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10/07/2015 09:00 AMJ. Colin Heffernan, an attorney in private practice, is running for first selectman of Old Saybrook as a Democrat. He currently serves on both the town’s Zoning Commission and the Inland Wetlands Commission.
After completing his college degree at Cornell, Heffernan worked in New York City for several years before entering law school at Tulane University in New Orleans. One week after he started at Tulane, Katrina hit, so he had to finish the fall term at the University of Connecticut law school. He lived in Old Saybrook during that term and then returned to Tulane to finish his degree.
A judicial clerkship at Superior Court in New London brought him back to Old Saybrook. When the clerkship ended, he opened a private law practice in Old Saybrook.
Asked why he was running for first selectman, Heffernan said, “It is important to have a proper functioning of our systems, with proper checks and balances. The longer a particular group of people serve [in government], [the more] you start to see a relaxation of procedures.
“It was the process of how the police boat was handled that spurred me to run for first selectman. Seeing that the Board of Selectmen wanted a Town Meeting [on the boat funding] rather than a referendum—somewhere the process went off the rails,” continued Heffernan. “Had the town meeting been the venue for the vote, people would have felt intimidated and they wouldn’t have shown up. When you have the people force the leaders to follow procedures, things have come off the rails.”
Heffernan is also concerned about the Police Commission and how it has operated.
“What I think is that there is a Police Commission that is not taking their role seriously,” said Heffernan.
Heffernan said that since the first selectman is an ex officio member of every commission, if elected he would use the “bully pulpit role” to call out a commission that not’s doing its duty.
As an example, he noted that the Police Commission’s attorney, Michael Cronin, also serves as the town attorney, and this circumstance creates potential conflicts.
When Cronin was asked by townspeople to release a copy of the police boat grant to review any commitments to which it would bind the town, first Police Chief Michael Spera and then Cronin declined. Cronin said the terms of the federal grant’s terms made it confidential.
When Cronin ruled this way, he actually was representing two clients at the same time, the town and the Police Commission.
“He should have recused himself from one or the other,” said Heffernan, who noted that it is the first selectman who appoints a town attorney.
Of the key challenges he says face the town, Heffernan focused on the way the town goes about setting the annual budgets. He would “allocate to where the needs are.” He also said he’s concerned with the trend in mill rate increases since 2012.
A second challenge for the town, as noted by Heffernan, is the town’s police chief.
“We have a police chief with a contract that has no review date or end point. I’ve been knocking on doors since Labor Day and people often speak to me about the police chief,” said Heffernan.
“My campaign is about accountability, transparency, and fiscal accountability,” said Heffernan. “I would suggest that clerks for town commission have an additional duty to record all meetings on camera and put the meetings online. Updating three rooms at Town Hall to wire them for camera and sound is worth it.”
He also wants townspeople to feel more actively engaged in town government. He suggests, for example, that the first selectman should send out on social media a weekly email blast.
“We have to get out there to talk to people in the environment where they’re receiving information,” said Heffernan.
Another goal would be to have the town develop a comprehensive plan for addressing affordable housing and include more senior housing in the mix.
What’s working well in town in Heffernan’s view?
“The Preserve purchase was a good idea. The Sea Level Rise Committee is a good idea as is the effort of that committee to engage the public on those ideas which are effective. And getting the [Goodwin] school windows done,” said Heffernan.
“The town is not in calamity and the volunteers are doing an admirable job, but that doesn’t mean you should turn a blind eye to what you see,” said Heffernan. “It’s important to have checks and balances in place.”