Petition To 'Overrule' Budget Fails; Short 14 Verifiable Signatures

The Town Council swiftly approved an amended budget resolution Tuesday in a Special Meeting that restored the land use assistant position by cutting $25,000 planned for the purchase of new guns and ammunition. 

A citizen’s , 24 page document, Town Clerk Lisa J. Terry was only able to verify 460 signatures as being registered voters or taxpayers. The per-Town Charter minimum number of signatures required is 474. 

No residents commented on the budget resolution during the public comment portions of the meeting, including the outspoken petition supporter James Andriote Sr., chair of the Independence for Montville Party. Andriote had publicly asked for community input on ways to further trim the budget. 

Town Councilor Gary Murphy read Terry’s memo to the council following its unanimous vote to approve the resolution. Only four councilors were in attendance – Murphy, Billy Caron, Laura Tanner, and Chuck Loughton; Chairperson Candy Buebendorf is out-of-state attending a work-related conference she said in an email to Patch. Other councilors indicated they would be unable to attend the meeting. 

Following the vote on the resolution, which drew a chorus of ‘no comment’ from councilors, Mayor Ronald McDaniel said the restoration of the planner post “put the budget in balance.” 

McDaniel said that in “discussions with the police department” he was told it did not need to “purchase wholesale all the weapons this year” and could replace guns on an as-needed basis. 

In a finance committee meeting last month, 23-year police department veteran and police officer’s union president Robin Salvatore said their guns haven’t been replaced in a decade. 

On June 5, the council voted to approve the $55.6 million 2012-2013 budget that set the mill rate at 29.33. At that the budget meeting, Councilor Rosetta Jones cautioned that cutting the planner position would come back to haunt the council. 

Andriote said he was unable to attend the meeting due to a work conflict. He said he would contact Terry “to see how some 70 signatures were eliminated. She needs to document in writing as to why she did not except them.” 

Republican Town Councilor Dana McFee, who did not attend the meeting, said late Tuesday evening that he was told by Town Attorney Eileen Duggan that the petition would not have been accepted by the council in any event. 

“It was her opinion it would not be allowed. That’s what she said to me,” McFee said. “I said to (Buebendorf) that the petition needs to be on the agenda for discussion. She said (Monday) that it was too late and I should just bring it up during Council remarks. But we knew all along they weren’t going to allow (the petition). That came right from Duggan.”