Derby Town Clerk Calls For An Investigation Into Field Project Spending

DERBY – Derby Town Clerk Marc Garofalo is calling for an investigation to find out why the city doesn’t have enough money to pay for replacement signs at the renovated Leo F. Ryan Athletic Complex.

​“It is a question that someone needs to ask, and I’m asking it,” Garofalo said during the July 23 meeting of the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation. ​“And it is a question that needs to be answered.”

Background

The City of Derby received a $3 million state grant in 2016 to turn its aging football field into a multi-purpose sports field, including a new running track, bleachers and press box.

At the same time, Joan Payden, one of America’s richest self-made women according to CNBC, privately financed the construction of a new baseball/softball field and field house. Her father was a Derby High School graduate and Payden wanted to honor his memory. That project was in the area of $23 million, according to a school board official at the meeting.

The two projects, though next to each other and happening at the same time, were treated separately by the city since the funding sources were different.

Two separate committees – one for the new football field project, one for the field house – were set up to supervise the projects.

The Signs

Prior to construction there were five signs in and around the football field, such as the one naming the field in honor of legendary former Derby High School football coach (and former New York Giant) Lou DeFilippo.

Only one was put back up, because the city’s former public works director said the others were in rough shape and were thrown out, according to Ken Marcucio, Sr. a longtime member of the Derby Board of Education who served on both committees.

He came before the tax board July 23 asking for $13,201 to pay for Signs Unlimited to create and install the four signs that were thrown out. Marcucio gave the board a price quote from March 2023 from Signs Unlimited on Francis Street.

Marcucio said the field committee – the group with the $3 million state grant – ran out of money so they did not have the $13,000 needed to get the signs installed. Marcucio said he and Alderman Rob Hyder have been trying to get someone to authorize payment for a year, but the requests have fallen on deaf ears.

Marcucio said he was frustrated, because the signs honored people who were important to Derby’s athletic history and high school sports programs.

Members of the tax board said they agreed that new signs need to go up. But they questioned how much it would cost and where the money would come from. They asked whether the money Payden donated could be used, since that money was recently used for a new speaker system at the baseball field. In addition, Payden money was used to finish the press box project when it went over budget because of a sinkhole, Marcucio said.

Marcucio said he wasn’t sure, but noted the field committee was a separate project from the field house and baseball-softball field projects.

Ultimately the tax board asked Marcucio to check with Signs Unlimited to see if they would still honor their quote from 2023. The quote is made out to the Derby Board of Education. Tax board members also wondered if the school district could come up with the money.

What’s Going On Here?

The conversation prompted Garofalo to approach the podium to speak. He said he recalled that the field committee, when the project was underway, said they had the money for the signs. He questioned where the money went, and asked the tax board to investigate.

Garofalo suggested the city’s finance department could review all invoices and bills paid toward the field project, and to check to see if any grant reporting requirements were filed by the city with the state.

The town clerk said Derby was without a finance director for an extended period of time under former Mayor Rich Dziekan’s administration, and that invoices were paid without following established procedures.

Marcucio said the committee’s efforts lost structure after Keith McLiverty, Derby’s former treasurer and interim finance director, left city hall. People didn’t know who the chairman of the committee was, Marcucio said.

Garofalo said the situation highlights financial oversight issues that have gotten the city in tough spots previously. Garofalo said the city has a habit of creating building committees, such as the one for the football field, but then never dissolving them. The same happened with the Derby Middle School building committee. 

The situation creates bureaucratic confusion, said Garofalo, a former mayor. Example: the money request for the signs was coming from Marcucio, but was the request also coming from the old building committee, or the parks and recreation department, Garofalo asked.

In addition, Garofalo questioned how the Payden money is tracked and the process used to dole it out.

The tax board may schedule another meeting within the next few weeks to take up the issue again.

The missing signs, according to a price quote from Signs Unlimited, are:

* Leo F. Ryan Complex

* Lou DeFilippo Field

* Cirillo Press Box

* Mastrianna Pavilion

The construction projects for all the new fields and the field house also touched off a series of lawsuits between neighbors, the city, and the various construction companies after a flash flood sent a mudslide cascading off the property and into people’s houses. The city also sued the contractors, who, in turn, sued the city.

Those lawsuits were all settled, but the details were never shared with the public, a questionable move under any basic open government law.