Simsbury Board of Selectmen Meeting October 24, 2022

Board of Selectmen Meeting October 24, 2022

On September 12, 2022 a person was arrested for giving a false statement to the police, case # 220022959.

This was noted in the arrest log.

However, a month later the arrest was Statutorily Sealed and the charge was redacted.

On October 2, 2022 I requested from the Town, under the Freedom of Information Act the full and complete case file, including the arrest warrant for the False Statement.

I received an email that they received my request but to date there has been no action from the Police Department.

It has been alleged that an Officer was dispatched to a call at a residence where

he interacted with the persons.

After the completion of the call, a person at the residence filed a statement accusing the Officer of inappropriate behavior.

It is also alleged that Chief Boulter, in reviewing the report rushed to judgement.

After a lengthy investigation and a review of the Body Camera video that the Officer had running at the residence, the person was arrested for giving a false statement to the Police and the Officer’s interaction with the residents was, “BY THE BOOK.”

The Body Camera that each Police Officer has on their body is their insurance policy against all false claims.

Since the case is now sealed and I have not had my FOI request fulfilled, I contacted the Freedom of Information Office and was told that much of the file remains public information.

I would expect to have my request fulfilled in a timely manner or I will file a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission.

Recently the Town was witness to a fiasco in the Planning Department with the new hire of Director of Community Planning & Development, George McGregor filing a public meeting notice for a meeting that was improperly noticed with the wrong address.

The meeting was canceled and the cancelation of the meeting was distributed digitally at 4:35 PM for a meeting that was to be held at 7PM.

Not only did the cancelation cause hardship on people who wanted to attend the meeting, but it placed the Cannabis Moratorium in jeopardy,

A Special Zoning meeting had to be scheduled to continue the moratorium at to later date.

The Zoning Meeting of October 17, 2022 is postponed until November 21, 2022, during the week of Thanksgiving.

The Board of Selectmen has had several Executive Sessions to discuss the performance of the Town Manager.

It appears that Town Manager Maria Capriola’s management of the Town and her choices for new hires should be scrutinized by the Board of Selectmen.

Town Manager Maria Capriola’s choice for Director of the Planning Department should receive a failing grade.

Recently the Recreation Commission held a meeting to discuss extending the placement of lines for Pickleball on the Simsbury Farms Tennis Courts.

Pickleball is the fastest growing sport with financial backers starting leagues.

Pickleball will probably become an Olympic sport.

In response to my phone call to Tom Tyburski, Director of Simsbury Culture, Parks and Recreation Department, stated in an email the discussion from the Recreation Commission “about 7 people spoke on behalf of adding extra lines, Bill Donahue and Lori Swenson spoke against . After a lengthy discussion amongst the commission members regarding whether to approve more pickleball lines, they decided to table it and requested that I survey other park and rec department besides those in the surrounding towns which I had already done. This survey has responses from 35 towns at the moment.

Based on some items that came up during the discussion, I can report that the CIAC has no restrictions on High School athletes playing tennis on multi lined courts. Also, I spoke with a representative of the USTA CT administration and they haven’t had issues teaching kids on multi lines courts either.

Since everyone agrees that Pickleball lines are not an issue, and Tom Tyburski cannot rule against his Commission, the Board of Selectmen should intervene and require that Pickleball lines be painted on the tennis courts at Simsbury Farms immediately.

This would allow more play during the day and with lights available for evening play increasing play after working hours.

This would increase activity at Simsbury Farms and with lights on in the evening, reduce vandalism in the area.

On November 8, 2022 Simsbury residents will choose their State Representative, between Melissa Osborne and David Paine.

Melissa Osborne is a self-employed Attorney who will not have any conflicts of interests with her votes. Mike Paine is President of Paine’s Rubbish Removal doing business with many towns. residents and municipalities, causing many conflicts of interest.