Politics & Government

Letter to Mayor: Stop 'Squandering' Taxpayer Money

Writer tells Mayor Harkins to listen to a judge's ruling and stop wasting taxpayer money on legal fees.

The author of the following letter to Stratford Mayor John A. Harkins is Jonathan Best, the husband of former Stratford EMS Director Donna Best.

Donna Best brought a lawsuit against the town that claimed the hiring process to replace her in 2011 was carried out illegally.

Last December a judge ruled that the hiring violated the town charter and in fact was done illegally.

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Judge Howard Owens ruled that Philip Onofrio's appointment as the new director in March 2011 was made at a time when there was already an EMS director (Best) -- which violated a town law limiting the position to one individual.

"The charter defines the position a singularity. It does not allow for a second director to be created," Owens wrote, later adding, "Once a court ascertains that the person is not the de jure office holder he must be removed."

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"We respectfully disagree with the court's ruling," Mayor Harkins said last December, adding then that the town planned to appeal.

Then the mayor announced last month that Onofrio will be leaving his post for another job elsewhere. "It was an offer he couldn't refuse," Harkins said at the March Town Council meeting. He said then that the town will be seeking a replacement as soon as possible.

The mayor deferred comment for this story.

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Dear Mayor Harkins,

On March 18, 2013, the court in the case Best v. Town of Stratford et al, the Honorable Howard Owens, Jr., granted a Motion for Judgment in Quo Warranto against the former "Director" of the Stratford Emergency Medical Services, Mr. Phillip Onofrio.

The court ordered that not only must Mr. Onofrio be removed from his office but also that he be held individually responsible for all of the legal fees that the Town Stratford paid to defend the position he gained illegally.

The court clearly recognized that the taxpayers of Stratford were not financially responsible to pay Mr. Onofrio legal fees from this lawsuit. Thus, the Town must recoup from Mr. Onofrio all the money it spent defending him. Surely, the Town can find better things to do with the tax revenue from hard-working citizens of Stratford rather than squandering it unnecessarily on a lawsuit and appeal.

Based on your recent comments to the press, it appears that you continue believe the taxpayers of Stratford are responsible for paying even more of Mr. Onofrio’s legal fees on appeal. Such a course of action would clearly ignore the court’s ruling and subject the taxpayers of Stratford to even more unnecessary costs.

As a taxpayer and resident of the Town of Stratford, it is imperative that you abide by the court’s order and cease subjecting the citizen’s of our Town to unnecessary legal costs that place a significant economic drain of the fiscal stability of our Town. I am asking you and the Town Council act to immediately recoup the money spent on Mr. Onofrio’s legal fees and make the citizens of Stratford, whole.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Best

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Related Patch Content

Time to Do the Right Thing (blog post by Democratic mayoral hopeful Joe Paul)

(letter to the editor by Stratford Republican Town Committee Chairman Lou DeCilio)



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