Candidates Tackle Town Issues At Forum
October 29, 2009 by John Rook
With Election Day quickly approaching, candidates for the Cheshire Town Council made a push to get their message out to the public, as they debated the issues at a candidate forum last week.
The event, sponsored by the League of Women Voters on Oct. 21, gave the 18 individuals running for a seat on the Council an opportunity to debate the issues and express their desire to help govern the Town over the next two years.
The forum was split into two sessions, with the first session featuring candidates for the at-large positions and the second session pitting district candidates against one another.
Questions pertaining to issues facing the Town were asked of individual candidates and then opened up to the rest of the field for discussion.
In the first session, candidates were asked what they believed were the biggest issues facing the Town in the next several years, with each offering their own opinion on the subject.
“The biggest issue I have heard is the pool,” said Democratic Councilor Matthew Altieri, who is running for re-election. “If I have my way, people will get, through a referendum, a resolution to this issue one way or another.”
Republican candidate Sylvia Nichols pointed to the tendency of the Council and Town to try and tackle multiple items at once, instead of focusing on major issues to make sure they are handled.
“We have to direct our energies to solving one thing at a time,” said Nichols. “I see many projects that are halfway completed in town. We definitely have a long-range planning issue.”
Democratic candidate Kerrie Dunne made clear her belief that the Council had done a “fine job” of keeping services going through a difficult economy, but mentioned a few areas she believed needed to be focused on in the future.
“We might look into cost sharing with other municipalities and improving the efficiency of services,” she stated
Joe Bartoli, a Republican candidate for the Council, mentioned the recent issues at the Cheshire Police Department, where the Police Union voted “no confidence” in Police Chief Michael Cruess.
“Public safety is by far the most important issue we can tackle as a Town Council,” insisted Bartoli.
Fellow Republican Anne Giddings looked towards possible problems in the future that the Town would have to address, including the sewage treatment plant.
“That might end up costing us well more than $10 million,” she commented.
Several issues were brought up throughout the course of the night, including whether the Town’s fund balance was a negative or a positive as a whole.
Suggesting that the “time of plenty” was over, incumbent Republican councilor Tim Slocum stated that the Town would have to rethink putting money away when more funding might be necessary.
“I think the fact that there was a fund balance was beneficial,” said Slocum. “The excess is over, however, and it may be very unfair to the taxpayers to continue.”
Fellow Republican incumbent Councilor James Sima agreed, and suggested that he preferred the money accumulated in the fund balance be dealt with in a different way, stating his belief that the money should be given back to the taxpayers.
However, Democratic candidate Mike Evans suggested that it was better for the Town to view the fund balance the way a local family would.
“It should be very similar to how we run our own lives,” said Evans. “We should accumulate funds in good times, so we have it available in bad times.”
Another hot topic of conversation dealt with the tenor of the Council, and whether personal issues have hurt the Council’s ability to perform its duty.
Justin Adinolfi, a Democrat who has previously served on the Council and is running once again, argued that the Council needed to commit to more “fact-based” discussions and leave personal matters aside.
“We need to listen to the people and do what is best for the entire town as a whole,” said Adinolfi.
Long-time Democratic Councilman Michael Ecke, who has served for eight years, spoke about how the atmosphere on the Council had changed during his time, commenting that, in the past, individuals could disagree but could then “go to the parking lot and be friends.”
“It has become ugly,” said Ecke.
However, Slocum suggested that divergent opinion and viewpoints were important when deciding issues in Town, as long as it doesn’t devolve into something personal.
“We, as Council representatives, represent the entire town,” he stated. “The debate should happen up here, but it should be civil.”
During the district candidate debate, the issue of taxes and spending were raised, and First District Democratic candidate Sheldon Dill spoke about how important it is for the councilors to remember where the money in the Town budget came from.
“This is your money,” said Dill. “We have to remember that and we have to be sensitive to that.”
His competitor in the first district race, Republican David Schrumm, commented that lowering taxes in town, considering the tough economic times, “probably isn’t going to happen,” but that officials could do something to make sure that the burden on the taxpayers doesn’t grow dramatically.
“You can probably keep them from escalating too much,” said Schrumm.
Fourth District Councilman Tim White listed several different areas where he believed the Town had spent too much and stated that tax increases and cutting service shouldn’t even be considered, until spending cuts are made.
“There are many areas of spending that I find to be unacceptable,” he commented. “There is an ability to reduce that.”
Democratic candidate Matt Bowman, running in the second district, called for a “bottom up” assessment of all departments, to see where money could be saved.
On the issue of a new turf field, which was proposed after the Town received a state grant to help fund the future installation, White’s opponent, Democrat Peter Talbot, pointed to the increased amount of activities expected on such a field as a positive for the town, if it is done the correct way.
“We could do it the right way where it didn’t dig into the taxpayer dollars,” said Talbot.
Third District Republican Candidate Andy Falvey stated, “I am in favor of the turf,” but then laid out exact questions that he wanted to see answered before voting on the issue.
“What is it going to cost to install now and what is it going to cost to replace?” Falvey asked. “These are things that need to be answered first.”
Second District Republican Councilor Thomas Ruocco suggested that Falvey’s questions were the same he was hearing from the public.
“It is a question of priorities,” said Ruocco. “All those questions raised have not been answered.”
Falvey’s opponent, Democratic Councilor Laura DeCaprio, who is seeking re-election, agreed that many questions needed to be answered, but asked that everyone give the Board of Education subcommittee, charged with investigating all of the questions posed by the public in regards to the turf field, time.
“We need to allow this committee to come and present this information to the Council,” said DeCaprio.