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Hartford City Council Will Be Regularly Informed On Incentive Program

JEFFREY B. COHEN

November 24, 2009

HARTFORD — - The city council would get regular information about payouts under an incentive program that gives thousands of dollars each year to city employees under a plan proposed by Mayor Eddie A. Perez.

The program made news this summer when Perez gave his Chief of Staff Matt Hennessy an $11,450 bonus just as Hennessy was leaving his job. Perez ordered a "top-down review of the program," which was completed in October and which, among other things, called for payments such as Hennessy's to be returned.

On Monday, the city council began its consideration of a measure that Perez introduced to reform the program. If adopted, the measure would guarantee quarterly reports to the city council about the incentive payments — but it would give the council no oversight authority, as Councilman Matt Ritter had originally suggested. As it stands, the proposal makes no reference to forbidding payments like the one made to Hennessy. Ritter said he would likely amend the measure to include such a provision