Former Chief of Staff to Mayor Ben Florsheim, Bobbye Knoll Peterson, has filed a complaint with Connecticut’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) alleging she was discriminated against by the city after she was not appointed to serve as director at two city departments, and claims she was retaliated against for speaking out against the nomination of a Republican to the city’s LGBTQ Commission.
Peterson documents in her complaint how she was asked to serve as Acting Director of Economic and Community Development from April 2022 until August 2023 and then served as Acting Director of Public Works from May 2025 until she resigned from the city in November 2025, which she labeled a “constructive discharge.”
Despite serving in these acting director roles, Peterson states she was never appointed permanent director by the city Common Council despite past practice of formally nominating and confirming previous acting directors as permanent directors, including Christopher Holden at Public Works and Joseph Samolis at Economic and Community Development.
Peterson alleges that despite the support of Mayor Florsheim, the city council “refused” to place her appointment as permanent director of Economic and Community Development on the agenda, and was, therefore, “denied the pay, permanence, and security afforded to similarly situated male employees.”
She claims that during her tenure as acting director of Public Works, “members of the Common Council increasingly interfered with my authority and subjected me to heightened scrutiny,” but never provided the “institutional support afforded to permanent department heads,” thus undermining her ability “to bring favorable outcomes to fruition.”
Peterson also claims her opposition to Republican Councilman Jonathan Pulino’s nomination by the Republican Town Committee to serve on an anti-racism task force for an LGBTQ Commission in 2023 led to her being denied a permanent role as director of Public Works.
“The lack of institutional support from the Respondent [city council], as well as continued refusal to pursue my appointments to permanent positions and ongoing undermining of my authority, all of which differed from my male predecessors, made my working conditions intolerable,” Peterson wrote in the May 23 complaint. “Based on the foregoing, the Respondent discriminated against me because of my sex and retaliated against me for my opposition to discriminatory conduct in denying me permanent director positions for which I was qualified and constructively discharging me.”
Pulino’s nomination to the task force and the commission garnered ample public outcry and news coverage as some individuals accused him of racism and homophobia based on segments of a cable access television show called the Variety Hour they considered bigoted, according to comments made to CT Insider.
Pulino, a former schoolteacher, was eventually denied placement on the task force and commission by Common Council Democrats, but Peterson claims the majority Democratic Council refused to appoint her director of Public Works because she opposed Pulino’s nomination.
“In November 2025, I was told by Acting Mayor Gene Nocera that the Common Council would not be acting on my appointment to the position of Director of Public Works,” Peterson wrote. “Acting Mayor Nocera specifically stated that this action was motivated, at least in part, by my prior opposition to Councilman Pulino’s discriminatory conduct.”
Florsheim’s nomination of Peterson to become permanent director of Economic and Community Development in 2022 received pushback from the Common Council because the position had not been posted to allow others to apply, setting off a debate between Mayor Florsheim and the Common Council.
In a letter cited by CT Insider at the time, Peterson noted that other nominations made by the mayor were “uncontested and unanimously approved.” Christine Marques was eventually nominated and approved in 2023 following a nationwide search.
The Public Works Department in Middletown has seen a flurry of directors and acting directors come and go in the past five years and has faced budget deficits and an unpopular and failed attempt to institute a Pay As You Throw trash program for the city’s sanitation district.
Peterson was appointed Acting Deputy Director of Public Works in March 2025 and then Acting Director in May 2025 following the resignation of acting director Harold Weissberg, who left for a state job. Mayor Florsheim resigned in June 2025 for personal reasons, and Gene Nocera took over as acting mayor until winning the vote in the 2025 municipal elections.
Peterson subsequently resigned in November 2025 and is now chief of staff for Hamden Mayor Adam Sendroff, as the town faces numerous difficult financial challenges.
After receiving a response to the allegations from the city, a CHRO official will determine whether there is reasonable cause to believe there was discrimination; if so, the case will be assigned a CHRO official to try to mediate a settlement before the case goes to a public hearing before a hearing officer. Complainants can also receive a release of jurisdiction to pursue their claims in court.
Mayor Nocera shared the complaint with members of the Common Council on June 24 to make them aware of the complaint and indicated in his email that “it would be premature to comment on the merits of the allegations,” and that “the complaint will proceed through the established process procedures.”
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