A high-ranking town official in Fairfield is out of the job after an audit raised concern about his purchase of a well-equipped sport utility vehicle for his own use.
The audit found David Becker violated a town purchasing policy in acquiring the SUV, which he drove in his capacity as Fairfield’s emergency management director.
Becker also serves as Fairfield’s chief operating officer, and at the time of the purchase, was interim chief fiscal officer (CFO) for the community.
Documents obtained by Connecticut Public show Becker had the 2024 Chevrolet Suburban upgraded with communications equipment and other gear, bringing its total cost to more than $140,000.
In his role as interim CFO, Becker personally signed a form that authorized the purchase, known as a pink voucher, bypassing a more rigorous procurement process that requires competitive bidding or the use of a state contract.
The audit has sparked sharp criticism from members of the Board of Finance, one of whom is calling for a deeper investigation of the circumstances. Board member Amy Ruggiero said she believes Becker should have disclosed the purchase during budget hearings earlier in the year.
“It's completely a misappropriation of funds, because we really can't justify the value of this car,” Ruggiero said.
“The dollar amount is completely shocking,” said fellow Republican board member Jim Walsh. “I think our entire board was completely shocked. And we were also shocked by him … being able to get around all the controls that were in place.”
In a surprise announcement, First Selectman Christine Vitale said during Tuesday’s Board of Finance meeting that Becker had resigned from his position as chief operating officer, revealing the information in the midst of a contentious discussion about the audit.
Becker had already vacated the emergency management director role on Sept. 8, according to Vitale. The town’s acting fire chief is now filling those duties.
In an interview Thursday morning, Vitale said Becker would remain on the job for a period of up to four weeks to help wind down his responsibilities with the town. A town spokesperson later said Becker’s employment will end at the close of business on Friday.
Becker did not respond to requests for comment.
Vitale, a Democrat, took over the first selectman role from Bill Gerber in late June. Gerber stepped down after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, then died July 15 following brain surgery.
Since assuming the role, Vitale said she has taken numerous steps to address deficiencies that surfaced in the audit, including misuse of the pink voucher system.
“Transparency and accountability are the bedrock of good government, and a promise that I made to our public,” Vitale said. “So I wanted to make sure that we were moving forward with the audit recommendations.”
Future of emergency management
The town purchased the emergency management vehicle from Maritime Chevrolet for a base price of $73,687.85, according to the audit. Records show it then underwent $67,286.52 worth of upgrades, ranging from installing Starlink satellite connectivity to applying a layer of dark powder coating to the wheels.
At a meeting last week, Vitale said the vehicle is designed to function as a “mini command post,” which can be mobilized to address a range of emergencies. She said Becker decided what equipment to purchase, as the town doesn't currently have a policy regarding so-called “upfitting” of vehicles.
"My understanding was that this car was chosen both to accommodate a wide variety of functions, have more space for equipment and look to the future for the services that we want to provide to our emergency management officers,” she said last week.
The SUV is one of five vehicles purchased with pink vouchers during the last fiscal year. They replaced police department vehicles that were totaled.
Pink vouchers allow town staff to spend funds without creating purchase requisitions or purchase orders. Town documents show the pink voucher system, in place since at least the early 1990s, was intended to decrease paperwork for smaller purchases. A policy restricted their use to a list of allowable expenses, including travel and petty cash reimbursements, webinar registration fees and attorney invoices.
In recent months, the town has largely scrapped the pink voucher system after another audit showed widespread compliance problems.
Purchasing policies
Becker began working for the town as a senior analyst in January 2024, and took over as interim CFO soon after. His scope of responsibility expanded in June 2024 when he was additionally named chief operating officer. By October 2024, Becker had also assumed the role of director of emergency services, a position that permitted him to have a take-home town vehicle for his personal use within the state.
For a time, Becker used a spare Chevy Tahoe from the police fleet. A voucher form shows he purchased a new SUV to replace it on or around Oct. 11, 2024. It underwent upgrades and was put in service around April 2025, town officials said.
The town’s internal auditor determined all five vehicle acquisitions made with pink vouchers were “contrary to the rules and parameters governing the types of payments that can be made by Town departments using this method.”
The town’s purchasing policy requires the use of a purchase order, and a formal bid process, or the use of a state or town contract with an approved vendor, according to the audit.
Members of the Board of Finance have also questioned the propriety of Becker authorizing the purchase in his capacity as interim CFO, given that the vehicle was intended for his personal use.
While serving as interim CFO last year, Becker was required to approve all pink voucher purchases over $2,500, according to town records. Both he and the town’s former budget director signed the voucher authorizing the purchase of the emergency management vehicle.
Vitale said she believes there’s some “gray area” in the town’s policies, but she believes it would have been best practice for Becker to seek approval from the town’s first selectman for the vehicle purchase.
She added that Becker was strongly focused on compliance during his time with the town, and implemented systems to make purchasing more transparent and accountable, including helping to introduce new software to manage contracts.
"It's really just unfortunate in this instance — and I can't speak to his mindset, or what the atmosphere was at the time — that he just signed it, thinking that, 'I'm obviously the CFO, the interim CFO, and the interim CFO signs pink vouchers,'" Vitale said.
EMS around the region
The audit shows the total cost of the emergency management vehicle far exceeded the price of 24 other police and fire vehicles purchased by Fairfield during the last budget year. They ranged on the high end from $87,587.19 for a Chevrolet Tahoe used by fire administration, to $47,194.00 for a Chrysler Pacifica for the police detective bureau, with all equipment and upgrades included.
The price tag for Fairfield's emergency management vehicle was also an outlier when looking at comparable communities. Audit records show vehicles driven by emergency management officials in Westport, Greenwich, Trumbull and West Hartford range in price from $40,000 to $80,432.60.
Although the work is largely done, the town has yet to pay for "upfitting" of the emergency management vehicle, according to the audit. To date, there is no purchase requisition, purchase order or payment to the vendor shown in the town's accounting system.
Work was done by a company called NorcomCT. The company has provided the town with two outstanding invoices.
A company representative declined to answer questions about the project or the procurement process. He said the business doesn’t typically discuss the radio communication systems of its customers, which it considers sensitive information.
The town’s auditor and members of the Board of Finance have also questioned why the emergency management SUV and some police vehicles were purchased with money from the town’s Internal Service Fund. The town has no policy governing the use of the fund, though it’s typically used for expenses related to risk management and insurance proceeds.
Walsh, the Board of Finance member, said the board this week requested a separate audit of the fund.
Vitale, the first selectman, said the emergency management vehicle has been transferred to the police department for future use.
“Mistakes can happen,” she said. “We're going to work together to correct them, and that's what I'm trying to do right now."
