Norwich – For only the third time since the city charter was written in 1951, the City Council will use its authority to launch an internal investigation into a city agency.

The council voted 6-0 Monday to take on the Kentucky Derby controversy, focusing its attention on two utilities commission leaders recently reappointed to their positions despite their participation in the trip.

Prior to the discussion of the resolution to create an investigative committee, Mayor Deberey Hinchey recused herself and left the room. Hinchey, Norwich Public Utilities General Manager John Bilda, NPU Division Manager Steve Sinko and utilities commission Chairwoman Dee Boisclair and Vice Chairman Robert Groner attended the 2016 Kentucky Derby trip, hosted by the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative.

The city Ethics Commission found all five in violation of the city ethics code pertaining to gifts. The so-called retreat featured no business meetings, workshops, presentations or formal CMEEC business.

Aldermen commenting prior to the vote said they needed to take this step if they planned to attempt to remove Boisclair and Groner from the Board of Public Utilities Commissioners.

Council members said they were angered when the utilities commission March 28 voted to reappoint Boisclair and Groner to the leadership positions, rebuffing the recommendation by the city Ethics Commission that they be replaced in those positions and also be removed as the commission's representatives to the CMEEC board.

Gould, who will serve on the investigative committee, said she was disappointed that the utilities commission “completely ignored” the Ethics Commission recommendations.

Utilities Commission member Grace Jones addressed the council during public comment period at the start of the meeting. Jones, who nominated Boisclair and Groner for reappointment as chairwoman and vice chairman, said their experience was important on an otherwise inexperienced board. For new member Stewart Peil, the March 28 meeting was his first meeting. Jones has served for three years, and Republican Steve Becker for one year.

Boisclair has served on the commission for 14 years and Groner for six years. Jones said replacing them would hurt the valuable infrastructure of the city.

Aldermen later rejected that position. Alderman William Nash said he would consider replacing anyone who had been aware of the Kentucky Derby trips and didn't raise the issue of possible impropriety. He said there are other people in the city qualified to serve on the utilities commission.

The council intended to name three aldermen to the investigative committee, Republicans Gould and Gerald Martin and Democrat H. Tucker Braddock. But before the vote, Braddock announced that he would resign immediately from the committee.

After the meeting, Braddock said his Republican colleagues never informed him ahead of time that he would be placed on the resolution and he learned of the move from a reporter. City Council President Pro Tempore Peter Nystrom said the Republican majority was following state statutes in naming one minority party member to the three-person committee, which now probably will go forward with just two members.

The council asked the committee to report its findings by the June 19 City Council meeting. The resolution also authorized the group to hire an outside attorney, a cost that Nash regretted at a time when aldermen also are demanding city administrators make further cuts to the budget.

Only twice before has the City Council used its investigative authority, once in the 1960s to investigate police misconduct and again in 2011 to investigate allegations of improper spending and financial management by former City Clerk Sandra Greenhalgh. She resigned on the eve of a public hearing that could have led to her removal.

c.bessette@theday.com