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Health & Fitness

Board of Selectmen Meeting April 8, 2013 My Comments

      Board of Selectmen – April 8, 2013 At the last Board of Selectmen meeting, I was surprised that Deputy Selectman, Lisa Heavner needed an opinion from the Town Attorney to interpret what 411 clearly stated in the Town Charter pertaining to the prohibition of Selectmen giving orders to any administrative officer. Only the First Selectman can give directions to staff. February 27, 2013 I filed an FOI complaint asking for all emails and other materials sent to and from Lisa Heavner to certain administrative officers of the town and to date, I have not received the information. If I don’t receive these files I will have to file a complaint with the FOI Commission. At the last meeting First Selectman Mary Glassman stated that it might be a good idea to open the town owned Baker Property near the Farmington River for Trails. It appears that most of the land abutting the Farmington River from Route 44 on Nod Road to Route 315 Bridge in Tariffville are designated hunting areas owned by the State. There are 315 acres at the Tariffville Triangle abutting Pharos Farm, 137 acres abutting the Bike Trail at Tower Park and 50 acres at Route 185 bridge.  I took pictures of the signs that are posted near the Trails.  Would the Baker property be in close proximity to the State hunting area? Is hunting land compatible with bike and walking trails?  Since there is hunting all year round do these trails place the public in danger? Recently there was an article by Jon Lender questioning the need to exempt a weapon offender registry from becoming public. I would like to know why gun permits are exempt from the public. Years ago these permits were available to the public and then the law changed. I was told that they exempted the gun permits from the public because criminals would know where guns were available. Now that there is a proliferation of gun permits maybe there are more gun permits than bad guys. It is time to once again allow the public to access gun permits. The law must be changed to protect the innocent. If the parents in Newtown could access the gun permit files, maybe they would have avoided the massacre. The public has a right to know.  I am very concerned that the taxpayers are continually asked to pay millions of dollars for studies, charettes and designs that are never implemented. The town has continually hired consultants to review the town organization and all the studies stated that Simsbury should have a town manager form of government. First Selectman Mary Glassman ran on the platform of having a Town Manager for Simsbury and since she has been elected she forgot her promise to her constituents. We not only don’t have professional management we have a First Selectman with a six figure salary delegating all her responsibilities to a pseudo-town manager as stated in the approved Charter Revision, Chapter V, Section 502 Duties. Once again First Selectman Mary Glassman is spending taxpayer money on issues that are out of her control. The taxpayers funded a whim of a purchase of the Simsbury Airport that would lose over $200,000 a year and the owners were not interested in selling. Now Glassman has appropriated over $30,000 to study what to do with The Hartford building when it becomes vacant. First Selectman Mary Glassman has no control on the decisions of the shareholders and the President of The Hartford. Although The Hartford is one of the highest taxpayers, the town has no control of The Hartford’s bottom line.  The Hartford building will probably be demolished and they will take over $46 million dollars off their balance sheet and $1.7 million of taxes as did Aetna and Pfizer.  The taxpayers should not support another whim for political capital. I would suggest that the board treat the $96,000 boom mower as a CNR expenditure and ask that Mr. Toner pay back to the taxpayers that amount as other CNR projects are funded. I have reviewed that Annual Report for Squadron Line School and found many issues that need immediate consideration from the teachers. There were concerns about using old technology that is so  old it doesn’t work. Bathrooms that are in such poor physical condition and smell, students refuse to use them. Drop off and pick up are dangerous, lack of communication between staff and administration, curriculum is too rigid, books are outdated, concerns about lack of paraprofessionals, heating and cooling school an issue, too much paperwork, need for mentoring for teachers, support for initiatives lacking, students support deficient, school dirty and unhealthy, work overload. These concerns seem to be prevalent at all the schools. Now that there is a new Superintendent and a new Principal at Squadron Line, there should be improvements. Tuesday, April 9 is a budget hearing at the High School. The budgets as presented are inconsistent with the economic times. There is a reduction in the collection of $360,907,557. Assessments are reduced on average 13.88%. The Simsbury Farms Fund is deficient by $96,374 and the town continually adds money from the taxpayers to make the supposedly self-sufficient fund whole. Why has the Town continually placed $50,000 in the town budget for Main Street Partnership, a non-profit organization? Although they do an important job, they should be subsidized by the Chamber of Commerce, not the taxpayers. The actuarial assumptions used for funding the pension funds are over exuberant.  The town had assumed a 7.5% return on investments but changed that figure to 7%, still too high. It also assumes a projected salary increase by 4%. This is not attainable in the economic climate, leaving our pension funds deficient. Investments are down, revenues are down, property values are down. There are over 700 residents unemployed in Simsbury as of January and that doesn’t include college graduates who can’t find jobs and those either no longer looking for employment or underemployed.  Foreclosures are up. The banks pay the taxes on the foreclosed houses but empty houses cannot spend money leaving our businesses with fewer customers and neighborhoods blighted. Any increase in the budget is unacceptable.  I will vote NO on the budgets as presented. I recently jogged past the barns on Firetown Road north of Barn Door Hills and saw cut wires on an electrical box that was open as these pictures show. It appears that these wires might be live.  Someone should be alerted to check out these wires.

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