Derby-trippers ordered to pay full restitution

Norwich City Council demands 5 officials who took junket to pony up

Norwich — The City Council voted 5-1 Monday to require the five city officials who participated in a controversial lavish trip to the Kentucky Derby last year to pay full restitution to the city for the value of the trips for themselves and their spouses.

Mayor Deberey Hinchey, Norwich Public Utilities General Manager John Bilda, NPU Division Manager Steve Sinko and utilities commission Chairwoman Dee Boisclair and Vice Chairman Robert Groner all attended the trip, hosted by the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative.

The vote Monday orders stiffer reimbursement than the city Ethics Commission recommended for Hinchey, Boisclair and Groner.

That commission voted Feb. 13 that all five participants violated the city ethics code in attending the trip, and recommended the mayor and two utilities commission members pay 25 percent reimbursement, minus the $50 allowed gift limit in the city ordinance.

Hinchey, who recused herself and left the Council Chambers during the discussion, paid the $1,945 for her trip on March 15. Hinchey’s husband did not attend the Derby trip. Both Boisclair and Groner will have to pay for themselves and their spouses, who also attended.

The Ethics Commission recommended that only Bilda and Sinko pay full reimbursement for themselves and their spouses, ruling they bore greater responsibility for the trips, which had been held annually since 2013. Their totals were calculated at $15,510 for each couple.

The trip was described as a strategic retreat for the utility cooperative’s board, but included dozens of CMEEC staff, board members, municipal officials and invited guests with no utility business, meetings, presentations or workshops.

Council President Pro Tempore Peter Nystrom initially proposed the reimbursement provision near the end of the March 20 council meeting, adding it to a resolution calling for a permanent file be placed in the city clerk’s office on the ethics violations.

Nystrom’s resolution that night

sparked both confusion and objections by fellow aldermen. The resolution failed 3-3, but Alderwoman Joanne Philbrick opposed the permanent file — calling it redundant and burdensome on the city clerk’s office — but favored the reimbursement provision.

She changed her position by Monday night, though, and the resolution to create a permanent file on the incident passed 5-1 with H. Tucker Braddock opposed.

Braddock was also the only member to vote against the demand for full reimbursement Monday night.