Ansonia Aldermen on Tuesday approved part of a proposal from Mayor David Cassetti to reorganize the city’s land use office, promoting a clerk to a new position with more duties.
But they took no action on a key component of the plan — shifting the city’s current superintendent of public works to a new $80,000 post at the head of the office.
Mayor David Cassetti said afterward he’s still planning on moving the current public works superintendent, Doug Novak, out of his current job come Friday (Dec. 18) and announcing a temporary superintendent Monday (Dec. 21).
It’s unclear what Novak, who has not commented publicly on the reorganization proposal, will be doing come next week.
The mayor’s proposed personnel moves sparked rumors last week that he would resign and take Novak’s higher paying job himself.
Cassetti denied the speculation emphatically.
Rather, the mayor said Novak is a get-it-done professional who can apply the same expertise and capabilities he’s shown at the public works department in a revamped land use office.
Meanwhile, a rift in the local GOP opened up over who would serve as the president of the Board of Aldermen — Phil Tripp, who has served in the role since the Republicans took over the board in 2013, or Lorie Vaccaro, a close political ally of the mayor.
In the end, Tripp was elected unanimously after a contentious caucus before last week’s Aldermen’s meeting.
But friction was still evident this week, particularly at a meeting of the Aldermen’s salary committee Monday at which Cassetti’s reorganization plan was discussed.
Fifth Ward Alderwoman Joan Radin, who chairs the committee, began the meeting by questioning its legality, saying she hadn’t called the meeting and only heard about it because the Valley Indy called her last week.
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John Marini, the city’s corporation counsel, said the meeting was legal because the agenda had been publicly posted at least 24 hours prior.
Radin and Randolph Carroll, a First Ward Alderman on the salary committee, also said they hadn’t received all the documents detailing Cassetti’s plan.
The committee took a 10-minute recess so its members could get up to speed on the mayor’s proposal.
About 15 minutes later the meeting had to be relocated to inside the mayor’s office (see picture above) because the Board of Apportionment and Taxation needed Aldermanic Chambers for its own meeting.
Once they moved, the salary committee endorsed a plan to promote Ronda Porrini, who currently works as a clerk in the land use office, to the position of “land use administrator” at a yearly salary of $50,000, which may go up to $60,000 after six months.
After discussing Novak’s proposed new post — “land use director” — for about an hour, they took no action on the matter, with Stowe saying the full Board of Aldermen could take it up at a special meeting Tuesday (Dec. 15).
The full Board of Aldermen met Tuesday, and upped Porrini’s starting salary to $55,000.
But they took no action on the land use director’s position — nor did they discuss it at all.
Cassetti said after the meeting that he still wants Novak to head up the land use office.
“I still want to definitely move Doug over there,” Cassetti said. “I don’t know how we’re going to work this out with him. We’re working on it.”
Cassetti repeated his rationale for wanting to beef up the city’s land use office.
“With the redevelopment of Ansonia, we’re going to need full-time people in these positions,” he said. “Right now we’ve got a lot of people coming to get permits and they have to wait until nighttime.”
Given last week’s events, the obvious inference is that the mayor pulled back the reorganization plans at the prospect of a revolt from Aldermen.
Not so, the mayor said of the Aldermen.
“They have other ideas that we’re going to put on the table,” Cassetti said. “And we’re probably going to have another salary meeting.”
Phil Tripp, the president of the Board of Aldermen, said after Tuesday’s meeting that he agreed the city needs to invest in its building department.
But at the same time, he said, the Aldermen need to do their due diligence on the proposal, even if those discussions can get “contentious” from time to time.
“It’s a process. This is democracy,” Tripp said. “You’re going to have many people with different opinions. Democracy isn’t always easy but democracy is a process, and it’s a process that needs to be followed.”
As for public works, the mayor said he would be making an announcement about who will take over the DPW Monday at 7 a.m.
Cassetti said last week he’d probably promote someone currently working there to head up the department temporarily.
The Valley Indy left a message for Novak after Tuesday’s meeting. He declined to talk to a reporter Friday.
Video of Tuesday’s meeting is embedded below, from the City of Ansonia’s Youtube channel.
