A $53,000 deal to end a lawsuit between former finance director Henry Domurad, Jr. and Mayor Anthony Staffieri fell apart Thursday after the Board of Aldermen voted to reject the settlement.
The vote was bipartisan, 8-1, with only Democratic Alderman Barbara DeGennaro voting in favor of the settlement.
The Domurad lawsuit now returns to Superior Court in Milford, where a hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. June 11.
Domurad was at the meeting in Derby City Hall, but left without commenting. Staffieri’s two attorneys advised him not to answer questions, including whether he was surprised by the vote.
Domurad was Derby’s finance director from 2008 until April.
The details surrounding his departure are in dispute. Domurad claims that Staffieri unjustly fired him and that the mayor’s office circulated a fraudulent letter of resignation.
Staffieri said Domurad resigned — and that he watched Domurad sign the letter of resignation in front of him.
Domurad files a multi-count lawsuit against the mayor earlier this month, claiming, in part, unlawful termination.
Lawyers for both sides negotiated for almost five hours Monday before reaching a proposed out-of-court settlement.
The Derby Aldermen held an executive session Thursday to discuss the settlement. Executive sessions are closed to the public and are allowed when a board discusses legal strategy.
The executive session started at 8:33 p.m. when the Aldermen and two city attorneys went into Staffieri’s office. At 9:42 p.m., Democrats on the board left the mayor’s office and huddled in a conference room within the Aldermanic Chambers.
At 10:10 p.m., the Aldermen reconvened in public.
The video above shows the Aldermen re-start the meeting and then vote on the settlement.
Aldermanic President Ron Sill read a motion that asked the board to authorize settling the case for $53,000, which included $8,000 for sick time and vacation pay.
Art Gerckens, Carmen DiCenso, Bev Moran, Ron Sill, Ken Hughes, Scott Boulton, Joe DiMartino and Stephen Iacuone all voted no.
The meeting was then adjourned.
The Aldermen declined to talk about why they voted against the settlement.
Sill indicated that the board may have wanted more information, but said he could not offer specifics.
“It’s all up in the air,” Sill said. “I can’t really comment because now it’s ongoing litigation.”
Earlier in the meeting, Linda Fusco, the chairwoman of the Derby Town Democratic Committee, urged the Aldermen to make the details of the settlement known to the public.
So did Democrat Tom Lionetti, who pointed out a cash settlement wouldn’t get to the heart of the controversy — who is not telling the truth when it comes to Domurad’s departure and what’s with that resignation letter?
“No one knows if Mr. Domurad signed it or if it was forged,” Lionetti said. “Let’s go back to court and find out what happened.”
An e-mail message was sent late Thursday night to John Gesmonde, Domurad’s attorney.
Thank you B O A members for voting NO….Let justice prevail.. Maybe now all the residents of DERBY will find out the truth. Thanks again..
Very well said, Tom. That’s all we can ask for. Actually shouldn’t it be investigators finding out the truth? Because the court can’t. They only make judgements based on evidence. I thought there was supposed to be an investigation? And then it should go to court. This was just a lawsuit and the lawyers aren’t allowed to bring all evidence to court in a lawsuit.
Well then I’d be very interested in the states attorneys investigation. Enough is enough. It clear that someone is blatantly lying. This could be political
suicide either way but I could care less. We need people with integrity running this city and politicians who won’t make the taxpayers have to pay for their continuous mistakes! Our mill rate is going through the roof and, in top of it, it’s costing US money when they make a decision and mistakes due to emotions and vendettas.
Yes, Renee, some IS blatantly lying. It’s really sad too because no matter who is lying, why in God’s name would they do that? They’d have to know that it’s political suicide, like you said. It’s actually childish and a little insane! No matter who is lying, I hope they find out soon what the story is and then we can hopefully get on track. We do need people with integrity.
Just out of curiosity — if Tony is the guilty party, does he get fired or do we impeach him — can mayors be impeached? And what then? Who would go in? Do we have another election or is someone, like the head of the aldermen, like the vice-president who would step in? I am really not educated in the way of politics. 🙂
Rosalie, I’m not sure who the reigning authority would be regarding an impeachment but I’m sure there are a few representatives on the BOA who would know. Being that this is an election year, and depending on how long it would take would probably factor into it. My bigger concern is pressing charges against a person(s) if it’s found that the resignation was a doctored paper. I’m glad the BOA made this decision so we can (as we should) get some answers!
Yes, I do agree with you. If they papers were doctored then there definitely should be charges pressed. But that brings me to the part about who would then be in charge.
And if the papers are not doctored, then charges should go the other way. It’s one giant insane asylum right now.
Wait — I’m going to show my ignorance again — THIS is an election year? Did we just do it all in September?
Rosalie – this is not an election year – we just had municipal elections in November. As for successor to the Mayor’s office – I believe it would be the Chair of the Board of Aldermen – that is who fills in when the Mayor is out of town or unable to fulfill his duties.
My bad Sheila! You’re right. My mind is a little shot from nursing school :0) My wish is just for Derby politics to get back to being about what is best for our city. Not egos and favoritism. I hope the truth comes out about this situation and the person(s) involved are removed (now and hopefully forever from politics).
I’m with you, Renee. I just take a long-winded, roundabout way of saying it. LOL!
Let the courts decide this one…why would Staffieri want to settle? Forgery is a criminal offense…enough said.
True, and if the BOA agreed, they would have settled. Soon the oil will float on top of the water.