Pay cuts for politicians

The next mayor and City Council will earn 5 percent less than the seven people currently holding the city’s top political offices.

The City Council voted unanimously this week to slash its pay – and the mayor’s $102,000 a year salary – for whoever wins election in November.

It has no way to reduce pay sooner because of a law prohibiting councilors from revising their own salaries until after the next election.

Mayor Art Ward, who proposed the cut, said that Bristol’s leaders need to show leadership “and set the direction” at a time when they’re asking municipal unions to make contract concessions in a bid to close a $1.8 million budget gap for the coming fiscal year.

City Councilor Ken Cockayne said he is “very happy” the mayor decided to support a reduction in pay after voting two months ago merely to freeze salaries in the next term.

This week’s vote covered only the mayor and council, not the part-time city treasurer or the Board of Assessment Appeals, who would have been included in the 3 percent pay cut proposed in March by city Councilor Cliff Block.

City Councilor Mike Rimcoski, who opposed a pay cut earlier this year, said he could vote for this one because it didn’t target anyone but the council and mayor.

The council also voted to freeze the pay of the treasurer and assessment panelists next term.

Also facing a wage freeze are city workers who aren’t in a union, including some department heads and lawyers.

It isn’t clear yet whether the move will help convince wary city union members to support reductions in their negotiated contracts. Many employees say they are reluctant to reopen deals the city made with them, even if it means layoffs for some.

City finance officials and Ward have indicated that if they can’t find savings through union concessions, they may have to lay off workers if they are going to freeze property taxes this year, as they insist they plan to do.

As many as 30 jobs could be on the on the line, but no list exists to clarify where cuts might be made.

The mayor and council will get a 5 percent cut in the first year of their two-year terms that start in November. The pay rate will remain the same in the second year.

Current pay for city leaders

Mayor - $102,025

City councilors - $10,156

City treasurer - $5,079

Board of Assessment Appeals chair -- $1,343

Board of Assessment Appeals - $1,140

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Ward formally declares his bid for a second term

Mayor Art Ward formally declared his intention Thursday to seek a second term in the city’s top job for another two years.
Ward said the post has turned out “quite a bit different than I envisioned it” because of the recession that has clobbered government along with most taxpayers.
Despite the hard times and hard choices, he said, “We can still move Bristol forward. We just need to do it together.”
Ward, a Democrat, attracted about 300 to his $50-a-person fund-raiser at Nuchies, including two gubernatorial candidates, the attorney general, the state comptroller and at least a handful of Republicans.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called Ward “a great friend” and insisted the mayor “is always fighting for the public interest, for the people of Bristol.”
Ward, a former state veterans’ counselor, has been unopposed since the only GOP contender dropped out of the race this week for personal reasons. He said, though, he expects to have an opponent again before the race is through.
Ward said that given the tough times, people who have jobs are worried they’ll wind up unemployed and those who have lost jobs already “are worried about surviving.”
He said that looking out for the interests of so many struggling families means he has had to make decisions “that were not very popular” – and doesn’t expect to see it get easier for awhile.
Ward said the key is for everyone “to work together as a team” and put partisanship aside in order to ensure the opportunities provided to people today are still there for “our children and grandchildren.”
“We can do it,” Ward said. “There’s no ifs, ands or buts.”
In times like this, state Comptroller Nancy Wyman said, “Bristol needs a good team” and it needs the “outstanding leadership” Ward has offered.
It will take “hard work, compassion and fiscal responsibility,” said Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.
Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy said Ward “is one of the finest people I’ve had the pleasure of working with” in his 14 years as a mayor. He said Ward is “an honest voice” for the people.’
“Art Ward is the man for the job and I know he will win reelection in November,” said state Rep. Frank Nicastro, a Democrat who served as mayor for a decade.
He said Ward is "willing to work together to get something done."
City Councilor Mike Rimcoski, a Republican, said he came to the event – with a free ticket – because Ward is a friend.
Other Republicans in the room included Zoning Commission Chairman Frank Johnson and Board of Education member Chris Wilson.
There were a wide array of city officials and employees at the event, including three city lawyers, Park Director Ed Swicklas, Water Superintendent Rob Longo and Police Chief John DiVenere.
Ward's campaign co-chairs are Elliott Nelson, the Democratic chairman in Bristol, and Mayra Sampson, a former party chair who is head of a city union local. Both are long-time supporters of Ward.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Rell: 'Connecticut really has lost a legend'

Looking back on the opportunity to grow up at Lake Compounce, the historic amusement park owned in part by his family, J. Harwood “Stretch” Norton called himself “one lucky kid.”

He paused, smiled, and added that the rest of his life had been pretty lucky, too.

Norton, a former mayor who later became the manager of the park where he played as a child, died Friday at the age of 86 after years of frail health. His funeral is Wednesday morning.

"Everybody knew Stretch, and Stretch knew everybody. He never forgot a name," Gov. Jodi Rell said. "Stretch loved life, he loved people, and he most certainly loved Bristol. Connecticut really has lost a legend."

Norton spent a single term as mayor starting in 1969, but he also put in six terms as a city councilor, graduated from Yale University, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, worked as an engineer for the Wallace Barnes Co., palled around with famous musicians and packed his life with family, friends and service to his community.

"It's a great, great loss to the city," said former Mayor Frank Nicastro. "He will always be remembered as someone who loved his city and as Mr. Lake Compounce."

Norton spent countless hours as a child at the park, where he learned how everything worked and knew most everyone who came by. At the height of the Depression, he once told a reporter, he had to loan his father the $7 he'd collected so the family could eat during a period when the banks closed.

Serving on a small seaplane tender in the U.S. Navy after his 1944 graduation from Yale, Norton saw an astounding array of ships off Okinawa, where troops stormed ashore in 1945 to begin the invasion of Japan itself.

He said he watched as kamikaze pilots rammed their planes into nearby ships, causing massive explosions and far too much death.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Norton said the terrorists’ assault with captured passenger planes brought back memories of the horror he witnessed as a young man in the Pacific War. For a long while after the attack, Norton convinced some area churches to toll their bells monthly to mark the awful moment and ensure it would never be forgotten.

Returning from the war, Norton worked at the park but also got a job as an engineer for the Wallace Barnes Steel division of Associated Spring, where he ultimately became the top plant engineer before stepping down two decades later. 

But he's remembered by many during the 1940s and 1950s as the ticket taker for scores of Big Band  concerts at the Casino building at Lake Compounce, where he got to know legends such as Tommy Dorsey, Maynard Ferguson and Frank Sinatra.

Despite all that time at the ballroom, wife Carolyn Norton said Monday, her husband "never learned how to dance." She said she discovered he had "two left feet" on an early date to a square dance near her home in Ohio.

"Turns out he only liked ballrooms when he could collect tickets," she said.

She said he was a natural prankster, giving friends golf clubs that bent like a spring and even stringing his bride-to-be in Ohio along for nearly a full day that he'd left her engagement ring behind in Connecticut. He said she could wear his clunky Yale ring instead.

He also played a lot of sports, loved to bowl and enjoyed eating out.

Carolyn Norton said her husband "was honest. He was considerate of people. He respected other people. He listened to what they had to say."

Norton's government service began when he ran as an independent and captured a council seat in 1959. He lost it two years later after supporting a policy change that required residents to bring their trash to the curb instead of having city crews find the cans themselves.

But Norton bounced back to recapture the seat two years later, holding it for a single term.

"He's one politician who always told you what he was thinking and didn't go back on his word," former Mayor Mike Werner said. That cost him the election, Werner said.

"He did what he thought was the right thing to do regardless of public opinion."

Norton guided the town through its worst economic period since the Great Depression, struggling to bolster an economy in which one in four Bristol workers were unemployed. During his stint as mayor, Norton played a pivotal role in securing the funding to construct Route 229 and later said he set the stage for ESPN to locate in Bristol through his work on industrial redevelopment in the area.

"If it weren’t for that succeeding, I don’t think ESPN would be in Bristol today," Norton said years later.

Norton was so chronically late to everything that his friends used to call him "the late Mayor Norton," said Werner. His punctual impairment -- combined with his penchant for the personal touch -- once had Norton writing out fund-raising letters on Election Night, Werner said.

From 1989 until 1997, he served as a city councilor, and followed that with a seven-year stint as a public works commissioner. He had been the first chairman of the Public Works Board back in 1960.

When he lost the council seat in 1997, Nicastro immediately appointed Norton to the the Public Works Board once again, despite their different political affiliations.

"When he disagreed, he did it as a gentleman. There were no hard feelings. He believed in what he was doing," Nicastro said.

On the public works panel, Norton said he could focus on the day-to-day necessities of keeping the city's streets, drains and walkways in good shape -- which was always what he liked best anyway.

"No politics, just government," as Norton put it. "It’s my favorite place to work in the city.”

Norton is survived by his wife, Carolyn, four children and five grandchildren.

Calling hours are from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Funk Funeral Home. A funeral service is slated for 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Joseph Church, with a private burial with military honors to follow in the Lake Avenue cemetery, where generations of Nortons are laid to rest.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Former Mayor Stretch Norton left a legacy

One of the city’s giants died Friday.

J. Harwood “Stretch” Norton -- a former owner of Lake Compounce, ex-mayor and a World War II veteran who saw kamikazes plunging into ships off Okinawa – brought a generous spirit and genuine love for his hometown to a lifetime of activity.

“He was one of the most gracious, considerate individuals that I’ve come in contact with,” Mayor Art Ward said. “Just a true gentleman.”

Norton, 86, has been ill in recent years, no longer able to get out much or to participate in the civic life he’d known since a childhood spent roaming his family’s amusement park.

As a politician, Norton proudly pointed to his integrity as his strong suit.

“I won’t wheel and deal,” he once told a reporter.

His bipartisan spirit – understandable in a man who didn’t become a Republican until 1968 – made him friends on both sides of the political aisle.

A decade ago, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called Norton “one of the great Americans, one of the great Connecticut citizens.”

Ward called Norton “a mentor” and “the most bipartisan person I’ve ever worked with.”

The mayor said Norton was “dedicated to the city of Bristol” throughout a long career.

As a one-term mayor elected in 1969, Norton said he set the stage for ESPN to locate in Bristol through his work on the industrial redevelopment of Middle Street.

“If it weren’t for that succeeding, I don’t think ESPN would be in Bristol today,” Norton said a few years ago.

Norton also took credit during his administration for improving conditions at the Cambridge Park housing project and helping to launch the Barnes Nature Center.

Norton managed Lake Compounce in the 1970s until his family sold the park in 1985. But he always kept it close to his heart.

Norton served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he took part in the massive naval armada that descended on Okinawa as the Americans closed in on Japan.

A Yale graduate, Norton worked as engineer for the Wallace Barnes Co. before turning to politics and taking the helm at the nation’s oldest amusement park, founded by his great grandfather in 1846.

The Press plans a more complete story about Norton next week.

Norton is survived by his wife, Carrie, and four grown children.

Calling hours for Norton are from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Funk Funeral Home. A funeral service is slated for 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Joseph Church.

A private burial with military honors will be held later at Lake Avenue Cemetery, where generations of Nortons have been laid to rest.

If anyone would like to contribute memories of Norton for a story, please send them to me at scollins@bristolpress.com. Be sure to include your name and phone number.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Ward says these times 'call for leadership'

 Mayor Art Ward, a Democrat elected in 2007, plans to seek re-election this year.

Ward said Tuesday that since taking office, “the economy has changed and I’d like to see it through to the point where we’re back on track” as a community, state and nation.

Ward said he’s enjoying the job despite the hardships caused by the massive recession that has crippled many businesses, clobbered revenues and made it difficult to balance the books at City Hall.

“These are the types of times that call for leadership,” Ward said. “They basically test your abilities.”

Ward said the voters will decide how he’s doing come November.

So far, there is only declared challenger, Republican Ken Johnson, the man that Ward narrowly defeated to win the city’s top job 16 months ago.

But two former mayors may be interested in running: Republican William Stortz and Democrat Frank Nicastro, who is stepping down from a City Council seat this year while continuing to serve as the 79^th District’s state representative. Nicastro hasn’t ruled out a mayoral run.

The parties will nominate candidates this summer.

Ward plans a formal announcement of his intention to run on April 30 at a fundraiser at Nuchies. But he filed papers recently that made his plans clear.

Ward, who served on the council for seven terms before seeking the mayor’s job, said that he’s been able to “work in a bipartisan fashion for the most part” and has managed to patch up the obvious rift with some Democrats after  a tough primary in 2007.

Ward said that Democrats “have all come to the realization” that in the face of such hard times “we have to put our personal differences aside” and do what’s best for Bristol.

“It’s been a challenge” to serve during a recession, the mayor said, but he’s convinced he’s done the job well .

The highlights of his term as mayor, he said, were the city’s recent bond upgrade, the success in attracting new businesses and helping existing ones expand.

“I enjoy the job. I enjoy working with people. I thoroughly enjoy working with the community” in many ways, from giving recognition to civic groups to reading to schoolchildren, Ward said.

Ward is a former state veterans counselor who served in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam Ward.

Mayors serve two-year terms for about $101,000 annually. The election is Nov. 3.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Ward is running again

To nobody's surprise, Mayor Art Ward is going to seek reelection.

The first-term Democrat said he filed paperwork recently indicating his intention to run. Party officials said the mayor intends to make a formal announcement on April 30 at Nuchies.

There is one Republican in the race already, Ken Johnson, the man Ward defeated in 2007 to win the city's top job.

But there is plenty of speculation that former Mayor William Stortz, who has served two different stints in the mayor's office, might try again this year.

There doesn't appear to be any opposition within Democratic ranks despite grumbling about Ward by some party stalwarts.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Ward paring budget where he can

Though Mayor Art promises hard choices on the city budget in the days ahead, the steps taken so far are likely to attract little attention.

Perhaps the most visible money-saving step so far is that police officers are occasionally doubling up in a single cruiser to save the cost of putting each of them in a separate car.

Mayor Art Ward said that he is wading through a lengthy series of possible budget cuts submitted last week by city department heads – each was told to list at least 10 approved items that could be trimmed – but hasn’t acted on them yet.

He called it “an onoing process that’s being addressed on a daily basis.”

But some ideas are clearly contemplated since Ward said he plans to meet with municipal unions in the next few weeks to see if changes can be made that might run afoul of existing agreements.

Ward said the city is trying to hold the line on its $172 million budget in part to ensure that next year’s spending plan doesn’t send taxpayers reeling.

Ward said that he’s already clamped down on sending city workers to many seminars and conferences – generally allowing only those required for certification and accreditation.

He said that public works is trying to consolidate its trucks’ trips by, for example, picking up bulk waste from nearby residents on the same day.

In addition, the city has some positions that have been left deliberately empty to save money, the mayor said.

Ward said he’s also aiming to cut down on fuel use, though he said he discovered recently that comparing the use month to month only looked good until he pulled out the reports from a year earlier and found the city is using “significantly more” fuel now.

“I wasn’t happy,” Ward added.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Stunning ruling on putting issues on the ballot

For years, city lawyers have said the City Council can't put measures on the ballot for a public vote.
But tonight, the city attorney, Dale Clift, said that the council can put questions on the ballot -- and so can the mayor.
I'm blown away by this, because for 14 years I've been told otherwise.
I'll get a copy of Clift's Sept. 30 opinion on this soon and post it on the blog. I'm sure it's not as black and white as it sounds.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Ward says assistants a better answer than chief operating officer

Instead of opting for a new chief operating officer for City Hall whose pay, duties and ability to get things done remain murky, Mayor Art Ward said he’d rather see a couple of mayoral assistants added to the staff to help cope with the workload.

Ward said he’d consider backing a plan that would let the mayor hire an assistant and to have the City Council hire another assistant to work in the mayor’s office.

With more help, he said, Bristol’s top leader would have a greater ability to attend hearings in Hartford, send representatives to community meetings and more.

The possibility of adding assistants stands in sharp contrast to the controversial proposal offered in a Nov. 4 charter referendum that calls for creating a chief operating officer to oversee city department heads.

Supporters say that a professionally trained chief operating officer will bring more efficiency to City Hall, along greater continuity. They say they have no doubt the creating the post will save money for taxpayers.

Ward said that those pushing for the new post need to “tell the people exactly what is wrong with our present position” at City Hall.

He said that Bristol has a fully funded pension plan, a solid bond rating, a Board of Finance that has kept spending under control for decades and an educational system that is admired across the state for delivering high test scores despite “relatively low spending” on the schools.

“Nobody has demonstrated to me the dire need for reform,” Ward said.

Ward said that if the mayor’s job is so burdensome that it needs the relief offered by a chief operating officer’s help, then hiring a couple of assistants would accomplish the same result for less money.

New Britain, he said, has five assistants for its mayor and other cities the size of Bristol have much larger staffs for the mayor than Bristol, which offers him only an administrative assistant.

Under former Mayor Gerard Couture, who served from 2003 to 2005, the city had a part-time aide for the mayor as well, who earned $25,000 annually.

But Couture’s successor, William Stortz, opted not to fill the post.

City Comptroller Glenn Klocko said the mayoral assistant’s position is no longer in the municipal budget.

Ward said that letting the mayor pick an assistant and having the council pick a second assistant would ensure that the choices “were not just dictatorial.”

He said that having assistants who could pick up some of the slack would allow a mayor to spend more time in Hartford attending key hearings and talking to the state officials who decide how much aid comes to Bristol and its projects.

Ward said there’s no doubt that it’s necessary “to tweak” city government regularly, to keep it functioning as well as possible.

But, he said, adding a chief operating officer whose focus would be solely internal wouldn’t be much help.

Ward said he sees merit in the argument that city needs greater continuity in its leadership, one of the reasons touted for a chief operating officer.

He said he would like to see mayors have four-year terms instead of facing reelection after just two years.

That would allow a mayor time “to accomplish a set agenda” before his term ends.

Ward said that city councilors should have three-year terms, with their terms staggered so that all of them would not be up for reelection in the same year.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Yarde pushes COO, Couture calls for more help for mayor

The push for a chief operating officer grew a bit stronger Thursday with the unveiling of a new political action committee aimed at swaying voters to back the idea next month.
A website created by Choose COO features information about the proposal and a note from businesssman Craig Yarde claiming the position would save taxpayers millions of dollars.
He said a professional administrator would manage the 21 department heads and “make the city departments more efficient and effective to service us citizens and help to keep taxes down.”
Critics of the proposed charter change say the position itself will sock taxpayers for at least $200,000 annually and question whether whoever holds it will have the necessary authority to make the sorts of changes that Yarde envisions.
Yarde, the former co-owner of Yarde Metals, said that he sees a a communication problem at City Hall that requires a solution.
“At the top” of the organization chart, Yarde said, is a mayor who is set up to fail.
Yarde said that former Mayor Gerard Couture told him “he spent half his day listening to citizen complaints” and not dealing with the big issues that Bristol has to face.
Couture said Thursday that it probably wasn’t half the day, but “it was a good part of the day.”
He said, though, that he also meant the time he spent dealing with issues raised by employees and attending in-house events such as police promotions.
Couture said he’s not sure a chief operating officer is the answer, but he did recommend the city take steps “to professionalize the mayor’s office.”
Yarde said the mayor “spends every evening in board meetings, kissing babies and cutting ribbons.”
He said that instead, the mayor should be hitting up the state for money and offering a vision “to lead us to the future.”
The way it is now, Yarde said, a mayor also has to manage 21 department heads directly.
“You got to be kidding. Superman couldn't do it. Forget about it,” Yarde said.
He said that if voters approve the charter change on Nov. 4, the new chief operating officer it would create would oversee the department heads, freeing up the mayor for larger picture issues.
“The COO would use their experience to assist the mayor and [City] Council and will help in the continuity needed to maintain a long term vision for this community,” Yarde said.’
“After all we've been turning over councilmen and mayors every two years,” he said.
“Believe me, there are millions of dollars of low hanging fruit that a COO can pick without sacrificing service or jobs,” Yarde said.
It’s possible that’s true.
Couture said that his aide, former state Rep. Kosta Diamantis, saved the taxpayers $230,000 in a single afternoon when he discovered a lawyer had overbilled the city.
Couture said he wishes that the council, the mayor and solid citizens such as Yarde could get together and hash out a solution that everyone could support.
The council voted against the chief operating officer concept on a 5-2 vote, with Ward joining the opposition. It reached the ballot only because supporters gathered enough signatures over the summer to overturn the council’s rejection of the plan.
Couture said he tried to make the mayor’s office more professional by hiring a part-time aide, a position that vanished under his two successors.
An assistant for the mayor, said Couture, “would be a big benefit” for the city because “one man can’t run the whole show.”

Link to Choose COO website

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Manager versus mayor...

It's interesting that New London is considering a shift in its political system to make its mayor stronger instead of relying so much on a professional manager.
Sometimes it appears that what people really want is something different than what they have, in the hope that maybe somehow it will be better.

Update: According to the New London Day, city voters in New London voted by more than a 60-40 margin in 2007 to drop their city manager in favor of a strong mayor form of government.
It described teh new mayor position there as putting someone at the helm "who would set policy, possess a veto over a seven-member council and appoint and fire department heads.
"The mayor, who would appoint a chief of staff, would serve a four-year term, while council members would continue to serve two years."
Voters are getting another chance because turnout wasn't big enough last time to meet a mandatory threshold for change.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Mayor's website updated

Nice to see somebody at City Hall's reading this little blog. The mayor's website caught up with the news a bit and no longer talks about the demise of the mall as something still to come.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Ward's mayoral campaign pays $1,500 fine for violating state election laws

The state recently socked Mayor Art Ward’s campaign with a $1,500 fine for breaking election laws during last year’s mayoral race.
The State Elections Enforcement Commission levied the fine – which has to be paid personally by Ward’s campaign treasurer – and ordered the campaign to return another $500 along with correcting its campaign spending and donation forms to comply with state statutes.
The state smackdown – the result of a complaint filed by the city Republican Party’s chairman – is one of the largest fines ever issued against a Bristol political campaign. It may be Bristol’s biggest ever.
“It’s just horrendous,” Ward said Monday. “This was politically motivated.”
Ward said there is “a difference between people sincerely trying to do the right thing” in a volunteer position and politicians trying to get away with something shady.
Filing a complaint for minor mistakes that led to a fine that only the treasurer can pay out of his own money is “dastardly,” Ward said.
The campaign’s disclosure forms failed to report the full names, addresses and occupations of donors, improperly paid out petty cash to some campaign workers and failed to specify what it was spending all of its money on.
The problem was that Ward’s campaign treasurer, former city Board of Finance member Robert Dunlap, “was not too well-versed in the procedures that are required to account for a candidate’s finances,” said Art Mocabee, the GOP chairman who filed the complaint.
Mocabee said the mistakes were flagrant and the paperwork “a mess.”
“Yeah, I screwed up, but it had nothing to do with the mayor,” Dunlap said. “I didn’t pay enough attention to the rules and regulations as I should have.”
Dunlap said the problems were “my fault, unintentional, unfortunate, and rather costly to me.”
“I’m not very happy about it,” he said, adding that it cost him his vacation this year.
Mocabee said he doesn’t blame Ward for the errors.
“It’s certainly not Art’s fault. He was probably just assuming Bob knew what he was doing,” Mocabee said.
He also called Dunlap “a great guy and a smart fellow” who just didn’t know the details of the laws governing the reports.
Mocabee said that the errors are “not anything too serious” in the big scheme of things, but they do allow critics to wonder, fairly, if Ward’s aides are “this haphazard” accounting for campaign dollars whether they’ll do any better with the public’s money.
“In an era where ethics is so important, the campaign financing reports cannot be taken lightly and they have to be scrutinized for the highest level of ethics possible,” Mocabee said.
He said the public wants to know for sure that public servants are held accountable.
“If you don’t make the grade, will you make the grade in more serious areas?” Mocabee asked.
The state panel determined – and Dunlap agreed – that nearly $5,000 in reimbursements from the campaign to Ward were not itemized to explain what the money was for. Subsequent filings clarified the spending.
The campaign also took in three donations directly from labor unions, two of them from the Bristol Police union. That’s not allowed, the state agency said, and ordered the money returned to the unions.
Mocabee said he viewed it as one of his jobs as the GOP’s city chairman to check the reports filed by Republican candidates “to make sure we’re doing the right thing.”
He said he looked over Ward’s filings “to make sure the other guys are doing the right thing.”
When he saw that they were not, Mocabee said, he filed the complaint with the state regulatory agency that monitors campaign finance disclosure.
Ward said that filing the complaint was “very cavalier” of Mocabee because he knew the stakes for Dunlap. He said that the GOP chairman should have just called Dunlap and asked him to correct the forms.
Ward said Mocabee “surely should be ashamed of himself.”
The mayor said that most of the campaign finance forms filed by municipal candidates in Bristol have mistakes that would lead to fines if anyone filed a complaint. But those involved in the process understand, he said, that volunteers who are not campaign professionals don’t always know exactly what’s required and they make allowances.
Ward said that if the state is going to be so stringent, fewer people will run for office and those who do will wind up having to pay professional campaign finance outfits to make sure the reports are done to the strict standards apparently required today.
He said state lawmakers should step in to prevent people such as Dunlap from getting socked personally for trivial errors.
“I can’t even describe how I feel about this whole situation,” said Ward.
“I’ll stand by my treasurer,” the mayor said. “I know that everything he did was done with the utmost of integrity.”
“I apologize to him for his efforts being paraded as if he purposefully created some errors,” Ward said. “That’s sad. It’s really sad.”

Click here for PDF of the full report from the Elections Enforcement Commission

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City manager of sorts gets initial backing

Reporter Jackie Majerus just filed this:

A city manager – or something close to it – may be in Bristol’s future.
The city’s charter revision commission is moving toward shifting some of the mayor’s duties to a professional business manager, while still leaving the City Council and a full-time mayor in place, according to Tim Furey, who chairs the panel.
Furey said the commission has asked Ann Baldwin, an attorney for the city, to begin looking at the city charter with the idea of adding a chief operating officer or city manager.
The plan is to try to figure out “how the organizational chart would look,” said Furey.
Commissioner Harley Graham said the city has to come into the “modern age” and leave the mindset of doing things the way they’ve always been done.
“We need some professionalism,” said Graham. “We may have to redefine what the mayor does.”
Furey said the commission has given up on the idea of a total conversion to a city manager form of government, but reached something of a consensus without taking a full vote.
Instead, he said, they want to add professionalism and continuity to a system dependent on frequent municipal elections.
“People wanted some management continuity that was semi-immune from the political process,” said Furey.
But Furey said it’s also important to have a mayor who is the public face of the community.
“I like the idea of keeping a mayor in place,” said Furey. “Someone’s gotta be the king, so to speak.”
Just what responsibilities an incoming business professional would take on, who he or she would answer to and how the city could discharge that person if it wasn’t working out have yet to be determined.
“The devil is in the details,” said Furey.
Commissioner Maria Pirro said a city manager should be required to live in Bristol – something others on the panel also agreed with. By getting involved in the community, she said, that individual would “become vested” in Bristol.
Dick Prindle, a member of the commission, spoke against the city manager idea, but said he liked the notion of the mayor having an assistant.
“A mayor has a lot to do,” said Prindle.
City Councilor Craig Minor said he supported an assistant for former Mayor Gerard Couture a few years ago, “thinking I was giving the mayor a chief of staff.”
But Minor said he was disappointed when that assistant, former state Rep. Kosta Diamantis, spent all his time working on what were at the time plans for the conversion of the downtown mall into a community recreation and retail complex.
The charter revision commission will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22 at the Bristol Board of Education.
People can address many issues that night, Furey said, including the city manager idea, but he said he hopes the hearing will be focused on the question of whether Bristol should return to an appointed school board.
After that public hearing, there will be a series of meetings to work on the charter with regard to a city manager or chief operating officer, said Furey, and more opportunities for the public to weigh in on the issue.
Any recommendation made by the charter revision commission must be approved by city councilors before it goes on the ballot.
“The electorate in the end has to decide,” said Furey.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Ward's honeymoon over

Mayor Art Ward’s honeymoon is already over.
Shortly after the City Council tabled the mayor’s request to reappoint embattled economic development director Jonathan Rosenthal, councilors rebelled against Ward’s effort to reappoint three Park Board members allied with the mayor.
Councilor Craig Minor said he would not support the reappoint of any of the trio until Ward recreates the Park Revitalization Committee that has spearheaded the multi-million project to overhaul key city parks.
Though Ward said he intends to form the panel again, Minor got three other councilors to support his bid to block the reappointment of park commissioners Tom Ragaini, Lori DeFillippi and Pat Nelligan.
As long as the trio are not replaced, they’ll continue to serve in their volunteer positions.
Rosenthal, who is paid more than $90,000 annually, has been serving in his position since April 2006 without reappointment.
Former Mayor William Stortz refused to bring Rosenthal’s name to the council or to make an effort to replace him.
Ward vowed to bring Rosenthal’s appointment up for a vote, but he has yet to say whether he’ll support another term for the economic development director who has served since 1994.
The only councilor to vote against delaying any move on Rosenthal was Frank Nicastro, a former mayor who originally appointed him. Ward joined the rest of the council in tabling the decision.
Several insiders said that if a vote had been taken at Tuesday’s council meeting, Rosenthal would not have garnered the support of a majority.
But Councilors Cliff Block, Kevin McCauley and Mike Rimcoski each said they would not discuss their reasoning in public because it was a personnel matter. McCauley made the motion to table Rosenthal.
On the park board reappointments, Minor secured the backing of McCauley, Block and Ken Cockayne.
Nicastro, Ward and Rimcoski voted against the delay in reappointing the park commissioners.
On one other vote, Minor alone voted against Ward’s request to appoint Mitzy Rowe, the Bristol Housing Authority director, to serve on an arts and culture committee. Minor said a BHA representative wasn’t needed on the panel.


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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Ward's in charge now

Just spent a few minutes with Mayor Art Ward -- that will take some time to get used to -- in the mayor's office at City Hall.
The place is pretty emptied out, of course, but Ward said he's glad. He'll fill it up.
He was busy opening mail when I was there, tossing junk mail to the side and making a little pile of envelopes addressed to his predecessor, William Stortz. Ward said he'd forward them.
Ward said he doesn't expect too much to happen at tonight's City Council meeting. Most of the appointments he can make won't be done today. He said he's talking with all the councilors to try to accommodate their desires as best he can.
He laughed when I told him that at least his elevation to mayor doesn't leave too many vacant committee slots to fill, since Stortz had kind of iced him out during the past two years.
Ward said he doesn't plan to make any grand gestures to begin his term. He said they have a way of coming back to explode in your face.
So the Ward era has begun. We'll be watching closely.

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Mayor Ward takes the oath

Here is reporter Jackie Majerus' account of the inaugural ceremony at Bristol Eastern High School tonight:

With plenty of pomp, the city’s inaugural ceremony Monday ushered in newly elected Mayor Art Ward and his administration.
“I’m honored and humbled to be able to stand here this evening,” said Ward, promising to do his “absolute best” to work with all elected and appointed officials, city employees and the citizenry to move the city ahead.
“I truly believe that we can accomplish whatever task is in front of us,” said Ward. He said he’s excited about helping Bristol become a better place to live, work, go to school and retire.
Ward said he wants to finish the city’s projects that are already started, but also to reach out to Bristol businesses with a new initiative to help them grow.
“Economic development is an investment in our future,” said Ward, who also said he wanted to continue to improve the city’s parks and maintain its roads and schools.
A top priority, Ward said, is for him to sit down with the state delegation and work to instill confidence in Hartford that Bristol is unified.
Ward said the campaign showed what happens “when personal agendas take the place of mutual cooperation.”
“I’ll be the greatest advocate for the promotion of mutual respect,” vowed Ward.
A crowd of more than 300 watched and listened – and stood, applauded, prayed and sometimes cheered – during the festivities, held in the auditorium of Bristol Eastern High School.
Bagpipers from the Connecticut Pipe and Drum Corps in full Scottish regalia playing “The Marines’ Hymn” followed veterans in uniform and a Bristol Police Department color guard to open the ceremony. The stage, adorned with red, white and blue bunting, held more than two dozen potted gold mums.
Singer Greg O’Brien belted out “The Star Spangled Banner,” and the Rev. John Georgia, pastor of St. Gregory Roman Catholic Church, gave the invocation, asking a blessing for Ward and the other newly elected officials.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, accompanied by state Comptroller Nancy Wyman, administered the oath of office to Ward.
But before asking Ward to promise to uphold the laws of the country, state and city, Blumenthal grabbed the microphone for a few remarks. He promised he wouldn’t speak long.
“If I take too much time, the comptroller won’t sign my paycheck,” Blumenthal joked.
Blumenthal thanked all the city’s elected officials for their service, but especially noted Ward’s many years in public life, calling it a “tremendous commitment of energy and integrity.”
Noting that Saturday was the birthday of the United States Marine Corps, Blumenthal said he was speaking “as a fellow Marine” when he said, “Today is very special.”
After Ward took the oath and went to the podium to make his remarks, a group of exuberant supporters in the front began chanting, “ARTIE! ARTIE! ARTIE!
Ward recognized them and his many friends and family members in the crowd, including Paul Fitta, an old friend from the Marines who’d made the trip from Massachusetts several times to support his campaign.
Ward said Fitta was there when he announced his candidacy and returned on primary day and Election Day “to stand in the rain all day” and was back again for the inaugural.
“I guess you could say I’m very, very fortunate because of friends such as Paul,” said Ward.
Ward said his “first official act as mayor” was to “extend my heartfelt thanks” to both Blumenthal and Wyman for their steadfast support of Bristol’s elected officials over the years.
The fact that Bristol has the fifth largest population of veterans in the state “says something about the people of this community,” said Ward.
“When the country has called, they’ve answered that call,” Ward said, and in turn, the community has supported its soldiers.
The Rev. Roger Barker of Calvary Church gave a closing benediction.
“In Your providence, You’ve granted the office of mayor to Art Ward,” Barker prayed. “Give him a clear mind and a warm heart.”

And then there's also this:
In all, 26 people took the oath of office Monday night in Bristol. Most were sworn in as part of a group, and only Mayor Art Ward gave a speech.
The constables – John Crowley, Thomas Hick, Kym Keating-Corriveau, Paul Keegan, Jason Klemyk and Todd Larue – were sworn in en masse by Anne Houlihan.
William Wolfe administered the oath of office to the three member board of assessment appeals, Kristopher Keating, James Minella and Dominic Pasquale.
Outgoing city Treasurer Patti Ewen said it gave her “great pleasure” to swear in Treasurer Bill Veits.
School board members were also sworn in as a group. Elizabeth Grady administered the oath of office to Jane Anastasio, Peg Bonola, Amy Coan, Barbara Doyle, Julie Luczkow, Tom O’Brien, Sherry Turcotte, Karen Vibert and Chris Wilson.
Each city councilor was sworn in separately, like Veits.
Cliff Block was sworn in by school board member Doyle, and Ken Cockayne was sworn in by Corporation Counsel Ed Krawiecki Jr.
Jacqueline McCauley administered the oath of office to her husband, Kevin McCauley, as did Laura Minor for her husband, Craig Minor.
Frank Nicastro was sworn in by Ann Baldwin, a city attorney, and Mike Rimcoski was sworn in by Republican Registrar Ellie Klapatch.

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Stortz looks back on years as mayor

Leaving the mayor’s office for the second time, Republican William Stortz wouldn’t rule out a return to politics someday.
“Who knows?” said Stortz, 72.
But at least for awhile, he’s going to focus on more run-of-the-mill activities.
“I’ve got gutters to clean, leaves to rake,” said Stortz, who served as mayor in the early 1990s and for the past two years. He stepped down rather than seek reelection.
Stortz handed over the city’s top job to Democrat Art Ward yesterday, a man he sparred with for much of the past two years. But their relations grew warmer as the campaign heated up and Stortz said he’ll be available to lend Ward a hand or answer a question.
What’s more, the ex-mayor said, he won’t second-guess his successor at first.
“Everyone needs a chance to get acclimated and to make the adjustments” that come with the job, Stortz said, even a 14-year veteran city councilor.
Stortz said he believes he did a lot of good for Bristol during his stints in the top job, but found it more pleasant in the position this time because the city had more money.
The first time around, coming off a recession, Stortz said he had the unpleasant task of advising department heads that spending cuts were needed that would inevitably lead to layoffs.
“That set a tone that Bill Stortz was out of get you” at City Hall “so it was not a happy time,” he said.
“I couldn’t walk around City Hall smiling,” Stortz said. “How could I be Jerry Lewis when people were being laid off?”
This time around, the problem was not saving money – though Stortz managed to hold property tax hikes to less than the inflation rate – it was how to spend it. That’s always easier.
Stortz said the fate of the downtown mall, purchased by his predecessor’s administration, was far and away the big issue he had to deal with.
He said he wishes the city could have gotten further in revitalizing the 17-acre site, but there nothing more he could do because everyone had to wait for the Ocean State Job Lot court case to end. When the ruling finally came down this fall, the store moved out quickly, clearing the way for the mall’s demolition within a few months.
“I don’t know how we could have moved any faster,” Stortz said. He tried last spring to cut a deal with Ocean State to speed it up, but city councilors rejected it.
They “made the right decision,” Stortz acknowledged, because the ruling came soon enough to have undermined the rationale for a settlement.
He said he’s glad to have pushed for creation of a downtown corporation to lead the redevelopment effort, a move he said should help.
Stortz said he’s proud of doing so much to bring more qualified women and minority board members into city government, including many who had never had a political or governmental role before.
“I feel very, very good about the quality of the people I put on boards,” Stortz said, because so many of them are energetic, interested residents.
He said he is also glad to have put the police through diversity training so that officers “can better understand a changing society.” City workers are slated to receive a less comprehensive version of the training soon, Stortz said.
Stortz said the proposed community theater at Memorial Boulevard Middle School, a project that’s moving ahead, is another positive step that his administration took.
Stortz also cited continued progress on the parks, for which he credited city Councilor Ellen Zoppo, a beginning in what is likely to prove a long effort to decrease flooding in town, “reluctant” progress on the new industrial park that didn’t come as quickly as he would have liked.
Stortz said he’s also pleased he was able to direct more funding into infrastructure improvements that included more road repairs and better attention to aging buildings.
Stortz said one regret is that he wished he’d done more to deal with the looming space crunch at City Hall, perhaps by buying the former Chic Miller site or the Lepore property behind City Hall.
Stortz said that after taking a break, he’s likely to speak up about issues that concern him, even if he has put many bags of recycled paper out at the curb that includes reports, articles and other material he’s relied on to keep tabs on the city for decades.
“I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of him,” Ward said.

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Suchopar to stay as Mayor Ward's secretary

Mayor-elect Art Ward said Wednesday he plans no big changes in the mayor’s office.
Ward said he asked Mary Suchopar, Mayor William Stortz’s secretary, to stay on in the position.
“She’s always been professional and courteous,” Ward said. “I think she’s represented the office in a very professional manner.”
Ward said he has no intention of hiring another aide, at least initially, to help him cope with the rising workload in the mayor’s office.
Democratic Mayor Gerard Couture, whom Stortz knocked out of office in 2005, pushed successfully to create a part-time mayoral assistant who could help with budget and policy issues. But the $25,000-a-year post vanished when Stortz took office.
City Comptroller Glenn Klocko said that the mayoral aide’s position is no longer part of the city budget so if Ward or any other mayor wanted to have an aide, he would have to create it.
Suchopar said that she is “very happy” the Ward wants her to stay on.
She said it makes sense to have a continuity in the office – and it helps to have the background.
“It was difficult for me when I first came in because I didn’t have that experience and I didn’t have anybody to help me get up and running,” Suchopar said.
Suchopar said she’s looking forward to helping Ward “be ready to go from day one.”
Most mayors in recent decades have kept the secretary hired by their predecessors.
Couture was the first to buck the trend, dumping former Mayor Frank Nicastro’s secretary so he could hire an administrative aide who helped on his campaign. There was never any doubt that Stortz would hire someone new to replace her.
With the decision to keep on Suchopar, Ward is returning to past practice at City Hall.
On Wednesday morning, Ward made the rounds at City Hall, talking with workers and supervisors briefly, most of whom were happy he’d won.
“I talked with the majority of the department heads that were available,” Ward said. He said he’ll be talking with them in depth in coming days to help set priorities and get ready for the new budget preparation period.


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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Watch 'em on TV

Nutmeg Television is airing the Federal Hill Association political forums from earlier this month, where the mayoral and City Council candidates addressed the issues raised by both the FHA and residents.
The forums will be shown on channel 21 on cable. Those of you with DISH or, like me, getting by with only on-air TV are out of luck.
The mayoral forum will air at 7 p.m. tonight and at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4.
The 1st District council forum is slated for 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 23 and 6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 3.
The 2nd District council forum will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25 and at 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 3.
The 3rd District council forum is shceduled for 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 26 and 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 4.
You can all thank Mike Saman for taping the forums.
By the way, there's also a mayoral forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Little League complex, sponsored by the two major political parties. I assume it will be over by 8:35 p.m., when the game starts. :)

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com