West Haven’s mayor’s purchase of a $51,000 Ford Explorer reignited concerns this week about the city’s ability to manage its finances and its willingness to comply with an oversight board’s orders state
The Municipal Accountability Review Board, which was tasked with overseeing West Haven’s finances in 2018 after the city ran up a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, has rules that require city officials to get the board’s approval to to any municipal contract or expenditure in excess of $50,000.
But West Haven Mayor Nancy Rossi, who is in her third term, acknowledged Thursday that the new vehicle she now drives for work and for her own personal use was never brought to the MARB for inspection and approval
That admission set off what has become a well-rehearsed routine: MARB members expressed anger and exasperation at the failure to follow board of supervisors rules and city purchasing policies, then for which Rossi and other West Haven officials apologized and promised to do better. in the future.
“This is shameful and should not happen,” said MARB member Kimberly Kennison, who represented the state’s Office of Policy and Management at the meeting. “And to me it seems like it was deliberate, and I’m sorry to say that. There’s no reason for it.”
“We’re trying to do better and we’re going to keep getting better at it,” Rossi said. “I apologize for that. That was nobody’s intention. I know it shouldn’t have happened. It shouldn’t have happened. I can’t go back and ring the bell, if you will. But we’re doing our best.”
The lengthy debate over the mayor’s new car is just the latest example of the dysfunctional relationship between the Rossi administration and the MARB, which was created by the Legislature in 2017 to help struggling towns and cities fix your finances.
MARB’s frustration with West Haven and its leadership has been building for years, largely because the city has failed to make necessary fixes to its financial controls.
Those frustrations boiled over in late 2021 after a federal corruption investigation revealed that Michael DiMassa, a former Democratic state lawmaker and city employee, stole more than $1.2 million from West’s finance department have
In response to the embezzlement scheme, the MARB voted in April 2022 to place West Haven under an even higher level of oversight. This measure was intended to give the board of supervisors more knowledge and authority over the city’s budget and spending.
But the situation has only gotten worse since then. At the beginning of February, several members of the MARB went so far as to request that the Attorney General draw up a law that would allow the state to take full possession of the city.
That request, however, was opposed by MARB President Jeffrey Beckham, who also serves as Governor Ned Lamont’s budget secretary.
Several MARB members said Thursday that the decision to buy a new car for the mayor without seeking MARB approval was a clear sign that the city was still not taking the oversight process seriously.
That the car was bought for the mayor, the city’s top elected official, highlights the extent of West Haven’s dysfunction, several MARB members argued.
“This car is emblematic of my years on this board and the mistakes that continue to happen,” said MARB member Stephen Falcigno. “For this to happen at the highest level, I find it disturbing on many levels.”
Rossi and his team also admitted during the meeting that they did not follow the competitive bidding rules required by the city charter. The city never formally solicited bids from auto dealers in order to get the best price for taxpayers, as required by law.
“You would think if you bought a vehicle for the mayor’s office, that would be the first thing people would think of,” said Thomas Hamilton, another MARB member. “And then you add in the fact that you didn’t even follow your own procurement procedures on this.”
“This just violates everything from start to finish. It’s really, really troubling, and I don’t know what else we can do,” Hamilton added.
Rossi deflected responsibility for the city’s violations. She told the MARB that she had no role in the purchase of the vehicle or that the city did not bring it to the attention of the MARB.
That responsibility, he said, fell to former city CFO Scott Jackson, who abruptly ended his employment with the city in late February. He also said the city’s purchasing agent did not mark the contract for the vehicle because he was in the hospital at the time.
Rossi also suggested that it was Louis Esposito, his executive assistant, who did not follow the city’s bidding requirements for the new car.
“Mr. Esposito’s role was to go and look at the car,” Rossi said. “He’s familiar with the cars and he’s the one who really helped pick them out.”
Financial documents West Haven officials provided to MARB this week show the vehicle was purchased in November 2022.
The purchase of the Ford Explorer came to MARB’s attention following local media coverage and public comments from West Haven residents.
The purchase of the vehicle was first mentioned publicly during a February town hall. John Lewis, a West Haven resident who is challenging Rossi in the 2021 Democratic primary, said several residents saw the mayor driving around in a new car and asked city council members to investigate the purchase.
The contract for the vehicle was later obtained by The New Haven Register.
The car was the focus of most of Thursday’s meeting, but it wasn’t the only example of the city’s failure to comply with MARB guidelines.
The city also provided the board of supervisors with a list of 11 payments over $50,000 that were made last year without board approval. Most of them include sidewalk and pavement projects.
Falcigno, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of West Haven’s leadership over the past year, told his MARB colleagues that the board of supervisors also shares some of the blame for the city’s lack of improvement.
“I think it’s an embarrassment not only to the city of West Haven, but to the MARB,” Falcigno said. “We are ashamed.”
