1st Selectman Candidates Responses on Openness and Transparency: October 2025

	A	B	C	D	E
1
2			Don O'Day	Kevin Christie	David Rosenwaks

3		What will you do in your first month in office to get these ideas and concepts built into the Town government's Operating System? How would you use the power and influence of the 1st Selectman's position to get these ideas implemented	What I will do in the first month: I plan to identify the current FOIA protocol and see where, if possible, efficiency can be built in the process. I plan to ask for a cost estimate of historical FOIA requests and identify those areas driving the majority of those requests. My influence on the Operating System is that the system reports to me. I won’t need to do more than simply be an effective leader.	1. What will you do in your first month in office to get these ideas and concepts built into the Town government’s operating system? In the first month, I would begin by meeting with department heads, board chairs, and staff to establish clear expectations around openness and communication. We’ll start by assessing where information is currently siloed or hard to access, and then set short-term steps for improvement, such as ensuring all meeting materials are published online (e.g., Board of Selectmen meeting packets are not typically posted at all, and they should be). I’ll also continue our open Coffee and Conversation events we’ve held throughout the campaign, to keep residents directly engaged in how we’re shaping priorities and decisions and to hear the community’s feedback. 2. How would you use the power and influence of the First Selectman’s position to get these ideas implemented? The First Selectman sets the tone and culture for Town Hall and the community, and I start with the belief that government exists to support the people. I would use that position to make openness, engagement, and responsiveness part of how Westport operates every day, from how we communicate to how we collaborate. That includes ensuring cross-board coordination, encouraging department heads to post information proactively, and making sure residents can understand not just what decisions are made, but why. Leadership starts with modeling transparency and creating an environment where information and participation are valued by everyone in town government.	As First Selectman, during the first month on the job, I will sit down with the head of the IT department, other department heads, and elected officials and tell them that these concepts and ideas will be the framework for how we are going to approach transparency going forward under my administration. I am also open to setting up an Openness and Transparency Commission/Committee that will help us implement this approach and help hold us accountable. Achieving greater transparency can ideally save the town time and funds when deliberating on any project. There are other things that we can be doing as well. For example, every elected and appointed official should be assigned a government email address (not always the case now), and those emails should be listed on the town website. Residents shouldn't have to struggle to find these email addresses.
4
5		Here is a list of some of the key concepts around openness and transparency in local government:
6	Concept 1	A well and fully informed electorate is required for a strong, democratic form of government to survive in the digital age.	Agree	Agree	I agree.
7	Concept 2	As AI and other technologies become part of daily life, a fully open and transparent government is required as a defense against misinformation and anti-government sentiment.	Agree	Agree (regardless of AI / tech)	I agree.
8	Concept 3	“Information Wants to be Free,” especially government information, which is the property of the taxpayers.	Agree - unless, by its nature, its confidential and sensitive	Agree	I agree.
9	Concept 4	Publicly noticed and held meetings are the legally required minimum standards. We must do better than meeting the minimum legal standard.	Subjective, hard to comment	Agree (must, or shall?)	I agree (every citizen can opt-in or opt-out to receive communications so we publicly notice people in a streamlined way - with 72 hours notice when possible).
10	Concept 5	Whenever there is a lack of full access to information to anyone in a meeting setting or any public situation where there is asymmetrical access to information, then transparency is not present.	See number 3	Agree	I agree.
11	Concept 6	The cost of providing town government information in easily accessed and searchable electronic form is a necessary and vital budget item.	Agree, but timing of the release must not conflict with the best interests of the town. Ultimately, all information must be availalble	Agree in principle (I like searchable PDF's, vs scanned)	I agree.
12	Concept 7	The tools exist to provide fuller transparency, we just need the political will to get them implemented in Westport.	Westport's IT capabilities should improve. it's not about will	Agree	I agree.
13
14		Here are ideas on how we can begin to bring these concepts into how we govern ourselves in Westport:		Note: There’s an important balance between “transparency” and allocating the time and resources that would be needed to “report on transparency.” Open government should mean transparent, engaging and responsive, not less efficient.
15	Idea 1	Full online disclosure should be the Default Setting for all town boards and departments. FOIA requests from the public should be a rare occurrence and should become a badge of dis-honor for the town of Westport.	FOIA requests should be rare and should not be used as a tool to obstruct when there is disagreement with a policy.	Agree if the 2nd sentence ended after "…rare occurrence."	I agree.
16	Idea 2	If information and data would be disclosable under FOIA, it should be promptly posted online as soon as it becomes available, by default.	Agree - unless, by its nature, its confidential and sensitive	Agree in principle with appropriate guardrails (e.g., FOIA-able emails)	I agree.
17	Idea 3	Make the FOIA process easy, open and accountable.	Yes, both sides	Agree in principle with 3. Would like to hear more about the public's and staff's views.	I agree.
18	Idea 3.a	The determination as to whether to post information in "draft" or "notes" form should be made with a strong bias towards requiring disclosure	Always	See 3 above	This might be more difficult since decisions change during deliberation and ultimate decisions matter more.
19	Idea 3.b	The FOIA Administrator should be the recipient of all FOIA requests. FOIA requests should not be initially sent to the department or committee head that is the subject of the request.	Agree but the department should weigh in on any data release	See 3 above	I agree for the most part. I would recommend that every FOIA request goes to both the FOIA Administrator and the department/committee head. I do think a department head or committee head can deal with certain situations before it goes exclusively to the FOIA Administrator.
20	Idea 3.c	A FOIA request page should be setup on the town website and featured on the homepage. Requests should be submittal through that page, email, by hand or by mail. Make it easy.	Yes. and all FOIA request should be made public including the cost of the request.	See 3 above	I agree.
21	Idea 3.d	The FOIA Administrator should establish and maintain a real-time listing of all FOIA requests online, with confidential information redacted as needed. A summary scorecard that shows the number of FOIA requests received and the timing of request resolutions should be developed.	Agree. Net cost to produce also tallied and made public	Discuss	I am willing to explore this and am open to a summary scorecard.
22	Idea 3.e	A FOIA Ombudsman should be appointed to act as a “court of appeals” for any denied FOIA requests.	Will have to research law and precedent	Discuss, as FOIA already has an appeals process	I am open to appointing a FOIA Ombudsman, an independent third party outside direct association with the town. I see this as possibly an outside attorney who would bill us hourly (when this is needed).
23	Idea 4	Materials to be reviewed at public meetings and the underlying raw data and analysis should be available online for review at least 72 hours before the meeting. If it is not available by then, it should not be allowed to be included as part of the meeting.	Not always possible to post 72 hours before. exceptions can be made. Definition of "underlying" also important here as often that data in summary is not sensitive but underlying may be. so, it depends	I like aspiring to materials being distributed 3 business days before the meeting	I agree. 72 hours when possible, but it's the standard to which we hold ourselves.
24	Idea 5	All meetings should have as part of its permanent record a verbatim recording and a digitally searchable transcript that are made in real time.	If possible, yes. Do not currently agree with the term "all."	Agree in principle (would like to better understand the transcript process)	I agree.
25	Idea 6	Online posting of Key Metrics (KPIs or Key Performance Indicators) for each town department and the data behind those Key Metrics should be posted on a real-time basis. Citizens should see exactly what the 1st Selectman and Department Heads see on what is happening in the town.	See number 2 above	I like KPI's. "Real time" may not be realistic	I agree.
26	Idea 7	A Public Transparency Scorecard should be developed and maintained for each board/commission/department.	Have to better understand the metrics	Interesting. Like average timing of posting of meeting notices and packets?	I'm open to a Public Transparency Scorecard. We will need to discuss what metrics will be used and most useful to determine if we are making progress.