New Deputy City Attorney Confirmed

The Common Council approved Kori Wisneski as new Deputy City Attorney at its meeting last night. There was no controversy over Wisneski as a future Attorney for the City, but two Councilwomen voted against confirmation, citing concerns over the process of hiring, and a proposed reorganization of the City Attorney's office and the Personnel Department.

Wisneski graduated from Mercy High School, got her bachelor's degree from College Of The Holy Cross, and her law degree from Quinnipiac. For the past 6 years she has been an Attorney at Robinson & Cole in Hartford.

She touted her experience as a litigator, and repeatedly stated that she likes to be on her feet, arguing a case in court. However, she also stressed that she would work hard to prevent litigation involving the city. In her application, she wrote, "I worked on a team of attorneys that successfully negotiated a resolution on behalf of a town against its chief of police for alleged misconduct."

Wisneski is a daughter of the Termine and Maltese families of Middletown and has settled in the city as an adult, she boasted, "I've lived 27 out of [my] 33 years in Middletown." Several of the Councilmen appeared to have known her for many years, Councilman Phil Pessina said, "I'm very proud of you.... It's a long way from the softball field of Mercy to this position."

The only dissenting votes were from Councilwomen Deb Kleckowski and Linda Salafia. Wisneski applied for the position of City Attorney, and Salafia said that the position of Deputy City Attorney was created only after someone else was hired for City Attorney. She said that the new job was not advertised before being given to Wisneski.

Kleckowski also objected to the process of the hiring. She said she had learned form correspondence by Mayor Drew that he would be proposing to merge the Personnel and the Legal Departments, and she did not think it was appropriate to hire a deputy attorney with this uncertainty ahead. Councilman Gerry Daley responded that the deputy city attorney had always handled labor issues, and it should have been no surprise that the city would merge the departments, because the Mayor's task force had recommended this.