Ex-Danbury health chief leaving Bridgeport, pursues New Milford job
BRIDGEPORT — Less than eight months after being hired to oversee the city’s response to the global coronavirus pandemic, Health Director Lisa Morrissey is leaving the job.
“I have resigned from my post in Bridgeport,” Morrissey said in a brief interview Wednesday. She said her last day on the payroll will be Jan.
15.
Morrissey confirmed she had applied for the same position in New Milford, where health chief Michael Crespan is scheduled to retire Feb.
12.
“I am an applicant and I’m going through the interview process like many others who have applied,” Morrissey said. She emphasized: “I have resigned from my post in Bridgeport independent of getting another job.”
She did not offer a reason for her decision.
New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said there is a candidate who is in the final round of interviews who they expect to prepare to make an offer by next week. He declined to offer specifics.
Meanwhile, Mayor Joe Ganim’s office said veteran staffer Tammy Papa, head of the Lighthouse youth programs, will fill in as acting health director with assistance from Deputy Housing Code Director Audrey Gaines.
“The search and selection for a new health director will be announced with information to follow regarding the posting of this position,” the mayor’s office said.
Ganim hired Morrissey away from Danbury last spring to replace Maritza Bond, who became New Haven’s health director in late January — just a few weeks before the global
COVID-19 pandemic struck Connecticut.
Morrissey officially started May 19 following a vote by the City Council the night before but had been volunteering in town for a few weeks preparing for her new responsibilities.
With coronavirus cases and deaths on the rise, Morrissey’s background in infectious diseases was welcomed by the Ganim administration.
“We really need somebody with your credentials to lead the ship to try to save the lives of people that are dying in our city,” Councilman Ernest Newton, who represents the East End, had told Morrissey at the time.
Morrissey prioritized expanding testing for COVID-19 in the city, particularly in underserved Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
However, she was noticeably absent from a press release Ganim’s office issued Tuesday afternoon touting a new state-launched testing site at Seaside Park.
Morrissey herself was diagnosed with COVID in early December and had to quarantine for a few weeks.
Her tenure has not been without controversy. The council vote to approve her nomination was a close 11-8. Critics at the time praised Morrissey’s resume and her background, but raised issues with the hiring process, either complaining not enough candidates were interviewed or that Morrissey would not be moving her family from Danbury to Bridgeport as necessitated by the charter.
And she has faced some opposition from staff as well who questioned her efforts to restructure the department. In fact over the summer there was a failed effort by some council members on
behalf of disgruntled employees to pass a resolution to have Morrissey appear before them to discuss personnel matters.
Council President Aidee Nieves and some of her colleagues on Wednesday expressed shock after learning of Morrissey’s resignation.
“I am extremely disheartened and disgusted at the fact we just lost another health director, of color, in the midst of a pandemic,” Nieves said. “She’s worked diligently in ensuring we have proper testing. ... I wish her the best of luck. We’ve lost somebody that would have been a great impact on our community and was working hard from the moment she walked in the door.”
Councilwoman Maria Valle had voiced some concerns last spring about whether other contenders for the job had been given a fair chance, but ultimately voted for Morrissey’s appointment. On Wednesday Valle said, “We, the council, stood up for her and saw the skills,
the passion, the caring for our city. And then this happens? I am very disappointed.”
“She showed me that she was on her game a far as this pandemic,” Newton said. “I think we lost a good lady, a good, professional person.”
Nieves acknowledged that Morrissey may have gotten frustrated dealing with the infamous politics of Bridgeport’s municipal government: “She was not part of the political establishment and continually had to prove herself to both the council and employees and was undermined on her powers. ... Her management style is not something the city could get accustomed to. It’s a shame. It doesn’t look good for the mayor or city.”
Kristin duBay Horton understands that feeling. She was Bridgeport’s health director from 2011, when she was hired by then-Mayor Bill Finch, to March 2016 when the newly-elected Ganim laid her off. Horton at the time had threatened legal action
but never moved forward and has since relocated to Texas.
“It’s certainly the most stressful job I’ve ever had,” she recalled of her time in Bridgeport, noting not just the politics but how often her motives and intentions were questioned. “There’s a faction who won’t believe you (and) a faction who just can’t believe your good intentions. ... So to survive in that, where there’s so much undercurrent, is just exhausting.”
Newton called on Ganim to find someone else besides Papa — perhaps someone from Bridgeport Hospital or St. Vincent’s Medical Center — to temporarily run the health department.
“Our (COVID case) numbers are rising and we need a health director that can help us get through this,” Newton said. “We’re the largest city. We need somebody either from the state or the hospitals to come in and help us.”