Letter: Board Of Finance Member Starke Responds To Criticism

To the editor:

I spoke with both Ms. Hannah Gale and Ms. Melissa Longo in response to their letters. They both took issue with my language, and I am mindful of that. But they also both took issue with how they were lied to by the previous administration on fill pile issues. I shared their sympathy on that. We not-so-partisan people have a lot in common. Here’s my big confession: I, a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, voted for Brenda Kupchick (and Chris DeWitt and Mary LeClerc). None of this means I wouldn’t stand up to this administration though. And I did, and yes, I took heat for it. But I think all is well between me and my Republican counterpart letter writers. I aim to make peace. Their goodwill is also not in doubt, after my candid conversations with them. This is how governing should be done.

READ MORE: Finance Board Member Starke Should Rethink Serving Town [Letter]

But now, let’s set the record straight.

I checked the replay. My exact words were, “I wonder whether we are just bending over and taking this,” in terms of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s demands that we make yet further alterations to Penfield Pavilion, at a cost of many more millions of dollars. I further added, “We’re not getting anything back from them.”

One thing is very clear: The remark was not aimed at the first selectwoman, and so should not be twisted as misogynistic. It was used in the collective sense that we as a town are getting pushed around by FEMA. I believe “bend over,” i.e., short for “bend over backwards,” is a pretty common expression. But if it offended anyone’s sensibilities, I apologize. I’m not going to be one of those politicians who overcompensates by talking about how not misogynistic he is. My election in November 2021 was on the shoulders of giants like the Democratic candidates of District 4, all four of whom were female.

Another thing that didn’t happen at the Jan. 18 meeting: My actual question was not answered. I’m still waiting too. What I want to know is why does the design of one public building potentially jeopardize the discounts that the entire beach community enjoys under FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program? I wanted to know if FEMA was just using homeowner insurance rates as leverage. I think the people of the beach community deserve an answer on that too.

I’m not a pushover. At work, over the past two years, I helped an electrician win over $100 million in payments owed him from FEMA that got caught up in all kinds of politics following Hurricane Maria’s devastating strike on Puerto Rico. That guy didn’t bend over backwards. Federal agencies are not monoliths. In my professional career, most lawsuits against various federal government bodies with which I have been involved have been successful.

But even if we can’t push back on FEMA, I just want the pavilion situation explained.

I have noticed two things in the just under two months I’ve served in Fairfield town government: 1. A lot of the key players have a tendency to act as if they know better than everyone else, and that gets really old, really fast; and 2. The Town Charter does not establish a very strong executive branch, but the administration tries to exercise stronger authority by parceling out information in dribs and drabs. This is not something new with the Kupchick administration — I’m sure people who served under previous administrations feel the same way.

We elected members of the Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting are likely to feel we are often pushed back on our heels because we come at most important votes on the wrong end of an information disparity. Town government doesn’t need to run that way. I cut the current administration some slack on the Gould Manor rehabilitation, where they came before the Board of Finance woefully unprepared, but we approved the requested expenses anyway. I’m not likely to cut the same slack again.

Kevin Starke

Board of Finance