Corda, Lang and Opdahlmanaged to get a secret meeting to negotiate their contract renewals. YOu can’t make this stuff up.
When the Board
of Education’s negotiations
committee met this week,board
member Robert Polley didn’t
know about it, he said. Neither
did District Public Affairs Offi-
cer Sheri McCready, who typi-
cally notices the board’s full
meetings. Committee member
Bruce Kimmel said he did not
know who the committee’s
chairperson was until he
arrived at the meeting.
Sharon Cadden, a former
Norwalk High School PTO Co-
President who regularly attends
full board meetings, said she
didn’t know when this week’s
committee meeting — or any
other committee meetings —
took place.
“I’m never aware of them,â€
she said.“I’d love to know when
they have committee meetings.
As far as I know they do every-
thing by phone or e-mail.â€
Confusion in the aftermath
of this week’s meeting,conduct-
ed in a closed executive session
so the four committee members
could discuss the specifics of
contract renewals for Superin-
tendent Salvatore Corda, Assis-
tant Superintendent of Cur-
riculum and Instruction Karen
Lang,and Chief Operation Offi-
cer Stuart Opdahl,seems to evi-
dence the lack of information
surrounding board committee
meetings.
Police Chief Rilling will likely be unhappy as he reads the newspapers today. Reinstated office Liam Callahan is back in the news, this time he was charged in Newtown with first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree threatening and second-degree breach of peace. John Nickerson reports:
Callahan, who was fired for a year after taking a skull fragment from an accident scene in 2005 but later was reinstated, turned himself in at Newtown police headquarters Tuesday evening, Newtown Capt. Joe Rios said.
Callahan’s arrest sparked an internal Norwalk police investigation that could result in his second firing, a police source said. Callahan was placed on administrative leave June 9, the day the Newtown incident took place.
Patrick Linsey’s report on the meeting between Sal Corda, members of the Board of Ed (BOE), Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) and the Common Council suggests much rhetoric was lofted but little of substance was achieved. From his article:
Several members each from the Common Council, the Board of Education and the Board of Estimate & Taxation attended the meeting. All agreed to tone down political attacks and improve communication after a spring that saw much more of the former than the latter.
After a contentious discussion the Historical Commission voted to accept a proposed agreement that would spell out the role that the Friends of the Norwalk Museum will run day-to-day operations. From the Hour:
Douglas E. Hempstead, council liaison to the Historical Commission and member of the Land Use Committee, urged commissioners not to argue over the proposed agreement at this point.
“This is conceptual. It’s very broad. It has to reviewed. Everybody is going to have their hand in this,” said Hempstead, referring to the council, the city’s law department and the municipal union to which Gunn belongs. “This will probably turn into a 20-page document.”
Paul Jones: Speaking on behalf of RDA and Reed Putnam project. Members of planning committee should be commended for their [work on the committee} and express appreciation to Clay Fowler, for their willingness and patience to working through the many issues. … I encourage your approval this evening so that the residents of Norwalk can …
Clay Folwler: Chairman and CEO of Spinnaker Partners. Spends more time in Norwalk than he does at his home. We do thank all of you and all their committees for all their work. Thanks Paul Jones, Tim Sheehan and Kim M???? for their hard work on the project.
Up till this point Bill Richardson had the best presidential campaign commercial that I had seen. But John Edwards has now nabbed the top spot on my list. Usually presidential commercials are so shlockey they can be interchanged amongst the candidates and no one would notice. But this spot brands Edward’s message beautifully.
Since may were so eager to suggest that my posts have a partisan hue to them, I figured that I owe all of you a real partisan post. That way you can rightfully proclaim that the sky is falling and man the battle stations, or whatever it is that people do once they have been inflicted with the missives of the other side.
The ongoing battle against prostitution in Norwalk has spurred the ordinance committee to draft a statute that would enable prostitution rings posing as massage parlors to be shut down. As with most statutes the unintended consequences alarmed professional licensed massage therapists in Norwalk. About twelve people showed up for last night’s public hearing to speak to the committee about concerns ranging from a desire to eliminate prostitution and protect licensed therapists from operating in the city.
Last night the Democrats nominated their slate of candidates and are hoping to retain the majority on the common council. It’s possible, but with the mounting infrastructure problems that have only gotten worse under Democratic led council committee, voters will be wary of buy in to the promises of Mayoral candidate Walter Briggs.
Democrat Walter O. Briggs vowed Monday night to fix infrastructure, balance preservation and development, and preserve diversity in Norwalk, if he is elected mayor in November.
Heading into this week, there were still a few spots up in the air as Norwalk Democrats plan on holding their convention on tonight. The mood is upbeat, Walter Briggs has already raised anymoney yet, but plans to raise some, and is largely viewed as an unknown challenger, except to historical preservationists who enthusiaticly envision future support of historic preservation issues under another Democratic administration. So the theme that is emerging from the Democratic side is “visionâ€. Matt “Mad Max†Breslow reports:
anonymous 58: Too much pot kettle for me to... 
