Letter to the Editor: A response to Councilwoman Kasper

Commentary by Linda Salafia, a response to Councilwoman Hope Kasper's letter to the editor featured here

To the Editor,

I am writing this letter to you in response to Councilwoman Kasper’s letter regarding the hiring of her son-in-law at the Board of Education. First, let me state that I have put my name in as a candidate for the Common Council to the Republican Town Committee. I hope to be endorsed by them and look forward to being able to run for office and ultimately serve as a Council member on the Mayor’s team.

Also, I currently am employed by the City of Middletown as the Payroll / Pension Supervisor and have held this position for 13 years; worked a total nearly 25 years for the City. In that time, I have seen a lot of employees hired including a lot of children of employees and council people for summer jobs including Ms. Kasper’s granddaughters. The total budget for the summer youth program for this year is $44,207; approved by the Council.

I also attended the Mayor’s press conference in my capacity as Vice President of Local 466 which represents the classified workers at the City and the Board of Education. The Union has filed the appropriate complaints regarding the handling of the payroll positions at the BOE; however, I will attempt to clarify our position. There are two payroll positions at the BOE that are acknowledged union positions; the union contract requires that those position be posted and filled if budgeted and if not, the affect negotiated between the parties. One position has been vacant since the Fall when the BOE refused to allow Christine Bourne to work. The second position has been vacant since the employee in that position moved to another position. Again let me state that there have been numerous complaints and paperwork filed on both of the positions and/ or treatments of employees in those positions. The BOE does not have the ability to freeze a position after an employee has been hired; the Mayor is the hiring authority for ALL CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEES, the Council determines the classified positions. When the BOE administration illegally posted the position for the temporary payroll position on it’s website, I personally notified all council members and elected BOE members that this was occurring. The Union is not privy to the information regarding applicants to classified positions; however in this case, the eligibility list was shared with the union but not the test scores and experience. Again, I will say that the choice of candidate is the Mayor’s; the personnel department of the City qualifies the candidate and the Mayor picks. Ms. Kasper was a union officer when she worked for the City and knows fully well that the BOE should not have posted and filled this position with anyone.

Ms. Kasper’s letter to the editor claims that her son-in-law was appointed on merit alone and that she has been falsely accused of impropriety. I would just like to point out that the mere appointment of her son-in-law to a position that was illegally posted and filed and that she was aware was in violation of the bargaining union agreement, the settlement agreement between the City and BOE, the City’s Personnel Rules and the City of Middletown’s Charter does give the impression of impropriety. This position has a base salary range of $34,016 to $43,134 plus was given health insurance benefits not in line with the 466 contract but in line with the teacher’s contract. The City of Middletown has a code of ethics, Chapter 40 of its Code of Ordinances, which must be followed by all employees and elected officials. Ms. Kasper is a member of the Common Council, sits on the Personnel Review Commission, the Insurance and Claims Commission and the Finance and Government Commission and as a member of these commissions, should know that the posting and filling of this position with her son-in-law was improper.

Sincerely,

Linda Salafia

Local 466 V.P.