Simsbury Board of Selectmen Meeting January 8, 2024

Simsbury Board of Selectmen Meeting January 8, 2024

At the December 18, 2023 Board of Selectmen Meeting First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis stated after my Public Audience comments that I have to work on the rules of decorum. “We are allowed to stop people from speaking and ask them to leave the room on advice of legal counsel.”

I don’t have to worry about decorum, Wendy has to worry about her violation of the Constitution.

First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis should resign immediately because of her comments restricting public audience.

The Constitution’s First Amendment is the fabric for a strong Democracy.

Eliminate or curtail Free Speech and we are no better than a Banana Republic.

First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis, appears to have had a conversation with Town Attorney DeCrescenzo Rules of Procedure.

DeCrescenzo’s opinion is based on nothing but hearsay.

If he had read the Policy he would have known that it violates the public’s First Amendment rights.

The Waterbury Board of Aldermen rescinded a policy that limited comments from the public at its meetings after the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut warned that the restrictions violated free speech rights.

The Simsbury Board of Selectmen should follow the opinion from the ACLU and rescind the Rules immediately.

The Board of Selectmen have chosen Town Attorney DeCrescenzo to continue as Town Attorney.

Town Attorney DeCrescenzo, over the decades as Town Attorney has had alleged conflicts of Interest and unethical behavior.

Presently there is a conflict with the Silverman Group development at 200 Hopmeadow Street.

In my comments at the March 14, 2016 Board of Selectmen Meeting, I commented that Town Attorney DeCrescenzo was the Attorney for the Silverman Group and the Attorney for Ethel Walker School during the land acquisition to the Town.

Board of Selectmen Minutes, August 11, 2014, “ ‘Authorize agreement with Charles Houlihan, Esq. as Special Counsel for the purchase of Ethel Walker Open Space Parcel C .”

Town Attorney DeCrescenzo gave a contribution to First Selectman Mary Glassman’s campaign.

DeCrescenzo stated that Glassman was a friend and he wasn’t concerned about the ethics violation.

Another opinion from Town Attorney DeCrescenzo was all pollical signs had to be removed from attachments to trees because trees don’t have First Amendment rights.

Presently the Town has to hire an outside Attorney to represent the Town with the Silverman Group as Town Attorney DeCrescenzo was hired by the Silverman Group for a submission in East Granby.

The Silverman Group and Ethel Walker School should be required to pay the attorney fees for special counsel.

After reading the Rules of Procedure DeCrescenzo stated he approved the content that was unconstitutional regarding public comment.

It is time that the Town rescind their vote for approving DeCrescenzo as the Town Attorney in the best interests of the Town of Simsbury.

Chief Boulter attended the December 18, 2023 Board of Selectmen meeting to offer background on the need for a Babysitting Service.

Boulter stated that the Records Administrators are professionals in his rebuttal to my comments.

Chief Boulter is giving credit to his professional staff and then . denigrates their ability to interact with the public with concerns about spreading gossip to be exploited.

During the decades of me interacting with records there has been “by the book” interaction, no gossip or exploitation.

This appears to be a figment of Chief Boulter’s imagination without any facts to defend this position.

According to the Records Administration policy, “RECORDS SECURITY

1. Access to records files is limited to Records Unit personnel and other

members of the Management Staff as directed by the Chief of Police.”

The officers will give me a synopsis of the report, the same issues he is trying to correct and the same discussion I have with the Records Administrators.

Why is this any different from communicating with the Records Administrators who are trained to disperse information?

Chief Boulter’s rebuttal does not make any sense.

Why is the Babysitting Service headed by Lt. Chase who is in charge of Patrol and not Lt. Samselski who is in charge of Records?

Boulter’s rebuttal does not prove anything but appears that Boulter can’t justify the Babysitting Service.

It’s not about the requirements for the Records Administration, it’s about Chief Boulter placing preconditions to my access to public information, a form of control.

Chief Boulter has shown his inability to manage the Police Department and a No Confidence Vote from most of the Officers exemplifies the toxic work environment.

Recently Sgt. Trombly , fired by Chief Boulter, graduated from the Police Academy and is now a State Police Trooper..

Avon does not pay any money to support the services of AMR. Simsbury should not support Simsbury Ambulance with tax dollars.