Norwich ― Partisan debates erupted during Monday’s City Council meetings over appointments to two key agencies, with council minority Republicans accusing majority Democrats of politicizing economic development and possibly violating the state Freedom of Information Act.

At issues were council appointments to the Norwich Community Development Corp. board of directors and the School Building Committee overseeing the $385 million construction of four new elementary schools and extensive renovations to one middle school.

Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom said Wednesday he plans to file a complaint with the state Freedom of Information Commission challenging Monday’s 4-3 vote to appoint members to the School Building Committee, with the council’s four Democrats in favor and three Republicans against the measure.

An initial resolution for the School Building Committee called for appointing Democratic Alderman Mark Bettencourt, Democrat Shiela Hayes, Democratic Council President Pro Tempore Joseph DeLucia and Republican Alderwoman Stacy Gould to the building committee for the duration of their two-year council terms.

Bettencourt and Hayes already sat on the School Building Committee as members of the public, with Bettencourt as committee chairman, prior to their election on Nov. 7. Bettencourt on Monday asked for an amendment, approved 4-3 along party lines, which designated he and Hayes as “members of the public,” with no expiration date on their terms. DeLucia and Gould were named as council appointees through Dec. 1, 2025.

Nystrom and Gould questioned the split designation, with Nystrom arguing that Bettencourt and Hayes could not separate themselves from their sworn roles as council members. The appointments mean the School Building Committee now has a quorum of council members, raising another question of whether all its meetings constitute official council meetings.

Nystrom said he plans to file an FOI complaint arguing that Bettencourt and Hayes cannot serve as members of the public during their council terms.

Bettencourt said he raised the issue because he wants to continue serving as a public member of the committee during its critical role over the next several years in the school construction project. Bettencourt had served as an alderman previously and was a council appointee to a previous school building committee. When he unsuccessfully ran for mayor, winner Nystrom asked him to remain as a public appointee.

Nystrom said that is how the process should have been done this time as well.

Nystrom also accused Democrats of hypocrisy by naming a council quorum to the building committee. Moments earlier, DeLucia explained a resolution altering membership on an ad-hoc council-Board of Education budget committee that was needed to avoid having a quorum of the school board on that committee. The new resolution limited membership to three council members and four school board members. Previously, five school board members, a quorum of that nine-member board, were on the committee.

The appointment to the NCDC board was equally contentious. The majority Democrats named newcomer Hayes to the NCDC board and reappointed Democratic Alderman Swaranjit Singh Khalsa to serve along with Republican Nystrom. The appointments removed longtime NCDC board member, Alderwoman Stacy Gould from the NCDC board.

“I’m deeply disappointed that the council has made the unfortunate decision to make the council appointment to the NCDC board partisan,” Gould read prior to the vote. “Whether it was under (Democratic Mayor Deberey Hinchey) or Mayor Nystrom, the NCDC board was always a bipartisan body, and the appointments should reflect the previous years’ makeup.”

DeLucia countered that the NCDC board remains bipartisan, with the two Democrats and Republican Mayor Nystrom as voting members on the NCDC board. When Republicans held the council majority, the NCDC board had two Republicans and one Democrat. Under Hinchey’s term, there were two Democrats and one Republican.

“It is still bipartisan in that the mayor is still a voting member of the NCDC board,” DeLucia said.

Nystrom said the mayor’s appointment on NCDC is different, because it is written in the NCDC bylaws, rather than a council appointment.

c.bessette@theday.com