Minister, some technical difficulties with the computer. Welcome, folks, to the special meeting of the Common Council for August 28th. We're going to wait a couple of minutes to see if the gremlin in the Google box can get straightened out. Otherwise, we'll begin at 6.04. Good evening again it's 6.04. This is the public participation portion of the August 28th meeting special meeting. Please if anybody in the room wishes to speak you have to state your name and address and limit your time to three minutes. Also the topic tonight is speaking to the agenda items only which have to do to have to do with motions on the appointment of two city departments. I'll call up Kelly Nowst. Welcome, Kelly. Thank you. I'm just here today to express my appreciation prayers to the people in the Episcopal Church and everybody that got hurt there. You know, I that's very sad. I'm here to just give condolences to them, everybody there, family and friends, everybody here. God bless you for that. I just wanted to express that, you know, because it's an Episcopal church. I've been working for Episcopal churches. And I just wanted to say thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you, Kelly. Thank you. We'll be having a moment for that at the start of the regular meeting. Okay, but I just wanted to express myself. Gotcha. I have no other names on the list. And due to... Oh, it's working. No callers? Okay. There are nobody calling in. Anybody else wish to speak? Anybody else wish to speak? Anybody else? Hearing none, this concludes public participation. And our special meeting will begin shortly. everyone all right I would like to call to order this special meeting of the New Britain Common Council the date is August 28th 2025 the time is 6 14 p.m. Mr. Clerk will you please call the roll all the persons McNamara here Smedley Sanchez Beloit Saavedra Simpson Russell Barbosa Hargraves McAdam Gibson Scott CONNORS. AYE. MELANOWSKI. PABON. AYE. SANTIAGO. 13 PRESENT, YOUR HONOR. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. MAYOR'S WARRANT TO THE CLERK OF THE CITY OF NEW BRITAIN BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT, YOU ARE HERE WITH ME. ALDERMAN BELONG-SEVEGIA. YOUR HONOR, I MAKE A MOTION TO WAVE THE READING. I HAVE A SECOND BY ALDERMAN SIMPSON. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF WAVING THE READING OF THE WARRANT, PLEASE SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE. AYE. ANY OPPOSED? MOTION CARRIES. Before we get in this evening, I think it would be appropriate if we would all take a moment of silence. I don't know, Alderman McNamara, would you like to lead us? Thank you, Your Honor. Yesterday in Minneapolis, two children, eight and ten, were killed by gunfire. At the mass starting this school year 14 children were injured and three adults. So I think every community should just pause and reflect about the scourge of gun violence and that words are empty but we need action on what happens next. So I just like to pause for a moment. Thank you. you we have two items on the special agenda tonight and I'd like to go to Alderman Smedley for resolution number one thank you your honor I make a motion to accept and adopt item number one thank you your honor according to the New Britain city charter appointment of department heads and all department heads shall be appointed by and subject to the authority of the mayor following the consent of the Common Council and currently we have the position of director of health and An open competitive examination consisting of an oral board exam administered by the panel consisting of members of the Common Council and Connecticut Health Industry Professionals for the position of Director of Health was held. And the Mayor and Corporation Council Interim Chief of Operations Officer recently interviewed the three candidates for the Director of Health. The Mayor has selected a candidate for the position of Director of Health following this search, testing process and interview. and the Common Council has considered the mayor's candidate for the position of Director of Health and now therefore the Common Council consents to the mayor's selection of Caleb Cowles as Director of Health for the City of New Britain and I do urge adoption. Thank you Alderman Smedley. I'd like to open up the floor for any questions or comments regarding this item. Alderwoman Scott. Yes I'd like to make a motion to make an amendment to this resolution. The amendment is to the term of these appointees be limited to February 1st 2026 on the same process that is outlined in Section 8-2B which limits the terms to early 2026. You have a second. The amendment is open for discussion. Alderwoman Savate. Could we get clarification from Corporation Counsel because my understanding is when you appoint a department head, I thought they were four-year appointments going through this process. So I'd like some clarification on the amendment as it's presented because it seems in opposition to our standard civil service rules. Mayor, may I have a few minutes just to take a look at the relevant sections of the ordinance, please? Thank you. Mayor, motion to go into recess for a short time. We're in recess. Time's 618. What was the ordinance you cited? Of what? Mayor, I'm ready whenever the council is. Mm-hmm. Madam Mayor, I make a motion that we return to a normal special session of the council. So I just took a look at Charter Section 8-2 which says that the Common Council may by ordinance establish a term for department heads which term shall be for a period of not less than four years. I'm not aware, just talking with Attorney Pekorski, I'm not aware of any ordinance that the council ever passed. you'd have to do it by way of an ordinance. Thank you. Alderwoman Smedley. So given that, and Alderman Smedley and I just went through the charter and it says exactly that, unless there's another citation that Alderwoman Scott has, I would urge everyone to vote no on this. It seems like it's inappropriately before us. Thank you. Any additional questions or comments on the amendment? All those in favor of the amendment, please say aye. All those opposed. No. Amendment fails. We'll go back to the item as originally presented and open the floor for questions or comments on this. Alderwoman Cededro. I rise in support of the resolution and I myself along with Alderman McNamara sat on the interview panel going over with the several candidates who were before us and I want to say that I thought Caleb had very strong knowledge, working knowledge of the city of New Britain and some of our biggest issues that have come before the council and some of the petitions, especially in the area of blight. Caleb was the only candidate that we interviewed that was really able to sink his teeth into the areas of blight and what that entails for the city of New Britain. So given that we've had issues and Caleb has presented to us in the past, we know his work ethic and I just think that going through the process He came out, they interviewed with you, Your Honor, and I strongly encourage everybody here to support this appointment. Thank you. Thank you. Alderman Smedley. Thank you, Your Honor. Obviously, I rise in support. I did present the resolution, but I get to work with Caleb on a regular basis, working with the school district and other situations in our neighborhood, whether it's blight or condemned buildings or things like that. And Caleb brings common sense to the table, which doesn't come easy for some people. But Caleb's approach at work is to educate and then work to help the homeowner, the business, or whoever it may be, correct what the situation is. So we really appreciate the approach that Caleb takes at work. So I do support Caleb to be appointed to the Director of Health. Thank you. Thank you. Alderman McNamara. As all of us pointed out, I participate in the panel. And also the other one before us tonight, And I find that Mr. Cowles meets all the qualifications and experience as required by the public health law Connecticut public health law which those requirements have been in effect since 2010. So for that reason I'll support this appointment. Thank you. Any additional Alderman Scott. Okay so I want to first start off by saying I do appreciate you Caleb and I appreciate the work that you do and none of what I'm about to say has anything to do with you or the work that you do. Since the amendments were did not go through that I just tried to put in I have some concerns. The Republican caucus members voted prior appointment on the grounds of no phone calls not having any phone calls being received not having a resume being received and now today we're being forced to push through two director level appointments without providing the council with resumes and without appointments appointments reaching out to all of the council members. This is very much the definition of hypocrisy. You should not have higher standards for some and then ignore those same standards for others. The mayor's timing is very interesting. She is trying to hire department heads when she is leaving and it's kind of inappropriate and it's undermining the incoming administration. This should be left up to the incoming administration. We could always hire as an interim and appoint an interim, continue the interim that we already have. The city ordinance and the state law both allow the interim appointments and the state has confirmed that this interim directors can serve with a simple waiver an extension request. This would allow us to continuum services without locking into long term decisions. Good governance. This is not good practice it is not good procedures. The council members deserve transparency and consistency and need to have resumes for all not just for some. And I am here to serve the people of New Britain and I am titled to facts and the facts are clear that this process is hypocritical and it is politically motivated. I am voting against this today because is irresponsible. You can't have standards for some and then set the rules for some and then have different rules for others. So thank you guys so much. Alderwoman, a few questions for you. Who did you ask for the resume from and it was not provided to you? We weren't all given the information and we weren't all invited to the interview in a timely manner. So did you ask anyone for the resumes? They weren't provided to us. Did you? But you didn't answer the question. Did you ask anyone for the resumes? Well, I did not, but you guys didn't ask the other person that I'm talking about for the resumes either. Thank you for answering my question. You're welcome. You never asked for the resume. You didn't, but it was vetoed. that day and ask for just something that you're not asking for you would have been given it given it that's all you have to do is ask this process follow the same process that we always follow for hiring department heads. It was an interview panel which historically we have not included members of each caucus to be a part of but because I knew what was happening here I thought that this was a good idea to include both caucuses in this process for transparency so that information could be shared with the caucuses and that's what happened with the building and health and that is what will happen with the finance director position that's posted right now and what will happen with the planning and development director position that's posted right now too business doesn't stop municipality the work in the municipality cannot stop just because of an impending election there is an ordinance that does address that and it and it talks about the time frame and we are not within that time frame right now therefore business must continue we can't just stop doing our jobs just because an election is going to happen the city and the taxpayers still deserve us to work And each department does not have a deputy director. And there are also limitations based off of union contracts for how long you can have someone serve in an interim capacity. There are maximum days that are allowed. for individuals that are currently employed by 818 or 1303 they can't be in these positions for longer than a certain period of time before posting and the hiring has to happen so we are cognizant of that we have pushed the limitations too with the state department of public health they have been we have had an interim director since mr lupo left us in february and march We have been pushing the limit with the State Department of Public Health. We have forwarded all of those emails that we've been pushing those limits. And every month, it's like clockwork. They are emailing Mr. Dorsey asking us where we are at and we're having to continue to explain what's been going on and they are not happy with us. Those are just facts. We've provided all of that information and have been very transparent about this. I think Caleb will be a great hire. the health department after everything we've been through I can't believe I'm saying that but I really do truly believe that and I will say that this is a hundred and ten percent not politically motivated as Caleb and I couldn't be on further ends of the spectrum politically and I am proud to say that and he will be a great health department director for this city I know that and I feel that my heart of hearts Alderman McNamara. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to point out, hopefully we can move on, that I pointed out in committee that members of the council were blamed for losing a health grant. And as we know, the administration in Washington has cut $150 million from Connecticut's health grants. And that, I think, needs to be clarified for the record. In fact, I have the governor's statement about the immunization grants and everything, not done by members of this council. Thank you. Any other? Alderman Connors. Thank you, Your Honor. I just wanted to thank Caleb for being willing to serve the city. I'm willing to vote for any qualified applicants who go through the normal process. And furthermore, I just wanted to note that extended interim hires don't just materialize, that folks require some level of certainty to accept a job or make plans or do any sort of big decisions like that. So with all those considerations, I'm a yes and thank you for your willingness to serve the city. Thank you, Alderman Connors. Any other alder person? Alderman Simpson. I'd like to move this question. Okay, motion's been made. Second on moving the question, Alderman Russell. All those in favor of moving the question, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Let's vote. All those in favor of appointing Caleb Cowles as our director of health say aye. Aye. Any opposed? For the record Alderwoman Scott motion carries. Congratulations Caleb. You're here please. I just wanted to thank, well, first my family for coming and supporting me. And the mayor, obviously, for putting my selection forward. And then to all of you for supporting me. I'm not a New Britain resident. I wasn't born here. I kind of married into it. It's okay Aaron as we forgive you. I yeah so I'm I'm your cousin by marriage. But you know I I've I've been with the city for almost 20 years now and a lot of the things I've done have have been in my professional career for the benefit of the people here. And I love this place very much and I've I've given as much professional dedication as I can and I brought every bit of knowledge that I can to support and help people in this community. I think we can do a lot of good and that's why I want to be here and that's why I want to stay here and that's why I appreciate your confidence in me being your director of health. Thank you. Congratulations. Alderman Smedley. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number two. Second. Second from Alderman Gibson. Thank you. Same traffic as the previous resolution. The position of Director of Licenses, Permits, and Inspections is currently vacant. An open competitive examination consisting of an oral board examination by the panel consisting of members of the Common Council and the Connecticut Building Official for the position of Director of Licenses, Permits, and Inspections was held. The Mayor Incorporation Council Interim Chief of Operations Chief Operations Officer, recently interviewed the three candidates for the position of Director of Licenses, Permits, and Inspections. The Mayor has selected a candidate for the position and following the search, testing process, and interview, the Common Council has considered the Mayor's candidate for this position and therefore the Common Council consents to the Mayor's selection of Michael Nomack as Director of Licenses, Permits, and Inspections for the City of New Britain and I do urge adoption. Thank you Alderman Smedley. Any questions or comments on Mr. Nomak Alderwoman Scott. I'd like to ask the court counsel if these are lifetime appointments. Are they term limited. There's there's no term limit Alderwoman they the department head serves it can department head can be removed for cause there's a process that's outlined in the charter. But they have to go through a process to get removed. If there is an issue or problem sorry. That's right just like any other employee would. Okay thank you. I guess just like before same traffic. I have concerns with this for the same reasons I won't go in and repeat everything but I will say that I feel as an alderwoman as an alderwoman serving here for the people that I shouldn't have to have to run around and get information from people that it should just be provided to me. To everybody on the council should be getting information and things should be very transparent and when one person is getting appointed and they didn't get the resumes it was a huge production and now I wasn't given the resume or we weren't given resumes everyone here on this council and it's like it was OK that some people didn't ask for them that time but now it's a whole different story. So I just I want to be clear I am here for the people and I'm here for transparency and I'm here for fairness. And the fact is is that we could and we can and it is totally legal by state and our charter to hire and to have them have this person continue as an interim. So. Um, I, this is nothing against the people who are getting these positions. I think you guys are wonderful. It's just the process. So thank you. Again, I will reiterate that there are limitations set forth in union contracts that these individuals are employees of Alderman Smedley. Thank you, Your Honor. I just, I need to clarify something. The, the situation that you're talking about, Alderwoman Scott, is completely different. This situation, both sides of the caucuses were invited to the table. Your leadership failed to provide you with the resumes. Our leadership, Sharon Boyne-Savedra and myself shared the resumes of the candidates after the interview process with our membership. So we were educated by our membership and our membership was educated by our leadership who was invited to the interview process. The other situation that you're talking about that a production was made of, we weren't invited to the table for that. And when we did email in writing and ask for the resumes, there was nothing provided until the day of the meeting. So your situations are blended and are incorrect. MS. Alderman Pabon. MR. Well, what would you like to say? I sat on that committee with McNamara and a couple other Democrats, and we all agreed on it. Now, what good is having a committee if you come to the last thing and they ask somebody wants paperwork at the end? We shouldn't we shouldn't even have to deal with that. It's a waste of time. Alderwoman Scott. I think everybody is entitled to their opinions and I appreciate your opinions and I'm entitled to mine and the facts that I have in front of me. Thank you. Alderman Connors. Motion to call the question. All in favor. Opposed. Questions been called. I don't get a chance to explain I had a whole thing written out. That's fine. All those in favor of appointing Michael Nomak please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed. For the record Alderwoman Scott motion carries. All those in favor. All those opposed. We are adjourned. The time is 638 p.m. Thank you.