MDC Commissioner Andrew Adil outraged at the end of his son’s seasonal job the MDC. “Should not be doing business this way.”

Now and then, a story comes along that almost writes itself with primary documents. On Monday, October 16th, MDC Commissioner Andrew Adil sent an extraordinary email message to MDC CEO Scott Jellison. Adil complaining that his son Austin was suddenly terminated from the employment agency the MDC uses for seasonal conservation officers. The email is below and it tells a discouraging tale of entitlement and abuse of authority. It also reveals a misfire. 

Jellison’s reply, sent Tuesday afternoon, does not spare Adil or Austin. It sets forth the years MDC hired Austin. The message also discloses that claims for unemployment benefits by Austin and other temporary seasonal workers applied for and received unemployment benefits after the season ended. The MDC did not oppose their claims. 

As a result of those unemployment claims, the MDC switched to hiring seasonal workers through an employment agency. “MDC’s need for 2023 seasonal/temporary staff has ended,” Jellison writes to the grasping Adil. 

An intervention of this sort by a commissioner for his child (after six years of seasonal employment by MDC) ought to infuriate MDC commissioners, who are copied on Jellison’s carefully written and lethal message. This not how the regional water authority ought to work. Jellison kindly does not include the word grifter but it’s the only descriptive one he left out to rebuke and indict Adil. 

Adil was appointed to his MDC position by Governor Ned Lamont, who should demand his resignation by the time he reaches the end of this post. 

Andrew Adil’s email:

Scott, 

As you know, my son Austin was working with the temp agency that covered Reservoir 1 & 6 along with Barkhamsted.  He was grateful for the position and strived to be the best Conservation Officer they had.  

Late last week he was informed that the agency was no longer needed effective (essentially) immediately.  

Please provide me with a detailed explanation of how this occurred.  

As a Commissioner I’m deeply concerned and if this happened as I’m told it did, truthfully embarrassed to be part of an organization that would do that to a contractor which provided us with such excellent service.  In my son’s case, he never missed a day or work, even when he had woken up just hours before reporting to work suffering from food poisoning!  The people he worked with were very pleased with his work ethic and he is rewarded by being told last Thursday with essentially no notice that they had been terminated?  

I don’t believe that the MDC should not be doing business this way.  We have had an excellent reputation in the community for many many years.  I hope that this is not some indication of business methods to come.  Thank you.  

Sincerely,

Commissioner Adil 

Scott Jellison’s reply-which included the bold italics:

Commissioner,

Thank you for your email below, I apologize for the delayed response.

I am not sure what actions, if any, you are requesting of me as the CEO. You are an MDC Commissioner, and father of a seasonal/temporary summer employee retained by the MDC who was employed in the past through the MDC’s College Intern Program (2017-2020) and more recently through a private temporary employment agency (2022-2023).  I note that your email makes specific references to your son, his work attendance, his work ethic, and his “termination”. It is unclear to me whether your email is an attempt to influence my decisions as the CEO to make business decisions for the MDC, or merely informational. 

For years the MDC has retained college interns and seasonal/temporary staff. As noted, your son has benefited from this initiative. As I have done for many others, and without any guarantee of employment, I tried to guide you and your son with recommendations on which college courses and programs could help him qualify for applying to a permanent MDC position, including identifying minimum qualifications for taking and passing the CT DPH Water Treatment Operator certification test. 

And yet more recently, even though your son was no longer enrolled in college, and therefore not qualified to work under the MDC Intern summer program, at the request of others, MDC rehired your son in 2019 as seasonal/temporary summer staff at the Water Treatment Facility. 

In 2020, again at the request of others, Austin was hired as a seasonal/temporary summer Water Treatment Plant Maintainer thru August.

To our surprise, in September 2020, some of those individuals, including Austin, applied for and received unemployment benefits after only working 3-4 months for the MDC. While we did not contest the application for benefits, we addressed this situation prospectively by moving away from directly retaining part-time staff to working through a temporary employment agency. Contrary to your assumptions in your email, we continue to use a temp agency, which brings the added benefit of flexibility to add or reduce staffing levels, on a real-time basis, as necessary to meet the needs of the MDC.  Austin was, and I assume continues to be, employed by that same agency.

MDC’s need for 2023 seasonal/temporary staff has ended. This was an administrative business decision supported by the program’s administrator and based upon the resource needs of the MDC.

As to notice regarding your son’s “termination”,  as well as others which you haven’t raised the same concerns, because the needs of the MDC’s resources may change on a weekly, perhaps daily basis, there is no specific requirements of prior notice to the temp agency when we decide to increase or reduce temporary staff. In fact, one of the benefits of using a temp agency is the fact that they have staff readily available to meet our needs, and in turn, can reassign its personnel to other clients as necessary. 

For your information, MDC has been very consistent in reducing staff “termination” starting in September right after labor day.  This year 6 staff were secured through the temp agency and in September, 2 staff were relieved of duty, not Austin. As you indicated your son, as well as 2 other temp agency staff, were relieved of their duty last Friday, Oct 13, 2023. The remaining individual will also be relieved at the appropriate time in November.

I trust this addresses your concerns.

Thank you

Scott W. Jellison, P.E.

Jellison’s email does more than address Adil’s concerns. It raises far more serious ones for commission members, leaders of member towns and Governor Lamont.

Jellison leaves one question without an answer: Who are these “others”?

Published October 18, 2023.

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