Norwalk's public works director fired

NORWALK — Wally Ritchie has been fired as Norwalk public works director. Ritchie, who was named to the position in February, was let go last week by Mayor Dave Light. The mayor said he was the culmination of multiple issues that led to this decision. Calls to Ritchie went unanswered. Light, who was elected in November, was trying to learn his way around the city after being elected but within a few weeks, issues were brought to his attention. Daren Smith, superintendent of general services, Aaron Osborn, the assistant superintendent, and Ritchie all met with Light to discuss the issues occurring. Light said Ritchie was spending a lot of time at general services, despite having his place at city hall. "Daren was trying to run the place and Wally would interfere and move things around budget-wise without telling them," Light said. "They'd go to do a project somewhere and there's no money to do it. They would try to talk to him about it and he made it clear to them that he was still the boss." Light said he sat them all down and explained their job descriptions and the importance of teamwork. Early in the year, before COVID-19, Light asked all the department heads in the city to pull back on their budgets and asked for an inventory of what departments would need that year. Light and law director Stuart O'Hara were called to general services, where the meeting room was "full of box after box after box" of bright green safety shirts, over 900 short-sleeved shirts. "Now you only have 16 people working there and some part-time (workers). There's no need for that many of (shirts)," Light said. "In two years, he spent of $44,000 in lime green safety equipment. They already had enough. But he kept spending and spending and spending." Light said Ritchie had the mentality "if he doesn't spend it, he won't get it next year." One issue arose from a reindeer display that Stan Obrenovich purchased. The display was used in Norwalk's Christmas parade but for a few years, the display had been missing. Once Light was sworn in as mayor, Obrenovich asked him to find out what happened to his reindeer. Around the same time, Light had ordered an inventory log. At general services, Ritchie's computer had images of him with the reindeer display in his personal pick up truck and at his property. "At the same time, they were missing the two Surface Pros, and these are like an iPad, that you use out in the field on the job site," Light said. He sent an email to Ritchie, requesting the items to be returned. A few weeks later, Light had to ask Ritchie again to return the items and Ritchie returned one Surface Pro and the hot-spot. Ritchie also purchased more safety equipment but wrote the check before receiving it. "In the government's spending, you would never pay for anything until you have it in hand. To put in a giant order like that and then have the city pay for it like you received it, that's a huge, huge problem." Another issue that arose was Ritchie using the city's trash trucks and receptacles for his personal garbage. "What Wally had been doing bringing his personal trash bags in and throwing in the dumpster and there's a picture of him doing their security cameras," Light said. He then had general services lock up the area so it was inaccessible to Ritchie. Later, trash bags were found at the parks department. "The guys doing barrel runs will see the whole bag so they would open it up to see who it was. And here's Wally's personal mail and stuff in there," he said. Light then had a meeting with police chief Mike Conney, Sgt. Jim Fulton and Det. Seth Fry to discuss the issue. They decided to contact the attorney general's office, which sent an agent from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth assisted BCI when they searched Ritchie's residence for any city property. Sigsworth said he returned to Ritchie's residence when they retrieved the decorative reindeer display. Light said this was three or four weeks ago, and when BCI searched his property, Light told Ritchie he was being put on paid administrative leave. "All this stuff put together, between him bringing the trash in, all this mismanagement of city funds with thousands of dollars worth of T-shirts. He's a department head. He knows better than this," Light said. Light said there also were issues with how the city bids out projects. Ritchie started working for the city in 1991 and became the general services superintendent in 2014. He has been the interim public works director since May 2019, when Josh Snyder left the position. Light, in February, said Ritchie has been doing an "outstanding job" in this position and "will now fill the role permanently." He was named employee of the month in October 2019 and received his plaque from Light in February. "He's probably one of the hardest working people I've ever met. He did a lot of good things for the city over the years. He worked endlessly on city projects and he knew a lot about the city," Light said in February. "I respected his knowledge and his work ethic." Light said this situation has been a learning experience for him. For the moment, Light doesn't plan to fill the public works director position. "We'll probably let the dust settle and sit back and take a look at the position," he said. "Thankfully, we have finished a lot of the big projects."