To the Editor:

Thank you for taking the time to help support the efforts of the local Master Gardeners and the UConn Fairfield County Ag Extension office and other community programs through your recent article.

I am a Master Gardener and volunteer at the Stony Hill Master Gardener Demo Garden. I would like to take the opportunity to rebut comments quoted in your article by Madeline Bunt, VP of the Stony Hill Preserve. I believe her comment regarding the “unanimous” vote to transfer the land and funds in 2017 from the Fairfield County Agricultural Extension Council (FCAEC) to the newly formed Stony Hill Preserve (SHP) are incorrect.

Past members of the Council Board (FCAEC) have told a different story as to how members were harassed, pushed off the board, and other tactics to allow the transfer to happen. The appointed officers of the newly formed SHP, which acquired the land and funds from the FCAEC, were the same handful of members from the FCAEC who wanted the transfer — and pushed for it to happen.

It appears these individuals had their hands in both pots. They moved themselves to the SHP and became officers of the SHP. If they were “unable to manage” the property under the board of FCAEC why would the same individuals magically be capable of managing the property under a new name and entity?

The original intentions of the move and formation of the SHP is in question.

After the land was transferred to SHP, UConn Extension and the Master Gardener Program were forbidden from maintaining the property. Native plantings were ripped out and the SHP put in non-native landscaping.

The UConn Extension and Master Gardeners were told not to touch the landscaping and then SHP began complaining that the property was not being maintained. It has been a puzzle as to how they can forbid the tenant from maintaining the property yet then complain that the tenant is not maintaining the grounds.

After the fire in February, SHP — the landlord — was obligated to make repairs to the building, which UConn was still leasing. But they delayed and delayed, I believe, in an effort to force the UConn Extension out of the office ahead of the lease termination in six months.

After waiting several months for SHP to take action and repair and clean up the office space in the building, UConn had a remediation team come in to do the necessary work so the offices could be used. There are still cosmetic repairs that need to be made by SHP but they have not yet made arrangements to do so.

Thank you again — and I believe some follow-up investigation is still necessary.

Jamie McDonald

Bethel