Simsbury Board of Selectmen Meeting December 4, 2023

Board of Selectmen Meeting December 4, 2023

As the newly elected Board of Selectmen enters another chapter as the legislative body of the Town, I am looking forward to a board with good judgement, fairness toward the public and a genuine interest in serving the taxpayers of Simsbury.

The board should be respectful towards the public concerns that are brought before them and should treat each person with respect whether you agree or disagree with their content.

At the November 13, 2023 Board of Selectmen Meeting the outbursts from the board were disrespectful and childish leading one to believe that they should no longer serve the Town in an elected capacity.

The Assessment of the past Town Manager by Eric Wellman was inconsistent with the truth, leading to several more Pinocchio’s on his list of self-serving actions.

Sean Askham was aways acknowledging the issue with understanding but would weigh his vote on whether it was politically correct, and wuld vote against his own judgement.

Sean Askham would politically bully First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis on a regular basis that was disingenuous and showed poor judgment.

Sean Askhma was elected to serve the public interests, not his own.

The new board should be a refreshing voice of the people without any political aspirations as were the old guard.

There was a Public Hearing on the Ordinance to prohibit Tobacco, Vaping and Cannabis on Town Property , on November 13, 2023.

During the testimony from the public, Dave Bush Chairman of the parks and Recreation Commission was speaking, not as an Attorney representing his client but reflective of the Commission’s concerns.

The original vote on Simsbury Farms was predicated that the Golf Course would make enough money to support youth recreation sports and all other activities should be self-sufficient.

Thousands of tax dollars have been infused into the Recreation Department year after year by the Taxpayers of the Town.

As Chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission, Dave Bush’s leadership should be focused on the health and safety of the community, not maximizing profits at the expense of the health and safety as priority one.

As a result of various comments at the hearing the Board of Selectmen negated their responsibilities to the residents by ignoring the health and safety issue to political persuasion and voted only to include Cannabis in the Ordinance.

Now that Cannabis use is excluded from Town property, the Simsbury Performing Arts must eliminate the use of Cannabis at the Concerts.

Missy DiNinno, Manager of the Simsbury Performing Arts has stated that bands will not perform if marijuana is excluded at the concerts.

Several performances in the past has had the smoke from Marijuana cause reactions from the Police on duty with headaches and other reactions along with the patrons of the concert.

People have come before the Board of Selectmen to raise their concerns with asthma and other health issues.

Marijuana is not only used by the bands but also with the patrons.

Certain concerts that are revenue driven by large bands according to our Ordinance cannot use Cannabis on the Town property and should be stipulated on the purchase form for the concerts.

Will there be signage on the property prior to concerts?

How will the Town address this issue of unintended consequences?

Recently the Board of Selectmen voted to approve a $35,000 expense for a mandate to provide an active shooter safety policy for gatherings of over 6,000 people.

The Simsbury Performing Arts is the only organization generating those numbers.

Since they are the sole beneficiaries of this gathering, why should the taxpayers foot the bill?

I would like to report that Chief Boulter is continuing to have me as the sole beneficiary of a Babysitting Service within the Police Department.

Lt. Chase has been assigned to review all my observations on the Police Incident reports.

This policy that is only instituted in the Simsbury Police Department is to create a delay and review of all my concerns about certain Police activity incidents that could be accessed by the entire public with a phone call to the Records Room.

This policy is inconsistent with the Union Contract.

This management style has led to a NO Confidence vote from over 90% of the department.

It is alleged that the department would have voted for another NO CONFIDENCE VOTE but the consensus was that nobody is listening to their concerns, so why bother.

There have been many Grievances filed through the Police Union.

Grievances reflect the poor management of the Police Department as they are the only way to address untenable workplace issues.

Chief Boulter listens to nobody which leads to no dialog to improve the toxic work environment.