http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-a1rtmresolutionsep11,0,5618159.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines
By Neil Vigdor
Staff Writer
September 11, 2006
When firefighter Mark Dawson served as chairman of the
Representative Town Meeting's Town Services Committee, he recused
himself from votes that might affect his employment, he said.
If a recently proposed measure was in effect, however, Dawson
would not have been allowed to serve on the committee at all.
The 229-member RTM will vote Sept. 18 whether to prohibit town
employees and their spouses from serving on RTM committees that
oversee their municipal departments.
"I'm not sure there's a need for that," Dawson said,
arguing that town employees who serve on committees offer a
unique insight into the affairs of their departments.
"I think you lose information," he said. Dawson
believes it should be left up to members to abstain from voting
on issues that might affect their work or income.
"I always turned the committee over to my vice chair if
there was something controversial going on. I think individuals
really need to use good common sense when it comes to this
stuff," said Dawson, who left the RTM last year.
Dawson's name has come up frequently in recent weeks in a dispute
involving another RTM member, Nick Edwards, a municipal social
worker who serves on the legislative body's Health and Human
Services Committee.
Several of Edwards' colleagues say he has a conflict of interest
when he votes on his department's budget and the membership of
its governing body.
In addition to seeking an advisory opinion from the Board of
Ethics on his fitness to serve, Edwards' RTM colleagues
introduced the measure being considered.
Edwards has defended his participation in such votes at the
committee level and in the full legislative body by saying his
experience in the mental health profession gives him deeper
understanding of the issues that come before the committee.
"Does it make more sense to have people who know absolutely
nothing?" Edwards said.
A number of checks are already in the town employee personnel
manual that restrict public servants from voting on items such as
their own union contracts, he said.
Robert Tuthill, chairman of the RTM District 3/Chickahominy
delegation, said it is inappropriate for Edwards or any town
employee to serve on a committee overseeing their department.
"If you're a teacher, you shouldn't be serving on the
Education Committee. If I'm an employee of the Finance
Department, I shouldn't be on the Finance Committee,"
Tuthill said.
Membership on the RTM has not always been open to town employees.
A town ordinance prohibited salaried municipal employees from
serving on the legislative body until it was successfully
challenged in the courts by firefighter Leonard LaLuna in the
1980s. While the precedent opened the door for town employees to
seek election to the RTM, questions still linger over what level
of involvement is appropriate.
The Edwards case, Tuthill said, has brought the issue of town
employee participation to a head.
"I think what you want to make sure is that people don't
perceive that some are feathering their own nest," Tuthill
said.
Christopher von Keyserling, a District 8/Cos Cob RTM member,
defended Edwards' participation during the recent ethics hearing.
"The purpose of the Representative Town Meeting is (to have)
the widest and deepest variety of representation in
government," von Keyserling said. "No special case
should be made to separate out town employees as a group or
class."
Though he is not a member of the RTM, First Selectman Jim Lash
said he is leery of town employees serving on committees.
"I don't have a view on the rules of the RTM. I do have a
view that we try to avoid real or the appearance of conflicts of
interest in all our town boards and commissions, and, certainly,
I would hope that would include the RTM," Lash said.
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.