New Haven Independent

The 45-page complaint, filed last week in Superior Court in New Haven, states, for example, that long-term resident and Town Attorney Ed Marcus and Branford Police Commissioner John Giordano, a relative newcomer from East Haven, both benefit from their friendship with Mike Milici, former head of the Democratic Party who works for Branford as a part-time contract assessor. Milici serves full-time as East Haven’s assessor.

The plaintiffs, Dawn and William Massey, lifelong residents of Branford, decided to file a second lawsuit because the Branford Board of Assessment Appeals recently rejected their appeal to reduce the assessment of their property in Stony Creek. They want Milici’s designation to label their house as “custom” removed and they contest other items on their field card. Had they not filed in Superior Court in a timely fashion they would lose their right to do so.

Meanwhile, their first case, filed in 2004, is before the state’s Appellate Court. The Masseys have appealed a lower court judgment ordering them to abide by a settlement they had first agreed to with the town and then sought to undo.

That “settlement” hit a roadblock nearly a year ago this July when, as Judge Lynda Munro put it, the Masseys sought a legal release from Trista Clyne, a non-party witness, “and she declined to provide one.” The release, standard in law cases, prevents parties from suing one another following a settlement. Milici and Tax Assessor Barbara Neal agreed to sign the releases.

But Clyne, who serves as First Selectwoman Cheryl Morris’s chief assistant, refused. She was not a party to the litigation, but would have been called as a witness. Judge Munro held a day-long hearing, taking testimony from both sides. In October she ruled for the town, finding that the releases were tangential to the settlement. This is the ruling the Masseys have taken to the Appellate Court.

The Masseys assert that Clyne’s allegiance to the town and to her role as gatekeeper of Branford’s records shifted to their detriment as Clyne became romantically involved with Milici. The two now live together. Given this new development, the Masseys were concerned that Clyne might sue them in the future.

This second lawsuit now names Clyne as a defendant, along with Milici, Neal and Parish Farms, LLC, a limited liability corporation set up, according to the complaint “for the purpose of concealing the defendant, Michael Milici’s true ownership of 31 Parish Farm Road, Branford, from the plaintiffs.” The complaint states that Milici, the managing member of the LLC, was permitted to take the measurements of the foundation of his own new house, leading to an “excessive under-assessment,” the complaint states. The Masseys call the LLC a “sham” corporation designed to shield Milici from possible monetary damages arising from the Massey lawsuits.

This lawsuit, like the first, raises issues beyond taxation. Unlike the first, it charges that Mrs. Morris, while not a named defendant, breached her official duty by failing to control the actions of Clyne, Milici and Neal. The Masseys accuse all three of official misconduct. The lawsuit also asserts a civil conspiracy by Milici, Clyne and Neal to conceal, withhold, or make inaccessible public records that forced the Masseys to go before the Freedom of Information Commission numerous times during their first law suit. As a result, they say they have suffered emotional distress.

The Massey lawsuit began in 2004 after Milici decided to designate their new house a “custom” design, a designation applied arbitrarily to some homes and not others. For example, the lawsuit says that houses designed with “high quality materials and superior amenities” to meet the owner’s specifications, such as the ones in which Marcus and Giordano live, are not classified as “custom.” The “custom” designation increases dramatically the tax cost per square foot of the house and does so for the life of the house, whereas a designation of “contemporary,” or “colonial,” or “Victorian” or “ranch” all have the same much lower per square foot price.

The second lawsuit also challenges the validity of the town’s grand list for 2006, just as the first one challenged the tax lists for 2002, 03, and 04. The lawsuit asserts that the 2006 grand list be declared invalid because all the members of the Board of Assessment Appeals and the Board of Assessors did not sign the 2006 grand list click here and did not act as a body as required by law.

Unable to add the current year to their complaint because their first case is now on appeal, the Masseys went before the Branford Board of Assessment Appeals to challenge their assessment. But the Board, citing their pending litigation, changed nothing. Now the Masseys were faced with a choice: Do nothing, or preserve their rights for the 2006 tax year by going back to court.

Mrs. Massey, an accounting professor at Fairfield University, and her husband Bill, a firefighter in Wallingford, have acted as their own counsel or “pro se” in both lawsuits. Judge Munro, in her final decision, praised Dr. Massey, who has taken the role of lead counsel, “for demonstrating a remarkable ability to research, learn and synthesize knowledge of legal process and substantive law.”

The town has been represented by both the Marcus Law Firm and Howd & Ludorf in Hartford. After Mrs. Massey won key points that would have enabled a trial on the validity of the town’s tax or grand lists, the town wound up having to pay two law firms to go up against a pro se litigant. Howd & Ludorf are no longer on the case so the town’s defense rests with the Marcus Law Firm.

The lawsuit charges that Michael Milici, in his role as part-time assessor for Branford, has “excessively under-assessed” the properties Ed Marcus, the town attorney, and John Giordano, an insurance adjuster and a top contributor to the First Selectwoman’s 2005 campaign when Milici served as Chairman of the Branford Democratic Party. Mrs. Morris selected Giordano to serve on the Police Commission soon after she took office, a controversial decision at the time. John Opie, the Republican Third Selectman, said he was appalled because a good and effective Commissioner, Daniel Bullard, would be let go for political reasons.

A recent public tour of “nine spectacular homes in Pine Orchard,” including Giordano’s, established without doubt that here was an architect designed, “superior amenities” house if there ever was one. It went on the market in 2006 for $1.75 million. Its assessed value at 70 percent under state law was $453,200 and Giordano’s property taxes that year were $9,503. Milici measured the home and classified it as “contemporary” not “custom” in January, 2006. Interestingly, and perhaps because of the Massey’s previous lawsuit which noted the disparity, a new inspection took place in early 2007 that resulted in a new tax assessment of roughly $13,000. But the house remained a “contemporary.”

As for the elegant Marcus property located in a gated 4.25 acre estate, it was listed for sale last year at $1.9 million and is up for sale this year. Though it is described in a real estate advertisement as “an architect-designed home,” with superb amenities, its category for tax purposes is not “custom” but “ranch.” Its 70 percent assessed value under state law for 2006 was $407,400. Marcus’s taxes levied in 2006 were $8,865. The Masseys ask the court to order the town to recalculate the assessments for Marcus, beginning in 2002 and for Giordano, in 2003, the first year after he purchased the property.

In contrast, the Masseys, whose property is about 600 yards from the Marcus estate, paid more in property taxes in 2006 than either Giordano or Marcus, according to the town’s field cards for all three properties. Their 70 percent assessed value under state law in 2006 was $510,300. Their property taxes for that year —-with a mill rate common to all at 21.76—were $11,104.

Among other highlights of the lawsuit are the following:

—-That Milici’s former house at 23 Sybil Creek Place was of “very high quality and superior amenities,” but he alone decided a designation other than “custom.” Custom is a new term, proposed by Vision Appraisal, the town’s outside appraisal company, and approved by Neal. Other towns, including East Haven, do not have this category. Milici has been making assessment judgments for the Assessor’s office since 2001.

——That Clyne, as gatekeeper for town records and Freedom of Information requests, consulted Milici and then devised excuses to keep certain records regarding him from the Masseys and Mrs. Massey’s mother, Misty Williams, who was acting as the Massey’s agent.

—-That town officials have violated state statutes in storing municipal records in a locked attic at Town Hall (for which, for FOI requests, only Clyne has the key) and appeals records at Branford Hills School. These records, the complaint says, are at risk because they are not kept in fire resistive vaults and safes. Moreover, they are not available to the public.

—-That Barbara Neal, the town assessor, likely knew that Marcus’s home was “excessively under-assessed” but abstained from taking any action to make sure Marcus paid his fair share of taxes.

The Masseys ask the court to enjoin Neal from serving as town assessor unless she obtains a Certified Connecticut Municipal Assessor certificate II, (CCMAII) the more advanced certification that an assessor in a town the size of Branford would hold as a matter of course. She currently holds only a CCMA 1. The complaint says that Branford’s current population and the town’s quantity of parcels make her “under-qualified” to serve. They also ask that the court direct Clyne to stop serving as the town’s point-person on FOIA requests and that Milici be enjoined from assessing the property of his friends.

The Eagle is contacting the named defendants for comment and will report what they say if and when they respond.
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