Retiree pension board member urges probe of $73K superintendent contract

John Millardo, a member of the City of Middletown Retiree Pension Board, told the council he believes a retired city employee who later signed a contract to work at the Keating Building (Old Remington Rand building) is improperly classified as an independent contractor under an LLC and should be an employee.

"Once you're an employee and you retire and you come back to the city to work full time, your pension monthly pension check stop," Millardo said, arguing the contract's structure could jeopardize pension fund rules. He said the contract pays "73 or $74,000 a year" for the superintendent role and that the work appears like full-time employment rather than a bona fide independent-contractor arrangement.

Millardo said the contract did not go to the Common Council or to council committees for review. "It was never brought here to the council. It wasn't brought before finance and government. It wasn't brought before the legal committee," he said, and he told the council he had encountered roadblocks when seeking documentation. He requested "an independent investigation" and urged the city to adopt a longer moratorium—similar to a five- or seven-year state standard—before retired employees may enter contracts with the city.

The speaker noted procurement thresholds in the city’s rules, saying a "personal service award is for $2,000 or less" and argued anything above that should be competitively bid. Millardo said he FOIA'd the city attorney's office and finance and discussed the issue with the ethics board but that no clear origin of the contract has been identified. He asked the council to act "ASAP" and to ensure the pension fund is protected for current contributors.

The meeting record does not include a response from city officials during the public-comment period. The council took no formal vote on Millardo’s request during the session; next steps were not announced at the meeting.