Milone Gives Endorsement to ‘One Line of Authority’

Cheshire Town Manager Michael Milone told members of the Charter Revision Commission Thursday that after working for governments with and without police and fire commissions, he has found governments are more uniform and efficient with “one line of authority.”

Milone, who has previously worked for the City of New Haven and has now spent the past 13 years as town manager in Cheshire, came before the commission Thursday night to discuss how Southington’s neighbor to the south has operated without a police or fire commission, an operational format that has served the community since 1971.

“The way we do it, it’s pretty straight forward,” Milone said. “We don’t have to modify any policies or balance them through a commission. It makes management more direct, more consistent and for me, I think a little more efficient because we do not have different levels of management.”

The recommendation came as part of an ongoing discussion by the commission on how to improve efficiency and eliminate politics from government, especially as it relates to the Southington police and fire commissions.

While serving the city of New Haven, Milone said his experience was that having one line of authority for certain employees and a separate police commission made it difficult to create a standardized set of regulations and discipline for all employees.

Since moving to Cheshire and taking over as town manager, however, he said that having every department including police and fire answer to the town manager has helped create a simple, effective process for hiring, firing and general government operations.

But Milone also cautioned that the state has 42 different forms of council-manager governments and in his studies, no two are alike.

“No one is alike, and it’s a good thing, designed to meet the needs of the individual communities,” he said. “(In Cheshire) there is one line of authority, one line of discipline and we don’t have to balance amongst other groups.”

Despite the testimony from Milone Thursday and the endorsement of Meriden City Manager Lawrence Kendzior two weeks ago, it appears that the commission is still split on the best way to move forward in addressing – if at all – the police and fire commissions in Southington.

Milone’s testimony fed into further debate among members as Dennis Conroy remained opposed and critical of a plan that would have the two departments answer directly to Southington Town Manager Garry Brumback.

Conroy said he does not want to strip the power from the people and said if the town has residents willing to serve, it’s in the best interest of the community to allow them to do so.

“Whether it is the town manager or a commission, they are going to go with the people they have relationships with (when hiring), those you like and they may not always be the best qualified. It is human nature and there are no guarantees. We could have complete faith in this town manager, but he may only be here five years. Then what?”

Commissioner Andrew Meade and Chairman Brian Callahan each countered his point, however, saying that a change would provide a more efficient stream of government and maintaining that the ultimate goal is to take politics out of the equation.

“What we are trying to do here is take the politics out of this thing entirely,” Callahan said. “Rather than rely on people appointed by the parties, there are too many factors of politics that can get in way, it would make it professional. There is no guarantee (with the commissions) that those serving are qualified.”

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