One of the things I will miss the most when my time in Town Hall ends is the joy I experience at our town meetings. It's a privilege, an honor, and a boatload of fun to be the one that convenes the meeting, presents the resolutions and addresses the issues raised by our citizens. One recent meeting was particularly memorable; a night where more than one hundred residents gathered and debated whether to proceed with and fund an effort headed by altruistic volunteers to build a small baseball field in a residential area. The vote -moderately close -was to support the plan, and I (for one) was glad to see us move forward on that issue.
The vote to advance the project was unusual; usually, it goes the other way. In past years we have decided not to purchase Killingworth Elementary School, something that would have given us extra playing fields, provided all the Town Hall space we will ever need, and would have saved us the $400,000 we spent for the "temporary" modular addition to our Town Hall in 2001.
Similarly, we recently decided not to pursue the purchase of the Pharmedica buildings -again, something that would have provided for the Town's needs in the future -and as anyone visiting the "new" Town Offices in Madison, Saybrook and Westbrook (all former schools) or in Chester and North Branford (former businesses) can tell you, investment in a larger, updated facility reaps dividends far beyond the price to purchase and refurbish. (Not to mention the millions we'd have saved by no longer needing to build the spectacular Town Center Plan.)
And of course, we voted -once narrowly, and once in a loud and unified voice -not to build a large, centralized recreation complex. And if you thought that was because of the size and cost alone, think again: at the recent Town Meeting, 40% of those attending voted to reject that singular, isolated ball field, to be built at a cost of only $45,000.
With the Town's recent history full of decisions rejecting efforts to secure our future's needs, I was not surprised to read two recent letters (the Courant; killingworthtoday.com) urging the Selectmen to reconsider their recent vote to decline an offer from the State to grant a conservation easement upon 80 acres of town-owned land in exchange for a $180,000 grant. The letters courteously infer that Killingworth should take the cash and surrender its options as to how best to use the land; or, that at the very least, a referendum should be held on the question. One letter asks for my explanation or reply, and I am pleased to provide both.
In November 2000 Killingworth purchased the 133-acre Bosco property. One year later Connecticut proposed paying us a one-time fee of $180,000 if the Town would grant the State a conservation easement upon 80 acres of that land. That easement, once granted, would be perpetual; and, would prevent Killingworth from ever building a single structure or ball field upon the land.
Your Board of Selectmen chose not to make the decision themselves as to whether to accept or reject that grant, and a Town Meeting was called in May 2002 to vote upon the matter. The Selectmen, in an effort to have the issue considered by a larger than usual crowd, intentionally placed the question on an agenda that included another item of important town business. The result was that nearly one hundred citizens attended.
There is no exact record of the vote. However, as anyone that was present that night will tell you, virtually no one spoke in favor of accepting the grant, and the vote, if not unanimous, was easily 10 -1 against granting the conservation easement. Thus, the voters - not the Selectmen -rejected the grant.
It was right about that time that the school district, after searching for a parcel of land for the new middle school for more than a year, saw their first spending referendum (on the school) go down in flames. Some, including me, believe that was because no land had been located. It took the district nearly another year to find a suitable parcel, and as we all know, the site selected presented a number of construction obstacles common to Killingworth. But the point is not the quality of the land; it's the fact that regardless of the quality, it still took two or more years to find a suitable parcel.
After the second "Bosco" rec. field defeat in November 2004 I checked with the State -again -to see if the grant money was still available. It was, and the price was still the same: a conservation easement upon 80 acres. Again, believing public input to be invaluable on the issue, the Selectmen again put the question on the agenda of a Town Meeting, mindful of the fact that a crowd of nearly one hundred had previously spoken in one voice and voted to reject the funds.
The attendance at this second meeting (in early June) was far lighter; and, while opinions on the question were mixed, the Selectmen did not hear a majority on either side of the issue significant enough to over-ride the previous Town Meeting vote to reject the funds. Thus, the Board subsequently voted 2 -1 against granting the easement.
For me, it came down to two things. First, a well-attended meeting in May 2002 loudly voted to reject the funds. Opinions -and far fewer of them -voiced at the second meeting a month ago were equivocal. Thus, the second meeting did not evidence sufficient public support to overturn the vote cast in May 2002. Second, we are now building a 50 million dollar school. A little more than fifty years ago we proudly opened our new three-room (not a typo) schoolhouse, convinced that three rooms were all we would ever need (remember, we still used one-room schoolhouses with wood stoves and outdoor privies as late as 1948). All of which leads me to ask: did Killingworth in 1955 ever think they'd need a 50 million dollar school? Did they ever think they'd have trouble finding land to build it upon? And, more importantly, if we accept the State's largess and forever lose our right to control the use of those 80 acres, aren't we closing doors that future generations will wish we'd kept open?
Someone must say it, so let me be first: yes, open space is a legacy, too; and future generations would thank us for closing development's doors and keeping that land open. But, do we need to take $180,000 from the State to do it? Can't we do it ourselves? If you distributed that $180,000 equally to each of the 2300 homeowners in Killingworth, the payout would be a little more than $71.00 each. For that price, forever losing our right to do what we want with that land -save it as open space, set it aside for our "next" new school, or (gasp) use it to house a future recreation center - doesn't seem like much of a bargain; and, the Town has already voted at a duly called Town Meeting to reject those funds.
As everyone knows, things move slowly in this town. Right now, there are no plans, of any kind, to develop the Bosco land into anything. For all intents and purposes, it is likely that the land will remain open space for the next few decades. After that, however, all bets may well be off. But by rejecting the State grant we at least preserve for ourselves the right to decide if, and when, we want to permanently set that land aside for passive use only. When that day comes, I promise you, you won't remember where, when or how you spent your share of the State grant, all $71.00 of it.
As master Yogi once said, it gets late early out there; and, in my own way I can turn those words into something we should never forget: it's never too early to plan for our future. Open space is one way to plan for it; leaving our options open is another. To lose those options for $180,000 doesn't seem like prudent planning, something our record, sadly, suggests we must try harder to do.
Please drive carefully during your busy travels. I look forward to speaking with you in the weeks ahead. Until then, I remind you that the First Selectman's door is always open.
Speechless.
It's a warm and splendid April night, 8:00 p.m., and for the first
time in a while I'm letting my fingers talk. I'm back at the
keyboard after several weeks of silence, determined now more than ever
to keep my remarks pertinent.
I stopped writing my column because it no longer seemed right. Having
announced that I would not seek the honor of a seventh term as your Selectman,
asking you to read what I have to say seemed the ultimate self-indulgence.
But events of my life tonight bring me out of retirement for at least
one more column. Maybe more. But for now, I ask for at least one more
moment of your time.
Public service, privilege that it is, isn't for everyone, and the
hardest truth I've had to admit in recent months is that lately
it hasn't been for me. The shame of it is that when I was looking
back and wondering what could have been done differently, I mired myself
in what has gone wrong rather than remembering what has gone right. I
lost my sense of wonderment over our beautiful, beautiful town, and began
to view it through glasses tainted with the mud thrown with increasing
frequency. I forgot what Killingworth is and should always be.
And then the fire department came to my home.
Yes, a warm April night, where about two hours ago I put my children in
the bathtub, fired up my (one year old) grill and tossed on a steak to
burn. The tank was filled two days ago, so at first I didn't think
much of the unusually strong smell of propane, or the way the jets went
"whoosh"when I flipped the meat (as if a sudden rush of gas
was released). After about ten minutes, when the propane odor was too
much to ignore, I confirmed that everything was connected tightly, then
"burned"my hand on a valve grown frozen with frost, liquid
propane leaking from within the valve to the outside of the tank.
Turning the valve and killing the flame, I was rewarded by further disaster:
the tiny rivulet that had been a small leak now became a steady stream
of pressurized gas. Not knowing if the tank was going to explode, I backed
away and called 911.
The phone was answered calmly in just a moment. I declared both my problem
and my ignorance as to the extent of the danger. Told to get out of the
house, I yanked my children from the bath, wrapped them in towels and
put them in the family van. And in the time it took me to do this, two
Killingworth firemen were already at the end of my driveway.
It's hard to know what to say beyond this point. Their response
was immediate, professional, and thorough. They calmly investigated the
problem, removed the tank and used their equipment to air out my home.
They directed traffic, they tested the house with meters to determine
the air content, they did everything anyone could ask of them, and then
some, I'm sure. And, you could see they did it gladly.
They left their families at the dinner hour and went into someone else's
home, knowing an explosive propane tank was on the lanai. And when it
was all over, they told me, politely, the mistakes I had made.
First, the last time our town vandals smashed my mailbox, they took the
street numbers with them. Your chief elected official was in violation
of a town ordinance requiring the posting of the house number, and the
dumb (lame) duck never even noticed. Second, they reminded me that storing
a propane grill on a lanai - even in winter - isn't
the brightest thing to do. The tank could leak, no one would know, combustion
could and perhaps would be just a question of time. And although they
concluded that an "overfill" prevention valve on the tank
had probably failed (and the leak was a result of too much tank pressure),
they advised me of their follow-up investigation to come, to make certain
that my troubles wouldn't visit any other home in town.
It was my pleasure to shake their hands as they left, to thank them for
responding so quickly, for curing the problem, for risking their safety
to save my home and my family. And in that moment, as embarrassed as I
was, I am glad to say that something was rediscovered, and something else
saved, too.
Killingworth will always be a town defined by its volunteers. Whether
it's the way they shape policy; whether it's the way they
keep our boards, committees and commissions operating, or the simple way
that they keep us safe through their diligence and selfless effort. Either
way, as the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company left my home and I brought
my children in from the car, I couldn't help but think how small
I'd been in recent months.
Jaundiced by the action of so few, forgetful of the efforts of so many.
I'd ignored the simple lesson of literature's most famous
Kansas cyclone. I live in Killingworth, and now I remember WHY: there's
no place like home.
It's a coincidence, perhaps, that I announced my "retirement"
at the fire company banquet a few weeks ago. It was my last chance, or
so I thought, as their Chief Elected Official, to say thank you. Little
did I know that I'd keep thanking them, again and again. So when
I turn the lights out at the end of my final day in late November, the
last thing I will probably do is urge you to thank and support the KVFC.
I do so because in one simple act they saved two things on Chittenden
Road tonight. One was the Denvir home, threatened by leaking propane.
The other was my collection of joy, hope and faith. Thirty-one years of
love for this town I disgracefully lost sight of, right in my own backyard.
Reminders: April 11 at the Town Hall: The Board of Selectmen at 7:00 p.m.;
Park & Rec. at 7:30 p.m. April 12 at the Town Hall: Board of Finance
and Inland Wetlands, both at 7:30 p.m. April 14 at the Town Hall, the
Conservation Commission, the Pay-As-You-Throw Committee, and the Land
Use Committee, all at 7:30 p.m. And, please support the annual Fire Company
Auction, at Fire Department Headquarters (Route 81) on April 16, from
9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Please drive carefully during your busy travels. I look forward to speaking
with you next week. Until then, I remind you that the First Selectman's
door is always open.
The Eighth Amendment.
As an attorney I've heard just about every lawyer joke known to man.
I've also heard more than my share of famous quotes about our justice
system, ranging from lofty compliments of American jurisprudence to
more critical and cynical remarks (think Shakespeare: "First,
kill all the lawyers.") My favorite legal quotation - one I regret
I cannot properly attribute - is as simple as it is true: Justice is
measured not with the severity of punishment, but the inevitability
of it.
I've had quite a bit to think about while shoveling snow this year. Budget numbers, Charter revisions, warm sunshine and a quiet stretch of beach. Fifty thousand dollars for Lover's Lane; one hundred and twenty thousand for the Reservoir Road Bridge; an amount that combines both sums in the hope that we might build some rec. fields. But during this long winter of discontent, storm after storm and shovel after shovel, ideas of justice and punishment have dominated my thoughts.
Some subjects will always divide us. Abortion, war, politics, et als. And for the first time in decades Connecticut is now divided - privately, if not publicly - over the idea that as a State and its citizenry we will consent to and participate in the execution of a man who confessed to murder.
Whether you favor our nation's highest sanction or condemn it (as the world does) we owe it to ourselves to think about this issue, and while the question is not particular to Killingworth, Haddam or any Connecticut community, it is something within our power as citizens to act upon, one more thing we must thoroughly think through.
As a law student I studied the tortured legal history of capital punishment in the United States over the last forty years, but that's not what promotes my moral misgivings. And I don't suggest we engage in statewide debate on the issue simply because I, individually, find capital punishment wrong. I hope we can discuss it - if for no other reason - than the fact that here in Connecticut the issue has been easy to avoid. For more than a generation Connecticut has not asked whether its citizens agree with our Nation's highest robed Justices. So as the days unfold, regardless of whether or not Mr. Ross is put to death (and, of whether you believe he deserves it) this is an issue Connecticut should think about, now. Because however strange it may seem, our honorable General Assembly, while debating budget numbers and DMV licensing fees, will revisit Connecticut's death penalty protocol, a debate each of us should weigh in on.
There are many sides: the victim's rights, the importance of closure, the cost to care for an inmate vs. the cost to end their life. Legitimate points to raise in a fair and open debate (although I do not, by mentioning them, lend support for State-sanctioned homicide). Points to be countered by the scores of death row inmates freed after state-of-the-art science (DNA) proved that the wrong man (or woman) had been convicted. And, there is a very significant and painfully real matter of survivor's anguish; if someone were to hurt my family, I'd demand punishment, too. So perhaps the question is what kind of punishment is enough.
The debate on that point is endless. Does capital punishment deter future evil, or is it merely retribution? Are we making a life and death choice because it's cheaper to kill than to imprison for life? Or, are we mired in our frontier roots, where public hangings served a popular social purpose? I refuse to believe we're making the punishment fit the crime; if we were we'd beat those convicted of assault and strip convicted thieves of their possessions. And if it's none of these reasons - and not simply Old Testament ideas of an eye for an eye (which no one will admit to) - then the obvious question looms.
Why do we do this? Is life in prison a lighter punishment than death? If not, we should embrace it as a just and fitting hell unto itself. If it is, then we are deliberately seeking a tougher punishment and taking a human life for reasons difficult to defend: to save the cost of a lifetime of incarceration, or to make someone suffer the same fate and pain they inflicted upon others.
The Saudi's behead a criminal and we shake our heads. A needle is okay, but a sharp sword isn't. A contrast to think about, perhaps; yet differences I suggest are hard to articulate.
Our Constitution holds that cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted. When the psychopath kills, we call their behavior heinous and cruel; when the State takes a life, however, somehow we believe it's different. I, for one, have little (in fact, no) sympathy for a serial killer. Yet I can't help but think it's wrong to take a life. Cruel to postpone a killer's death time after time after time. And certainly, an unusual and insensitive choice to promise a victim's family the closure they've prayed for - ironically, in the form of death for another person - and then delay that moment, time and time again.
Debate it, Connecticut, and debate it well. Let's decide for ourselves what the Eighth Amendment should mean. A State Constitution, by law, can give you greater protection than the Federal Bill of Rights. The only thing it can't give you is less.
Reminders: Feb. 8 at the Town Hall: the Board of Finance at 7:00 p.m., Inland Wetlands and Watercourses at 7:30 p.m.; at the High School, the Board of Ed. At 7:30 p.m. February 10 at the Town Hall, 7:30 p.m., the Land Use Committee. All Town Offices will close in honor of Abraham Lincoln on February 11. February 14 at the Town Hall: the Board of Selectmen at 7:00 p.m.; Park & Rec. at 7:30 p.m.
Please drive carefully during your busy travels. I look forward to speaking with you next week. Until then, I remind you that the First Selectman's door is always open.
The River Run.
One of my wife's favorite movies is the Melanie Griffith film Working
Girl. L.J. says the movie is well directed, cleverly written and
contains quite a bit of humor. I know better, though; she really
likes to watch it because it co-stars Harrison Ford and Alec Baldwin when
they were still young and handsome. Regardless of the reason, Working
Girl ends up on our television screen about once every three or four
months, and since I get to watch Melanie and Sigourney Weaver (also in
the movie) I don't complain too much.
It's a simple story. Griffith portrays Tess McGill, a business-smart secretary in a world of Wall Street suits. Without a degree from Hahvahd she's stuck fetching coffee for MBA's with half her brains, and when she learns that her out-of-the-country boss has covertly stolen one of her crackerjack merger ideas, Tess assumes a fake identity to put the deal together herself before her employer returns.
It really is an okay movie, and in a pass-the-popcorn-and-don't-think-too-hard kind of way and it preaches a couple of lessons. One is that often the simplest ideas are the best, and in this regard I'd like to thank a Killingworth leader for showing us that while art imitates life, life can imitate art sometimes, too.
At the Selectmen's meeting on January 10, Eric Auer, a lifetime resident and owner of a local nursery and landscape business, presented to the Board a plan to build three or four new recreation fields in Town. At least two of them were even proposed for the (gasp) "Bosco" property, site of two failed five-plus million-dollar referenda in the past two years. There are many differences in his proposal and the ones that sank like stones at the polls, and two of the largest differences are the simplest: cost, and means of construction.
The failed multi-million dollar plans involved paid engineers, hired surveyors and a truckload of money for excavation and construction. The remarkable Auer proposal features the donated services (they've already agreed to do it) of many local craftsmen (and women, I'm sure): engineering by Roger Nemergut, surveying by Don Gesick, excavation and site work by Michael Venuti, Jim Lally and others; and, the general management and oversight of Mr. Auer and the Killingworth Highway Department. And oh, yeah; it costs a bit less, too. With this plan we could get four new fields built - regulation size - for less than $175,000; and, do it all . . . in . . . one . . . year.
The key to any successful community development project is community support. Anybody can say let's have X, or Y, or Z. But without the support and involvement of true community activists, nothing really changes no matter what government tries to do. In this regard, it's hard to think of a better - or more timely - example than what Mssrs. Auer, Nemergut and Gesick, et als, are putting together. To your efforts, gentlemen, I say thank you. A tremendous effort, a great gesture, a superhuman attempt to achieve what others (ahem) have failed to get done. I am anxious to see what the Town of Killingworth can accomplish with the professional assistance of these accomplished workingmen.
Working Girl is, ultimately, a story about perseverance, about defying the odds and chasing the dream that common sense says you can't acquire. Tess McGill's brainstorm, it turns out, was simply to downsize her thinking; to convince an industrialist intent on acquiring a media empire to scale down his pursuit of a television network and to buy a radio syndicate instead. At the film's end the pleased-as-punch mogul recognizes Tess for her original thinking that made the deal work, and cites the story we know but often forget: the truck stuck under the overpass; the child's solution of letting air out of the tires and driving the truck away. Joke all you want about elected officials, hot air and ideas that just won't fly, but I for one am simply glad to see a solution emerge to one of our needs in town. And if somebody else can make an idea work, I'll help any way I can. Credit is nice when you deserve it, but I'll take results over applause any day of the week.
Sometimes, less is more, and in our real life rec. field dilemma, maybe the simplest answer is what we need after all. We're not there yet and there's a lot of work to do, but with perseverance, original thought and some remarkable community effort, we can do it by working, and thinking, together.
Reminders: Jan. 18, Town Hall, 7:30 p.m., Planning & Zoning. Jan. 20 at the South Fire Station, 7:30 p.m., Board of Fire Commissioners. Jan. 24: at the Town Hall, the Board of Selectmen at 7:00 p.m.; the ZBA and Public Health Agency at 7:30 p.m. At the library at 7:30 p.m., the Library Bd. Of Directors.
Please drive carefully during your busy travels. I look
forward to speaking with you next week. Until then, I remind you that
the First Selectman's door is always open.
A quiet night.
With the passing of the holidays comes a slow and reluctant return to business as usual. A tough month, January; cold winds, gray skies and those pesky resolutions to honor. It's no wonder that the calendar ends with such dichotomy. For some, a last decadent bash, bidding farewell to a season of excess and embracing the New Year when the ball falls at midnight. For others, a distinct lack of revelry: no parties, no noisemakers, just a quiet dinner, a video, and an evening spent reflecting on the year being left behind. With many joys to celebrate and many sobering events to ponder, the end of the year truly brought us the best and worst of times. From my family to yours, a very Happy New Year.
I welcome another year of public service; I've been a student of government my entire life. Elementary school plays found me dressed as Abe Lincoln or George Washington; high school marked the beginning of my boring dissertations on the virtues of our Constitution; I was the poli. sci. undergrad you quickly learned to hate, always with a question or an analogy concerning our present point of discussion; and, my business law students at Albertus Magnus College dozed frequently to my pedantic parallels between our strong, free economy and the many personal liberties that are our birthright as Americans.
This year tested my faith in government like no other. Disappointment with White House policies regarding the environment, education and military intervention. Shame as some of Connecticut's big city mayors were led away in handcuffs amidst indictment and allegation. A festering saga about Connecticut's wunderkind, now a convicted felon, who threw away the chance to be a great public servant for the sake of free air travel and a hot water heater.
Over the years I've had many discussions with close friends and relatives about the incongruous nature of America and its politics. In Connecticut and throughout our nation, we can't cure cancer or juvenile diabetes; health care costs can soar beyond reasonable affordability; campaign donors acquire fat government contracts while our foster care system runs to ruin; yet, we can spend hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild a nation that has sent us to war twice in barely a decade, hundreds of millions for a city convention center no one seems to want. And while I'll never understand the sellouts - I'd not trade my name or citizenship for any sum of money, number of concert tickets, bottles of wine, Cuban cigars, custom-made suits or cut-rate vacations - I can't help but think that even simple complacency in government, in and of itself, is a danger just as real. That a great nation or a great State should never rest on its laurels. Sinners should always get the punishment they deserve. Saints, however, should never get a rest, perpetually doing the right thing wherever and whenever they can.
Each of us faces the New Year with a commitment to do better, and the wealth of America, and in particular our little corner of it, gives us the opportunity to do so every day of the week. Like many of you I cannot yet grasp the horror and breadth of the human loss on the shores of Asia. In a world where our economic and military might allow us to lead safe and undisturbed lives, where we worry most about the Dow Industrial Average and the price of stamps, real disaster is something we rarely experience on so vast a scale.
Tens of thousands of lives gone in an instant. Not from terrorism, war, or the act of a third world despot. It was an earthquake, a wave, and each day as the death toll mounts Laura Jane and I listen to the reports and simply don't know what to say to each other. Horrified. Anguished. And ashamed, that in a year that so many lost so much, we actually thought, from time to time, that other things were more important.
We are blessed, here in Killingworth. And in Madison, Clinton, Coventry, Canaan and throughout Connecticut. Thinking of this I realize that it's not just the big city Mayors or disgraced Governors that can disappoint. Run-of-the-mill disagreements over smaller issues - within our families, at our job or in the hallowed atmosphere of a town meeting - give us the chance to do better, to show how great we can be. And when we miss that chance we have lost more than a family squabble or a debate about whether we should or shouldn't - of all things - stripe our roads. In our own way we are all swept away sometimes. But thinking, in comparison to real suffering, that such tussles cost us anything or are worth the fight seems just as corrupt as accepting a hot tub from a subordinate and then lying about it to your bosses.
New Year's commitments aren't new. Nor are the unstoppable forces of nature that claim the lives of so many. Or the small and petty squabbles so common to life and politics in a small bucolic town. But as we make our New Year's commitments tomorrow, I, for one, won't be thinking about my waistline, my bankbook or what November means to an elected public official. As the tragedy of the tsunami intensifies, I trust that you, too, in ringing out the old, may do the same.
Reminders: Jan. 4, Town Hall, 7:30 p.m., Planning & Zoning. Jan. 5, Town Hall, 7:00 p.m., Water Pollution Control. Jan. 10 at the Town Hall: Board of Selectman at 7:00 p.m., Park & Rec. and the Housing Partnership at 7:30 p.m.
Please drive carefully during your busy travels. I look forward to speaking with you next week. Until then, I remind you that the First Selectman's door is always open.
David
L.Denvir
323 Route 81
Killingworth, CT 06419
860/663-1765
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