A city lawyer is researching the rules regarding conflict of interests in Derby.
The gut check comes after Second Ward Alderman Art Gerckens complained two Derby Water Pollution Control employees — who were elected to the tax board and the Board of Aldermen — have too much influence over WPCA matters.
Quick Background
The city’s WPCA — that is, the employees who run the Derby sewer system — is currently in hot water with state and federal environmental regulators regarding the operation of the Derby sewage treatment plant.
Click here for an explanation of the state’s issues with the WPCA.
Click here for an explanation of the feds’ issues with the WPCA.
Meanwhile, the city is trying to move forward with $31 million in repairs and upgrades to the sewer system, over which the WPCA has domain.
Voters approved the borrowing in 2014, but the projects were delayed for a number of reasons, including the fact the WPCA is under federal and state scrutiny.
In addition, there is never-ending and always shifting talk of the Derby and Ansonia consolidating their wastewater treatment plants.
And Now …
With the WPCA drama as a backdrop, Gerckens first complained about potential conflicts of interest in Derby government during a public meeting Feb. 16 in Derby City Hall.
Gerckens said Stephen Iacuone, a WPCA worker elected to the Board of Aldermen, and Chris Carloni, a WPCA worker elected to the tax board, should recuse themselves from any WPCA discussions because they have a bias.
Gerckens pointed out Carloni blocked a move by the tax board to transfer money that could have gone to help pay for a law firm the city hired to deal with the WPCA-state-federal issues.
But most of the Gerckens’ colleagues on the Board of Aldermen do not agree with Gerckens’ stance.
They maintain it is OK for city workers who double as Aldermen or tax board members to talk about matters involving their employers (the city) — provided they don’t vote on matters directly connected to their paychecks, such as employment contracts.
But Gerckens thinks that interpretation is too narrow, and erodes basic checks and balances within city government.
Several elected members of the Board of Aldermen are also city employees.
Alderman Stephen Iacuone works for the WPCA. Alderman Joe DiMartino works for the public works department, and Alderman Thomas Donofrio is a police officer.
In reaction to Gerckens’ complaints, the majority of the Board of Aldermen March 8 voted to get an opinion from corporation counsel Thomas Welch regarding “disqualifying conflicts of interest” concerning elected or appointed officials and city employees.
Welch is researching the issue and hopes to have information for the Aldermen at some point this month.
Let’s Ask The Lawyer
Carmen DiCenso, president of the Board of Aldermen, said the city wants a legal opinion because of the recent controversy over the subject.
Derby’s Charter has a section on ethics.
Regarding “disqualifying conflicts,” the Derby City Charter states, in part:
“A direct or indirect financial interest which creates a conflict of interest shall disqualify the official or employee from participation in the matter. A City official or employee may rely on the advice of Corporation Counsel with respect to whether a financial interest creates a disqualifying conflict of interest.”
This isn’t the first time a Derby lawyer has been asked to weigh in on potential conflicts of interest.
In 2008, then-corporation counsel Joseph Coppola sent a memo to then-tax board chairwoman Carolyn Duhaime with the subject line “voting issues.”
In the memo, the city lawyer provided Duhaime with definitions of “abstention” and “recuse.” Coppola then listed several people who were serving on the tax board in 2008 and detailed whether they should recuse or abstain.
Coppola’s memo said a tax board member who worked for the police department “must recuse and abstain on all issues” (presumably involving the police department).
A member of the tax board who volunteered with the fire department and ambulance service also “must recuse and abstain” on fire department and ambulance-related matters, Coppola wrote at the time.
A member of the tax board with a relative on the police department “must recuse, and abstain on issues involving employee wages and benefits,” according to the memo.
Gerckens’ conflict of interest statements have bothered his colleagues on the Board of Aldermen.
They’ve pointed out they were chosen by the voters of Derby, and that it is increasingly difficult to recruit volunteers to run for office or serve on the various city commissions.
“We were elected by the people of this city, and when we were elected the people knew who we were, what we were and where we came from,” Alderman Barbara DeGennaro said during a public meeting March 8.
Gerckens had previously pointed out DeGennaro is Iacuone’s lawyer.
DeGennaro said Gerckens, in a previous Valley Indy story, insinuated that she, Iacuone and Carloni had done something wrong by serving in their elected positions.
She said it was “perplexing” that Gerckens never raised the issue in his years on the Board of Aldermen.
Click the play button below to listen to DeGennaro’s full statement.
The city’s Board of Aldermen discussed the issue for 15 minutes March 8. It was tense, at times.
When the current slate of elected officials were sworn in, Gerckens, along with the rest of the Aldermen, voted to allow the city employees to also serve as elected officials. The city’s charter requires unanimous approval by the Aldermen in such cases.
It’s a vote Gerckens wished he could take back.
“I just felt there were too many conflicts or potential conflicts. I struggled with it. I thought the voters spoke and they elected the people that they did, presumably knowing they hold these jobs,” Gerckens said.
He noted he raised the conflict of interest issue during that vote.
Gerckens also said he wasn’t trying to personally attack his fellow elected officials.
“I like everybody here. Carloni, I love him. I go to his house for dinner. It’s not a personal thing. There’s things you should do, and shouldn’t do, in my opinion,” Gerckens said.
Gerckens said he was especially bothered by the scathing report from state environmental regulators pointing out major deficiencies with the WPCA’s operation of its sewage treatment plant, and the fact substantial progress has not been made regarding repairs to the sewer system.
A third party had to point out the issues, Gerckens said. “That was the first time we heard from outside our little circle of people who are coming here,” he said.
But Alderman Thomas Donofrio said Gerckens wasn’t making sense.
“A conflict is if he’s going to do something that’s going to better himself,” Donofrio said, referring to Iacunoe. “Are you saying he’s going to get graft from those people?”
Gerckens said Iacuone can’t make Aldermen decisions about what to do regarding the WPCA while also working for the WPCA.
DiCenso, the president of the Board of Aldermen, said Iacuone and the other city employees who serve as elected officials would never do anything to undermine the oath they took when they were sworn in.
“They were elected to serve. Let them serve,” DiCenso said.
Iacunoe spoke up about 10 minutes into the discussion.
“I can say one thing. My moral compass is just fine. I’m sorry if you lose sleep over it at night, but I don’t care,” Iacuone said.
Alderman Joe DiMartino said the city should revise its Charter by allowing city employees to serve without the unanimous approval of the full Board of Aldermen.
But doing so would undo a local rule put into place by Derby voters.
In New Haven, the city requires elected officials and others to fill out a form disclosing any potential conflicts. That form is then made available to the public.
Derby has no such requirement or documentation.
