At 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 7, First Selectman Noel Bishop and Town Labor Attorney Gabe Jiran told Town Finance Director Andrew Urban that effective immediately, Bishop had placed him on paid administrative leave. The following day, at 5:30 p.m., the Board of Selectmen (BOS) moved to terminate Urban’s employment, citing performance issues.

In an unusual move, Urban asked the BOS to hold the Sept. 8 meeting at which his performance would be discussed and possible action taken as a public meeting rather than executive session.

“I don’t know what I’m being terminated for,” Urban said at the meeting. “I know about a comment I made to [Assistant Director of Finance] Carol Hess and another about [the hiring process] of an accounts payable clerk. But why shouldn’t the crime fit the punishment? I’d like to be judged on the totality of my five years here. This [action] has nothing to do with the management of the Finance Department.”

Urban said that he knows his evaluations over the five years he’d been town finance director were mixed, with some criticism that he sometimes acted more like a town manager than a finance director, but he didn’t understand how complaints like these outweighed his positive contributions.

Urban urged the selectmen to read aloud the letter he had been sent by the BOS so that those attending the meeting would understand it was not mismanagement of the Finance Department that spurred this action.

Bishop replied that he had not planned to read aloud the board’s Aug. 22 letter to Urban chastising him for various infractions, but agreed to do so. One of the letter’s examples was Urban’s response to Hess when she asked if he should get a wage increase on July 1, 2016. He allegedly said yes, on a day in early July when the selectmen had not yet finished his annual evaluation and as a result, had also not yet authorized a raise for him.

“This letter serves as a first and final warning related to a matter involving your pay increase effective July 8, 2016...When asked by Carol Hess whether you should receive the same wage increase as other employees, you responded that you should receive the increase and she implemented the increase at your direction. You did not have any authorization to do so, and were well aware that your contract was under review at the time,” the letter states.

The letter then describes various statements and actions by Urban that the BOS found were “unprofessional and objectionable” and warned that “any further incidents of inappropriate conduct will result in increased discipline up to and including termination.”

This letter’s contents was discussed with Urban in an Aug. 10 executive session with the BOS.

At Urban’s request, the selectmen voted in the Aug. 10 public session that followed this executive session to make Urban a town employee at-will as of July 1, rather than an employee under contract; the BOS also agreed to increase his salary by 2.5 percent, the same percentage increase awarded to other town employees.

Shortly thereafter, Bishop became aware that Urban, in seeking to hire a replacement accounts payable clerk, had failed to follow procedures set forth in the town’s Human Resources Manual and when asked, had provided explanations for his actions that Bishop and the BOS did not find credible. This then was the final issue that led to last week’s move to terminate his town employment.

Following the open session at which Urban offered his defense and the open reading of the disciplinary letter, the BOS voted on the motion to terminate. It was unanimous.

Earlier Issues

This is not the first time that the BOS addressed Urban’s performance. Town employees and elected officials had voiced concerns in the past few years; these concerns were discussed with Urban in executive sessions of the BOS. Some of these sessions also resulted in a public session action.

On July 23, 2015, the BOS voted to renew Urban’s annual contract for the new year of July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, but with conditions. Other non-union town employees had been voted a two percent salary increase to be granted as of July 1, 2015. At this BOS meeting, however, Urban’s increase was set at 1.5 percent. A six-month interim evaluation of his performance was also announced to be held in November 2015. The lower increase had been in response to unspecified performance issues.

On Dec. 3, 2015, after the election of the new Democratic Selectman Mary Labbadia (she replaced former Selectman Chris Ehlert), Bishop, Selectman John Hall, and Labbadia, after performing Urban’s interim six-month review, voted to adjust Urban’s salary upward by one-half percent more, making his annual increase now consistent with those of other town employees; the change was made retroactive to July 1, 2015.

When Urban was hired as the town’s finance director 5 ½ years ago, the job was defined as a 25 hour per week position with a fixed annual salary. In the fiscal year that began July 1, 2016, his annual salary as town finance director had risen to $77,674.

Urban’s Legacy

Despite the performance issues that led the selectmen to terminate Urban, what is generally undisputed by elected officials and Town Hall employees is that he was instrumental, as the town’s first finance director, for righting the town’s previously shaky financial systems.

In the years prior to Urban’s tenure, the town’s annual financial audits had critiqued the town’s financial systems and processes and cited serious material weaknesses in financial controls and reporting.

In the first two years of Urban’s tenure, he developed new written financial policies and procedures for managing the town’s fund balance and for capital reserve funds. He developed a new town bidding procedure. He was responsible for the installation of a new computerized accounting and financial management software system. Most important, during his tenure, he systematized and standardized the town’s financial procedures and practices.

In May 2016 and for the fourth year in a row, the town received a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada.

“Urban set in process a number of procedures that have systematized and standardized the town’s finances and its systems. Much to his credit, he brought favorable reviews from auditors of the town’s finances,” said Bishop.