Norwich City Council committee ends Derby investigation

Norwich — The City Council’s internal investigation into the actions of the former utilities commission chairman and vice chairman for their participation in a controversial trip to the Kentucky Derby in May 2016 came to an anticlimactic conclusion Monday with the submission of a four-page report stating that its investigation had become moot with their resignations.

Alderwoman Stacy Gould and Alderman Gerald Martin, named in April by the council to investigate the actions of then-commission Chairwoman Dee Boisclair and Vice Chairman Robert Groner, wrote in their report that Groner and Boisclair resigned two days before the committee was scheduled to meet with an attorney hired to help with the investigation.

Attorneys Ken Plumb and Anne Noble of the Hartford firm Metzger Lazarek and Plumb advised the two council members that “issues of possible removals” as defined in the committee’s charge, had become moot. The attorney also advised that the council committee that “it was unlikely” the council had independent authority to enforce recommendations made by the city Ethics Commission that the five city officials who attended the Derby trip, paid for by the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, in its finding that the trip violated the city ethics code.

“Having completed its assignment, the committee would like to go on record as commending the Norwich Ethics Commission for its efforts and dedication with regard to these matters,” the report concluded.

The Ethics Commission had recommended that Boisclair and Groner reimburse the city for 25 percent of the calculated value of the trips for themselves and their spouses, minus the ethics code gift limit of $50. The reimbursement would total $3,877 for each former commissioner. Along with the two commissioners, Mayor Deberey Hinchey, Norwich Public Utilities General Manager John Bilda and NPU Division Manager Steve Sinko were found to have violated the city’s ethics code in attending the Derby trip.

The council committee, however, was charged only with investigating the conduct of Boisclair and Groner, City Council appointees to the utilities commission. Hinchey, who is not seeking re-election this fall, already has reimbursed the city for the 25 percent value of her trip, $1,945. The Ethics Commission sought full reimbursement by Bilda and Sinko, and the utilities commission is expected to address the ethics report and recommendations at its June 27 meeting.

Three pages of the four-page report addressed background regarding the Kentucky Derby trip controversy, the Ethics Commission’s investigation and findings and the council’s authority to remove any member of the Board of Public Utilities Commissioners for “improper performance of his duties, for malfeasance or misfeasance in office.”