The current imbroglio over the need to resubmit critical budget items to the voters is a classic case of municipal mismanagement. From our perspective, the big issue is not the purchase of the land or the safety equipment; nor is it really the business of going back to the voters for a second opinion. That's the nature of democracy -- a decision is only valid until the next election. It's always been that way; everything and anything can be brought back up for examination. This process works! It means (a) the losers get another shot at the gold ring, and (b) the winners cannot rest on their laurels but have to ensure that their recommendation delivers the benefits they promised. So all of those concerns, while interesting, are not of vital interest.
First Selectman Is Responsbile
The big issue is how the selectmen developed the ballot and how they
ran the public meeting, and in this instance the blame for failure to perform
falls squarely on the shoulders of First Selectman Abe Morelli.
At the public hearing on June 25, there were a number of interested and involved speakers, and they often asked good questions. Sometimes the Parks & Rec people answered the questions, sometimes the Golf Commission people answered the questions, and sometimes the First Selectman should have answered the questions. Whooops. Notice the "should"?
Terrible People Skills Redux
Taking a lesson in Terrible People Skills from the old pro, Sue Manning
(who never answered a question she could ignore) Mr. Morelli went almost
the entire meeting and never answered a question. He even dodged the easy
ones, like "What was on the golf course ballot that you think confused
people, causing them to vote it down and take the driving range expansion
with it?" To be blunt, we're not talking about the folks who come to
every meeting and always ask questions until even this reporter is blue
in the face; no, we're talking about regular voters with no axe to grind,
who had real concerns about how the democratic process was working. Mr.
Morelli's aloof and arrogant manner was completely wrong and embarrassing
to watch. So here's the message, Mr. Morelli: answer their questions. They're
voters, not potted plants. If you can't take the heat, then get out of the
kitchen.
Developing The Ballot Questions
Which brings us back to the other recipe for disaster. When the town
is going to make a capital purchase, it needs to borrow the money using
bonds. The regulations governing the issuance of bonds are very arcane and,
in today's litigious society, it makes sense that every effort is made to
ensure that the enabling legislation -- in this case, the referendum --
is totally correct and legal in every way. So far, so good.
But the development of the ballot is not left to people who understand the issues, but to a group of lawyers in Hartford who work for the bonding agency. They cluster the requests together in ways that make sense to them, but not neccesarily to the voters. Then they load those initiatives up with lots of legalisms that make them hard to read. Can the Town help them with that; clarify the issues; suggest groupings that might be useful? The answer is, apparently, No. Could they even get them back from the bonding agency in time to suggest changes? According to what we heard at the public hearing, again, No, because the printer was behind schedule. In other words, the First Selectman is willing to abdicate his responsibility for communicating with the voting public to people in Hartford who don't know and don't care.
Well, like so much that goes on in town hall, that's nuts.
We'd be willing to bet that any East Ridge Middle School student picked randomly out of the hall could write ballot items that were briefer, less verbose and less redundant than the ones we saw in May. It isn't hard: use short declarative sentences, and say what you mean.
Consultants Running Ridgefield? Come On, Mr. Morelli!
So now we're going to spend $6000 or more of the taxpayer's money to
have another referendum. We're going to vote [again] on issues that we voted
on already but got the answers wrong because our First Selectman refuses to supervise
the bonding agency. Well, there's more than one law firm in Hartford, and
it would seem to us that if the folks we've got now aren't doing
the job and aren't taking our suggestions, then we should fire them! They're
consultants, not civil servants! Nuke 'em until they learn their lesson.
And if the First Selectmen won't manage his consultants -- and ultimately
it is his job -- then he needs a special lesson, too.
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