UB property buy violates city charter, leaders say

 

BRIDGEPORT REPORT

 

   By Reginald Johnson

 

  BRIDGEPORT ----- The administration of Mayor Joseph P. Ganim violated the city charter by failing to secure City Council approval for spending $6 million to purchase property from the University of Bridgeport to build the new Bassick High School.

 That’s the view of several current and former City Council members, who commented on the decision of the school building committee last year to pay the University of Bridgeport $6 million in order to acquire a parcel off Broad Street to build the new $115 million facility.

  The officials said that the committee, which is a subcommittee of the City Council composed of both administration officials and Board of Education officials, did not have the authority on its own to spend the money.

  Councilwoman Maria Pereira, D-138, said the charter is clear on this issue.

 “It is land acquisition. If you look at the city charter there is only one entity that could purchase municipal land or sell municipal land and that’s the City Council. I don’t care whether they want to sell a $40,000 a lot, or whatever, it has to go through the City Council that’s the law.” she said.

 Pereira said that originally in 2017 the City Council authorized a $27.5 million bond for construction of a new Bassick and it didn’t include anything for land acquisition, as there was consideration for building a new high school at the existing city-owned site on Fairfield Avenue. She said that later in early 2020 finance officials asked for an additional $5 million for the project, citing increased costs, but nothing was mentioned about land acquisition.

 “We weren’t informed --- it was never brought up,” Pereira said. “And clearly they already knew in February that they were going to pursue purchasing that land (at UB) for $5 million, okay, and they were hiding it. So this is all secretive.”

  Pereira continued, “until they have a press conference on July 6 last year with UB acknowledging that they were going to move Bassick there, I as an elected official had absolutely no idea this was going on. None.”

 Former councilmember and state representative Chris Caruso also said that the City Council should have reviewed the expenditure before it was approved since councilmembers “have budgetary responsibility for all the expenditures of the Corporation, in this case the city.”

  “And a committee of the Council cannot waive that responsibility,” Caruso said.  

 Some councilmembers and other individuals are reportedly in the process of filing a lawsuit to have the purchase reversed and an order be given that the Council review any land acquisition payment before it is made. However, it could not be confirmed that any court filing has actually taken place so far.

 Councilwoman Aidee Nieves, D-137, president of the City Council and also chairman of the school building committee, could not be reached for comment on the Bassick-UB issue.

 The purchase of the property at UB and payment to the university comes at a time when the University of Bridgeport --- which has been in financial trouble in recent years --- is about to be taken over by Goodwin University of East Hartford.

  Goodwin is partnering with Paier College of Hamden to buy UB, pending the granting of all needed accreditations.

The University of Bridgeport

 There has been significant criticism from leaders in the community about the Goodwin merger, with concerns being raised about whether Goodwin is strong enough academically to take over the University of Bridgeport. Officials of the NAACP and minority members on the city Council are also worried that the minority community will not be served by the new university.

  There is also some suspicion about Goodwin’s intentions in buying UB, with leaders such as the Rev. D. Stanley Lord, the president of the Bridgeport NAACP, saying that the upstate college is interested in acquiring valuable waterfront real estate and then profiting from selling properties later on.

 Goodwin officials have vehemently denied that claim and said they are only interested in building a strong academic institution in Bridgeport.

  Goodwin is intending to spend $52 million to acquire UB and is obtaining financing from Citizens Bank. Citizens Bank in turn has agreed to write off $30 million of UB debt.

  The property deed that was filed with the Town Clerk’s office regarding the property transaction for the new high school has raised some eyebrows. The deed in question says that the university was giving the land to the City of Bridgeport for one dollar, not $6 million.

  John Weldon, the chairman of the Bridgeport Board of Education and a member of the school building committee, said he did not know why the deed was written the way it was. “I can’t speak to what the rationale would be for that.  It’s just more like a legalese question. I’m sure there’s a rationale. I just don’t know what it is.” he said.

   Meanwhile, community leaders and city councilmembers are criticizing Mayor Ganim and Robert Berchem, head of the UB Board of Trustees, for being in a conflict over the Bassick situation and UB.

  “I think what we have here is the chair of UB is Bob Berchem with Berchem and Moses law firm. They are the law firm for the Board of Education that Joe Ganim got in there for them and they get millions from the city on an annual basis,” said Pereira. “So he’s chairman of the board of UB, he co-chaired a major fundraiser for Joe Ganim at Brewport when Joe Ganim was running for mayor in 2019 and Joe Ganim is serving as an adjunct professor at UB and serving on their board. So this is rife with conflict, right?”  

  Berchem could not be reached for comment about the Bassick property acquisition by the city and the claims about a conflict of interest.

 Ganim, as well, has not been available for comment.

  Caruso said that if the charter was violated with the Bassick property acquisition,  it isn’t the first time. “Time and time again you’ve seen it.  You saw it with the selection of a police chief, with the mayor just ignoring the charter. You see it with the civil service system and acting positions are created rather than permanent positions, again in violation of the charter.

 “And the list goes on and on,” Caruso said. “As long as this frankly lawlessness exists then you can’t expect too much, you can’t get too upset. Because frankly the people that are responsible to be the loyal opposition, to be that oversight, are MIA, they are missing in action.”

 In other developments at UB, Councilman Jorge Cruz, D-131, was unsuccessful recently in trying to get the Council to approve setting up a task force to study the idea of the city taking over the University of Bridgeport.

 Cruz, who has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the Goodwin merger, proposed a resolution to set up a task force in the council’s education and social services committee “to review and recommend specific strategies to acquire the charter and assets of the University of Bridgeport…”

  However, Cruz withdrew his resolution when the city attorney advised that such a task force would not be appropriate. Other councilmembers also were not receptive to the idea of a public takeover, Cruz said.

 The city attorney did say however that it would be possible to set up an informational session in which there could be a discussion of ways that the city might assist the University of Bridgeport achieve better management.

The South End councilman said he is disappointed that the mayor and other members of the council are not more receptive to the idea of a public takeover, which he thinks would be doable.

“It would be like CUNY,” said Cruz, referring to the publicly owned City University of New York.