On Tuesday, July 17, the long awaited referendum to decide the fate of Old Town Hall will finally take place. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker said that due to the legal language that must appear on the ballot, residents are sure to face confusion when they show up to vote.
"There is a huge danger of confusion over this ballot," Knickerbocker said. "The question to be decided is not whether or not to raze old town hall; it is whether or not to overturn the decision of the Board of Selectmen to raze old town hall."
What this means to voters is:
Vote NO if you want to maintain the Selectman's decision to demolish the building.
Vote YES if you wish to overturn the Selectmen's decision, and to keep the building.
"We have already had many confused residents ask about this here in my office as they were attempting to fill out their absentee ballots," Knickerbocker said.
"He also seems to have forgotten that the state has given us the money to take care of the lead paint and asbestos issue in the building. Library Renovation and completion can begin now. But Mr. Knickerbocker is stalling. We, as a community worked very hard for a decade to raise the needed money only to now be held hostage as our Current First Selectman risks us losing precious state grants and donations so he can use the completion of the Library as a leveraging tool to tear down the Old Town Hall." Now, my decision to tear down the OTH was based on the cost it would take to remove the asbestos/lead, and I felt it was too much to consider, so go ahead and tear it down. But, if Mr. Gaita is being truthful here, (and I have no reason to doubt the veracity of his words, since Mr. Gaita is a straight-shooter), then since we DO have the money to clean-up said OTH, then let us do that and turn it into a revenue-producer. Keep the OTH. Use it for the greater good. I will be voting to keep it. The people of Bethel will decide, either way.
http://bethelbuzznews.com/2012/07/09/letter-to-the-editor-old-town-hall-why-im-voting-yes/
Had this issue simply been placed on the budget referendum ballot - this would have already been a done deal... Well done Mr. Knickerbocker.
The grant that would have been applied for asbestos removal was part of a grant solely for construction/renovation of a teen center, that costing a lot more than the grant or just asbestos removal. The Town is "saving" the grant, and looking for additional funding for that purpose to construct an extension to the muni center. You do research, get all the facts. The Town will not reconstruct nor upgrade the OTH for anything. A yes vote will simply leave that eyesore to rot, and the Library as-is.
I appreciate the further info! I was unawares of the complete picture. I was thinking we, as the Town, had monies set aside, given to us by The State, to take care of the asbestos/lead problem in OTH. If that was the case, then I could see no reason then to demolish OTH. I failed to grasp that this money was directly tied into a grant and all that it entailed. In other words, my mistake!! Oops! Again, thank you for that clarification!
Remember though, it was Gallagher when he was on the BOS that voted in favor of the expansion of the library. Had it not been for his vote to bundle the bond with Berry School and the Stony Hill Fire House, we most likely wouldn't even been having this conversation. The picture of the library would've looked a whole lot different if the question for the grandiose library had been defeated way back in 2002.
Actually, Mr. Gaita is presenting a fantastic principle of 'do it right the first time, and you don't have to do it again', here. Mr. Gaita is not the First Selectman, and was not the First Selectman when this issue should have been handled. Mr. Knickerbocker was and is. Who works for who, in this scenario? This is not personal, (I do not believe so), but simply the gears of a free society being rotated. The upcoming vote has been legally and rightly called for according to our town charter's guidelines. Why cast dispersion upon Mr. Gaita for merely shining a light onto a mistake our First Selectman made? That would be like blaming me for President Obama's policies when I did not vote for him, or help shape them. There's no blame to cast here, other than to civilly hold Mr. Knickerbocker accountable. No biggie. It happens.
Thanks for even more info, Bill! Thus far this thread has been very enlightening, thanks to you and Mr. Gaita.
Your advice to your fellow Bethelites to know the issues is well taken. It is a fact that old town hall CAN NOT produce revenue. I will not recap all the reasons why in long winded post. If you would like more info, please email me at firstselectman@bethel-ct.gov. I will be happy to send you more into. Those who claim the building can be sold are misleading this town horribly. The police station is another story. I see no reason why that could not be either reused by the town or sold if the town had no use for it after a new PD is built.
Again, I must reiterate. I support both completing the Library and more parking. My issue is that we continue to be provided information that is misrepresentative of the truth and deceptive to the tax payer. I am not either for or against the town hall staying or going. I simply, civilly, and professionally request that as a tax payer and resident of Bethel I be provided facts with which to make an informed decision. What you have provided us Mr. Knickerbocker is a list of fabrications and misrepresentations....This is never good for a community. Correct me if I am wrong Mr. Knickerbocker, but didn't you, in one article even try to link our sewer capacity and capability of Downtown business expansion to the tearing down the old town hall? Even after our Town engineer said the amount we irrelevant. Please tell me I have my facts wrong there too.
If the Old town hall is torn down, we still don't know how long it will take to begin construction - could be months or more. I hate to make the stretch, but it appears we are seeing the "political set up" for our election issue for 2013 in Bethel.... Scenerio 1: The old town hall remains and the First Selectman blames the Library delay on those that voted to overturn his decision... Scenrio 2: The old town hall is torn down and the First Selectman blames the delay on those that petitioned to overturn his decision... Either way, this entire issue gives him an excuse to blame his opponent for not getting it done... Probably why the Republicans are supporting him on this so they are not blamed for the delay. Well played RTC...well played. ahh Bethel politics - always unfortunately interesting.
Tearing the OTH makes parking so that the CofO conditions for completing the library are met prior to construction start. Tearing the OTH frees it's sewer allocation the can be redirected to enable additional capacity for use of developing businesses elsewhere downtown. The allocation is small, but every bit helps. That's what I'd heard.
Oh, come on, Mr. Hillman....this thread was going along so swimmingly until you said that. So you have animosity towards Mr. Gaita? Irrelevant to the thread. Both of you have provided many of us with information we need. Both of you. :)
I appreciate your candor and openness. I do.
http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Urges-voters-to-uphold-plan-to-raze-in-Bethel-3699955.php Let's all shoot for transparency, shall we?
I'd also like to say to Mr Knickerbocker, that you were quoted as saying in March after a town meeting that the next step to decide the fate of OTH was most likely a referendum. Why did you bring up the idea if you had no intent to do so? And stop mentioning a new PD... my goodness, how much more money can we spend. I hope we start to act like Newtown and vote NO on all of these ridiculous spending increases. Happy Thursday everyone!
http://ecode360.com/documents/BE0692/Zoning%20Regulations%20Effective%202-4-2011.pdf What, exactly do you see that others don't? Educate me, please. D. Modification of Parking Requirements 1. Change of Use Exemption .... sorry Library Use not changing 2. Permanent Shared Use Reduction sorry, no shared use 3. Permanent Site Use Reduction - ... nope, the real need for parking is increasing 4. Temporary Installation Deferral - darn, the complete library is not deemed temporary
The Domestic Mail Manual (which you can find on the Internet at www.usps.com) goes into more specifics. It states that no part of a mail receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail receptacle. Section D041 of The Domestic Mail Manual also states the penalty for violating this section is that you pay the postage that you would have paid had you actually mailed your flyer. If you use the average of a 2.5 person household, you would have about 3600 mailboxes in a town of 9000. The fine, therefore, for stuffing all of the mailboxes in your town could run into the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. My advice, therefore, is to do what thousands of politicians do around the country in the days leading up to Election Day B put the flyer in the door handle, not the mailbox.
See ya at the booth!