Torrington council rejects arbitrator award in administrators’ contract dispute

The Torrington City Council voted April 10 to reject an arbitrator's award in the matter between the Torrington Board of Education and the Torrington Public Schools Administrators Association covering the 2025 through 2028 administrator contract.

A council member moved to reject the award, saying the arbitrator failed to give required weight to the public interest in the city's financial capability and failed to consider negotiations and comparable labor-market data. The motion listed five specific grounds for rejection, including that the arbitrator did not: prioritize the city's financial capability amid other demands; consider prior negotiations and offers; require evidence of the parties' last best offers; account for three-year cost-of-living changes or prevailing state labor-market conditions; and that a stipulation the arbitrator adopted rendered the statutory requirement for financial-capability consideration, and the council's statutory right to reject, meaningless.

The motion was seconded and there was no substantive board discussion recorded. A roll-call vote was requested; the council chair called the roll. Four council members recorded affirmative votes by name during the roll call and the chair stated that five members present voted in the affirmative. One member, Councilwoman Rowett, lost connection and did not participate in the final roll call. The chair announced the motion carried.

The meeting record identifies the single agenda item as "discussion and action" on the Board of Education's administrator contract for 2025'028; no other business was taken up at the special session and the meeting was then adjourned.

The rejection means the arbitrator's decision will not be accepted by the City Council; the transcript does not specify next procedural steps, timelines, or whether the council will undertake additional negotiations or further action at a subsequent meeting.