Town’s Top Public Works Leaders Quit

Branford’s first major snowstorm of the year hit the town with a fury this past weekend and Department of Public Works crews, the town’s first responders in a snowstorm, were out plowing the town’s streets and byways. But this storm was different.

It was different because the Department of Public Works’ two top officials, the men who have led the department, were not there to oversee the operation. They resigned their leadership posts within the last month.

Tom Brennan, Public Works department head, officially resigned his $96,999 a year post Friday. Joe Lentini, the Public Works supervisor, and the second in command, quit his post last month. His salary was $65,457 a year. Gary Zielinksi, who worked for Cosgrove Construction, the first selectman’s former company in Branford, was hired as a Public Works employee last year. He was recently promoted to Lentini’s job. 

Their so-called office at 137 North Branford Road is located in a parked trailer outside the rented garage where Public Works wound up after its North Main Street facility was torn down in March 2011 to make way for the new Fire Headquarters. The former fire headquarters, built in 1962, had so many violations that it was operating outside of regulatory codes. The pipes from the boiler, for example, were corroded.

At the time, the expectation was that moving Public Works to a rental facility was a temporary move. Since then, no alternate site has been approved for construction of a new building. The town has spent over $1.5 million in rent, however.

Brennan Resigns Friday

Brennan, 61, who has led Public Works for more than three years, gave First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove two weeks notice of his decision to leave his job and met with Cosgrove in person on Friday for a final exit meeting. Brennan’s job was posted on the town’s website by the end of the day, an unusually fast turn-around. 

The job description says the position pays between $80,944 and Brennan’s current salary, $96,999 annually. Applications will be accepted for Brennan’s job by the town’s Human Resources Department for the next two weeks, until Jan. 20 at 4 p.m. 

Reached by the Eagle, Brennan said he left his job for ​“health and personal reasons.” Lentini left Branford last month for a comparable supervisor’s job at a public works department in another town. He could not be reached for comment.

While the circumstances surrounding the abrupt departure of Brennan and Lentini were not publicly disclosed, it is no secret that Brennan and others in the department were deeply concerned about employees working in substandard conditions in a building that often floods, Brennan has said in the past.

Morale is Low

Brennan was hired by former first selectman Unk DaRos in September, 2013, two months before DaRos retired from office. He has led Public Works for more than three years during which some electrical and lighting upgrades have been made. The previous public works director, Art Baker, said when he left that there was no area for washing the winter salt off the trucks.

Brennan said he did not want to discuss his health reasons or the personal reasons he cited for leaving his job. But it is no secret that Public Works has been treated poorly and Cosgrove has not put a new Public Works facility high on the town’s to-do list. And observing the escalating costs for the Walsh Intermediate School ($88.2 million) and the Community-Senior Center, (now at $12.1 million), two current town building projects, could not have been easy. 

At a Board of Finance meeting in February 2014, Brennan told the board members that the rented building was unsafe because it floods. Slip and fall compensation claims were up, he said, adding that electrical cord hazards add to the safety issue.

Employee Electrocution

Then, in February 2015, a Public Works employee was electrocuted but did not die when he experienced an electric shock inside the rented garage. 

The employee, a town mechanic, had a drop light on his extension cord and the cord got wet, setting off an electric shock, according to fire officials.

The employee was standing on the wet floor. The Public Works rental has experienced numerous accidents, often connected to wet floors and flooding.

The Department of Public Works’ search for a new home seems to have taken a back seat to the current building projects. The Eagle asked Cosgrove about his efforts to find a new site for a new facility about a year ago.

Cosgrove told the Eagle then that Public Works ​“is still a priority that I have, as it was from the very beginning. I think we all recognize that we want to find a
permanent home for Public Works. Because of the type of operation, it is a little more difficult to select a place,” he said in February 2016. He has not been specific about possible locations or when a decision will be made.

A year ago Cosgrove asked the Board of Finance for $7,500 to hire a consulting firm to review potential properties for a new Public Works building.

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