Four Simsbury business owners are asking selectmen to look into what they call morale-killing favoritism at town hall, but supporters of Town Manager Maria Capriola say she’s built enthusiasm and professionalism with no hint of unfairness.
The dispute created waves in town Tuesday when resident Steven Antonio publicly told selectmen that the town staff is being “gutted.”
Afterward, several selectmen arranged to meet next week with Antonio and three others who warn town government is being hurt.
By Friday, Antonio was emphasizing that his group wants to build teamwork, not place blame.
But at the selectmen’s meeting Tuesday evening, Antonio read a letter complaining of a “toxic work environment,” “favoritism” and “an arbitrary and capricious” decision made about the search for a town planner.
“We are dismayed at the disproportionate amount of people leaving the town of Simsbury’s employment,” Antonio said, reading from a letter cosigned by Nord Christensen, Melissa Brett and David Richman.
Antonio described the four as community-minded residents and developers who pay a combined $600,000 in property taxes, writing “to say we are stakeholders is actually an understatement.”
“We are not placing blame, but must acknowledge that these departures coincide with our change to a town manager form of government,” letter says. “We have observed favoritism. In addition, we’ve been informed of a significant decline in morale by many staff members and that a toxic work environment has emerged.”
After centuries with an elected first selectman as head of local government, Simsbury voted six years ago to put a professional town manager in charge. Several of Capriola’s department heads believe that’s the underlying reason for the complaint.
“There will be rocky times after you make a big change like that it. It will take some time for people to get used to it,” said Recreation Director Tom Tyburski. “Whoever came in after that was going to have a tough road. She’s handled it well.”
Capriola was hired in early 2018, and has been Simsbury’s only town manager.
On Friday, First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis acknowledged that a disproportionate number of staffers in the town planner’s office have left in the past several years. But they didn’t indicate their reasons for leaving, and there’s no evidence that it was over conflict with Capriola, she said.
Antonio’s letter claimed several town employees left because of Capriola, and warned that far too many Simsbury workers are walking off.
But Selectman Eric Wellman, who served as first selectman until November, said that’s just not accurate.
Town hall’s employment roster shows 4.6 percent of Simsbury’s staff resigned or retired between 2019 and now, compared to a national average of 20 percent for municipalities, Wellman and Capriola reported.
“With the pandemic, a lot of employers struggled with their retention rate. But our analysis shows that wasn’t the case for us,” Capriola said. “We didn’t have a problem with a mass exodus.”
Mackstutis also questioned the accusation of favoritism, saying it appeared to be because one applicant for the town planner’s position was allowed to advance through the hiring process despite lacking a requirement in the job description.
That is common in private business, where employers may find a candidate’s strengths outweigh deficiency, she said. And either way, the town didn’t choose that applicant, she noted.
Mackstutis, however, said the selectmen’s personnel committee on April 14 will discuss a stronger system for procuring exit interviews from staffers as they leave. She emphasized that Capriola helped create the system, and did so long before Antonio’s complaint.
“We will investigate any credible claim that’s formally brought to us. But the letter from the business leaders did not have specifics — there’s not enough there for us to investigate,” Wellman said.
Officials said only one departing worker complained of unfairness, and that was rejected.
After Assistant Town Planner Robin Newton was dismissed in late 2019, she formally complained that Capriola had targeted her unfairly, perhaps because of her union activity. Selectmen hired a law firm to investigate. They ultimately rescinded Newton’s termination and paid her $8,000 in a settlement; Newton resigned and retracted her complaint against Capriola.
Mackstutis attributed much of the recent complaint letter to “gossip” and misinformation.
Tyburski and Police Chief Nicholas Boulter both said Friday that Capriola has been consistently professional and encouraging.
“I’ve never seen anything but professional, courteous, respectful, insightful work from Maria. It has been an absolute pleasure working for her,” said Boulter, who has spent 23 with the Simsbury police force.
Boulter said he regularly seeks Capriola at meetings with other department heads, local agencies, business owners and citizens.
“She’s extremely inclusive and she always seeks opinions,” Boulter said.
Tyburski said that’s been his experience, too.
“I never had a supervisor who made me feel more supported than Maria does,” he said. “She’s highly intelligent, she thinks through all the angles, she helps us through difficult situations. And she looks at the big picture, not just a two-year picture.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect that Robin Newton’s termination was rescinded and her complaint retracted.
