NORWICH – City of Norwich Common Council convened at its regular meeting Tuesday evening, where the mayor and council further addressed the action of placing Acting Superintendent of Public Works George Carnrike, Jr. on paid administrative leave, after members of the public spoke in support of Carnrike during open forum.

Paid Administrative Leave

George Carnrike Jr. was placed on paid administrative leave on Thursday for reasons not made public.

Although charged with improper disposal of hazardous waste, a violation, by the Department of Environmental Conservation on Tuesday, June 12, Alderman Ward 1 Matthew Caldwell and the mayor said the charge was unrelated to Carnrike being placed on leave two days later during an emergency meeting on Thursday, June 14.

However, no official would offer any information on why George Carnrike, Jr. was placed on leave.

George Carnrike, Jr. is the brother of Norwich Mayor Christine Carnrike.

At last night's meeting the mayor complained the city council had failed to properly inform her of last week's meeting to put her brother on administrative leave, because the two are related. She also said the issue was getting more public attention than it deserved.

After five people spoke in support of Carnrike, Alderman Ward 1 Matthew Caldwell said he sympathized with their support for the assistant superintendent of public works but said, "Unfortunately we've come up against circumstances that have quite frankly probably blown our mind, and in fairness to the employee, in fairness to the taxpayers and stakeholders of this city, we've taken what we believe is the least harsh action possible to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible."

Mayor Carnrike invites recalibration

City of Norwich Mayor Christine Carnrike addressed meeting attendees for about 15 minutes following the open forum. She invited the city to recalibrate in light of the city mission, and re-examine its policies and processes in the wake of the council placing the acting superintendent of public works on paid leave.

Carnrike said, "Council's action to place the assistant superintendent of public works on paid administrative leave was not a decision I was part of. I had not been part of the meetings because I share the same last name. I won't be excluded going forward."

On Thursday, Carnrike said she emailed a policy to city government administration that the mayor shall have knowledge of any meeting before a meeting notice is distributed, effective immediately.

She noted that eight weeks ago, former Human Resource Director Deborah DeForest was placed on paid leave pending an investigation after it was "...determined to be necessary after months – if not years – requiring attention.

"I cannot stress enough: personnel actions are not, nor should they ever be, taken lightly, and they should be done when absolutely necessary."