New Britain Democrats have been speaking out forcefully against Republican Mayor Erin Stewart and Republican City Council members over COVID-19 resolutions.
The two resolutions proposed by Council Democrats proposing action by the city in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were voted down in nearly party-line votes, with Republicans overwhelmingly voting against them.
The New Britain Democratic Party said, in response, that,
We continue to not understand why Erin Stewart and the Republican members of the council will not follow the simple guidelines set out by the Governor and are forcing city employees who can work from home to come in. It’s truly a bizarre position to take in the middle of a global pandemic that is killing hundreds of thousands of people.
An image circulating online shows the faces of the eight Council Republicans, and saying, “New Britain Council Republicans vote remotely to deny city workers the ability to work remotely,” a reference to the Council meeting having been held as an online call-in meeting.
One of the Democratic resolutions at issue concerned city employees working from home during the pandemic and the other was about accepting tax relief for taxpayers offered by Gov. Ned Lamont (D-CT).
“The Republicans set the tone,” said Ald. Chris Anderson (D-AL), “by voting down, without discussion, our proposals (1) to enable City employees to work from home and (2) to provide tax relief for New Britain residents in response to COVID-19.”
All eight Council Republicans voted against the Democrats’ proposal on remote working.
Seven Republicans voted against the Democrats’ tax relief proposal, with Ald. Kris Rutkowski (R-5) recorded as voting for it. That resulted in a 7-7 tie vote. Stewart then voted to break the tie by voting no.
The resolutions had already become controversial when the Republicans’ Council leader, Ald. Kristian Rosado (D-2) apparently took the unusual step of holding up the release of the Council agenda and planning to rewrite the two Democratic resolutions.
When the Council agenda was finally distributed, it contained two Republican alternatives in addition to the Democrats’ proposals.
Both Republican proposals, which were approved after the Democratic proposals were voted down, proposed less actual direct action than the original Democratic-sponsored resolutions.
“Republicans of course passed their own COVID-19 resolutions,” Anderson said. “Instead of enabling City staff to work from home, they merely thanked them. Democrats thanked them, too. But we must do more than thank workers and that means trusting and empowering staff to do as much of their jobs from home as possible.”
Before the release of the Council agenda, Rosado had said the Republican majority was, “working on revised language,” for the resolutions to, “show a united front in presenting Resolutions of this nature that addresses what both parties feel are equally important to our residents, taxpayers, and city workers.”
“The reality is this,” said the former Council Majority Leader, Ald. Carlo Carlozzi, Jr. (D-5). “The city under 7 years of Mayor Erin Stewart was ill prepared for such an emergency.”
“The governor figured it out for state workers,” Carlozzi added, “the majority of other cities and towns around the country have figured it out. But oh no, not in New Britain. This is shameful and inexcusable. Nasty petty political games to cover up the fact that New Britain is not prepared for this type of pandemic.”
State Representative Rick Lopes (D-24) said that, “I am concerned that there has been zero effort to allow city workers to work remotely from home.”
“I believe they should look at every position,” Lopes said, “and if a position can work remotely then it should be done. For the safety of those workers and for the safety of the workers that do have to come into the office. The Republicans on the council denied a proposal to do just that.”
“Considering the council meeting was being held remotely and not in person, they obviously do not see the irony,” Lopes added.
