Board of Selectmen Public Audience Comments July 9, 2012

Board of Selectmen July 9, 2012

At the June 28 Board of Selectmen meeting the public had to go through a grueling several hours listening to Lisa Heavner and John Hampton  give reasons for not supporting the Charter Revision changes that were forwarded to the Board of Selectmen for a vote. Democrats, Heavner and Hampton were opposed to the fact that public audience was not included for all meetings, the Board of Finance has the ultimate say on the management of the pensions and Heaver felt that the Town Manager issue should have been brought to vote although she doesn’t support it.  None of the members of the board were concerned that the revisions included a paragraph which allows the elected First Selectman to delegate all the authority of the elected position to a non-qualified pseudo Town Manager to manage the government. Why pay over $120,000 a year for a ceremonial First Selectman? Another contentious issue with Heavner and Hampton was that the management of the Design Review Board was being transferred to the Zoning Board, changing the objective design board into a political football. Since the Democrats on the board were against many of the changes, why should the board forward a 41 page flawed Charter Revision to the residents for a vote? Both Hampton and Heavner are wusses.   The voters  aren’t going to read the 41 page document nor do they understand the nuances. This board was elected to establish public policy that is in the best interest of the town and should have rejected the revised Charter as flawed and not hope that the residents will reject the document. This board has abdicated its responsibilities as the gatekeeper of the town. I will be voting NO on the Charter Revisions and hope the voters reject this flawed document too.

At the May 14 Town meeting regarding the town vote on the Eno Farms revised Ground Lease, I was bullied by the elected Moderator Attorney John O’Neil. Attorney John O’Neil questioned why I was attending the meeting and whether I was qualified to discuss the Revised Ground Lease. This behavior is chauvinistic and unbecoming a town official. I would like to have the Town Moderator, Attorney John O’Neil apologize for his boorish behavior. 

Recently there were subcommittee meetings on Eno Farms management. At the first meeting the staff placed the agendas for the meeting in the letter boxes of the residents of Eno Farms which is a Federal offense, owing the Post Office $22. At the next meeting about Eno Farms the door to the entrance of Town Hall was locked leaving many people who might have attended go home. The agendas for the second meeting were placed on the frames of the mailboxes, leaving them to fall off and remain unread. Then we are told that the meeting is governed by Roberts Rules of Order. However, when Mr. Kalechman asked for a point of information he was denied asking Sean Askham a member of the subcommittee, to speak louder so he could hear his comments. This is not open government but selective enforcement.  Another incident was the fact that the Director of Administrative Services, Tom Cooke was on vacation and locked his door so all the public documents with information on Eno Farms management were not available under Freedom of information. My call to the Freedom of Information Office  finally resulted in telling staff to open the door and make the documents available. This was  two days later,  a few hours before the meeting that  I had access to the lengthy file. According to the Freedom of information Act Section 1-210 Access to Public Records (a) all records maintained or kept on file by any public agency shall be public records and every person shall have the right to (1) inspect such records promptly during regular office or business hours…so much for open and transparent government.

The  Amos Eno Deed is the charitable trust for the land that was gifted to the town.  Amos Eno’s deed to Simsbury is a document that will restrict the land forever as land for the poor. The revised Ground Lease is a document that reflects the intent of the Amos Eno Charitable Deed.  Although the Ground lease states that the Eno Farms is for low and very low income residents it does not stipulate the amount of rent only the income restrictions. Since the Eno Farms budget supplied by CHFA shows that the income at Eno Farms does not cover the expenses, I question whether the rents will be raised so high that the low and very low income residents will be unable to live in the complex. At this point, there is nothing in the ground lease placing a ceiling on rents. If this is true, the town will have to build a homeless shelter at the Community Farm of Simsbury to accommodate these residents who have no place to go. 

During public audience of the June 25 Board of Selectmen meeting with Deputy John Hampton as the chairperson, Hampton criticized Mr. Kalechman for using public audience to inform the public that he was running for State Representative. Hampton who is also running for that position told Kalechman that he should not politicize public audience. Does John Hampton know that public audience can be used by the public to speak on any issue of their concern even asking the public for their vote? Is this the kind of conduct we can expect from our elected officials?

At the last performance of the Hartford Symphony there was an incident that should not go unnoticed. Dan Crowley, a POW veteran who survived several years in the Japanese concentration camps during WWII and is a Simsbury resident came to the 4th of July performance and placed his seat outside the venue to listen to the performance. He was immediately met by the staff of the Talcott Mountain Concerts, and told that he was a squatter and asked the police to remove him from the Meadows. To the police’s credit, they did not remove Dan Crowley.  There were other people also asked to leave the Town property. Since when does the Talcott Mountain staff have the authority to deny people the right to listen to the music on the outskirts of the venue and threaten them with arrest? How can anyone secure the airwaves of the concert?  Dan Crowley is a veteran and a POW of WWII and came to hear the July 4th concert that celebrates our democracy that he fought so we could be free.   The Meadows does not belong to the Hartford Symphony it belongs to the Simsbury taxpayers and squatters should be encouraged to come and stay for as long as they wish. Mr. Crowley deserves an apology from the Talcott Mountain staff and the town should train the people who manage the venues not to bully people who come to the Meadows to enjoy the concert and set up outside the concert’s designated area. The squatters paid for the Meadows and should be treated with respect.

I recently heard on my scanner that at 5:20 PM on Friday, July 6 the Simsbury police were dispatched to deliver the packets supplied to the Board of Selectmen at their homes for the July 9 Board of Selectmen meeting. Why does the Selectmen’s office use the police to deliver packets of information that can be transmitted electronically? What a waste of the police time. Does the Police Department charge the Selectman’s Office for this service?