Editorial Cartoon from the Record Journal, Sunday December 18, 2011.

This editorial cartoon appeared in the Record Journal on Sunday December 18, 2011.

I have a saying I am fond of “there are only 36 hours in a day to get done what I need to do”; if I could really have that it would be awesome because I could get more done.

POLL RESULTS - How much should the town be responsible for regarding Wallingford Center Parking?

Sixty votes in total. This is the sentiment of just those 60 respondents for whatever it is worth.

The majority of the respondents in this poll felt that if Wallingford is going to make any type of investment it should be as close to equal as the property owners

Obviously this is not a full representation of the wishes of the voters.

The referendum, just six days after the municipal election, drew 6,888 voters, with 2,768 in favor of the lease and 4,120 against.

There is no way to say just what the nearly 6,900 voters would want unless you could poll them all.

I do expect this issue to come up again so with that I will be trying to solicit the input of the voters and I will be reaching out to try to do that.

For those that would be willing to proactively reach out to me I can be reached at Jason@Zandri.net or by phone at 860 614 6069

The Federal Budget in simple terms

Not much more to say here; either you understand this or you do not.

If you click on the image it will enlarge for you.

For more information please see:

National Debt Clock

Debt Clock for Connecticut

Debt Clocks from around the world

Pepsi Refresh Challenge: we are back in first place. HELP KEEP US THERE.

We slipped last night to 2^nd place but as of this morning (12/15) we are back to first.

Help keep us there! VOTE EACH DAY!

http://www.refresheverything.com/wallingfordbands

Bagged leaf collection to begin in Wallingford

As published in the Record Journal on Wednesday December 14, 2011

WALLINGFORD — Residents will have their bagged leaves picked up by the town’s Public Works Department starting Monday December 19. All leaves to be picked up must be placed at the curb in paper bags, sealed with masking tape only, if needed. Bagged leaves need to be at the curb no later than Sunday.

This is a one-time pickup of leaves only; brush, trash and garden waste will not be accepted.

Residents who miss the pickup may take leaves to the compost area on John Street at no charged.

Compost hours until Saturday will be as follows:

8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Wednesday and Friday
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday
8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

The compost area will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays through Jan. 15. The area will be closed from Jan. 16 to March 15.

Last day for the poll - How much should the town be responsible for regarding Wallingford Center Parking?

Cast your vote at http://wallingfordpolitico.blogspot.com/

100 percent of the cost
75 percent / 25 percent should come from the property owner
50 percent / 50 percent should come from the property owner
25 percent / 75 percent should come from the property owner
zero; all of the costs should come from the property owner. It is their property

Council approves principals’ contract

As published in the Record Journal, Wednesday December 14, 2011

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD — The Town Council approved a new, three-year contract Tuesday for the school district’s administrators that runs from 2012 to 2015 and includes pay raises totaling more than $130,000.

The pay increases over three years, including general wage increases and step increases, amount to 4.79 percent, according to Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Jan Guarino: 0.75 percent in the first year, 2.09 percent in the second and 1.95 percent in the third, for a total of $130,930.

But the raises are coupled with higher insurance co-pay­ments for the bargaining unit, the Educational Administrators Association of Wallingford, which includes the town’s principals, assistant principals and other school administrators. Currently, the copayment is 16 percent, Guarino said. In the first year of the new contract, the amount contributed by the administrators increases to 18 percent, in the second year 19 percent and in the third year 19.5 percent.

School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said additional insurance-related savings include co-payments for services that used to be cost-free to employees.

“Zero dollars was common across the co-pays,” Menzo said. “We’ve made significant changes; this is something we cannot continue to offer in these economic times.”

Menzo said this year’s contract is less costly to the town than past agreements.

“There is a significant reduction in terms of total cost,” he said.

The three previous contracts for administrators contained increases of $373,000, $266,000 and $234,000, Menzo said. The multi-year raises amounted to 15.05 percent, 10.65 percent and 12 percent.

Menzo said he was pleased with the outcome of the negotiations.

“We do feel that we made growth in the contract,” he said. “There are a lot of areas. This is a challenging contract with many aspects that are unique to Wallingford that we have to work through over time.”

“I want to thank you for your diligence and negotiating hard,” said Democratic Councilor Vincent Testa. “You’re seeking out areas of potential savings that may have been overlooked in the past.”

Councilor John Sullivan, a Democrat who voted in favor of the agreement, said there were still some aspects he didn’t agree with, including longevity payments and an insurance waiver that allows administrators to get cash payments in lieu of taking benefits.

Before the council began talks on the contract, there was a debate about the agenda item, which called for a temporary adjournment of the meeting for the purpose of discussing the agreement.

Town Attorney Janis Small said such talks in the past were held in executive session, but pursuant to Freedom of Information laws the council meeting can be temporarily adjourned and the matters can be discussed in a “non-meeting.”

Sullivan said he has gone into executive session before, not to discuss strategy, but specific questions about the contract that eventually were asked again in public. He said he was in favor of discussing the agreement entirely in public.

An initial motion to recess the meeting and hold a “non-meeting” failed, but after an hour of public questions, a second motion to go behind closed doors, made by Republican Councilor John Le-Tourneau, who said he had strategy questions, passed. Sullivan and Democrat Nicholas Economopoulos, who opposed both motions, remained in the auditorium during the closed-door discussions.

Tuesday’s vote came after the contract was tabled at the council’s last meeting on Nov. 30, when several councilors said they received backup material just a day before the meeting. Tuesday’s meeting was the last for Republican Vice Chairman Jerry Farrell Jr. and for Testa.

Wallingford mall project reborn

As published in the Record Journal, Monday December 12, 2011

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD — Dominick DeMartino said that when his family bought property on South Colony Road, the plan was always to have a complete retail plaza alongside the family’s business.

When the economy began to turn for the worse, those plans were put on hold, but DeMartino says he has been hard at work the last six months and hopes to have the retail plaza at 920 S. Colony Road completed by next September.

Please see the entire story on MyRecordJournal.com

Stevens School's Brophy is in tune with his students

As published in the Record Journal, Monday December 12, 2011

By Jesse Buchanan
Record-Journal staff
jbuchanan@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2230

WALLINGFORD — On occasion, Stevens School Principal Nicholas Brophy can be found in the school’s lobby, greeting incoming pupils with “Oh Susanna” or “She’ll Be Coming ’Round the Mountain” on his guitar. Brophy, who recently joined a barbershop quartet and dabbles in recording, said the students appreciate getting to know their principal’s interests and hobbies.

Brophy sat down with the Record-Journal for an interview Friday.

Read the entire article on MyRecordJournal.com

Work week extended for brush cleanup

As published in the Record Journal, Friday November 25, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — Town officials are looking into hiring outside contractors and having public works staff work overtime to finish clearing brush and tree debris left by last month’s early winter storm.

Public Works crews have been slowed by vacations and holidays like Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, said Henry McCully, department director. The crew of 31 will work six days a week starting next week until the brush is picked up, he said. The curbside collection began Nov. 7. “It’s just a lot of brush, and we’re going to see if we can get some help,” he said.

A town-wide parking ban starts Monday at 7 a.m. to allow crews to maneuver the large equipment needed to remove debris, which is especially challenging downtown, he said. The ban will end when the brush is cleared.

Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said the extended work week would mean more money for overtime hours, as would hiring outside contractors and renting equipment.

“We are looking to increase the resources in order to get it done quicker,” he said. “If you could possibly move it yourself and take it to the compost area it would be much appreciated. If you’re waiting for public works, you have to be patient and we’ll get there as soon as we can.”

The town is attempting to clear all the brush away before another snowfall. The town has applied for federal financial assistance with the cleanup, he said. Hours have been extended and the compost center on John Street is open an extra day to help handle the debris, McCully said.

While the storm at the end of October all but cancelled Halloween festivities and caused long-term power outages in most of the state, customers of the Wallingford Electric Department fared better than Connecticut Light and Power Co. ratepayers and most had their power restored within a few days.

Tree specialists working for the electric department are still cutting downed limbs and clearing debris from electric lines, and will continue to do so for some time, said George Adair, director of public utilities.

Tree crews only cut the limbs, and do not clear debris, he said.

“Anytime we’re cutting something clear of our power lines, that’s all we’re going to do,” he said. “Our objective is reliability of our electric wires, whether it be the distribution system or service lines. Removal of any of that debris is the responsibility of the property owner and or the town.”

Pepsi Refresh – Let’s keep Wallingford’s schools at the top through 12/31

You can vote daily. Let’s all try to do this and get this money for Wallingford’s high schools and their bands!

We are in first place – c’mon Wallingford; let’s keep us there!

VOTE! http://pep.si/vTCmA8 VOTE!

CNN Heroes: An All Star Tribute Airs Sun 12.11 8PM ET

CNN, the worldwide leader in news, announced that Kid Rock will perform a special live version of "Care" from his platinum selling album, "Born Free", on CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, hosted by Anderson Cooper live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA, on CNN, Sunday, December 11, 2011 at 8:00 PM ET. In addition, CNN announced that Miley Cyrus has also been added as a celebrity presenter along with Dancing with the Stars winner, J.R. Martinez, The Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am, global maternal health advocate and founder of Every Mother Counts, Christy Turlington Burns, and NFL Super Bowl champ and MVP quarterback Kurt Warner, all of whom were confirmed last week.

CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute honors individuals who are making extraordinary contributions to help improve the lives of others. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the multiple Emmy-award winning chief medical correspondent for CNN, will be doing exclusive backstage interviews live on CNN.com during the show.

This news comes on the heels of CNN announcing that J.R. Martinez will also be co-hosting the live pre-show, Showbiz Tonight @ CNN Heroes, with AJ Hammer, host of HLN's evening show, Showbiz Tonight. Holly Robinson Peete will be hosting the social media suite on the red carpet. Showbiz Tonight's correspondent, Kareen Wynter, will also be part of the pre-show, interviewing the arriving celebrities on the red carpet. The Showbiz Tonight @ CNN Heroes pre-show will air live on CNN and HLN at 7:00 PM ET.

Fans are encouraged to vote up to 10 times a day, every day, for this year's "CNN Hero of the Year". Voting continues through Wednesday, December 7, 2011, at midnight PT, and the "CNN Hero of the Year" will be announced live at this year's CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute show. Fans can also make a direct charitable donation to their favorite Top 10 CNN Heroes' nonprofit using Google Wallet, through December 31, 2011. Google is waiving all transaction fees enabling 100 percent of the donations to go directly to the heroes' non-profit organizations. Visit CNNHeroes.com online or on your mobile device to learn more about the 2011 honorees, cast your vote and to donate.

Kelly Flynn is the Senior Executive Producer for the "CNN Heroes" initiative and CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute. This year's show will be produced by Ian Stewart and Hamish Hamilton of Done and Dusted.

Pepsi Refresh Project - Replace parts of 17 year old band uniforms at 2 Wallingford High Schools – HELP KEEP US IN FIRST PLACE!

VOTE NOW WALLINGFORD!

YOU CAN VOTE ONCE EACH DAY!

Registrars lament low turnout in municipal elections

As published in the Record Journal, Thursday November 24, 2011

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

Turnout for the Nov. 8 municipal election was similar to two years ago and that’s the problem, according to local registrars of voters. Not enough people participate, they say. Wallingford led area towns with 39.56 percent of registered voters coming out to the polls, followed by Cheshire at 30.48 percent, Southington at 29.33 percent and Meriden at 23.62 percent. Statewide, 30.67 percent of the 1,940,432 eligible voters cast ballots. Samuel Carmody, Wallingford’s Democratic registrar, said that, even though the town was almost 10 percent better than the statewide average, it was still not a noteworthy accomplishment.

“Below 50 percent, that’s nothing to be proud of,” he said.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said she hoped voter turnout would rise in future elections.

“I hope in the future we can help all of Connecticut’s citizens understand the importance of choosing the right leaders in their communities so we can see more people going to vote,” she said in a statement. Turnout in Wallingford was up from 2009, when it was 35.6 percent, a year that Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. ran unopposed. In 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007, turnout was 43.1, 49.9, 47.6 and 45.7 percent, respectively. Dickinson had an opponent in each of those years.

Carmody said it was hard to predict the reasons for turnout in a given year.

In Southington, 8,041 voters came out to decide the makeup of the Town Council, Board of Finance, Board of Education and Planning and Zoning Commission. Turnout was about the same as 2009, when 8,317 voters came out, or 29.8 percent of the electorate.

Southington’s Democratic registrar, Edward Malczyk, said there “were no burning issues in town” that might have driven people to the polls.

“I think that played into it,” he said. “The snowstorm, the power outages worked against us. I thought the middle school referendum would have brought more people out though.”

Despite a rare October snowstorm that left much of the city in the dark for up to a week, Meriden voters came out in numbers similar to past municipal elections. In elections for mayor, City Council and Board of Education, 7,557 voters cast ballots, compared to 7,845 in 2009. Percentagewise, turnout increased by a fraction of a percent.

But the city’s Democratic registrar, Maureen E. Flynn, said the numbers were still disappointing.

“The lowest voter turnouts are municipal,” she said. “People have to vote for the president, but not during the municipal elections. But who are you going to call if there’s a pothole? You should vote for the people you complain to.”

Flynn said that if Meriden had a strong mayor the turnout could have been higher, but she added that it was similarly low this year in cities that have that system of government.

In Cheshire, turnout was about 6 percentage points below 2009. That year, 6,624 people, or 36.3 percent of registered voters, cast ballots.

Aleta Looker, Democratic registrar of voters, said she felt the snowstorm could have had an impact on Cheshire’s electorate.

“I think it’s partly because of the aftermath of the storm,” she said. “They had too much on their plate already.”

Looker said that she’d like to see more voters in local elections, but “you can’t legislate people’s behavior.”

“When people vote, that’s their right and privilege,” she said. “But not everyone sees it that way.”

Nere’s deal is buyout, not firing by WHA

As published in the Record Journal Tuesday November 22, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — Attorneys for the Wallingford Housing Authority and housing director Stephen Nere say that Nere was not fired last week by the housing board, but is leaving voluntarily with a six-figure severance package agreed on with the authority.

Nere’s attorney, Jaime Mills, and Warren Holcomb, the housing board’s lawyer, said an article in Saturday’s Record-Journal inaccurately stated that Nere was fired by the board and offered a severance package of $130,000. His contract was set to expire Aug. 31, 2012.

“Mr. Nere was not terminated,” Mills said. “There has never been any claim that there was cause to terminate him. In fact, they’re buying out his entire contract, which I think any of us would agree to if offered by our employer the full amount that is owed to us.”

The resolution approved by the housing board Friday night states that “it is in the best interest of the Authority to terminate Executive Director Stephen Nere’s written employment agreement early on December 2, 2011, to accept his retirement effective December 2, 2011, and to approve the Separation Agreement and General Release submitted.”

Nere said Friday night, after the resolution, he was too young to retire and was concerned about ongoing health issues. Holcomb said poor health was the primary reason Nere and the board reached an agreement for him to end his contract 10 months early and retire. “He was not fired,” Holcomb said. “If you fire somebody, you fire them for cause and they don’t usually get anything. He (Nere) also indicated that he had some health issues, so it was a situation where the parties sat down and said it would be in their best interests if they went their separate ways.”

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. 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 housing units on Ridgeland Road to a New Haven company for $1.2 million.

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

Board Chairman Michael Misiti was not available for comment.

Fishbein broke from party line

As published in the Record Journal Monday November 21, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — One of the most high-profile opponents of a Republican-backed parking lot lease agreement was a Republican town councilor, Craig Fishbein.

Fishbein campaigned against the agreement despite the possibility of upsetting his fellow Republicans. He found himself on the winning side last Monday when residents rejected the deal in decisive fashion.

Elected to his second term on the council this month, Fishbein aspires to higher office.

Asked if he was considering a run for state representative next fall, Fishbein did not rule it out. He lives in the 85th House District and would be running for a seat Democrat Mary M. Mushinsky has held since 1980.

“At some point in my life, if the stars are aligned, I would have to say yes,” he said. “At this exact point, I have my role, as frustrating as it is to act it and stay in, I have my role. Six months from now is when I’ll start to actively think about it; that district is very tough.”

Mushinsky, 60, is a lifelong Wallingford resident who, like Fishbein, voted to repeal the controversial parking agreement.

“I was changing my mind even as I was walking up the driveway to the voting place,” she said. “I think it’s critical to have a lively downtown, and that was weighing in my mind, but so was the apparently one-sided nature of the deal.”

The 30-year arrangement between the town and commercial property owners on North Main Street stipulated that up to half a million dollars from an Electric Division fund for nonrecurring projects would be used to upgrade the privately owned lot with assurances that it would remain available for free public use for the life of the lease.

Fishbein and other lease opponents said it is inappropriate for the town to spend public money on private property. The one-issue referendum drew 28 percent of eligible voters to the polls. In comparison, 39.8 percent of voters turned out for the municipal election just a week earlier.

“I think we need to look at a differently structured deal, and find another way to make the parking happen that’s more acceptable to taxpayers and keep these downtown merchants satisfied,” Mushinsky said. “It would be really tragic if they started charging for parking.”

---

Bob Stern / Record-Journal
Craig Fishbein, carrying a sign opposing the parking lot lease agreement last Monday, talks with with voter Carole Koty outside the polling place at Lyman Hall High School. Fishbein is a Town Council Republican, but he broke with his party on the lease issue.

She said she had heard that Fishbein might run against her next year.

“No matter; I put my record out and I run on my record,” she said.

Fishbein and Democratic Town Councilor Nicholas Economopoulos voted against the agreement when it came before the council. Economopoulos announced at a Democratic Town Committee meeting last week that he plans to run for mayor in two years.

Fishbein said his position on the issue was not politically motivated. “I just thought it was the right thing to do,” he said.

“People have to understand that I am not a politician. That’s not my base,” he said. “I don’t usually do things with ulterior motives.

I usually tackle issues as they come to me. I wasn’t even on the Republican Town Committee when I was elected in 2009.”

Fishbein, 46, has been a lawyer since 2001, following in his father’s footsteps after a stint working in retail after college, he said. He became involved in politics in 2007 when he saw what he called the downward spiral of the U.S. economy. But he met resistance from his party at first, he said.

“I found myself yelling at the TV and I knew I had to stop doing that, so I started attending meetings,” he said. “I did have some very high up Republicans tell me I should not run because I had not done enough for the party. I had not been a good soldier.”

Republican Town Chairman Robert Prentice said he was not happy with Fishbein’s campaigning against the agreement. Fishbein handed out flyers and talked to voters outside polling places.

“I think he went a little too far, but that’s not the opinion of the party, it’s my opinion,” he said. “He took it a little too far with some of the things he did. But he’s still a Republican and still on the council, and hopefully he’ll make the right decision next time.”

Fishbein registered as a Republican in June 2003, a switch from his previous registration as a Democrat, according to Samuel Carmody, the Democratic registrar of voters.

Open Mike with Michael Cuomo Wednesday November 30, 2011

From the Open Mike with Michael Cuomo promo: “A very special reminder ladies and gentlemen, that this Wednesday’s guest on "Open Mike" with Michael Cuomo will be Jason Zandri! The show starts at 8PM Live on Comcast Ch18 and AT&T Uverse channel 99 and live on the web at wpaa.tv. Call in (203) 265-6310 to talk to myself and Jason Zandri! Thanks everybody.”

Wallingford board seeks parent input on school budget

By Russell Blair

Record-Journal staff 

rblair@record-journal.com

(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD - Parents who want their voices to be heard as the school budget is built for 2012-13 are encouraged to attend a forum next week.

On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., a parent budget forum will be held at the Lyman Hall High School's vo-ag community room. Board of Education member Chet Miller said it's important to get parent input as the school board prepares its budget.

"They're more in touch with specific problems and issues they feel are in danger than we are at the board level," said Miller, a Republican. "We see things on a broader spectrum, whereas they might be in touch with a sport or an activity."

Miller said that parent input is crucial because the budget process will be beginning shortly.

"We like to know going in if there are areas that need attention," he said. "It's harder to change things after the fact."

School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said he hopes to hear specific areas of the budget that parents would like to be examined.

"We want them to share with us areas they'd like us to consider in the process," he said.

Menzo said that the district uses its strategic plan to help build the budget. The six areas covered by the Wallingford plan include community outreach, curriculum and instruction, district climate, facilities, finance and technology.

"We're taking each one, and want to see things that they want continued and possible changes," he said. "We use that as another piece of information."

Menzo said last year's budget forum for parents was the first, and while only about a dozen parents attended they all came with ideas and questions.

"It's so important to hear from parents," Menzo said. "This is not my budget, it's not the Board of Education's budget, it's the town's budget for the children."

The 2011-12 education budget was $4,779,296 less than the $91,573,029 the board had proposed to the mayor. Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr.'s budget represented a 0.42 percent increase over the 2010-11 budget; the board has sought a 5.95 percent increase.

School officials have said that if the district receives no increase in its budget for the next year, it could face a shortfall of several million dollars.

FROM WALLINGFORD - Town Council closes the door

As published in the Record Journal, Sunday November 20, 2011

This week’s FROM WALLINGFORD was written by Mike Brodinsky a former town councilor from Wallingford, chairman of the School Roof Building Committee, and host of public access show “Citizen Mike”

The Citizen Mike show airs on cable Channel 18 at 9 p.m. every night, except Sunday. It can also be viewed on demand at wpaa.tv. Comments or suggestions can be sent to citizenmiketv@gmail.com.

If you can’t catch the show on TV you can catch it online on their Video On Demand page.

After spending more than an hour behind closed doors on Tuesday night, the Town Council summarily considered a very big collective bargaining agreement between the Board of Education and the teachers’ union. Unfortunately, the Council did not follow an open and transparent process.

One of the precepts of a democracy is that people have the right to watch their government in action and learn how and why their officials make decisions. Usually, that is done through a free press which reports on the doings of government.

If too much is done behind closed doors, however, voters cannot know how thorough and thoughtful their representatives have been. Were the public officials acting honestly and reasonably under the circumstances? Was the public interest protected? Were the outcomes scripted and orchestrated?

It’s not that easy to be a public official. The decision-making process can make a legislator/councilor uncomfortable, in part because the public search for information, logic, and wisdom can appear clumsy. An unguarded comment made, or question asked in good faith in the course of the legislative process, can be seized upon, taken out of context, and published. In tackling an issue, as new data develops, positions can change. An approach that seemed very reasonable one hour, may look embarrassing the next. And unfortunately, some in politics use the public arena to make themselves look good by making another look bad. A politician, therefore, can be made to pay a price unfairly. Yes, democracy is sloppy.

I understand why some public officials may want to keep their work as private as possible. It’s a matter of self protection. They may want a more comfortable venue for decision making. On occasion there could be more sinister reasons for wanting privacy. But no one wants the perception that the real work of legislators is done in a “smoke filled room.”

To address abuses, years ago, the Federal government and state legislatures enacted “open meeting laws” that require the public’s business be done in public except in very narrow circumstances that have nothing to do with the comfort level of the public officials. In Connecticut, these rules are collected in the Freedom of Information Act. It states that meetings of a public body, like a Town Council, generally speaking are to be open to the public.

The Act lists exceptions to this rule which are intended to be in the public’s interest, too. One of the exceptions is that if a Town is engaged in labor negotiations it shouldn’t be required to publicly talk about the negotiations and give away its strategy to the other side. That talk can be done in private, in what we call an “executive session.”

By Tuesday night, however, the Board Of Education’s negotiation strategy on the collective bargaining agreements had already run its course. The Wallingford Board of Education and the teachers’ union already had a signed agreement. It called for an increase in salaries of 6.21 percent over three years, costing $2.75 million, and lots of other complicated terms. Having placed the matter on the agenda for consideration, the Council’s job was to debate and decide in public whether the labor contract was good enough to accept or bad enough to reject. I would have expected a rigorous questioning and some public debate airing all sides of the issue.

Instead, the Council and representatives of the Board of Education spent more than an hour behind closed doors. Maybe they spent the entire time talking strategy. But if they had a full and frank discussion about what the agreement provided and what it didn’t provide, and the costs and savings associated with various provisions, that conversation should have been in an open meeting. The public needed to hear it all. Obviously, the Council disagreed.

Just one week after the election, I am looking for a public official who will champion open government. Better luck next time.

Economopoulos: A strong, active political voice

As published in the Record Journal, Sunday November 20, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — He’s one of the most vocal members of the Town Council and can often be heard at council meetings sharply criticizing the mayor and long-standing town practices. Recently elected to a third term, Democrat Nicholas Economopoulos last week announced he’s going to run for mayor in two years.

It’s been little more than a week since Democratic Councilor Vincent Testa Jr. lost his second bid for the office, and Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr., the second-longest-serving chief elected official in the state, won his 15th consecutive term.

Voters have had little reason to oust Dickinson, who presides over a $141 million budget that saw a less than one percent tax increase this year. Municipal cash reserves are healthy and the town’s credit rating is the highest possible. Those assets can be kept and improved on, Economopoulos said.

While many say Dickinson can’t be beat, Economopoulos says the mayor can be matched and the town can be modernized and run more efficiently and intelligently.

“He’s very humble and that’s one of the things I love about him and the public loves about him,” Economopoulos said. “But as far as running the town, I’ll have people helping me; he tends to do things on his own and that’s where he has a problem.”

Economopoulos said if he wins he’ll institute a series of commissions to research and help plan town projects, an idea he floated at a council meeting earlier this year that councilors overwhelmingly disapproved of.

“I want to stress that our weakness right now is that we don’t have plans,” he said. “Consequently, we get caught in the short straws. If a committee brings the mayor some choices, then he can make a decision.”

An example of a committee would be a group to research possible uses for the town owned Wooding-Caplan property, a 3.5-acre space the town bought in 1992 for $1.5 million that has been vacant ever since. While talk has circulated of the site being a possible home for a new police station, nothing definite has ever formed for the parcel.

Economopoulos, 62, retired in 2006 after teaching accounting at Sheehan High School for 34 years. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Central Connecticut State University and moved to Connecticut from Westbury, Long Island, for good when he was hired at Sheehan in 1971.

Since then, he’s made a large family with his wife of 34 years, Susan. He has five children, including one foster child, now 21, who he said was a homeless seventh-grader when they took her in. His children are now grown and are either in college or teaching, he said.

With famed Long Island politician Robert Moses as something of an inspiration, Economopoulos served two years on the Board of Education in 2006 and 2007 before being elected to the council. His greatest inspiration in life, however, has been his father, James, a short-order cook turned real estate salesman who died in 2000 at the age of 75.

“I had a strong Greek upbringing, and the way he treated people was unbelievable,” Economopoulos said. “He was big-hearted and I just saw how much he was looked up to, and I thought that was the way I should be.”

Economopoulos, a well known local basketball coach, has a specific list of things he’d like to improve in town and has spent the past year scrutinizing members of the housing authority, requesting financial documents and even calling for the resignations of the housing director and board of commissioners over allegations of mismanagement. On Friday the authority’s board of commissioners voted to fire Executive Director Stephen Nere.

“What has happened at the housing authority is an absolute blemish on our town,” Economopoulos said. “Technology- wise, we’re an embarrassment to the state. Our priorities are all messed up. I don’t want to invest a dime until we have a plan as to what we’re going to do.”

Economopoulos announced his bid for mayor at last week’s Democratic Town Committee meeting. Dickinson, 64, said he has no plans to even start thinking about running for mayor again, but would welcome any challenger.

“I need to enjoy a little while the election that just ended a week ago,” he said. “But the office is a natural focal point for a lot of decision making and in most circumstances it’s unavoidable.”

In the meantime, Economopoulos said he’ll be keeping watch on the council and speaking his mind about Dickinson’s decisions.

“Even if I don’t win it’s going to be a good two years of making sure he’s on the right path,” he said. Vincent Avallone, chairman of the Democratic committee, said this week he was surprised but glad Economopoulos has announced his run so early. It’s the earliest he’s seen anyone declare a run, but an early start might just be what it takes to unseat Dickinson, he said.

“Nick (Economopoulos) is a respected councilor and a respected person in the community,” he said. “And he’s going to need an early start to raise enough money.”

But Economopoulos isn’t the only outspoken member of the council. Republican Craig Fishbein has often found himself on the same side as Economopoulos, and the two were the only councilors to vote against a controversial parking lot deal that was overturned by a referendum last week.

“I hope that he faces issues as a good councilor and not with future aspirations in mind,” Fishbein said. “If that’s what he wants to spend the next couple of years working on, more power to him.”