The divisive political scene in Southington is getting tenser this month with Democrats and Republicans arguing on social media about the departure of dozens of municipal workers as well as the unusual federal lawsuit by a local business claiming harassment by town government.
Democrats are largely blaming both matters on the Republican team that’s been running the town for the past six years, while the local GOP dismisses the controversies as pre-election campaign ploys to make its candidates look bad.
The newest skirmish is over the roughly 50 municipal employees who retired or quit during the past couple of years, a number that Democratic leaders said seems excessive for a community with only 200 workers.
Democratic councilors in September proposed a formal study of why so many are leaving, but Republicans on the council said the figure isn’t out of line with other towns — and accused Democrats of raising the topic for political gain since Election Day is only weeks away.
“Instead of focusing on constructive ideas, the Democrats and others have chosen a different path. Their campaign strategy has been to sling mud, spread negativity and launch personal attacks in an effort to distract voters,” the Republican Town Committee said in a statement Friday on Facebook.
“These efforts are designed to divide our town and discredit Republican candidates rather than address the real issues facing Southington,” it said.
The Democratic Town Committee sees it differently.
“Southington has seen an out-of-control loss of Town Hall employees. Replacing staff is costly and disrupts the services families rely on,” it said in a recent Facebook post. “Our Democratic town councilors called for an outside audit to get to the bottom of what’s driving turnover. In sharp contrast, Republican councilors chose denial over solutions.
“Taxpayers deserve answers and solutions, not to have their elected officials bury their heads in the sand,” it said.
Peter Rappoccio at Sign Pro’s headquarters in Southington. (Don Stacom/The Hartford Courant)
Republicans have argued that at least half of the staff departures are retirements rather than resignations, and Town Manager Alex Ricciardone on Friday said a short spike in retirements was expected because a state law reduced some benefits for workers leaving after July 1.
“Southington’s 2025 retirement numbers are just like the state of Connecticut’s when it encountered a ‘retirement tsunami’ in 2022,” he said in answer to a question from The Courant.
Democrats contend the retirement situation still doesn’t address the jump in resignations. And Peter Rappoccio, a prominent local business owner and plaintiff in a lawsuit against the town and several officials including Republican council Chairman Paul Chaplinsky and former Chairman Victoria Triano, agrees.
“Stay tuned. More to come. I always supported, communicated with staff and continue to stand behind the many dedicated employees,” Rappoccio posted on Facebook after news of the employee departures got out in late September. He called on workers who left under bad circumstances to tell the council.
“Stand together and call this out. No hearsay but strictly facts. Stand up and voice it with facts that have affected your resignation, termination or forced retirement,” he wrote.
His post on at least two Southington community pages drew dozens of combative comments, some slamming Republican councilors for an alleged cover-up, others describing Democrats as political opportunists, and a third group either supporting or criticizing Rappoccio himself.
Soon after, Stacey Dolan, an administrator of the Southington Talks page on Facebook, publicly questioned why more people aren’t discussing Rappoccio’s lawsuit.
“I can’t wrap my head around something happening in town that no one seems to be talking about. Right now, we have four current or former council members, the town attorney, now the town manager all being sued — not just for their official actions, but personally,” she wrote.
“Some of these same individuals — who are currently named in a federal lawsuit for alleged wrongdoing — are still in positions of authority, making decisions that affect all of us. And some even have the audacity to run for office again.”
Rappoccio is suing the town and several individual defendants in federal court alleging that Southington leaders hurt his company by letting competitors skip the usual permit process when installing large outdoor signs.
“There are strict licensing requirements for work done in connection with the installation of any sign that requires electrical wiring or is capable of being connected to existing electrical terminals,” the lawsuit states.
SignPro headquarters in Southington. (Don Stacom/The Hartford Courant)
“Other sign installers in the town of Southington do not comply with — and indeed openly disobey — these regulations. They install signs without permits and without licenses and falsely tell business owners that they can do the job for less money because the permits and licenses are not required.
“This puts SignPro at a competitive disadvantage. SignPro advises potential clients that it will need to comply with local rules and regulations, even if this means additional time and cost to the project.”
Rappoccio contends that after he and his employees complained to the local building department, his company was targeted for harassment. Requests for permits began taking far longer to answer, and the 15,000-square-foot addition to his business headquarters was needlessly delayed, he contends.
Town leaders then began making it harder for him to win local contracts, he said.
Rappoccio said he employs about 70 people and has been a good corporate member of the community. He emphasized that he hasn’t been engaged politically in town, and doesn’t know why SignPro has been singled out for retaliation over the past few years.
Ricciardone referred all questions about the SignPro suits to the town’s defense lawyers, who did not respond to an email. Most councilors did not reply to a request for comment about the litigation, but a few did.
“This is definitely an unfortunate issue for both the town and the plaintiff. SignPro and its president, Mr. Rappoccio, were good corporate citizens in Southington and made a large commercial investment to move their headquarters here. I hope that after the lawsuit is resolved there is a way to repair that relationship,” Republican William Dziedzic said.
“It is not a secret that under the prior town manager, the building department was poorly managed. However, they treated many companies poorly, not just SignPro,” Dziedzic said. “And being treated poorly by the building department itself doesn’t give rise to a claim for a monetary award. It should be noted that the new town manager completely reshaped the building department and from a personal perspective is significantly better. ”
Democrat Councilor Christopher Palmieri said his caucus wanted to look into the wave of departures after the Sept. 8 council meeting.
“A retired employee came forward and spoke publicly about culture and morale within town hall,” he said.
The town doesn’t do exit interviews with employees who put in their retirement papers, said Palmieri, and that should change.
“Best practice is to conduct exit interviews with all employees leaving employment, regardless of the reason,” he said. “Every employee who has served this community has valuable insight to share, and we should be listening.”
Chaplinsky attributed the controversy to the election, saying “It is solely for political purposes and to build a false narrative during an election season. The Republicans will stay focused on the progress being made in Southington, which will continue under Republican leadership.
“As for the SignPro litigation, the only thing I will say at this time is that the matter is completely unrelated and the town will continue to vigorously defend the case in the courtroom where the matter belongs,” Chaplinsky said.
