Politics, Charter Revisions, Budget Failures Made

By John Voket

January 2007 arrived in Newtown with mild temperatures, leaving hundreds who depend on snow-related business looking anxiously for the season’s first major storm on the horizon. While it was uncertain whether the sweater-friendly climate was the fault of global warming or an El Nino-powered jet stream, the unseasonable stretch of fair weather was a boon to others like masons and landscapers who are normally buttoned down by year’s end.

A new front was forming on Newtown’s political horizon, however, as a segment of residents turned attention toward distant November and the local elections. And by the time the votes were counted ten months and six days later, the incumbent administration of five-term Democratic First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal was eclipsed by 82 votes as the Republican team of Joseph Borst and Paul Mangiafico took the reins. The fall was marked by one of the most competitive election seasons in recent memory, with full slates of competitors being fielded by the two major parties, and the introduction of the Independent Party of Newtown (IPN), which morphed from an education advocacy group to field a partial slate of contenders, several of which successfully gained seats.

The election also included two petitioning first selectman candidates, and an 11th-hour switch that put a write-in candidate on the ballot for the Board of Education.

Along the way, Newtown saw old friends, including Town Clerk Cynthia Simon and her husband Richard “Fuzzy” Simon, departing their elected posts and hometown to explore new opportunities, and the return home of council chairman and Marine Corps Colonel William Rodgers from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Taxpayers spent part of the springtime pumping the brakes on several budget proposals, starting with round one, which topped $103 million, and turning down two subsequent proposals, finally settling in just under the $100 million mark on the fourth try.

A seemingly innocuous motion to add $250,000 to a school transportation account during the early days of this year’s budget negotiations came back to haunt Mr Borst, who subsequently sought some clarification from the ethics board on the matter, wondering if his council actions might be viewed as a conflict with his job as a school bus driver. Reporting on the possible ramifications of Mr Borst’s actions resulted in an ethics complaint, which resulted in a hearing just days after the official took his oath of office for first selectman.

Issues related to a municipal office project at Fairfield Hills took center stage, bringing hundreds out to a February council meeting questioning the plan. About a month later, the Economic Development Commission also came under fire from the town’s conservation officer and local environmental activists after a maxed out development plan for the Commerce Road tech park was floated.

Issues carried over from the previous year saw some resolution in 2007, including Charter revisions that were finalized under some controversy and timing misfires, and the withdrawal of a Federal lawsuit tendered by a local businessman over an advisory referendum several years earlier on the Fairfield Hills Master Plan. The year saw the launch of a long-range strategic planning committee and a comprehensive townwide survey, the merger and centralization of two local support services into the Newtown Youth & Family Services agency, the negotiation of several commercial leases at Fairfield Hills, and an impressive series of land acquisitions late in the year that bolstered Newtown’s open space cache while preserving the landmark Ferris farm in Dodgingtown.

Borst Elected First Selectman

The winds of political change ushered in Republican leadership on the Board of Selectmen for the first time in well over a decade with long-tenured councilman Mr Borst taking the top elected seat and former school board member Mr Mangiafico earning a selectman’s seat. In July, it appeared clear the pair would receive the endorsement of the Republican Town Committee.

Mr Borst told The Bee at that time he could not face another election where the incumbent first selectman ran unopposed.

“I feel a lot of people, like me, believe things are not going as well as they should, and they are looking for a change,” Mr Borst said. “All I know is [the RTC] can’t leave that slot blank, it’s not appropriate.”

He said if the party is lacking another viable candidate for first selectman, “I’m going to do it.” Mr Borst, at age 80, brought to the table his experience serving Newtown in some elected or appointed political capacity for 47 years.

Mr Borst’s campaign was a relatively quiet one, marked by occasional campaign appearances, including a unit in the annual Labor Day Parade. Mr Borst also appeared in a public debate sponsored by The Bee at Edmond Town Hall along with Mr Rosenthal, and petitioning first selectman candidates Christian Qualey, Jr, and Louis “Jay” Mattegat.

During that debate, Mr Borst spoke about providing further tax breaks to longtime residents and seniors to help keep them in town. “I think the Legislative Council and the Board of Finance should be looking at possibly freezing taxes on senior homes depending on how long they’ve lived in town,” he said.

In a candidate profile, Mr Borst said he thought the greatest challenge facing Newtown in the coming years was “the loss of connectivity between the executive office and the people.”

In September, Mr Borst and Mr Mangiafico received and accepted the endorsement of the Independent Party of Newtown, a political committee seeking to become a minor party by tendering its own candidates for numerous elected offices, but not the Board of Selectmen. With added support behind them, the Borst/Mangiafico team celebrated victory November 6 with the new first selectman capturing the top seat by 82 votes over five-term incumbent Mr Rosenthal.

In a December 1 speech at his swearing in, Mr Borst, said he was looking forward to all the town’s many elected and appointed officials helping him guide the town over the next two years. He pledged to provide acceptable budgets, continue the development of a long-range strategic plan, and to solve the town’s traffic problems.

The new first selectman also promised to complete the review of planned municipal offices at Fairfield Hills.

“This is the thing that apparently was the instigator of changing administrations, and it’s a problem that the people of Newtown want solved,” Mr Borst said to cheers and applause from the audience. “I don’t know all the answers. I know I’m probably going to be making some mistakes. But that’s the way you learn, by making mistakes,” Mr Borst concluded.

Ethics Investigation, Hearing

Mr Borst spent much of the first half of the year quietly working as a local school bus driver, while serving in his capacity as an elected council member. It was during that time, as the local budget process was finalizing, that Mr Borst proposed a quarter-million-dollar appropriation to add bus routes and fortifying a fuel account for the school’s transportation department.

That failed motion apparently raised concerns several months later as Mr Borst was exploring a run for the first selectman’s seat. In July, Mr Borst brought concerns about the appearance of a conflict of interest to the local ethics commission, citing his position working for the school system while deliberating and voting on the district budget.

A July 28 letter to ethics board member Mitchell Bolinsky requested a response on official letterhead about whether or not the commission felt Mr Borst was in violation of the ethics code for voting on school budgets while he was an employee of the school district. Some ethics board members early-on interpreted Mr Borst’s request for a response on ethics commission letterhead as a request for past and future absolution based on a perceived conflict of interest, which the board declined to do repeatedly.

After reading about the preliminary ethics inquiry in The Bee, along with an interview with Mr Borst, Democratic Town Committee Chairman Earl Smith issues two letters constituting a formal complaint against the councilman.

Mr Smith said he based his complaint on information he said he read a newspaper interview, during which Mr Borst was quoted as saying the idea to request more money for the transportation department, where he worked, was motivated by conversations Mr Borst had with his immediate supervisor. During that interview with The Newtown Bee, when asked directly if he was the one who came up with the idea to request an additional quarter-million dollars for the transportation department, Mr Borst said the suggestion to add money to the budget was tendered by his immediate supervisor, Transportation Director Anthony DiLonardo.

After determining the complaint had merit, the commission called a hearing for December, coincidentally just days after Mr Borst won the first selectman’s seat in the local election. At that hearing three of the four commissioners voted to find Mr Borst in violation of the town Code of Ethics, but due to a technicality that mandated a unanimous vote among the four commissioners in attendance, the motion to cite the new first selectman died on the final vote of 3-1, and he was cleared of any violations by the panel.

WeCAN Becomes IPN

As the community welcomed new leadership in December, numerous political pundits tracked the defeat of first selectman Rosenthal by an 82-vote margin to the involvement of the IPN, which campaigned heavily against the incumbent and threw an endorsement to his Republican contender. Many members and supporters of the minor party hearken back to a February council meeting where several hundred residents turned out, many rallying against the construction of a new municipal office complex at Fairfield Hills.

In July, having established WeCAN (We Care About Newtown) as a local initiative to support a high school expansion project and other predominantly school-related causes, residents Po Murray and Gary Davis began the process of establishing their minor party from among WeCAN affiliated supporters. Ms Murray subsequently filed a slate of petitioning candidates who all hope to share a single party line on the ballot in November.

Those IPN candidates included herself and Mr Davis as District 2 council contenders. Ms Murray said she and Mr Davis were among those motivated to seek political office “to provide voters with an Election Day alternative to the town’s two major parties.”

As the group planned its caucus, the committee announced it was looking to endorse major party candidates whose shared similar political philosophies with IPN supporters. On July 24, the committee put up candidates for council seats the school board, and the Police Commission.

At that point the IPN began aggressively campaigning on a platform that eventually became known as “The Declaration of Independents.” The platform called for greater transparency and citizen access to local government, as well as a consideration of adopting zero-based budgeting, a more prevalent business practice that had limited application in the public sector.

The committee’s candidates and supporters targeted the Rosenthal administration, and in particular, plans to move forward constructing municipal offices at Fairfield Hills. The IPN was also critical of several Republican council members and finance board incumbents who openly backed the plans to centralize all town offices while providing a public investment to draw commercial tenants to the town-owned campus.

By late September, IPN announced its support of the Republican team of Mr Borst and Mr Mangiafico, as well as Republican Robert A. Mulholland, Sr, for a seat on the Planning & Zoning Commission. Mr Borst accepted the endorsement, saying: “I’m in support of any Newtown voters who want to vote for me.”

At around the same time, the IPN announced its support for petitioning council candidate Ruby Johnson and Democratic school board candidate Lillian Bittman. In mid-October, school board candidate Donna Monteleone Randle filed a letter withdrawing the ballot position she secured as a petitioner with the IPN committee, opting instead to run as a write-in against the uncontested Anna Wiedemann for a two-year vacancy.

Ms Monteleone Randle said in the release she withdrew from the IPN slate to provide voters a choice. The move forced the town clerk and Registrars of Voters to throw out more than 15,000 preprinted ballots, and to make accommodations to redact Ms Monteleone Randle’s name by hand on approximately 1,600 absentee ballots.

The $7,000 cost for reprinting ballots and reprogramming voting machine computer chips was covered by the Secretary of the State’s Office this year.

As the polls closed on Election Day, the IPN was celebrating the election of Mr Davis and Ms Murray to the council in District 2, Bruce Walczak to the Police Commission, and David Nanavaty to the school board from among the committee’s 11 qualified candidates. And by virtue of capturing a qualifying minimum of votes in each of the 11 races, the IPN earned minor party status for each of those slots in the 2009 election.

Simons Depart, Col Rodgers Returns

Some of the most high profile local officials marked departures and returns in 2007.

Much to the dismay of town hall staffers, Ms Simon broke the news formally in mid-January that she planned to retire to the tiny community of Anthony, Fla., by summertime. She decided to make the announcement early to provide as much lead time as possible so an appropriate replacement could be trained and appointed to the position until the post came up for election in November.

“It’s going to be strange because I’ve never lived anywhere else,” Ms Simon said. But the desire to be closer to her immediate family members — her mother, Betty, and daughters Heather and Kimberly — had become a driving motivation, she said.

Her best friends, many of whom regard Ms Simon and her husband, Richard, as extended family, said they took the news hard. The decision also spelled change for the local Police Commission, which was served loyally by Mr Simon for several years.

At the end of June, more than 100 friends and coworkers said farewell at a surprise party. The event, which was months in the planning, was bittersweet for virtually everyone in attendance, who either publicly or privately expressed some degree of reticence that the two longtime public servants would be departing Newtown for a new home in Florida.

“I have a special memory of each and every one of you,” Ms Simon said during the testimonial. “But I’m not going to try and remember them all now...it would take all night.”

Over the course of nearly a half-hour, more than a half-dozen well-wishers came to the microphone relating experiences with the couple. The program was led off by State Representatives Julia Wasserman and DebraLee Hovey, who presented a legislative proclamation in recognition of the many years of service the Simons provided to the community.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal then presented certificates of appreciation on behalf of the town to the couple. Mr Rosenthal complimented Ms Simon for the professional and nonpartisan manner in which she has run her office during her 20-year tenure as town clerk.

The first selectmen then praised Mr Simon for his tireless advocacy on behalf of the local police department, especially during budget deliberations.

In mid-March, Legislative Council chairman Colonel William Rodgers returned to Newtown from a tour of duty in Iraq where he carried out his mission of working with the community members, tribal factions, and political leaders negotiating damage settlements, as well as providing support in diplomatic and infrastructure matters. Mr Rodgers told The Bee that after dozens of long trips and short jaunts via helicopter in the course of his duties, some of which were rougher than others, he faced his worst ride transferring between his immediate base and a Marine transfer outpost where he would be processed for his return to the States.

His final trip to the out-processing center he described was to be about an hour, and Mr Rodgers would be traveling in a large transport helicopter with just a crew and four other officers headed for home. About 20 minutes into the transfer, Mr Rodgers said the chopper began taking heavy small arms ground fire, which triggered both evasive action on the part of the pilot and aggressive defense from one of the gunners on board.

“I had been under fire before, but that last helo trip was the most intense,” Mr Rodgers said from the relative quiet of his Hattertown home.

Budget Takes Four Tries

After much deliberation on too few dollars and too many possible cuts, the Legislative Council, with the support of the finance board, sent a record $103 million 2007 budget proposal to the voters. The proposal was struck down by 75 votes and launched one of the more protracted budget processes in recent memory.

Subsequent to the first round budget failure, the council settled on a $750,000 cut and returned the new proposal back to a second referendum. During that meeting, councilman Daniel Amaral recommended a $1.2 million cut designating a 63/37 split between the school and town sides of the proposal. Vice Chair Timothy Holian called the proposal “intriguing,” saying Mr Amaral’s move, if approved, would bring the mill rate to 28.6.

“That brings us under a five percent increase, which in my nine years on the council has been historically palatable to the taxpayer,” he said.

The second attempt to pass the budget proposal failed by a 390-vote margin, motivating the council to make an additional net reduction of $1 million from the spending package. While the outcome proved a more decisive victory for budget opponents, the turnout totaling just under 30 percent of qualified voters was nonetheless frustrating for local officials who hoped many more would turn out.

Two weeks later, the third proposal failed by 86 votes, prompting another $120,000 in net cuts and bringing the proposed budget down to $99,878,877, which finally passed two weeks later at a fourth referendum with Yes votes finally outpaced No votes by a count of 430. The approved spending package would provide just under $37 million for town programs and services, and almost $63 million to the Board of Education.

Council Chairman Rodgers said he was grateful to all the taxpayers who took time to come out and cast their vote.

“I’m pleased the process is over and the council can turn its attention to other matters,” he said.

Mr Rodgers pointed out that his fellow council members reduced the budget by $2.3 million since the initial proposal was forwarded by the finance board.

Land Ho!

In March, the town’s Economic Development Commission rolled out its formal designs for a commercial technology park to be built on land acquired by the town from the state through an initiative sponsored by State Representative Julia Wasserman. Saying the development would not necessarily present a case of  “if you build it, they will come,” the EDC sought to present a plan that would represent a viable economic driver for Newtown. The announcement of a maxed-out potential buildout of commercial lots on the parcel brought criticism from the local conservation official and several environmental advocates.

In an interview, EDC Chairman Chet Hopper acknowledged that criticism by environmental volunteers and the local conservation official did not fall on deaf ears. The concerns about possible debilitating runoff into Deep Brook from the northernmost parcel in a preliminary development plan prompted the EDC to relocate a parking structure to the south side of the lot, as well as enhancing an adjacent bioswale to disperse extensive runoff with what Mr Hopper described as “controlled overflow.”

“We are looking very carefully at all the ways to control water runoff,” he said. “We never considered just dumping it into Deep Brook.”

Both Mr Hopper and fellow EDC member Kim Danziger told The Bee the project would incorporate as much compromise as possible, but that ultimately no single interest should expect to be fully accommodated. Mr Danziger pointed out that adjusting the parcel plan for a more environmentally friendly ten-lot development, instead of maxing out the tech park at the allowed 12 lots, potentially cost the town up to $2 million in lost sales revenue because the additional parcels would not be sold.

“We hope at the end of the day everybody will work toward the best compromise,” Mr Danziger said. “We all live here in town, we are all volunteers on this project, and we recognize we have to be the ones to show a willingness to compromise from the start.”

In other land acquisition news, the Legislative Council endorsed a package of land acquisitions that will protect an additional 108 acres from residential development and add to an expansive cache of public open space in mid-November. The council’s unanimous approval authorizes the town to close on four new properties, and represents the latest action in a five-year program bonding up to $12 million for preserving open space parcels that have been qualified by the Conservation Commission.

The land acquisition initiative, a hallmark of departing First Selectman Herb Rosenthal’s administration, began in the 2004 fiscal year with the acquisition of Laurel Trail property as well as the Eichler’s Cove marina and swimming area. Other parcels large and small have followed, totaling more than 200 acres, and leaving a net balance of about $1.3 million in the approved bonding plan.

A few days earlier, the Ferris family inked a contract that honors the legacy of all its farming forefathers, along with all future generations who may want to carry on their agricultural heritage. The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit conservation organization, culminated its work with Newtown officials November 20 administering the acquisition and sale a conservation easement on 74 acres of the Ferris Farm, ensuring its permanent protection as farmland.

The historic property, located on Route 302, is currently the last operating dairy farm in Fairfield County and the destination of thousands of visitors every summer to its popular ice cream stand. Mr Rosenthal said the town acquiring the easement provides both quality of life and economic benefits in the form of a $500,000 state grant to help fund the purchase.

Charter Revisions

The Charter Revision Commission resumed its deliberations in January, inviting First Selectman Rosenthal and Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker in to discuss possibly adding a position of town planner to the revised charter proposal. The idea of perhaps separating the positions of planner from the community development responsibilities Ms Stocker currently handles was initiated by Charter Commissioner Joan Plouffe.

By early March, the commission had moved on to a subject of interest for local education supporters as the panel recommend increasing the size of the school board from six to seven.

June marked the scheduling of a public hearing as well as the one-year anniversary of the charter commission’s latest inception. During that period the six-member panel received input from town residents, elected officials, and various personnel including the finance director, school superintendent, and the community development director, who is also a certified town planner.

Those appointed volunteers, Chairman Al Cramer and Vice Chairman Joseph Hemingway, both former charter commissioners, Joan Plouffe, Guy Howard, Carolyn Signorelli, and LeReine Frampton, who also a town registrar of voters, have deliberated both minor language and housekeeping aspects of the document, as well as sweeping changes that were among 29 charges from the Legislative Council, or introduced by members of the public and the commissioners themselves.

Throughout the process, Mr Cramer praised his fellow commissioners on their stimulating debate and their dedication to bringing relevant ideas and exchanges to the table.

“We heard a lot of good ideas and had a lot of interesting debate to help bring us to the point where we were able to vote not only on the charges brought to us by the council, but on 15 other points we determined were very important to incorporate or address in the final draft,” Mr Cramer said.

After the initial public hearing, Mr Cramer reconvened the commission to entertain four additional changes after which he called a second public hearing July 10 to formally submit a final draft of proposed revisions before sending the entire document through legal and Legislative Council inspections.

On August 22 the council held its own hearing on the proposed revisions. By this time another controversial topic had surfaced regarding what was first proposed as an administrative change clarifying the town’s single board of finance. That change involved changing the name of the current finance board to the Finance Advisory Board.

Mr Cramer maintained throughout the charter revision process that a conflict occurred in the last charter revision, which created and empowered two boards of finance, one by title that is vested with full-time oversight and advisory responsibilities, and the second — the council’s finance subcommittee ­— that refines or validates the advisory board’s input before recommending or rejecting budget actions and other significant appropriations legally authorized by the full council.

This apparent conflict between the advisory and policymaking bodies on these two elected boards is troubling to Mr Cramer, and was the driving factor behind his support of what first seemed to be an innocuous fix of an unintended outcome of the last charter revision vote five years ago. At that time, an 11th-hour petition forced a breakout question on the ballot, which passed, creating the current Board of Finance with all statutory powers and privileges.

As the document draft moved back and forth through its final stage of review before being recommended to the voters, the council suggested the commission reconsider several recommendations. But in its final stage, the charter panel endorsed a draft that reflected the commissioners wishes as submitted without endorsing any of the changes recommended by the council.

Despite the late contentions between the council and the commission, Mr Cramer said he was happy that both the council and his commission were in complete agreement with 16 other charter changes that resulted in concurring recommendations.

“Personally I’m very pleased that 16 of our recommendations were acceptable to the council,” Mr Cramer said. The final proposal is scheduled to go before voters at the first 2008 budget referendum.

Federal Suit Withdrawn

A local liquor store owner who also briefly entertained a run for the town’s top elected office this November withdrew both a federal lawsuit against the town, the first selectman and several volunteers, as well as a Freedom of Information complaint he filed in November of 2006. The complainant, Matthew DeAngelis filed a “Stipulation of Voluntary Dismissal” with the US District Court April 11.

The stipulation to withdraw, which was filed “with prejudice,” means Mr DeAngelis can never bring identical action against any of the defendants or the town, according to Monte Frank, an attorney with Cohen and Wolf, who worked with Town Attorney David Grogins on the matter.

In a separate action, Mr DeAngelis and The Friends of Newtown withdrew a state Freedom of Information complaint filed the previous fall. In an attachment, the FOIC representative said the complainant stated, “I am mostly satisfied with the response I received from the town,” among other personal reasons for the move.

The withdrawal of the suit and FOI complaint brought to a close a series of activities that played out in several legal and public circles since the previous fall, when Mr DeAngelis concurrently filed the FOI complaint and federal suit naming the Town, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, and Selectmen Joseph Bojnowski and William Brimmer, Jr. Besides the selectmen, Fairfield Hills Authority members Amy Dent, Robert Geckle, John Reed, Moira Rodgers, Donald Studley, and Walter Motyka are named as defendants.

According to Mr Rosenthal, the town’s legal defense against the suit and the FOI complaint cost taxpayers between $50,000 and $70,000.

When asked why he withdrew the federal action, Mr DeAngelis said he knew the town had already spent more than $50,000 to defend the accused volunteers and officials, and that he could, “not let this go on any further.”