Gov. Lamont is unaware whether current, former CT employees testified before grand jury
NEW HAVEN — Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday he was unaware
whether any current or former state employees have been called to testify to
the federal grand jury investigating Connecticut’s troubled
school-construction program, as well as the State Pier in New London.
“I don’t think people have testified,” Lamont said. “I know
they’ve been as helpful as they can.” The FBI and an active grand jury in New
Haven have been looking into possible contract-steering for demolition and
construction work, with records of several major companies among federal
subpoena demands for state records.
peaking after an unrelated news conference at Connecticut
Innovations Inc., the state’s quasi-public investment agency, Lamont said he
wasn’t sure why in 2019, the state’s school-construction department was
transferred from the Department of Administrative Services to the Office of
Policy and Management. During that transfer, Konstantinos “Kosta”
Diamantis, a former House member from Bristol who was hired to head the
program under former Gov. Dannel Malloy, joined OPM Secretary Melissa McCaw.
“My understanding was she really wanted Kosta to do that
job,” Lamont told reporters. Last October, Diamantis was fired after officials
found that Anastasia Diamantis, his daughter, had a $99,000 job working for
Richard Colangelo, the chief state’s attorney who eventually took
early retirement, following an outside investigation reported that
Colangelo tried to persuade OPM to approve of raises for the state’s senior
prosecutors, including himself.
On Friday, Lamont held an extended news conference outside
his office to announce McCaw’s departure to take the finance director job in
East Hartford, and praise her work developing the state’s $24-billion-a-year
operating budget during his three years in office.
On Monday, Lamont’s office released a resignation letter
from McCaw, effective March 11. “We have so much to be proud of and together we
have helped see our state through the worse pandemic in more than 100 years and
we are now in the strongest fiscal position Connecticut has seen in decades,”
she wrote to Lamont. “This has been intentional work and I have been proud to
lead this work on your behalf.”
“Kosta had been doing school construction over at DAS for
years before we even got here, so (she) thought it was a natural segue,” Lamont
said during a five-minute back-and-forth with reporters on Monday. Building
officials in several towns have recently complained that Kosta Diamantis or
members of his staff pressured them to hire particular construction firms,
including one company that employed Anastasia Diamantis.
Asked whether Lamont had any fielded concerns from state
lawmakers when school construction was shifted to OPM, Lamont said “I think the
bigger problem was the guy overlooking school construction.” As the federal
grand jury looks into several projects throughout the state that might have
been steered to higher bidders, Diamantis has staunchly defended his record.
“Did I have very strong feelings that DAS not OPM?” Lamont
said Monday, recalling the multi-billion-dollar deficit he inherited upon
taking office in 2019. “I didn’t have that strong a feeling about that. And
Melissa was running OPM and thought this was needed to help guide us through
what was still a yawning deficit.”
Lamont recalled that at the time, he was told that Diamantis
had been in charge of school construction for years at DAS, “now he’s over at
OPM, overseeing, you know, municipals. OPM does some of that as well, so let’s
let him keep doing that.”
Asked whether he has learned anything from the complicated
still-unfolding events in the once little-know school construction unit, Lamont
reminded reporters of constitutional rights. “First of all, when it comes to
the press, remember you’re innocent until proven guilty,” Lamont said. “There
are a lot of allegations out there. We are doing everything we can to work and
make sure that no stone is unturned and we’ll get this right. I think that was
my number one responsibility.”
He said that while the personnel issues of Colangelo hiring
of Anastasia Diamantis while negotiating for pay raises was taken care of
“really quickly,” the federal investigation, including subpoenas to review
multiple school building projects, is proceeding away from public view. “We’ve
got to let the rest of this play out,” Lamont said.
While grand juries operate in secret, people who testify are
allowed to talk about it afterwards.
“But we wouldn’t know who testified and they would need to
volunteer to us,” Max Reiss, Lamont’s communications director, said Monday
night. “The governor is allowing the process to play out and we continue to
provide full cooperation.”
KEITH M. PHANEUF
The General Assembly’s budget-writing panel is pushing back
against Gov. Ned Lamont to assume greater control over contracting policies.
The Appropriations Committee has raised legislation that
potentially would shield the state’s contracting watchdog board from job
freezes, emergency budget cuts and other budget-management techniques at the
governor’s disposal.
The panel’s Senate chairwoman announced the group also is
developing clarifying language to ensure all policies tied to the state’s
massive school construction program are set only by the legislature.
The Lamont administration has been on the defensive over the
past month following reports that the
FBI is investigating school construction work and other projects overseen by
the governor’s former deputy budget director, Kosta Diamantis.
“The legislature decides what school construction [grants]
cover,” said Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, co-chairwoman of the budget-writing
committee.
Diamantis frustrated municipal leaders last August when he
informed Coventry officials that the
state wouldn’t help to pay to upgrade aging ventilators in its middle
and high schools — an expensive proposition, made more pressing by the
continued presence of the coronavirus.
Connecticut reimburses communities for between
10% and 71% of new construction and wide-scale renovation projects
designed to last 20 years or longer, depending largely upon a community’s
wealth.
But if a district wants to perform a smaller project — such
as replacing or upgrading a heating/ventilation system exclusive of a major
facility renovation — the entire cost is borne locally.
Some legislators have questioned whether this is backed by
statute or was simply an administrative decision.
Osten and the other Appropriations Committee co-chairwoman,
state Rep. Toni E. Walker, D-New Haven, said the goal going forward is to
ensure such policy parameters are set by the legislature.
“I think there are more districts that wanted to do HVAC
[upgrades] and were told not to,” Walker said, adding she believes most
lawmakers from both parties want the state to help pay to fix this problem.
Lamont proposed in early February dedicating
$90 million in the next fiscal year to help towns pay for air quality
upgrades in schools.
A second component to the bill being developed by the
Appropriations Committee would clarify — once and for all — that the school
construction would remain in the Department of Administrative Services and not
in the governor’s budget office.
Several legislators from both parties raised concerns in the
spring of 2019 when Lamont’s then-budget director, Melissa McCaw, unilaterally
transferred Diamantis and other staff tied to school construction from DAS into
the Office of Policy and Management, despite an existing statute assigning the
unit to DAS.
McCaw resigned Friday to take a post as East Hartford’
finance director.
Administrative officials said the matter would be clarified
in the 2020 General Assembly session, but that was cut short in early March
when the coronavirus struck Connecticut. And no legislation, retroactively
blessing or reversing the move, was adopted in 2021.
The Lamont administration moved the school construction
program back to DAS last fall, shortly after Diamantis resigned.
“We have no intention of moving the [school construction]
office” again, Chris McClure, spokesman for the governor’s budget agency, said
Friday.
And in a complementary move, the Appropriations Committee
has raised a bill designed to insulate the State Contracting Standards Board
from normal oversight by the governor’s office.
Osten said the insulation could take one of several forms.
Lawmakers are researching whether the contracting watchdog,
created by the legislature in 2007 but never properly funded, could be moved
from the Executive Branch to the Legislative Branch — and still maintain its
authority to review and potentially suspend procurement and bidding practices
of Executive Branch agencies.
Osten said legislative attorneys have raised concerns that
empowering a Legislative agency to oversee Executive Branch departments could
run afoul of the state Constitution. But if that is the case, there are other
options to safeguard the contracting board.
The legislature already exempts other watchdog agencies in
the Executive Branch — such as the Freedom of Information Commission and the Office of
State Ethics — from certain budgetary restrictions that the governor can impose
on other departments.
Osten said the bill could bar the administration, for
example, from imposing any hiring freeze on contracting board staff or imposing
emergency midyear budget cuts.
The contracting board and Lamont have bumped heads since the
latter took office in 2019. The board — which has only one paid staffer — has
been probing contracts involving the development of the State Pier in New
London to help support a major offshore wind-to-energy project.
It particularly is concerned with more than $520,000 in
“success fees” paid in 2018 to Seabury Capital Group to help with search for a
pier operator. This happened three months after Henry Juan III of Greenwich,
who was a managing director with Seabury, resigned from the port authority’s
governing board.
The two-year budget that legislators and Lamont adopted last
June technically included just under $700,000 per year for the contracting
standards board — the same level the board was supposed to have when it was
launched 14 years ago. That included $450,000
in each year to fund five additional positions.
But shortly after that was passed, legislative leaders, at
the request of the Lamont administration, included a provision in a
subsequent budget policy bill that barred the board from spending
$450,000 of its annual allotment.
Lamont still doesn’t want to fund more positions for the
contracting office. He has said he doesn’t believe the board is necessary and
performs functions already provided by other state agencies.
Instead, he recommended this February that lawmakers add
three new staffers to another watchdog agency, the Auditors of Public Accounts
Office, and allow the contracting board to refer matters to that unit.
“We look forward to working with the General Assembly over
the course of the session on this issue,” McClure said, adding that “there
seems to be some confusion regarding our proposal.”
Appropriations Committee leaders want full funding restored
to the contracting board.
“There has got to be more than one watchdog agency out
there,” Walker said, adding that the contracting board needs to look at “all of
the no-bid contracts going out” of state agencies. “That’s the kind of
transparency everybody should be striving for.”
House Republicans called this week for an investigation of
all administration contracting practices.
Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, said
that while the appropriations panel measures may have merit, they aren’t
enough.
The issue isn’t about one state pier project or a handful of
school renovations, Candelora said.
Only a detailed investigation, he added, can assess not only
how public agencies purchase private services and goods but also the
inter-departmental “memorandums of understanding” they sign, such as one that
shifted a school construction program handling hundreds of millions of dollars
annually without legislative permission.
“Why did they happen?” Candelora said. “How did they happen?
… The issue isn’t just school construction.”
Walk Bridge work on Manresa Island draws opposition in Norwalk
NORWALK — Manresa Island neighbors and property owners are
speaking out against the state Department of Transportation’s plan to use the
island for the Walk Bridge project.
The DOT first announced in June 2020 its
plans to use the former power plant site, known informally as Manresa Island,
to house Walk Bridge supplies and construct the lift ends of the new bridge
before floating them up the Norwalk Harbor for installation.
As part of the Walk Bridge replacement project, the island
would be occupied by DOT for about five years. Manresa Island, located in the
Harbor View neighborhood, was previously a coal-fired power plant, which was
later converted to run on oil before it closed in 2013.
Following the announcement of DOT plans to occupy Manresa
Island, which is home to various wildlife but has polluted areas due to its
previous use as a power plant, residents of the area formed the Manresa
Neighborhood Coalition to express concerns over the island’s use.
Mark Smith, who represents the coalition, petitioned the
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and DOT for a public hearing
on for the island.
“The hearing came about because DOT needed DEEP’s approval
to use Manresa for a facility,” Smith said. “They tried to grant a permit
without having public hearing. They needed someone to petition for a public
hearing. I filed to become a petitioner as well as the Norwalk Harbor
Commission.”
More than 100 people attended the remote public
hearing last week and many of them spoke during the public comment
portion that lasted over an hour.
Smith spoke at the meeting on behalf of the coalition, which
includes about 400 homes.
“We are opposing the use of Manresa for any reason. We are
not in opposition to the project itself,” Smith said at the meeting.
The five concerns outlined by the Manresa Neighborhood
Coalition are: the human impact on the island, preservation of the wildlife
habitat, the fish and wildlife on the island, the noise level generated by the
construction and the extra truck traffic, Smith said.
DOT’s original plan for the $1 billion bridge replacement
project called for the new lift spans to be constructed at vacant properties at
68 and 90 Water St., and then transported via barge to the project site. When
the plan was determined unfeasible, DOT
shifted to Manresa Island.
In documents acquired by the coalition through a Freedom of
Information Act request the Cianbro/Middlesex JV, the consulting firm hired by
DOT to oversee parts of the project, suggested
four alternative spots for the lift construction and storage.
A cost comparison of the five sites, including Manresa,
found “steel fabricator full offsite assembly” would be more than $2.1 million
cheaper than the estimated cost of about $27 million to use Manresa Island,
according to the documents.
Smith said DOT has yet to specify why Manresa Island was
chosen over the other options, considering one was cheaper and two were
$300,000 more. DOT did not respond to a request for comment.
In addition to the Norwalk Harbor Commission and the Manresa
Neighborhood Coalition, the company that owns the island and power plant
property filed a petition on Feb. 18 to become an intervening party in DOT’s
application to use the land.
Petition documents obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media
Group through the coalition, Norwalk Power, claims the company did not consent
to the proposed use of the land.
“A portion of the activities proposed by the permit that is
the subject of this proceeding, a long-term construction project by the
Connecticut Department of Transportation (‘CTDOT’), are proposed to occur on
property owned by Norwalk Power and Norwalk Power has not consented to the
proposed activities,” the petition reads.
The petition claims Norwalk Power was not included on DOT’s
application as a property owner and the company does not consent to the
island’s use. Norwalk Power did not respond to a request for comment.
“Although CTDOT acknowledges that it intends to acquire
parcels through full and partial parcel acquisitions, as well as full or
partial parcel construction easements, most of which will cease upon project
completion, CTDOT identifies itself as the site owner of the Project site(s) in
its Application and does not identify any other site owners on the Application
Form,” the petition reads.
“Furthermore, although the permit application requires
applicants to provide …documentation showing that third-party property owners
consent to the proposed work, to this date, CTDOT has not provided any documentation,
e.g., easements or written permissions, from the current site owners (including
Norwalk Power) consenting to the use of their properties.”
Among the Norwalk residents who spoke against the state’s
use of the island was Katherine Price Snedaker, who emphasized how the area has
turned into a nature haven and is frequented by the neighborhood residents.
“There’s a lot going on in these neighborhoods,” Price
Snedaker said. “I’m concerned about traffic in general. There are beautiful
animals. The only place I’ve seen eagles is right outside the power plant.”
Construction supplier set to occupy vacant Danbury warehouse
DANBURY — A construction equipment and materials supplier is
set to take over a vacant warehouse and storefront in an industrial stretch on
Danbury’s west side.
An attorney for Southington-based Superior Products Distributors said it
was fitting for a full-service construction company to occupy the former Ehrbar
warehouse on Kenosia Avenue, as the building boom on Danbury’s west side
continues.
“Given the type of business that they are in and what is
going on in Danbury, which leads the state in construction … this is a win-win
to have somebody occupy this building again,” said Neil Marcus during a public hearing conducted
by the city’s Planning Commission last week. “(Superior) goes one step beyond
where Ehrbar was — not only do they rent the equipment, but they also provide
some of the basic building materials that you use with the equipment.”
Marcus was describing plans by the family-owned Superior
Products Distributors to open a fifth sales and service center in a
20,000-square-foot warehouse and store west of Danbury Fair mall.
Superior, which in addition to its Southington headquarters
has locations in Norwich, Bridgeport and East Hartford, could get approval from
the city Planning Commission on Wednesday.
“I don’t have any objection to it,” said Arnold Finaldi, the
Planning Commission chairman, at last week’s public hearing. “I remember when
(Ehrbar) had those gigantic cranes, hoists, and manlifts in front there. This
seems to be less intrusive than that use.”
Superior plans to operate a construction and worksite supply
service that includes everything from renting bulldozers and excavators to
selling road and bridge supplies. The company would use some of the 4-acre site
for the outdoor storage of materials such as sewer drains and storm pipe, rigid
foam insulation, and conduit storm water chambers.
“Would there be dividers out there to segregate the
different type of materials?” asked Robert Chiocchio, a Planning Commission
member
“If you’re thinking of sand and gravel, you might have
dividers, but this is not that kind of material,” said Michael Mazzucco, the
company’s consultant.
“Is there anything oversized in the equipment inventory that
we need to worry about?” asked Planning Commission member Helen Hoffstaetter.
“This is smaller construction equipment and not anything
extremely large,” Mazzucco replied.
The site in question, north of Danbury Municipal Airport, is
in an industrial stretch that includes Cartus Corp. and Hologic Inc.
“As long as the frontage remains uncluttered, I don’t really
see an issue with it,” said City Council member Paul Rotello.
Superior plans to invest about $100,000 in renovations,
mostly to the interior, according to blueprints. The company will also install
a gate and a chain-link fence around the storage yard.
“For a number of years this property has been vacant until
the property was recently purchased by the applicant’s affiliate,” the
consultant Mazzucco said. “The site is not really changing that much. The
changes are minor in nature.”
Danbury to take over Cartus building for its career academy: ‘Future of education’
DANBURY — The city announced major plans on Monday afternoon
to purchase land and develop its highly
anticipated career academy at the property where Cartus Corporation is
located.
The announcement marks a pivot from earlier negotiations
with the Summit, a west side development where officials initially hoped to
build the school. Cartus plans to move out of the building.
“It's a very special day for the city of Danbury and for
myself, to tell you the truth,” said Mayor Dean Esposito, who made the
announcement during a press conference on his birthday. “The options that we
have here today are just unbelievable.”
After a resident vote, the city hopes to purchase the
property for a still-unnamed sum, Esposito said.
The addition of the career academy is Danbury’s main focus
in plans to manage its overflowing student population. The academy would be
able to serve about 1,400 middle and high school students, and is expected to
be able to open its doors in the fall of 2024. Roughly 1,100 high schoolers
would relocate to the academy, easing already
dire spacing issues in the overcrowded high school building where
another 200 students are projected to enroll this fall. Officials said that the
Cartus building would also have space for 360 middle schoolers.
It’s unclear how much the land purchase and project changes
will cost, but numbers are expected to be finalized on Wednesday, officials
said. Significant estimates on HVAC and other utilities are not yet finalized,
according to Antonio Iadarola, public works director.
When the school was planned for the Summit, cost
estimates increased from an initial $99 million to $144.5 million. The
state was expected to cover about $115.6 million, or 80 percent.
State Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury, and state Sen. Julie
Kushner, D-Danbury, both said they think it very likely the state will still be
able to hit the 80 percent funding mark, even with price adjustments.
“The talk I'm hearing is that the price tag will be similar
to what we were anticipating with the Summit,” Kushner added.
Owning the land outright could also allow Danbury to put
more money into the students’ education rather than paying the Summit’s condo
common charges, said state Rep. Pat Callahan, R-Danbury.
While the school is still projected to open in fall 2024,
Iadarola said it would “require some hard pushing” to make the deadline due to
material and labor shortages. Danbury Schools Superintendent Kevin Walston
assured those gathered that leaders would know well ahead of time if the school
won’t meet the deadline.
He thanked legislators, the mayor, Iadarola, and several
others for their hard work on the project.
A new option
Plans came together quickly. The deal with Cartus has only
been in negotiations for about two weeks, the mayor said. The Cartus land owner
contacted the mayor as negotiations at the Summit continued to falter.
“In God’s blessing, we got a call,” Esposito said.
On the other line was Danbury’s Powers Construction Company
owner Melvin Powers.
“His message was, ‘Hey, we got a building with 1,600 parking
spots, a cafeteria and a gym,’” Esposito said.
Discussions with the Powers family moved quickly because the
land is owned privately and no third parties have to get involved, Esposito
said.
“They’re Danburians. Their goals are to see Danbury move
forward,” he said.
Kushner, who attended the press conference Monday, said she
was thrilled with the announcement.
“It's really exciting,” she said. “It's a great location. I
think it still meets all the needs that we had, and what I’m excited about is
that everyone got a picture of what these academies will provide academically,
which is so fabulous.”
The school will be focused on helping Danbury’s students
gain experience
in different career fields they’re interested in.
“The Danbury Career Academy is just this type of unique
opportunity to provide students with turnkey skills and experiences that will
make their college and career experiences more directed and more rewarding
while also giving them a unique edge in the job market,” Walston said.
Initial floor plans for the 270,000 square-foot building
were finished Saturday and include layouts for a four-floor, dual-use middle
and high school complete with a greenhouse, auditorium, and designated school
board administration offices.
The middle school would be predominantly located in the
building’s north wing with classrooms on the second and third floors, while the
high school would be in the south wing.
“I really believe this project here will be the capstone of
my career,” Iadarola said. “I'm so happy to be involved in a project like this
where we're not only changing the way we're educating our kids, we're changing
the way we're actually building schools.”
State legislators had to draft special legislation to
approve the converted use of the Summit condominiums when those negotiations
were still on the table.
Godfrey noted that the Cartus location brings less
complications than the Summit location.
“This fits so many of the real needs to expand the
bricks-and-mortar part of this,” he said.
A ‘shining star’
Developing the building into two schools is going to “take
some effort and it’s going to take some investment,” Esposito acknowledged,
“but in the end it's going to be a shining star of Connecticut.”
Cartus issued a press release that said in light of its
continued hybrid work set-up, it would upgrade its global headquarters, which
has been based in Danbury for the past three decades, and transition to a new
space.
“To that end, we are currently engaged in negotiations to
terminate our Apple Ridge Road lease in conjunction with the potential sale of
the facility to the City of Danbury to serve as the site of their new Danbury
Career Academy,” the release said.
Esposito said that with Cartus being such a large employer
in Danbury, “we're going to support them with whatever they do.”
The company called the negotiations a “win-win for all parties.”
Esposito and Walston have walked through the building at
least five times in the past two weeks, according to Esposito.
“We both smiled at each other and said this is the future of
education here in Danbury,” the mayor said. “We're going to get this career
academy done, and this is going to be the location for the future.”
Montville considers two new housing developments
Montville — The Planning and Zoning Commission
is considering two major housing developments, a 160-unit
expansion of Village Apartments and a 22-unit condominium project on
Route 32.
The commission last week tabled its review of the
two developments until March 22 at the request of Town Planner
Liz Burdick as the town awaits comments from staff and
adjoining property owners.
The developer of Village Apartments at 82 Jerome
Road submitted an application last month to expand from
its 54 units to 214. The new units would be located in three new
buildings. Upon completion, the project would have a total of 356 parking
space. The new three-story buildings would be constructed on the current site and
two abutting properties.
Village Apartments, LLC owns 82 Jerome Road and 232
Norwich-New London Turnpike and is working with Connecticut Multifamily
Equities II, LLC, the owners of a small undeveloped parcel of land on 15 Jerome
Ave., to combine the properties into 12-acre piece of land that
would accommodate the new development, according to the application.
Attorney Harry Heller of Uncasville is
representing the developers.
"The redevelopment of this property will utilize the
existing driveway access from Jerome Road as well as a new proposed driveway
access from Jerome Avenue," Heller stated in the application.
The project includes the demolition of a pump station, the
existing single-family residence and outbuildings at 232 Route 32; the
construction of new retaining walls and storm drainage systems; and the
extension of electricity and water/sewer utilities to the buildings.
The development still awaits the review of the Office of the
State Traffic Administration and the approval of the Uncas Health District
and the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The second proposed development is a 22-unit
condominium project named "Wilton's Way" at 245 Route
32. Western Group, LLC owns the 1.83 acres and is looking to develop it.
Burdick said the planning department received the
application on the day of commission's Feb. 22 meeting and was not
ready to review it.
The proposed site for the project currently
contains a two-story house and a detached garage, according to the
application. Apart from the construction of 22 units, the developer is
proposing to renovate the exisiting home, build a new garage and add
parking and landscaping.
Village Apartment, LLC, Western Group, LLC
and Heller could not be reached for comment.