Council nixes CCM withdrawal

Leaders: Mayor had ‘no legal ability to do what he did’

MIDDLETOWN - The Common Council has voided Mayor Dan Drew’s effort to withdraw the city from membership in the Connecticut Council of Municipalities.

Last month, Drew said he was “revoking” the city’s involvement with the CCM, which serves as a lobbying arm for the majority of the state’s cities and towns. Drew said he was doing so because of the CCM’s support for a Republican budget proposal and for what Drew’s said was CCM’s increasing anti-union stance.

In a letter to CCM’s executive director Joe DeLong, Drew said, “I have concluded that continued membership no longer serves the interests of my community. It is my opinion... that CCM has drifted in recent years away from advocating for municipal interests and instead (has taken) on a series of positions that reflect a conservative ideology rather than a pragmatic approach to municipal governance.”

However, the council, with both Democrats and Republicans joining forces, said Drew had exceeded his authority in attempting to unilaterally sever the link to the CCM.

Council Majority Leader Thomas Serra said Middletown was a founding member of CCM.

Drew said his decision was not colored by his on-going campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2018. However, a number of councilors questioned that assertion, saying Drew had approved including $33,000 for the city's membership as part of his 2017-18 budget, which was approved in mid-May.

In a telephone conversation this past week, Serra said the $30,000 fee is non-refundable. He also said CCM “represents 165 of the 169 cities and towns in Connecticut,” and helps in a number of ways “to make the job of elected officials a little bit easier.”

“We feel it provides us with a great source of information relative to budget numbers, possible laws and what is happening in other cities and town in Connecticut,” Serra said.

Serra said he made frequent use of CCM’s wealth of information both during his tenure as mayor and now in his work on the council. Drew’s attempt to revoke the city’s membership in CCM “was ill-conceived,” Serra said.

“He has no legal ability to do what he did,” Serra continued. “His actions were not representative of the feelings of the council and had a touch of grandstanding. This is an issue that should not be politicized.”

Working with Minority

Leader Sebastian Giuliano, the two leaders crafted a resolution which they presented to the council during this month’s meeting. The resolution was co-sponsored by eight of their colleagues.

The resolution said Drew’s letter was “in contravention to the provisions of the city budget for fiscal year 2017-18.” The membership was paid in full in July 19, 2017, the solution noted.

“Therefore to withdraw from membership now would deny Middletown the benefits of a membership for which we have already paid,” the resolution said.

The resolution proposed the city “remain a member thereof, in good standing for the current year.” It was adopted with one abstention.

Portland First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield is this year's president of CCM. After the Middletown council acted, Bransfield said, “We welcome the city of Middletown’s continued membership and participation in CCM.”

This is the second time in two months the mayor has been chastised by the council leadership for an action he took.

Last month, Giuliano, Serra and Councilor Deborah Kleckowski expressed their upset with Drew for soliciting donations of $100 each for his gubernatorial campaign from city employees. In and of itself, councilors said, that was inappropriate. But more troubling to them was Drew’s decision to send the letters to the home of town employees, including police and fire personnel, whose addresses are protected by law from being made public.

Drew said he had made a mistake and withdrew the letter and said he would also return donations made to his campaign from any city employee.

Drew