The July 30 Board of Selectmen meeting turned raucous as town officials and residents aired concerns regarding a July 1 Department of Public Works memo.

Also discussed were $1 million in road repairs, plans for the abandoned green house at 500 Middletown Ave., and projected town revenues being $500,000 short.

The memo in question dominated the meeting, as Selectman Michael Freda and many residents worried that the note’s language could both obstruct state investigators and violate the First Amendment.

The memo was disseminated by Public Works Director Lynn Sadosky, after an incident stemming from a case involving a town employee’s workers’ compensation. According to Sadosky, the employee and his privately hired attorney solicited other town employees at the town’s Elm Street garage for information regarding the case.

The questioned employees felt uncomfortable and contacted Ken Rupley, president of Local 58, the town’s laborers’ union, according to Sadosky. Rupley, along with Elm Street supervisor Victor Palma, then contacted Sadosky on the matter, she said.

In response, Sadosky composed the memo. The note was intended to ease inhibitions of Department of Public Works’ employees on being questioned by the private attorney, according to Sadosky.

“It was strictly in request from Local 58,” Sadosky said when reached. “I wrote it for the Department of Public Works employees. I went around and described it to the Department of Public Works employees. I did not go around and describe it to other town employees.”

Sadosky said that she did not mention the memo to First Selectman Janet McCarty before its dissemination.

“Janet McCarty had nothing to do with the crafting of the language,” Sadosky said.

Sadosky said that she composed the memo with the help of Michael Betz, Director of Finance.

“It was about a very specific issue at the Public Works garage,” Betz said when reached.

Betz denied that the memo was filed to protect the town from investigators looking into the current cases of former town employees Bob Burns and Leigh Gomez.

“It was very narrow and in response to something that had nothing to do with Burns or Leigh [Gomez],” he said of the memo.

The memo, which was sent only to Department of Public Works employees, states that the workplace contact of any employee by “an outside party investigating a claim” must be “directed immediately” to the applicable department head, who will then report it to “Finance/Risk.” Regarding such an outside party, the memo states that “there should be absolutely no interaction with the individual whether it is a lawyer, investigator, or the claimant them self.”

If such interaction occurs, the memo states, “any activity such as this could be viewed as insubordination and will be dealt with accordingly.”

The memo also elaborates that such interaction includes discussion on “General Liability, Auto Liability, Workers Compensation, etc.”

Sadosky stressed that the memo was written specifically for the individual case regarding the employee’s workers’ compensation. However, the memo lacks clear language which would specify such a denotation.

In fact, much of the angst generated by the memo seems to have spawned from its vagueness.

The phrase “an outside party investigating a claim” is especially unclear, and could be taken to mean any number of law enforcement parties. Betz stated that the word “private” should have been placed before “party,” as to only prohibit privately hired attorneys and investigators, as opposed to official law enforcement parties.

“If that has caused confusion, then I am sorry about that,” Betz said of the matter.

Those worried by the memo expressed several fears at the July 30 meeting. Freda was nervous that the memo’s language would impede state investigations into town affairs, such as the current cases involving former town employees Bob Burns and Leigh Gomez.

McCarty responded that the memo was simply intended to hinder private investigators from entering town buildings without prior warning. “We cannot allow people off the street to come in and interrogate workers without them letting anybody know that they are there,” she said.

“I’m not concerned about the person off the street,” Freda stated. “I’m only concerned about what would happen if a state investigator came in.”

In response, Selectman Steve Fontana reiterated that the memo was intended for those who enter town buildings without giving prior notice. “Anybody from the state would probably do the First Selectman and the department heads the courtesy of telling them that they’re coming in,” he said.

The memo lacks language which would define investigator conditionality based on prior warning of visitation. The memo also lacks language which would separate the rights of state officials from those of privately hired investigators.

Several public speakers worried about a scenario in which official investigators would enter town buildings unannounced to confiscate materials for evidence. McCarty replied that such officials would be carrying identification, and would be allowed to proceed.

North Haven Registrar of Voters Pam Parella pointed out that her department’s audits are open to the public without prior notice. Accordingly, she was vexed by the memo.

“I thought it was badly worded,” she said. “I didn’t feel like it was safeguarding me. I felt like it was telling us to be careful about what we said and did. I’m alarmed by it and I feel like other people were as well.”

Also of concern was whether the memo would come in conflict with the new Code of Ethics, specifically the whistleblower provisions.

Fontana stated that potential whistleblowers would be unaffected. “Whistleblowers are handled anonymously by investigators outside the office,” he said. “If the investigator goes in and talks to them, then it’s against the point.”

The memo also lacks specific language to protect whistleblowers, which irked many concerned town residents.

“Are you aware that this memo is in violation of the Code of Ethics,” said speaker Chris Peterson. “Why is the language ‘any such conduct could be viewed as insubordination’? That sounds like a warning with punishable intent.”

Speaker Robert Wechsler thought that those who viewed the memo as an attack against whistleblowers or state investigators were reading too much into the note. “There’s nothing in the memo that says that you cannot talk, as long as you do it within the rules,” he said.

The issue seemed to be best examined by Veronica Kivela in a brief exchange with McCarty.

“Could you imagine a scenario in which this would impede an investigation?” Kivela asked the First Selectman. McCarty responded, “No.”

Kivela paused, and then said, “So this is like how you can’t just wander in and out of schools?” McCarty responded, “Correct.”

Road paving

At the meeting, McCarty said that approximately three miles of North Haven public road sections will soon be paved and milled as part of their upkeep.

Milling, the manipulation of material underneath the top pavement layer, is only necessary on streets which contain water drainage and catch basis, Sadosky said.

According to Sadosky, the road sections to be repaired were Ridge Road from Skiff Street to Buell Street; King’s Highway from Blue Hills Road to Upper State Street; Hartford Turnpike from Liberty Terrace to 1293 Hartford Turnpike, as well as from School Lane to Skiff Street; Warner Road from Middletown Avenue to Longview Drive; and Mill Road from Roarke Road to Pierpont Court.

Sadosky said that she and other town representatives will be meeting with pavement company Tilcon and milling company Costello Industries in early August for negotiations. After the meeting, the two companies will go out and inspect the roads and return with an estimate.

During the July 30 meeting, Freda asked whether the town would once again be charged last year’s milling and paving fee of $380,000 per mile. Sadosky said that she expected the fee to be lower this year, due to the present cheaper cost of oil as compared to 2008 prices. “But we won’t know until the two companies come back with the final numbers,” she added.

Sadosky believed that the estimate gathering should take no more than a week, and that paving and milling could begin as early as late August or early-September, although project commencement depends on the schedule of the two companies.

Greenhouse to be leveled eventually

Following up on a question from the previous Board of Selectmen meeting, McCarty said that Lexington Gardens, the greenhouse property at 500 Middletown Ave., has been fenced in and is slated to be leveled.

During preliminary excavation inspections, amounts of asbestos were discovered on the sight, McCarty said, and the DEP shut down the project. The property will be razed once the asbestos is cleaned.

In the meantime, the First Selectman successfully requested that a larger fence be built around the site to replace the former, shorter barrier. The site had recently been a target for vandalism and trespassing.

Budget concerns

Freda expressed concern over reports that the town revenues were projecting $500,000 short.

In response, McCarty stated that expenditures were also projected under the original figure, which could help offset the revenues shortfall. McCarty added that the topic would be expanded at the Aug. 19 Board of Finance meeting.