Somers Selectman Questions Bonuses For Town Employees

SOMERS, CT — Questions about the legitimacy of bonuses recently awarded to some town employees were brought up at the July 16 Board of Selectmen meeting by selectman Tim Potrikus, contending the bonuses were not authorized by the full board.

First Selectman Bud Knorr was asked about the bonuses by Potrikus, who said, "I got an email from a town employee questioning the salary adjustments and bonuses that were paid out. I recall last year we voted on authorizing you to make those adjustments. I don'trecall us having that discussion this year."

Knorr quickly replied, "No. we didn't have that discussion this year. What we did was implemented a performance appraisal system, and based upon that appraisal system - I deal with these people every day - I went ahead and made those decisions. In the past, it had not been done."

The bonuses, awarded to 31 town employees, totaled $32,000, and were paid in late June, according to a memo from Knorr to the town payroll department. Knorr himself received $3,000, the largest single payout to any of the employees.

Potrikus said his opinion was that elected officials should not have been included in the bonus plan during tough fiscal times, and was also concerned about transparency.

"I'm concerned about the optics of $32,000," Potrikus said.

Knorr said he would not make any future decisions in that manner, but reiterated the importance of keeping good employees with the town.

"What we don't want to do is underpay people," Knorr said. "We want to retain the core people that we have here."

The complete list of town employees who received bonuses is show below. A video of the meeting may be viewed at the bottom of this story, with the bonus discussion beginning around the 50:00 mark.

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