WINSTED — Though no cuts were made to the town’s proposed 2012-2013 budget Monday night, Oct. 1, this year’s fourth town budget meeting saw considerable controversy. In the end, 65 residents approved sending the budget to voters to decide at an Oct. 27 referendum.The proposed budget — the fourth created by the Board of Selectmen this year — contains a zero tax increase, after three previous budgets were defeated, starting in May.The latest proposed budget for fiscal 2012-2013 is $30,932,241, an increase of $199,718 from last year. The increase in spending is offset by $199,718 in new revenue, hence the zero tax increase, officials noted.If passed by voters at a referendum on Saturday, Oct. 27, the town’s mill rate will stay the same as last year, with the tax rate at 25.43 mills.Arguments begin meetingThe drama for the night started right before the town meeting as the Board of Selectmen held its regular meeting.The board was reviewing minutes from a special meeting held Monday, Sept. 24, when Selectman Kenneth Fracasso said Town Clerk Sheila Sedlack did not list in the minutes that the board approved a budget.According to a copy of the minutes obtained by The Winsted Journal, while motions that were made to alter the budget are listed, the minutes do not list a final budget number or a motion to approve a proposed budget.“Nowhere does it say that we voted to send the budget to a referendum,” Fracasso said. “There are only votes for amendments and a motion to move the question on the budget. Nowhere in the minutes is a listing of budget numbers. It is my belief that we cannot hold a town meeting tonight because we haven’t adjourned it properly. In all the years that I’ve been here, when we decide on a budget we made a motion that we adjourn a town meeting and a budget at a specified amount.”While Mayor Maryann Welcome asked Fracasso if he wanted to amend the minutes to reflect the vote at the regular meeting, Fracasso said no and insisted that a town meeting could not be held. “I believe that it is an illegal meeting,” Fracasso said.Selectman Candy Perez disagreed with Fracasso.“I think there have been times that we’ve adjourned with only the motions made to adjust the budget in the minutes,” Perez said. “The budget was adopted at the meeting as per the town manager’s recommendations. The dollar amount was stated on the recommendations.”Fracasso then questioned Sedlack’s ability to keep meeting minutes.“Is it at Sheila’s discretion to determine what’s important to put in the meeting minutes and what is not?” Fracasso said. “I don’t see anything in the minutes that say that we voted on a budget with a dollar amount. I think we should play the meeting tape back for Town Attorney Kevin Nelligan and ask him what we should do.”“I did not pick and choose what to put in the meeting minutes,” Sedlack said. “Candy put a motion on the floor. Once it’s a motion I can’t cut things out of it. What is listed in the minutes is the complete motion according to the CD of the meeting.”Welcome then called a recess in order to discuss the situation with Nelligan.Nelligan, who arrived right before the town meeting was scheduled to start, said that despite what was listed in the meeting minutes, the town meeting could still go ahead.“I’m looking at the minutes and they appear to be sufficient enough to go forward,” Nelligan said. “There was a motion, the amendments were all set forth in the minutes. I haven’t listened to the meeting, but based on the minutes I believe that the meeting can go forward.”Despite Nelligan’s legal opinion, Fracasso still disagreed and insisted that he listen to a recording of the meeting.“These minutes are sufficient enough to move forward, that’s my opinion,” Nelligan said. “You should move forward to the town meeting.”Subsequently, the selectmen approved the minutes for the Sept. 24 meeting by a vote of 5 to 2, with Republican Selectmen Fracasso and Glenn Albanesius voting against approving them.Meeting goes forwardDuring the town meeting itself, Fracasso continued his efforts to try to halt the meeting as he called a point of order to moderator Judith Dixon right before Board of Education Chairman Susan Hoffnagle was to give a presentation on the school district’s budget.“The town charter, in section 107, states that a budget will be up for the public to review 14 days before the town meeting,” Fracasso said. “Up until this morning, budget documents were not available to the public. Several residents have told me that they stopped at Town Hall last week and they were all told that no budget documents would be available until after tonight’s meeting.”Fracasso said that the town meeting should be adjourned for a week in order for residents to review the budget.Dixon said she would not entertain Fracasso’s point of order until Hoffnagle spoke.Dixon revisited Fracasso’s point of order after Hoffnagle spoke and Sedlack proposed a date for a budget referendum.Winchester Tax Association member David LaPointe repeated Fracasso’s point of order and said it was in line with the charter.LaPointe asked for an opinion on Fracasso’s point of order from attorney Nelligan.“I myself just received this budget today,” LaPointe said. “Why are we here tonight if we just received the budget this morning? How can we pass a budget onto the people for a vote if people could not look at it before tonight’s meeting?”Dixon then held up the meeting to consult with Nelligan.After two minutes, she came back and said Nelligan’s opinion is that the proposed budget did not have to be available for viewing until the town meeting was held.Fracasso then made a motion to postpone the remainder of the town meeting for a week.The motion was defeated by residents by a vote of 44 to 21.While none of the members of the Board of Selectmen gave a presentation on the budget, Hoffnagle used her presentation time not to speak about numbers, but to urge residents to approve the budget.“It is time for a budget to be passed,” Hoffnagle said. “The Board of Education line item is at the state mandated level. If there is a motion tonight to cut the budget that will be an illegal cut and it will be subject to fines of twice the budget shortfall.”Residents did not make any motions to cut the budget at the meeting.The next step for the proposed budget is a budget referendum for Saturday, Oct. 27, to be held at Pearson Middle School from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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