Norwich – The Ethics Commission voted unanimously Monday to find no violations by three Norwich Public Utilities officials who participated in an October 2015 retreat to The Greenbrier resort hosted by the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative.

Using similar ethics complaints and violations found against five city officials for a May 2016 trip to the Kentucky Derby as the guideline – which had no official business meetings or presentations – the commission ruled by a vote of 5-0 Monday that the two half-day workshops at the posh Greenbrier resort justified the trip from an ethics standpoint.

The commission held a contentious hour-long public hearing last Monday on the complaint filed against NPU General Manager John Bilda, NPU Division Manager Steve Sinko and utilities commission Vice Chairman Robert Groner. Sinko declined to participate in the hearing, marked by repeated debates between Ethics Commission members and the two NPU officials, and Bilda stormed out near the end of his testimony.

In his defense, Groner had submitted a copy of a 26-page PowerPoint presentation retreat participants heard during the two days of workshops conducted by CMEEC Executive Director Drew Rankin and a paid consultant.

“There is evidence there were presentations made,” Ethics Commission member Robert Ballard said. “There is evidence there was an agenda. … Major corporations have retreats and they pay for their employees to go.”

All three attended as CMEEC board members, with Groner invited because he was just appointed to the board at that time.

"NPU is pleased with this news and look forward to reading the Ethics Commission's findings when they become available," NPU spokesman Chris Riley said later Monday night.

Greenbrier resort participants took a chartered plane out of Groton-New London Airport to the West Virginia golf resort. In addition to two 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. workshops, the Greenbrier trip participants enjoyed an afternoon golf tournament, skeet shooting and could tour the resort, which included decades-old early Cold War era bunkers for Congress in case of a nuclear war, Groner told the Ethics Commission during his testimony.

All three NPU officials brought their spouses on the trip. And while that did disturb Ethics Commission members, they also noted that the city has no written policy calling for retreat participants to pay full price if a spouse attends the trip.

The three-day trip cost more than $105,000, according to expense sheets provided by CMEEC.

Commission Chairwoman Carol Menard said the Greenbrier ethics complaint revealed that the city lacks a policy that spouses and other guests must pay for the trips. Menard said her report will include a recommendation to City Manager John Salomone that the city write a policy governing all city agencies and departments spelling out that spouses and guests must pay full price at retreats and off-site workshops.

Ballard said all retreats also should have requirements that participants report back to their full boards or agencies on the work conducted during the retreats.

The commission also will recommend to the City Council that if it conducts investigations into the CMEEC-hosted retreats, it concentrate on the Kentucky Derby trips, since those included no official business. CMEEC hosted lavish trips to the Kentucky Derby from 2013 through 2016 for dozens of CMEEC staff, board members, municipal officials and their guests.

The 2016 trip cost $342,330 for 44 participants, and collectively the four trips cost more than $1.02 million.

The Norwich Ethics Commission in February ruled that five city officials who attended the 2016 Kentucky Derby trip – Bilda, Sinko, Groner, utilities commission Chairwoman Dee Boisclair and Mayor Deberey Hinchey – violated the city ethics code. The commission ruled that Hinchey and the two utilities commission members should pay back 25 percent of the calculated cost of their trips to the city, and that Bilda and Sinko should pay the full calculated price for themselves and their spouses.

The City Council voted April 3 that all five participants should pay back the entire value of the trip for themselves and their spouses.

c.bessette@theday.com