On the request of two state senators, the quasi-public Connecticut Port Authority has launched the names of its two workers that improperly accepted presents from an organization vying for port authority enterprise.
Former Connecticut Port Authority Government Director Evan Matthews and Andrew Lavigne, the CPA’s present supervisor of enterprise improvement and particular initiatives, every obtained a $625 ticket from New York-based Seabury Maritime Capital to a Might 2019 Nationwide Hockey League playoff recreation in Boston together with meals and drinks from a restaurant.
Their names have been revealed in a letter from Connecticut Port Authority board Chairman David Kooris to State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, and Senate Republican Chief Kevin Kelly. The senators had requested data within the wake of an investigation by the Workplace of State Ethics. That investigation decided Seabury, which was employed by the CPA in 2018 to assist discover an operator for State Pier in New London, violated the state code of ethics when it offered greater than $3,000 in presents and meals to CPA officers in 2017 and 2019.
The CPA had already been criticized for offering Seabury a $523,000 “success payment” as a part of the $700,000 cost for his or her work, one thing the State Contracting Requirements Board mentioned was much like a “finder’s payment,” and never permitted by state statute. Henry Juan of Greenwich, who was employed by Seabury, had resigned from the CPA’s board a number of months earlier than Seabury was employed.
It was Lavigne who had reported the acceptance of hockey tickets, meals and drinks in early July of 2019. One CPA board member who allegedly accepted presents from Seabury has not been recognized and it’s unclear if that individual stays on the board.
Seabury agreed to pay a $10,000 settlement within the ethics case and admitted it offered presents totaling $800 in 2017 and $2,300 price of presents in 2019. These presents included meals and drinks and a leather-based accent for a CPA worker and the worker’s partner in 2017 at a charity occasion in New York. A CPA board member with secondhand data reported to the Workplace of State Ethics in 2020 that the 2017 presents have been obtained by Matthews, Kooris mentioned. It got here at a time when Seabury had not but been employed by the CPA.
Later that 12 months, on Aug. 17, 2017, Seabury paid $200 for an in a single day keep at a personal membership in Greenwich for a similar worker and partner, together with $300 in meals and drinks for a similar CPA worker, the worker’s partner and a CPA board member.
Kooris mentioned he doesn’t know the board member who accepted meals and drinks however has requested present board members to reveal whether or not any of them is “CPA Board Member Quantity One” which is how the Workplace of State Ethics described the individual in it’s report. Kooris mentioned none of the present members have recognized themselves as that individual.
Matthews and Lavigne have been concerned within the overview of Seabury’s responses to the CPA’s request for proposals and {qualifications} in 2018, Kooris mentioned.
Lavigne will not be concerned within the voting course of and “to the most effective data of the CPA management, Mr. Lavigne didn’t make any suggestions to the Board with respect to the choice of Seabury,” Kooris mentioned in his letter.
Kooris mentioned the CPA is working to find out whether or not Matthews or Lavigne ready any reviews, memorandums or different communications concerning Seabury that was shared with voting members. Kooris, in his response to Formica, defined that Lavigne had come to the board management in early July 2019 to reveal that he and Matthews had obtained the hockey tickets and had meals and drinks paid for by Seabury.
“Mr. Lavigne additional knowledgeable CPA management that previous to the sport he had indicated to Seabury his intent to reimburse the corporate for all of his bills associated to that night, and he subsequently did so,” Kooris mentioned.
The Workplace of State Ethics mentioned in its assertion final month that the reimbursement for the hockey tickets, meals and drinks didn’t include the 30 days of the violation as required by state statute. No reimbursements have been made for the opposite presents.
Lavigne was not disciplined by the CPA. Matthews was positioned on go away on July 12, 2019 amid criticism of the CPA’s lack of insurance policies and procedures and subsequently resigned. Kooris mentioned Lavigne participated within the CPA’s ethics coaching within the fall of 2019 and took part in that coaching yearly since.
Peter J. Lewandowski, the manager director of the Workplace of State Ethics, mentioned that due to confidentiality necessities, he couldn’t verify or deny if his workplace is investigating the people who obtained presents.
“If there are issues pending, except such issues are dismissed by a decide trial referee, the id of the respondents will ultimately be disclosed both by means of stipulation and consent order or willpower of possible trigger,” Lewandowski mentioned in an e mail to The Day on Monday.
Formica mentioned on Monday that he appreciated Kooris addressing every of the 13 questions he had posed. He mentioned it was clear that Matthews and Lavigne have been concerned in conversations main as much as the hiring of Seabury. And whereas Formica acknowledged that Lavigne will not be a voting member of the board, he mentioned he remained skeptical that Lavigne didn’t make any suggestions to the Board.
Formica credited Kooris with doing a “good job righting the ship in some ways,” however mentioned the data surrounding the ethics investigation ought to have been available “as a substitute of ready for somebody to ask.”
“It’s time to place the shenanigans of the previous to relaxation and deal with the mission, which is to construct a first-class port and attempt to develop the rising trade of offshore wind, if that’s the path we’re going,” Formica mentioned.
The CPA is managing the $235.5 million development venture at State Pier in New London that’s being reworked right into a hub for the offshore wind trade.
In an announcement on behalf of the CPA, Kooris mentioned: “Starting in late-2019, beneath new management, the Authority carried out a whole overhaul of its insurance policies and procedures. With the help of the Workplace of Coverage and Administration and out of doors auditors, the Authority up to date its ethics insurance policies and all workers and board members now obtain annual ethics coaching and certifications.”
