Democrats on the Derby tax board declined to pay Alan Schlesinger Tuesday, prompting the former Derby mayor to pack up his stuff and go home.
“I have no skin in this game. I was just here to help,” Schlesinger told the Valley Indy before leaving City Hall.
Schlesinger, at the request of Mayor Anthony Staffieri, was in Derby City Hall Tuesday night to assist the tax board draft a city budget for next year.
Background
It was at least Schlesinger’s second time at a tax board meeting since April 13, when the Derby Mayor’s Office said finance director Henry Domurad, Jr. resigned.
That resignation has been called into question by Domurad and city Democrats.
Domurad said the resignation letter on file in Derby City Hall is a fraud — and that in reality Staffieri fired him. Domurad hired an attorney and plans to file a lawsuit.
On April 26, the Board of Aldermen voted 5 – 3 to not accept Domurad’s letter of resignation due to the controversy surrounding it. The vote was split along party lines.
Staffieri filed a veto against that vote the next day, saying the Aldermen had no authority regarding the resignation letter.
At that same April 26 meeting, the Aldermen took no action on an agenda item to appoint Schlesigner as interim finance director.
Won’t Work For Free
Fast forward to Tuesday night’s tax board meeting, where Schlesinger asked the tax board to transfer money from the finance director budget line to pay him as a consultant to the tax board.
The Democrats and Republicans on the tax board then broke into separate political caucuses to see if anyone would support paying Schlesinger as a consultant.
After 24 minutes, tax board chairman Jim Butler, a Democrat, broke the news to Schlesinger.
“The answer is no to you,” Butler said.
Schlesinger then left.
He told the Valley Indy the consultant concept had been informally endorsed earlier in the day by Staffieri and Democrat Ron Sill, the president of the Board of Alderman.
An e‑mail was sent late Tuesday evening to Still to try to confirm the statement. Still wrote back: “Everyone knows I am not in favor of any of this.”
If Democrats were OK with Schlesinger, the message did not get to Democratic tax board member Anita Dugatto, who Schlesinger pointed out as the person who didn’t want him back.
Dugatto said it wasn’t proper to bring in Schlesinger considering the Domurad controversy.
“Things changed after last week’s Board of Aldermen meeting,” Dugatto said. “It was clear that he had no position here. The work he was doing was director of finance work, which he was not authorized to do.”
The tax board members were able to proceed with their meeting, during which they examined a budget request from the Derby Police Department.
Schlesinger was Derby’s finance director immediately before Domurad.
