Groton — Groton City does not have to make public the full financial records of the once publicly owned Thames Valley Communications cable company, a Freedom of Information Commission hearing officer has found.

Hearing Officer Kathleen K. Ross wrote on March 31 that the financial information redacted from the company’s financial records is “commercially valuable, confidential or proprietary information” and is therefore exempt from disclosure. Ross' finding goes to the full Freedom of Information Commission for a hearing at 2 p.m. April 26 in Hartford.

Mayor Marian Galbraith said Friday she was pleased.

"It was not about the city. It was about a contractual obligation we had, and we were contractually obligated not to release financial records of the new owners of (Thames Valley) and we didn't," she said.

Former City Councilor Jay Dempsey sought the financial records because the company lost millions when it was publicly owned. Groton City borrowed $34.5 million to build Thames Valley Communications — once a private subsidiary of Groton Utilities — then ended the venture deeply in debt.

In January 2013, the city sold Thames Valley for $550,000 and took on $27.5 million in bond debt.

Dempsey asked for the full financial record but was denied, so he took his complaint to the Freedom of Information Commission in Hartford.

In December, Ross ordered the city to deliver the redacted sections to her "in camera," so she could look at them in private and decide if they were exempt from disclosure. She concluded that they are exempt.

Though Dempsey said he initially was disappointed after all the work he put into the fight, he's since thought differently.

“I now feel I have done the right thing and would do it again, no matter what happens,” he said. “We must hold our government officials accountable for the sake of good, honest government going into the future.” He said he hopes he prevails on April 26.

Dempsey said he also supports the bill introduced by state Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, to change the rules for financial reporting by municipally owned utilities. The bill, co-sponsored by the legislature’s joint Committee on Energy and Technology, would make municipal utility companies’ books and financial documents subject to disclosure.

Somers said she and other legislators are working on refining the language of the bill. Her goal is to hold municipally owned utilities and the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, which is under scrutiny after the revelation of lavish trips it hosted for co-op board members and guests to the Kentucky Derby, more accountable to ratepayers.

Those that hide behind the words "trade secret and confidential" are misinterpreting those words, she said.

"I think the ratepayers deserve better," she said. "And quite frankly, if there's nothing to hide, why don't you just disclose the information?"

d.straszheim@theday.com