Kirton’s and Kingland’s Accounts of Incident leading to Sexual Harrassment Complaint

This post provides copies of letters written by Rickford Kirton and Annatouchur Kingland to the Bloomfield Messenger. These letters were printed on July 18, 2025 and July 25, 2025, respectively. Mr. Kirton submitted his account of the 2022 incident (that led to Ms. Kingland filing a formal complaint) first. Ms. Kingland stated that she then felt she had no choice but to share her story with the public. A copy of the July 14, 2025 Town Council agenda is also provided, since Mr. Kirton references this agenda in his letter.

July 14, 2025 Town Council Agenda

The first item listed under Agenda item IX. A “Update on Pending Claims, Litigations, and Investigations was “Former Councilman Rickford Kirton v Sexual Harrassment Victim #1 Investigation.”

A note on the agenda states “Per Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) ruling, Executive Session matters must be itemized on public agendas.” Mr. Kirton claimed the timing was politically motivated. However the FOIC had issued a decision in June (2024-0392 Frenaye v Town of Suffield) that in “order for the public to be fairly apprised of the reason for an executive session, the agency must give some indication of the specific topic to be addressed.” The Town of Bloomfield was complying with this ruling by the FOIC.

Mr. Kirton’s account

Kirton submitted a letter to the Bloomfield Messenger that was published on the bottom of page 9 of the July 18th edition. Back issues of the Messenger are not available online, so a pdf of page 9 is provided below.

Ms. Kingland’s account

Kingland responded one week later. Her letter can be found on the bottom of page 9 of the July 25th edition.

What’s the purpose of this post?

These two letters in the Bloomfield Messenger are the direct words of the two principals involved. It is still unclear why Mr. Kirton did not comply with the anti-harrassment training requirement. Doing so would have put the matter to rest (and it would not have come up on a Town Council agenda).