The Derby Board of Aldermen will consider dissolving its Parking Authority Thursday and absorbing it into city government.
Presumably, the move could cost two jobs — a bookkeeper’s position and the director’s — because those positions could be handled by people already employed by the city.
Board of Aldermen Chairman Art Gerckens and Mayor Anita Dugatto said dissolving the five-person Parking Authority — an appointed board, independent from city government — could save money.
The city is in a better position to provide some routine maintenance, such as snow removal, the mayor said, and is able to get better deals for bigger ticket items, such as electrical and heating work.
Plus, according to Anthony Dulla, the volunteer chairman of the Parking Authority, absorbing the agency into city government puts it under the direct supervision of Derby elected officials — who will ultimately have to decide what becomes of the Derby Parking Garage on Thompson Place.
Dulla and his fellow volunteers on the Parking Authority are in favor of the move. The garage needs extensive repairs, and an expensive plan to fix it has not gained traction in the city.
At a meeting Wednesday night in Derby City Hall, corporation counsel Thomas Welch went over the steps involved in phasing out the authority and folding its employees — a few enforcement officers and part-time garage employees — into the city government.
The Aldermen indicated they were in favor of having the new “parking division” be under the control of the mayor’s office. In previous incarnations in Derby, the parking garage and associated employees were supervised by the mayor’s office and the city’s community development office, with the city’s finance department handling payroll.
The Aldermen could make an official decision on the Derby Parking Authority at an Aldermen’s meeting scheduled for Thursday (May 28) at 7 p.m. in City Hall.
On a side note, the agenda posted for Wednesday’s Aldermen meeting included a line saying “executive session, if needed, personnel matters.”
Executive session meetings are closed to the public and are allowed under specific circumstances as outlined in state law.
Ultimately, Welch advised the Aldermen to scrap the executive session, because state law says local officials planning to talk about specific employees behind closed doors are supposed to tell the employees about their plans.
But, in addition, the state’s Freedom of Information Commission has repeatedly stated simply slapping “personnel matters” on an agenda to justify meeting secretly is not legal under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
The vague term is a common item on agendas in local government and with the Derby Board of Education.
The state’s Freedom of Information Commission has ruled on this issue so often its members have a boilerplate statement that has been attached to many decisions published on the commission’s website:
Here’s the statement attached to a decision from 2013:
“The Commission has repeatedly stated that in order for the public to be fairly apprised of the business to be transacted during an executive session, the public agency must give some indication of the specific topic to be addressed, prior to convening such session. See, Carlson v. Board of Education, East Granby Public Schools, Docket #FIC2007-388 (March 12, 2008) (“personnel matters” violated FOIA notice requirement for executive session); Trenton E. Wright, Jr. v. First Selectman, Town of Windham, Docket #FIC 1990-048 (“executive session – personnel matters” too vague); Boman v. Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, Docket #FIC1990-24 (September 26, 1990) (“personnel matters” on agenda too vague to communicate to public what topics would be discussed).”
- Emphasis added
