MERIDEN — City Council did not accept Thompson Candy Co.’s request for a $500,000 manufacturing loan during a remote meeting Tuesday night.
Council had to pass a resolution on the loan request. However, it was removed from the agenda ahead of the meeting after procedural issues were raised, according to company attorney Matthew McGoldrick.
Thompson Candy Co. submitted the loan application to expand production lines and modernize its operations on South Vine Street. The company received a similar loan from the city 15 years ago.
Meriden Economic Development Director Joseph Feest, City Manager Tim Coon, legal advisers and Councilman Michael Rohde, the current chairman of the Economic Development Housing and Zoning Committee, met with Thompson officials about business expansion and modernization plans.
That group then voted last week to recommend the deal to the full city council.
“There are procedural issues that have been raised that need to be clarified before the board takes any action. It was not appropriate for the board to take action on this at that time,” McGoldrick said.
McGoldrick did not discuss the nature of these procedural issues.
City councilors reached Deferred Comments on the matter in McGoldrick on Wednesday.
At least one resident, Colleen Cyr, who submitted public comments via email ahead of Tuesday’s council meeting, inferred that last week’s meeting that included city officials and Thompson representatives likely went wrong. held in violation of Connecticut’s open meeting laws.
Cyr, in that email, which was read into the minutes of the meeting, said the meeting that took place last week was a Meriden Manufacturing Assistance Agency meeting.
“These meetings are not noted on the city’s website calendar, and their agendas and minutes are not included in the agenda and minutes section of the website,” Cyr wrote. “I think they should be in order to comply with CT FOI requirements.”
A review of Meriden Manufacturing Assistance Agency agendas and minutes posted on Meridenbiz.com, the official website of the city’s Office of Economic Development, appears to confirm Cyr’s statement. No agendas for MMAA meetings have been posted on this website, nor on the city’s website.
A Record-Journal reporter discovered that the most recent articles published regarding the agency’s meetings were minutes of its meeting on May 16, 2016.
[email protected]:@MikeGagneRJ
