Selectmen discuss planning

WINSTED —  The Board of Selectmen met and discussed plans for the fiscal 2015-2016 budget at a special meeting on Thursday, Jan. 29, but no decisions were made.

Instead board members present discussed at length the town’s strengths and weaknesses.

Town Manager Dale Martin acted as facilitator.

Before the meeting, Selectman Steven Sedlack wrote on a paper easel a quote from Yogi Berra: “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

At the beginning of the meeting, Martin handed blank paper cards to the members present at the meeting and asked the board for three things that are good about the town’s municipal government.

Martin wrote all of the answers given by board members on the paper easel and the answers included: “The town departments know how to squeeze a dollar,” “Good people,” “Attentive employees who have experience,” “Well organized government structure” and “Positive cash flow.”

“I seem to see common themes on the experience and the tenure of the town staff,” Martin said. “They don’t seem to get distracted [when they work].”

“I think with the lack of staff that we have the [town’s employees] are so used to doing their jobs,” Mayor Candace Bouchard said. “The historical knowledge that they have is useful. They have knowledge to keep us going.”

“A lot of times they are putting out fires,” Selectman Candy Perez said. “They are trying to fix things as things break down. They have all been very instant in times. The police department is an example of how they keep going when things are just breaking down. They just keep working and doing their jobs. Public Works is a good example because, despite their equipment, they keep going out there and get the roads plowed.”

“From a manager’s perspective, we have a very dedicated and loyal workforce,” Martin said. “I think they are a very proud workforce. I don’t think they get involved with state organizations as much as they should. But I do recognize that sometimes there is a cost associated with those organizations. I think that they will appreciate your comments about how they are a strength to the community.”

Bouchard said  the town should focus on training current employees to use technology to be more productive.

However, Martin said, one challenge the town should face is how tenured the employees are and prepare for future retirements.

“Instead of training, in some cases I think we should prepare for transition,” Martin said. “The employees have been here for so long that they are going to start leaving and retiring. We need to figure out how replace all of that knowledge. I don’t think that investing in training [of present employees] to change how our current employees are doing things would be the most productive of resources.”

Martin said he feels there is still a general distrust of town government due to the fallout over former Finance Director Henry Centrella’s misdeeds.

Perez said she disagreed and the residents she talked to are positive about the future.

“I think [they are happy] about how we have gotten through the issues quickly, including the lawsuit, legal actions with Centrella and how that was taken care of,” Perez said. “I think people are looking to be positive and support the town in many ways. There are still people who come to meetings and criticize everything that happens, but I think that a lot of people feel things are much better. People are trying to move forward.”

Bouchard said one thing the town should look at is how to increase its infrastructure.

“When you look at other towns who are trying to lower their taxes, we don’t have any infrastructure that we can take advantage of,” Bouchard said. “We are where we are. In getting our credit ratings back, looking toward the future we need to see how that will that fit in.”

On the same blank paper cards, Martin asked for three bad things about the town’s government.

The answers included: “Lack of vision,” “Lack of revenue growth,” “Implementation struggles,” “Under funding” and “Poor relationship with the Board of Education.”

“Board of Education, I see that as the top weakness,” Bouchard said.

“I just think that the Board of Education and [the Board of Selectmen] have this relationship due to finances,” Perez said. “The financial piece is critical. We need to make sure [the finances] are all in line. Their financial people do not have a good relationship with the town and not everybody knows where the numbers are.”

“For us to move forward, this relationship with the Board of Education needs to improve,” Selectman Jorge Pimentel said. “A lot of it is perception. A lot of it is also negativity. All the good gets lost in the negative. There is so much bad going around, and it’s hurting the town.”

“They have a lack of programs for students who clearly need help,” Bouchard said. “If you were told that you are not smart, then you’re not going to strive for anything.”

While there was criticism of the Board of Education, Selectman Glenn Albanesius complemented The Gilbert School.

“I think they have good leaders,” Albanesius said. “I think they have clear plans to where they want the school to go. A good organization does not let themselves get swallowed up by minutiae or distractions.”

Albanesius went on to say the school district needs to establish a relationship and communication with the town and the Board of Selectmen.

“To me, the financial relationship with the Board of Education has not been good for a long time,” Perez said. “We’re underfunding them, then they sue us, Now we don’t even know where anybody is in terms of budget numbers at an extremely critical junction for us. The financial directors need to get that straightened out.”

Perez added that she is concerned that the Board of Education has not forecast any potential costs for capital needs, including school building infrastructure.

“This all feeds into that there are no long-term policies to support the budget,” Bouchard said. “There needs to be a policy to do that. That is what was lacking when we went to the meeting with CCM (Connecticut Conference of Municipalities) about budgeting. They said we need an investment policy. [The Board of Education] said we don’t have any money to. We should have an investment policy. There has to be a capital improvement policy and it has to be jointly with the schools. Having those policies creates dialog, communication and structure. I think that is lacking overall and I don’t know why.”

Bouchard said that historically there have been problems between the Board of Selectmen and Board of Education.

“I think there is a structural gap of budgeting and policies that we are missing,” she said. “Maybe we need to facilitate or mandate which will help us to communicate with each other. We right now are focused on finishing our audit, which is driving our communication with them. If the town is always focused on achieving those audits then the dialogue would be occurring all the time.”

The board will meet again to continue planning.

Selectman George Closson was not present at the meeting.