Board of Selectmen Meeting March 11, 2019

Board of Selectmen Meeting March 11, 2019

According to the Simsbury Charter the Board of Selectmen provides their Performance Evaluation of the Town Manager to the Town. After decades of discussing the need for professional management the Charter Revision Commission voted for a professional Town Manager to replace an elected First Selectman to manage the Town. Town Manager Maria Capriola has exceeded the goals and expectations of the Board of Selectmen.

Since the transition from an elected official to a professional manager, many of the stipulations in the Town Charter require many layers of oversight that are no longer needed. The next Charter Revision Commission should eliminate many of the redundancies in management to increase efficiencies.

Presently the Town has Professional Management in the Finance Department flagging many of the deficiencies in the management of the Town finances.

Many monetary policy decisions have to be initiated to rectify shortfalls in the management of the public funds.

The Health Insurance Fund in the Internal Service Fund has shortfalls that require immediate attention and will be challenging.

The Simsbury Farms Special Revenue Fund has thousands of dollars in shortfalls year after year subsidized by the Simsbury taxpayers.

Since many of the programs provided are seasonal there should be an elimination of fulltime staff by hiring part-time managers for recreational activities.

There should be a study on the need for a public/private partnership for efficiencies at the Golf Course.

The budget should reflect the reductions in cost-sharing from the State that might be reduced or eliminated that would decrease the Town’s revenue.

The Cash for Capitol policies should include paying off the present debt and delaying projects that have been approved before the groundbreaking begins.

The budget should reflect the increase in residential development that appears to surpass the demand and place increased pressure on the developers to lease their property, leading to lower assessments and lower revenues for the Town in the future.

Deepwater Wind has sold the Solar Farm to Northlight Energy. Northlight Energy has to produce a DEEP Storm Water action plan and return to the Siting Council to finalize outstanding stipulations. What is the timeline on this project and Town costs associated with the project?

The Town purchased the Hudson property, 1 Old Bridge Road, near the Flower Bridge. There have been ongoing discussions for the use of the property as a significant driver for a destination area.

The Town also owns the land where the Sewer Department, 36 Drake Hill Road, has its facilities in close proximity to the Crew boat launch and boat house,

As the Town goes forward with discussions on the use of the property, they should not be myopic by only studying the use of the assets of the Hudson property.

The Town should take a holistic approach by incorporating all the Town land in close proximity to the Farmington River by incorporating the land where the crew team has a boat launch and the boat house for boat storage as a Tourist attraction with easy access to the Farmington River for recreational activities.

Google Earth Map shows Old Barge Road, the Flower Bridge and Drake Hill Road all interconnecting, making this valuable asset a driver for Economic Development and a Tourist destination, all Town owned property.

A recent incident that occurred at a student’s home placed the Board of Education in an indefensible position of trying to defend actions of some students who were not mindful of the consequences of their actions.

A third grade teacher in the mid-west decided to teach her third grade class a lesson in discrimination in conjunction with Martin Luther King Day.

She divided her class into two groups by the color of their eyes. One group was given privileges while the other group was discriminated against. This experiment highlighted how easy it is to program people to discriminate against one another by the color of their eyes.

The Frontline Documentary on YouTube, “A Class Divided” has been seen by people around the world. I would suggest that everyone view this documentary for insight on how discrimination starts and consequences of people’s actions.

It appears that students at Simsbury High School are caught using vaping products in school.

According to an article in the Hartford Courant, CDC (Center for Disease Control) : Vaping causing drastic increase in teen tobacco use.

South Windsor Mayor, a physician specializing in lung disease and critical care was quoted as saying,” I’m seeing people die every few days. When someone in their 30’s dies of lung cancer, it impacts you. When someone in their 40’s dies with lung cancer, it impacts you. What can we do as a society? What can we do as a community?” Young people always think it can’t happen to them, but it can. Why take a chance?