Date: Fri 21-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

charter-Spragg-finance

Full Text:

Charter Proposal Leaves Finance Director Feeling Vulnerable

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Last winter, the Charter Revision Commission was advised to rewrite the town

charter to ensure that the town's finance director would never have to conduct

his job under political pressure.

The commission ended up revising that section of the charter, but in doing so

may have subjected the financial director to even more political pressure.

Currently, the charter states that the financial director may be removed from

office for cause by the Board of Selectmen, though the finance director does

have the right to appeal to the Legislative Council.

Council member Melissa Pilchard, however, urged the Charter Revision

Commission in January to change the charter so that both the selectmen and the

council could have a say in a financial director's firing. This, she said,

would eliminate the chance of a first selectman terminating the person simply

because they did not see eye-to-eye on money matters.

With Mrs Pilchard's suggestion in mind, the panel went about its revisions,

but as its proposed charter revision now reads, the financial director could

be removed from office without ever being notified of the process. The change

now specifies that the financial director can be removed without cause. In

short, the change would strip the position of finance director of its right to

due process.

Ben Spragg, the town's finance director since the early 1980s, said the

proposed charter change would essentially make him the only town employee in

Newtown not to have the right to due process.

"You can imagine how I felt when I heard this," Mr Spragg said.

At last week's public hearing of the charter panel, Mr Spragg joined personnel

director Nancy Markey to request that the panel revise its change. They said

under the proposed change, it would simply take two members of the Board of

Selectmen and seven members of the Legislative Council to have the financial

director removed, without ever having to notify the person of their

intentions.

"You're basically throwing him at the mercy of the Republicans or whoever's in

the majority. Mr Spragg, or whoever's in office, would be let go without ever

getting to state his side," Mrs Markey said.

The personnel director figures the charter revision panel tried to give the

financial director more protection, but actually did the reverse.

"They gave Ben no appeal rights," Mrs Markey said. "I think it's a mistake."

At Wednesday's Legislative Council meeting, Charter Revision Commission member

David Chipman said members decided to make the financial director removable

without cause because the position did not have a term.

"It's employment at will," he said. "There's a natural end to the term for the

town assessor and tax collector, but not the financial director."

According to the commission chairman Mike Snyder, the Charter Revision

Commission was unable to take any votes following last week's public hearing

because he failed to properly warn a second meeting.

"There very well could have been a change there, but we couldn't do it," he

said.

Mr Snyder said he hopes the Legislative Council will give his board the

opportunity to revisit the issue, saying there may be a need for a change.

However, he said the commission's actions were based on a conversation between

Mrs Markey and Charter Revision attorney Catherine Thompson.

The solution, Mrs Markey said, would be to simply take out the words "without

cause" from the charter wording.

First Selectman Bob Cascella, who has been seeking more authority for the

Board of Selectmen, believes the financial director should be the only

position that should fall under the jurisdiction of both the council and the

selectmen. The Legislative Council, he said, is really a board of finance and

personnel matters should be under the jurisdiction of the selectmen.

The Legislative Council received a presentation on the proposed changes

Wednesday night.