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Norwalk: Common Council MTG


by turfgrrl


December 12th, 2007 · 31 Comments

Common Council Meeting 12/11/08

Bil Krummel, Steve Serasis, Amanda Brown, Doug Sutton, Laurel Lindsrom, Phylls Bolden, Mike Geake, Fred Bondi, Carvin Hilliard, Kelly Straniti, Andy Conroy, Richard Bonnefant, Nick Kydes, Doug Hempstead, Rick McQuaid.

It’s a full house tonight with Doug, Kelly and Laurel in festive green/red combinations. Mike Geake and Richard McQuaid are in the darker tones which from here are likely holiday coloring, so they might be counted too.

Mayor Moccia opens with the mayor remarks and speaks about the charter as it relates to appointments. He intends to proceed with input from both sides of the aisles and with people not affiliated with either party.

There are many appointments to be made and we begin.

He appoints Anna Duleep to SWRPA and it does not require a council vote. He also appoints Michael Griffith as shellfish commissioner but is checking with the AG about whether there’s a conflict since he is also the Harbor Master.

Rick McQuaid speaks to the Don Reid assistant corporation council nod. It gets approved with two abstentions, Doug Sutton and Steve Serasis.

Board of Health
Sheldon Miller is next, Nick Kydes and Richard Bonnefant speak to his appointment. Doug Sutton and Steve Serasis abstain again.

Fair Rent Commission
Fran Collier Clemmons is nominated, Phyllis Bolden speaks to her appointment and the vote is with Doug Sutton and Steve Serasis abstaining again.

Human Relations Commission
Julius Gamble is nominated next. Krummel speaks to the nomination and adds that the council should have input and that diversity is a good thing. Phylis speaks next. Only Doug Sutton abstains.

Andrew Mattiello is nominated. Doug Hempstead speaks to it and mentions that there is diversity in ages, and that he is a young 24. Doug Sutton abstains.

Marina Rivera is nominated next. Fred Bondi speaks to her nomination. Doug Sutton abstains.

Brian Smith is nominated next. Rick “Rock Star Elf” speaks to the nomination. Doug Sutton abstains.

Karen Marie Tobin is nominated next. Andrew Conroy speaks to her nomination. Larel Lindstrom, Steve Serasis and Doug Sutton abstain.

Planning Commission
Steven Ferguson is nominated next, Carvin Hilliard speaks to the nomination. Doug Sutton and Steve Serasis abstain.

Now these are the reappointments:

Jeanins Soper Boar dof Assessment Appeals. Steve Serasis, Amanda Brown and Doug Sutton abstain.

Jim Clark, Board of Estiamte and Taxation (BET). Amanda brown and Doug Sutton abstain.

James Feigenbaum BET. Steve Serasis, Amanda Brown, Doug Sutton abstain.

Leo Mellow BET. Steve Serasis, Amanda Brown, Doug Sutton abstain

Kenneth LaLime Board of Health. Steve Serasis, Amanda Brown, Doug Sutton abstain

Theresa Quell Board of Health. Steve Serasis, Amanda Brown, Doug Sutton abstain

Ellen Wink Redevelopment Agency.

Krummel speaks to the appointment and says that there’s a lack of diversity there, (even though there’s only 5 members) He says it’s not personal but he plans to vote against the appointment.

Doug Hempstead speaks to Krummel’s point. And says that the Mayor has done a good job about appointing a diverse range of people. He speaks to her extensive Norwalk background. Rick McQuaid says this is the most diverse list of appointments. Points out that this a reappointment.

Amanda Brown says that Ellen is a wonderful candidate but that she wanted to review other candidates for this appointment and have a different ethnicity background. Says that the current composition of the RDA is not representative of the city and that the Democratic voted to table the nomination. Steve Serasis, Amanda Brown, Doug Sutton abstain.

The Mayor gets irritated. He points out that he has appointed many minorities to high positios in his administration. He will not withdraw her name.

Carvin Hilliard speaks next. Says that the mayor has a good record and has always made diverse appointments.

Phyllis speaks next and says that she knows Ellen Eink well and is a wonderful human being.

Bill Krummel is inspired by Amanda Brown. Motions to table

Roll Call Vote on motion to table:

Serasis Abstains
Brown Abstains
Bondi N
Bolden N
Conroy N
Geake N
Hilalird N
Bonnefant N
Kydes N
Lindstrom N
Hempstead N
Stranitni N
Kurmmel Y
Sutton Abstains

Bondi: The council the past 2 years has appointed more diverse people than ever before and he has been on the council for the last 16 years. The diversification on these committees is a good job. He is disappointed in some of his co-peeople on the Dmeocratic side have made an issue of this.

Kydes says that that Krummel is bringing partisanship to the table with his comments.

Laurel says that if another appointment comes up that we should look a little bit beyond what we have and get a better mix., but she plans to support Wink.

Moccia says the charter says the mayor appointments not that the council anoints.

Serasis Abstains
Brown Abstains
Bondi Y
Bolden Y
Conroy Y
Geake Y
Hilalird Y
Bonnefant Y
Kydes Y
Lindstrom Y
Hempstead Y
Stranitni Y
Kurmmel N
Sutton Abstains

The Ellen Wink appointment certainly dragged things on. If the Democrats were all that concerned about appointments they should have motioned another name. As it was, they tried to make a point and failed, looking ineffective and disorganized. It’s also odd that Sutton and Brown chose to abstain on reappointments of minorities when this was the main issue on this redevelopment appointment.

The only other time Democrats went through such a show was in the Golf Authority appointment awhile back. I think Kydes hit the nail on the head, they are playing out their internal politics issues instead of focusing on the job they have to do.

Dawn DelGreco Zoning Baord of Appeals. (woman, says the Mayor) Steve Serasis, Amanda Brown, Doug Sutton Abstains

All those who could vote on accepting the minutes did.

Council president Fred Bondi Remarks:
Nominates Lewis Clark to replace himself on the WPCA. (water pollution control agency). Appoints Laurel Lindstrom on the public power authority as chair. Clark has a background in water pollution engineering. Good pick.

Moccia: Thanks Bondi for the non-partisan party outside. (sandwiches, cookies, cheese and veggies)

Hempstead: Richard Bonnefant should serve as the minority appointment on the WPCA.

Fred Bondi: Makes a motion to suspend the rules to add the White barn special item and something else off the consent calendar.

He then reads of the numbers of the consent calendar, without descriptions. (Without Miklave and Coffey that little entertainment action is apparently over)

They vote unanimously on the consent calendar. Quickly.

Hempstead: Motions that the items on the white barn to move money from the open space account money. He asks Corpo Council Maslan to explain what is happening.

Maslan: The program grant that the city of Norwalk got under DEP grant. He needs authorization for the mayor to sign the documents regarding the grant amounts.. He explains that the State requires that the signed documents be back to them by Thursday for tax purposes. The council had already approved the authorization and these are just additional documents.

They motions to adjourn. And that’s a wrap.

Tags: Norwalk

31 Responses so far ↓ “Norwalk: Common Council MTG”


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  • 1 MGeake // Dec 12, 2007 at 7:33 am

    For the record, that dark tie had a Christmas tree ornament design :)

    “they should have motioned another name” — that’s not the way it works, at least according to §1-227 of our charter. The mayor makes the appointment; the council either confirms or rejects. We have absolutely no authority to offer a substiution, except as a suggestion.

    I completely understand Doug Sutton’s unhappiness with this process and his abstentions in protest. Perhaps he will lead the effort to amend the charter.

  • 2 anonymous // Dec 12, 2007 at 8:18 am

    So, TG, based on your editorial bent, Brown and Sutton did their own thing, acting independently in their voting (or lack thereof)from the rest of the Dems, so you criticize the dems as not working together effectively. But then you criticize the dems for being partisan when they don’t “act independently” by not crossing over to vote with the republicans…

  • 3 What? // Dec 12, 2007 at 9:30 am

    #2 So you are saying that these two will never vote with the Republicans, just for the heck of it? Talk about kindergarten behavior!

  • 4 turfgrrl // Dec 12, 2007 at 9:30 am

    MGeake: THe Christmas tree design definately wasn’t observable from the audience. :)

    As to the mentioning another name bit, if there was a real concern about the appointment then Amanda could have suggested another name to the Mayor. That can be done from the floor, and in fact was done in the last session. The Mayor doesn’t have to listen, it’s his appointment to make.

    But if anyone truly cares about an issue, you work to achieve it long before a vote gets taken on the council floor. Bringing up then is just empty theater. I don’t think anyone made alternative suggestions to the Mayor on this appointment. If anything the lack of reflection of the Norwalk population is that most of these appointments are either Republican or Democrats instead of the majority which is unaffiliated voters.

  • 5 turfgrrl // Dec 12, 2007 at 9:41 am

    anonymous #2: If the point being made was that there was a better appointee out there, Brown, Krummel, and Sutton didn’t make that argument. That’s the disorganized bit, since Sutton and Krumel have been on the council how long? It’s not that hard to work the “process” to make a political point, which IMHO, this was really what was going on. All any of them had to say was, here is candidate X, who is qualified with x, y, z and reflects a, b, c. We would like the mayor to consider this candidate. That would have been way more effective.

    Better even, if they had submitted that name to the Mayor in the first place. The sad part is that both parties have a really difficult time finding people who are willing to serve on these boards and commissions. Norwalk would be better served if everyone in both parties actively sought out new residents to serve on these boards and commissions.

  • 6 MGeake // Dec 12, 2007 at 9:49 am

    “The Mayor doesn’t have to listen, it’s his appointment to make.” Exactly!!!

    The sensitivity here, quite frankly, is heavily-minority South Norwalk. If you look at the major developments going on, their target is “upscale” shoppers and residents. It’s not hard for the people of South Norwalk to extrapolate this as the long-range goal of our redevelopment process and fear for their homes. Having nobody on the Redevlopment Agency that “looks like them” and “talks like them” does nothing to assuage their fears.

    This was not going to be resolved last night, but it needs to be addressed soon.

  • 7 anon // Dec 12, 2007 at 9:58 am

    In the past two years, Moccia’s appointments have been predominantly male. In some cases, Moccia failed to reappoint women and replaced them with men creating commissions that were predominantly male and Republican. Nice of Bondi to rewrite history to make Moccia look good.

  • 8 turfgrrl // Dec 12, 2007 at 10:43 am

    MGeake: Au contraire, the majority minority particularly in South Norwalk is Hispanic and as it happens there’s Felix Serrano on that board. So if we’re going to say that equal representation of population is an issue, then the RDA is reflective of the actual population.

    Your point on “upscale” being bad for South Norwalk is an interesting point. I’m a fan of the Clintonian school of economics where a rising tide floats all boats. If small business drives economic diversity then all benefit. To discriminate against “upscale” just reinforces stereotypes that lead to perpetual classes of income challenged populations. You have to create an environment where jobs, access to education and affordable cost of living combine to provide economic stability to all.

  • 9 turfgrrl // Dec 12, 2007 at 10:44 am

    anon: Moccia’s appointments predominantly male? I don’t think that’s true at all.

  • 10 anon // Dec 12, 2007 at 10:50 am

    Check it out…I’m not about to comb through the council minutes again but when I did (out of curiosity) at the beginning of 2007, I was amazed at the pro-male bias. I was looking at only the new appointments — not reappointments and then what that did to the balance on the commissions.

  • 11 turfgrrl // Dec 12, 2007 at 11:07 am

    anon: I don’t think there were that many new appointments in 2007, but a look at the city web site shows that there’s a good representation of women on boards and commissions. But I bet its safe to say that there’s a dearth of people under 45.

  • 12 karen m tobin // Dec 12, 2007 at 6:12 pm

    Hey turfie! For the record, I won’t be 45 until long after my term expires. My husband is older than me so I like to remind him of that fact. Often.

    Should I be insulted? Or should I just buy better make-up? :-)

  • 13 Anonymous // Dec 12, 2007 at 7:12 pm

    Whats the use of having Sutton on the council if he just abstains on EVERY vote? Was there a reasonable explaination for this?

  • 14 anonymous // Dec 12, 2007 at 8:01 pm

    #13: His hair.

  • 15 MGeake // Dec 13, 2007 at 7:39 am

    “a rising tide floats all boats”

    And it drowns those who can’t afford a boat. That “rising tide” is inflating the paper value of property in South Norwalk, which is great if you own your property, but it is also raising taxes, which is not so great if your absentee landlord raises the rent on your apartment or business location: then you pay the cost without reaping the benefits.

    Nobody is “discriminating” against upscale developements, but their has to be a greater balance in the voices heard. As for our having a Hispanic member, is he a white Hispanic or a black Hispanic? That’s the problem when you treat ethnicity and race as being equivalent.

  • 16 anon for now // Dec 13, 2007 at 10:22 am

    Mike…take a look at the documentary that was made about the revitalization of SoNo in the Collins era. It raises those thorny issues of “what’s in it for the people who live there already?” This is not a new issue or one unique to Norwalk. And there are no easy answers…

  • 17 MGeake // Dec 13, 2007 at 10:24 am

    Where do I get a copy?

  • 18 anon for now // Dec 13, 2007 at 10:28 am

    I think our library has a copy; Norwalk Museum might also. I found it in the film archives of the University of Pennsylvania but that’s a bit far to go. Here’s the title and description from U of P…

    Survival of a Small City - [51233]
    Depicts the struggle of South Norwalk, Connecticut, to reverse its economic decline and accompanying deterioration, showing the consequences of revitalization and gentrification. The conflicting perspectives of residents, old and new store owners, artists, politicians, historic preservationists, urban planners, and developers raise puzzling questions about the validity of current popular solutions to urban distress. Produced by Nancy Salzer and Pablo Frasconi.

  • 19 Sara Sikes // Dec 13, 2007 at 10:54 am

    As a friend and admirer of Bill Collins, I’d like to point out that he was concerned about the gentrification resulting from his phenomenal accomplishment-the redevelopment of S. Norwalk.
    Accompanying the redevelopment were Bill Collin’s attempts to promote affordable housing and better zoning regulations. After a monumental struggle with the Common Council, I recall them passing Collin’s “mixed use” approach to zoning, which included a minimum 20% affordable housing requirement. The Esposito administration got rid of these zoning “reforms” early on and the way was paved for big box stores, luxury condos etc. Norwalk is now close to falling below the 10% affordable housing requirement by the state, which comes with significant penalties, if enforced.It’s unfortunate that no one in a leadership position seems to be concerned about this.

  • 20 anon for now // Dec 13, 2007 at 11:28 am

    I am in awe of what Collins and the folks who saved SoNo accomplished. And I have no doubt they were all well aware of the social impact and worked to provide a fair balance. I think the film gives great perspective on the social issues around redevlopment, development, and preservation. What happens to the people who live in the areas? Look at West Avenue, for example. Orchard Street is a thriving neighborhood. What happens to it as Selegson’s plan moves forward? What happens to the great neighborhood tucked between West Avenue and the Route 7 connecter — right now affordable and family-oriented with great older houses in uniformaly good shape? This is not saying “don’t develop”; it’s just saying that there are real people in real neighborhoods who will be affected. And that has to be considered.

  • 21 turfgrrl // Dec 13, 2007 at 11:42 am

    karen m tobin: Ah, but we could count on one hand I think the number of appointees under 45, myself included.

  • 22 turfgrrl // Dec 13, 2007 at 11:47 am

    MGeake : DOn’t be silly. A rising economic tide doesn’t drown anyone. Housing choices, need to be available for all income levels for a vibrant economy. But you can’t get there without economic strength. This gets the heart of economic/political philosophy. You can’t sustain programs that help those on the lower end of the income ladder without the funds generated by the upper end. There’s an equilibrium that can be met, but not with a focus on short term solutions to what is really a long term problem.

  • 23 MGeake // Dec 13, 2007 at 12:15 pm

    The point being, when you tax existing property owners out of their homes, and force renters and businesses out when their landlordxs have to raise their rents, choices are not available for all income levels.

    And while we’re on the subject of long-term solutions, the only jobs I see being generated by all these upscale stores are low-paying clerk and stock positions. Where are the real good-paying jobs that would restart Norwalk’s economic engine? Not behind a cash register at the Gap.

  • 24 Watchdog // Dec 13, 2007 at 3:44 pm

    Hey, Turfie…thanks bunches for posting a play by play of these CC meetings. It is just so disconcerting to see the questionable behaviors of some. Can someone please tell us why Sutton and a few others insist on protesting the process by abstaining? Were these candidates elected to hold a personal grievance against Norwalk’s governmental process? Can’t wait to have these televised. The general public has got to see this in action.

  • 25 anon for now // Dec 13, 2007 at 5:02 pm

    Can someone please tell me why Kydes and others insist on making a trevesty of the process with pointless rants? And can someone tell me why the mayor acted in an intimidating manner with Amanda Brown for raising a legititmate issue? Not exactly a way to encourage ideas and participation by a novice councilperson.

  • 26 return of the miserable // Dec 13, 2007 at 7:50 pm

    Amanda Brown has yet to raise a legitimate issue. She should think before speaking.

  • 27 anon for now // Dec 13, 2007 at 8:26 pm

    Why? Thinking has never been a criteria for Kydes. And Straniti doesn’t speak at all unless she’s been given the script.

  • 28 Anonymous // Dec 13, 2007 at 8:52 pm

    How I long for the previous council.This one is a joke

  • 29 No Thank You // Dec 13, 2007 at 9:01 pm

    The last council? You’ve got to be kidding. I can do without Matt Miklave, who solely was responsible for the worst political stunts possible. He lost his way. So will the current dems who want to fight over everything. No one cares who gets appointed to these boards except the political people who want to sit on them. The rest of us would like to see our council become more interested in what we the public have to say.

  • 30 Anonymous // Dec 13, 2007 at 9:40 pm

    Like Doug Sutton has ever said anything ?

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