Raising Eyebrows: McCaw Announces Appointment of Diamantis As OPM Deputy Secretary.
Office of Policy and Management (OPM) Secretary Melissa McCaw made a major announcement Wednesday. McCaw’s friend Konstantinos Diamantis will serve as her deputy undersecretary beginning Thursday. Diamantis has been at the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) overseeing the state’s school construction program.
Diamantis will be bringing the school construction program to DAS. That means political operator Robert Ficeto, who is a Diamantis subordinate at DAS, will be moving to OPM. McCaw’s decision to bring the DAS duo to OPM has caused concerns within the political and professional ranks of state government. McCaw’s oddly fulsome email announcing Diamantis’s appointment will do nothing to relax furrowed foreheads.
You can read the long announcement/testimonial/valentine here:
From: McCaw, Melissa <Melissa.McCaw@ct.gov
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 4:12 PM
To: OPM-DL OPM All Staff <OPM-DLOPMAllStaff@ct.gov>
Subject: Agency Appointment
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis as Deputy Secretary for the Office of Policy and Management.
Kosta brings a unique and diverse background and skillset to his position as Deputy Secretary, with over 30 years of experience combined in the public and private sectors; practicing law, serving in the state legislature, and most recently, working at the Department of Administrative Services. Throughout these experiences, he has developed a deep understanding of the legal, legislative, policy, financial, and operational functions of state government and his role in strategic negotiations makes him uniquely qualified to support me and the Office of Policy and Management.
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis as Deputy Secretary for the Office of Policy and Management.
Kosta holds a J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law School and was a sole practitioner for over 28 years. His practice focused on criminal defense, including work in juvenile court, abuse neglect cases, and contracts. Additionally, Kosta served in the General Assembly from 1992 through 2006, and followed with a role as Special Counsel to the Speaker of the House James Amann. During his legislative tenure, he was named House Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee and served as the House Subcommittee Chair of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Judicial and Corrections. His legislative work also includes service on various committees, such Executive and Legislative Nominations, Insurance, and Health and Human Services. Kosta will immediately begin to support the agency’s work in the areas of Intergovernmental, Criminal Justice, Capital and other programs and policy.
Some of you may know Kosta from his time at DAS, where he previously served as the Director of School Construction, Grants and Review and most recently the Director of Construction Management. Together with his team, he continues the mission to provide adequate learning environments and facilities to meet the programmatic needs for our students as well provide state of the art facilities, while simultaneously maintaining frugality with state resources and over time reducing the annual outlay of required bond allocations from $850 million to under $500 million through active management of design, construction process, change order review, site review and payments.
In order to ensure the cost efficiencies in administering the school construction program and consistent with OPM’s responsibility to administer various municipal grants and municipal aid programs, Kosta will continue to supervise the school construction program, whose staff will be relocated from DAS to OPM in the near future. For this reason, Kosta’s functional title will be Deputy Secretary for the Office of Policy and Management and Director of School Construction Grants, Review and Audit. In addition, efforts will be made in the upcoming legislative session to transfer the statutory responsibility for the administration of school construction grants from DAS to OPM. The OSCGR unit and function will leverage synergies with OPM’s extensive work supporting our municipalities.
Please join me in welcoming Kosta to OPM effective Thursday, November 21 and wish him success in his new role. I am confident I can count on each of you to orient Kosta to our great agency and the important work we do in the service of our great State. Without a doubt, he will come to know and appreciate the outstanding expertise and team members we are fortunate to have in OPM.
Best regards,
Melissa
McCaw’s plan to win retroactive legislative approval of her de facto transfer of the administration of school construction grants from DAS to OPM may prompt considerable scrutiny. Diamantis will not need to spend much time getting to know and appreciate team members at OPM. McCaw’s tribute announcement suggests the synergies are ready to launch.
The position was briefly held at the start of the Lamont administration by Natalie Wagner.