Town appeals defeat in DiCesare case
Stonington — After spending $265,000 and losing, the town has appealed an arbitrator's decision to overturn the suspension of fired Highway Supervisor Louis DiCesare II.
Last Thursday, the town filed an application to vacate the award by arbitrator Peter Adomeit, charging that “he exceeded his powers or so imperfectly executed them that a mutual, final and definite award upon the subject matter could not be made.” It added that Adomeit disregarded the law in making his decision.
The appeal asks a judge to vacate the award and send the case back to Adomeit to determine whether the town had just cause to suspend DiCesare based on the evidence and arguments that were presented.
The appeal was filed by town labor attorney Meredith Diette, who replaced attorney Michael Satti on the case last month. Satti had handled the DiCesare case from the beginning.
Last month, Adomeit overturned the town’s five-day suspension of DiCesare in Janaury 2015, saying it improperly prohibited him from having union representation at a disciplinary hearing.
The decision by the arbitrator stated that before DiCesare’s hearing with Public Works Director Barbara McKrell, a police officer told DiCesare’s union representative that if she did not leave, she would be arrested.
Adomeit wrote in his decision that the town’s refusal to allow DiCesare union representation at the suspension hearing was a unilateral denial by the town of his rights. He ordered the town to pay DiCesare five days’ pay totaling about $1,500 and remove the suspension from his record.
In addition to the legal fees expended by the town so far, its insurance carrier, the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency, has spent more than $76,000 on DiCesare’s federal lawsuit against the town.
Unless the town can reach a settlement with DiCesare, it is expected to continue spending money on legal fees as DiCesare still has two union grievances pending against the town that need to be ruled on by an arbitrator and a civil rights lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court.
In her suspension and April 2015 firing of DiCesare, McKrell cited a list of expensive errors she charged that he made on projects and said he was insubordinate when he said he did not trust her. DiCesare has disputed the charges in a written rebuttal.
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