Last BOE Meeting

Last night, I attended my last meeting as a member of the Board of Education. With the election next Tuesday, and a new board being seated (along with not running for reelection), my two year term has ended.

It has been an eventful two years. I ran for the Board because I had a desire to move the district forward. I didn’t foresee (nor did many other people) the gravity of the financial problems facing not only our state, but our country and indeed much of the world. What started out as a goal to move things forward soon became a fight for survival so to speak. The two budgets that I was involved with were unbelievably difficult, and I can say that in my case it took a fairly large toll on me.

Despite the hill we had to climb, we were still able to do some positive things; complete the security upgrade at the secondary schools, vastly improve the technology in the schools, purchase new textbooks, revamp curriculum, and amazingly review, modify, or eliminate every board policy. I leave my two year term with a sense of accomplishment, although I wish we could have done so much more.

I have tremendous respect for the remaining 7 board members who I served with. I say 7 because the 8th board member chose to absent herself for the last 2 1/2 months, which I deem to be a disservice to those who voted for her and which flies in the face of the oath she took when she was sworn into office. As to the rest, I have come to consider them friends of mine and I wish them all the best in the future; Andre who has chosen to leave public service; Tom who is running for town council and who has mounted a formidable campaign against a worthy opponent; Judy who is a tremendous advocate for the kids and one of the smartest people I’ve ever met; Joyce who takes her love for science to a whole new level; Chuck who is a fiscal watchdog and the board’s policy guru; Vinny, a longtime friend and a tremendous advocate for our children and one of the most involved board members, and Greg, someone who has served as a friend and confidant and who is also a tremendous advocate for our children. The school system will be well served by returning all of the incumbents running to office. As for the other candidates, Peter Jonaitis was a teacher in the system for over 35 years and has intimate knowledge as to the inner workings of the schools and I believe Pete would be a good addition to the board. Glenn Hart has volunteered his time and has been the chairman of the Demographic Advisory Committee. Glenn is extremely bright and would also make a good addition to the board. As to the remaining candidates, I don’t know enough about them to make an intelligent comment either way.

I have grown to have tremendous admiration and respect for our educators, from the administration down through the teachers, paraprofessionals, library aides and other staff. What our teachers do in most cases on a daily basis is miraculous and they should be commended for all they do.

To Dr. Gallacher and Tony Torre, thank you for all your help the past two years. The rest of the Central Office staff, including Kathy Zalucki, Chris Chemerka, and Carol Parmalee-Blancato has also been a tremendous asset, as has Barry Bernstein, our athletic director. To Chris Drezek and Craig Cooke, who left for other towns, thank you as well for your assistance while serving our district.

I would be remiss if I did not also recognize our building administrators; Paul Newton, John Coccia, Brien Brown and Chad Ellis at Fermi; Tom Duffy, Steve Sargalski, and Yvette Saniesteban at Enfield High; Tim Neville, Sarah Collins, John Coleman and Andy Longhi at JFK, as well as Maureen Sampl, Tim Van Tasel, Deborah Berger, Bob Fenton, Altressa Cox-Blackwell, Bonnie Mazzoli, Leann Beaulieu, Nancy Hayes, Debbie Clement, and Sandra Ingalls at our elementary schools and Head Start.

Finally, thank you to our children. You have and continue to inspire me. Our future is well-served by the unbelievably bright and talented children that we graduate from our school system every year. I wish all of you the best and brightest future.

Debate at Enfield High

Last night, the 19 candidates for Town Council (9 Democrats, 9 Republicans, and one independent) squared off at Enfield High School in the first and only debate among town council candidates. First of all, let me thank Tom Duffy and Enfield High School for hosting the forum, and also thanks to Amy Witbro and the Enfield Youth Vote for coordinating the program. Thanks also to the Enfield High Students who put the event on. The students who moderated the event and asked the questions did an outstanding job.

One thread that was interesting about the debate was that in most cases, most of the candidates pretty much agreed on nearly every issue, albeit sometimes approaching matters from a different perspective.

In District 1, each of us was asked one question, with the other two candidates getting a chance to respond. The two more interesting questions revolved around my independent candidacy and whether or not the voters in District 1 would be well served by an independent. My answer was yes, that I felt that I have proven that I can work across party lines in a spirit of cooperation and common purpose in accomplishing the goals and objectives desired by people in the district. I have a very good relationship with a majority of the people either on the current council, or running for council, and I would be able to work with either side, no matter if Republicans or Demcrats are in the majority.

Not surprisingly, both Mr. Bosco and Mr. Barry disagreed. Joe said that he was “never told what do do” and voted his conscience. That is good, neither was I. My point in running as an independent was that I became tired of people looking over my shoulder and “Monday morning quarterbacking” my decisions. I did not appreciate 6:30am phone calls questioning my votes on particular issues. Further, my current dissatisfaction with the major parties stems from what is going on statewide and nationally primarily, in addition to my previous issues in Enfield. Mr. Barry also felt that someone needed to belong to a party in order to be effective. Unfortunately this is the mindset that pervades our system. It isn’t the person….it’s the party…..and that’s a shame.

Mr. Barry was asked about his open space initiative, and spoke of walking trails, open fields for playing children and so on. I don’t disagree with him in principle, although to be honest, I don’t see too many children playing outside as it is. That is a story for another day. 

Any type of development such as he is proposing would require an investment, which Enfield simply cannot afford to do now. District 1 in particular has little in the way of recreational facilities, save the fields at the schools (JFK, Parkman and Stowe) and the small park at the end of Neelans Rd. For winter time, you can add the sledding hill on Town Farm Rd. That is it. We had the Mancuso Recreational area that was proposed for Town Farm Rd. by the former landfill, however that sat vacant and undeveloped for years, to the extent that the Mancuso family (rightfully so) asked to have the sign removed.

With District 1 having a plethora of undeveloped industrial land, perhaps one way to acquire open space recreational areas would be to offer incentives in the form of tax abatements in exchange for businesses developing such areas in this area of town. It would be a win-win situation; the town would increase it’s tax base while at the same time acquiring open space recreational space for town residents.

On a townwide basis, much was made about the crime rate, especially in Thompsonville. I wish that I had a chance to address that because I believe that there is an enormous misconception as to how the problem should be addressed. Simply throwing additional police at the problem puts a bandaid on the problem, but will not solve it. Enfield needs to reestablish a legitimate community policing model in order to bring about the change that people are asking for. The current approach is simply not working. It needs to be a partnership of police, municipal agencies, business owners and residents in order to improve the quality of life issues in Thompsonville which has caused the area to sink further into ruin. Then and only then can this area be turned around.

This will likely be my last post prior to the election. With that in mind, I wish all candidates for municipal office the best of luck next Tuesday and I look forward to seeing how it all comes out.

Courant Endorsements

I read with amusement the editorial on Friday where they gave their endorsements for Town Council. I was not really surprised with the path the Courant took because they typically go the gutless route and choose the incumbents. It is the easy choice. When the Courant looked at the District 1 race, they mentioned the three candidates; myself, Joe Bosco and Tom Barry. In evaluating the candidates however, they mentioned how Tom is a “promising newcomer” while my candidacy is ignored spare a passing mention. I suppose that under the circumstances, with newspaper readership shrinking to irrelevance it shouldn’t bother me that the Courant chose to take this path. This is unfortunately the cross that independent candidates have to bear. It is really a shame that in the current era where both major political parties are under fire and face increasing scrutiny, the Courant continues to follow the gutless path.

Platform

I have been accused of running for Town Council due to “sour grapes” with the Republican Party in town. This is rather funny, since I originally asked for the party’s nomination for an at-large seat. I guess that would mean that the impetus for me running for town council was there in the first place. As I have made quite public, my reason in running in the 1st District as opposed to at-large was originally made because at the time, Joe Bosco was running unopposed. With the entry into the race of Tom Barry, I suppose I could have withdrawn my name. But, after speaking to people in the district, I decided that there was enough reason for me to give it a go as an independent.

That brings me to the reason I am running. As a former Republican and a member of the board of education, I am proud of my record as a board member. While none of us ran in 2007 to move the district backward, or even to tread water, the current economic situation that we find ourselves in came as somewhat of a surprise to all of us, especially the depth to which the economy dipped. The fact that we were able to keep many programs and services in the district intact is a testament to the hard work that all of us did as board members. I would guess that a majority of us are not happy with where we are at, but at least we didn’t have to gut the system.

The current tax base in Enfield is supported primarily by homeowners. If one takes a ride around town, there is a glut of unoccupied buildings. Both Hallmark and Lego, two of our biggest employers have significantly cut their presence in Enfield. The Enfield Square sits with a number of vacant stores, as do our other shopping centers. The industrial park has a few empty buildings as well, some of them for a fairly long time. District 3 has vacant warehouse space, and we have a lot of undeveloped land in District 1 between Oliver Rd. and Post Office Rd.

We need to market Enfield as a good place to do business, both in word and deed. We need to make a strong effort to attract businesses to town by being business friendly. Unfortunately, the State of Connecticut isn’t doing us a lot of good in that regard, with punitive tax rates for businesses locating in Connecticut. It is fairly well documented that Connecticut is not a good place to do business. That is why we in Enfield need to take the lead in attracting businesses to town through incentives. Enfield has a lot to offer. We have a major rail line running through the west end of town; we have the Scitico spur that is being redeveloped, which could take rail traffic into the Moody Rd. corridor; there is Interstate 91, the main north/south thoroughfare between Canada and New York City; and we have Bradley International Airport, a scant 10 miles away. Enfield is a very attractive location, halfway between Springfield and Hartford. We should be taking advantage of that. Perhaps we could also use a business to assist in sponsoring a recreational area in the east end of town. District 1 has little if any recreational areas spare the schools. Getting a business to help develop an area, such as the former Mancuso Complex on Town Farm Rd. in exchange for incentives could possibly be a win-win situation for the town. Just an idea, but worth exploring.

Public safety is something that is near and dear to me. As a retired police officer with 28 1/2 years of service to the Town of Enfield, I know what obstacles the town faces, especially the Thompsonville area. There are people who feel that putting a plethora of police resources into downtown will solve the economic problems that plague this area. Unfortunately, it isn’t this easy. Yes, a large police presence does act as a deterrent, but only when the police are actually down there. I can guarantee you that if you arrest one drug dealer, there is another one ready to take his or her place.

There is a rather famous study in police work, called the Kansas City Experiment. While this took place in the early 1970′s, I believe the same holds true today. What this experiment did was take three districts in Kansas City and varied patrols within these districts. One district received no routine patrols, the second received normal patrol levels, while the third received two to three times the amount of patrols. The result of the experiment was that there was no difference in of crimes among any of the districts, including robberies, burglaries, auto thefts, and so on. So what does this tell us? Community policing as an entity in Enfield has not been in place for a long time. According to the Department of Justice, Community Policing is supposed to be a three component  program:

1. Community Partnerships
   Collaborative partnerships between the law enforcement agency and the individuals and organizations they serve to develop solutions to problems and increase trust in police.
2. Organizational Transformation
   The alignment of organizational management, structure, personnel, and information systems to support community partnerships and proactive problem solving.
3. Problem Solving
   The process of engaging in the proactive and systematic examination of identified problems to develop and rigorously evaluate effective responses.

The community needs to address the quality of life issues that lead to establishment of conditions which proliferate crime. Blight, abandoned buildings, abandoned cars, broken roads and sidewalks, and issues such as this create an atmosphere that leads to a sense of apathy among residents. It is vital for the community to partner with the police, not just in meetings but in action in order to proactively eliminate the conditions which breed crime. You cannot have police acting in the capacity of “community police” and an enforcement unit; the two are polar opposites of what true community policing is supposed to be. Police cannot develop a “partnership” on one day and be out doing aggressive enforcement the next. It makes no sense.

In conjunction with the above, the town needs to address the issue of absentee landlords more interested in profit than in the community. Continuing incentives to purchase homes in Thompsonville and open businesses down there should be continued. We have a wonderful resource in the Connecticut River and this should be utilized as a magnet for downtown development. Only then can we turn the corner in Thompsonville and restore it to its once vibrant heritage that was gutted by Urban Renewal, an anomaly if there ever was one.

Unfunded mandates continue to impact local municipalities, especially where the school budgets are concerned. No Child Left Behind, which was well-intentioned in theory has severely restricted and tied the hands of our teachers and school administrators. Testing mandated by the State of Connecticut has also put teachers in the position of having to devote an enormous amount of class time to “teaching to the test”, instead of concentrating on the basics. As a town councilman, I will lobby our State Representatives, State Senator, federal legislators to roll back the mandates that are breaking the backs of municipalities. I will also lobby to change the way we fund municipal government through the use of property taxes. This places an unfair burden on homeowners. We must look into new and creative ways to raise revenue.

Consolidation of town services is another way to save money. Redundancy in government is something that has been addressed by this and previous town councils, and this should continue. The town must collaborate with other towns in order to see if consolidation of services on a regional level is practical in order to save money and increase efficiency. Areas where this might be practical are human resources, building department, and limited areas in law enforcement. The fire departments, while not a town service, also should bear some  scrutiny to see if there is room to more efficiently provide this service to our residents.

Lastly, I would like to improve the morale of town employees. While this has improved under Matt Coppler, I believe there is still room for improvement. It is difficult to expect exceptional customer service from town employees when they themselves do not receive good “internal customer service.” Town management personnel should be required to be evaluated by their subordinates as part of a self-evaluation of their supervisory acumen. Some might say this is turning the “asylum over to the inmates”, but in areas where this has been done, most employees are extremely fair in rating their supervisors. Likewise, I would like to see the town re-implement the old “Customer Care” program for internal customers, i.e. employees. This was a nice program started by former town manager Lou Hayward and I believe the town employees appreciated the effort.

I am sure there will be many more projects to undertake once in office, but I feel the above are a good starting point. I look forward to helping with the implementation of these programs when elected to the town council.

Lay Off Firefighters?

I received a very disturbing telephone call today. The Thompsonville Fire Commission has apparently authorized the Chief to lay off five firefighters. There will be a meeting about this next Tuesday at 7:00 at the town hall. This is a travesty and taxpayers and residents of Thompsonville should be outraged, especially in light of the fact that the district is looking to build a new fire station.

In speaking to one of the firefighters today, he told me that by going to three man crews, they would be violating NFPA and OSHA standards by not having “two in, two out” provisions during initial fire department response. He said that the chief and one of the commissioners has said that one of the “other districts” could provide the fourth firefighter. Now, this is maybe practical during the day when the other stations are staffed, but what about during the evening when the other departments rely on volunteers to operate apparatus? Is the Thompsonville Fire Department more concerned about building a new fire station than the safety of its firefighters, residents, visitors and businesses? It seems that way.

Thompsonville has a group of well-trained, dedicated hard-working firefighters. This decision by the fire commission is a hearty slap in the face to those firefighters and their families. I have known many of these guys for a long time and you won’t find a group of better guys. They are dedicated to their profession and by treating them like doormats, the fire commission is not doing its due diligence for the community.

I urge all residents of Thompsonville to attend the meeting next Tuesday and speak out against this madness. What good is a brand new firehouse if there is nobody there to staff it?