Move To Rehire
Cops Blocked

As lawmakers sought to have the mayor rehire 16 cops laid off last month, one aldermen urged them to take it further: Why not rehire all 82 dismissed city workers?

That alderman, West Rock’s Darnell Goldson, was one of several who joined a lively debate about a resolution put forward by Aldermen Gerald Antunes and Al Paolillo.

Their measure, which went down in a roll call vote at Monday’s meeting of the Board of Aldermen, would have sent a request to the mayor to reinstate the 16 rookie cops who were laid off last month as a cost-saving measure. Those layoffs were among dozens that hit city workers on Feb. 17, as the mayor sought to close a yawning budget gap.

Antunes and Paolillo argued that public safety and community policing require the rehiring of the laid-off cops. Opposing aldermen argued that the layoffs, while unfortunate, were needed.

After Paolillo and Antunes made their initial presentation of their non-binding resolution to the board, Goldson suggested an amendment.

The dozens of recent layoffs affected lower-salary earners disproportionately, he said. While the average salary of city employees is over $50,000 per year, the average salary of the laid off workers was $38,000, he said.

“The only people that suffered are the people that couldn’t afford it,” Goldson said. He offered an amendment to have the resolution urge the mayor to rehire all the laid-off workers and have a public discussion about how the city decides whom to lay off.

“I think this process was unfair,” Goldson said. ​“I think it was meant to boil the blood of taxpayers.”

Antunes spoke against Goldson’s amendment, saying his own ​“passion is with the police. … Thank you, but no thank you.”

“I will not be supporting this amendment,” said West River Alderman Yusuf Shah. He spoke at length against Goldson’s amendment. At one point he cited Antunes’ status as a retired police officer; the board president to interject with warnings that he would be held our of order.

“If we make decisions to make cuts, we should stand by them,” Shah said. ​“The water has boiled down to the bottom of the pot.”

It’s not the fact of the layoffs that’s the problem, but rather how they were done, Goldson said. Why not lay off the city spokesman, or do away with the police department’s new PR consultant, and save a librarian? he asked. ​“Yes, we need cuts. But let’s start from the top and work our way down.”

Goldson’s amendment was rejected in a voice vote.

Beaver Hills Alderman Carl Goldfield then spoke against the initial proposal to rehire the cops. The plan takes the layoffs out of context, he said. Next year’s proposed budget has ​“serious holes” and variables like the stormwater authority plan and planned privatization, said Goldfield, the board’s president. It doesn’t make sense to add another challenge by trying to find the money for the 16 cops, he said.

The laid-off rookies are ​“young guys” and will find other work, Goldfield said. Plus, they don’t even live in New Haven, he said. (West Haven has already hired some of the laid-off New Haven cops.)

Dixwell Alderman Greg Morehead spoke up in opposition to the proposal, with an response to the argument that cops are needed for community policing. ​“I don’t know what that is anymore,” he said. ​“If we vote to bring them back, what exactly is going to happen differently?”

“When the weather warms up, the bullets start flying,” Hill Alderwoman Dolores Colon said. It’s not the librarians who run toward the bullets to stop violence and solve crimes, she said. ​“We need police.”

The resolution failed in a close 11 to 13 vote. Voting ​“Yes” to send a letter to the mayor: Aldermen Jorge Perez, Dolores Colon, Justin Elicker, Maureen O’Sullivan-Best, Gerald Antunes, Alex Rhodeen, Joseph Rodriguez, Migdalia Castro, Al Paolillo, Alfreda Edwards, and Claudette Robinson-Thorpe. Voting ​“No”: Aldermen Mike Jones, Matt Smith, Stephanie Bauer, Charles Blango, Katrina Jones, Greg Morehead, Yusuf Shah, Marcus Paca, Greg Dildine, Sergio Rodriguez, Tom Lehtonen, Carl Goldfield, and Darnell Goldson.

Antunes and Paolillo said after the meeting that they considered the debate a success.

“We opened a lot of eyes,” Antunes said.

Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts later offered a criticism of Antunes’ and Paolillo’s proposal. The city is making hard choices, and their proposal amounted to not making a choice at all, he said. The plan would have simply urged action without a clear plan of where the money would come from to pay for it, he said.

Call For Hearings

Antunes and Paolillo found success on Monday evening with a proposal to hold hearings on the impact of the loss of the 16 cops. That proposal was approved unanimously by the board.

East Rock Aldermen Justin Elicker and Matt Smith, along with Alderwoman Alfreda Edwards, submitted a motion that would call for a different hearing: on the effect of removing an engine from the fire station on Whitney Avenue. See background on that here and here.

Elicker said questions about the plan’s effect on fire response remain to be answered after a recent community meeting on the move.

“I think the chief answered all reasonable questions,” Smuts said. He said he’d nevertheless be happy to have another meeting..

Fire Chief Micheal Grant said that a hearing is not needed but that he’d be happy to speak about the plan further. ​“I’m willing to defend any decision that I make.”