SOUTHINGTON, CT — The Southington Town Council voted July 13 to approve reimbursement for a library volunteer appreciation pizza party connected to the Southington Public Library project, but it denied a separate request to reimburse more than $3,000 for commemorative plaques, citing concerns about purchasing procedures and documentation.
The actions followed a lengthy discussion over reimbursement requests submitted by Councilman James Morelli, who recused himself from the deliberations along with Council Chairman Paul Chaplinsky because the requests involved Morelli.
As a result, Vice Chairperson Jennifer Clock presided over the discussion.
Earlier in the meeting, Southington Town Manager Alex Ricciardone told council members he did not believe he had the authority to approve reimbursement for three outstanding expenses related to the library project — plaques, a volunteer appreciation event and a prior New York City trip — without council approval.
He said the town's finance department shared that opinion.
Ricciardone said he had personally authorized the volunteer pizza party before it occurred and had funding available within the Southington Town Council budget.
But he said reimbursement for the plaques would require council action because it had not been authorized in advance.
He also said Morelli later clarified he was no longer seeking reimbursement for the New York City trip.
Councilman Chris Palmieri successfully moved to separate the plaque reimbursement request from the request involving the volunteer pizza party, arguing they involved different circumstances because the pizza party had been approved beforehand.
Councilman Tony Morrison opposed separating the items, saying both reflected departures from established town procedures and should be treated the same.
Councilman Joshua Serafino said he agreed with Morrison's concerns but also recognized the town manager had authorized the pizza party before the expense was incurred.
The motion to separate the requests passed on a 4-2 vote, with one abstention.
Clock and Morrison voted against separating the requests, while Councilman Michael DelSanto abstained.
The council then approved reimbursement for the volunteer appreciation pizza party by a 4-2 vote with one abstention.
Serafino said he supported the reimbursement only because Ricciardone had authorized the expense beforehand.
Clock voted against the reimbursement, saying she appreciated the volunteers' contributions, but believed the process should have included a formal written request and approval before the expense was incurred.
Ricciardone told the council he had a receipt for the pizza party and confirmed on the record that he had authorized the purchase before the event took place.
The council then voted 6-0, with DelSanto abstaining, to deny reimbursement for approximately $3,063.94 spent on plaques recognizing library project participants.
During discussion, Palmieri said the invoice had been made out to the Southington Republican Town Committee rather than the town and noted he was unaware of prior council discussion authorizing the purchase.
Clock also questioned whether any documentation showed Morelli had actually paid the vendor.
Ricciardone said the town had no documentation confirming payment.
"We don't have a paper documentation trail," Ricciardone told the council.
Serafino outlined several concerns with the plaque purchase after reviewing documents included in the council's meeting packet.
He said the invoice was addressed to the Southington Republican Town Committee, questioned why the plaques had been ordered without prior council authorization and pointed to an email in which Morelli discussed possibly splitting invoices into smaller amounts.
Serafino said town purchasing limits exist to protect taxpayers and should not be avoided by dividing purchases into multiple transactions.
Ricciardone confirmed that the town's purchasing policy requires three quotes for purchases between $1,000 and $9,999 and said he had not been provided with competing quotes for the plaque order.
Ricciardone also told council members that the library construction project had already been closed out and no remaining project funds were available to cover the reimbursement requests.
For the minutes of the July 13 Southington Town Council meeting, click on this link.
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