Cristina A. Ross

‘Process Wins Out’: Town Council Rejects Committee Nominee 

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In a rebuke of New Canaan’s highest elected official, the Town Council last week declined to appoint a nominee for a municipal committee that helps oversee financial reporting for the town government and school district. The legislative body during its April 5 meeting voted 6-5, with one abstention, against appointing Roy Abramowitz to the Audit Committee. 

As they have in the past, Councilmen opposing the appointment voiced concern with the process that landed the Abramowitz nomination in front of them. Specifically, they reiterated that since the Audit Committee is a creation of the Town Council itself, they should be involved earlier in vetting candidates. One of the Council’s vice chairs, Penny Young, said that nothing’s bothered her “more than the events that have accompanied the nomination of the Audit Committee.”

Appearing to read from a prepared statement at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference, Young said, “Transparency and process are key components of sound and healthy government. And that includes the Town Council in making our decisions, as over my tenure on the Town Council I have stood strongly in support of these two dynamic concepts—transparency and process.

Bill Parrett

‘I Can’t Do This Anymore’: Town Council Chair Pushes Back After Committee Nomination

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The head of the Town Council last week called for the legislative body to get involved earlier in bringing new members onto a prominent committee that helps oversee financial reporting for the municipal government and school district. The Audit Committee serves as a kind of “financial arm” for the Town Council, the municipal body that created it, and as such the Council “should be in the process earlier,” according to Chair Steve Karl. That the Town Council isn’t part of the initial vetting of candidates “is considered to be sort of a blind spot in the ordinance” that established the Audit Committee, Karl told fellow Councilmen during the elected body’s March 29 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

He added, “The Council is getting candidates for this committee without any input prior to populating the committee, and that is a concern because of checks and balances that should be out there. And I’ll open it up for comment, but we have been passed a candidate which we can vote on—we can vote on at our next meeting—or we can send this to the [Town Council Bylaws and] Ordinance Committee for a look as far as: Do we want to have input in this process sooner going forward?”

The Town Council had a say in populating the Audit Committee when that group was created in 2014, yet “we weren’t consulted at all in this process” recently, Karl said, and the nomination of a new member has “gotten all the way through the process to us.”

“So the question is, given the fact that it’s a committee underneath the Council: Does it make sense for the Council to have a say in vetting candidates prior to going through the whole process and then coming back to us? As it stands right now, the Audit Committee was formed by the Council.

Government

Letter: In Support of Mike Mauro for Vacated Town Council Seat

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Attorney Mike Mauro is the only correct candidate to assume the Town Council seat vacated by Ken Campbell. Mike Mauro was vetted during the two, Town Council candidate only, televised Republican Caucus debates responding to questions from and moderated by the owner-editor of the New Canaanite and editor of the New Canaan Advertiser. He also was vetted in the written responses to the published media Q-and-A forums that appeared in our town newspapers. Mike is brilliant, has the highest standards of civility, dedicated, loves our town and a dedicated family man. Above all he has the expertise that the Town Council Currently lacks—in labor law and labor dispute negotiating.

Government

Republican Candidates for Town Council Face Off in Second Debate

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Republican candidates for Town Council offered their views on on some of the town’s most controversial planning and zoning applications during the Republican Town Committee’s second candidates’ debate held at Town Hall Wednesday. Currently there are six Republican candidates for Town Council: Roy Abramowitz, Tom Butterworth, Mike Mauro, Rich Townsend and incumbents Penny Young and John Engel. They are jockeying for seats opening up on the Town Council this fall and thus are seeking party backing. When asked for his opinion on the Planning & Zoning Commission’s recent approval of the Merritt Village redevelopment downtown, Engel, who missed the first RTC debate in June, said, “Real estate is what I do—and I have a deep understanding of the Merritt Village project.”

“Number one, I respect the process,” he said of the recent approval. “We heard earlier that the Town Council doesn’t get involved in what P&Z should do—just like the first selectmen doesn’t tell them what to do—and I don’t think we should have a thumb on the scale with P&Z.

News

Letter: Town Council Candidate Roy Abramowitz Has Key Professional Experience

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Voters of New Canaan,

This caucus to endorse candidates is not a popularity contest, although some of what I have read is filled with very nice compliments regardless of the skills or past experience of the party involved. Past elections have given us good people with great intentions but we have, due to the lack of expertise, found ourselves faced with problems, especially financial that have taken much work to resolve. In Roy Abramowitz we have a man with years of experience in working with financial matters, past, present and future. He is a man of integrity, a tireless volunteer for community, the Greenwich Council of the BSA, The Starlight Children’s Foundation, etc. He was a pioneer in the establishment of the town’s Audit Committee and instrumental in establishing the guidelines for its operating procedures.