Charter Revision Commission Meeting July 25, 2016

Charter Revision Commission Meeting July 25, 2016

After listening to the discussion at the July 11, 2016 Board of Selectmen Meeting on the Charter as presented to them with a Town Manager as the CEO of Simsbury, I was shocked at the unprofessional, childish display of First Selectman Lisa Heavner’s rant against having a professional Town Manager in the Town Charter. She filibustered continually about grieving for a change to a professional Town Manager. First Selectman Lisa Heavner is a prime example of why Simsbury should have a CEO in the position of a Town Manager as opposed to a “soccer mom,” with no experience in public policy. First Selectman Lisa Heavner was concerned about hateful speech during public audience because she believes that questioning her unprofessional management skills is hateful speech. Having an agenda item, Public Audience at all Board of Selectmen meetings is governed by a court order not by First Selectman Lisa Heavner. First Selectman, Lisa Heavner should be aware that speech is protected by the Constitution and everyone has a right to express their views in a public forum. The resolution is displayed in the Main Meeting Room of Town Hall under court order.

The reason why nothing gets accomplished is because First Selectman Lisa Heavner believes that being liked by everyone is more important than providing leadership skills to move projects forward. First Selectman Lisa Heavner is and has been vehemently opposed to a Town Manager although she lied when she stated that she was undecided about the form of government, as displayed in her eulogy for the demise of the First Selectman form of government.

It is interesting to note that three previous First Selectman, Peggy Shanks, Anita Mielert and Mary Glassman all gave testimony in favor of a professional Town Manager.

The Charter Revision Commission members at the Board of Selectmen meeting were very professional in describing their positions for and against a Town Manager and going along with a majority vote of 7-4 for a Town Manager.

The Charter as presented is not a perfect document and will need to be tweaked in future years. The major change, a CEO as a professional Town Manager should go forward to the Board of Selectman and then forwarded to the Simsbury residents in a referendum vote.