Documents detail off-the-books sales

Public Facilities Department sold nearly $35,500 worth of scrap sales

BRIDGEPORT — From October 2016 through this past October, employees with the city’s Public Facilities Department sold nearly $35,500 worth of scrap metal, according to documents recently obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media.

What happened to those profits — paid in cash — is the question.

There is an ongoing investigation by police and Mayor Joe Ga- nim’s administration into alleged improper scrap metal sales.

In November, Police Chief Armando Perez confirmed the Office of Internal Affairs had opened a case into an anonymous letter to the City Council. The letter writer said that the public facilities department typically sells scrap metal to Sims of New Haven, and is paid with checks deposited to the city.

Perez in early November had told Hearst the police probe would probably be completed the following week.

But, the author claimed, more than $25,000 of off-the-municipalbooks cash sales of scrap metal were made to P.C. Metals of Bridgeport.

Public Facilities Director John Ricci in November acknowledged some off-the-books transactions. But Ricci said the money — he estimated $5,500 collected over his three years in charge — went into a special morale-boosting petty cash or “sunshine” fund for meals, birthday cakes, event tickets, minor equipment needs and donations to community causes.

But recently, some council members and Hearst were given an eight-page printout of P.C. Metals’ transaction records from an anonymous source. Those documents show 90 individual sales of scrap metal-for-cash by the city totaling $35,482.55 between Oct. 18, 2016, and Oct. 27, 2018.

The documents also specify the type of metal, its weight, in some cases the name of the Bridgeport employee who sold it and what they were paid. Hearst has confirmed that many of the named employees work for public facilities or for the parks office, which falls under Ricci’s massive public facilities operation.

“Any new information that has been received has been forwarded to the Chief of Police or should have been forwarded,” said Council President Aidee Nieves on Thursday. She declined to comment further on what she said was an open investigation.

The scrap metal controversy is politically charged one for Ganim and his administration.

Ganim, who ran Bridgeport from 1991 until he was convicted of corruption in 2003, waged a successful comeback in 2015 and pledged to run an ethical, transparent government. Ricci, a veteran of City Hall, is considered by many council members one of the mayor’s most competent department heads.

Both Ricci and Perez played key roles in Ganim’s 2015 victory, and Ricci aided the mayor’s failed gubernatorial bid earlier this year. Ricci is also a good friend of Democratic Town Chairman Mario Testa.

Following Hearst’s initial report on the scrap metal investigation, the Finance Department shut down public facilities’ petty cash fund and received “a little over $6,000.”

Ricci has said he inherited the sunshine fund when Ganim put him in charge of public facilities in 2016, though some prior employees have told Hearst the fund involved modest employee contributions, not scrap metal revenues.

The Finance Department also asked other municipal offices to report any off-thebooks funds and to similarly deposit the money with the city.

“It is imperative that all incomes derived from the various operations of city departments, including from any surplus property, be properly accounted for and that any funds derived from such transactions be deposited in the proper city bank accounts,” Finance Director Kenneth Flatto wrote in a memorandum.

A parks employee subsequently turned in $1,400.