Ledyard union urges rejection of charter changes

Ledyard - The union that represents Ledyard municipal employees is urging its members to vote down revisions to the town charter, saying the changes add management positions just months after nine jobs were slashed.

Though union officials say they specifically oppose two issues on the charter revision - the creation of two new management positions and a move toward more regionalization of town services - they are urging "No" votes on all five charter questions.

"Overall, the questions (on the ballot) aren't particularly clear as to the specific concerns we're raised," said Larry Dorman, a spokesman for Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, which has about 160 members in Ledyard. "The straight answer is we're asking all our AFSCME members to vote no."

The charter revisions, on the ballot for the Nov. 3 election, creates two new positions to oversee the town's public safety agencies, which presently operate autonomously under the direction of the mayor. The jobs, a director of public safety and an administrator of public safety, would be filled by a new employee or the mayor could take over the job responsibilities, according to the charter revisions.

In a letter to Ledyard Mayor Fred Allyn and the town council, Kevin Murphy, the director of collective bargaining and arbitration for the union, wrote that those positions would cost about $200,000, roughly the total salaries of the nine employees who were terminated at the start of the fiscal year.

The town has not said how much those jobs would cost to staff and would have to add the jobs to its budget before hiring anyone.

Council 4 officials are skeptical that the new positions would be able to do much, arguing that Connecticut law and Ledyard ordinances already direct policies and procedures.

"This in effect will cause the two new positions to be powerless figureheads with no true responsibilities," Murphy wrote. "If the goal is to provide improved services, the best place to start would be the reinstatement of front-line positions that were cut, not the establishment of Director-level positions."

m.collette@theday.com