Fire chief faces termination hearing
Cybart faces termination hearing in Stratford

By Richard Weizel
Staff writer Updated: 01/05/2009 01:30:11 AM EST

Stratford fire chief faces termination hearing - Topix

STRATFORD -- The public can get a front-row seat Wednesday when Fire Chief John J. Cybart faces termination at a disciplinary hearing scheduled by officials investigating the fallout from what they say is a tainted bidding process for a new firetruck.

Indications are that the hearing -- set for 2 p.m. in Town Hall -- will be well-attended, town officials said.

"There seems to be a lot of interest in this issue and there could be lot of people there," said Town Attorney Richard Buturla. He said a rarely used state statute, which applies to fire chiefs and other top public-safety officials, makes it clear that termination hearings should be public. The head of any fire department in Connecticut "shall not be dismissed unless he or she has the opportunity to be heard in his own defense, personally or by counsel, at a public hearing before the authority having the power of dismissal," according to the statute.

The town administration will be represented at the hearing by John Bohannon, a lawyer hired for the proceedings, because Buturla said he has to be available to advise Mayor James R. Miron, the presiding official. Miron said he will make a decision on Cybart's fate following the completion of the hearing, which began last month.

"Most town employees have the right to decide whether or not their termination hearing is held openly or behind closed doors, but with fire and police chiefs and a few other officials that is not the case," said Buturla, the brother of Stratford Police Chief John Buturla.

"It's rare for town employees not to have the option of a closed hearing," he added.

Cybart, a 14-year Fire Department veteran who has been chief nearly two years, faces the disciplinary session after town officials accused him in a Dec. 1 memo of displaying a "gross lack of judgment" by appointing a department lieutenant to a committee that was to select the winning bid for a new firetruck. That lieutenant, officials said, also works for the company recommended to receive the bid.

Chief Administrative Officer Suzanne McCauley and Human Resources Director Edmund Winterbottom accused Cybart of "misconduct and policy violations" that include appointing Lt. Robert Spiegel to the bid review committee knowing Spiegel had a "direct conflict of interest" as an employee of New England Fire Equipment Corp. of North Haven.

"There is a potential conflict of interest that is cause for serious concern," said Miron. "But I will consider all the facts at the hearing and make a decision after hearing from all sides."

The case has brought to light again a controversy seven years ago also involving New England Fire Equipment and its owner, former Town Council Chairman James Feehan. He was embroiled in allegations that he tried to coerce then-Fire Chief Ron Nattrass into buying a truck from his firm.

While a Superior Court judge threw out the charges of first-degree larceny and attempted coercion against Feehan after a four-day trial in October 2002, Miron said if there were any laws broken this time, "those involved should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

In the Cybart case, the 54-year-old chief's appointees to the bid-selection committee are accused of trying to change specifications for the fire truck they estimated would cost $450,000 to ensure New England Fire Equipment Corp. would be awarded the contract, even though with a $507,000 bid, it was not the low bidder.

Feehan, however, has blasted Miron, insisting the mayor told him "on several occasions the mayor told me when I was council chairman he would do anything in his power to get rid of Chief Cybart."

Miron has denied the allegation.

Cybart submitted a letter seeking a disability pension to the town Dec. 2 based on a claim of "injury on the job," the day after he was advised of his termination hearing, Winterbottom said.

Repeated calls to Cybart last week were not returned, but his New Haven lawyer, Robert Robertson, has stated "we will likely have something to say after the disciplinary hearing is completed."