Chief State's Attorney's Meeting

Minutes of the Meeting of July 5, 2011
Office of the Chief State's Attorney
Rocky Hill, Connecticut

The meeting was called to order at 12:38 p.m. by Chief State’s Attorney Kevin T. Kane.

Also in attendance were: Deputy Chief State’s Attorneys Leonard C. Boyle (Operations) and John J. Russotto (Personnel, Finance and Administration); State’s Attorneys David I. Cohen (Stamford-Norwalk), Michael Dearington (New Haven), Patricia M. Froehlich (Windham), Matthew C. Gedansky (Tolland), Gail P. Hardy (Hartford), Kevin D. Lawlor (Ansonia-Milford), Timothy J. Liston (Middlesex), Scott J. Murphy (New Britain), Maureen Platt (Waterbury), Michael L. Regan (New London), Stephen J. Sedensky III (Danbury), David Shepack (Litchfield), and John C. Smriga (Fairfield).

Also present: Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ) Communications Officer Mark A. Dupuis.

Chief State’s Attorney Kane and Deputy Chief State’s Attorneys Russotto and Boyle reported on the current state budget situation and the ramifications for the Division resulting from the failure of the state employee unions to ratify the tentative agreement between the state and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC). The Office of Policy and Management (OPM) has directed the Division to submit a plan by July 8, 2011, to cut $6.1 million for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. Every effort is being made to reduce the potential for employee layoffs through attrition, by not filling vacancies and all available other means.

There was prolonged discussion of possible scenarios for achieving the requested reductions, and the State’s Attorneys offered input. It was agreed that DCJ is already operating with inadequate resources and that further reductions would have serious ramifications on the ability to serve the public. It was further noted that the Division budget represents a very small percentage of overall state expenditures but that the small amount spent on DCJ has tremendous ramifications on the state’s ability to deal with crime.

The plan that the Division is to submit to OPM by July 8, 2011, will be distributed to the State’s Attorneys at the time of submission.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:42 p.m.