Nominees Rebuff IPN—

 William Rodgers Returns As Council Chair

By John Voket

Except for their own election process, 12 new and reelected Legislative Council members faced a fairly routine first meeting as they began respective two-year terms Wednesday evening. It was an especially notable occasion for District 2 Councilman Joseph Hemingway, who narrowly lost his seat two years ago, but was returned to the panel in November.

Mr Hemingway was also an unwitting candidate for the council chairmanship in a protracted process of seating council leadership. which included attempts by District 2 Independent Party of Newtown (IPN) council members Gary Davis and Po Murray to unseat the incumbent chairman.

District 1 Republican Joseph DiCandido started the process as expected, nominating former chair William Rodgers, which was seconded by several other members. Mr Davis then nominated Mr Hemingway, to which he did not receive a second.

Ms Murray followed by Nominating District 2 incumbent Patricia Llodra, which also failed to receive a second. Ms Llodra stopped the proceedings briefly to clarify a point of order with Town Clerk Debbie Aurelia, who was officiating until the chair was seated, and then respectfully declined the nomination.

Mr Hemingway followed suit, declining the nomination.

Mr Davis then nominated Francis Pennarola from District 1, who in turn immediately declined. Ms Murray came back again with a nomination for District 3 incumbent A. Jeffrey Capeci.

“Thank you, but no thank you,” replied Mr Capeci as chuckles began emitting from the audience of about two dozen attendees.

With a show of hands, Mr Rodgers was reseated as chair with the majority.

“Thank you very much, especially those who declined to run against me,” Mr Rodgers said as he shifted to the center seat at the council table. “I hope to not let you down in the term to come.”

Moving to the election of vice chair, Mr Hemingway nominated Mr Pennarola. His move was met by Mr Davis countering with a nomination for newly elected District 1 member Christopher Lyddy, which was seconded by Ms Murray. Mr Lyddy thanked the pair and elected to decline the IPN’s endorsement.

A subsequent vote seated Mr Pennarola, an incumbent who previously served a busy term as the council’s Ordinance Committee chair.

The public comment at the session included input from former councilman Keith Jacobs, who was notably absent from several preceding sessions as he ended his only term in November, declining to seek another round of service.

Mr Jacobs said he hoped in the coming two years, the newly seated council would listen and be more responsive to changes he believes were called for in recent election outcomes.

“When I ran for Legislative Council the past term, I ran as a voice for change,” Mr Jacobs said. “Unfortunately some of the changes I wanted to see did not occur. The community is changing, people want to see change.”

Closing the public portion of the meeting, Mr Rodgers called for a report from Ms Llodra who served as the council’s Education Committee chair. She briefly discussed a preliminary proposal from acting School Superintendent Thomas Jokubaitis regarding the possible shift in high school calendars for the 2008 and 2009 school year, to accommodate the renovation of the school’s gymnasium.

Ms Llodra reiterated the idea, in its formative stage, would involve starting the 2008 school year one week early and ending one week early, and then beginning the 2009 year one week later to minimize student interruptions in the process of reconfiguring the indoor athletic arena.

Ms Llodra’s report brought to a close the lengthy holding of an item of old business, Mr Rodgers later lamented was mislabeled as “year-round schooling.” The council had been questioning the concept of flexing the high school schedule to accommodate space needs in the short-term, before a new expansion is completed in 2010.

Ms Llodra’s report answered final questions issued by the former council as to the ways the school district might creatively apply schedule modifications to address one of the points keeping the high school’s accreditation on threat of warning status by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).

During his first report as first selectman, former councilman Joseph Borst chose only to warn council members that reassessment notices began to go out this week, and to brace for constituent calls as they view the new figures incorporating the revaluation.

Mr Borst told the council members to remind taxpayers to not multiply the reassessment by the current mill rate, because the mill rate will likely fluctuate downward before tax bills come due in July 2008.

The council took up further discussion on a proposed public trust fund for residents and others to build investments toward community improvements and further open space conservation programs. After some discussion, Mr Rodgers directed Finance Director Ben Spragg to confer with the town attorney to outline the specifics of establishing such a fund, the brainchild of former councilman David Brown.