LOWV Council forum 2011

Livestreaming the Council debate... fun, fun, fun!

I just watched the DISTRICTS starting around 7pm. Thoughts:

David Schrumm -- David is David. He reminds me of Newt at a local level. The best debater out there. And as much as he drives me nuts at times... at times like this, he reminds me how beneficial he can be for the town. He's knowledgable, articulate and makes a good presentation. He explains issues in a succinct manner. I know he has no opponent this year, but he shined favorably on the entire GOP team tonight.

Tom Ruocco -- He's good. I would absolutely vote for him. And as Personnel Chair, he has made important progress this term on town union pension reform by moving from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution plans for new hires.

Matt Bowman -- I like Matt, but I hope he remains in "private industry." He kinda dropped the ball and stumbled during his closing comments.

Joe Schmitt -- He's very enthusiastic. I absolutely agree with him about priorities. I just don't see why this Council spent so much time discussing and funding recreation projects.

Andy Falvey -- When he commented on priorities, I couldn't really follow. He works hard for the 3rd district though. I know residents who really appreciate his efforts at Mixville.

Steve Carroll -- I thought he did fine. Though nothing in particular jumped out at me.

Peter Talbot -- Did anyone else think he was suggesting that "raise my taxes!" was his campaign slogan? I know the 4th district fairly well. And I know a lot of people who want education well-funded. But I don't know that many people who want higher taxes. That's different from being willing to pay higher taxes.

AT-LARGE

Jim McKenney -- He kept hammering away at the $30,000,000 sewer plant upgrade. I was about to vote for the project until he explained the possibility of the state walking away from funding the $6,000,000 de-phosphorous component. He explained that passing the referendum would reduce Cheshire's leverage with state funding. That's concerning. But since maintenance of the plant is mandated, I can't fully appreciate his argument. Regardless, this funding issue -- that Mike O'Donnell and Sylvia Nichols also mentioned -- seems important. McKenney also hammered home the point about the millions of dollars worth of no-bid contracts given out by the WPCA. I was under the impression that the no-bid nonsense had ended with this Council. Perhaps not? Or perhaps, unlike before when no contracts were put out to bid, now some contracts are being bid? Based on what I heard, Jim was the only person to properly answer the question "What one thing would you do to save money?" The rest of the responses sounded like non-responses to me. Overall, I thought Jim did really well. Still an uphill battle though as a non-major party candidate. As PBC Chair, I didn't care for his approach to work. I never thought he was particularly receptive to the Energy Commission and the obvious value they could offer building projects. But as a rank'n'file member of the Council, he might be a good addition. I doubt he'd be a rubber stamp for the Town Manager!

Bob Behrer -- I like Bob. He was fairly reserved tonight. But I do now know that he supports the turf and the pool. And speaking of Bob, I've been emailing with him the past few days. His company sources beeswax from around the world (geographic diversity is important for the business continuity plans of many manufacturers), but do not yet have any sources here in Haiti. So he reached out to me and we're hoping to help generate some money & jobs for some of the poor of Haiti. Regardless of the business-driven, profit-motive, I appreciate Bob for contacting me. Thinking outside-the-box could be good for the Council. Unfortunately, you'd still need five votes to direct action on outside-the-box thinking. One Council member alone cannot effect change. Change requires five hands in the air.

Mike O'Donnell -- I think Mike would be a good addition to the Council. I've known him since I first ran for the Council ten years ago. The great thing about him is that he's a straight-shooter. He's very direct. He's never minced words with me or told me what he thought I wanted to hear. He's always respectful, yet plainly tells me if he agrees or disagrees with me.

Patti Flynn-Harris -- Among the at-large candidates, she had the best performance. She has the best presentation and she does her homework. In fact, just today I got an email from a Republican saying that she's the Council member most involved with the concept of a townwide energy conservation plan. That basically relates to her desire to understand how a performance contract works. I have never served with her, but it sounds like she does her homework. And that's important. I suspect that PFH will be the highest vote-getter on November 8th.

Tim Slocum -- He alluded to the teachers' union concesssions. That was a big win for the town. He also deserves credit for town pension reform because despite town management footdragging, Tim helped closed the door on defined benefit pension plans for future hires. That was another big win. But then he mentioned a future goal of the Council: shared services between the Town and Schools. That sounds great and I appreciated his usual candor. But he made clear that this Council decided to spend the past year figuring out what to do with the pool bubble, rather working to reduce waste and duplicate services in government. I just don't see how or why anyone would campaign on that. Sounds like a poor choice to me. I also had to chuckle when he mentioned that this Council directed the Town Manager to save money anyway he can. I guess that may be true, but there obviously wasn't very strong accountability backing it. I mean, we got fleeced for $150,000 on the Norton boiler fiasco, including probably $50,000 to $60,000 being spent by this Council. How is that saving money? And we saw the money wasted when we had to pay to repave Rosemary Lane only two years after we had just repaved it. How much did that stupidity cost? And we saw Jim McKenney tonight. He kept hammering home the no-bid contracts at the WPCA. Anyone know the common denominator among these three issues? It's what I said two years ago... the Council needs to deal with the failed management of the Public Works Department. But since that's a function of the Town Manager, the Council needs to deal with the TM. Yet I see no indication that they have done so. Instead it's seems as though they live in The Land of Make Believe... where everything is perfect and town government has done no wrong for the past two years. That's absurd. And it's a major disappointment to me. As I said during the last Council, I hope the voters can identify five people who are willing to direct the Town Manager to stop the waste & mismanagement in town government, particularly in the DPW. I hope we can find five people who are willing to direct the TM when he is wrong -- and he is wrong sometimes -- and not simply back down when he starts getting visibly angry and jumping up out of his seat (and no, he doesn't do that on TV... he always very controlled there... but get him off camera...).

Jimmy Sima -- He started his comments by mentioning that he sometimes leaves Council meetings frustrated. Well, between all the unnecessary time and money spent on recreation projects... and the lack of accountability in Town Hall... I can venture a guess as to why Jimmy gets frustrated at times. He also mentioned his general opposition to hiring consultants. I'll be voting for Jimmy. He's my top choice for Council. I hope he's your top choice too!

Mike Ecke -- He offered a nice opening statement. But he proceeded to say that we're "stuck with the bubble." Au contraire. The new bubble was a conscious decision. He also mentioned the $500,000 for the locker room that has gone unspent. Initially, I thought that was an important point. But Tim Slocum rightly said that spending requests begin with the BOE. And if the BOE hasn't asked for the money, that's not the fault of the Council for failing to spend the money. I like Mike. But I have to challenge his point about being willing to work with all elected officials. I agree with him that he's willing to listen and take input. He worked with me several times. I recall one time when he delayed (for one year) hiring a consultant for an update to the strategic plan. I very much appreciated him listening to me on that. So his assertion was true. But I can't ignore my previous conclusion that when push comes to shove... his preference -- as is the preference of most Council Chairs -- is to defer to the Town Manager, not to other elected officials. And I just think that is so wrong. It reminds me of these Republicans running for POTUS. When asked about war, too many of them say "I'll defer to my commanders." Huh? Then why'd we elect you?! We have elections for a reason! The bureaucrats will virtually always want to spend more money and have less accountability. I want Council leadership that will make the decisions. And no, I don't have to agree with the Council decision. But I want to know that their decisions are their decisions... not a decision made by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats.

Sylvia Nichols -- She's nice. I like her, but not much jumped out at me.

Dan Nowak -- He started off on the wrong foot as his mic wasn't working. And I wasn't too thrilled when he seemed to be advocating expanding services... does he want a water polo team? But I know him a smidge. He lives in the 4th district! I think he may have been a bit nervous tonight. Nonetheless, he -- like all others -- could offer the Council some good.

Overall, I think what surprised me most was how many candidates are uncertain how they will vote on the $30,000,000 wastewater treatment plant upgrade. Per Jim McKenney, there's obviously new information (post-capital budget vote) that's now in the public forum. So it's somewhat understandable. Frankly though, going back to my POTUS analogy... I get pretty annoyed when I hear Herman Cain tell us that he won't answer a question (i.e. the way forward in Afghanistan or naming a Fed Chairman) because he's not President yet. You know what Herman? I don't want another "unknown" like Obama. I want to know where you stand on the issues. And while volunteering for the Council is different, I still want candidates to be clear on the issues.

That's it... goodnight!

Tim White

Town to assist in Irene cleanup

Tom Ruocco suggested I post this:

The Town of Cheshire will be assisting residents with removal of branches downed on their properties by Hurricane Irene.

Residents are asked to leave the branches curbside, without obstructing the roadway, by the morning of September 6, 2011. Branches less than five inches in diameter will be chipped and the chips will be removed. Branches and logs over five inches in diameter will be cut into approximately 18 inch logs and left at curbside for firewood for use by residents. Town staff will not go onto private property to retrieve or cut branches. Public Works crews will make only one pass through town, and will not return for debris that were not place curbside prior to their collection. This program is expected to take at least ten days. Residents can also dispose of this storm-related brush and tree material at the designated drop off areas at Mixville Park parking lot on Notch Road and the Quinnipiac Park parking lot on Cheshire Street at any time until September 14, 2011. This program is restricted to storm-related woody debris only. The Town will not accept loose leaves, yard clippings or trimmings, or any other lumber, garbage, non-woody storm debris or bulky items for collection or drop off.

Along with his ongoing outreach efforts, Tom is a fiscal conservative. Despite being in the minority, he voted in favor of avoiding long-term liabilities more than once this year. When it came to both the pool bubble and turf, Tom voted to avoid future expenses. If I could I would definitely vote for Tom Ruocco in November.

Tim White

Torrez Ferguson is not only the MDTC Chair, she's also Donovan's Chief of Staff!

Although Elizabeth Esty is out of the running for the Dem nomination in the 13th Senate district, there's still a footnote to be told.

As has been mentioned here and elsewhere, CTs special elections do not allow for primaries. As such, the nominating convention controls everything. And of the four towns -- Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield and Middletown -- in the 13th district, Meriden has more than half the votes at tonight's nominating convention.

And Meriden's DTC Chair, Millie Torrez Ferguson stiff-armed Elizabeth. The MDTC Chair refused to even return Elizabeth's phone calls. Ms. Torrez Ferguson is just plain rude. But the story gets worse.

I now understand that Torrez Ferguson has the cushy job title:

Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the House

Yup. She works for Chris Donovan. So she's not only rude, she's also apparently a pawn for the corrupt Chris Donovan... the same Chris Donovan who gave Crusher his $120,000 / year no-show job... and the same Chris Donovan who fawned over the criminal Tom Gaffey as he exited the legislature.

So it seems to me that Millie Torrez Ferguson is probably just taking her marching orders from Donovan and atrociously failing the 13th's Democratic party. All this is the same crew that brought us The Fraudster, Tom Gaffey.

I wonder who Democrats will vote for on February 22:

A: The Republican

or

B: The Teachers' Union President

With Elizabeth getting so rudely ignored, it wouldn't surprise me to see Democratic liberals -- which IMO are a distinctly different demographic from Democratic teachers-- stay home and take their chances with a Dem primary in 2012. Considering that they may be facing an incumbent R in a highly Democratic district with a high turnout in a Presidential election year, you may see liberals sit out this special.

Tim White

RIP: The pool bubble

Most importantly, no one was injured... which brings me to the memorial service...

Via referendum in 1996, the white elephant was born. As with many government projects, it contained two critical issues:

1) the capital budget; and
2) the operating budget.

First, we had the $2.9 million capital costs. But by the time the capital costs stopped being recorded, it was already in excess of $4.0 million.* And while Council after Council have been fired by the voters every two years since 1999, in part because of the pool, the voters were never really given an honest take on whether the additional $1.1 million was legal. Instead, Council's simply skirted the rules by spending less than the $330,000** referendum limit.

Second, we had the annual operating subsidy of $400,000. With the explanatory text of the referendum suggesting both a year-round and self-sustaining facility, the pols who brought forward the pool in 1996 were lacking:

1) intellectual honesty;
2) the ability or willingness to critically analyze the proposal; or
3) the means to tell the future of energy costs.

I think the biggest problem was #3. Though I think all three issues played some role to varying extents.

And of course, Council after Council refused to address the problems of the pool directly. Instead, the M.O. was to throw more good money after bad. It wasn't until 2010 that a Council accepted the need to tackle the pool head-on.

The $7 million referendum failed, but it was the first time that a Council acted responsibly. And the PBCs work is still outstanding. I expect they'll soon return to the Council with a plan for the bubble. But I also expect the proposal could exceed $1,000,000. If so, it'll probably be sunk even before a Council vote. In other words, my feeling is that the PBC work is an exercise in futility... other than showing the voters that it's not viable... at least in this economic climate.

So my guess is that although the Council will continue to have discussions regarding a year-round pool into the 2011 fall election, the pool has finally met it's match... a combination of:

1) Father Time;
2) New England's winter snows; and
3) the voters.

Yup. Between the seven million dollar pool structure and the half million dollar track, the voters have made it clear to the Town's elected officials that there's a difference between necessities and niceties.

Looking forward to the immediate consequences of the bubble collapse, what will happen with pool programs? I'm sure some will be cancelled, but others will be relocated. One thing to keep in mind -- not for this year, but next -- is that if the pool structure passed, it was stated that it would've been possible to relocate swim programs. So programming would have continued without a great deal of interruption.

Looking farther into the future, this raises a question about the scope of an agreement between the Town and Yankee Gas. The pool would've been profitable for Yankee in the short-term. But laying pipeline extensions to Norton and Doolittle may have a 30-year payback. Combining the two would've been beneficial to the town and, perhaps, acceptable to Yankee. But the lack of the pool will certainly be taken into consideration by Yankee as the DPUC requires their projects to have timelines for their projected ROI.

And looking to our spring ritual, I expect the PBC to complete their bubble study prior to the adoption of the Town's operating budget. It'd certainly make the budget process easier having a sense of whether there could be another $400,000 subsidy for a year-round pool... or if that subsidy may be reduced for a summer-only pool. My guess is that the Council will adopt a budget with a $50,000 to $100,000 subsidy for a summer-only pool.

As for how that $300,000 savings plays out politically... I venture that if you ignore all the moving pieces of the budget, there will be a Democratic proposal to increase the education budget by the amount reduced in the pool subsidy. If that happens, most eyes will be on the annual debate of the school budget... not on the pool. That would signal the planting of flowers on the bubble's grave... with the year-round pool being unceremoniously walked into the sunset.

Or maybe the Y will lease the facility for $1 / year?

Tim White

* This does not include all capital improvements to the pool, such as the $250,000 wasted on mold remediation in September 2009.

** The threshold is now $350k, but it was raised after the pool construction was supposedly completed in 2003.

Esty denied consideration in the 13th

Cheshire's newest online news source, The Cheshire Patch, is reporting on the Meriden Democratic Political Machine's refusal to even acknowledge Elizabeth Esty as a candidate for the state Senate seat being vacated by the disgraced criminal, Tom Gaffey.

Although I doubt she meant it, I feel her comments in the story inadvertently made the case to vote for anyone but the Democrat.

Elizabeth says that the Meriden Democratic Chairwoman wouldn't even return her exploratory calls. How rude is that? And this comes from the same crew who knew full well that The Gaffe was a criminal, yet renominated him anyway? It seems to me that the Chair, Millie Torres-Ferguson, could have at least returned Elizabeth's phone call and let her make her case.

But no, that wasn't in the cards.

Why?

When I look at the history of Gaffey, the C.V. of Thomas Bruenn and the fronting done by the corrupt Speaker of the House, Chris Donovan (D-Meriden), I can't help but feel that the Meriden DTC -- not the voters of Meriden and not Meriden Democrats -- is basically a subcommittee of the Meriden Teachers' Union. And since Elizabeth isn't a spokesperson for the teachers' union, she was denied any consideration whatsoever in the 13th's Democratic nominating process. Sad.

Now I just hope that I can vote. It can takes months for mail to get to / from Jeremie. And with absentee ballots requiring four legs in the mail system, I'm not sure I'll be able to do it. But I'll try because this process just stinks and we need to some change in Hartford. Governor Malloy will need some more adults -- not hacks -- to help send Donovan and Williams to their room when they throw their temper-tantrums.

Tim White

13th Senate district's special election taking shape

Now that the criminal Tom Gaffey is gone from office, the February 22 special election is taking shape. Based on the MRJs reporting by Dan Ivers and Lisa Backus, Meriden has more than 50% of the votes at the Dem nominating convention. In fact, of the district's four towns -- Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield and Middletown -- Meriden Dem convention delegates comprise:

five more than the three other towns combined

and Meriden Dems intend to vote as a block, supporting Thomas E. Bruenn:

a retired Platt High School teacher who also has served as the president of the Meriden Federation of Teachers. He has been on the Board of Education for the past three-and-a-half years.

And since there are no primaries in a special election, it appears that Elizabeth Esty won't be a candidate. That could be bad news for the Cheshire GOP in 2011. If she's not running for Congress, she may have some time on her hands this year. I'm sure Ernie Dipietro would love to have her as the campaign manager for the local campaign.

As for the GOP, we still don't appear to have coalesced around a particular candidate. While I'm figuring Len Suzio will be the choice, the MRJ indicates that Middletown's Republican Mayor lives within the 13th district. So he'd have to be considered. And there are some other Meriden Rs considering a run.

Looking forward, the Dems are set to nominate their candidate on Thursday. And the MRJ says that the GOP will nominate someone on Monday, though it's unclear if it's tomorrow or eight days from today.

The important thing for both sides to remember is that special elections tend to have low turnout. So while the 13th district is a Dem district by most measures, a high turnout among Republicans could swing the district to the GOP column. But that requires boots-on-the-ground, trudging through snow in the cold February winds of the central Connecticut valley.

Who's up for a victory party?

Tim White

Carroll to represent the 4th District

The MRJs Jesse Buchanan reports:

The Republican Town Committee nominated former town councilor and party chairman Ste-phen Carroll Thursday to replace town councilor Tim White who resigned in October.

I fully expect the Council to agree with the RTCs recommendation. So I congratulate Steve and wish him well! I know that next year's operating budget won't be pretty.

Now with regard to November 2011, I presume Steve has agreed to run. So you may be wondering about his chances?

My thoughts...

He's a parishioner at St. Thomas Beckett and has lived in the south end for more than thirty years. So he's quite well known.

Furthermore, I haven't looked at the election results recently but Steve has run at-large several times. And though he's both won and lost, I'm pretty sure that each time he's run his best showing was at Norton School... which constitutes 80% of the 4th district. So if Steve works -- and I fully expect him to work -- I think he can keep the seat in the GOP column.

No word yet on Justin Adinolfi's replacement. Personally though, I'd prefer to see Patti Flynn Harris rather than Matt Altieri. I could never understand why it seemed like my former colleague wanted to be pals with the TM. And though I often disagreed with him on policy, I respected Matt in the sense that I know he'd work.

Some members offer very little to the Council. But I never felt that way about former Councilman Altieri. In his own way, he tried to have an impact. Regardless, I'd like to see Patti get a chance on the Council. My guess is that she'd be more interested in representing the voters to Town Hall, rather than representing Town Hall to the voters.

Tim White