Date: Fri 03-Nov-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

selectmen-election-board

Full Text:

w/photo: Candidates Agree: Board Of Selectmen Is Outdated

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

This fall's political campaign has been so quiet that it came as almost no

surprise when the candidates running for the Board of Selectmen agreed this

week on one topic: the board probably should be abolished.

"I haven't even been elected yet and already you're already talking about

eliminating my job," Republican selectman candidate Jim Mooney complained

good-naturedly at the candidates' debate sponsored by the Newtown Rotary at

the Fireside Inn Monday night. "But I completely agree that the board should

be abolished. We hold the accountability, but the Legislative Council holds

the power."

"The Board of Selectmen has probably outlived itself," First Selectman Bob

Cascella said. "Very few things we do that do not need to be approved by

Legislative Council. Either give the power back, or delete the Board of

Selectmen and have a first selectman-town council form of government."

"I hate to say this, but I agree with Bob on this one," incumbent Democrat

Gary Fetzer said. "I'd like to see serious consideration given to this

reorganization. There needs to be checks and balances but the safety mechanism

can be given to the Legislative Council."

Only Democratic first selectman candidate Earl J. Smith Jr expressed any

reservations.

"It's not a strong reservation, mostly just a caveat," he said. "If people

don't think they are being heard by the first selectman, they can go to the

other two selectmen under the system we have now. But the first selectman's

term of office is only two years, so I'm still basically in favor of

(eliminating the board)."

Mr Smith said that he was vice chairman of the charter revision commission

which years ago unanimously recommended that a mayor-council form of

government be created.

"We called it a selectman-council because we didn't think the town was ready

to accept the word `mayor' which is associated with urban areas," Mr Smith

said. "We did a lot of work, getting information from all over the state. The

proposal wasn't accepted at the town meeting, however, so we continued with

just a finance board and the town meetings which were great social events in

those years. The next charter review resulted in the current three-member

Board of Selectmen and the Legislative Council."

[On Wednesday evening the Legislative Council approved a resolution calling

for the appointment of a charter revision commission, by the council, within

30 days.]

Other Issues

The Rotary format gave each candidate three minutes to make a presentation.

Afterwards members of the audience asked questions of specific candidates; the

opposition party then was given an opportunity for a one- minute rebuttal.

The Republicans stressed the administration's success in delivering what had

been promised in the last election including a stable tax rate, establishment

of a capital reserve fund, progress in economic development, a larger and

better-equipped police force, cleanup of the White Birch property, creation of

a five-year road reconstruction plan and instituting business practices such

as consolidating purchasing to save money.

The Democrats focused on education, the environment and the economy. Mr Smith

said there has been a lot of misunderstanding and lack of communication on the

part of the Republican leadership during the past administration. Mr Fetzer

said he feared the loss of open space and the burden which such development

puts on local resources, the possibility of the "balkanization," or division

of Fairfield Hills into many small uses, and the large amount of bonding that

the community faces to pay for capital projects.

Asked what important issues the town will face in coming years, Mr Smith said

the town is facing some "heavy financial problems." These "have come about

because historically we neglected to address issues that could have come

before us and be resolved many years ago. such as the sewers, the library and

the school projects. This time around if we are going to maintain the quality

of education and thereby maintain the quality of our real estate, what goes

into our high school this time will be of quality."

"The last time, we were proud that we paid the lowest per square foot of any

school being built in the state of Connecticut and in many ways we bought low

and we got junk. Anyone familiar with the school knows that."

Mr Cascella said the biggest problem facing Newtown is what happens to the

Fairfield Hills Hospital property.

"We're only going to have one shot at Fairfield Hills. If we lose the

integrity of that piece of property in the center of our community, we have

lost our community," he said.

Major Redevelopment

Both first selectman candidates said a major redevelopment project is being

planned for the nearly empty Queen Street shopping center. The project is

expected to come to fruition with the planned 1997 completion of the town's

new sewer system, they said.

Neither Mr Cascella nor Mr Smith, who is a member of the Legislative Council,

would explain exactly what plans the Kasper Group, which owns the shopping

center, has in mind. But they promised that town officials will work with the

property owner so that there will be no delays in getting necessary approvals

from town agencies once work is ready to begin.

Mr Cascella said progress in economic development has been made by rezoning

Sandy Hook Center, finalizing the sewer agreement with Danbury, beginning the

town sewer project and getting a traffic study grant for the Exit 9 area

through the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials, of which he is

vice chairman.

Mr Smith said the town's Economic Development Commission has managed to take

only "feeble steps" because the town hasn't provided enough money to give the

commission "the muscle to get the job done."

"We also need to define what we want and what we don't want in Newtown," Mr

Smith said, referring to the rejection of the proposed exposition center in

Hawleyville.

When asked how the town could control housing development without being

onerous to property owners or developers, Mr Fetzer said he would like the

town to be more "pro-active" in protecting open space by purchasing land,

buying the development rights to agricultural land and developing a greenway

through Newtown.

"Everyone wants to be the last man in town," Mr Mooney said. "We can't stop

housing development but we can pursue good economic development and seriously

control town spending.

"An ongoing state-funded program - the Farmland Preservation Act - already

exists to purchase development rights of agricultural land," he added. "We

need to encourage the state to do this - the town can't afford to start buying

development rights."