Board of Selectmen Meeting February 24, 2014 My Comments

Board of Selectmen February 24, 2014

I recently had an opportunity to sit in on a meeting of all groups that are required to receive approval of the town’s gathering permit.  It appeared that the volunteers were clueless as to the requirements of approval of the gathering permit process.  There was discussion from the Health District about the need to provide proper food preparation when distributing food to large groups of people. It appears that food had to be tossed because it was spoiled during the Septemberfest.  The Health District sends a staff member to all events that sells or distributes food at a great cost to the Health District to oversee these events , they should be reimbursed for their time.  There was discussion about the St. Mary’s Carnival not having onsite water during the event.  There was concern about food vendors not having appropriate permits. There was also discussion about serious issues relating to the triathlon that were not addressed for public safety, tents and food preparation.   With the increase in events requiring public safety, the police department is being stretched to the limit. Tom Vincent, manager of the Performing Arts stated that Willie Nelson will be signed for a concert at the same date of the High School graduation, if there are more snow days. It appears to me that the PAC is a private organization using town facilities that was constructed with taxpayer’s money and town events should have first preference. There have been many discussions that the Willie Nelson concert is synonymous with marijuana use. How can our small police department enforce the marijuana laws? Are people going to get high from secondary smoke? Does the police department have to rent a trailer to process the illegal use of marijuana? How can this concert be approved at $154 for a lawn ticket at a Simsbury event? The fee schedule for events should be reviewed since the cost of using the taxpayers property   is below the costs of other towns. The taxpayers should not pay for resources used by out of town associations. Imputed costs should be added to all events, paid by the associations asking to use our resources.  Since Mr. Toner, Director of Recreation and his staff, is now assigned to review and approve gathering permits, staff time spent for review of the process should be paid by the event planner on an hourly basis

With the approval of the distribution of Marijuana in Canton and the approval of the Marijuana factory at 100 Grist Mill Road, the Farmington Valley has become the marijuana capital of Connecticut.  This factory is situated next to an upscale rental community and the High School.  With the increase in the distribution of Marijuana, next to the High School, Simsbury High School could have a new meaning?   We were told that the Simsbury factory will have 24/7 security. Do the residents of Simsbury want to have assault weapons in clear site of a residential community? These pictures are from a CNBC investigation, “Cannabust: From crackdown to corporate profits,  “ show the security guards with assault weapons in full site. Is this the Character of Simsbury? According to reports,  “Colorado  expects to take in $184 million in tax revenue from marijuana in the first 18 months after legislation…and much of that money will be funneled into teaching kids to stay away from pot. The committee projects revenue of about $610 million from retail and medical marijuana from Jan. 1 of this year to June 30, 2015 the end of the next fiscal year.  The committee released a request to allocate $103.5 million towards the following causes. $45.5 million for the prevention of youth marijuana use: $40.4 million for treatment of substance use: $12.4 million for public health: $1.8 million for regulatory oversight: $3.2 million for law enforcement and public safety: and $200,000 for something called “statewide coordination.”   It appears that the increased use of marijuana will make lots of money for the political operatives and will not only dummy down the people using the mind altering substance but increase the need for mental health.   Presently there is a committee being formed to discuss mental health issues. This is certainly very timely since there will be an increase of marijuana use with applications for Marijuana use increasing.    Simsbury increases marijuana use and then First Selectman Mary Glassman institutes a committee to fix the mental health and drug addiction issues surrounding the drug.  How hypocritical can you  get?  Since First Selectman Mary Glassman has used Marijuana as an innovative process to increase the tax base, I would suggest that we use The Hartford Financial Services building with 640,000 square foot office building and more than 100 acres of property as a mental health intuition to provide mental health counseling and treatment for families and individuals with the increased use of Marijuana and other mental health issues.  Are the  Meadowood developers going to apply for a zoning change in order to grow marijuana on their property?

I would urge this board to reject the recommendations submitted by the Golf Lobby on their fee schedule since they have a loss of $255,000 that will have to be paid with taxpayer money from the General Fund.  

At the last meeting State Representative John Hampton stated his new address was 33 Canal Street. It appears from town records that this building is illegal under the zoning regulations and all applications to change the R-15 residential zone to another zone were denied three times over the years. This is the same issue I had when Tom Vincent’s wife owned and lived in her house on 499 Hopmeadow Street. When she moved out of the house the office was no longer to continue in the building and she had to move her practice. This is the same issue with a medical practice and additional rooms at 33 Canal Street where the owner of the practice does not live in the house, a violation. This is not the first time State Representative John Hampton has lived in an illegal residence. I would suggest that this issue be resolved immediately. The requirements to adhere to the Zoning Regulations should be applied to everyone and violations should be addressed immediately. I am also concerned that State Representative John Hampton has not paid any taxes this year to the town of Simsbury.  How can he represent the taxpayers in our town when he doesn’t pay taxes to the town?

I have had discussions with people involved with the Big Y issues. It appears that the ball is now in Big Y’s court and all documents have been thoroughly vetted.

I have been following the implementation of the Common Core initiative and the letters to the editor and op-eds discussing the stringent standards that the teachers and administrators are to apply. Many initiatives are implemented without any training leading to failures on all fronts. However, it took one teacher to write an op-ed , “Why I Want To Give Up  Teaching,” to get other teachers and superintendents to express their concerns publically.  Because of one teacher’s expression of concern publically, others have been willing to follow with the dialog and changes will be made.  It just shows that one person can make a difference.