Date: Fri 24-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

politics-Rosenthal-Melita

Full Text:

The "Friendly" Candidates Examine Their Differences

(with photo)

BY STEVE BIGHAM

The race for first selectman in Newtown has been described as a "friendly

campaign" by the candidates themselves. Republican Russ Melita and Democrat

Herb Rosenthal have known and liked each other for 20 years. But last Friday,

the two men sat down in The Newtown Bee's offices to discuss their

differences.

Their running mates, Republican Bill Brimmer and Democrat Joe Bojnowski, were

also in attendance.

Both candidates agreed that the one issue underlying all others in the

election campaign is the preservation of Newtown's character and quality of

life. In the business of government, the candidates noted that economic and

residential development, taxes, and even the state of the town's roads have a

bearing on "customer satisfaction" with their town. They also agreed that more

than any other issue, the eventual disposition of Fairfield Hills has the

potential to affect the quality of life in Newtown

Fairfield Hills

The future of the former state mental hospital remains up in the air, though

people like State Rep Julia Wasserman are working with Hartford to ensure that

Newtown has a say in it.

Two hundred and fifty acres north of the bypass road (now under construction)

have been given to the state Department of Agriculture, another 22« acres were

given to the town as part of a settlement over the prison, and, in addition,

for one dollar per year, the state has leased another 37 acres to the town for

commercial development off Commerce Road. The remaining land, on the southern

portion of the campus, will be marketed by the state. The property could end

up as a corporate park or it could be sold to developers for construction of

homes.

Fairfield Hills, though it does not fall under local zoning laws, is currently

zoned for one-acre building lots, something a subcommittee of the Planning and

Zoning Commission is looking to change. If the state ever sells the land to

developers, jurisdiction over the land would revert back to the town.

Mr Rosenthal does not trust the state and wouldn't be surprised if the land

was sold to builders. He believes Hartford officials need to be dealt with

through a "pro-active" approach. The town can not be a quiet partner at the

table with the state, he said.

Mr Melita, on the other hand, acknowledges that the state will have the final

say in how the land is used and believes the town needs to avoid a

confrontational relationship if it expects to have any say at all.

Mr Melita believes the Cascella administration, along with Rep Wasserman, has

been able to accomplish more than ever before. "I think the adversarial

approach has gained this town nothing but large legal bills and a bad

reputation with the state over the years," he said. "I think if you revert to

the past, if you always go backwards, you'll never go forward."

Mr Melita envisions the land someday being used by a pharmaceutical company or

bio-tech organization.

Mr Rosenthal sees the state being concerned only with its own best interest.

"I've found that if you don't stay on top of them all the time, they have a

history of reneging on these agreements and changing them," he said.

The Democratic candidate pointed to several occasions when the state reneged

on a previous agreement, including repeated changes of the completion date of

the bypass road through Fairfield Hills, the decision not to repair the

railroad bridge on Church Hill Road, and the Garner Correctional Institute,

with its flawed report from Antinozzi Associates.

"We need to keep the focus on the state of Connecticut -- the focus of public

opinion," Mr Rosenthal said. "They have the power to do what they want, but I

believe Newtown has the public opinion, and the first selectman can keep that

focus so whatever agreements are made are in our interest."

Mr Melita is concerned that there is too much "knocking of the state" going

on. He believes the state has been good to the town, pointing out that Newtown

was the first in Connecticut history to succeed in getting a town official on

a state oversight committee.

"We have a say in what's being done at Fairfield Hills," he said. "The first

selectman is a permanent member of that oversight committee. I think the state

has been more than generous and by working with the state, we may possibly

gain more land."

The discussion became tense as Mr Rosenthal attempted to clarify his position,

saying he is not seeking an adversarial relationship with Hartford, but

instead wants to be a true partner.

"That's not what you said before," Mr Melita replied. "You said you don't

trust the state. If you're changing your position, that's fine. I say we have

to work with the state."

Mr Rosenthal responded: "I didn't say we didn't have to work with them. I'm

saying I don't trust the state. There's a difference. I'm happy to work with

them. I don't trust them because they will do what's in the state's interest."

Mr Melita said the state has been more than fair, even giving the town's

volunteer fire departments $300,000 in compensation for their back-up role in

protecting the campus.

Mr Rosenthal has his doubts about the "gift" the state recently presented the

town in the form of Watertown Hall, a garage and some land. He was told by the

state that the oil tanks and contaminated soil around the aging garage are

pollution free. However, he has his doubts, figuring lots of oil had been

dumped back there over the years. The land has not been tested.

"When I asked [state Public Works Director] Rich Nuclo whether the town was

going to get an environmental certificate, so that the town is not now going

to be liable if there is anything there, he said, `No. You get it as is.'" Mr

Rosenthal recalled. "So if it's clean, then why not give us a piece of paper

saying we're not liable?"

Mr Rosenthal is also concerned about the condition of Watertown Hall, which

does contain asbestos.

A Role In Land Use

Mr Rosenthal said an effective first selectman can set the tone with the

land-use agencies in working to moderate the current residential growth

levels, even though the zoning boards and commissions are the primary

decision-makers. He can do that by giving the land-use boards the money to

hire the necessary attorneys and consultants to assist them in their

decision-making. Too often, he said, the boards rely on the information

provided by the applicants' hired guns.

"We also must be willing to go to court to defend our land-use agencies if

there are appeals," Mr Rosenthal said. "I hope the P&Z turns down Newtown

Village, but we have to be prepared for them to appeal. That's a sand and

gravel operation wrapping itself in affordable housing to circumvent our

zoning regulations."

He and Mr Bojnowski chose "preserving the character of Newtown" as a theme for

campaign and believe it is a theme that should be used for government, as

well.

Mr Melita said Newtown needs a part-time planner in addition to professional

consultants and/or legal help. He sees a need for Newtown to look at its

natural resource base and consider changing its zoning laws to reflect those

concerns and to try to moderate the residential-growth explosion.

"That's already happened in town. It should have been done years ago. It was

never done, in terms of looking at how the town is changing with the growth

coming up from southern Connecticut," he said.

Mr Melita said the first selectman along with his fellow selectman can also

have an impact because they have the authority to appoint people to boards.

"Land use is going to be a prime consideration here in the future, and if we

don't take a real active role and push through programs, we're going to get a

hodgepodge of decisions that will affect us greatly," the Republican candidate

added.

A Disagreement On

Economic Development

The Economic Development Commission (EDC) is luring some businesses into town

by offering tax breaks. While a tax break may temporarily affect the burden on

the remaining taxpayers, the EDC believes it will eventually pay off,

expecting the business to stick around for many years, making large

contributions to the tax base.

Mr Melita believes the town needs to take an aggressive approach to bring in

low-impact businesses. He does not look at offering tax incentives as costing

the town more money, but as an investment in the town's future, especially if

the business moves into a site that is currently vacant.

"If you have an abandoned building doing nothing, you're not getting anything

from it anyway. It's doing nothing for you except sitting there," he said.

"You start bringing people in here to work, they're going to be using your

local retail establishments. They're going to be spending their money in

town."

Mr Melita said the town needs to seek the help of the state to attract

business. "They're the one's who have the piece of the pie, he said. They're

the ones that have the dollars and the bonding and can bring in the utility

companies. They can also use verbal persuasion and offer training incentives.

"We have to do it in an approach that won't take away from the character of

the town," he said. "We have a great east/west road that hits many markets.

We're near the large corporations over the border in New York, and Route 34

goes directly to Yale. We're at the cross roads. We have the land and the

infrastructure to get businesses to come to Newtown."

Mr Brimmer pointed out the town is actually seeing its incentives that the EDC

put into place actively working.

"NueMade Products. The old Dual Lite building. These businesses are opening

up, as before they weren't in our town," said Mr Melita.

Mr Rosenthal doesn't see the tax incentive being as beneficial as his

opponents. In order to generate the equivalent of one mill in taxes ($1.5

million), it takes a building and property with a market value of $90 million,

he said.

"So, to knock down Newtown's property taxes 10 percent, you'd have to get

almost a quarter of a billion dollars worth of industry in the community," he

said. "It's great to expand the tax base, and I'm all for it. But if you're

giving a lot of tax incentives to get companies in here, and it takes that

much to make a significant impact on the taxes, I'm not positive I know of

what tradeoffs people want to make in the rural nature of the community in

order to generate that kind of benefit, in the way of tax breaks, that it

would take."

Mr Bojnowski agreed, saying he's for a slower approach.

"I think quite often because large corporations are very good at negotiating

these incentives, sometimes towns give away more than they really need to," he

said. "Newtown is a very desirable place to locate because of its access to

84, its good schools, and its quality of life. I'm for using that strength and

working in a more cautious way with companies."

Public Works

Mr Rosenthal has spent much of the campaign taking shots at the Public Works

Department, an area his father, Jack, kept close tabs on when he was the

town's first selectman.

"Before I spend any more money on public works, I want to see just how well

we've been spending the money that they've received," he said. "That's one

area where we have spent more money on over the last few years. We've put an

additional $10 million on public works over their normal budgets over the last

seven, eight years. Certainly we have invested a lot of money in public works

in recent years, and I don't see much to show for it."

Mr Melita plans a complete organizational review of town government to

determine what could be done to make it more efficient.

"I've been doing that for over 20 years in business, and I would apply the

same type of principles here, understanding all the while that we have to

serve our client base. We have to be customer focused and never leave that

thought.

Human Resources

Nancy Markey recently stepped down as the town's human resources director, and

First Selectman Bob Cascella has not hired anyone to fill the vacancy.

"If I'm elected, there will be no need to hire a full-time human resources

director," Mr Melita announced. "The position would not be needed. There are

ways to do that position at a much lower cost.

Mr Rosenthal has no plans to hire anyone, either.

"The Board of Education doesn't have one, and they have more than 500

full-time employees. The town has far less," he explained.