The City Council Monday night will act on the letter agreement of Captain Rebeca Garcia who has been appointed assistant chief by Mayor Joe Ganim and top cop AJ Perez.
The letter was approved unanimously by the Contracts Committee. She’s expected to receive the oath Monday night presuming ratification by the full council.
Police chief and assistant chief, the two top police positions, are the only ranks not affiliated with a collective bargaining unit. Garcia’s starting pay will be $142,425.
Ganim and Perez announced Garcia’s appointment on November 25. The position has been vacant since January 2016 when James Nardozzi was removed in a department shakeup after Ganim’s return to the mayoralty. Nardozzi sued. The city and Nardozzi have come to terms on a settlement that also requires City Council approval.
Former Mayor Tom Bucci, a labor relations legal specialist, is representing several high ranking police officers who assert the assistant chief position should have been advertised competitively.
See full council agenda here.
Also Monday night new rules begin for the public speaking portion at 6:30 p.m. extending the number of speakers to a maximum of 10 with up to three minutes each. It had been six speakers up to five minutes each.
My hope is that someone asks if Captain Rebeca Garcia will be allowed to retire, collect that pension and still get her $142,425 salary. Fire Chief Brian Rooney and Police Chief Gaudette were both allowed to collect their pension while simultaneously collecting their salary which meant both were making approximately $250,000 a year. My best guess is that Chief Perez is getting both and I’m equally sure that Captain Garcia will do the same. Getting paid twice for the a job is nice if you can get it!
Oh stop crying Don, it’s only taxpayer money! Lol.
I think Rod Porter would have made a better choice for assistant Chief. But we all know that Aj would never allow that.
#SogladILeft
You are right Frank.
City Attorney Mark Anastasi is doing the same thing!!!!
Should b illegal…..
Ouch Rich, I thought I was being more like the Town Crier rather than just plain old crying.
Rich, when I said the following on Dec 8th I didn’t get an amen from you like Frank recieved.
Captain Roderick Porter was a one the top three finisher when the police Chief’s exam was given that promoted Perez to the chief’s position.
Officer Porter has earned the right to be the Chief of the department which was taken because Perez knew where the mayoral skeletons were buried, so at the very least he deserves the number two position on the BPD.
Then you must have missed it on the other post where I said that I knew Rod.
He’s a good guy.
Elections have consequences and Mayor Ganim feels that he needs to promote Captain Rebecca Garcia because of the election results and not who would be the best person.
I have my comments for tonight’s meeting prepared already. With the revision (cut) of time allowed to each speaker from five minutes to three minutes, will there be a sacrifice in the topics presented to the Council? Or, as some folks have shared, will it not matter because there is no “evidence” that Council members listen anyway.
From Brian Lockhart of the CTPost this AM, why is a failure to pay sergeants in the PD there contracted rate of pay?? Has it taken months of notice without getting it right?? How many people need to sign off, and where did the major hiccup develop?? Does that person need a consequence to spur them to complete their duties?? Or were they following orders??
When the City issues a check to a non-profit and titles it SUPPORTIVE CONTRIBUTION, what process is followed? Is there a form to be filed in City Clerk office? Where does it go from there? Who holds a meeting to consider whether to authorize or not? Are there any restrictions? Who does oversight? Can individuals receive such funds? Are not for profit organizations checked out to see that 501c3 status is real and up to date? And when the budget is approved each year, whose budget holds onto the hundreds of thousands potentially to be distributed?? Do we have a genuine grants process, as does the Federal and State government when distributing funds?? How does a poor urban city afford these distributions of valuable public funds in such an arrogant and sloppy manner? Where are the goals for these funds stated publicly where citizens can do unofficial oversight? Time will tell.