Budget Dispute Signals Charter Interpretation Battle

The partisan battle has been ongoing between Middletown's Republican mayor, and it's Democratically-controlled Common Council, but it's only recently that the main players in disputes about budget and hiring have pointed to the city charter as the document which justifies their actions.

Monday, the Middletown Press reported that Democrats on the Common Council have recently learned that Mayor Sebastian Giuliano has ordered the release of funds in a reserve account created by the Common Council in the current fiscal year budget they created in May of last year.

"It's absurd," Democratic majority leader, and Council member Thomas Serra said in a phone interview Monday. "Are they saying they can pick and choose between what resolutions and ordinances they follow? This set-aside has been used under four other administrations."

Serra contends that the Common Council, by charter, has fiduciary responsibility, and that as the town's legislative body they make laws which the mayor, as the representative of the executive branch, must follow and carry out.

Serra points to sections of the charter which indicate these responsibilities, including:


CHAPTER 3, Section 1
The Common Council shall be the legislative body of the City. Said Council shall have the power, authority and duty by a majority vote of those members present and voting to make such bylaws and ordinances and to adopt such resolutions as are deemed necessary for the conduct of the City’s business, subject to the provision for hearings as provided herein, and not inconsistent with the laws of the State of Connecticut and/or of the United States; to levy taxes as provided herein; to regulate the borrowing of money by the City... and it shall have such other powers appropriate to the exercise of its authority as the legislative body of the City and such powers and duties which, on the effective date of this Charter, were conferred by law.

And


CHAPTER 4 Section 1
The Mayor shall see that all laws and ordinances governing the City are faithfully executed...

However in two recent disputes with Council members over the procedure to be used in hiring the next police chief, and in a resolution in which the Common Council insist that it should have the power to review all "memorandums of understanding," the mayor has asserted his authority, and ignored Council directives by citing the charter, and the identical section which Serra notes. Chapter 4, Section 1 also states that,

The Council shall not diminish by ordinance, vote or otherwise, the powers and duties of the Mayor...

(The entire charter for the city of Middletown can be found here.)


Defenders of the mayor and the executive branch, including deputy mayor and Common Council member Joe Bibisi, council member Phil Pessina and most recently MMPA union president John Milardo feel that the Common Council is attempting to usurp the power of the mayor.

Milardo wrote recently in the MMPA newsletter:

I believe the Common Council is usurping the power of the Mayor’s office, granted to him by the Charter of the City of Middletown. I also believe they are overstepping their authority as described in the Charter, by involving themselves illegally in many different areas of City operations; not only with the interference of local Union organizations. This Council is overstepping its authority through involvement in the daily operations of departments, which include budget expenditures, allocations, department policies and processes, and the micro- management of office(s). (The entire newsletter can be read here.)

Serra said that he is neither trying to interfere in the mayor's authority, intimidate the union or any department head, but is trying to do his best for the city and its taxpayers. He does admit disappointment that the MMPA has refused salary concessions.

"Every where else in the state municipal and state employees are giving back," Serra said. "They're taking cuts in their pay. Here in Middletown, the unions are getting their raises."

"What it comes down to simply is this," Serra said. "The Council legislates, and the mayor, as the executive branch executes the ordinances and the resolutions that the Council passes."

These skirmishes are not likely the end in what could become a prolonged battle between branches as the mayor begins to negotiate new contracts with unions, as the city begins the process of selecting a new chief of police, as the city side of the government exerts pressure on the Board of Education to find savings and as the city itself prepares to consider a budget for the upcoming year.