Any signs that the Winsted’s elected officials are working together for the betterment of the town went out the window Monday night when the Board of Selectmen rejected a simple plan to bring nearly $400,000 to the town, in exchange for essentially nothing.
By a 4-3 vote along primarily partisan lines, selectmen rejected a long-discussed plan to designate more than 360 acres in town as protected land, under authority of the Winchester Land Trust. The trust, which received a grant earlier this year from the state Department of Environmental Protection, had also received a letter of support from the board and previous votes in favor of the proposal.
Republican selectman Ken Fracasso has consistently argued against the plan. The only apparent reason for him to do so is to defeat political rivals and help his friends. No one else on the board had disagreed with the plan until this week, when fellow Republican Karen Beadle bizarrely chimed in that protecting the town-owned land could somehow constitute a homeland security threat, while remaining Republican Glenn Albanesius characteristically wagged in agreement.
Mayor Candy Perez and fellow Democrats George Closson and Mike Renzullo gave their support for the plan, which would have brought much-needed cash to the town and could have provided a boost to the town’s fund balance, but Democrat Lisa Smith broke ranks on the issue, saying she had some trouble with the language in the proposal. Smith received harsh criticism from outraged town residents after Monday night’s meeting, even as she stressed that her decision was not affected by partisan politics.
In the end, Smith’s decision was a bad one that not only cost the town money but wasted the time of volunteers who had put together the conservation proposal, and then obtained a letter of support from the Board of Selectmen and received approval for a $500,000 DEP grant to pay for it. The money would have gone into Winsted’s pocket and the town would have retained ownership of the land in question.
The real shame in this decision should be cast on the Republican members of the Board of Selectmen, who stepped into line like soldiers behind Fracasso’s mean-spirited and counter-productive personal agenda. But Smith also deserves the criticism she’s received for allowing her vote to support her colleagues’ partisan attack.
The result of the vote is lost money for the town during a time of fiscal crisis at the hands of partisan losers who think they are somehow winning. Remember that in November.
