Mayor Responds to Criticism Over Pettibone School Decision

NEW MILFORD, CT — The following is a letter to the editor written by New Milford Mayor David Gronbach.

"Mr. Barnes is the chairman of the New Milford Republican Committee and I am responding to his August 31st letter in the News-Times. The gist of his letter is that I am following through on my campaign pledge to sell the East Street Administrative Building and keep Pettibone School. I’m accused of springing this proposal on everyone, while in every mailing I sent, letter I wrote, debate I engaged in prior to the election, my intentions were clear and should come as no surprise. Even after I took office, I outlined my plans to the newspaper.

The prior Administration closed Pettibone School, transferred its students and staff, and professed “No Plan” with regard to what the Town would do afterward with this empty building on Route 7. True to form, I could not find one when I took office. My first crisis was on my second day when Public Works complained they had no plan to turn the heat on in the Pettibone building to at least preserve it over the winter. Letting the building fall apart through neglect to justify a private sale is a plan, of sorts, but never one that I would endorse.

Mr. Barnes refers to rumors and “studies” it would cost millions to rehab Pettibone. Pettibone was good enough to house our Town’s children a year and half ago, but is somehow fit to be condemned today. No study I could find supports this conclusion. Compared to East Street, which violates workplace OSHA and ADA laws, leaks, and has a host of other issues, Pettibone is a relatively modern building with so much to offer our Town in terms of services, space for non-profits, and community meetings. If the “real” plans for Pettibone are being kept from me until the next election, I am not going to alter my schedule to accommodate my opponents.

The claim that our Town agencies don’t need more space is simply counter to what those agencies have stated to me. I did not approach Parks and Rec or Social Services about moving, they approached me. Parks and Rec are spread out all over Town and would benefit from having a central location to offer classes, administer to the public, and importantly, have access to a gym of their own. Social Services and the Senior Center are constantly grappling with space issues and both agencies approached me about the move. Social Services will have separate access and space to distribute and collect food for its Food Bank, as well as additional space for confidential consultations. I went there last week and bread was piled on top of desks and file cabinets. The Senior Center has a growing population of clients and they need the additional space to offer the many services at that building.

Mr. Barnes also ignores that while the Town Council authorized a listing price for the East Street Building, I am requesting proposals from interested developers to see what development can go at the property with an emphasis on keeping the Building with the identified best use as an assisted care facility, something New Milford lacks. The proposals will be public, I will seek input from the community, and ultimately I will make a recommendation that the Community should support, regardless of political party.

Every issue I’ve pursued that happens to save the Town and thus the tax payer money is derided as a secret attempt to fund the JPS move. I save money for the Town because that is my job. But I am not all about cuts. I will recommend spending that invests in the Town and its future. However, the claim the former Administration was going to sell JPS to fund a BOE capital account is ironic. Not only did the former Mayor fail to mention this important proposal when the school was closed, Mr. Barnes is the one who led the charge to defeat the BOE budget this year because of spending (including capital spending) issues.

The lie that I want to or even have authority to increase sewer rates is something Mr. Barnes and his cohorts must tell each other so often, they actually believe it now. He knows I don’t set rates for the Sewer Commission and he knows that his party, including his candidate for State Representative Bill Buckbee, is responsible for a 4.3 million debt it is now seeking to pass to the taxpayer as a bailout for mismanagement. I’m a layman and even I could see the Commission’s history of allowing businesses to install septic systems instead of hooking up to the sewer was bound to result in the revenue crisis it faces today. My Finance Director and I will come up with a solution that doesn’t pass the buck to the taxpayers or the sewer users. I forced your candidate and the Commission to acknowledge the deficit they helped create and the response is a conspiracy about Pettibone. Hartford needs better fiscal management, not worse.

Regarding the turf fields, I actually brokered spending more money to purchase a product that is healthier for the kids that play on it and the land and water underneath it, rather than the original proposal to dump a couple of tons of ground up rubber tires onto our soil. That kind of thinking is how the Brownfield sites of tomorrow get created today.

Mr. Barnes appears to promote a platform of spending taxpayer money on health insurance for people that do not work for the Town and secret bonuses for the connected few that do. I’ll continue to fight against bad policies that cost tax payers money, whether it’s a cable subscription in my office or hundreds of thousands of dollars in Town benefits.

I have been in office a little more than 9 months. I have engaged projects both large and small that are beginning to take shape. The East Street/JPS project is one of those and I am happy to describe and invite people into that process. But it is a process and as I get more information, details will be added, including a budget that is being prepared, although nowhere near the rumored millions.
Reasonable Citizen, if you want a government that acts in your interest and actually accomplishes something worthwhile, get your facts from the source and disregard the “rumors” that are the partisan’s tool. If you recognize that we as people need better, deserve better, reserve judgment on my proposals until they are presented by me."

—Written by David Gronbach, New Milford Mayor