Hartford department heads overstay jobs

Bronin past six-month deadline to hire or replace three temporary leaders

HARTFORD – Mayor Luke Bronin has passed his deadline to hire or replace three of Hartford’s temporary department heads, flouting a city rule that limits interim directors to six months on the job.

Chief Auditor Craig Trujillo flagged the issue in June, informing Bronin, human resources and the city council that the mayor — who is running for reelection — was in violation of an ordinance that states interim directors cannot serve in their positions more than six months without being nominated to the city council for confirmation.

Chief of Staff Thea Montanez has doubled as the city’s chief operating officer since August 2018 — her annual salary increased from $128,000 to $175,000 to handle both roles; Charisse Snipes has served as acting director of Metro Hartford Innovation Services, the city’s technology services arm, since January 2017; and Jolita Lazauskas has served as the acting director of management and budget since January.

Montanez, Snipe and Lazauskas did not respond to requests for comment.

Bronin this week defended the temporary hires, saying he tried to fill one of Montanez’s positions and did not find the right fit, and that the election season is the wrong time to continue recruiting.

“At this point, I’m not actively searching,” Bronin said. “I may begin the search process as we get closer to November, but elections are inherently times of uncertainty, and when you’re recruiting candidates and in many cases asking them to move, that uncertainty makes it harder to get the full range of applicants and interest you might otherwise get.”

This time, the city council is considering a resolution to require Bronin to comply with the rule.

The measure was introduced by Councilman Larry Deutsch, of the Working Families Party, on June 24, and has been approved by the committee on labor, education, workforce and youth development. The full council may vote on the resolution at its next meeting on Aug. 12.

Deutsch said Bronin’s failure to follow the code is not “our greatest of issues,” but residents have expressed concern about it.

“They say, ‘The law is the law,’” Deutsch said. “And my feeling is, especially as chief of staff as well as acting COO, [Montanez] should know that rule. And frankly, I am critical of the mayor, not so much her, but the mayor for not adhering to what’s in the code that he can read better than most, being a lawyer.”

“He must submit a nomination for permanent director of those three departments. He should do it forthwith, immediately.”

Deutsch said he thinks the mayor may be working around the city’s residency requirement, which demands that all permanent department heads move to the city within six months.

Earlier in his term, Bronin called the rule “the single most difficult” hurdle in attracting candidates for top jobs.

Marilynn Cruz-Aponte moved from New Britain to Hartford when she agreed to become Bronin’s public works director in 2016. She resigned after 10 months, citing the difficulty of balancing the demanding job and the distance between her new residence and her elderly mother in New Britain.

Finding her permanent replacement took more than a year — Fire Chief Reginald Freeman doubled as interim director of public works from March 2017 to November 2018, far exceeding the city’s six month limit, before Bronin hired Walter Veselka.

And in January 2018, then-Development Services Director Sean M. Fitzpatrick announced his resignation amid an Internal Audit Commission investigation into his residency in the city.

Montanez has lived in Hartford since April 2016, three months after she became Bronin’s chief of staff. But the residency order does not apply to interim city officials like Lazauskas, who lives in Vernon, and Snipes, who lives in Manchester.

By not nominating them for permanent positions, Bronin avoids the issue of asking Lazauskas or Snipes to relocate.

Rebecca Lurye can be reached at rlurye@ courant.com.