UPDATED at 7:45 a.m.
According to CPPL, Town Attorney Bruno Morasutti has stated the following:
"...[CPPL's] petition ... is not a proper matter for a town meeting."
He further goes on to say that it "... infringes on the discretion and authority of the selectman."
Original Story
A Board of Selectmen’s Meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, April 11 at 7pm in the Haddam Town Hall.
The Citizens for the Protection of Public Land's (CPPL) 2nd petition to call a special town meeting is on the agenda.
We all need to be present to hear and respond to the decision the board makes to reject, as they did previously, or approve, the call for this meeting of the town’s legislature.
Your voice matters.
If your government doesn’t want to hear it, the more important that you speak up and insist. Be Heard!
If the decision is announced before this meeting we will try to inform you.
But, either way, it is important for you to come to this meeting.
The swap MAY be over, but the need for your voice to be heard in YOUR government ISN'T!
The Citizens for the Protection of Public Lands
Unfortuately the commissions allow closed hearings at town meetings and the public doesn't learn what transpires ......in many cases...ever! I am still waiting to learn when the Town will demand that WFS repair the road into the sandpit on CedarLake/Turkey Hill Roads. Does anyone know of any action on the TOWN suitS against WFS? Letters, petitions, and questions go unanswered in too many cases unless the Town is challenged with a lawsuit. It would be nice to have open meetings where a taxpayer could follow up on procedings rather than closed sessions................................ which are not published in minutes, so many matters never are resolved.
When did New Englanders lose the right to hold a town meeting to express their opinions--about any subject? This is our tradition. My forefathers wanted it this way, and it works. This is a bigger issue than the land swap. Who knows what issue could come up next? Do people really want to be muzzled? It isn't enough to say that those people in Haddam elected their officials and therefore the officials should be trusted to do the right thing. They have NOT done the right thing, and besides, two years is too long for townspeople to wait to elect someone who will LET THEM SPEAK.
I remember something over 10 years ago, maybe just after the nuke plant closed, people were looking into town money or something and found a lot of "irregularities". Wish I could remember the exact details. There are many in politics with an agenda and they convince themselves that their agenda is right and that is why they were elected, many give that as the excuse when called on their decisions, they say " the people elected me to do this", when in fact they were elected to do the right thing for everyone, not just their connected buddies and budettes. Or the old "the people elected me to do the right thing and this is it" like when they passed the income tax which just became Corporate Welfare. It doesn't like anyone or very few actually sit back and do research and then judge, they fall for the same ol' lines, like giving x to x company is good for the economy, when really all its good for is X.
I don't know all the details here, but it sounds like the Town Attorney is saying the request for action does not match with the duties of the Town Meeting. That is not censorship. The Town meeting doesn't have unlimited power over the Town's governance. I would hope that the Town would not stifle discussion or public input, but in all the years I spent in Haddam, that was not the case. Somebody disagreeing with you is not the same thing as somebody not listening or forbidding you the right to speak.
How long have you been absent from Haddam, since "all the years you spent there"? You may be correct in at least one way... Maybe, as you stated, you "don't know all the details". I do!! Feel free to educate and reacquaint yourself to current day Haddam.