Labor Dept Ruling—

Town Attorney Critical Of Prevailing Wage Decision

By John Voket

It appears that a letter sent by Legislative Council Member Po Murray to the state Department of Labor (DOL) last summer played a role in that department’s Wage and Workplace Standards Division initiating a five-month review of a key Fairfield Hills improvement project. The outcome of that review reversed a preliminary decision made on that same project, the demolition of Greenwich House and development of parking and a central campus green, which concerns paying prevailing wages to its contractors.

A request to review a copy of Ms Murray’s letter was not immediately answered as The Bee went to press February 19. But Town Attorney David Grogins said he has seen Ms Murray’s memo, which was sent to the state after a June 12 memo email in which DOL field supervisor Sandra Barrachina cleared the demolition and paving project from a statutory prevailing wage stipulation.

Last year, Newtown entered into an agreement with Newtown resident Peter D’Amico, who was in the process of completing the Newtown Youth Academy, a nonprofit sports and recreation center that was the first among a number Fairfield Hills public and commercial developments to be completed.

The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved entering into an amended lease agreement with Mr D’Amico June 18, 2008, which would permit the local developer to contract demolition of Greenwich Hall, and create permanent parking and other landscaping improvements. Mr D’Amico had been seeking the opportunity to step in, and with his own capital, fund the improvements through a lease-back program with the town.

The letter from Ms Murray reportedly asked to clarify why the D’Amico proposal for demolition and construction work was being given a pass on the prevailing wage stipulation. Then on September 8, 2008, DOL Wage and Workplace Standards Director Gary Pechie wrote to Mr Grogins saying that Mr D’Amico’s proposed developments would be subject to the prevailing wage law.

The next day, the town attorney fired back that he objected to the reversal.

After Ms Barrachina said the DOL “carefully analyzed [the] substantial number of documents,” it concluded that the demolition of Greenwich Hall and construction of the adjacent parking lot “is clearly covered” by prevailing wage law. The DOL memo goes on to say that “in a continued effort to ensure prevailing wage requirements have been complied with, this department will be conducting a review of all contractors and subcontractors who performed work” on nearly a dozen other planned projects, as well as projects already in progress at Fairfield Hills, including development of new municipal offices at Bridgeport Hall.

The town attorney told The Bee that the DOL “can audit all the other projects they want.”

“All the projects stipulated in the [DOL] letter have been subject to prevailing wage rates,” Mr Grogins said. “The only issue is in regard to the Greenwich Hall demolition and parking lot.”

Mr Grogins maintains that he “disputes the DOL findings.”

“We’ve got two letters from the DOL clearing this project from prevailing wage requirements,” he said. “This demolition and parking lot [development] are part of a lease for a private piece of property.”

While the town attorney would not say how the town plans to move forward on the matter, he said he still firmly disputes the latest DOL decision, and that he would be “looking into it further in the coming days.”