New Haven Independent

Smith, the Democratic RTM majority leader and a loyal supporter of the Morris-Ed Marcus administration, will be the town’s new facilities manager, a position he was offered last week at a yearly salary of $58,000. At age 59, Smith has a six month probationary period. He began work Monday.

But he will not be in charge of the major capital projects in town. That is the job of Janice Plaziak, the town engineer. She was the first to hold this facilities manager position, when it was called Capital Projects Manager. When she became the town engineer last year, it was agreed that she would keep the major capital projects.

The position was created in 2004 in order to renovate town buildings The facilities manager has the authority for the repair, maintenance, renovation and expansion of all town owned buildings, excluding Board of Education buildings, and in this case, the major capital town projects. The job comes with a car.

According to Town Hall sources familiar with the events that led up to Smith’s hiring, Plaziak selected another, more qualified candidate and Cindy Coville, the Human Resources Director, agreed with her. But Mrs. Morris rejected their recommendations. As the town’s top administrator, she is entitled to do so, but to select someone integral to her political circle, one who has done her bidding since she came into office, is to suggest that overt political patronage, which rewards loyalty rather than merit, is at work here..

Ordinarily, Smith would report directly to Plaziak but according to sources familiar with the events, Plaziak would not be put in that position and told Mrs. Morris so. As a result, Mrs. Morris said Smith will report directly to her. Morris did not explain why.

Under a Freedom of Information request, The Eagle asked to view the applications and resumes of the 19 applicants who applied for the job. The applications were made to the town from Nov. 27, 2006 through December 8, 2006, the time period stated in the recruitment notice. It has taken six months to fill the slot and it is not clear why. I asked to see five applications and resumes, including Smith’s.

The FOI statutes leave it up to the public agency or town to decide if an outside request to review medical records or personnel files constitutes a possible “invasion of privacy.” If so, then a town official asks the applicants for permission to show the documents to a third party. The FOI points out, however, that “nothing herein shall require an agency to withhold from disclosure the contents of personnel or medical files and similar files when it does not reasonably believe that such disclosure would legally constitute an invasion of personal privacy.”

Trista Clyne Milici, Mrs. Morris’s administrative assistant, said the town was contacting the applicants as “a courtesy to advise them that the town is required by state law to release this information” and to whom it is being given. The personal information of the candidates is redacted. For example, a candidate’s age, address and social security number are blacked out. When the Eagle receives the documents we will give readers an update.

Meanwhile, the Eagle was able to take a cursory glance at the redacted applications in order to decide which ones to copy. This initial review shows that other candidates had far more experience in the specific area of facilities management than Smith has, despite his polished resume. And their experience is current and on point. A college degree is not required but is desired, the job notice says.

For the last twelve years Smith has been president of his own employment recruiting company, essentially serving as a headhunter for clients. He recently closed the company, JAS Associates, sources said. Prior to that, he was a recruiter and sales engineer for several different Connecticut companies over an 11 year period. According to neighbors in Short Beach, where he lives, Smith’s building experience consisted of working as a project manager or sales manager for two scaffolding companies, believed to be in Connecticut, during the 1970’s and early 1980’s.

Mrs. Morris announced Smith’s hiring at her Thursday meeting of department heads. Then, late on Friday, at 6:32 p.m., she again informed her department heads via e-mail that Smith had been appointed and urged them to inform their staffs and to welcome him. The Eagle has obtained a copy of her e-mail.

Here is how Mrs. Morris described Smith’s qualifications: “John has extensive management and supervisory experience in diverse industries with expertise in facilities and project management. He has previously worked in the construction field with oversight for multiple trades. He is knowledgeable of municipal codes, state codes and regulatory compliance. He has experience with the bid and proposal process, purchasing and vendor negotiations and has worked with contractors, architects and municipal officials.”

Mrs. Morris noted his long service—-14 years for the RTM -as well as his knowledge of the budget process and town operations—as reason to hire him. Smith used the same qualifications—-his RTM service—as one of the reasons to be selected the town’s Senior Services Director, a position he applied for on August 10, 2006 but did not get. In fact, he used the same application for the Facilities Manager job—- he just crossed out Senior Services Director and inserted Facilities Manager over it. He also included a professionally polished resume to accompany the old application. He also had applied for the position of Human Resources Director, but he was not appointed to that job. Coville was.

Kurt Schwanfelder, the Republican RTM minority leader, who is running for Second Selectman, was livid when he heard that Smith had been given the job. The Eagle cannot print the many expletives he uttered in staccato style. In the end, he said, sadly, “This is blatant machine politics. It is disgusting, literally disgusting.”

Schwanfelder was especially upset because he was part of a committee, initiated by Unk DaRoss before he left office as First Selectman in 2003, to create this position in order to take care of town buildings. Informed of the hiring, Da Ros shook his head in dismay. In an interview, he said: “She has gone too far. This is cronyism gone too far.”

John Opie, who is running for First Selectman on the Republican ticket, said “I think we all believe he is under-qualified and we know other well-qualified people had applied. I personally believe their resumes should be subject to FOI access since they are commonly found on the Internet. I believe if there is a substantial difference in the qualifications, then people should know about it and Cheryl should be held accountable for her decision.”

Will Smith be able to retain his RTM post?

Smith is aware of conflict of interest issues given the recent ethics complaint he initiated against fellow RTM member Pam Fowler. The complaint was tossed out.

Will he step down? Will he dig in his heels and stay?

The RTM begins at 8 p.m.tonight at the Canoebrook Center. It may turn out to be the best midweek show in town.
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