*3 Opinion

The plaintiff, the ethics commission of the town of Glastonbury, appeals1 from the trial court’s judgments dismissing the plaintiffs consolidated appeals from four decisions of the named defendant, the freedom of information commission (commission). In each decision, the commission had ordered the plaintiff to make and to maintain, for a period of three years, audio recordings of the plaintiffs executive sessions, or any other session closed to the public, after finding that the plaintiff had violated the open meetings provision of the Freedom of Information Act (act), General Statutes § 1-200 et seq., by convening in nonpublic sessions to discuss certain matters and further finding that the plaintiff had failed to comply with the commission’s orders to amend its minutes to reflect those discussions. The dispositive issue on appeal is whether the commission’s orders exceeded its remedial authority under the act. We conclude that they do, and, accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s judgments dismissing the plaintiffs appeals.

The record reveals the following undisputed facts and procedural history. Effective August, 2003, the town of Glastonbury (town) adopted a code of ethics and established the plaintiff to investigate complaints of ethics violations. The four orders at issue in the present appeal arose in connection with unrelated meetings conducted by the plaintiff on September 13, 2004, December 13, 2004, January 10, 2005, and February 28, 2005, from which the public was excluded. In the September 13, 2004 meeting, the plaintiff went into executive session2 for the stated purpose of *4“considering] written citizen communication containing potentially confidential information,” specifically, a complaint filed by the defendant town resident Karen Emerick3 alleging unethical conduct by members of the town council. Because the plaintiff had not yet finalized its procedures for addressing such complaints, it discussed how to respond to Emerick’s complaint, but did not address the merits of her allegations. At the three later meetings, the plaintiff met in closed session to consider requests for advisory opinions from various individuals, at which the plaintiff determined that it lacked jurisdiction over the matters. Following each of the four meetings, Emerick, individually, or in combination with the defendant town resident Dana Evans, filed a complaint with the commission alleging that the plaintiff had violated the open meetings provision of the act, General Statutes § 1-225 (a).

Between ten months and one year after each of the challenged meetings, the commission issued final deci*5sions on the complaints. In its August 10, 2005 final decision concerning the September 13, 2004 meeting, the commission concluded that the plaintiff had violated § 1-225 (a) by convening in executive session for an improper purpose and directed the plaintiff to “cause minutes to be filed of the September 13, 2004 executive session.” The order specified that “the minutes [shall] disclose what transpired ... to the same degree as would have been revealed by conducting the session in public.” On December 14, 2005, the commission issued final decisions concerning the three closed meetings held between December, 2004, and February, 2005, which in all relevant respects mirrored its final decision and order relating to the September 13, 2004 meeting. The plaintiff did not appeal from those decisions.

After the plaintiff filed amended minutes summarizing its actions at each of the challenged meetings, Emer-ick individually, or in combination with Evans, filed complaints with the commission alleging that the amended minutes were not in compliance with the commission’s orders. The commission first issued its decision with respect to the minutes of the September 13, 2004 meeting, concluding that the plaintiff had not complied with the commission’s order because the minutes did not disclose what had transpired to the same degree as would have been revealed by conducting the session in public. With respect to relief, the commission concluded “that it would [not] be fruitful to continue to order the [plaintiff] to comply with its order . . . given the apparent resistance of the majority of [the plaintiffs members] to comply, the passage of time, and the turnover in the [plaintiffs] membership.”4 The commission *6determined, however, that meaningful relief was necessary “to rectify the denial of the public’s right to attend the September 13, 2004 meeting in its entirety, and to rectify the denial of the public’s right to have the [plaintiff] comply with an order of the [commission to create minutes of executive sessions or other closed meetings of the [plaintiff] . . . To provide such relief, the commission issued the following order: “Beginning [ninety] days following the issuance of this final decision, and continuing for a period of three years thereafter, the [plaintiff] shall make and maintain an electronic audio recording of each of its executive sessions, or any other meeting of the [plaintiff] that is closed to the public. All such audio recordings shall be preserved for the entire three year period .... The [plaintiff] may withhold from public disclosure each such audio recording unless it is found by the [c]ommission that the session so recorded was held in violation of § 1-225 . . . .” The commission set forth the following procedure under which it would make such a finding: “In the event that a complaint is filed alleging a violation by the [plaintiff] of the open meetings provision of the . . . [a]ct, such recordings shall be made available to the [c]ommission for in camera inspection.” In its later decisions addressing the minutes for the three meetings held between December, 2004, and February, 2005, the commission made identical findings and issued identical orders.

The plaintiff appealed from the commission’s decisions to the Superior Court, challenging the orders principally on statutory grounds. First, the plaintiff contended that such prospective relief exceeded the commission’s remedial authority under General Statutes § 1-206 (b) (2). Second, the plaintiff contended that the orders violated: (1) the legislature’s intent to allow the recording of public meetings only, not executive sessions, as reflected in General Statutes §§ 1-225 and *71-226, as well as rejected amendments to the act that would have required the recording of executive sessions; (2) the protection afforded to confidential communications between the plaintiff and its attorney relating to litigation, as reflected in General Statutes § 1-210 (b) (10); and (3) the bar against disclosure of confidential information in complaints and investigations relating to allegations of unethical conduct by public officials under General Statutes §§ l-82a and 7-148h. Third, the plaintiff contended that the orders would have an undue chilling effect on its ability to engage in the aforementioned confidential communications. Finally, the plaintiff challenged the substantive basis for the commission’s orders, claiming that it substantially had complied with the initial orders to amend the minutes and that the subsequent orders were an abuse of discretion.

Pursuant to motions filed by the plaintiff, the trial court stayed the commission’s orders pending appeal, and consolidated the appeals for hearing. In its memorandum of decision, the court limited its analysis to the questions of whether the orders had exceeded the commission’s remedial authority under the act and whether the legislature had intended to preclude the recording of executive sessions. As to the first question, the court concluded that the commission’s authority was not limited to the specific remedies provided in § 1-206 (b) (2), because “the commission has broad authority to fashion individualized remedies as befits the particular appeal that comes before it, as long as the remedy is specifically tailored ‘to rectify the denial of any right conferred by the . . . [a]ct.’ ” The court also concluded that there was no statutory bar to ordering the recording of executive sessions. Accordingly, the trial court dismissed the appeals.5 This appeal followed.

*8Although the plaintiff renews all of the claims that it had raised before the trial court, the dispositive issue, in our view, is whether an order prospectively directing the plaintiff to record its executive sessions for the next three years exceeds the commission’s remedial authority under the act. We conclude that it does.

“It is well established that an administrative agency possesses no inherent power. Its authority is found in a legislative grant, beyond the terms and necessary implications of which it cannot lawfully function. Adam v. Connecticut Medical Examining Board, 137 Conn. 535, 537-38, 79 A.2d 350 (1951).” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Nizzardo v. State Traffic Commission, 259 Conn. 131, 155, 788 A.2d 1158 (2002). Indeed, “[a]n administrative agency, as a tribunal of limited jurisdiction, must act strictly within its statutory authority. ... It is a familiar principle that [an administrative agency] which exercises a limited and statutory jurisdiction is without jurisdiction to act unless it does so under the precise circumstances and in the manner particularly prescribed by the enabling legislation.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 156.

The specific question before us, therefore, is whether the legislative grant of remedial authority to the commission under § 1-206 (b), by its express terms or necessary implication, authorizes the commission to issue the prospective relief ordered in the present case. Because the question is one of statutory construction, we afford plenary review, guided by well established principles regarding legislative intent. See Hartford/ Windsor Healthcare Properties, LLC v. Hartford, 298 Conn. 191, 197-98, 3 A.3d 56 (2010) (explaining plain meaning rule under General Statutes § l-2z and setting forth process for ascertaining legislative intent).

*9We begin with the text of § 1-206 (b) (2), which provides in relevant part: “In any appeal to the . . . [commission under subdivision (1) of this subsection or subsection (c) of this section, the commission may confirm the action of the agency or order the agency to provide relief that the commission, in its discretion, believes appropriate to rectify the denial of any right conferred by the . . . [a]ct. The commission may declare null and void any action taken at any meeting which a person was denied the right to attend and may require the production or copying of any public record. In addition, upon the finding that a denial of any right created by the . . . [a]ct was without reasonable grounds . . . the commission may, in its discretion, impose against the custodian or other official a civil penalty of not less than twenty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars. ...”

In the present case, the commission did not order any of the remedies specified in the second sentence of the statute or impose the penalty specified in the third sentence of the statute. Therefore, this appeal turns on the meaning of the first sentence, authorizing the commission to “order the agency to provide relief that the commission, in its discretion, believes appropriate to rectify the denial of any right conferred by the . . . [a]ct.” General Statutes § 1-206 (b) (2). In considering this question, we are mindful that “an administrative agency’s discretion as to what penalty to impose is not completely unfettered, and the matter of choice of remedies is open to a limited review to the extent of providing safeguards against statutory or constitutional excesses.” 2 Am. Jur. 2d 388, Administrative Law § 463 (2004).

In its brief to this court, the plaintiff initially contended that the first sentence simply confers discretion on the commission to choose any of the remedies provided in the second and third sentences, or a combina*10tion thereof. At oral argument, however, the plaintiff modified its position and conceded that the first sentence authorizes the commission to order relief separate and apart from the remedies provided in the other two sentences. The plaintiff nonetheless posited that such relief is limited to that which would rectify a right previously denied to the complainants, such as an order deeming void actions taken at an improperly closed meeting, and does not include prospective relief to remedy a violation of the act that has not yet occurred.

Conversely, the commission contends that § 1-206 (b) (2) confers on it broad discretion. It contends that the statute must be construed to allow it to order prospective relief, because some violations cannot be corrected and the violator must face some consequences for its actions. As an example, the commission cites instances in which a public agency has violated the dictate that it must provide public records “promptly.” General Statutes § 1-212 (a). The commission asserts that, in many such cases, prospective relief is “a more appropriate method of rectifying the wrong than the issuance of a civil penalty.” We agree with the plaintiff to the extent that the act does not authorize the commission to impose an obligation that the act itself does not demand and that bears no direct remedial effect on the violation established by the complaint.

To “rectify” simply means to “make or set right” or “remedy.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1993); Random House Dictionary of the English Language (2d Ed. 1987). The “denial” in § 1-206 (b) (2) appears to refer to the particular refusal of the public agency or official to afford a member, or members, of the public a right conferred under the act. Therefore, the phrase “rectify the denial” in § 1-206 (b) (2) would appear to mean corrective measures to make right a past wrong. Indeed, such an interpretation is consistent with the expressly authorized remedies in § 1-206 (b) *11(2)—namely, to “declare null and void any action taken at any meeting which a person was denied the right to attend” and to “require the production or copying of any public record.” Although § 1-206 (b) (2) imposes a clear limitation on the relief to the extent that it must accomplish this purpose, it does not expressly address the type of prospective relief ordered in the present case. Indeed, whether any particular remedy is tailored to rectify the denial of a right under the act necessarily will turn on the nature of the violation, including whether the complaint involves a discrete or continuous violation of rights under the act. Therefore, we turn to the specific rights found by the commission to have been violated.

The commission’s decisions cited as the denied rights to be rectified: “the public’s right to attend the [September 13, 2004, December 13, 2004, January 10, 2005, or February 28, 2005 meetings] . . . and . . . the public’s right to have the [plaintiff] comply with an order of the [c]ommission to create minutes of executive sessions or other closed meetings of the [plaintiff] . . . .” It is clear, however, that recording future executive sessions would not rectify the exclusion of the complainants, or the public, from the four closed meetings. Nor would such future recordings rectify the plaintiffs failure to provide sufficiently detailed minutes of the meetings from which the complainants were excluded, the provision of which was intended to rectify that exclusion. With respect to the commission’s right to obtain compliance with its orders, as the Appellate Court recently noted, “the legal right at issue in any given complaint to the commission belongs to the complainant, not the commission. It is the complainant’s interest that the commission is tasked with vindicating, not its own.” Dept. of Public Safety v. Freedom of Information Commission, 103 Conn. App. 571, 582, 930 A.2d 739, cert. denied, 284 Conn. 930, 934 A.2d 245 (2007).

*12Thus, we are left with the question of whether the act authorizes the commission to order the plaintiff to record future executive sessions because the plaintiff possibly may, in the future, improperly consider matters in executive or closed sessions that should have been considered in public meetings and the commission may want to use those recordings to ensure that a public record can be made available, if necessary. We conclude that it does not.

The legislature has provided specific sanctions in the act to deter future violations. As previously noted, an unreasonable denial of a right under the act exposes a public official to civil penalties. General Statutes § 1-206 (b) (2). A public official’s failure to comply with an order from the commission exposes the official to potential criminal sanctions. General Statutes § 1-240 (b) (“[a]ny member of any public agency who fails to comply with an order of the . . . [c]ommission shall be guilty of a class B misdemeanor and each occurrence of failure to comply with such order shall constitute a separate offense”). Although the commission chose not to pursue either of these sanctions,6 their availability undermines the commission’s contention that the authority to issue relief that bears no connection to remedying a past violation of the act is either authorized by § 1-206 (b) (2) or as a necessary implication of the authority conferred on the commission by the act.

Nor does the genealogy and legislative history of § 1-206 (b) (2) suggest that the legislature intended to confer such sweeping authority on the commission. The language at issue in the present case was adopted in 1977. Public Acts 1977, No. 77-609, § 6 (P.A. 77-609). Prior to July, 1977, § 1-206 (b), then codified at General *13Statutes (Rev. to 1977) § 1-2 li (b), provided in relevant part: “Any person denied the right to inspect or copy records ... or wrongfully denied the right to attend any meeting of a public agency may appeal therefrom ... to the . . . commission .... Said commission shall . . . decide the appeal ... by confirming the action of the agency or ordering the agency to comply forthwith. It may, in its sound discretion, declare any or all actions taken at any meeting to which such person was denied the right to attend null and void.”7 (Emphasis added.) An order to comply forthwith, i.e., immediately, or an order declaring an action void would simply compel compliance with a preexisting obligation under the act or render invalid an act not in conformity with those obligations. It reasonably would not encompass authority to issue a mandatory injunction to compel conduct not otherwise required under the act to address a potential future violation of the act.

Significantly, the commission drafted and proposed the amendments to the statute in 1977, which the legislature ultimately adopted as part of P.A. 77-609, § 6. See 20 S. Proc., Pt. 9, 1977 Sess., p. 3478; Conn. Joint Standing Committee Hearings, Government Administration and Policy, Pt. 2, 1977 Sess., pp. 422, 426-27. Public Act 77-609, § 6 (b), amended General Statutes (Rev. to 1977) § 1-2 li (b) by adding the following language, indicated in capital letters: “Any person denied the right to inspect or copy records under section 1-19 ... or wrongfully denied the right to attend any meeting of a public agency OR DENIED ANY OTHER RIGHT CONFERRED BY SECTIONS 1-15, 1-18a, 1-19 TO l-19b, INCLUSIVE AND 1-21 TO 1-2Ik,8 INCLUSIVE . . . may appeal *14therefrom ... to the . . . commission .... Said commission shall . . . decide the appeal ... by confirming the action of the agency or ordering the agency to comply forthwith WITH SUCH RELIEF AS THE COMMISSION, IN ITS SOUND DISCRETION, BELIEVES APPROPRIATE TO RECTIFY THE DENIAL OF ANY RIGHT CONFERRED BY SAID SECTIONS. . . . SUCH ORDER MAY DECLARE any and all actions taken at any meeting to which such person was denied the right to attend null and void AND MAY REQUIRE THE PRODUCTION OR COPYING OF ANY PUBLIC RECORD.” (Emphasis added.) In a statement submitted to the legislature, the commission explained that the purpose of the amendments was to “clarify” that there was a right to appeal from a denial of any right provided under the act, not just the right to inspect or copy documents or to attend meetings, and that there was a remedy for a violation of any such right. Conn. Joint Standing Committee Hearings, supra, pp. 426-27.9 There is no suggestion in the commission’s explanation that its *15existing remedial authority was inadequate to remedy denials of those rights already enumerated, nor any suggestion that the commission was seeking a significant expansion of that authority to include relief that does not remediate a past violation of a right or rights conferred under the act. Nor is there any such indication in the brief remarks on the floor of the Senate explaining the amendments. See 20 S. Proc., supra, pp. 3477-78.10

The commission claims, however, that its authority necessarily must be construed to allow it to order prospective relief that does- not directly remedy a past violation because there are cases in which the past injury cannot be rectified, and that there must be meaningful consequences for noncompliance. We disagree. We first point out that the present case is not one in which there were no other methods available to rectify the denial of the complainants’ right to attend the meetings at issue. The commission could have declared all actions taken at those meetings null and void and ordered the plaintiff to reconvene those meetings in public. Moreover, the commission could have expedited its resolution of the complaints under § 1-206 (b) (1) of the act, which establishes an expedited process for *16hearing appeals that concern an agency’s decision to meet in executive session which undoubtedly would have increased the likelihood that the plaintiff would have been better able to reconstruct detailed minutes of those meetings. Finally, as we previously noted, the legislature has authorized specific sanctions to deter future denials. See General Statutes §§ 1-206 (b) (2) and 1-240 (b).

We are mindful that, for many years, the commission has issued certain types of orders that have prospective effect. Specifically, the commission regularly has ordered agencies or officials “henceforth” to act in strict accordance with the act generally or with a specific provision of the act, and, in connection with such orders, it periodically has ordered officials to attend educational workshops on the act.11 Although the propriety of such orders is not before us in the present case, we note that they axe substantively distinguishable *17from the orders in the present case. Orders directing an agency or official to comply henceforth with the act do not impose a new legal obligation, but, instead, simply give further effect to the legal obligations already imposed under the act. Moreover, such orders may help to effectuate the sanctions provided for in the act by putting the agency or official on notice that future noncompliance may expose the offending actor to civil or criminal penalties. Similarly, orders requiring public officials to participate in training sessions provide a basis from which the commission can ascertain whether such sanctions are warranted. By contrast, orders requiring the plaintiff to record executive sessions impose an obligation beyond those required under the act, expose the plaintiff to the possibility of criminal sanctions for violating orders that do not rectify the denial of a right under the act and bear no direct connection to the enforcement of sanctions under the act. Indeed, the plaintiffs failure to record an executive session would violate the commission’s orders, even if the plaintiff properly conducted the closed session.

The present case does not require us to make any broad pronouncements. Rather, we simply must determine whether the commission has authority to issue the particular orders in the present case, either under the specific terms of the statute or as a matter of a necessary implication of its authority under the act. Because the orders do not “rectify the denial of any right conferred by the . . . [act]”; General Statutes § 1-206 (b) (2); we answer that question in the negative. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court improperly concluded that the commission had authority under § 1-206 (b) (2) to order the plaintiff to make and to maintain audio recordings of its executive or closed sessions for the next three years.

The judgments are reversed and the cases are remanded with direction to render judgments in favor of the plaintiff.

*18In this opinion NORCOTT, ZARELLA, EVELEIGH and VERTEFEUILLE, Js., concurred.

concurring.

Because I agree with the plaintiff, the ethics commission of the town of Glastonbury, that the relief ordered in the present case by the named defendant, the freedom of information commission (commission),1 constituted an abuse of discretion under General Statutes § 1-206 (b) (2), I also agree with the majority that the judgments of the trial court must be reversed. I disagree, however, with the majority’s reasoning, namely, that the commission lacks the authority to remediate a violation of the Freedom of Information Act (act), General Statutes § 1-200 et seq., by directing the plaintiff to engage in certain future conduct, namely, recording its executive sessions for the next three years, because I see no reason why the commission is categorically prohibited from imposing such prospective relief. In my view, the majority’s conclusion has no support in the language of the act, in its legislative history or in its broad, remedial purpose. On the contrary, prospective relief of the general type imposed in the present case falls comfortably within the broad grant of remedial authority afforded the commission under § 1-206 (b) (2). Nevertheless, I would reverse the trial court’s judgments because I believe that the remedy that the commission imposed constituted an abuse of discretion under the facts presented.

I

I turn first to the majority’s determination that the act forecloses the commission from imposing any remedy, including the remedy imposed in the present case, that “bears no direct remedial effect on the violation estab*19lished by the complaint” because of its prospective nature. Under General Statutes § 1-206 (b) (2), the commission is authorized to “order the agency to provide relief that the commission, in its discretion, believes appropriate to rectify the denial of any right conferred by the . . . [a]ct.”2 Despite this expansive language, the majority concludes that § 1-206 (b) (2) does not vest the commission with authority to order that an agency engage in specified conduct in the future, unless the order “bears [a] direct remedial effect” on the violation, because, in the majority’s view, any other order cannot be deemed to “rectify,” that is, to make or set right, or remedy,3 “the denial of [a] right conferred by the . . . [a]ct . . . .” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Thus, under the majority’s analysis, § 1-206 (b) (2) operates as a strict limitation on the commission’s authority to issue a remedial order that goes beyond requiring the offending agency to take only those steps necessary to fix or correct the violation at issue. In other words, the majority concludes that the act precludes the commission from imposing any remedy that requires an agency to implement measures that will eliminate or reduce the likelihood of any similar future violations, no matter how likely or flagrant those future violations may be. I disagree with this interpretation of § 1-206 (b) (2).

At the outset, it bears emphasis that “the legislature’s use of a broad term in an administrative context, without attempting to define that term, evinces a legislative *20judgment that the agency should define the parameters of that term on a case-by-case basis.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Celentano v. Rocque, 282 Conn. 645, 653, 923 A.2d 709 (2007); accord Ottochian v. Freedom of Information Commission, 221 Conn. 393, 398-99, 604 A.2d 351 (1992); cf. West Hartford Education Assn., Inc. v. DeCourcy, 162 Conn. 566, 580-81, 295 A.2d 526 (1972). As the Appellate Court has explained, the language of § 1-206 (b) (2) authorizing the commission to provide relief that the commission, “in its sound discretion, believes appropriate to rectify the denial of any right conferred by [the act],” constitutes a “broad grant of authority [to the commission] to remedy violations of the disclosure provisions of the [act] . . . .” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Horn v. Freedom of Information Commission, 16 Conn. App. 49, 52-53, 547 A.2d 56 (1988). Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a more expansive grant of remedial authority than that conferred on the commission by § 1-206 (b) (2). The majority, however, limits that authority in a way that cannot be reconciled with the exceedingly broad language used by the legislature when it enacted § 1-206 (b) (2). Moreover, “[c]ourts grant an agency particular deference when it has expertise in a given area and a history of determining factual and legal questions similar to those at issue.” Celentano v. Rocque, supra, 653; see also MacDermid, Inc. v. Dept, of Environmental Protection, 257 Conn. 128, 139, 778 A.2d 7 (2001). Of course, the commission regularly has been called on to craft appropriate remedies under § 1-206 (b) (2) since that remedial authority was granted to the commission in 1977; Public Acts 1977, No. 77-609, § 6; just two years after the commission itself came into being with the passage of the act. See Public Acts 1975, No. 75-342, §15.

The broad language of § 1-206 (b) (2) is fully consistent with “[t]he overarching legislative policy of [the *21act, namely] one that favors the open conduct of government and free public access to government records. . . . The sponsors of the [act] understood the legislation to express the people’s sovereignty over the agencies which serve them . . . and this court consistently has interpreted that expression to require diligent protection of the public’s right of access to agency proceedings.” (Emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.) Board of Selectmen v. Freedom of Information Commission, 294 Conn. 438, 450, 984 A.2d 748 (2010). Because our construction of § 1-206 (b) (2) is guided by these policies, on which the act is founded, that provision must be viewed as affording the commission significant leeway in determining how best to address violations of the act. The majority gives no weight to these important considerations in concluding that § 1-206 (b) (2) prohibits the commission from imposing any prospective remedy unless that remedy is, necessary to correct the violation that already has occurred.

The majority acknowledges, as it must, that, “for many years, the commission has issued certain types of orders that have prospective effect.” In particular, the commission frequently has mandated that an agency comply, in the future, with the commission’s interpretation of what the act requires. The commission also has ordered officials of offending agencies to attend educational workshops on the act. Although observing that “the propriety of such orders is not before [the court] in the present case,” the majority attempts to place such orders outside the purview of its holding, asserting that they are “substantively distinguishable from the orders in the present case.” Apparently, the majority seeks to distinguish these orders because they obviously provide an effective means for ensuring compliance with the act by agencies that have failed to do so, in some cases repeatedly. See, e.g., Massaro v. Board *22of Fire Commissioners, Freedom of Information Commission, Docket No. FIC 1996-76 (August 28, 1996) (directing agency’s future compliance with provisions of act as interpreted by commission and ordering that agency members attend workshop on act conducted by commission because of agency’s repeated violations of act). Although it is no doubt true that those orders are “substantively distinguishable” in a number of important respects from the remedy imposed in the present case, they cannot be distinguished from the present remedy on the basis that they bear a “direct remedial effect” on the violation. On the contrary, it is readily apparent that neither of these remedies has any “direct remedial effect” on the violation itself. Rather, each such remedy is designed to ensure future compliance with the requirements of the act, just like the remedy that the commission imposed in the present case.4

*23The majority’s unsuccessful attempt to save these two prospective remedies from its construction of § 1-206 (b) (2) as barring any order that “bears no direct remedial effect” on the violation underscores the fundamental flaw in the majority’s analysis. Because the remedies of requiring future compliance with the act and attendance at a workshop on the act clearly are beneficial, and because there is nothing in the language or purpose of the act to suggest that these remedies fall outside the authority of the commission, it is apparent why the majority seeks to distinguish them from the category of remedies that the majority concludes are unauthorized under § 1-206 (b) (2). The majority’s effort to do so is unavailing, however, because, as I explained, neither the remedy of requiring future compliance with the act nor the remedy of requiring attendance at a workshop on the act reasonably can be deemed to have a “direct remedial effect” on the violation. Yet to avoid prohibiting the use of those prospective remedies in the future, the majority insists that they have such an effect rather than reconsider the logic of its conclusion that only remedies with a direct remedial effect are authorized under § 1-206 (b) (2).

As this court explained some years ago, the act “expresses a strong legislative policy in favor of the open conduct of government and free public access to government records. ... At the time of its unanimous passage by the General Assembly, the act was noted for making ‘sweeping changes’ in the existing ‘right to know’ law so as to ‘mark a new era in Connecticut with respect to opening up the doors of city and state government to the people of Connecticut.’ 18 S. Proc., Pt. 5,1975 Sess., p. 2323; 18 H.R. Proc., Pt. 8,1975 Sess., p. 3907. The general rule under the act is disclosure. ... As Representative Martin B. Burke, who spon*24sored the bill which was enacted, expressly stated on the floor of the house, the intent of the act ‘[was] to make every public record and every public meeting open to the public at all times with certain specified exclusions.’ 18 H.R. Proc., [supra], p. 3907.” (Citations omitted.) Board of Trustees v. Freedom of Information Commission, 181 Conn. 544, 550, 436 A.2d 266 (1980). In accordance "with this view of the purpose, import and reach of the act, the legislature intentionally chose broad and inclusive language in crafting the act’s remedial provision, that is, § 1-206 (b) (2), and the majority’s cramped interpretation of the provision is manifestly incompatible with that wording. Indeed, the majority’s construction thwarts the public policy underlying the act by limiting the remedial authority of the commission in a manner unintended by the legislature. That construction is particularly unfortunate because agencies subject to the act are fully protected from any unreasonable or inappropriate remedial order under the abuse of discretion standard that the legislature itself had chosen to adopt in broadly authorizing the commission to issue any order that the commission, “in its discretion, believes appropriate to rectify the denial of any right conferred” by the act. (Emphasis added.) General Statutes § 1-206 (b) (2).

II

Applying that standard to the orders in the present case, which require that the plaintiff tape-record its executive and closed sessions for a period of three years, I would conclude that the orders were, indeed, an abuse of discretion. The following facts and procedural history are relevant to my conclusion in that regard. As the majority has explained, the town of Glastonbury adopted a code of ethics (code) in July, 2003, and, *25pursuant to General Statutes § 7-148h (a),5 established the plaintiff to investigate complaints alleging violations of the code. Pursuant to General Statutes § l-82a (a),6 the plaintiff is required to keep all ethics complaints confidential until it determines that the allegations are supported by probable cause. The plaintiff, which consists of seven volunteer members, was tasked with drafting the rules, procedures and forms necessary to carry out its duties, a process that took more than one year. The four orders at issue in this appeal arose in connection with four unrelated meetings that the plaintiff conducted on September 13, 2004, December 13, 2004, January 10, 2005, and February 28, 2005, from which the public was excluded. All four meetings took place within a six month period preceding or following *26the plaintiffs adoption of its governing rules and procedures. Following each of the meetings, Karen Emerick, alone or together with Dana Evans, filed a complaint with the commission alleging that the plaintiff had violated the act by conducting the meeting in executive or closed session.

At its September 13, 2004 meeting, the plaintiff went into executive session to consider a complaint filed by Emerick on August 23, 2004, alleging violations of the code by members of the town council. Following its receipt of the complaint, the plaintiff sent Emerick a letter informing her that, under its proposed rules and procedures, which were not yet finalized, it would not receive “[c]omplaints” directly from the public but, rather, would receive “[inquiries” from the public that, after an investigation, might or might not result in the filing of a formal complaint. The letter indicated that, for the time being, the plaintiff would treat Emerick’s complaint as “correspondence,” which it would address at its next meeting. At that meeting, the plaintiff indicated that it had received its first ethics complaint, that the complaint had been filed on an incorrect form and that it was not yet ready to receive or investigate complaints but that it had planned to meet in executive session immediately following the public portion of the meeting to discuss the complaint and to determine what to do with it. The executive session that followed lasted approximately forty minutes, during which the plaintiff discussed the contents of Emerick’s complaint but not its merits. The plaintiff otherwise took no action of any kind on the complaint.

On September 15, 2004, the plaintiff sent a letter to Emerick informing her that it had treated her complaint as an “[i]nquiry” for purposes of its September 13, 2004 meeting but that it was not yet prepared to accept such inquiries because its procedures “were still in the process of being refined” and had not yet been approved *27by the town’s legal counsel. The letter stated that it “looked forward to entertaining [Emerick’s] ‘request’ when presented in the proper form.” Thereafter, on November 8, 2004, the plaintiff sent Emerick a “packet of materials” to assist her in submitting her inquiry in the proper form if she remained interested in pursuing her complaint against the town council members. At the December 13, 2004, January 10, 2005, and February 28, 2005 meetings, the plaintiff met in closed session to consider unrelated requests for advisory opinions from two local officials regarding ethics concerns relative to their jobs.7

On August 10, 2005, the commission issued its decision concerning the September 13, 2004 executive session, concluding that the plaintiff had violated the act by meeting in executive session to discuss Emerick’s complaint because, inter alia, § 1-200 (6)8 does not per*28mit an agency to meet in executive session for such a purpose. In reaching its decision, the commission rejected the plaintiffs contention that the executive session was proper under §§ l-82a and 7-148h, which require the plaintiff to maintain the confidentiality of its investigations into alleged ethics violations until it determines that there is probable cause to support the allegations. The commission concluded that, because the plaintiff had elected to treat Emerick’s complaint as “correspondence” rather than as a complaint, the meeting did not fall within the purview of §§ l-82a and 7-148h.9 The commission issued an order requiring the plaintiff, within ninety days, to “cause minutes to be filed of the September 13, 2004 executive session. In preparing such minutes, the [plaintiff] shall ensure that the minutes disclose what transpired in [the] executive session to the same degree as would have been revealed by conducting the session in public.”

*29On December 14, 2005, the commission issued its decisions concerning the December 13, 2004, January 10, 2005, and February 28, 2005 meetings, concluding that the plaintiff had violated the act by meeting in executive session on those days to discuss requests for advisory opinions because, inter alia, § 1-200 (6) does not permit an agency to meet in executive session for that purpose. The commission further concluded that the meetings were improper under §§ l-82a and 7-148h because discussions relating to requests for advisory opinions do not pertain to the investigation of alleged ethics violations within the meaning of those statutes. The commission again ordered the plaintiff to file minutes of all three meetings disclosing what had transpired in the meetings “to the same degree as would have been revealed by conducting the session[s] in public.”

By the time the commission issued its August 10 and December 14, 2005 orders, only two of the plaintiffs original members who were present at the four challenged meetings were still members. After the plaintiff filed amended minutes summarizing its actions at each of the meetings,10 Emerick, either individually or *30together with Evans, filed complaints with the commission alleging that the amended minutes were not in compliance with the August 10 and December 14, 2005 orders. Hearings were conducted on these new complaints subsequent to which the commission issued the orders at issue in this appeal. With respect to the amended minutes from the September 13, 2004 executive session, the commission found in relevant part: “For a variety of reasons, the [commission finds that the [a]mended [m] imites are not consistent with the facts previously found concerning the September 13, 2004 meeting . . . and do not comply with the [commission’s order [of August 10, 2005].” “First, it is found that the [September 13, 2004] executive session . . . *31lasted approximately [forty] minutes . . . but that the [a]mended [m]inutes do not reveal any details consistent with a discussion of that length. While the [a]mended [m]inutes might arguably be a summary of the [forty] minute discussion, they do not disclose what transpired to the same degree as would have been revealed by conducting a [forty] minute session in public.” “Further, [at the commission hearing that resulted in the August 10, 2005 order], the [plaintiff] contended that it convened in executive session to avoid embarrassing a public employee or having allegations aired in public that were ultimately determined to have no substance. Since nothing in the amended minutes could conceivably embarrass a public employee, and nothing in the amended minutes airs any allegations in public, it is found that either the [plaintiff] misrepresented its purpose for convening in executive session ... or it failed to disclose matters discussed in executive session in its [a]mended [mjinutes.” “Additionally, at the [commission hearing that resulted in the August 10, 2005 order], the chair [person] of the [plaintiff] testified that the [plaintiff] actually discussed the ‘correspondence,’ although the discussion was asserted to be different from discussion of the correspondence as an ethics complaint or inquiry. However, it is found that nothing in the [a]mended [mjinutes reflects any details of the discussion of the correspondence, either as an ethics complaint or otherwise, beyond the bald assertion that the correspondence was ‘briefly discussed.’ ” “The [commission does not believe that imposing a civil penalty in this case will cure the memories of the [plaintiffs] members ... or produce better minutes of the September 13, 2004 executive session.” “The [commission does not believe that it would be fruitful to continue to order the [plaintiff] to comply with [the commission’s] order [of August 10, 2005], given the apparent resistance of . . . the [plaintiff] to comply, the passage *32of time, and the turnover in the [plaintiffs] membership.”

The commission therefore ordered that the plaintiff, “[beginning [ninety] days following the issuance of [the] final decision, and continuing for a period of three years thereafter . . . make and maintain an electronic audio recording of each of its executive sessions, or any other meeting of the [plaintiff] that is closed to the public. All such audio recordings shall be preserved for the entire [three year] period . . . .” The commission also noted that, “[i]n the event that a complaint is filed alleging a violation by the [plaintiff] of the open meetings provisions of the . . . [a]ct, such recordings shall be made available to the [Commission for in camera inspection.”

With respect to the amended minutes of the December 13, 2004, January 10, 2005, and February 28, 2005 meetings, the commission found that the plaintiff had failed to comply with the commission’s orders directing the plaintiff to cause such minutes to be filed because the amended minutes were not sufficiently detailed with respect to the discussions that occurred at the challenged meetings. The commission ordered the same relief as it had ordered with respect to the amended minutes of the September 13, 2004 meeting.

The plaintiff appealed from the commission’s decisions, claiming, inter aha, that the orders directing it to make and maintain audio recordings of its executive and closed sessions for a period of three years exceeded the commission’s statutory authority under § 1-206 (b) (2) and were arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion because, inter aha, the evidence and findings of the commission did “not justify the substantial intrusion and prejudice that result from the order[s] . . . .” With respect to the latter claim, the plaintiff contended that two of the commission’s stated reasons for concluding *33that no other remedy would suffice, namely, the passage of time and the turnover in the plaintiffs membership, clearly were not the product of intentional noncompliance but, rather, were “solely the product of delays in the [commission] process itself.” The plaintiff contended that the orders “ignore [d] the presumption that public officials will perform their duties in good faith and in a manner loyal to the public” and would have a “chilling effect” on the plaintiffs work because the plaintiffs members, witnesses and others who appear before the plaintiff may be reluctant to discuss potential ethics violations openly and frankly if they know their statements axe being recorded. Finally, the plaintiff contended that the commission’s finding that the plaintiff had failed to comply with the commission’s August 10 and December 14, 2005 orders was clearly erroneous in view of the reliable, probative and substantial evidence in the record.

In its memorandum of decision dismissing the plaintiffs appeals, the trial court addressed only the plaintiffs claim that the commission had exceeded its remedial authority under the act. After the trial court issued its decision, the plaintiff sought an articulation of the legal and factual bases underlying the trial court’s rejection of its other claims, which the trial court denied. The plaintiff subsequently filed with the Appellate Court a motion for review of the trial court’s denial of its motion for articulation. The Appellate Court granted the motion and granted the relief requested therein as to two of the requested articulations only, including an articulation of the factual and legal bases of the trial court’s conclusion that the plaintiff had failed to comply with the commission’s August 10 and December 14, 2005 orders.11 Thereafter, the trial court *34issued an articulation stating that it had upheld the commission's finding that the plaintiff had faded to comply with the orders because the September 13,2004 executive session had lasted forty minutes but the amended minutes “gave no indication” of the nature and substance of the discussion that had taken place during the meeting.

On appeal, the plaintiff renews all of the claims that it raised in the trial court. In particular, the plaintiff claims that the trial court incorrectly concluded that the commission did not abuse its discretion in ordering the plaintiff to make and maintain audio recordings of its executive and closed sessions for a period of three years. In support of this claim, the plaintiff cites the chilling effect that the orders will have on the plaintiffs ability to engage in confidential communications with its legal counsel, to conduct confidential inquiries into alleged ethics violations, and to engage in confidential communications when in executive session. The plaintiff maintains, moreover, that the orders are “grossly overbroad” in light of the commission’s stated reason for issuing them, that is, its concern “that evidence of what transpires in the [plaintiffs] future executive sessions . . . might be similarly forgotten or lost with the passage of time.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) The plaintiff asserts that the commission could have addressed this concern in a manner far less intrusive and prejudicial to the plaintiff by ordering that future complaints against the plaintiff be heard on an expedited basis in accordance with § 1-206 (b) (l).12 *35Finally, the plaintiff contends that the commission’s orders were unreasonable and unnecessary in view of the fact that all four of the challenged meetings “occurred over a six month period when [the] relatively new [group] of volunteers [comprising the plaintiff] was trying to figure out how to comply with [the act] as well as its confidentiality obligations under §§ l-82a and 7-148h.” The plaintiff maintains that, once it became aware that it had violated the act by conducting the challenged meetings in executive or closed session, it immediately implemented procedural changes so that similar violations would not recur. For all of the reasons asserted by the plaintiff, I would conclude that the commission’s orders in this case constituted an abuse of discretion.

In reaching my conclusion, I am mindful that “[r]eview of an administrative agency decision requires a court to determine whether there is substantial evidence in the administrative record to support the agency’s findings of basic fact and whether the conclusions drawn from those facts are reasonable. . . . Neither this court nor thé trial court may retry the case or substitute its own judgment for that of the administrative agency on the weight of the evidence or questions of fact. . . . Our ultimate duty is to determine, in view of all of the evidence, whether the agency, in issuing its order, acted unreasonably, arbitrarily, illegally or in abuse of its discretion.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Dolgner v. Alander, 237 Conn. 272, 280, 676 A.2d 865 (1996). By any measure, *36ordering an agency to record its executive sessions is an extraordinary remedy, particularly when, as in the present case, the agency is an ethics commission that, in addition to conducting executive sessions for the purposes enumerated in § 1-200 (6); see footnote 8 of this opinion; is required by law to conduct all of its investigations in closed sessions. See General Statutes § l-82a (a). In light of the special confidentiality rules pertaining to ethics commissions, one would expect the relief ordered in this case to be reserved for the most egregious violations of the act. Notably, the commission has not cited a single case in which similar relief has been ordered with respect to any agency, let alone an ethics commission.

I also agree with the plaintiff that the nature of the violations in this case does not justify the level of intrusion into the plaintiffs privileged communications that necessarily will result from the commission’s orders. As the plaintiff contends, all four of the challenged meetings occurred during a six month period in which the plaintiff was still familiarizing itself with the rules governing agencies of its kind and, more importantly, before the commission had issued its first ruling in this case alerting the plaintiff to the fact that its practices were not in compliance with the act. As a consequence, the plaintiff never was afforded an opportunity to adjust its practices in fight of the commission’s ruling so that it might demonstrate both its understanding of the act and its willingness to comply with the act’s requirements. In my view, the fact that the orders require the plaintiff to record its executive and closed sessions for a period of three years, six times longer than the plaintiff even had been in existence when it committed the violations, simply underscores the unreasonableness of the orders.

In fight of my conclusion that the orders constitute an abuse of discretion under all of the relevant circum*37stances, it is unnecessary to address the plaintiffs claim that the trial court incorrectly concluded that the commission’s finding that the plaintiff had failed to comply with the August 10 and December 14, 2005 orders was supported by substantial evidence. Nevertheless, my review of the amended minutes that the plaintiff filed in connection with the August 10 and December 14,2005 orders reinforces my conclusion that the commission acted unreasonably in ordering the plaintiff to record its executive sessions as a remedy for the plaintiffs purported failure to comply with the August 10 and December 14, 2005 orders. Indeed, I am hard pressed to see how the amended minutes did not comply with those orders.

With respect to the amended minutes of the September 13,2004 meeting, the plaintiff contends, and I agree, that the summary of the executive session provided in those minutes; see footnote 10 of this opinion; is all that the plaintiff was permitted to disclose under §§ 1-82a (a) and 7-148h (a). As I previously indicated, the commission found that the summary did not comply with its order of August 10, 2005, because it did not disclose what transpired at the September 13, 2004 executive session to the same degree that it would have disclosed if the meeting had been conducted publicly. In support of this finding, the commission stated that the plaintiff previously had established that it had convened in executive session on that day “to avoid embarrassing a public employee or having allegations aired in public that were ultimately determined to have no substance.” The commission further stated, however, that “nothing in the amended minutes could conceivably embarrass a public employee, and nothing in the amended minutes airs any allegations in public . . . .” The commission therefore “found that either the [plaintiff] misrepresented its purpose for convening in execu*38tive session ... or it failed to disclose matters discussed in executive session in its [a]mended [m]inutes.”

Although the commission’s findings, which appear to fault the plaintiff for failing to disclose the “embarrassing” allegations that it was required by law to keep confidential, are confusing at best, it must be assumed that they are attributable to a misapprehension of the confidentiality requirements of § l-82a. See footnote 6 of this opinion. In any event, those findings clearly do not support the extraordinary relief that the commission ordered in this case. This also is true of the amended minutes for the December 13, 2004, January 10, 2005 and February 28, 2005 meetings. The summaries of the closed sessions provided in those minutes; see footnote 10 of this opinion; which included the requests for advisory opinions that were discussed during the meetings, the decisions that the plaintiff subsequently issued with respect to the requests and a statement of how each member voted on the requests, were more than adequate to apprise the public of what had transpired at those meetings. As with the amended minutes of the September 13, 2004 meeting, therefore, they, too, provided inadequate justification for the extreme remedy that the commission ordered in this case.

Accordingly, I concur in the result that the majority reaches, namely, its reversal of the trial court’s judgments dismissing the plaintiffs appeals.