August 30, 2010

Union contract on special council meeting agenda

City councilors will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday to consider whether to back a contract negotiated between Mayor Art Ward and Local 233 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers.


Local 233 represents most of the workers at City Hall.

The terms of the deal remain a secret, but Ward said the union has already signed the pact. He said the city has to act before its next regular council meeting in order to meet mandatory time requirements.

At least one councilor, Republican David Mills, said he can’t make the meeting because he had already planned to be out of town.

In addition to the union contract, councilors also plan to appoint a fair housing officer and perhaps deal with a property tax dispute over watershed land in Harwinton.

The special meeting will take place in the council chambers on the first floor at City Hall.


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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another 5:00 O'Clock meeting by Ward

He sure whined about those 5:00 meetings when he was on the Council.

Guess it is dufferent now!

Anonymous said...

I work at city hall we gave away the hen house.things will change bet your bottom dollar.

Anonymous said...

Lemme guess: several councilmen will complain that he kept them in the dark until the last minute on the important details, as he has always done, but they won't do anything about it.

Anonymous said...

Are union needs big changes, this union just got walk all over.wake up people

Anonymous said...

4:39 PM, Would that be the same type of whining you do all the time, because I can see how that could be really annoying.

There are 5:00 meetings. It is different now. Get over it already.

Anonymous said...

Yes Ward whined about it - but now that he is Mayor its okay. Its called Ward being a two-face.

Anonymous said...

Ward is about as "transparent" as Obama is !!!

Anonymous said...

8:35 PM: Nobody likes a 5:00 meeting and I'm sure most of the people who have to attend them have complained, but then they roll up their sleeves and get to work. That doesn't make them "two-faced." It's people who attack and criticize city leaders from behind their anonymous cloak that are truly two-faced. Especially the ones who whine incessantly about trivial crap like this.

Anonymous said...

It'll be interesting how the Mayor stands up against the powerful union. You can bet McCauley will be completely on the side of the union.

yawn said...

8:35 - boring, boring, boring - still.

Anonymous said...

8:04

Open government is "trivial crap???"

You sound like Obama

Anonymous said...

Who is "Lemme Guess"? Is that council-person the Democrat from the 3rd District or the Democrat from the
2nd?

Anonymous said...

11:39 AM,

Open government - very impotant.

People complaining about being inconvenienced by a 5:00 meeting - trivial.

You incessently whining about the fact that people complain about 5:00 meetings - TRIVIAL CRAP.

Time to put on those big boy pants and get over it!

Anonymous said...

10:41: please show me one instance where mccauley has favored the unions? this man does what is right for the city regardless. his voting record speaks for itself. if he is favoring unions, then i guess the mayor and everyone else who votes in favor of union contracts are also favoring unions. what a stupid comment to make. another either ward lackey or republican with nothing to back up their position. how about those who vote against the union because the union happens to be the "scapegoat du jour"? I daresay there are a few on the council that will vote against the unions because the country is in a "union bashing" mode. the unions have done a lot of good for a lot of people. painting all unions with the same broad stroke is unfair and should not be tolerated. jealousy is a tough thing to overcome. voting against a particular group of people because you're clearly jealous of what they have is wrong. do what's right for all involved ... not because you have a particular bias one way or the other.

Anonymous said...

the city got what they wanted

Anonymous said...

to poster 8:45: It certainly does make them two-faced. Ward did nothing but complain when Stortz held 5:00 meetings stating that people were still at work and unable to attend 5:00 meetings especially ones that were called with such short notice.

The previous poster was right. It's okay now that he's mayor, but it wasn't okay when he was a councilman having to answer to Stortz. Ward had very valid reasons for not calling meetings at 5:00 back when Stortz was mayor and those reasons still apply today. Yes, they get the job done in the end, but let's tell is like it is, shall we?

Anonymous said...

"this man does what is right for the city regardless."

I wasn't aware that McCauley was resigning. That would be the ONLY thing he could that would be right for the city!

Anonymous said...

5:32

Don't you mean that "Ward got what HE wanted?"

pretty boy said...

5:29 - your pinion means nuttin cuz ellen tells him if he 'dun good or not.

Anonymous said...

Once it is voted on, it becomes public record.

Lets see how much is reported by the media!

liability said...

7:46 - mccauly is merely "limping" his way through, using everyone else as a "crutch."
"Lean on me, lean on me."

Anonymous said...

August 31, 2010 5:29 PM:

You're clearly out of your mind.

Secondly, of course he favors the unions. They protect his job. How could he not support them?

Third, it called "conflict of interest". And if this state wasn't controlled by the union controoled Democrat Party McCauley would be barred from serving on the city council. And he should be.

An attorney should understand those things. But maybe you don't?

Republican for Ward said...

Ward 2011:

Save me a yard sign for the primary (if there is one).

Anonymous said...

ward didn`t help the unions.he gets what he wants from 233 and the workers are the ones that let it happen.

Anonymous said...

5:29: as usual, a ward lackey. always trying to deflect from the real issue which is that YOUR mayor is doing what Stortz did, plain and simple.

7:50: prove it. I work within the city and am very well aware of all the things this man has done. you and poster 5:29 are probably one and the same.

11:12: once again, please prove to me where he has voted for the unions without having all the information before him and it wasn't something that the union AND the mayor haven't already agreed to. Of course you can't. Even with a union nothing is certain. Everyone knows that, but maybe you don't. And by the way, it has to be a majority vote of the council.
So, once again, I guess they are all union hacks.

Oh, I also find it really interesting that no one has mentioned that Kevin Fuller is also in a union and he is never criticized for being in the union. It just proves that the people who post against mccauley are ward lackeys ... all speculation and no substance or substantiation!

Anonymous said...

5:09 PM: Sorry, but I'm not a "ward lackey," just a regular tax paying citizen who finds McCauley's performance lackluster at best. He's merely a puppet who sways in whichever direction his master pulls the strings.