Ex-assessor gets $9K from town

DaSilva claimed wrongful termination; town questioned assessments

MORRIS >> Former Town Assessor Michelle DaSilva will receive $9,000 from the town of Morris, after the municipal government recently reached a settlement with her and the union representing town employees.

The settlement was approved by the Board of Selectmen on August 16, and the Board of Finance on August 17, according to the respective minutes of those meetings.

First Selectman Tom Weik said in a statement Friday that the town did not wish to go to arbitration over the matter due to the likely length of the process, the necessary legal fees, and the attention the matter would require of town employees.

“Although I was confident that the town would prevail there are no guarantees,” wrote Weik in the statement. “I did not want to take any chance that an arbitrator would reinstate Ms. DaSilva. Given these factors, I concluded that the town was best served by a settlement.”

Weik said that after correcting the assessment on 67 properties in town, it had seen a “total net assessment increase of $12,928,629,” which, in turn, had prompted an addition of $332,377.09 to town tax revenue.

“As you can appreciate several factors went into my decision to support the settlement, but I was guided by what was best for the town,” wrote Weik. “Of course, if the union had not challenged the decision after the town presented evidence of the numerous errors in assessments, there would have been no cost to the Town.” DaSilva was fired in March after an investigation showed more than $3.5 million missing from the 2015 Grand List and a conservative estimate of over $250,000 in lost tax revenue due to errors, according to Weik and fellow Selectman Erica Dorsett-Matthews.

As described in the settlement, DaSilva says that she “was wrongfully suspended and wrongfully terminated because of her union activities,” and filed a “charge of discrimination” with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities alleging that she was “wrongfully suspended and wrongfully terminated due to her sex.” The town has denied both charges, according to the settlement, and agreed in the document to that DaSilva’s termination “shall be treated as a voluntary resignation.” No part of the settlement “shall be construed as a withdrawal or waiver” of the charge of discrimination filed by DaSilva, as described in the document, or an admittance by the town that it has violated the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act, the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or another similar statue.

“The town specifically denies making any employment decision based on Ms. DaSilva’s membership in any protected class, including sex, or based on her participation in any protected activity,” according to the settlement. “We were able to reach an agreement that was clearly in the best interest of both parties,” said Larry Dorman, a spokesman with Council 4 AFSCME, which is affiliated with Local 1303-435, the union that represents Morris town employees. Two additional labor complaints against the town remain unresolved, according to Dorman, and are in the hands of the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations.

BEN LAMBERT - THE REGISTER CITIZEN Morris officials have reached a settlement agreement with former Town Assessor Michelle DaSilva, who was fired after officials questioned numerous property assessments under her purview. DaSilva claimed she was wrongfully terminated and filed a suit...