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A Unilateral Skirting

I must take issue with Thomas Kelty’s contention [March 2 letter “Effectively Operating”] that First Selectman Tom Banisch “acted properly” in committing the town to a $450,000 road expenditure without consulting the Board of Finance or the Board of Selectmen, and without going though the capital improvement process.

Proper leadership in our town meeting form of government is shepherding good ideas through the (admittedly cumbersome) process. We elect town leaders to look closely at issues and propose solutions, and then to move those proposals through a process where they can be refined and improved.

To dwell on the aforementioned road expenditure: If it was such a good idea, it would have passed muster when presented to the appropriate boards. Instead, Tom signed off on a $450,000 work order ignorant of the fact that he could not change the road list as presented in the town budget approved at referendum. Had he consulted the boards he would have learned as much before committing the town to the expenditure—an expenditure that ultimately required a $450,000 special appropriation.

In a true emergency, the town’s charter and ordinances empower the first selectman to act as necessary. This was not an emergency, but a unilateral skirting of the process by which we ensure sound management of our town finances. It was a similar flaunting of the rules that necessitated the Board of Finance’s temporarily halting the work on the town baseball field until appropriate review could be conducted.

Bill Gladstone

Madison