Hartford Courant du lieu suivant : Hartford, Connecticut • Page 51

2 THE HARTFORD COURANT: W.dntidoy, May 27, 1992 D7 Charter revision commission votes to increase power of mayor Giving the city treasurer a vote tive officer with the power to hire Nnt evprvnne nn the commission days to reconsider the revisions they are proposing to the charter, which is the city's operating manual. A By RICK GREEN Courant Staff Writer The Hartford Charter Revision Commission Tuesday night overwhelmingly endorsed a proposal giving the mayor broad new powers in running city hall. "We have been able to refocus the power. You elect the mayor and the people can hold the mayor accountable," said commission member James 0. Williams, summarizing the major change that the 15-member commission is proposing for Hartford's charter.

Commission members have three to now. After Friday, the commission will have to lobby the city council for support for the charter changes. While a majority on the council favors giving the mayor more power, commission members say there may be disagreement over whether to create eight district council seats and three at-large seats. Some say this would give even greater advantage to Hartford's already powerful Democratic party. This is because only one seat, from the at-large slots, would be guaranteed to a non-majority party such as the Republicans or People for Change.

approves the changes. Some even thought Tuesday's vote was premature. "A major restructuring and a recommendation to change to a very strong mayor form of government is ill-conceived," said Carol Ann Martin. She said the process lacked enough public input. Martin and fellow commissioner James J.

Szerejko said a dissenting report will be filed along with the commission's report on Friday. Szerejko said there is no reason to change Hartford's form of government because it has worked well up I appoints interim official Prosecutor resigning to join private firm on the pension commission. Replacing the corporation counsel with a city attorney appointed by the mayor. "I'm comfortable with the proposal," said commission chairman John C. Brittain, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law.

"Whether it's best or not for Hartford, the voters will have to choose." "They experimented in 1967. They experimented in 1947," he said, referring to previous charter revision commissions. "Like medicine, you use your best wisdom and judgment." Miss Porter's By KAREN WAGNER Courant Staff Writer FARMINGTON The head of a Boston educational consulting firm who sent three children to Miss Porter's School has been appointed interim head of the private school for girls. Marianna Mead O'Brien, 62, will begin her one-year term in July. O'Brien replaces Rachel Belash, who after nine years is leaving the school June 30 to move to Boston and pursue a career in the nonprofit sector.

"It's been a lot of fun but it's been Man denied By BRIAN M.TROTTA Courant Correspondent A Superior Court judge Tuesday denied a request to lower the bail for a Simsbury man charged with murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend. Mark P. Downey, 35, of 71 Hop-meadow has been unable to post his $250,000 bail since his arrest May 6 in connection with the March 26 shooting of Cynthia L. Mitchell. Downey's attorney, John D.

Ritson of Hartford, argued in Hartford that the bail should be lowered to $75,000 ByTOMPULEO Courant Staff Writer ENFIELD T.R. Paulding, who became known for his personable and outspoken style during his 4 years as head prosecutor in Enfield Superior Court, will step down next month to join a private law firm. Paulding, 36, said Tuesday he needs a change after working for eight years as a state public defender and a prosecutor. But he will continue to keep company with plenty of prosecutors. He will join Butler, Norris Gold a five-member Hartford firm specializing in criminal defense and personal injury law that includes two former state prosecutors and a former assistant U.S.

attorney. "I've never been the type of person to stay in one place for a very long time," Paulding said. "I've always been the type to look to move up the career ladder and this is definitely a step up." Paulding will leave his post June 19 and start his new job July 1. and fire a chief administrative officer, all department heads and the city clerk. Increasing the size of the city council from 9 to 11, with eight district council members and three at-large members.

Creating a planning and zoning commission, appointed by the mayor, to take over a role now performed by the city council. Appointing, for the first time, an ethics commission to investigate, enforce and take diciplinary action concerning any violations of the city's ethics code. man became partially paralyzed struck himself by a drunken driver while walking in Hartford. "Some prosecutors look at files and some look at people," Hines said. "T.R.

would look at the people." Paulding was known for his tough treatment of drug and sex offenders. In 1988 he persuaded a jury to convict Lewis Sutherland on charges that he sexually assaulted a young girl. Sutherland was sentenced to five years in prison. Paulding may be known best for his loyalty to Notre Dame University, his alma mater. He office wall is adorned with 13 framed, Sports Illustrated covers featuring great moments in the school's sports history.

"T.R. has both feet on the ground," said Dario Russotto, Paulding's investigator and a former Enfield police detective. "He's a down-to-earth type of guy." Paulding lives in Glastonbury with his wife, Michele, and the couple's four children. He comes from a prominent Republican family in Wethersfield, where his mother, Mary-Rose, sits on the town council. Wethersfield mayor, Marty Gold, is a partner in the law firm that Paulding will join.

"He has the kind of style and attitude that will be perfect for us," Gold said. "It should be a very nice meld." may swing it administrators' union and Dyer totaled $7,362. Dyer and the administrators agreed to work three days without pay during the next school year. The board also discussed eliminating or reducing the money that teachers are paid for their roles as "team leaders" or curriculum coordinators. There are 17 positions budgeted for curriculum coordination, which pay stipends totaling $27,000.

Dyer helped dissuade the board from cutting money for curriculum coordinators. "The money for the team leaders is a negotiated contract position, and if you eliminate that as a board and then wait for volunteers to come forward, I don't think you're going to get many volunteers," he said. final vote on the entire charter revision largely a formality after Tuesday night's clear vote will be taken at 5:30 p.m. Friday at city hall. The most significant change is the shelving of the city manager-and-council form of government in favor of a strong mayor who would have a chief administrative officer.

The changes must be approved by the city council before voters consider them in November. Changes endorsed in the 10-to-2 vote include: Making the mayor chief execu Paulding started working in December 1987 at Enfield Superior Court, which handles small claims, motor vehicle and less-serious criminal cases from eight area towns. He oversees a staff of three prosecutors and one investigator. During his tenure, Paulding became known for his affable style and forthright demeanor. In one much-publicized case, he accused state lawmakers of clogging court dockets with speeding ticket appeals by setting fines at "absurd" levels.

Several court officials privately agreed with Paulding. But the public diatribe won him a two-month transfer to a non-supervisory position in Hartford Superior Court. "I consider myself to be honest, so some of the things I say are honest as well," Paulding said. "It's just an offshoot." Charles Hines, head public defender in Enfield Superior Court, praised Paulding as a fair and "understanding" prosecutor. Hines said Paulding declined to prosecute a man on a drunken-driving charge after the Although $3,762 is significantly less than the $6,496 that had originally been budgeted, Superintendent of Schools LeRoy Dyer said the amount may be enough to keep the team going.

The team will get the difference between the $62,004 agreed to in cuts and the $58,242 needed to bring the school spending plan in at $9.4 million, the amount approved by townspeople. Going into the meeting, the board was within $58,242 of the $500,000 in cuts needed to reach $9.4 million. Although there was considerable discussion about cutting the fifth-grade teaching position, the board unanimously voted to eliminate the job, as well as the activity bus. The contract concessions from the Despite budget, golf team By JONATHAN BRADY Courant Correspondent PORTLAND The Portland High School golf team got a reprieve Tuesday as the school board completed the cuts it needed to meet its 1992-93 budget. After eliminating a new fifth-grade teaching position and an activity bus for the middle school, as well as accepting concessions from the administrators' union and the school superintendent, the board kicked back 13,762 for the golf team.

The golf team had been marked for elimination before Tuesday's meeting, but protests from participating students and their parents persuaded the board to take another look. The Shops af $iverParf long enough, I think," Belash said. "I'm very excited at the thought of a new stage in my life." Before going to Miss Porter's, Belash was a vice president at First National Bank of Boston. Carol Mes-sineo, a spokeswoman for Miss Porter's, said that there has been a lot of interest in Belash's job but that some of the candidates would not have been available by September. The school has not reached a decision on a permanent replacement for Belash.

Since 1981, O'Brien has run O'Brien Associates in Boston with her husband, Frank. The firm advises I lower bail in because the state's case is based largely on circumstantial evidence drawn from Downey's statements to police. Downey has given police an oral statement, the transcript of which is 34 typewritten pages, and a two-page written statement. Ritson said that Downey was legally drunk at the time of the shooting, and that will make it difficult for the state to prove Downey intended to kill Mitchell. "The worst indication makes it look like manslaughter," not murder, Ritson said.

Judge Richard A. Damiani, however, denied the motion to reduce PRATT LAMBERT i 1 MINT students and families about secondary schools. The O'Briens' three daughters, Louise O'Brien Scully, Elise O'Brien Aubrey and Dorothy O'Brien Baker, attended Miss Porter's School in the 1970s. All three graduated from the school. O'Brien, a Miss Porter's School trustee from 1976 to 1983, worked at Groton School in Groton for 25 years.

She served as assistant to the headmaster, helped start the coeducation program, taught history, tutored reading and was on the human relations and sexuality counseling faculty- murder case bail after prosecutor James Thomas said there was forensic evidence proving that the shooting did not occur as Downey has described it. Thomas said the angle of the bullet that killed Mitchell was different from what it should have been given Downey's account, and that there was evidence Downey attempted to wipe blood stains from his rifle. Downey is scheduled to be in court again June 11 for a probable cause hearing. At that time, Damiani will decide whether there is enough evidence to support the murder charge filed against Downey or whether a lesser charge should be substituted. RlVERDUE FARMS SHOPPING The Shops at RiverPark 3rd Anniversary Celebration May 28, 29, 30 jH! Th" rgTTl, 'nmm i in i'l mri'Mi The Shops at RiverPark are celebrating their 3rd anniversary! Join us for SENSATIONAL SAVINGS, exciting promotions and give-a-ways.

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