DERBY — A meeting of the city’s Board of Aldermen and Alderwomen was put on ice Thursday after six Democrats failed to attend the meeting.
Only Mayor Rich Dziekan and three Republican Aldermen showed up, so the meeting failed to have a quorum and was canceled eight minutes after it was supposed to start.
(Technically two Republican Aldermen showed up — Charles Sampson and Gino DiGiovanni. Rob Hyder, who was also there, is unaffiliated but ran on the Republican line)
The “special” meeting (meaning one not held during the regularly scheduled time and date), was set up by the mayor’s office and publicly noticed Wednesday afternoon. The gathering was held online using the Zoom video conferencing platform.
The meeting’s agenda said the BOA/A was to consider approving a job description for economic development director, and to name people to a search committee to interview applicants for the job.
The non-meeting took place after a contentious Feb. 10 BOA/A meeting, during which Democratic Aldermen and Alderwomen sparred with new meeting procedures initiated by Walt Mayhew, Dziekan’s chief of staff.
Mayhew had asked Derby Corporation Counsel Vin Marino to review how BOA/A agendas were put together after a meeting in December during which the Democrats prevented several discussion items from being added to the meeting agenda.
Marino said that according to the Derby City Charter, only the mayor has the ability to create a meeting agenda. The Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen can vote to add items to the agenda once a meeting starts, Marino said.
While the Dziekan administration said the new policy simply brings the procedure into compliance with the charter, several Democrats on the board said the move was just causing ill will.
The Democrats hold a 6 – 3 majority on the BOA/A.
The two items that were to be discussed Thursday — a job description for economic development director and a search committee for economic development director — have been bouncing around for a few weeks.
Since January the two items have gone from Aldermen to subcommittee to Aldermen — and then one discussion item was tabled and one was sent back to subcommittee.
Mayor Dziekan opened Thursday’s night’s meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:06 p.m., took roll call, and noted that there were not enough elected officials present for a quorum.
“There’s no use to stay on here if they (Democrats) don’t want to move the City of Derby forward,” Dziekan said.
“Once again, we are not moving anything forward,” DiGiovanni said.
The attempted meeting ended at 7:08 p.m.
Alderwoman Sarah Widomski said she was at work during Thursday’s meeting and could not attend.
“I actually just got home from work, so was unable to attend the meeting,” Widomski wrote in an email at about 9:30 p.m. “I only found out about the meeting last night, so I am not aware that anyone from the Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen was contacted in advance to ensure a quorum was possible. I look forward to a productive discussion on this topic next week at the committee meetings,” she said.
Walt Mayhew, the mayor’s chief of staff, said he had attendance confirmations from Alderwoman Anita Dugatto and Alderman Kevin Sharkey.
In any event, the discussion over hiring an economic development director is scheduled to continue at a subcommittee meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 24.
