Middletown paying retired fire chief $72,000 per year under no-bid contract

Since 2021, the City of Middletown has been paying retired fire chief Robert Kronenberger to manage the Remington Rand building, a city-owned small-business incubator , under a no-bid contract to RWK Enterprises , an LLC that Kronenberger set up in August of 2021, a month after he retired as fire chief.

According to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information request and provided to Inside Investigator, the city paid Kronenberger $34,200 between September 2021 and June 2022 to manage the building. That rate increased under a two-year contract, paying $72,000 per year from June of 2022 until June of 2024.

Between September of 2021 and September of 2023, the city paid Kronenberger, who is listed by name as a vendor, $118,500 out of the city’s general fund, according to transaction details for that time period. Kronenberger also receives a city pension of roughly $118,000 per year.

There was never a request for proposals put out by the city to manage the Remington Rand building – also known as the Keating building – and there was never a competitive bidding process for managing the space despite the Middletown purchasing manual requiring any service contract over $2,000 receive “three quotations, estimates, or proposals,” and anything over $25,000 must go out for a formal bid.

The contracts were all signed by Mayor Ben Florsheim, Director of Finance Carl R. Erlacher, and Economic and Community Development Directors Joseph Samolis and Bobbye Knoll Peterson. Peterson is Florsheim’s chief of staff who served as acting economic and community development director when the contract with Kronenberger was increased to $72,000 per year.

The Middletown Economic Development Committee was made aware of Kronenberger’s continued employment by members of the city’s Retirement Board, who have raised concerns that the deal between the city and Kronenberger violates pension rules that retirees cannot be rehired by the city while still receiving their pension.

The city’s Finance Director Carl Erlacher serves as a member of the Retirement Board and Mayor Florsheim serves as an ex-officio member, both of whom signed the contracts with Kronenberger.

Retirement Board Chairman Steven Gomes was clearly angry when he raised the issue to the economic development committee in September of 2023 , just as Kronenberger’s payments were increased under a new two-year contract. Gomes said he hoped to use space at the Keating building to create a new recycling redemption center with ARPA funds.

“He is getting a pension from the city of Middletown, yet he is employed full-time by the EDC to manage that building,” Gomes said to the committee. “That is against our pension rules. Some of you who are retired know that you cannot have a full-time job working for the city and then get rehired by the city at another job.”

According to Middletown Retirement Board meeting minutes from January 8, 2024 , the board requested outside counsel examine the contract and payments to Kronenberger’s LLC to determine if it violates the city’s pension rules, but for Retirement Board member John Milardo, the contract is already illegal because it was never put out for a competitive bid.

“The Common Council would have had to vote on this contract during a regular monthly meeting, where citizens could question it along with the Council, and/or WAIVE the formal bidding procedure,” Milardo wrote in a June 26, 2024, mass email. “That did not happen as confirmed by Council members who sit on the Pension Board.”

“If the contract is illegal and you’re paying this guy, he’s an employee,” Milardo said when reached for comment. “I want the city to reimburse the pension plan for the pension Kronenberger was paid. How can you be a contractor if it’s illegal?”

According to emails received by Inside Investigator, Middletown Deputy General Counsel Kori Wisnewski said that because Kronenberger’s position is that of an outside contractor and he is not working in a “benefit eligible position,” there is no violation of the pension rules. Retirement Board members were arguing that the nature of RWK’s agreement with the city makes Kronenberger an employee, rather than a contractor.

“As I have stated in several emails to you, under our Pension Plan, whether Robert Kronenberger’s company constitutes an independent contractor under the test you are citing or whether he is an employee, a temporary employee, or a part-time employee does not matter UNLESS he is working in a benefit eligible position, which he is not,” Wisnewski wrote in a June 26, 2024, email.

However, the Retirement Board’s issues with the city’s arrangement with Kronenberger – and Wisnewski’s response – did not encompass the competitive bidding process that was bypassed for Kronenberger’s LLC.

Neither Mayor Florsheim, Carl Erlacher, current Economic and Community Development Director Christine Marques, nor Kronenberger responded to request for comment. However, in an interview with CT Examiner , Florsheim argued that Kronenberger had “unique professional experience,” and that the city does not have to go out to bid when there is a “specific need for certain services.”

Under the terms of the 2022 memorandum of agreement between the city and RWK Enterprises, Kronenberger, as superintendent of the building, will work a full 40 hours per week and be available 24/7 for “building emergencies,” make necessary repairs, and follow the city’s procurement practices.

“It is expressly understood and agreed that the superintendent will act as an independent contractor in performance of this Agreement,” the MOA says. “No provision hereunder shall be intended to create a partnership or a joint venture with respect to the Building or otherwise. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as creating an employer-employee relationship between the city and the superintendent.”

Kronenberger retired in August of 2021 and was replaced as fire chief by John Woron. Woron retired three years later amidst multiple conduct complaints by the firefighters’ union. Under the terms of the contracts, Kronenberger has been paid $178,200 for managing the Keating building since his retirement.

“The maneuvering the City did to give this retiree a contract and continue collecting his pension is scandalous and violates City policies and ordinances,” Milardo wrote in his mass email. “It reeks of collusion and fraud by a mayor who is oblivious to the laws that govern the city.”

The post Middletown paying retired fire chief $72,000 per year under no-bid contract appeared first on Connecticut Inside Investigator .