Malloy appoints first three members of review board for Connecticut municipalities

Gov. Dannel Malloy appointed Thomas Hamilton, Scott Jackson and Jay Nolan to Connecticut’s nascent Municipal Accountability Review Board, all to six-year terms.

The biennial budget that Malloy signed Oct. 31 called for an 11-member group that will work with cities and towns on early intervention and technical assistance if needed, and to help financially distressed municipalities avoid insolvency or bankruptcy in exchange for greater accountability.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy
Dannel Malloy, governor of Connecticut, speaks during an American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) news conference in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, March 9, 2017. The ASCE today released its 2017 Infrastructure Report Card indicating the national grade for infrastructure remains at a D+, the same grade the U.S. received in 2013. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

State capital Hartford is flirting with bankruptcy. The city received an additional $40 million in the four-months-late budget plan, and Mayor Luke Bronin is negotiating with bondholders and labor leaders in an attempt to avert a Chapter 9 filing.

“With this accountability and review board, the state will be poised to intercede early to put struggling local governments on a path to sustainable fiscal health before they are on the brink of a fiscal crisis,” Malloy said.

The new statute requires the governor to appoint five members, three of his own selection, with an additional appointment originating from the recommendation of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and another from a joint recommendation of the Connecticut Education Association and the Connecticut branch of the American Federation of Teachers.

The two labor appointees are forthcoming, Malloy said.

Hamilton, of Norwalk, is chief financial officer of the Norwalk Public Schools, where he has worked since October 2015. He was that city’s chief financial officer from 2003 to 2015. He worked for then-Stanford mayor Malloy as director of administration and was also West Haven’s finance director.

Jackson, of Hamden, is the state’s labor commissioner, a former undersecretary for intergovernmental policy with the state budget director, and a former Hamden mayor.

Nolan, of West Hartford, is an as-counsel for Hartford-based Day Pitney LLP, the state’s bond counsel. He joined the firm in 1969. Nolan started the firm’s insolvency practice in the early 1970s, and has represented institutional creditors, committees, and debtors over 35 years.

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Public finance Budgets Dannel Malloy State of Connecticut Connecticut
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