South Windsor Councilor, Resident Clash at Meeting

South Windsor Town Councilor Kevin McCann and resident Don Gonsalves had another scrape over public participation at the council’s regular meeting on Monday.

The latest dustup came as a result of Gonsalves attempting to weigh in during the council’s deliberations over whether to waive the competitive bidding process on the skate park.

The council’s discussion on waiving the bidding process came after the public participation portion of the meeting.

Still, after a lengthy discussion by the councilors on the merits of the waiver, Mayor Tom Delnicki invited members of the public up for comment.

McCann, noting the council’s rules on the matter, objected.

“We are in deliberations,” McCann said. “We do not have a 10th member of the council. This is not part of the rules. It should not be allowed.”

Pursuant to council rules, Town Councilor Keith Yagaloff then requested information from Gonsalves.

Gonsalves was thus allowed to proceed and he voiced his objection over what he first thought was a $538,000 project. The resolution initially called for the project to be $258,000 to be done in phases, but that paragraph was stricken from the record by the time Gonsalves spoke. The final approval for Phase I of the project was $95,000.

When Gonsalves started talking about the wrong amount for the project, McCann interjected, stating that this was not new information on the project, but was instead merely Gonsalves’ opinion on the matter.

That’s when things got heated.

“I’m tired of him interrupting me,” Gonsalves said. “He’s always shutting me up.”

Mayor Tom Delnicki restored order, requesting that everyone “maintain a level of decorum.”

Gonsalves then finished his comments, stating that the public was led to believe that the skate park would cost $95,000, not $258,000.

“We eliminated the $258,000 from the resolution,” Delnicki said.

It’s not the first time that McCann and Gonsalves have clashed.

During the budget deliberations recently, Gonsalves called McCann a “liar” when McCann provided his figures for revaluation.

According to the Town Council's agenda, there are two segments at the meeting - at the start and the end - inviting members of the public to comment.