Groton Utilities officials say they didn’t violate ethics code by attending Kentucky Derby trip
Groton — The three Groton Utilities officials who participated in a controversial retreat to the Kentucky Derby last May testified before the Groton Board of Ethics Tuesday that when they were invited on the trip they didn’t know how many people were attending, how much the event cost, and felt obligated to go because of their jobs.
GU Director Ronald Gaudet, who attended the trip for one day, GU General Manager of Utility Finance David Collard and Groton Utilities Commission member Edward DeMuzzio said they felt they had to go as part of a team building exercise.
The Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative hosted the trip, which cost $342,330 for 44 participants.
DeMuzzio compared his invite to being a member of the military, and having the commanding officer invite him to an event. DeMuzzio said Drew Rankin, executive director of the cooperative, supported team building and had demonstrated success at the cooperative, which benefited Groton Utilities.
DeMuzzio said he didn’t want to lose Rankin. Gaudet and Collard said they felt they needed to build relationships with other cooperative members and smooth out divisions that occurred when Bozrah Light and Power was added to the cooperative.
Gaudet said he had to change plans to go, as he had a graduation to attend that weekend. Collard said he isn’t a horse racing fan and his wife didn’t want to attend. Collard said he had to convince her he needed to
be there. Both said they were unaware of how many people were going until after the fact. They said they learned of the cost after reading it in the newspaper.
They said going on the trip didn’t interfere with their ability to do their jobs, impair their judgment or create a substantial financial interest for them. They said they behaved respectably on the trip and do not believe they violated the city ethics code.
Gaudet said he spoke to a colleague about scaling the event back after attending it, before he knew how much it actually cost. The cooperative spent more than it should have, Gaudet said. “However, it was not unethical. I know it’s not unethical because I’m pretty good at this stuff. I know I do the right thing,” Gaudet said.
Collard described a trip in which there were no structured activities, but members entered an enormous hall the size of the Groton Municipal Building, in which there were 1,000 people who watched races on television, stepped out onto the balcony to watch a race, ate and conversed in between. Collard said he saw the price on tickets but believed they were part of a package deal and didn’t reflect the true cost. When he learned of the total cost of the trip, he told the ethics board, “I thought that was a lot of money.”
“The CMEEC Board and CMEEC management need to keep in mind that CMEEC is a public organization, and as important as team-building activities are to the success of an organization, what’s common practice in the private sector may not be viewed as appropriate for a public organization like CMEEC is,” Collard said.