Michelle Tuccitto, Register Staff

August 27, 2002

BRANFORD — As the town moved closer Monday to paying former Fire Chief Peter Buonome a $292,056 buyout, officials said they plan to look into hiring the next chief under a limited contract, to avoid such an expense in the future.

Three subcommittees of the Representative Town Meeting — Public Services, Administrative Services and Ways and Means — approved funding the buyout for Buonome Monday. Seven subcommittee members approved the funding, two were against it, and two abstained. The full RTM still must vote on the settlement agreement. It meets Sept. 18. RTM member James Bruno, who was chairman at Monday's meeting, said the town needs to look at ways to prevent this situation from happening again. "No one will leave this room feeling good at voting to pay this money," said Bruno. "I personally feel it is best for the town because the situation within the Fire Department wasn't improving. It is putting something behind us so we can move forward." RTM member Andrew Campbell asked what can be done to avoid paying future buyouts. First Selectman Anthony "Unk" DaRos said he would like the new chief to be hired under a contract that would have to be renewed after a set time frame, when the chief's performance would be evaluated. "I will try to convince the Board of Fire Commissioners to do that," said DaRos. Buonome, who worked for the town for about eight years, did not have such a contract and could only be dismissed for cause. The fire board in the spring had been slated to consider a series of charges against Buonome, such as that he didn't adequately prepare plans to finish the fiscal year within budget and didn't adequately address firefighter sick time abuse. The charges were dropped when Buonome agreed to retire. "The town had three options — to continue with a termination hearing, which would go on for months at considerable expense, to do nothing and continue to have problems with the fire budget and labor claims, or to settle," said DaRos. "I thought this amount of money was worth it to avoid the cost of hearings." RTM member Dennis Flanigan opposed funding the buyout Monday. "My biggest problem is that we're paying nearly $300,000 in taxpayers' money," Flanigan said. Town Attorney Penelope Bellamy said the chief was entitled to an unbiased board to consider the charges against him, and Buonome's attorney, Karen Torre, had made bias claims against four of the six commissioners. Torre alleged that Commissioner Michael Whalen, for example, had indicated to the chief that he would vote with the majority, though Whalen stressed to Torre that he would use his own judgment. Several RTM members asked DaRos Monday if he would investigate the claims of bias against fire board members, and DaRos said he would. Buonome, who attended Monday's meeting, defended the job he did, pointing to the acquisition of new equipment and apparatus. "I'm happy with the budget increases, because that is how we were able to improve the department," said Buonome.

Michelle Tuccitto can be reached at mtuccitto@nhregister.com, or 789-5615.	©New Haven Register 2002