Stewart Veto of Department Head Residency Requirement Faces Override Vote

The City Council is set to consider an override of Republican Mayor Erin Stewart’s veto of a proposed ordinance that would bring back the requirement that city department heads be residents of New Britain.

The override vote would be at the September 12, 2018 Council meeting.

The proposed ordinance (local law), which was introduced by the Council Majority Leader, Ald. Carlo Carlozzi, Jr. (D-5), and Ald. Aram Ayalon (D-3), would reinstate the requirement that city department heads be or become residents of New Britain within one year after the conclusion of their hiring probationary period. For all but the fire and police chiefs, the restored residency requirement in the proposal appears to apply only to future department heads.

The Council approved the proposed ordinance at its meeting on August 8, 2018, with eight votes in favor and four opposed. Stewart then vetoed, or disapproved, the measure.

Ordinances generally only become local law if they they are approved by both the Council and the mayor. But the Council can put approve an ordinance into law, over the mayor’s objection, if it “overrides” the mayor’s veto.

However, a veto override requires “yes” votes from ten of the fifteen members of the Council. Since Republicans hold six seats on the Council, if they all vote with Stewart, they have the power to deny the ten votes required for a veto override.

Carlozzi says that he is not sure if any of the Republican Council members would join the nine Council Democrats in approving the department head residency requirement, but that he plans on making a case in support of doing so.

Before the proposed ordinance was approved in August, Carlozzi had said, “For many years, all department heads in City Hall were required to live in the City of New Britain. The feeling was that if they lived in the city they were more vested in the community.”

However, Carlozzi said, “Little by little that requirement was removed and now we have department heads that live a half hour or more from the city.”

“It is important that department chairs live in New Britain where the people they serve reside,” said Ayalon when the ordinance was first proposed. “I see no difference between them and the Police Chief or the Fire Chief – both are required to be New Britain residents.”

“While other cities and towns still require department heads to live in the city,” Carlozzi has said, “after a period of time, the current thinking in New Britain city hall is that it is too much to ask someone to move into the city in order for them to become a department head.”

Carlozzi added that, “We have been fortunate to have been served by very dedicated department heads, but as these positions become vacant in the future, we should reinstate the residency requirement.”

The restored ordinance would apply the requirement to live in New Britain to the positions of, “fire chief, police chief, and any successor director of public works, director of support services, director of recreation and community services, finance director, director of economic development, director of health and building services, director of community development, director of human resources.”

The remaining city department head positions consist of elected officials and the city corporation counsel, who are already required to be New Britain residents.

The new ordinance would reverse changes to the city ordinances made by the 2015-2017 City Council that removed requirements that the heads of city departments live in New Britain. The Council, in that term of office, had a twelve to three Republican majority.

In October of 2016, the then-Republican-dominated City Council exempted the Human Resources Director position from the residency requirement. The motion to approve that proposal was opposed by Carlozzi, as well as Ald. Emmanuel Sanchez (D-AL), who was then a Third Ward Council member.

Then, in February of 2017, the same City Council exempted every department head position, except the police chief, fire chief and public works director from the local residency requirement.

At the August 8, 2018 meeting, Carlozzi, Ayalon, Ald Richard Reyes (D-AL), Ald. Brian Keith Albert (D-2), Ald. Emmanuel Sanchez, Ald. Iris Sanchez (D-3), Ald. Francisco Santiago (D-5) and the Council President Eva Magnuszewski (D-AL) voted in support of the proposed ordinance.

Voting against it were Ald. Jamie Giantonio (R-1), Ald. Don Naples (R-4), Ald. Daniel Salerno (R-AL) and Ald. Kristian Rosado (R-2).

“We need to take pride in living in our city and it needs to be promoted in City Hall,” Carlozzi said prior to the August 8th vote. “We pay a highly competitive salary, great benefits and it is not too much to ask someone that after two years on the job, they should be proud to not only work in the city but live in the city and experience everything that New Britain has to offer.”

The September 12th City Council meeting begins at 7:00pm with a regular public participation session.