Marcia Chambers Photo
Sullivan, Flanagan
The Representative Town Meeting (RTM) agreed Wednesday night to remove a controversial building swap item from its agenda until after the November, 2011 election when a new RTM takes office.
The action officially ends, at least for now, any further vote on project that ran into trouble on any number of fronts and became a public relations fiasco for First Selectman Unk DaRos. The proposal never made it out of committee. It arrived at the Board of Finance (BOF) on Feb. 28, nine months after DaRos first unveiled his plan. Coming in at the end of the process, as opposed to the beginning, did not sit well with the BOF. The BOF has now officially put the project on hold, allocating funds to study other town buildings that might fit the bill for a new senior center and Board of Education headquarters.
The swap involved three buildings. The Board of Education (BOE) central office would have moved to the Canoe Brook Senior Center, which is owned by the town and the senior center would have moved to 175 N. Main St building, which is owned by the Giordano family and had been known as the Office Network. The town would have given its BOE building to the Giordano family in exchange for its private building at 175 N. Main St. The Giordano family would convert the corner BOE building to commercial or business use.
But all that formally evaporated Wednesday night at a two-hour meeting at Canoe Brook Senior Center. Several RTM members noted that the building at 175 N. Main St., now has a “for lease” sign in front of the building.
A b‑partisan 15 – 11 vote came as six members from the Democratic side of the aisle joined the nine Republicans to remove the item from future RTM agendas. DaRos had asked that the issue be re-referred, as it has been at each meeting, because he was still working on it.
DaRos said later he did not rule out the possibility of returning to the RTM before its current term ended, if he had a new plan. “If I came in with something completely different, I could come back. Absolutely,” he said.
Gail Chapman-Carbone, who chairs the RTM’s Administrative Services Committee, heard arguments on the building swap for many months. She voted to keep the swap on the agenda. Afterwards, she said: “I am disappointed that this matter was tabled despite the efforts of everyone involved. I hope that the first selectman continues to try to find a new home for the seniors and to move the board of education to the Canoe Brook Senior Center.”
In an interview DaRos said he plans to spend time with Joe Mooney, the chair of the Board of Finance, in order to study the possibilities. “I am going to work with the chairman so that we will all be on the same page. And I will work with the board of education. We have to look at all town assets. They have to decide what to do because some of these town buildings are getting to be in poor condition.”
The motion to table the swap was made by Republican Rep. Marc Riccio. “The Board of Finance sent a message,” Riccio observed. He noted that the BOF had allocated funds to review all town buildings. “Why we are continuing to have this debate or discussion on this particular item?” he asked.
Anthony Giardiello, the Democratic majority leader, said he had questions about the swap and didn’t know if “we need a bigger senior center.” If the BOF decides the town needed to expand, then, he said, “We probably won’t have a better opportunity to get a better deal on it” than the one the town has at 175 N. Main St. “It’s a good location. I think we should keep it alive.”
Republican Rep. Richard Greenalch,Jr., a long-term member of the RTM, said that if the BOF comes forward with a proposal “obviously we would have to act on that,” but at this juncture, he said, it was best to remove it from the agenda.
Democratic Rep. Sandra Reiners, a former RTM moderator, said the RTM would first need BOF approval “before we can take it up. But why not keep it on the call? We have re-referred items many, many items. A re-referral takes one minute to do. I think we should keep the option open.”
But the vote went the other way.
In other action, two RTM members and the acting moderator took steps to implement the RTM’s own rules regarding audience participation at RTM meetings.
Rep. Paul Muniz, a Democrat, said the RTM must “implement our own RTM rules regarding distraction, regarding obstructions, regarding, interruptions, both within our own membership and among the public. We need to move forward. We need to carry out our meetings in a better fashion.”
Rep.Andrew Campbell, (pictured) an attorney who has served on the RTM in the past, returned Wednesday to fill out another member’s term. He told Chris Sullivan, the acting moderator, that rule 1.11 of the Town Code requires non-members or residents to speak only to agenda items “if they are to speak at all.” Campbell cited the “Town Meeting Rules” in the code under a point of order. Sullivan agreed.
Campbell noted also that the RTM has adopted Roberts Rules of Order. Dennis Flanagan, the RTM clerk, who has served on the RTM for 28 years, said that was true. He told the RTM, however, that the RTM has not used Roberts Rules or enforced them. Later he told the Eagle it was time to think about implementing them.
Earlier in the evening the Board of Selectmen met in the same room at Canoe Brook Senior Center, to approve by unanimous voice vote four new appointments.
Rick Goodwin, a former top official with the Republican Town Committee, was appointed to a fill a vacancy on the Police Commission, which was created by the death of Jo-anne McGuigan, who died March 20. McGuigan was a long-time member of the commission and served as chair until her death.
Goodwin lost a bid to fill a vacancy on the Police Commission in March. Third Selectman John Opie was outvoted 2 – 1 when he nominated Goodwin last month to replace Bob Denhardt, who died in December. DaRos and Second Selectman Fran Walsh voted instead for Kurt Schwanfelder, also a Republican.
There was no discussion at Wednesday’s meeting regarding Goodwin’s appointment. His term will expire in January 2014.
The selectmen also voted to appoint Lt. Raymond Dunbar to replace Capt. Geoff Morgan as the town’s Emergency Management Director. “Morgan did an extraordinary job,” DaRos said, but explained that the position became vacant when Morgan was promoted to Captain.
Approval was also given for Virginia Stanlake to fill a vacancy on the Commission of Services for the Elderly; and for Lori Folger-Nicolson to fill a vacancy on the board of the Daniel Cosgrove Animal Shelter.
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