Board of Selectmen Meeting July 14,2014 My Comments

Board of Selectmen July 14, 2014

Once again Simsbury residents have to continue with a failed leadership. The Charter Revision Commission did not vote for a town manager but delegated all the duties of the elected First Selectman to an untrained pseudo Town Manager. The Charter is worded in such a way that nobody can interpret how much of the First Selectman duties are delegated leaving all this up to interpretation. According to the consultant hired by the pseudo Town Manager, Tom Cooke, First Selectman Mary Glassman only performs Town business less than 5% of her time and receives $113,000 for her services. It appears from the agenda that Tom Cooke ingratiated himself with a salary of $114,508 the Deputy Director of Human Services received a salary of $90,000 and the new addition to staff Employee Benefits Coordinator receives $ 68, 000. All these salary increases are retroactive although none of these increase and new additions is in the online budgets approved by the taxpayers.  Both Sean Kimball and Tom Cooke gave themselves large salary increases and they refuse to increase the Police Pension and are in negations with the Police Union Contract. Rich Sawitzke, the retired engineer has been rehired as a consultant although the town hired a full-time engineer.  Other expenditures were approved that were not in the budget. It appears that First Selectman Mary Glassman has tsunami budgeting, inconsistent with State law. Since the First Selectman only spends less than 5% on Town duties, I would suggest that she have her salary reduced to $20,000, until a Town Manager replaces the First Selectman and all these additions and replacements are eliminated with a professional staff hired by a professional Town Manager. It should be noted that when Mary Glassman ran against Tom Vincent during the pumpkin debates, she promised the voters that she was in favor of a Town Manager. What happened to her position on this topic? The Town consultant, Lee Erdmann, was not charged to review the need for a Town Manager since it was Tom Cooke giving the charge and he was against having this issue brought forward. Shame on Tom Cooke! 

The Simsbury Performing Arts  Center is now a non-profit organization using  town land,  town resources and appointed by the Board of Selectmen and we the people are unable to receive any financials or minutes of their meetings. It appears to me that they should not be exempt from disclosure.

Recently I was present at the Democratic Caucus to vote against the nomination of John Hampton for State Representative.  While John Hampton was accepting the nomination, he noted that when he was on the Board of Selectman that after Deputy Selectman Lisa Heavner and First Selectman Mary Glassman met, they would tell him how to vote.   Who is telling him how to vote at the State? The Chairman of the Democratic Party allowed non- Town Committee members to remain for the meeting. I was given permission to speak by the Chair and while I was asking for the Democratic party to endorse a Town Manager, Dave Ryan objected to having me speak. It was Dave Ryan on the Charter Revision Commission who voted against a Town Manager, it was Dave Ryan who was a proponent of having the town purchase the Simsbury airport although it would lose $200,000 a year and the owners were not selling.  Both Federal and State money was used to study the purchase. It was Dave Ryan who ran for First Selectman and was rejected by voters. It was Dave Ryan on the Zoning Board who voted for a Marijuana Factory in Town and now we have Dave Ryan as the President of the Simsbury Performing Arts Center. Recently Dave Ryan ran to my car at the Meadows around noon, although others were driving, bicycling and walking around the grounds and yelled to me that I could not park without a permit. I was leaving the premises and had no intention to park. I was told by town staff that Dave Ryan has exclusive rights to the Meadows. Does he have exclusive rights of arrest?  Does Dave Ryan have a gun permit? Are people allowed to bring guns to the Meadows? Can Ryan exclude some and not others? I think it is time for First Selectman Mary Glassman to deliver more chicken soup to Dave Ryan. It appears on the Secretary of State Business Inquiry that Dave Ryan appointed Updike, Kelly & Spellacy as the Performing Arts Agent. Our Town Attorney is a member of this law firm. On the Town Attorney’s conflict if interest form, signed on April 29, 2014, the only conflict noted was “firm represents the Ethel Walker School on matters unrelated to the town”. Is having the firm as an agent for the Performing Arts also a conflict, but not noted?  It appears that Tom  Cooke, First Selectman Mary Glassman’s pseudo Town Manager  is  now entertaining at the Performing Arts with the The Hartford  Symphony.  Who hired Tom Cooke to perform?

On Saturday morning, April 12, 2014, the day after the concert, I saw a large group of people placing garbage bags in the trash bins that were left on the field and dispersed throughout the Meadows. This picture shows the group at the rubbish bins.  I was told that the Windsor Boy Scouts were asked to clean up the Meadows.  This activity places the town at risk if these children and adults are hurt performing this task.  Do these trash bags filled with food and drink entice animals to the Meadows?  Does the Town’s Risk Manager have oversight over Dave Ryan and this activity?

It appears that the Crooks are out of the Marijuana Factory building with Attorney Carpenter in jail, the company moved out and the potting soil was delivered to the building so they can start growing Marijuana. The building is scheduled to get a Certificate of Occupancy on Friday and is fortified with a large chain link fence. The Simsbury police department will be required to receive training on their roll in dealing with this activity.

I recently spoke with a distributer of beets for deicing roads and I will have the financials when I completed my investigation. Beet juice does not rust cars, can deice to -10 degrees and is much cheaper than salt. The NY Thruway has used it with much success and the supplier will give the town 250 gallons to try. Beet juice is the deicer of the future.

I recently heard on my scanner that the police were called to a Heroin overdose at 180 Old Farms Road, the home of George Hall.  The caller stated that a family member had overdosed on Heroin.  The case number is #15946. The George Hall Farm purchased Pharos Farm from the Town and the Land Trust purchased the Farm. This is not the first incident relating to Heroin addiction in Simsbury.  With fewer ambulances available on calls and delay in service, the antidote Narcan, the antidote for effects of  Heroin, cannot be administered in a timely manner. I would hope that some of the Simsbury organizations discussing this issue would come to the aid of families in crises.