Douglas Thielen
9 Pheasant Drive, New Fairfield, CT 06812
[203] 746-4039 ~ e-Mail: Doug1016@aol.com
Letters & Opinions
For the week beginning Monday March 21, 2011
NEW FAIRFIELD’S MONARCH STRIKES AGAIN!
The rush to purchase an antique communications tower by our 1st Selectman without any kind of approval or authorization has posed some serious questions and has raised a lot of eyebrows. Hodge’s purchase of an ancient tower that was constructed in 1947 without any input from our boards and commissions, including the Board of Selectmen, should auger up a lot of taxpayer concern about the way our town is being run.
This winter we have seen our 1st Selectman try to impose his wishes on the town related to the doozies below:
First: A lakeside restaurant at the Town Park that would take away some of the beach, require a pump-up septic system across Route 37 into the parking lot and [this is the best] does not allow for boat dockage for visitors. Are you kidding me? It is no wonder that not a single person submitted a bid for building and then leasing a restaurant in an area of town that gets very little business in the winter. That stupid idea cost us taxpayers whatever fees were paid to an architect for drawing up the biddable plans, the advertising of Hodge’s “Such-A-Deal” Waterside Inn and who knows how many hours of their time that numerous town employees spent on this foolishness.
Next: A new library that would solve a parking problem at the existing town library. Yep, that’s right. If you read the lame attempt at justifying that expensive construction project, the focus was a claim of inadequate parking for the library, but there was no data to support that claim. Space inside the facility was not the main issue, even though the current space utilization is horrible and could be dramatically improved by a high density storage/retrieval system.
A multi-million dollar library construction project was within 80 votes of passing because too much apathy exists in New Fairfield. That is scary but we taxpayers did dodge a bullet this time, only to be faced with another Hodge salvo per below.
Now: Purchase a 64 year old antique communications Tower in New York State completely on his own with absolutely no authorization whatsoever. There have been no Boards and Commissions input solicited by Hodge; nor has a Board of Finance approval been requested by our resident Monarch.
For background, below is the Referendum that was approved by us voters 18 months ago [in early September of 2009] for improving the radio communications for New Fairfield’s first responders. This is the very same Resolution that Hodge rushed past the voters based on his alarmist speculation that there was an imminent tragedy about to occur in town that will be rooted in inadequate radio coverage for our first responders. Here we are 18 months after approval to proceed and our amateur project manager is still dithering and once again he is late in executing a construction project.
Resolution - September 1, 2009
“To consider and act upon a proposed resolution as approved by the Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen that an appropriation, and the expenditure thereof, not to exceed $1,200,000 for an Emergency Radio Communications System for the Town of New Fairfield”Many questions regarding the suitability of this tower and its signal strength vs. interference, coverage, height, etc. have surfaced. When and if this communication project does not perform satisfactorily, Motorola may disagree and produce a good case to demonstrate that their system meets their operating guarantee. Even if they are right, we taxpayers will most likely have to pay for a very expensive lawsuit initiated by Hodge in an attempt to get the egg off his face. Unfortunately, lawsuits are an integral part of our 1st Selectman’s Modus Operandi related to the resolution of problems.
A system of financial checks and balances exists in our Republic and that type of fiscal system was put in place for a number of very good reasons, not the least of which related to concerns of financial impropriety. Is the fox guarding the chicken coop here? Is this a good deal or has Hodge paid way too much for the tower? Was an appraisal done on the tower and related parcel of land? If not, why not? Has a structural analysis been done on the tower and concrete pad? Have back-up generators been properly maintained? Is there a log book available to support proper preventative maintenance allegations? It is known that vehicular access to the tower will be near impossible during a bad winter, so how will that problem be overcome if the system goes down during a 12 to 18 inch snowfall? Helicopters and/or snowmobiles? At what cost?
It appears that Hodge’s distorted economics that supported this purchase are at work again. He is known to be very proficient at fuzzy math. It appears the tower is too high for cell phone users, so Hodge’s annual income projection of $140,000 for leasing space on the tower looks like another one of his pipe dreams.
Although the tower is up and running, a nasty “surprise” in the future would not shock me at all. The tower is 64 [sixty four] years old and one has to wonder how well it was constructed and installed way back then and what specifications and requirements were in place over three generations ago in a neighboring state that had who knows what regulations in place at the time. How about the extent of preventative maintenance that has been done on the tower and its ancillary equipment over the last two thirds of a century? That is a scary thought.
We have a municipal election in less than 9 months. During that period of time please think long and hard about Hodge’s dictatorial administrative style versus one of working together for the good of the taxpaying residents. Also think about the lack of open and transparent governance as has been demonstrated throughout Hodge’s tenure in office. Having a fair and objective administration devoid of deception and pet projects would certainly be a refreshing change.
Doug Thielen
