FROM WALLINGFORD - It’s your town

As originially published online at MyRecordJournal.com and in the Sunday Record Journal print edition on January 3, 2010

There was a lot of activity in Wallingford over the course of 2009.

Updating the town website in compliance with House Bill No. 6502, parking issues on Center and Main streets and downtown in general, dredging project at Mackenzie Reservoir, to name just a few - there was a lot on Wallingford's plate at the beginning of the year.

The 2009 budget came along with work on the Reskin Drive bridge (which is still not completed, much to the chagrin of the residents in the area).

There was the cease-and-desist order given regarding the publishing to the web of the Government TV-produced-programs in April which included Town Council and other public meetings, despite the purchase of brand new remote-controlled cameras in the Town Council Chambers.

Charter Revision hearings were held and the finished topics were given some input from the council and the people. The final questions were delivered to the electorate where they were effectively summarily dismissed by the voters that turned out.

While it was one of the lowest voter turnouts in recent history for a local election, the ones that did come out spoke loudly - "steady as she goes on the charter; we are content with the governing playbook for the town."

Regardless of whether it was low turnout, charter revision questions, lack of a Democrat candidate for mayor or the fact that it was partly cloudy - voters changed the makeup of both the Town Council and the Board of Education for the next two years.

So, where are we headed for 2010?

Unfinished issues, such as the Choate proposal to build the Environmental Center and asking for the closure of Old Durham Road, will likely resurface.

Issues with downtown are still open for discussion and action - from the parking situation which hasn't gotten any better to the new overlay district being proposed.

There is the issue with the Police Department's needs for expansion. This will not occur this year; it needs further discussion because actions need to take place ahead of any proposed work.

Is the Wooding-Caplan property to be used for this cause, or another piece of property elsewhere?

If another property is chosen, you still have to address "what do we do with Wooding-Caplan"?

Budget season will be on us a lot faster than most would like, and with the education portion of the budget greater than 60 percent of the entire budget, it is going to be a difficult pill to swallow.

Wallingford will have to deal with local taxes in conjunction with less available state funding for prior programs.

How the upcoming revaluation will affect the mill rate and whether it impacts homeowners or businesses equally or throws one out of the current alignment with the other remains to be seen.

Wallingford has famously worked to budget to a certain degree the expected spend for the year and tries to hold that line, sometimes cutting back or out something to keep from going into the red.

The taxes need to be collected in order for spend to occur; this is going to be a big challenge this upcoming year, unlike anything Wallingford has seen in recent memory.

There are a lot of other things that are going to be coming up over the course of the year that I don't have the space to present.

Your say of what is to happen with your town didn't end at the voting booth this past November - it was just the start.

Make sure you stay informed and engaged all year. Make it a point to have your voice heard either to your representatives or through them. Have them base decisions which are representative of what you want. Do not have them make the decisions for you.

It's your town - get informed, get involved.

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Town clerk changes as council shifts

By Dave Moran
Record-Journal staff
dmoran@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

As published in the Record Journal Saturday January 2, 2010

Follow all the news directly on the Record Journal Website for the most up to date information. www.myrecordjournal.com

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WALLINGFORD — Monday will mark the end of Barbara Kapi’s two years as town clerk. On Tuesday, Barbara Thompson, who served as clerk for two years before Kapi, will assume the po­sition again after the new Repub­lican controlled Town Council appoints her at its swearing in ceremony Monday evening.

Under the Town Charter, the Town Council is responsible for appointing a clerk. Typically, if control of the council shifts, the majority party appoints a clerk who is a member of the same party. On Monday, the Republi­cans gain a 6-3 advantage.

Since the charter was adopted in 1961, the position has changed hands 11 times (Monday’s switch will be the 12th), but three of those switches have occurred in the last six years. In January 2004, Rosemary Rascati, who served 12 years as clerk, was re­placed by Katherine Zandri, a De­mocrat. Thompson, a Republi­can, succeeded Zandri in January 2006, and Kapi, a Democrat, re­placed Thompson in 2008.

“It’s difficult,” Sue Colberg, who has worked in the office for 14 years, said Thursday. “It’s just repetitive that we have to go through it every two years, all the same things.”

Because the clerk is a promi­nent position, there has been a recent effort to find a way to sta­bilize the job. The clerk heads the office that keeps the town’s per­manent records and vital statis­tics, such as birth and death cer­tificates, and issues licenses.

One of the seven proposed re­visions to the Town Charter that voters rejected in November would have changed the clerk’s position to a merit job — hired, supervised and, if need be, dismissed by the mayor.

Thompson, a real estate agent, said the potential for volatility could be detrimental to the town.

“The drawback is there’s a lack of consistency of the head person in the department to move the department for­ward,” she said. “I think we’ve been very lucky to have very good clerks through the appointment process, but at some point that is not going to happen.”

Thompson said she sup­ported the amendment that would have made the clerk a permanent position. Kapi, who said she is looking forward to some time off be­fore looking for a new job, said the uncertainty did not influ­ence her decision to accept the post two years ago.

“You have to be wary of that,” Kapi said. “It just comes with the territory.”

She favors making the clerk an elected position, for a mini­mum term of four years, be­cause it took her more than a year to learn the job.

“The job is so involved,” Kapi said. “And there’s always changes. There’s been so many changes in the two years that I’ve been here.”

Despite having to learn a new computer system, Thompson said she does not expect the transition to be too difficult the second time around. “I figure about 10 days to two weeks and I should be up to speed,” she said.

The council sets the clerk’s salary when it makes the ap­pointment, but Thompson said Thursday that the council had already told her the salary would be the same as the last time she served — $60,900 a year.

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