Ethics Complaint Questions Conflict of Interest in Councilor Votes

Southington’s Ethics Board could soon be called to order to determine whether there is a conflict of interest in allowing members of the Town Council to vote on the Board of Education budget if they are employed or have family members employed by the board.

Resident Art Cyr filed a complaint with the town clerk Tuesday morning, questioning whether Councilors John Barry and Christopher Palmieri acted in an ethical manner by not disclosing their ties to education in Southington and voting for the Board of Education’s annual budget on Monday night.

“They ignored the charter and they ignored the code of ethics,” Cyr said Monday night after disclosing his intent at the council meeting. “If there is any potential conflict of interest, they have a responsibility to disclose that and abstain. I didn’t hear that tonight and anyone employed by the Board of Education or that has an immediate family member employed by the Board of Education should abstain from a vote on their budget.”

The complaints against each council member, filed separately on Tuesday morning, bring up an issue that has previously been discussed before the council and both Barry and Palmieri said Monday that they sought council this year prior to the public hearing and council vote.

Southington Town Attorney Mark Sciota has previously stated that the charter and state statutes do not classify a vote on the Board of Education as a conflict of interest because council members do not have line item control over the budget and furthermore are not directly impacted by the council’s decision.

Barry and Palmieri, longtime council members, have both supported and opposed restoration of funds to the Board of Education in the past and before voting in favor of restoring $300,000 in funds Monday had met with Sciota and received a legal ruling that there was no conflict.

“These ethics charges being filed are based on politics. This is the lowest of low and I will not stand idle to it,” Barry said Tuesday morning. “It is an attack on myself and my family. What I do on council has no impact on (my wife’s) job at all. The town attorney has ruled there is no conflict of interest and I received that ruling several times including just several weeks ago.”

Palmieri said Tuesday that his decision was made as a compromise and was not for any personal gain, therefore did not create a conflict of interest.

“I have always and will continue to act in the best interest of the entire town,” he said.

Cyr said Monday night, however, that he does not believe anyone has challenged this ruling and is asking the Board of Ethics to take “a hard look” during a full hearing and issue a ruling.

He further contends that in a year where the Board of Education could potentially include staffing cuts, both Palmieri and Barry could face concerns that do directly affect them or their families. No staffing cuts have been made or proposed and the Board of Education will discuss adjustments to their budget on May 23.

It seems unlikely that either Palmieri, well known in his role as the assistant principal at DePaolo Middle School, or John Barry’s wife Karen Barry, a nine-year employee and staff member at Southington High School’s VoAg Center, would face layoffs.

Both are members of the union and have certain job protection under union contracts, John Barry noted Monday.

Barry noted that the ethics complaints do not attempt to address others in public office that also are employed or have family and/or relatives employed by the Board of Education.

“Mr. Cyr is after us for political purposes,” Barry said. “I am absolutely disgusted by this. It is beyond any reasonable approach.”

"It is very unfortunate that Mr. Cyr brought a member of my family into this. I have never been afraid of bullies. Mr. Cyr showed his true colors and it was very uncalled for," Barry said.

Barry also questioned Tuesday why Cyr would file an ethics complaint and forego the charter regulations stating that an ethics complaint first go to the Southington Ethics Board to determine whether there is just cause.

Under the town charter, residents or officials filing a complaint are expected to keep the complaint to themselves – as are members of the Board of Ethics – until such time where just cause is determined to establish a public hearing.

Once a hearing takes place, the complaint would then be made public, Sciota said, and the issue debated before the full Ethics Board. Only then would a ruling take place. If the board does not find merit, the complaint is thrown out and never made public.

“Is that an ethical approach, to make it public and disregard the town’s ethics policy?” Barry asked.

Cyr said he released his intent to the council Monday, however, out of concerns for Freedom of Information. When challenged at the council meeting, it led several members of the council to call him out of order, including Barry, Sciota and Dobbins.

The decision to discuss the complaint was based on the fact that there was no complaint filed, Cyr said, and therefore there was no violation in discussing his concerns.

“The people of town should know watch over them,” he said, noting that while Council Chairman John Dobbins ruled that he was out of order, he was simply disclosing public information. “Ethics should not be a secret. That does not make me out of order.”

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