Criticizes Town Council's discourteous attitude to Board of Education budget proposal

To the Editor:

As a longtime resident of New Milford, I am writing regarding my concern of the behavior and actions of some of the members of our Town Council at recent meetings.

As everyone should know, they have been deliberating the respective budgets for the town and the Board of Education. I was disappointed to see that a town council member, Tom Esposito, was allowed to demean and degrade a public school administrator inappropriately.

Mr. Esposito made remarks that were personal, and totally outside the realm of the meeting. Where was the parliamentarian? Isn't someone on the council responsible for keeping these meetings on task and above this certain kind of behavior?

It was non-productive and certainly not in the spirit of working together to achieve a common goal.

I was also extremely disappointed in the actions of other majority party members at the March 11 Town Council meeting.

Despite people giving their remarks and opinions regarding the budget, rarely were they afforded eye contact or any other courtesy that should be afforded a concerned citizen speaking on behalf of the budget.

While people were speaking, some of the council members were looking as though they were not paying any attention to the speaker.

At the conclusion of the concerned citizens' remarks, Mr. O'Brien made his motion regarding both budgets. Mr. O' Brien moved the town approve a $56 million Board of Education budget. He failed to mention it was a flat line or zero percent increase, which will have a devastating effect on the education of the students of New Milford.

I'm disappointed no other Republican spoke to the motion, no one, not a word.

Peter Mullen, after two efforts by fellow Democratic council members to restore dollars, asked if there was "any compromise?" He received no response, not even the courtesy of a reply.

The majority of the council members gave a vote symbolized by the raising of one finger, as if to say (for which was interpreted as), "Yes, I'm voting this way, but I hope nobody notices."

Am I surprised by the vote? No.

Was it something I feared? Yes.

What bothers me the most is the way the majority of the council went about it. They gave no attention to the speakers that night. They gave no credence or credibility to the hours of work done by the Board of Education.

It was a presentation that fell on deaf ears of some of our council members. For that I feel the town has been done a disservice, and that is disappointing.

The actions of most of the Town Council were rude and did not best serve the townspeople of New Milford.

Bill Knipple

New Milford

[Editor's Note: Mr. Knipple is a longtime teacher at New Mlford High School.]