In another break with First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams last week voted 2-1 in favor of a new policy that sets out the role of their elected body with respect to the hiring of all town employees.
Drawn up by Corbet after working with municipal staff members and consulting with the town attorney’s firm, the policy formalizes in black and white a policy already on the books New Canaan’s governing documents, the Town Charter and Town Code, and what had been a past practice of the town, she said during the Board of Selectmen’s Jan. 3 meeting.
In short, the policy calls for the full Board to approve all full-time, part-time and seasonal employees of the town.
The process “has not been followed with respect to part-time employees,” Corbet said during the Board’s meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.
Under a resolution that Corbet and Williams voted in favor of—and which Moynihan opposed—the selectmen retroactively approved the hiring of 11 part-time and 25 seasonal employees. The part-time employees include a “Waveny wedding coordinator,” part-time town planner and “special projects staff” member, according to a resolution that forms part of Corbet’s Dec. 29 memorandum on the matter, obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request.
Moynihan, in a discussion that grew contentious at times, said he disagreed with Corbet’s interpretation of the Town Code. At issue was the following definition of “Town Employee” as spelled out in Chapter 44 of the document: “Means all salaried officials or employees of the Town whose appointment or dismissal is under the jurisdiction of the Board of Selectmen or the Police Commission.”
According to Moynihan, that definition doesn’t include part-time or seasonal workers.
“You are not an attorney, Kathleen,” Moynihan said.