It’s a simple thing really to understand. The Common Council is the legislative body of Norwalk’s government. Like any legislative body, they vote to authorize legislation and they also vote to authorize expenditures. So naturally, it should come as no surprise that a committee of the Common Council can’t do anything but move recommendations and actions onto the full Council for authorization. From the Advocate:
Two opinions from City Attorney Robert Maslan state that Common Council member Mike Geake’s committee overstepped its role in asking Health Director Tim Callahan to fund an environmental consultant to study a contaminated Platt Street property in East Norwalk.
At its meeting last month, the council’s Health, Welfare and Public Safety Committee approved an appropriation of less than $15,000 to hire a consultant.
The parcel at 23 Platt St., has been at the center of debate over the city’s role in oversight of environmental cleanup. Callahan and Finance Director Tom Hamilton had requested a legal opinion on the issue.
“Common Council Committees have no authority to act on their own in any matter, and do not have authority to issue directives to City departments and department heads. All findings and reports of Common Council committees are subject to final action by the Common Council,” Maslan wrote, citing previous city attorney opinions.
If the committee wanted funds authorized for a study, its members should have first submitted the issue to the full council as an item for discussion, Maslan said.
Geake was not available for comment last night.
Not only are committees unable to direct funds, the city isn’t responsible for environmental contamination and remediation issues, Maslan said in another opinion that left those responsibilities to the state.
“The legislature has determined that (the state Department of Environmental Protection), and not municipalities, shall be responsible for regulating environmental contamination and remediation,” Maslan wrote.
He said state law gives the DEP commissioner authority to delegate inspections and enforcement over several areas to the local level, but environmental contamination and remediation are not among them.The Platt Street parcel, current site of the Oyster Bend Marina and Condominiums, was a chemical dumping ground in the 1960s and 70s before hazardous waste laws existed, said League of Women Voters president Diane Lauricella, who works as an environmental consultant.
Based on the review of a state-approved consultant, the property’s owner is applying for a hazardous waste variance that would allow it to seal buried drums and monitor the site over a period of 30 years.
Meanwhile, Norwalk continues its peculiar fascination with ignoring subject matter experts, you know people who have degrees and certification in specialized fields, in favor of people who don’t. When it comes to environmental issues, Connecticut has one of the best records in the country. So you would think that the CT DEP might actually know what they are doing.
source: Advocate, Attorney: Committee overstepped authority, By Alexandra Fenwick, 06/10/2008
