What appeared to be a routine meeting of the Middletown Retirement Board on August 12 ended with Retirement Board Chairman Steven Gomes stepping down amid a fiery rant against some of his fellow board members, including Mayor Ben Florsheim, accusing them of “defaming” his wife.
“I’m speaking to those three individuals who are defaming my wife,” Gomes said, as board member Vinny Loffredo tried to shut down further discussion saying Gomes was out of order. “They have disparaged my wife in public meetings and in emails.”
“I want to let you all know that I’m not going to forget what you guys did,” Gomes said, as he appeared to single out Florsheim, according to the meeting recording. “I just want to make sure you know that you’re not going to get away with it and neither are you guys.”
Gomes had been with the Retirement Board since 1993, but as of late, has had some disagreements with city officials that have spilled over into his personal life. He had been critical of the city’s deal with former fire chief Robert Kronenberger to manage the Keating building as a city-owned small business incubator. Gomes had attempted to start a bottle redemption business in the Keating building after being awarded federal coronavirus relief dollars but met with stalling and pushback from the city and Kronenberger, ultimately forcing him to drop his plans and lose money.
And while those disagreements and disappointments with city officials may have contributed to Gomes’ overall frustration, ultimately his focus during the heated exchange was on his wife, a former budget analyst for the city who retired and now, apparently, continues to collect a paycheck from the city through some other form of employment.
In an email exchange between Gomes and Middletown city attorneys Brig Smith and Kori Wisnewski – both of whom were present during the August 12 Retirement Board meeting — Gomes continually challenged the attorneys’ argument that the city’s deal with Kronenberger did not violate the city’s pension rules because he was an independent contractor.
Gomes continued to press Smith and Wisnewski, arguing the city was not responding to information requests submitted by Retirement Board members, and ultimately saying Wisnewski had a “conflict of interest” in deciding the matter because two of her supervisors, Mayor Florsheim and Bobbye Knoll Peterson, had signed off on the contract.
Smith disputed that in an email dated June 30, 2024, and asserted that Gomes “issued a threat to Rob Kronenberger and others in an email to various City officials on October 2, 2023, in which you stated that you will ‘be holding those city officials whose actions sabotaged [the business you hoped to open at Keating] accountable,’ which according to you included Rob, and then brought up this issue about Rob’s contract to the Pension Board a month later.”
“Second, although you are challenging Rob’s ability to work for the City after his retirement, it is worth noting that your wife also receives a paycheck from the City and also collects a pension,” Smith continued. “To the extent you see an issue with the former, why wouldn’t you see one with the latter?”
Gomes’ wife, while retired, has a part-time position with the city’s Office of Emergency Management, working under Kronenberger, who heads up the office on a part-time basis. Part-time city employment for retirees is allowed under the city’s pension rules, and Retirement Board members have only raised the issue of Kronenberger’s management of the Keating building, saying it amounts to full-time employment.
It is unknown what preceded Gomes’ resignation at the end of the Retirement Board meeting as one audio file cuts out following discussion of the agenda items, and the second audio file appears to begin part-way through Gomes’ comments. Meeting minutes only state that Gomes announced his resignation from the board.
Requests for comments to all members of the Retirement Board were not returned; Gomes’ did not return request for comment, either.
“I’m just letting you know that I’m resigning anyway,” Gomes said after some back and forth. “Because I don’t agree with these people. They are liars. The only time they open their mouth is when they lie.”
“You’re all a disgrace,” Gomes said.
Was this article helpful?
Topics on this page
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
