Personnel Committee Meeting Summary - May 18, 2026
Personnel Committee Meeting Summary - May 18, 2026
The Personnel Committee of the Stamford Board of Representatives met on Monday, May 18, 2026, from 7:01 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. to consider two agenda items. The first item, approval of an employment contract for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer (Janeene Freeman, Item P32.009), was held at the request of the mayor's office. The second item, approval of a Clerk of the Works II contract with Allan Hoyt (Item P32.010), was discussed at length and approved unanimously.
Discussion Items
City Engineer Lou Casolo presented the proposed Clerk of the Works II contract for Allan Hoyt. Key details of the contract include:
- Hourly rate: $43.15 per hour (the minimum under the Clerk of the Works pay plan)
- Workweek: 37.5 hours
- Term: Three years (no option for later years)
- Benefits: None; the position is an at-will, hourly contract without benefits
- Role: Clerk of the Works serve as the city's "eyes and ears" on construction sites, monitoring daily progress, workforce, safety, and coordination with facility users. They also review invoices and progress against schedules.
Mr. Casolo explained that Mr. Hoyt is a Stamford resident and a former head custodian in the Stamford Public Schools, with light construction experience, making him well-suited to coordinate with school administration and custodial staff on school-related projects. He noted that the city currently has four full-time and two part-time clerks of the works, and Mr. Hoyt would become the fifth full-time clerk. He added that clerks are assigned based on project need and individual backgrounds.
Committee members asked questions about:
- Project allocation: Mr. Casolo stated that multiple clerks can be assigned to large projects (e.g., the $350 million West Hill High School replacement) or district-wide accounts.
- Turnover: Over the past two years, no incumbent clerks have left the position, though historically some have moved to full-time roles with benefits elsewhere.
- Benefits and recruitment: Mr. Casolo noted that the lack of benefits can be a barrier for some candidates, but many applicants (like Mr. Hoyt) have retirement benefits from previous careers. He is actively recruiting another candidate.
- Full-time status: Representative Virgil de la Cruz suggested making clerk positions permanent, full-time city jobs due to their importance. Mr. Casolo agreed that more clerks are needed but noted the temporary nature of the projects. Representative Maureen Pollack countered that clerks' employment is limited because they oversee temporary projects.
Key Outcomes
- P32.009 (DEI contract for Janeene Freeman): Held without discussion at the request of the mayor's office. No action taken.
- P32.010 (Clerk of the Works II contract for Allan Hoyt): Moved by Representative Gross, seconded by Representative Salas. Approved by a vote of 6-0-0 (Reps. Weinberg, Pavia, de la Cruz, Gross, Pollack, and Salas in favor; Rep. Hill absent). The contract will allow the City Engineer to maintain oversight of numerous capital projects.
Meeting Transcript
Um so uh I see uh present um committee members Virgil De la Cruz Theo Gross, uh Bobby Pavia, Maureen Pollack, Ricardo Salas, myself, Carl Weinberg. That's uh six out of seven. I therefore declare a quorum. It is 702 p.m. on Monday, May 18th. Uh this is a meeting of this Stanford Board of Representative Personnel Committee. Welcome. Uh I don't see Angie, I don't see anybody else from the committee from the board. Um present to you. No, I don't. Okay, great. Then we're going to plow forward. We have one item on the agenda tonight. It is P32. I will actually there are two items uh on the printed agenda. The first is P 32.009, approval of an employee employment contract for uh for a diversity equity inclusion officer. Uh that one is being held at the request of uh of the mayor's office. So we will move to item number two, p32.010, approval of a clerk of the works to contract with Mr. Alan Hoyt. Um and I see uh first I'll entertain a motion to approve. So thank you. Um motion by Representative Gross. Is there a second? Seconded by uh Representative Salas, and I will turn it over to our guest, City Engineer Lou Castle. Lou, thank you for joining us. And uh you have the floor. Uh good good evening, Lou Castleau, City Engineer. Um, Lou, I think you're frozen. Um, with the city of Stanford. Yeah, Lou. Yes. I'm sorry, but as soon as you said hi, Lou Castle, City Engineer. Um you you froze, so we didn't hear anything that you said it thereafter. And it appears that you're frozen again. So, Lou, can you hear me? If you can hear me, please raise your hand. I think that is a no. Um looks like it's on his hands. Yeah. I'm gonna try to call him if I've got his number. Someone else is online and can look up his number on the city website. But I don't know if he's in his office. No, we don't have it. Lou, you are unfortunately still frozen. Uh that's probably the only one we got, right? Oh, he drops. Oh, okay. Let me call it just in case 203. 977 5796. Look like he was home, that's a little much.
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