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Stamford Board of Finance Chairman Joseph Tarzia has filed complaints of his own against a city employee who accused him of ethics violations, it was revealed at a Board of Ethics special meeting Tuesday afternoon.
A hearing on a complaint against Tarzia by Human Resources Generalist Tania Barnes is set to begin Oct. 19. It stems from a grievance Barnes filed in April accusing Tarzia of trying to influence a personnel decision and, when she refused to yield, spearheading a campaign of harassment against her.
In August, the Board of Ethics found probable cause of a violation of the city's ethics code, leading the way to the pubic hearing.
Now, Barnes attorney, David Golub, has disclosed that Tarzia has filed two ethics complaints against his client. He maintains they are retaliatory measures. The first, filed Aug. 5, accuses Barnes of committing unethical conduct by filing her complaint against Tarzia. The second was filed Sept. 20.
"There's just no justification for either one of them," said Golub, who waived Barnes right to confidentiality concerning Tarzia's filings. "We think they should be disposed of."
This was just one of several issues raised during the meeting. Others concerned whether information gathered during the Tarzia investigation should be publicly disclosed; reconciling a disconnect between hearing rules of procedure and the current ethics code; and addressing potential conflicts of interest.
Some of these issues pertained to another ethics complaint filed against Tarzia and two other Stamford officials, Board of Finance member Robert Kolenberg and Salvatore Gabriele, a member of the Board of Representatives. The complaint, filed by Stamford Fleet Manager Michael Scacco, alleges that the three officials repeatedly harassed Scacco after he found fault with the work of an employee. A hearing is expected to begin by mid-November.
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