By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–The state Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) has dismissed a complaint against Westport’s Representative Town Meeting (RTM) and its Finance Committee over a closed-door meeting held last year to discuss detailed costs of the new $110 million Long Lots Elementary School  now under construction.

RTM member Jennifer Johnson filed the complaint, arguing that the Finance Committee improperly discussed the cost estimates of the town’s costliest-ever capital project out of the public view. She also argued that the committee, while shutting the public out of the June 10, 2025 session, improperly admitted others, including RTM members not on the finance committee, as well as members of other committees and town consultants.

The FOIC sided with the town, which argued that the Finance Committee was permitted to close the meeting to the public because publicly discussing the costs, included in a binder of 35-40 pages, could tip the town’s hand to companies competing for the job, giving the contractors an edge.

“The respondents testified, and it is also found, that it was important to the respondents to keep the contents of this binder and the estimated costs and quantities for the Long Lots Project confidential prior to completing the bidding process because, otherwise, bidders would be able to use such information to manipulate the bidding process and, ultimately, raise the costs of the Long Lots Project,” the committee wrote in its June 15 decision.

The committee also found that the Finance Committee did not violate open meeting regulations by allowing the other attendees into the meeting. Members of the Long Lots Building Committee, liaisons from the Board of Education and Board of Finance, the town finance director and representatives of design and engineering consultants hired by the town were permitted because they had information and expertise necessary for the discussions, the FOIC found.

The other RTM members were properly included, the FOIC found, because of RTM rules that say any RTM member who is not appointed to a committee may still attend its meetings – and will be considered a non-voting “member” of the committee.

Johnson said she did not agree that the meeting should have been held behind closed doors – even if it was allowed – but that she would not look to appeal the decision.

“I don’t intend to take this further. I one hundred percent respect the FOI Commission’s position and understand it,” she said. Noting that the decision relied, in part, on the town’s definition of a committee member, she added, “They, in the end, did not want to change a local law.”

RTM Moderator Jeff Wieser said he was happy with the decision.

“It seemed very clear to the town and attorneys and me that we were way within the FOIC regulations and the law, and they affirmed that we were,” he said.

Finance Committee Chairman Seth Braunstein criticized Johnson for filing the complaint.

“Apparently, the complainant must have grown frustrated at their inability to introduce any good ideas or engage in any productive debate and rather than working with their RTM colleagues instead chose to sue the town and launch a baseless FOI complaint which the FOI commission has dismissed without any merit,” he said in a statement.

He said the case’s expense – more than $18,000 in legal fees, according to an email Wieser sent the RTM members – had “victimized the town and the taxpayer.”

Johnson said her critics have “tried to make this about me versus the issue. I tried to raise the issue on behalf of my constituents and people who are interested in understanding what’s in the school….In the end, the $18,000 spent on legal fees is a drop in the bucket relative to the public’s right to understand what’s in a $110 million appropriation.”

In June 2025, the full RTM voted 35-0 to approve $103 million for the school. Another $6 million had been spent on the project before then. Johnson was the only RTM member who was not present when the vote was taken, having left the meeting earlier.

The projected opening of the new 128,000-square-foot Long Lots School, originally expected in September 2027, has been pushed back one semester. The school is now expected to accept students in January 2028. It will sit on the same campus as the existing school, at 13 Hyde LanE, which will then be razed.

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}