New Britain Committee Meeting on City Department Reorganization, August 6, 2025
New Britain Committee Meeting on City Department Reorganization, August 6, 2025
The Committee on Administration, Finance, and Law and Public Services met on August 6, 2025, at 6:30 PM. The primary agenda item was Resolution 36877, which sought to formally separate the combined Director of Health and Building Official position into two distinct city departments. A public hearing was held before the committee discussion.
Discussion Items
Resolution to Reorganize Departments (Item 36877)
Linda Guard, a city official, explained that the previous director retired unexpectedly, and the city could not find a candidate qualified for both roles, necessitating the separation. The budget already treats them as separate line items, but the ordinance requires formal amendment.
Several council members expressed strong disappointment with the administration's handling of the transition. One member argued the administration could have appointed an interim director, avoiding a crisis, and refuted claims that council members caused a health grant loss, noting the cuts were federal.
Alderwoman Candice Scott echoed these sentiments, stating the council’s role is to approve budgets, not structural reorganizations. She criticized the administration for failing to properly propose the reorganization and cited city charter and state statutes allowing an acting director without a full reorganization, accusing the administration of misinformation.
The committee chairperson and Alderwoman Beloin Savedra supported the reorganization, arguing that no individual is qualified for the combined role, making the separation necessary for filling the vacant positions.
Key Outcomes
- A motion to refer Resolution 36877 to the full council with a neutral recommendation was made by Alderwoman Beloin Savedra and seconded by Alderman Jason Gibson.
- A roll call vote on the motion resulted in 3 votes in favor and 4 votes against. The motion failed.
- The meeting was adjourned at 6:47 PM without further action on the resolution.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everyone. I call to order the August 6th, 2025 regular meeting of the Committee on Administration, Finance, and Law and Public Services. The time now is 6 30 p.m. Mr. Clerk, will you please call the roll Alderman Connors? Alderwoman Barbosa. Present. Alderman McNamara? Here. Alderman Santiago. President. Alderman Simpson. Present. Alderman Gibson. Alderman Pabone. Alderman Smedley. Alderman Bordeline Savedra. Here. Two six present. You have a quorum. Thank you. Yes. Also seated are Alderman Candice Scott, Alderwoman Iris Sanchez, Alderman Laurie Um McAdam and Alderman Matt Malinowski. Sorry. Having just held a public hearing on this item to allow for public comment, we will move on to the agenda for discussion. The item on the agenda is item number three, six, eight seven seven amendment to chapter two, section two-nine one of the code of ordinances to reorganize the departments and offices of the city of New Britain. May I have a motion? I move, Madam Chair, with a neutral recommendation back to the full council. I make a motion to re uh refer back to the full council with a neutral recommendation. Motion to refer with a neutral recommendation made by Alderwoman Beloin Savedra, seconded by Alderman Jason Gibson. Any discussion? Madam Chair. Could we perhaps have Linda Guard come up and maybe speak to this? Linda, yes. Good evening. Questions or two I just thought before we voted, maybe you could just go over what's in front of us. So um Sergio uh Lupo left us. He retired. Um he was the director of the building department and the health department. Um he uh retired, and uh we were in the process of um posting for his position, which was director of health and director of building, uh, two totally different positions. We were very lucky for all these years to have Sergio with us who could do both. Um we were unable to find any candidates that um met the qualifications to um run the building department to have a BO uh building official license and then have an MPH to run the health department. So um in the budget there was um a director of health and uh director of building. So we did post um for those two positions. Um the ordinances did say that they would have a director of health and a uh director of building. So we went through the process. Um we had some uh alder persons on our oral panel, and we did interview for the uh building director and the health director from a certified list. But just for clarification tonight, tonight isn't about hiring anybody. Tonight is strictly about the resolution that clarifies that they are two separate departments. Instead of being a combined and the budget has them as two separate, but I just want to make clear this has nothing to do with the actual hiring process.
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