A city employee accused of taking a snowplow from the Public Works Department and selling it for scrap was suspended for 30 days Tuesday (April 2) by the Board of Public Works as part of an agreement between him and the city.
The employee, James Hooker, will not be paid while on suspension, which begins Wednesday (April 3). While suspended, he cannot pursue unemployment benefits or use any vacation, sick days or personal days.
The suspension was announced after the board discussed the issue in executive session for more than 90 minutes.
After the board came out of executive session, Fran Teodosio, the city’s labor attorney, read an agreement between Hooker and the city whereby Hooker didn’t admit taking the plow but agreed to the suspension.
Specifically, the agreement says, the city had alleged that Hooker, “without permission or authority, took from the premises of the Ansonia Public Works garage a scrapped plow or a portion of scrapped plow and thereafter sold the same as scrap metal.”
The agreement says Hooker “does not admit to the allegations but does wish to enter into this agreement.”
The board then voted 3 – 1 to accept the agreement. Board Chairman John Finnucan and members Karen Blake and Richard McGowan were in favor.
Finnucan said after the meeting that the board “wanted a resolution to this problem” and saw the agreement as a way of avoiding a protracted dispute.
Robert Kolakowski cast the dissenting vote, shaking his head as he did so. A message seeking comment was left at his home Tuesday evening.
Ansonia police said last month they were investigating the matter.
The plow was reported missing March 16, according to Lt. Andrew Cota.
Police said Tuesday that the investigation is ongoing.
“The case is still open,” Cota said via e‑mail. “No arrests have been made at this point.”
The plow was the kind used on the 10-wheel public works trucks, Cota said last month.
Brand new, such a plow would cost about $6,000, he estimated, though the plow Hooker was accused of taking was older and no longer in use.
Hooker had attended the beginning of the meeting with his lawyer and union representatives, but left before the board voted on the agreement.
Teodosio read the agreement from a two-page proposed draft heavy with cross-outs and redactions.
While the board was in executive session he shuttled several times between the closed-door meeting and a city hall corridor where Hooker, his lawyer, and union officials were gathered to discuss the language of the agreement.
After the meeting Teodosio declined to provide a copy of the draft proposal to reporters but said a document containing the agreed-upon language would be available at City Hall Wednesday.
A message seeking comment was left with Hooker.
