I am writing in response to the report that Roger Williams is being considered for appointment to the Board of Finance.
I believe that our first selectman should not consider appointing Roger Williams to the Board of Finance. If appointed, Mr. Mallozzi grants a four-year term to a person that voters, in our most recent election, overwhelmingly decided should not be serving our government.
As has been reported, Roger Williams failed to win re-election when he lost to his fellow Republicans by more than 1,000 votes. The next closest candidate, Kenneth Campbell, beat Mr. Williams by over 81 percent of the votes. If this isn’t a resounding rejection of a candidate, I can’t imagine what is.
Roger Williams’ relentless efforts to cut proposed Board of Education annual budgets frames him as an adversary to New Canaan Schools. He voted against the Board of Education budget three of the four years he served on town council. When voting on the 2015-16 budget, Williams spearheaded an arbitrary $100,000 cut to the Board of Education budget, stating, “I think it will not affect programs, that is my personal opinion.” This indicates, to me, a lack of informed fiscal judgment.
For the 2014-15 budget, Roger Williams motioned to reduce the insurance stop-loss point from 125 percent to 120 percent and reducing the Board of Education’s budget by $163,800. His motion failed and he once again voted against the school budget. In April 2013, the Town Council passed the BoE budget in a 9-2 vote. Roger Williams again voted against this budget. Most offensive of all, he moved to cut $226,000 for school security upgrades. He said he was in favor of waiting since the state just passed a new gun and safety law. These security upgrades, which included safety doors for classrooms and security personnel and cameras for the schools, were recommended in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy. In 2012, Williams was also unsuccessful in reducing funds for Board of Education’s budget. He had proposed cutting the BoE budget by $18,482, the amount was the difference between the salaries of outgoing Superintendent Dr. David Abbey and his successor, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Mary Kolek. That vote failed 10-2, with Williams voting to reduce the budget. This was the only year he voted in favor of the budget.
Additionally, I call to question Roger Williams’ attendance record with regards to his position on the Saxe Building Committee. He was appointed to this committee in February 2015, and from that time on, was absent from 18 of the following 25 meetings. Mr. Williams did not properly fulfill his obligation with regards to this appointment. His actions were irresponsible: rather than approach the topic with an open-mind, his perceived bias against our school system resulted in a failure of his duty.
I would also argue that Mr. Williams has been irresponsible when sharing financial statistics. At the July Republican Caucus, to further the impression he is “watching your tax dollars,” he employed a scare tactic to garner favor by misleading voters in stating that our taxes would increase 50 percent in the next few years with the the $90 million capital plan that was put forth. He later changed this number to 46 percent employing math with flawed assumptions, and thus, painting a completely inaccurate picture.
Finally, Mr. Williams exercised poor judgment in the most recent election with a promotional piece he mailed out. Many people felt he implied that the entire DTC of New Canaan was a collaborating partner in his campaign, when in fact, only a few Democratic officials endorsed him.
Mr. Mallozzi should really take these issues into account when making the incredibly important decision as to whom he will appoint to the Board of Finance. While it is not an elected position, I believe he should consider the will of the voters, the perceived biases Mr. Williams has against the Board of Education, and his overall lack of judgment he has employed in many of his decisions.
I am sure there are many other excellent candidates who could be more objective than Mr. Williams while exercising prudent choices for our town.
—Michelle Orr, New Canaan