KATZ TO LEAVE AS DCF COMMISSIONER

Joette Katz, the commissioner for the state Department of Children and Families, plans to leave her position in two months, according to reports.

Fox61 reports that Katz emailed staff on Friday telling them she did not aim to seek reappointment by governor-elect Ned Lamont.

In her email, Katz said she had been considering since the summer whether to leave her job when the new governor’s term starts.

But she said her departure does not have to do with the difficulty of the position.

“I made the decision to not seek reappointment because I strongly believe that the Department needs a honeymoon phase,” she said in the email, according to Fox61.

Katz said a new commissioner could benefit from that goodwill and get legislation passed, as she did when she was first appointed.

Katz is from Fairfield and was appointed commissioner of the department in 2011 and earned reappointment in 2014. She had previously served as a state Supreme Court justice.

Katz and the department have been criticized after the death of an autistic teen, Matthew Tirado, who had been starved. The department was sued and accused of failing to follow-up on a case it had on the Tirado family.

The Department of Children and Families did not immediately return a request for comment.

Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media A man snaps a photo of the Clifford balloon at the 2018 Stamford Downtown Parade Spectacular training session at Latham Park in Stamford on Thursday. Volunteer balloon handlers and representatives from Stamford Downtown Special Services learned to maneuver the 40-foot Clifford the Big Red Dog ballon in preparation for the parade on Nov. 18.