To the Editor:

At the Nov 21 Board of Selectmen meeting the First Selectman proposed a working group to study the idea of the BOS hiring a Town Administrator, a contract employee who would take over the day to day management of town government from the First Selectman. He suggested a member of that group include “a person with an interest in it from the public.”

Instead, he appointed a former member of the Board of Finance, two former Selectmen and current Selectman Owen. Where is the member of the public? Who will provide the outsider’s perspective necessary to encourage an “open-minded group” that will provide the “unvarnished review” the First Selectman said he wanted?

What would a member of the public think of the idea? Would she question the reason Selectman Owen gave to justify a Town Administrator, that it would give the First Selectman more time to do “economic development and bigger projects,” jobs already being done by other town agencies and by the BOS itself? Certainly Selectman Owen wouldn’t.

Would a member of the public question the cost of the new position?

Published reports indicate the Town Administrator in Wilton, a town of 18,500, is paid around $200,000 a year. Wilton’s First Selectman’s salary was reduced from $150,000 to $120,000 to reflect her smaller role. Newtown, a town of 28,000, would have to pay a similar amount to its Town Administrator, who would be the second highest paid town employee, second only to the Superintendent of Schools at $212,000. The First Selectman’s salary, currently $110,000, would presumably be reduced.

The First Selectman said, “We have the budget for it,” saying the cost would be “minor” before catching himself and saying the cost would not be minor. Would a member of the public think the cost minor?

The First Selectman also said at the Nov 21 BOS meeting that the town has been well served by its First Selectman, and I think overall residents would agree.

Would a member of the public think that hiring a Town Administrator to alleviate problems that do not exist speculative and unnecessary? Would that member of the public think that divorcing the Board of Selectmen from its direct accountability to the public for its day to day responsibilities and giving it to an unelected manager is a good idea?

The First Selectman said he did not want to name a working group “where the outcome is already pre-determined,” but without a member of the public to provide a more balanced view it seems that is exactly what we can expect.

Glen Swanson

Newtown