56°
NORWALK, Conn. – State Rep. Larry Cafero, R-Norwalk, was named the Legislator of the Year by the Connecticut Town Clerks Association for his efforts in helping pass a Freedom of Information law in the last legislative session.
The law eliminated mandates on town clerks when it comes to disclosing personal information about state and municipal workers. The clerks faced penalties for not redacting personal information about those workers, the clerks said. Without a change in the law, much of the paperwork that flows through Town Halls, such as land records, would have to be redacted.
“Our towns and cities could not function without the work our town clerks perform. Making their jobs easier and streamlining some of the bureaucratic roadblocks and additional work that Hartford sends their way is important,” Cafero said when accepting the award at the Water’s Edge in Westbrook. “In fact, I believe we can do much more to lessen the burden on our town clerks and help them be more efficient in serving the public.”
Cafero was a leading advocate, saying that the change in statute made sense and eliminated a major burden. “Sometimes common sense trumps the bureaucracy as it did in this case. These local officials are on the front line of government service and interact most closely with the public. Whatever we can do to make local government more efficient for the public makes the most sense.”
Comments (1)
This is the kind of legislative action we need MUCH MORE OFTEN from Hartford! Maybe some of our other legislators will take a BIG HINT from Larry's actions and make the lives of those they are supposed to represent and look closely at the amazing amount of red tape and ridiculous rules they have imposed on us and clean up and speed up the response we get from our government.
Hats off to Representative Cafero - maybe we could make him Speaker of the House in this next election!