Ridgefield News
December 9, 1998

Selectmen Approve New Site Selection Committee

Selectmen Approve Huge New Site Selection Committee;
Will Select Volunteers by Lottery

Dec. 9 -- Local parents will be impatiently watching as town officials regroup and develop a new plan to resolve the overcrowding problem in the Ridgefield schools. The Town began the process this evening when the Board of Selectmen voted to approve an innovative "Oversight Committee" to supervise the process of selecting the site for the new school. After extensive debate, and pursuant to the stated wishes of Dr. Ralph Wallace the new school superintendent, the committee will consist of an unprecedented forty people selected at random from volunteers in town.

Mr. Abe Morelli, First Selectmen, reported than more than sixty people have contacted his office asking to serve on this new committee. He will contact those people over the next few days, plus any late arrivals, and confirm they are willing to "approach the problem with an open mind" and their schedules permit full participation in the intense program which will result in the recommendation of a "short list" of selected school sites. The lottery to select committee members will be held next Friday or Saturday. 34 members will be selected by lottery; the remaining six seats will be filled by town officials acting in an ex officio (non-voting) status. People wishing to serve on the committee may contact the First Selectman's office at (203) 431-2774.

(Photo, Right: Selectman Barbara Manners spoke eloquently about the problems facing the new "Oversight Committee" which will actually function as the next School Site Selection Committee.

The most radical event of the evening was the decision to select committee members by lottery. The Selectmen were eager to include as diverse a population on the Oversight Committee as possible, but were concerned that some volunteers might actually be people with closed minds who were simply seeking to railroad the committee towards some pre-ordained conclusion. In an effort to be as fair and balanced as possible, the Selectmen had difficulty wrestling with the issue of qualifications for the Oversight Committee. For example, one recommendation was that any "known or perceived conflicts of interests" should be announced in advance by each volunteer. Then the Selectmen wondered if having children in the school system was a conflict of interest, which naturally evolved into the possibility that even being of child-bearing age might be a conflict. Clearly, the problem was in defining qualifications and conflicts.

At this point Mrs. Kitty Fisher, a Democratic member of the Board of Ed speaking from the audience, suggested the lottery approach. The Selectmen found the "tamper-proof" openness of such an approach appealing. After additional discussion, they opted for the open and potentially volatile lottery approach. The proposal,accepted unanimously by the Selectmen, will be considered by the Board of Education at a special meeting on Saturday morning. The public is invited to attend, at the Annex, at 8:30.

In Other News:

• At a Town Meeting just before the Selectmen's meeting, the Town voted to to impose a new ordinance banning skateboarding in public areas in the historic Ridgefield Village and down Rt. 35 towards Copps Hill Plaza. The vote was extremely close -- 25 yeas to 21 nays -- and ultimately required a paper ballot after three traditional attempts to count the votes failed. The new law takes affect in early January.
  
• Selectman Joe Savino nearly lost his cool in a rancorous discussion of the proposed Fine Arts Center. He demanded the Friends, who are planning for the new facility which will be housed in a renovated auditorium at the Old High School, present their long-awaited lease for the space, their business plan for their operation, and the finally tally on the costs of the renovations. Selectman Barbara Manners, who is spearheading the drive for the new Center, calmly asserted that the requested information is still under development, as are the final plans for the renovations. For example, certain space currently used by the Board of Education offices has been designated for the Fine Arts Center, but plans need to be made for the re-arranging of the Education offices. Another surprise was the discovery of asbestos in the building which requires a complete survey of the site. Mrs. Manners stated she expected all the studies would be complete and their final plans available for review by March 1999.
  
• Mr Savino and Selectman Mike Jones both jumped on the Golf Commission for negligence and excessive delays in preparing a business plan for the new driving range the town bought for $450,000 this summer. Apparently plans have been shared with neighbors to the driving range but not the Selectmen, who were surprised to learn about 75-foot tall netting and the installation of dozens of concrete tees. After a few testy minutes, it was agreed that the Golf Commission and the new Driving Range would be placed on the agenda for the next Selectmen's meeting.

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