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Wilton Bulletin
Oct 28, 2005
Burnham steps down as ethics council chair; complaint filed against council
Citing 'certain sequence of recent events', Burnham recuses himself from investigation into Selectman Marilyn Gould
(updated Friday, Oct. 21 at 2:30 p.m.)
Council on Ethics chair Paul Burnham
stepped down as chairman and recused himself on Wednesday, Oct. 26,
from the ethics investigation into Second Selectman Marilyn Gould. He
offered to resign completely from the council but was rebuffed by his
fellow board members.
Meanwhile, the council itself is preparing to be investigated by
Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Commission after Ms. Gould filed
her own complaint alleging that the council conducted an improper
meeting in September.
John Mastro was appointed chair by a vote of the other council members.
Council member Laurence Mauer was present for the meeting, the first he
has attended since being out of town for the past two months.
It appears that Mr. Burnham’s decision to recuse himself was influenced
by the impending Freedom of Information Commission investigation into
the council.
“Yesterday, during the course of a preliminary interview in the
council’s investigation, it became clear that the investigation would
very likely have to concern itself with the implications of a certain
sequence of recent events I had not been aware of previously,” Mr.
Burnham wrote in an Oct. 14 letter.
The letter was sent to the council, First Selectman Paul F. Hannah,
Jr., Town Counsel G. Kenneth Bernhard, and the attorney for Selectman
Gould.
In a conversation with The Bulletin, it was not made clear to what
“certain sequence of recent events” Mr. Burnham refers in his letter.
It also appears that Mr. Burnham’s reasons for his decision to recuse
himself include his wife’s position as a member of Wilton’s Board of
Education.
“It is not unlikely that the Board of Education will be required to
consider this same sequence of events in the near future, in its
deliberations,” Mr. Burnham said in his letter, possibly referring to
the Board’s role in operating Wilton High School’s field house.
“It was really the only decision I could make,” Mr. Burnham told the council at its Oct. 26 meeting.
Ms. Gould, the subject of an ethics investigation revolving around her
use of the field house and her relationship to five events held there,
alleged a conflict of interest last month on Mr. Burnham’s part due to
his personal and professional ties to John Dempsey, a forensic
accountant who filed the conflict of interest complaint against Ms.
Gould in August.
“It was an unwelcome, unexpected issue which I addressed from the
outset,” Mr. Burnham said, referring to the letter he sent to the
then-chair, Mr. Mauer, in which Mr. Burnham disclosed his relationship
to Mr. Dempsey when the initial complaint was received. “This decision
does not reflect adversely on me or my family.”
“The Bulletin’s Letters to the Editor [calling for me to step down] have been hard to take,” he said later in the meeting.
Wilton Bulletin
Oct 28, 2005
Oct. 14 letter from Paul Burnham to the Council on Ethics
Wilton Bulletin
Oct 27, 2005
Bulletin interviews first selectman candidates
One stresses 'broad experience,' the other, 'new ideas'
The Bulletin’s editors sat down with the two
first selectman candidates, Republican Bill Brennan and Democrat Brian
Lilly, and asked their opinions on taxes, town hall, traffic, and more.
Click on the blue headline above to see our questions and their responses.
Coverage of last week's Chips 'n' Chat forum featuring Mr. Lilly and
Mr. Brennan, as well as the candidates for the Board of Selectmen, can
also be found online by scrolling down or by clicking here.
Wilton Bulletin
Oct 27, 2005
Kenneth Lynch & Sons plans to leave Wilton
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| Timothy Lynch, and his daughter Maria Lynch Dumoulin, will be moving Kenneth Lynch & Sons, the business Mr. Lynch’s father brought to Wilton in 1938, to a new and larger building in Oxford.—Jeff Yates photo |
Even a 67-year-old business can experience growing pains.
A fixture in town since it first opened in 1938, Kenneth Lynch &
Sons announced this week that it will be closing shop and moving out of
its Danbury Road workshop to a larger facility upstate next year.
The cast stone and metal statue, fountain and garden ornament
manufacturing company, which has many high-profile projects — like
restoration work at the Statue of Liberty and on Boston’s Old North
Church’s weathervane — scattered across the country but is perhaps
known best in Wilton for the large cement hippo and elephant the
company donated to the Wilton Library, will be building a new facility
an hour away in Oxford.
“We are just growing out of the space,” said Timothy Lynch, who in 1988
bought the business founded by his father, Kenneth Lynch, who died
later that year.
It’s still very much a family business, with Mr. Lynch, his wife, his
daughter and son-in-law all working together, but the company is
growing and needs a place where it can maximize its output, said Mr.
Lynch.
“The manufacturing space here is inefficient and inconvenient,” he said
of the roughly 24,000-square-foot workshop next door to the Outdoor
Sports Center.
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| Known across the world for its large cement statues, custom fountains and intricate metal work, Kenneth Lynch & Sons will begin moving out of its Wilton workshop next year after close to 70 years of doing business in town.—Jeff Yates photo |
In Oxford the company plans to build a 36,300-square-foot single-floor
building that will be much improved over the Wilton space, which is
more crowded and requires material to be hauled up from the basement,
said Mr. Lynch. He expects to close on the property in Oxford next
month, and depending on weather the new steel frame building would be
up within a year, with the company fully moved in sometime between 2006
and 2007.
After the move Mr. Lynch said he plans to sell the 1.96-acre parcel on Danbury Road.
“Sure, we could add 5,000 square feet to this building,” but that
wouldn’t make it any more efficient and there would be “hurdles” such
as Planning and Zoning, he said.
Another factor in the move is the diminishing labor pool in this part
of the state. Mr. Lynch said there just aren’t as many blue collar
workers with the skills he needs in Fairfield County and a move to
Oxford would also decrease employment costs.
Wilton Bulletin
Oct 25, 2005
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Jeff Yates photo
Stormy Tuesday
Traffic remained closed on Belden Hill Road at 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning
after power lines came down a little after 7 a.m. at the intersection
with Old Huckleberry Road. The power line fell into the roadway during
a
series of high wind gusts buffeting the area and started a small but
intense fire in the leaf litter on the ground, according to witnesses.
The fire still smoldered at the base of the Old Huckleberry Road sign
as a crew from CL&P began repairing the broken line. The road
closure, from the Drum Hill Road intersection to the Wolfpit Road
intersection, caused significant traffic delays on Route 7 as drivers
who typically take Belden Hill Road to get to the Route 7 connector
were forced onto alternate routes. One resident of Belden Hill Road,
however, said she was happy to see the road closed for the morning rush
hour. "I was able to sleep in this morning because there weren't all
these cars zooming by," she said. "It's like heaven right now." Trees
and power lines are also down on Thunder Lake Road.
Wilton Bulletin
Oct 20, 2005
Future firefighters?
Seven-year-old Jeff Lane, getting instructions from
Wilton Firefighter Brad Carlson, was a sure shot with the hose at
Sunday’s Emergency Services Day at town hall. Meanwhile, five-year-old
Shane Cast probably can’t wait until he turns 16, then he can sit
behind the wheel of big rigs like this fire engine. Despite blustery
conditions, many families turned out Sunday at town hall where
firefighters, police and other emergency service officials showcased
their equipment and skills.
Wilton Bulletin
Oct 20, 2005
Selectmen candidates spar at Wednesday night forum
Audience repeatedly asks Lilly about experience
Supporters of Bill Brennan, the
Republican candidate for first selectman, used Wednesday night’s “Chips
'n' Chat” hosted by the League of Women Voters as a chance to challenge
the Democratic candidate, Brian Lilly, on his experience and
qualifications. More than 35 people came to Wilton Library to listen to questions from
the audience and answers from the current members and candidates for
Wilton’s Board of Selectmen.
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| Bill Brennan |
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| Brian Lilly |
The campaign for first selectman is Mr. Lilly’s first venture into town
politics. Mr. Lilly, a trial consultant who graduated from Wilton High
School in 1983, said he had been attending several board and committee
meetings in Wilton to familiarize himself with the town government's
operations.
“During the last two months you ran around attending meetings, and I
don’t think it qualifies you [for the position],” said Mr. Brennan to
Mr. Lilly.
Out of about a half-dozen questions posed by the audience, more than
half centered on the candidates’ educational background and business
experience, as Mr. Brennan’s supporters appeared to try and probe Mr.
Lilly on his background. Although the League required that questions
from the audience be formatted to apply to all members and candidates,
Mr. Lilly said he knew some questions were planted by Mr. Brennan’s
supporters and aimed at him.
Mr. Lilly responded to charges that he lacks management experience by
pointing to his experience managing his own consulting firm and
highlighting his ability to collaborate with several people in order to
achieve a goal.
In a question clearly earmarked for Mr. Lilly, Bruce Brown, president
of the Wilton Kiwanis Club, asked how the candidates’ experience has
prepared them to run an enterprise like Wilton.
“That’s what my business has been,” said Mr. Lilly. “On the board,
there are people to assist you and help you bring it all together. My
job is to take the differing opinions and focus them in one direction
to move forward, and that’s what town politics is.”
Mr. Brennan’s supporters persisted in their questioning about Mr.
Lilly’s education until he said that he received a master’s of business
administration from the University of Southern California.
Wilton Bulletin
Oct 20, 2005
Student enrollment falls below forecasts
Ten years ago, student enrollment
in the Wilton public schools was thought to be growing so quickly that
school administrators predicted they would need to vacate their present
offices at Wilton High School by 2005 to make way for a surging high
school population.
This has not been the case for a few years, as administrators decided
in 2002 to keep the central offices on Wilton High School’s campus. The
decision came after the $19.5-million construction project was
completed in 2001.
“We feel comfortable that we will be able to meet our needs through
reconfiguration. The [enrollment] numbers indicate that we will be able
to use the existing space to respond to classroom needs and office
needs,” said Wilton High School Principal Tim Canty.
A survey of enrollment figures by The Bulletin showed between 1990 and
2000, Wilton’s public school population increased by more 1,000
students, growing from 2,641 to 3,891. It was predicted that enrollment
would reach 4,580 in 2010. The schools began to prepare for such an
increase by re-examining the potential effects on class size,
teacher-student ratio, school construction and renovation, and the
school budget.
Enrollment in Wilton has steadily increased over the past 15 years but
not at the pace administrators once expected. Actual enrollment has
fallen short of annual projections since the 1998-99 school year, when
Wilton neared completion of a $57-million five-year school expansion
program that included classroom additions constructed at the elementary
and middle schools.
Wilton Bulletin
Oct 20, 2005
Rail electrification: Will it boost ridership on trains?
A smorgasbord of rail improvements
— including a $168-million re-electrification of the Danbury Branch
Line — has been quietly under study for two years, and selected options
are being readied for presentation to the public.
Five alternative options put together as part of the Danbury Branch
Line Electrification Feasibility Study will be aired at two public
meetings tentatively scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving in
Wilton and New Milford. Despite the study’s name, not all the
alternatives being looked at involve electrification.
The goals of $500,000 federally financed study are to improve rail
service, increase rail ridership, and ease traffic — or at least slow
its growth — in the Route 7 corridor.
A comprehensive study is viewed as the first step in any serious effort
to improve rail service. As advisory committee members fretted Tuesday
over what seemed prohibitively high costs for some options — the “full
build” option carried an estimated cost of $1.4 billion — state Rep.
Toni Boucher of Wilton told her colleagues not to penny-pinch at the
planning stage. “You go for it: What is the best option? And time and
money will determine what gets done,” she said.
Related editorial: Station parking
Wilton Bulletin
Oct 13, 2005
Watery memories of the past evoke concerns for today
When people in Wilton woke up
on Saturday, Oct. 15, 1955, they had no idea what they would be facing
that night. It had been raining steadily the day before, with strong
winds. The rain was so heavy, it caused the Norwalk River and its
tributaries to rise and overflow their banks. Over two days close to 13
inches of rain fell turning peaceful streams and brooks into raging
rivers.
Then the Georgetown Dam, which provided hydraulic power for the Gilbert
& Bennett Manufacturing Company, broke, releasing a torrent of
water nine feet deep through the mill and down the Norwalk River
valley. As Harry Abbott of Horseshoe Road recalled, “All hell broke
loose.”
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| What was usually a parking area in South Wilton behind the former Donald Wilson business block became a swift-flowing lake. The force of the water piled lumber and debris against trees. This German and Judd truck was one of the many submerged and almost submerged vehicles up and down the Norwalk River valley. |
Sections of the area’s highways broke apart, railroad bridges were
washed away and many homes and businesses flooded. Five feet of water
wrecked the post office, then at the bottom of Post Office Square, now
Old Post Office Square. Water reached the first floor in 70 Wilton
houses. The library basement was flooded, the basement of Legion Hall
filled up with more than seven feet of water.
The Norwalk River flood plain has been subject to flooding ever since
this area was settled, but the Great Flood of 1955 was the most
devastating on record. Eight highway bridges were wiped away
completely, 83 railroad passengers were marooned overnight. Here, some
700 people who lived or worked in the flooded areas received typhoid
shots.
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| Ralph Gregory House and Stewart's Country Store in Cannondale under water. |
“RIVERS ON RAMPAGE” was the banner headline of the Oct. 19, 1955
Bulletin. “Mother Nature dealt Wilton a $500,000 one-two punch of wind
and rain over the weekend which resulted in the most devastating flood
in the history of the Norwalk River,” declared the lead story.
Peggy French of Cheese Spring Road remembers “our artesian well
flooded, the pump broke.” Mrs. French, with her five-year-old daughter,
Mary, went to pick up eight-year-old William, who’d been to a birthday
party on Route 7. “I saw the river coming up, but little did I know
that night we’d be stranded in our car. When we tried to get home,
every little brook was a raging torrent.”
Mary, now Mary Channing, a transportation coordinator for Wilton
schools, recalled the days of the great flood. “We went to pick up my
father, who was a volunteer fireman, and was working on a car where the
Y is now. We started to drive home but water was everywhere. My father
kept getting in and out of the car, in his fireman’s boots, trying one
road after another, and when we got to the intersection of Nod Hill and
Olmstead, we couldn’t go any further. So my father took a right turn
towards Ridgefield. But driving was impossible. The people at a house
at the corner of Millstone and Nod Hill put us up for the night. I
remember they loaned me pajamas and I had oatmeal for breakfast for the
first time.”
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| Flood waters of the Silvermine River tore this gash from North Wilton Road in New Canaan at the Wilton town line bridge. |
Related editorial: Out of disaster
Related photos: See images of this week's soggy weather!
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