Board of Selectmen Meeting November27, 2017

Board of Selectmen November 27, 2017

Now that we are beginning a new chapter for Simsbury, I am looking forward to having professional management with Town Manager Maria Capriola.

I would hope with a Town Manager that everyone is playing on a level playing field and the results of the playbook is distributing our tax dollars judiciously by eliminating special treatment for political operatives.

I am concerned that our past was determined by a Democratic political affiliation under First Selectman Mary Glassman. The selection of our Town Attorney, Bob DeCrescenzo from Updike, Kelly & Spellacy was determined by his Democratic credentials as Mayor of East Hartford. Mary Glassman’s Assistant Paul Fetherston was chosen by Bob Decrescenzo who came from East Hartford. First Selectman Mary Glassman hired a Head Hunter from Connecticut Council of Municipalities (CCM) where Glassman was President another Democratic political operative to choose Sean Kimball and Tom Cooke as her Assistants. First Selectman Lisa Heavner, a Democrat, hired Melissa Appleby as Assistant to the Town Manager whose husband just recently left his job as director of communications for the State Democratic Party to become a Malloy press secretary, as stated in the Hartford Courant. I am not judging their ability to serve the town but I am concerned that we have employees in executive positions that all come from the same background with a political bent.

We have had Town Attorney Bob Decrescenzo, a Democratic political operative for decades while he has become a rainmaker for Updike, Kelly & Spellacy the law firm for the Ethel Walker School and The Silverman Group developing The Hartford property. This conflict has caused the town to pay Attorney Houlihan thousands of dollars in fees to close land deals that should have been done by DeCrescenzo as part of his monthly payment for services. Attorney Houlihan is a Democrat.

It is also interesting to note that Attorney DeCrescenzo is also the Agent for the Simsbury Performing Arts with Dave Ryan, President who is on the Democratic Town Committee.

We now have Selectman Elaine Lang, a Democrat, discussing the Deepwater Solar Panel array that is before the Siting Council when her divorce attorney is Pullman & Comley, the law firm of record for Deepwater Solar. Mary Glassman’s husband is a member of Pullman & Comley. Selectman Elaine Lane did not place this conflict on her Conflict of Interest form.

On September 21, 2017, I filed a complaint with the Board of Ethics. David Moore, Vice President of the Democratic Party and Chairman of the Board of Ethics has not responded to my complaint. David Moore is probably pre-occupied when writing thousand dollar checks to the Democratic Town Committee and hundred dollar checks to candidates for office. Maybe David Moore is pre-occupied by mentoring his son on the dangers of drunk driving. However, David Moore, Chairman of the Board of Ethics should respond to complaints in a timely manner.

Recently Tom Cooke Director of Administrative Services stated that all non-union employees will get a 2% raise retroactive to July 1, 2017 across the board. However, there were adjustments made mid-year to several employees in that group that increased their salaries substantially. Why were these employees given another 2% increase of the taxpayer’s money?

Recently there was much discussion about the application for a Storyteller’s Cottage and a Dumpster placement associated with the house that held up the approval process. This went on for over 6 months, leaving the applicant without a temporary Certificate of Occupancy to start her business under the direction of Jamie Rabbitt Town Planner, while sorting out this problem. After much delay and loss of revenue, the Dumpster remained in the same place as noted on the application. Was the delay justified? Is Jamie Rabbitt the face of Simsbury’s approach to Economic Development?

I question whether the Simsbury Volunteer Ambulance Association should ask for money to continue their service when Tom Delehanty is receiving a salary of $141,788 and assets of $1,660,948 according to their tax filing.

Over the years there has been an increase in volume for ambulance services.

Occasionally there is a time delay during several calls for an ambulance and prioritization of services is required when Granby and Canton cannot supply the services because volunteers are not available or on another call.

Simsbury Police are First Responders and report to the incident in a timely manner.

Since it is difficult to find volunteers for services and volume has increased, I would like to have AMR come before the Board of Selectmen to discuss an overview of their services.

AMR is used by Avon and Farmington with paid staff.

According to Brandon Robertson, Avon Town Manager, AMR has a good response time. There are no complaints and they do not receive any money from the Town. AMR only requires a building supplied by the Town for equipment.