BRIDGEPORT -- The hiring of Pauline Mize, the new acting manager at Sikorsky Memorial Airport, could be a fresh start for the scandal-plagued facility.
She brings prior experience running a small airport, something fired predecessor John Ricci lacked when he landed at Sikorsky over two decades ago.
But the details of how Mize -- the longtime companion of Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry Manager Fred Hall -- was chosen are as secret as the $400,000 taxpayer-funded driveway that got Ricci terminated.
The mayor's office has ignored repeated questions about the hiring process, such as whether the opening was advertised and how many candidates applied with Mize.
Mize began work last Monday and the mayor's office issued a formal announcement Thursday, saying she would fill the job while a national search continued. But Mize is in the running to be the permanent airport manager.
"I don't know anybody at the airport that was not surprised," said David Faile, Jr., head of the 650-member strong Friends of Sikorsky. The group uses and promotes Sikorsky.
The last Faile knew, Steve Ford, Sikorsky's longtime superintendent of operations, was running things during the nationwide search.
And that was what the mayor told members of the Sikorsky Airport Commission, according to minutes of the group's Sept. 3 meeting. The commission includes Finch, Bridgeport City Council President Thomas McCarthy, D-133 and Stratford Mayor John Harkins.
Finch fired Ricci in August for allegedly failing to reveal his business relationship with developer Manuel "Manny" Moutinho. The city, with Ricci's help, quietly hired Moutinho earlier this year to build a $400,000, no-bid driveway over airport land to Moutinho's mansion and three neighboring properties.
Hearst Connecticut Newspapers first reported on the driveway in early June when it was completed. The city has insisted that, despite the Ricci scandal, Moutinho was owed a driveway because his original access way will be taken as part of a Sikorsky runway safety project.
Faile said the first time many people learned of Mize was last Wednesday in an email about a change in the procedure for requesting an airport security badge. Mize was mentioned as the person initiating the change. "I was just blown out of the water," Faile said. "Let us know she's coming and make sure there's introductions."
He added he thought Ford was doing a good job filling Ricci's role.
"To me it's confusing," Faile said.
A week later and the Finch administration has provided little additional insight, ignoring basic questions from Hearst Connecticut Newspapers about Mize's selection.
"Ms. Mize was chosen from amongst various solicited resumes," Finch spokeswoman Elaine Ficarra wrote late Monday in an email, ignoring questions about whether the airport manager job was advertised, how many others applied, and was Mize approved by the Civil Service Office?
In that same email Ficarra, after consulting with the city attorney's office and Finch Chief-of-Staff Adam Wood, refused a request to release any other resumes submitted by additional candidates. She cited restrictions within the state Freedom of Information Act.
"The city is not obligated to release the identity of applicants," Ficarra said. "Indeed, to do so would be violating the confidentiality that the applicants had reason to rely upon based upon and expressed exemption to the FOIA."
But according to the state's FOIA office, that exemption only applies if the city formed an official executive search committee. And that's another question the mayor's office has ignored -- who selected Mize and how?
In an interview late last week, Mize recalled learning of Ricci's departure through news articles and submitting her resume to Bridgeport.
She said she was interviewed by three members of Finch's staff -- Chief Administrative Officer Andrew Nunn, Alanna Kabel, assistant chief administrative officer, and a third, unnamed employee.
Nunn is also acting director of the city Port Authority, which is helping negotiate the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry's relocation across the city's harbor after the Zoning Commission denied the move.
Mize confirmed last week that she has been in a relationship with the ferry's general manager, Fred Hall, for 16 years and the two live together in a home on Long Island.
The mayor's office has also ignored questions about whether that relationship was known when Mize was hired. But Anastasi and Mize last week said there is no conflict-of-interest because the ferry has no dealings with the airport.
Lennie Grimaldi, who ran Finch's successful 2000 race for state Senate, last week reported on Mize on his Only in Bridgeport news site. Grimaldi said he too is puzzled by how the administration has handled her introduction.
"Because of the recent airport controversy, the city has to roll out this kind of story in full before the media rolls it out, otherwise it can take on a life of its own," Grimaldi said. "She appears to be someone who has background in running at least one airport, and that brings something positive to the table."
Original article: http://www.ctpost.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment