Simsbury Board of Selectmen Meeting November 28, 2022

Board of Selectmen Meeting November 28, 2022

With Eastern Standard Time, sunset is around 4:30 PM.

People entering and exiting Town Hall parking lot have to walk on a parking lot that has many cracks and uneven surfaces since it hasn’t been maintained in years.

Leaving Town Hall after sunset the parking lot is in complete darkness with no visibility since there are no lights on the parking lot, placing the people in danger with slips and falls.

Our Town representatives must be aware of this liability since they too use the parking lot, but don’t care.

Money goes to everything but maintenance.

Reviewing job opportunities in Town, it appears that the Town is short staffed in most departments leaving many tasks either ignored or neglected leading to poor service to the taxpayers that support the staff.

Town Manager Maria Capriola has a reputation of creating a toxic workforce with many eligible people not interested in applying for jobs in Simsbury.

An article in the Hartford Courant discussing Simsbury states, “Complaint claims bad morale and favoritism amid exodus of staff.”

The Planning Department has been in chaos since Town Manager Maria Capriola hired Janell Mullen as Code Compliance Officer.

Janell Mullen bolted after a few months after an investigation of the department with Town Manager Maria Capriola hiring an attorney with leading questions to the staff that resulted in the termination of Robin Newton, a highly professional employee in the Planning Department.

With the departure of the Town Planner, Town Manager Maria Capriola chose a less qualified person to head the department against the recommendation of the interviewers.

George McGovern, Director of Community Planning & Development appears to have little knowledge of Simsbury and various State Regulations that are required to supports boards and commissions.

Planning Department is now in crises mode.

An Assistant Town Planner was chosen by Town Manager Maria Capriola over the Town’s Code Compliance Officer who applied for the job.

The Assistant Town Planner has submitted her resignation after a few short months, leaving the Code Compliance Officer who is now acting as support to the Town Planner, in violation of the Union Contract, leaving a skeletal staff.

The Code Compliance Officer is presently on vacation, with only 2 people left to run a department that should have at least 4 employees staffing the department.

This issue is due to Town Manager Maria Capriola’s inability to hire quality staff that is knowledgeable, will support the boards and commissions, the business community and residents requiring professional advice.

After many executive sessions discussing the performance of Town Manager Maria Capriola, the Board of Selectmen have not presented their conclusions in open session.

The Police Department has hired CERTUS Public Safety Solutions to investigate the management of the department with a focus on resources and all other issues.

As listed on their website, the CERTUS Mission is to provide practical solutions to public safety organizations to achieve efficiency, transparency and accountability, in a cost-effective and reliable way.

After a lengthy review, the findings should be made public and a plan to improve the Police Department should be implemented.

The past history of the department with the firing of an exemplary Sergeant, an MOU implemented to give Town Manager Maria Capriola many of the designated tasks of the Police Commission by State law, a Police Commissioner resigning due to a violation of the “rule of law,” and a NO CONFIDENCE vote against Chief Boulter, there is much to review by an outside consultant.

Another lobbying group, the cyclists, want the Town to add an Ordinance to the Town that allows bicycles on Town sidewalks. They are called sidewalks not multi-use spaces as they are constructed to have walkers, not bicyclists mingling with walkers.

Walkers are all ages, some with disabilities will be challenged by space on narrow sidewalks. People with walkers and strollers use the sidewalks.

Many children that are walkers to get to school, use the sidewalks for safety.

Many people walk their dogs on the sidewalks that could be aggressive with the bicyclists in their path.

At the present time many of the bicyclists on the roads do not stop at stop signs as they are required to do by law.

If the bicyclists can’t follow State Law, why should anyone believe that this Ordinance would regulate their conduct?

This is an accident waiting to happen and inconsistent with the space on sidewalks.

Town Manager Maria Capriola and the Board of Selectmen should not even entertain this absurd Ordinance, that a self-serving cycle group is promoting.