Oxford will pay $27,500 to settle a lawsuit by a former chairman of the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission who sued the town for out-of-pocket expenses he incurred while fighting an ethics complaint.
The former chairman, Vincent Vizzo Jr., filed the lawsuit in Feb. 2010.
On April 4 Selectmen gathered in executive session to discuss the issue with Town Attorney Kevin Condon and Special Town Counsel James Sheehy for about 30 minutes before voting unanimously to settle the case.
First Selectman George Temple said after the meeting that the town could have ended up paying more than $37,000 if the town took the case to trial and lost.
Background
Vizzo was the subject of an ethics complaint in July 2009.
Four months later, the ethics board found that Vizzo had violated the town’s ethics code by not disclosing to the Planning and Zoning Commission his business relationship with Town Planner Brian Miller (an independent contractor) when he recommended giving Miller a raise at the PZC’s April 3, 2008 meeting.
In his lawsuit, Vizzo said the town attorney told him the town would pick up his legal tab. A copy of the lawsuit is posted at the end of this story.
According to the minutes, the Board of Ethics viewed this as “a technical violation,” of the code and recommended that selectmen “take no action with regard to Mr. Vizzo.”
During the Ethics Commission hearing, Vizzo was represented by attorney Alex Trimbicki, of Lynch, Trimbicki and Boynton of Milford.
Messages seeking comment were left Friday at a number listed for Vizzo and with Trembicki.
Settlement
After Selectmen emerged from executive session Wednesday, Sheehy said he recommended settling the matter based on a pretrial hearing in the case conducted by Judge Arthur Hiller, the chief administrative judge in the Ansonia-Milford judicial district.
At that hearing, Sheehy said, the the town and Vizzo put the facts and evidence in the case before Hiller. The judge recommended the $27,500 settlement figure.
Condon concurred with Sheehy’s recommendation, “given the exposure the town could possibly face” in the case, even though he conceded it’s “maybe it’s not the most pleasant of things to do.”
Selectman Dave McKane said resolving the case is “not a pleasurable, but a prudent thing to do.”
“I’m inclined to settle even though it leaves a pretty bitter taste in my mouth,” he said.
Temple, a lawyer himself, said he reviewed the details of the case and said a prior admission on the part of the town that it would pay Vizzo’s legal fees would have worked against the town’s case at trial.
“I’m not happy about throwing this money around,” he said, but endorsed the settlement to take care of the case “once and for all.”
Sheehy said the $27,500 would provide for a “full and final resolution” of the matter.
The original complaint is posted below.
