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Middletown council presses administration to clarify public works director posting after October vote failed
Summary
Council members said an online job posting for the vacant public works director lists the role as a bargaining‑unit (UPSU) position despite the council voting down related October changes; the mayor’s office and general counsel were asked to clarify before a Feb. 10 special meeting.
MIDDLETOWN — Council members on Monday pressed the mayor’s office and human resources staff to explain why the city’s online posting for the vacant public works director lists the job as a UPSU (bargaining‑unit) position when the council rejected related changes in October.
“At the October meeting the job description did not pass,” Councilwoman Jeanette Blackwell, chair of the General Counsel Commission, said during a prolonged discussion. She asked the city’s attorney to confirm whether the current posting had in fact been published as a UPSU position and to explain the legal basis for that classification.
Councilman Lofredo said the council previously reviewed and rejected proposed revisions to the job description and that any change in bargaining status should include council action. “The record shows we addressed this issue clearly and unequivocally,” he said, arguing the council’s role should not be bypassed by an MOU.
The council’s parliamentarian reported that at the Oct. 7 meeting an amendment to add reference to a memorandum of understanding failed and the underlying item also failed, each by 4‑6 votes. That finding — that the October amendment and the item both failed — was read back to the body during Monday’s meeting.
Mayor Benjamin D. Florsheim and the administration were asked to return with documentation and rationale. The mayor indicated staff would provide fuller written materials in advance of a special council meeting scheduled Feb. 10 so members could consider a range of remedies, including a potential resolution to clarify or reverse the posting.
Council members repeatedly framed the issue as both procedural and urgent: several said the public works department has been operating short‑staffed and urged a timely, legally sound path to fill the vacancy while preserving council oversight. No hiring action occurred at Monday’s meeting; members voted to recess while staff and the parliamentarian reviewed the October minutes and related documents before reconvening.
