Markeshia Ricks File Photo
Jason Bartlett with Mayor Harp.
Mayoral candidate Justin Elicker called on the Harp administration Monday to fire its youth services chief rather than keeping him on a costly indefinite leave of absence.
Elicker who faces incumbent Mayor Toni Harp in a Sept. 10 Democratic primary, issued the call in a statement released by his campaign concerning city youth chief Jason Bartlett. In late June Harp put Bartlett on administrative leave, and removed him as her reelection co-chair, pending the outcome of an FBI investigation targeting Bartlett’s handling of finances for the fledgling “Escape” youth drop-in center and homeless shelter; a federal “Byrne” grant to address violence in Newhallville; and a proposal to create an all-boys charter school.
In the statement Elicker cited this Independent story about internal emails showing internal debate at City Hall over no-bid work Bartlett gave a former associate.
“Taxpayers have paid over $15,000 in salary and benefits for Mr. Bartlett to do nothing and the tab keeps getting bigger. Email evidence showed that Mr. Bartlett gave out a no-bid contract to his friend. This, in addition to an FBI investigation into the program he oversaw, the fact that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on a youth program that never opened its doors, is more than enough reason for Mayor Harp to let the director go,” Elicker stated.
“I am calling for Mayor Harp to terminate the Director of Youth Services. Leadership is about doing the right thing, even when the people impacted may be your friends. We could have spent this $15,000 giving 12 more young people summer jobs through the City’s Youth@Work program. Not only are we paying tens of thousands of dollars to someone who is doing no work for the City but our Youth Department has one less employee working to support the young people of our City. We have so many important challenges to address in New Haven; City Hall should spend money helping the youth be more active, not on adults being inactive.”
Mayor Harp responded by calling administrative leave the “appropriate personnel management” decision for a city staffer in the absence of an arrest or proven charges of misconduct.
“The presumption of innocence is a hallmark of the American way: Public-sector employment standards protect workers and are far more complex than this simplistic suggestion reflecting a naive misunderstanding of the responsibilities of mayor,” she said in a statement released by her office.