the contracts were finalized we provided them immediately."
The city's $56 million stadium is under construction and scheduled to open in April.
