The Bloomfield Community Dispatch

Investigative Legal Analysis The $1,500 Bailout: Taxpayers Paid Alvin Schwapp's Personal FOIC Fine Without a Council Vote By Peter C. Frank Editor-in-Chief, the Bloomfield Community Dispatch BLOOMFIELD, CT (October 23, 2026) — When the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) issues a civil penalty, it imposes that penalty on an individual official, not on the town. In July 2025, the Commission ordered Bloomfield Town Manager Alvin D. Schwapp, Jr. to pay $1,500. It found that he denied a records request "without reasonable grounds" and that parts of his testimony were "not credible." Bloomfield taxpayers paid the penalty instead. At a July 14, 2025 Town Council meeting, Schwapp said the fine would be paid by the Town. Then-Mayor Danielle C. Wong said the Town would pay it "per policy per state statute," but did not say which policy or statute. Councilor Cindi Lloyd called it "the custom." Council min...