CT contracting watchdogs asked not to talk without director’s OK
Keith M.
Phaneuf and Andrew
Brown
our state is a good steward of taxpayer dollars. We all
deserve to know that [our] hard-earned money is being put to good use, and that
means a commitment to clean contracting.”
Daniels: Board members can revise communications policy
Daniels, who was appointed by Lamont as the executive
director in December 2022, told The Connecticut Mirror on Monday that the staff
of the contracting board created the proposed ethics policy in order to set up
some “guardrails” for the board members.
But he repeatedly emphasized that the policy was only a
draft and that board members could make changes to the proposal.
“They can make any changes that they see fit,” Daniels
said.
The language restricting the communication of board members,
he said, was meant to ensure the board was not sharing confidential information
that it comes into possession of.
In hindsight, Daniels said the sentence that would block
board members from engaging in “any communication” without the permission of
the executive director was overly broad.
Daniels said he and the staff had “no intent” to limit
communications by the board with members of the media or the public.
The executive director had frustrated some board members
earlier this year, according to an April 21 report in the Connecticut
Inside Investigator, a project of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy.
Daniels unilaterally had canceled board meetings set for March, April and May
because Lamont had not yet filled the then-vacant chairman’s post following the
departure of East Hartford Mayor Michael Walsh, who had succeeded Fox.
Contracting watchdogs have struggled to survive since its
inception
But the board has faced many obstacles to its ability to
function throughout its 17-year history. Those struggles include a rocky
history with Lamont, who at times has questioned whether some of the board’s
functions are redundant.
The linchpin of the landmark “Clean Contracting” system created in 2007 by the
Democratic-controlled legislature and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, the
standards board was Connecticut’s response to the contracting scandals that
drove Gov. John G. Rowland from office amid an impeachment inquiry in July 2004.
Rowland later served 10 months in federal prison after admitting he accepted
about $100,000 in gifts from state contractors and his staff.
A 14-member
panel, appointed by the governor and top lawmakers, would be empowered to
review contracts and procurement practices for most government agencies.
Not long after the board’s creation, though, Connecticut
fell into the Great Recession, and legislators and Rell siphoned away nearly
all resources, leaving the volunteer standards board with no staff to carry out
its functions.
An executive director was hired years later, but once the
recession had ended, Democrats would take control of the governor’s office —
first Dannel P. Malloy, who served from 2011 through 2018, and then Lamont —
and show little interest in contracting oversight.
Malloy tried in his first six months to suspend
contracting board operations for two years so he could more easily privatize
state services and cut operating costs.
Lamont, who also has touted privatization to make government
cheaper and more efficient, offered a bill in 2019 to make it easier to launch
public-private ventures.
The legislature killed Lamont’s proposal, though, after
Luciano called it an “an
alarming attempt to return us to the shadowy Rowland years.”
The Lamont administration also tried unsuccessfully to
convince legislators two years ago to strip
the board’s enforcement powers, arguing that the contracting standards
board largely duplicates watchdog efforts already performed by other agencies
such as the state auditors of public accounts.
But the auditors have almost no enforcement powers,
while the contracting standards board can suspend a procurement process
already underway if it concludes an agency isn’t in compliance with state
rules.
The standards board also had to battle to secure funding to
hire a six-member investigative staff, finally
winning those funds in 2022 — 15 years after its creation in statute.
Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Windham, who helped spearhead the push to
secure those funds, said advocates have waited too long for a fully functioning
watchdog group to see it stalled now by unusual limits on communication in the
draft ethics policy.
“I’ve never heard of any board — that has oversight over
staff — having a policy where the communications of that board had to be
approved by the staff,” she said. “That, in itself, is surprising. But to have
this be a potential policy at a government watchdog agency takes that to
another level.”
Standards board has bumped heads with Lamont
While the contracting board was fighting for more resources
in recent years, it was bumping heads with Lamont on two matters relevant to
the administration.
Volunteer board members sacrificed extra time to probe more
than $520,000 in “success” fees paid six years ago by the Connecticut Port
Authority to a New York-based consultant, Seabury Capital Group, to help with
search for an operator for state pier in New London. The pier was converted
into the staging point for an off-shore wind-to-energy project backed with
state and private funding and strong support from the governor, who was
critical of the port authority’s handling of the matter.
The contracting board wrapped an investigation two years ago earlier
concluding those fees were eerily similar to the “finder’s fees” scandal that
sent a former state Treasurer Paul Silvester to prison in 2001. The General
Assembly banned “finder’s fees” after Silvester admitted he had accepted
kickbacks in exchange for steering investment of state-controlled pension
funds.
The board also has the power to review Connecticut’s school
construction office, which landed at the center of contracting scandal in
recent years.
That scandal exploded earlier this year when Konstantinos
Diamantis, the former director of the school construction office, was indicted
for allegedly steering construction contracts to specific companies and then
extorting those companies for bribes.
Kosta Diamantis, awaiting trial, seeks OK to go to Greece
Andrew Brown and Dave Altimari
Konstantinos Diamantis, the former state deputy budget
director who was indicted on federal corruption charges in May, has asked
a federal judge to allow him to travel to Greece for a month-long
family vacation.
But federal
prosecutors are now contesting that request, arguing that Diamantis — who
is facing 22 counts for extortion, bribery and lying to federal investigators —
could abscond by claiming Greek citizenship during his trip with his four
daughters, three grandchildren and other extended family.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted that Diamantis’ parents
were reportedly Greek citizens and it pointed out that, under Greece’s laws,
his parents’ status could give Diamantis the opportunity to claim citizenship
himself.
If that were to happen, the federal prosecutors argued that
Greece may not be required to extradite Diamantis to the United States for his
pending trial in February.
“During his proposed month in Greece, Diamantis would have
ample opportunity to claim Greek citizenship and seek to avoid or at least
delay extradition back to the United States,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan
Francis wrote.
Diamantis’ defense attorney, Norm Pattis, argued in a
written motion that his client was not a flight risk and emphasized that
Diamantis had known for roughly two years that he was under federal
investigation.
“Mr. Diamantis has known for years that the government was
investigating him and has had ample opportunity to flee, if that was his
intention,” Pattis wrote. “He is eager to defend the case on the merits.”
Records provided to federal prosecutors show Diamantis
booked the flight to Greece with his family in February, months before he was
indicted for allegedly extorting several construction contractors that
worked on local school projects in Connecticut.
But the U.S. Attorney’s office pointed out that Diamantis’
travel plans were not brought up in court during his arraignment in May, when a
federal judge set the conditions of his release on a $500,000 bond.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Farrish asked Diamantis at that
time if he understood each condition that was being placed on him, but
Diamantis never mentioned anything about the planned trip to Greece.
The federal prosecutors also argued that Diamantis has
already ignored several of the terms of his release.
Court records show Diamantis failed to dispose of several
firearms that he owned by the deadline set by the court. And Diamantis
initially said that he could not locate his passport, which he was also ordered
to turn over to probation officers.
That changed once Diamantis formally notified prosecutors
that he wanted to travel to Greece.
At that point, the U.S. Attorney’s office pointed out that
international travel would be impossible without the travel documents, but
“within hours,” they said, Diamantis found the missing passport.
“Diamantis has failed to establish a track record that could
give the court confidence in approving a month-long pre-trial international
trip,” Francis wrote. “Diamantis has been under probation’s supervision for
less than two months. In that short time, he has failed to demonstrate that he
takes the court’s orders, or probation’s supervision, seriously.”
Pattis explained in his motion that Diamantis intended to
lead the family trip and that without him, the entire family vacation would
likely be ruined.
“It will be a homecoming of sorts for the extended group as
the trip is focused on the village from which Mr. Diamantis’ ancestors were
born and raised,” Pattis wrote. “Mr. Diamantis is expected to serve largely as
a guide on the trip and the trip will likely be cancelled for all involved if
he is unable to participate.”
But federal prosecutors argue that is hardly a valid reason
for him to leave the country.
“While visiting relatives may be enjoyable and personally
meaningful, that is not a compelling reason for an extended trip to a foreign
country where Diamantis has family ties and the potential to significantly
delay trial.”
In a sharply worded three-page response to the government’s
brief asking the judge to deny Diamantis’s trip to Greece, Pattis reiterated
that Diamantis could have run away anytime over the past three years. And to
address the U>S. Attorney’s fears that he will abscond, Diamantis would
agree to a series of calls with probation officials while travelling.
“The Government contends it cannot monitor Mr. Diamantis’
whereabouts while he travels with his children, grandchildren and elderly
relatives, as though this caravan were expected to be on the run from
Interpol,” Pattis wrote.
“There may be no love lost between the defendant and those
charged with prosecuting him,” he added. “But this descent into pettiness
neither promotes respect for the law nor sheds a favorable light on the Justice
Department.”
State to replace two West Haven I-95 bridges at Interchange 43
WEST HAVEN — The replacement of two bridges on Interstate 95
in West Haven is slated to begin later this summer, officials said.
Connecticut Department of Transportation officials held a
meeting in West Haven City Hall late last month to discuss plans to replace
Bridges 161 and 162, which carry the highway over First Avenue and Metro North
railroad tracks near Interchange 43. The department announced this week that
the design phase is in progress and construction is slated to begin soon after.
The construction is expected to last three years, until 2027.
Steven Harlacker, a principal with design engineering
firm H&H, said at the June meeting that the two bridges were
constructed in the 1950s and standards have changed since then. Among the
planned upgrades to the bridges, he said, will be making the entrance ramps
onto the northbound and southbound lanes near Interchange 43 longer to give
motorists more time to merge to increase traffic safety and reduce congestion.
The upgrades will also increase shoulder width and include improvements to stormwater
management, he said.
According to the CTDOT, the I-95 Interchange 43 northbound
entrance ramp will be closed beginning in the spring of 2025 and will
remain closed for about 27 months, during which there will be a detour to the
Interchange 44 northbound entrance ramp.
Harlacker said that during construction, access to the
underpass on First Avenue may be restricted during off-peak times to
single-lane, alternating traffic.
Bridge 162 has been considered structurally deficient
for years, with officials estimating in 2021 that the bridge could be replaced
by 2025; officials today have added two years to the estimated time of
completion.
$5.4 million new firehouse in Canton nearing completion, old facility to be demolished
CANTON — As Canton nears completion on constructing of a
firehouse in the Collinsville section, voters recently decided to finalize the
old firehouse's demolition.
Destroying the old firehouse has been planned since 2021,
when residents approved the Canton
Volunteer Fire and EMS Department's new firehouse and associated
construction in a referendum, which included razing the old facility located at
50 River Road next door to where it will be built.
But recently, some residents had expressed that they now
wanted to save the old fire station, which was built in 1971, for storage
space. In May, the Board of Selectmen received a petition with over 200
signatures in support of a study for repurposing it.
The question of whether the town should seek funding for
that study was the subject of a June 27 special town meeting, which gave
residents the chance to decide if the town should work towards completing a
feasibility study and cost estimate for repurposing the existing Collinsville
Fire Station, or demolish it as planned.
Voters said no by a 52-37 vote, paving the way for the
planned demolition to move forward as soon as this summer, according to town
officials.
And as for the brand new fire station, construction is well
underway, with an estimated completion in August, said Community
Development Coordinator Lisa Ozaki. New drone pictures of the construction site
posted on the department's Facebook show the structure and paving nearly
finished.
With a project cost at $5,400,000, the approximate cost of
this new debt to a taxpayer owning a median assessed house in Canton ($255,100
assessment) would be $85.41 for the first year, decreasing slightly annually
thereafter over the 20 year life of the bond, according to the town.
In November 2021, the new firehouse vote was passed by
residents by 2,061 to 834.
The town has long recognized that the old Collinsville
Fire Station was inadequate in addressing the needs of the department, as
it did not have the necessary space for fire apparatus, equipment
or staffing, a town committee established in 2015 had found.
It had changed very little since it was originally
constructed in 1971 despite the department growing in members and vehicles,
with only two full bays and two short bays, and a total square footage
measuring 9,483 square feet. And the old building's limited and unusable
storage space affects call readiness, according to a town presentation on
the new firehouse project.
The new station at 51 River Road will have five full
bays, additional storage areas and private sleeping quarters for overnight
EMS shifts, and the single-level building will be 14,080 square feet. It
will house equipment and staff of the Canton Volunteer Fire and EMS
Department, which has nearly 50 members in total.
The department has two other stations in Canton, but
combining the River Road equipment and staff with another one was not feasible
either, as it would not meet the necessary response time for certain suburban
and rural areas in town, according to the presentation.
Norwalk's Calf Pasture Beach Road improvements to begin after Labor Day
NORWALK — Improvements and adjustments
to Norwalk’s Calf Pasture Beach Road are slated to begin after Labor
Day.
“We need to reconstruct part of the Calf Pasture Beach
(Road) to make it up to the city standards in case, eventually, that becomes a
public road,” explained Vanessa Valadares, chief of operations and public
works, during a recent committee meeting.
Part of the road leading residents to Norwalk’s Calf Pasture
Beach is on the Gardella family’s property, who issued a deed agreement
with the city in 1922. Now, a century later, both the park and Gardella’s
marine businesses are thriving community staples in East Norwalk.
The Gardellas approached the city to clarify the agreement
and discuss the easement rights in order to have better access to their
property from the road. The family owns four parcels on the northern and
western portions of the peninsula.
After seven years of discussion,
the city and the Gardellas came to an agreement last fall to add three
connections from the road to the Gardella property and reconfigured the exit
lane to help facilitate traffic flow in and out of the beach.
As part of the agreement, the city signed a time-limited
restrictive covenant which limits Norwalk from making any improvements that
would inhibit the ability for construction for six years. This includes adding
sidewalks, bike paths, landscaping, and utility development on the Gardella
side of the road; however, the city is still able to improve sidewalks on its
side of the property.
To finish some of the work that was started with the city’s
construction of the new
skate park, new sidewalks will be added along with the road improvements
this fall, Valadares said.
“Last year when we did a skate park… we didn’t have enough
funds to finish part of the sidewalks that surround the park and then some seat
walls,” Valadares said.
If the Gardellas wanted to improve their property in the
next six years, they would be required to gain approval from the Planning and
Zoning Commission, which approved
the easement plan. As a part of the Marine
Commercial Zone, the Gardellas' property must have a water
dependent use like the marina that is currently there.
The Public Works Committee moved forward with a contract with FGB Construction Company, which also worked on the skate park for the city, to the full Common Council.
Under the agreement, the Gardellas paid the city $460,000,
and $100,000 of that amount will be used for construction.
Altogether, the cost of the project is about $1 million for
FGB to realign the road and add the sidewalks and seat walls by the skate park.
While work will begin after Labor Day, construction will
stop during the Norwalk
Boat Show.
Trumbull's plans to build a new Hillcrest Middle School will go to a vote in November
TRUMBULL — A new Hillcrest Middle School took another step
toward fruition after the Town Council authorized the distribution of
future bonds for the project during a recent meeting.
The project will go to a referendum in November, as required
for projects
that exceed $15 million.
But first, Council Chairman Carl Massaro asked
Jeff Wyszynski, principal at Hartford-based
Tecton Architects, to explain the Board of Finance's approved $142.3
million figure for the authorization even though the total projected cost of
construction for the project is $140.9 million.
Wyszynski showed a detailed breakdown of the cost. Finance
Director Maria Pires later explained in an email that the higher authorization
included an additional 1 percent to cover additional financing costs.
The cost to the town is now projected to be $81.7 million, a
reduction of about $27.8 million drop from the original $109.5 million
projection.
Wyszynski said the town's total cost of the project dropped after Rep. Sarah Keitt secured a higher school construction state reimbursement rate through the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.
"It essentially drops the cost to Trumbull by about $30
million and that’s because special legislation was approved," Wyszynski
said.
The state reimbursement rate was expected to be 24.29
percent, but Wyszynski said the state approved a 44 percent reimbursement
rate instead, saving the town almost $27.8 million.
“We should thank Rep. Sarah Keitt for her hard work in
Hartford to help us get that 44 percent rate,” said council Democrat Kevin
Shively.
Former West Hartford UConn campus, the potential site of hundreds of homes, set for wetlands hearing
WEST HARTFORD — For several years now, the
buildings that made up the former University of Connecticut campus in West
Hartford have stood vacant — and dilapidated by time — as new uses for
the expansive property have been considered time and again by the site's
various owners.
Now, with the portion of that property that served as the
school's parking lot already receiving
the green light for developers to build 322 new homes, the western portion
of the former college campus, where the same developers want to build
hundreds more homes plus space for commercial uses, will be the subject of
a wetlands hearing July 17.
It's the first hurdle for the development, named Heritage
Park, as the site rests on and around a complex wetlands network. A similar
process was held for the now-approved eastern portion of the campus, when
residents unsuccessfully tried to intervene and halt via a petition in December.
In May filings, though, the developers contend that
"the overall wetlands functionality is low" because the site has
existed as a college campus for so long.
"No new building or parking construction is proposed
within a wetland except for the filling of a small, isolated wetland pocket of
low-or-no functionality identified at the corner of building #5," reads
the filing letter submitted to the town in May. "Development of the site
as a university campus has significantly impacted the ecological integrity of
its wetlands resources. The overall wetlands functionality is low."
Still, it will be up to the town's five-member Inland
Wetlands and Watercourse Agency members to
determine whether the construction would have negative impacts on the site.
Should they approve, following approvals to grant a zoning change from
single-family homes to multifamily homes would then need to be given by the
Town Council.
The most recent plans submitted to the town have developers
seeking to build 211 housing units on the site. Those homes would be split
between 93 apartments, 28 townhouses, and 90 assisted-living units. In total,
between both portions of the property, the development would add 533 total
homes in West Hartford, by
far the biggest housing development to be proposed over the last decade.
Developers are also still planning to include retail and
commercial uses on the western portion of the property, eyeing spaces for at
least a spa, a restaurant, a cafe, and a grocery store.
Recent filings to the town's Design Review Advisory
Committee shows an updated look at how developers plan to integrate residential
and commercial spaces together. The plans also pitch several different
orientations for the several buildings.
Those filings also indicate some changes developers have
made to their plans since January, including reducing "direct wetland
impacts through trail modifications" and increasing "wetland buffer
enhancement areas." The documents also note that they've reduced the size
and height of the townhouses while also providing more screening of the parking
areas.
Right now, the wetlands portion of the plan will be
discussed at a special meeting on July 17 at 6 p.m., according to the minute's
of the town's Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands and Watercourse Agency
June 24 meeting. Meetings are often subject to change should either party ask
for more time.
Road repair agreement saving New London $600K in summer paving costs
John Penney
New London ― Over the next two weeks, crews from the Burns
Construction company will restore 18 city roads whose sections were torn up and
patched nearly a year ago as part of Eversource utility work.
The new paving work will include sections of Broad, Waller,
Pleasant, West Coit, Clover, Raymond, Acorn, Konomoc, Dow, Ledyard and
Farnsworth streets, along with Connecticut, Lincoln, Oneco and Saltonstall
avenues and Waller and Wassimer courts.
An ordinance approved years ago will save the city nearly
$600,000 in paving and milling costs related to a summer road restoration
project that began on Monday.
Just more than half of the project’s $1.1 million price tag
will be covered by the energy company as part of an agreement forged three
years ago that requires any third-party trench work, including by cable, water
or utility companies, to be paid for by the firms that disrupted the roads.
Mayor Michael Passero said the impetus behind the ordinance
was the habit of gas and cable companies of digging trenches to install new
infrastructure and simply adding lower-quality patches to the affected roadway.
“And this would happen on roads and streets that we’d
previously milled and paved, taking years of life off those roads,” Passero
said. “We’d have divots from gas lines and fiber optic cable installation that
ran the length of a road, patches that didn’t hold up.”
The ordinance requires a company to either conduct a
curb-to-center-line permanent repair of a disturbed road, or pay the cost of
the city contracting out the work.
Several “half-road” sections will be newly milled and paved
as part of the ongoing summer work, though portions of some roads will get a
complete, “curb-to-curb" overhaul, Director of Public Works Brian Sear
said.
The agreement led to the city and Eversource coordinating
their road-repair schedules to ensure utility work is completed ahead of any
paving.
“That prevents us from fixing a street and Eversource coming
in and digging trenches that would have to fixed again later,” Sear said. “And
the agreement stipulates Eversource can’t come back and dig up a street for
five years after it’s been paved.”
The final paving work is typically done up to a year after
utility installation to allow the infrastructure to properly settle. That means
sometimes holding off on paving a road that needs attention.
“For example, Amity Street is in rough shape, but if we know
Eversource is going to out there in a year, we’ll wait until that job’s done
before re-paving it,” Sear said. “We’ll also work with Eversource to determine
which roads will require full milling and paving and figure out how much it’ll
cost.”
The city’s portion of the road repair costs will be covered
with part of a $1.8 million capital improvement bond approved in February.
Madison Debates Referendum as Community Center Costs Rise by Nearly $4M
Francisco Uranga
MADISON — Since Madison residents approved converting the
Academy School building into a community center via
referendum in 2022, estimated costs have risen by nearly $4 million. The
board is now considering holding a second referendum in early 2025 to validate
or reject a budget increase.
At a June
24 Board of Selectmen meeting, Colliers International, the consulting firm
hired by the town to work on the project, presented a revised estimate of
nearly $19.8 million for construction, 24% more than originally expected. Two
days later, the
selectmen discussed the possibility of calling a second referendum to
fill the budget gap on the same day as the November presidential election or in
February 2025.
The board ultimately decided to wait for construction
bids expected
in September, effectively ruling out a referendum for this year, according
to Madison First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons.
“The BOS decided, basically through inaction, to wait for
the construction bids to come back this fall before finalizing any plans for a
referendum,” Lyons told CT Examiner. “If we had wanted to put this on the
November 2024 ballot, we would have had to make a decision prematurely. We want
solid numbers at this stage rather than estimates.”
Reasons for the budget increase stem from a combination of
inflation, unforeseen work such as the need to move the building’s septic
system, and a project scope expansion. The town will not seek more debt to meet
the higher costs, but instead cover them with grants. Madison has already been
awarded an additional $4 million in grants; however, it must seek explicit
authorization from residents for the change due to how the 2022 referendum was
worded.
Built
in 1921, the Academy School operated until 2004, after which the school
board vacated it and handed it over to the town in 2011. Following years of
deliberation and the pandemic, town officials held a referendum approving the
appropriation of $15.9 million for the community center project and authorizing
bonds up to the same amount, with the intention of seeking grants to reduce the
total borrowing required.
The original project included a gymnasium, commercial
kitchen, theater, additional parking lots, and office space for the town’s
Youth and Family Services and Beach and Recreation departments. The work
included improvements to the heating and air conditioning systems, roof and
window repairs, removal of lead paint and asbestos, as well as geothermal
systems and photovoltaic cells.
Despite the project committee dropping the geothermal system
after the referendum, the revised budget still includes it, along with the
costs for relocating the septic system and additional spending on upgrading the
gymnasium and recital spaces. Marc Sklenka, managing director of Southern New
England at Colliers, shared
these updates during the meeting, where he presented the revised
estimate.
Should the construction bids for the project exceed the
amount authorized in 2022, the town would have to choose between increasing the
budget in a second referendum or narrowing the project scope.
Bruce Wilson, Madison’s minority Republican selectman, told
CT Examiner that he would encourage residents to vote for expanding the budget
in a referendum. Reducing the scope would be a bad decision, he argued, because
it would leave the project unfinished. The remaining work would have to be done
later, according to Wilson, but paid for out of the general budget rather than
financed with long-term bonds, resulting in a greater burden on taxpayers.
Wilson criticized the selectmen’s inaction to call for a
referendum in November noting that off-cycle voting has a lower turnout.
Turnout for the 2022
referendum was about 35%, while Madison’s turnout during the last
presidential election exceeded 85%.
Wilson said it would be a mistake to repeat the conditions
of the first referendum.
“That didn’t leave a good feeling about the project for some
people who never liked the project, whether they voted or didn’t vote,” he
said. “They feel it’s unfair.”