WASHINGTON - Voices newspaper has filed a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission against the Washington Board of Selectmen.

According to the complaint, filed May 29, the Board of Selectmen apparently convened a meeting without public notice at which they agreed to oppose a proposed change to zoning regulations for accessory apartments.

Selectman Nicholas Solley, speaking during the public hearing of the Zoning Commission on May 19, said that he represented the Board of Selectmen in opposing a change to the proposed regulation.

Mr. Solley said the board met in "informal discussion" about this issue.

According to the Freedom of Information Act, any meeting at which town business is discussed must be noticed and conducted in a public venue, said FOI Staff Attorney Kathleen Ross.

"The Board of Selectmen may not meet in private to discuss town business under the FOI regulations," she told Voices.

There was no posted notice of a Board of Selectmen meeting regarding the proposed zoning regulation change, nor was the topic listed or discussed at any noticed Board of Selectmen meeting, Voices discovered.

Members of the Housing Commission and Planning Commission spoke at the May 19 Zoning public hearing regarding the regulation change and both commissions' opinions were documented in their meetings' minutes as having been publicly discussed.

First Selectman Mark Lyon, when asked, said the conversation had taken place in caucus. A caucus is defined as a gathering of two or more members of the same political party.

FOI Commission Counsel Lisa Siegel said that any quorum, which, in the case of the Washington Board of Selectmen, is two members of that board, constitutes an official meeting even if those present are from the same political party.

"Any formal or apparently formal gathering, meeting, proceeding or hearing is a meeting under the Freedom of Information Act if public business is discussed and cannot take place in private," she explained.

"Even if it's less than a quorum and they're talking public business, it's still a meeting."

Mr. Solley told Voices, "Given the fact that the selectmen did not formally discuss this, I should not have been speaking for the board."

Ms. Siegel said action would be taken on the complaint by the FOI Commission most likely in late June.

Complaints are screened for qualification, she said, before being docketed and assigned to an ombudsman for mediation.

The likely outcome of this particular complaint, she said, is that the Washington selectmen will be required to attend a seminar explaining the procedures for meetings.

If the complaint is not satisfactorily mediated, a hearing will be scheduled with the FOI Commission.