Health & Fitness
What exactly is Bill Butterly's plan?
There have been a number of accusations against First Selectman Jerry Stomski by Butterly and his supporters.
1. In a letter printed in Voices New on September 4th, Don Gamsjager (husband of former Parks and Recreation employee Leslie Gamsjager) stated "I hear the youth work force is bleeding money..." He heard something but cannot substantiate it with any facts.
2. He also stated "Jerry thought that we couldn’t afford it and then gave himself a $6,300 raise." What is the truth?
At the April 4, 2012 Board of Finance meeting, they increased the pay plan by $5,000. From the minutes of the meeting, “W. Drakeley (Bill) said there should be some method to increase the pay plan by $5,000 to recognize the adequate leadership of the town. D. Fuller (Deb) agreed…”
Just see it for yourself on the bottom of page 4, continued to page 5. http://woodburyct.org/meetings/finance/BOF%20Special%20Minutes%204-4-12.pdfThe Board of Finance allocated funds for this extra pay and voted unanimously for it, including Butterly.
3. Butterly stated in an letter in the Waterbury Republican American recently, that "Zoning matters such as signage and permitted size of buildings can be corrected only by changes that can be spelled out in the charter."
The only time I recall seeing Butterly at a zoning meeting was in December 2011. These comments show his complete lack of understanding of how zoning works.
Zoning only has to pass a change to regulations to change signage permitted or size of buildings. If the Planning Commission approves, it takes a majority of zoning (3 votes) to pass. If they vote against it, it takes 4 votes.
We do not need a change in the charter to accomplish this.
4. In the same article, Butterly stated " As an example, the Historic District Commission recently expressed frustration at its inability to hold a joint meeting with the Zoning Commission over signage matters. The answer from First Selectman Gerald Stomski was for them just to attend a zoning meeting. As it stands now, they would be going as private citizens, not as a commission of equal standing to forge solutions to problems."
First of all, the First Selectman has no power over Zoning, which is an elected body. He cannot make them do anything. Secondly, if Butterly actually paid attention to what is going on, he would know that there is no legal authority for Woodbury to regulate political signs, something 4 of the 8 members have referenced or stated outright at meetings.
Ask yourself, do you want someone running Woodbury who does not know what the basic rules are of how commissions work?
I have never had a cross word with Butterly. I have nothing against him personally. I do have a problem with his lack of knowledge about substantial matters. He was unable to answer basic questions at public hearings on the budget. He makes statements that are easily contradicted.
His supporters and other Stomski haters have created a number of baseless accusations just to see what will stick. Above are just some of the numerous examples.
Butterly has no discernible platform from what I can see. If the best he can offer is he is not Jerry Stomski, that is not going to cut it.
