Board of Selectmen October 16, 2013 My Comments

October 16, 2013

We will shortly be going through another election cycle without a choice in the form of government we should expect from our leaders. First Selectman Mary Glassman is running on her accomplishments without any reference to the many failures in her leadership. Glassman has spent taxpayer money with Charretts that are in reality charades.  All the charretts will not change the mindset of The Hartford in reducing their losses by demolishing the building thereby reducing our Grand List over $1.7million and increasing the profits of their shareholders. All the meetings will not affect the decisions of their Board of Directors.  The Big Y has been in the works for over 3 years and we are not any closer to a shovel in the ground than we were when the plans were submitted. First Selectman Mary Glassman did not divulge all the players that were involved and had to be satisfied for the Wagner property to be developed. Nothing was ever mentioned about Eliot Gersten  owning 2  acres of land under the Ford dealership.  Wagner has been paying the Gerstens rent for the use of their property for many years.  First Selectman Mary Glassman has never in her discussions about the Big Y development divulged the fact that Attorney Eliot Gersten  a property owner on the Wagner property is affiliated with Pullman and Comely, the same law firm where Andy Glassman, Mary Glassman’s husband is an Attorney. It appears that First Selectman Mary Glassman has a conflict in discussing this property. Why was this not divulged during the Big Y process? Now there is another issue to deter the development. It appears that the International Skating Center has to give approval for Big Y’s use of the road although the Board of Selectmen approved the easement without consulting the Skating Center.  The skating center has a lease with the town for the use of the land and the roads encompassing the center. It appears that this entire process was flawed by lack of leadership by the Boards and Commissions and finally by the First Selectman and her staff.  Since Big Y has approval for the development of the land, they could land bank the property for 10 years without any of the property being developed.

 Another failure is Eno Farms Affordable Housing under the direction of the town through the Eno Trust for the poor of Simsbury going into foreclosure with CIL walking away from a $3 million loan. There were continued allegations of fraud from the owners and embezzlement from the renters.   This property is still in litigation. The Community Farm under the direction of the elite Ethel Walker School has not satisfied the Attorney General’s decision that this operation is consistent with the Eno Trust for the poor of Simsbury. Under the direction of First Selectman Mary Glassman the town was pursuing   buying the Simsbury Airport through Grants and taxpayer money for over 2 years when the final plan resulted in over $200,000 loss in operating expenses if purchased. The plans were finally withdrawn. Months were spent trying to get the Gersten building in Tariffville to continue housing the post office. This too was a failure. We are now exploring an $8 million Senior Center that is not necessary and a price we can no longer sustain. Many of these issues were brought before the Board of Selectmen during Nancy Haase’s tenure on the board and Hasse was silent.  

Now that Denise Merrill,  Secretary of State is having issues discussed in several Hartford Courant reports there is a possibility that  Merrill will  not run for reelection.  Is First Selectman Mary Glassman interested in running for the office of Secretary of State if Merrill does not seek another term? Since First Selectman Mary Glassman, if elected will be serving her final term, it is time that Simsbury residents demand professional management with a Town Manager.  Simsbury needs professional management to alleviate wasteful spending and long range planning. We do not need a pseudo Town Manager. We need an experienced Town Manager with education in Public Policy, and a temperament conducive to interacting with the public.   Simsbury residents deserve professional management to guide us through a rocky financial future.

Recently the Fire department was dispatched to Town Hall to aerate the fumes from the entry steps that were painted with a solvent with a noxious odor.  As a result of noxious odor the Finance Department was asked to take any early lunch. The dispatchers at the Police Department were removed from their cubicle and continued to dispatch all incoming and outgoing calls from other areas. All other employees remained in Town Hall and inhaled the noxious fumes. Why wasn’t the solvent tested prior to application on the Town Hall entry stairs? 

On Monday, September 23, First Selectman Mary Glassman, Director of Administrative Services Tom Cooke and Deputy Director of Administrative Services Sean Kimball all attended the 3 day  ICMA Conference in Boston, leaving the Town Hall Administrative Services unattended. First selectman Mary Glassman according to her email to me attended the conference for 1 day. The taxpayers of Simsbury paid for her staff to travel to the conference, pay a fee for attendance, pay for meals and hotel bills. Why was it necessary for all three employees to attend this conference? How much was the cost to the taxpayers? This conference was the same day as the Board of Selectmen meeting which was canceled . Would a professional town manager allow the entire selectmen’s office to attend a conference and leave Town Hall unattended?

Both the Septemberfest and the Arts and Crafts Show were both conducted in glorious weather. Septemberfest was on the grass at Simsbury Meadows and the Arts and Crafts show was on the paved parking areas off Iron Horse Boulevard. The Arts and Crafts show was well attended and many people attended with their children in strollers, people were walking around with their walkers and wheelchairs.  All these people were able to negotiate the entire area without any impediments This was not true at the grassy Septemberfest where all these people were unable to negotiate the facility. All activities under the direction of Simsbury residents should be all inclusive, for  the families with small children and the handicapped. Since there will not be any more activities at the Performing Arts, when will all the financials be finalized and final report be generated for the public to review? Why does it take so long to generate a profit and loss statement?

I recently called the Board of Education to receive the final enrollment figures. On a rainy Sunday morning   Matt Curtis, Superintendent of Schools called me to give me the numbers. He stated since it was rainy he decided to go through his memos. Luckily I could accept the call since I don’t play tennis in the rain.  The latest enrollment figures for the school were a decrease of 171 pupils. The present graduating class at the High School is 400 students and the Kindergarten enrollment is 231.  Presently the per pupil expenditure is $ 13, 560. As we plan for the future these figures should relate to a decrease in Board of Education expenditures.

It is very ironical that there is a banner across Iron Horse Boulevard stating Keeping Simsbury Informed when  the recent  Special 7 AM meeting of the Board of Selectmen on October 3, that discussed substantive information,  was not distributed to the people on the email list and the media. How can we be informed when the meeting email list is not distributed so people can attend the meeting?

It is time to take politics out of Simsbury’s budgets and start to initiate dialog on having professional management for Simsbury.  Since this issue has been discussed for years what is the position of each member of this board regarding having a Town Manager for Simsbury. In a show of hands, how many board members are interested in giving the residents a choice for the management of Simsbury?