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Monday, November 21, 2011

Busy month for Wallingford Politico

You can click on the image below to get a better view at all the details but November, specifically the 8th, was a really big traffic day for the site (as one might expect).

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We are not a huge site (yet) but we usually average about 100 plus visits a day.

Election day was over the top at nearly 700.

As time goes on I am sure we’ll grow some more.

Thanks for all the support to date.

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Avallone: Economopoulos wants to run for mayor

As published in the Record Journal, Saturday November 19, 2011
By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff


(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD
— Just a week after municipal elections, Town Council Democrat Nicholas Economopoulos, a retired schoolteacher, has announced his intention to run against longtime Republican Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. — and he’ll need the two years to build a strong campaign, said Democratic Town Committee Chairman Vincent Avallone Jr.

“It’s nice to see someone realize
that in order to run a good campaign, you have to start early,” he said. “Whoever is going to challenge (William) Dickinson has to raise a significant amount of money to get the message out, and get an organization going very early.”

Town Councilor Vincent Testa Jr., also a Democrat, lost his second run at the office last week against Dickinson, the second-longest serving mayor in the state, but the defeat doesn’t have him ruling out another try for the office, he said. Testa said he was surprised to hear of Economopoulos’ intentions.

“No one has asked me what my intentions are; I knew it could require consecutive efforts to be successful,”
Testa said. “It will be long time before the party decides, but I haven’t taken myself out of it.”

Republican Town Chairman Robert Prentice was not available for comment.

In his 16 years on the Democratic committee, with the past two as chairman, Avallone said it’s the earliest he’s ever seen anyone announce a run for any office, and it might be what is needed to defeat Dickinson, a 64-year-old lawyer.

“Testa started later; I would think that Eco learned from that,” he said.
Robert Parisi, council chairman, said he was surprised by the early announcement and expected it might mean more verbal sparring between Economopoulos and Dickinson during council meetings.

“He’s always been pretty outspoken anyway, but I imagine it could increase,” he said. “But I didn’t expect anyone to be running for mayor right after an election. If he wants to run for mayor, he can run for mayor. He must have his own timetable.”

WHA board fires Nere, offers him $130,000

As published in the Record Journal, Saturday November 19, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal
staff

(203) 317-2224


WALLINGFORD
— The Wallingford Housing Authority board of commissioners voted Friday at a special meeting to fire longtime Executive Director Stephen Nere and offer him a separation package of $130,000. Board Chairman Michael Misiti said the decision was made to avoid costly legal proceedings to remove Nere.

Nere and the Housing Authority have been immersed in controversy for more than a year amid allegations of mismanagement, with scrutiny from local, state and federal officials. Nere, 60, has been director for 26 years and earns about $100,000 a year. His contract is set to expire next year.

The board rejected two offers from Nere earlier this year to have the Housing Authority buy out the remainder of his contract. Misiti said the draft report of a recent forensic audit had nothing to do with Friday’s decision. The draft report found large holes in financial records at the authority and auditors were unable to complete their investigation.

“After a lot of meetings with lawyers, this was the best solution for the Housing Authority,” Misiti said. He added that attempting to fire Nere without a severance package could have led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees if Nere decided to fight termination.

Nere has 21 days to sign the resolution, Misiti said.

Nere said he was “surprised yet pleased” when the board asked him “out of the clear blue” last week if he would work on a separation agreement. He said he was more concerned now with improving his poor physical health.

“I’d say that this is something the board and I have reached a mutual accord on,” he said. “I’ve had some serious health issues, and I’m going to try to move forward with making myself feeling better. I’m way too young to retire, and I think it’s really sad that I have to leave my position now. I sincerely hope that things go well for the
authority and its tenants. I’m sure I’ll look for something else.”

Nere said the terms of the severance package were reached between his lawyer and attorneys for the Housing Authority. His last day will be Dec. 2.

Board member Thomas Mezzei, who cast the only vote against the resolution, suggested his own language for Nere’s separation agreement and proposed $75,000 as a severance package. The motion was not seconded.

“I don’t think he should get a dime,” he said. “But if we’re going to have to give him something, it should have been a lot less than what we voted on.”

A separate resolution at the meeting approved settling a lawsuit with Nere out of court, paying him $15,000 to withdraw the claim. The suit, brought by Nere last year against
Mezzei and board members Patricia Hogan and former Chairman William Fischer, alleged that they violated his contact when they disallowed him use of a Housing Authority vehicle to travel between work and his home in Guilford. While the board has since reinstated the vehicle privilege, Nere claimed the loss of the vehicle cost him thousands of dollars in travel expenses.

Town Councilors Nicholas Economopoulos, a Democrat, and Craig Fishbein, a Republican, who have been investigating allegations of mismanagement at the authority for more than a year, attended the meeting.

Economopoulos, who recently announced his intention to run for mayor, has called publicly for Nere’s resignation and called the resolutions “sad.”

“It is the Town Council and (housing) commissioners of the past that let it get to this level,” he said.

Fishbein was recently elected to a second term on the council and said he had spent about half of his time in his two years as a councilor looking into issues at the Housing Authority. “I think it looks like a proper resolution to a long battle between a lot of different people,” he said.

The cost of the settlement and the severance package will be covered by the roughly $200,000 remaining in the “Ridgeland” account, Misiti said. In 2003, the authority sold its Ridgeland housing units to a New Haven based company for $1.2 million.

The authority operates 317 low- to moderate income and senior housing on an annual budget of about $1.5 million.