Town Council Leaders Talk About Accomplishments, Challenges and Progress

As the current term of our Southington Town Council comes to a close it is right to thank each of the nine members of the council who have served Southington in the highest elected office of this town. Southington's form of government is one that is under the control of an elected Town Council, currently including a super-majority of Republicans including Chairman, John Dobbins, Vice-chair Peter J. Romano, Cheryl Lounsbury, Louis Martocchio, (who filled in a vacated seat this year), Dr. Albert Natelli and Dr. Stephanie Urillo and minority Democrats, Christopher Palmieri, (Minority Leader), Dawn Micelli and John N. Barry. Southington owes each of these council members a big thank you for the long and challenging nights, not only during the publicly open sessions they attended twice a month, but for the many more hours of time they gave in executive, committee and caucus meetings as well as studying and reviewing issues with many others.  They all serve without pay. 

As the ranking board of elected officials reporting to the voters, the Town Council, which 

Service on the Town Council is part time, in the sense that each of them have jobs, professions or other forms of work they and their families depend on.  Of course, the town has a full time professional Town Manager, (Garry Brumback), who supervises a large staff of town employees and departments.  Brumback, who has been publicly and officially evaluated this year with very high marks for his performance in carrying out public policy in behalf of the people's Town Council, is a great reflection on him and on the Town Council who selected him almost three years ago and have conscientiously given close oversight to his performance. 

It was my thought it would be appropriate to jointly interview Dobbins and Palmieri as the Chair and Minority Leader of the council, respectively.  

I posed the question as to what they each considered the most important accomplishments of the council the past few years.  

Dobbins: The appointment of a highly professional town manager in Garry Brumback has opened doors to needed opportunities to take a closer look at management and public policy issues. Also, council members selected committees of their choice which enabled us to do fact finding and preliminary discussion more efficiently, reporting their findings to the council for further exloration and discussion and finally action. This was one of the enhancements of the Town Council in the manner of performing their public service. System and organizational improvemeents enhanced communications, technology and re-energized operations, raising the Town’s efficiency. 

The council was able to dig deeply into issues so as to make effective data-based decisions. The addition of the Municipal Center and the re-distribution of space at Town Hall raised the morale and work output of the staff. Garry’s, (Brumback), weekly communications with me and separately with Chris (Palmieri) significantly improved council communications.

Palmieri:  The change in town manager allowed us to do a better job in reviewing policies, new ideas and opportunities. We established an Ordinance Committee, a great way to review current practices. 

The council began to see the core of issues more clearly that way, with the groundwork done in committee. 

Residents began coming forward with recommendations which also contributed to progress. We added committees to assist us, e.g., Public Works, Economic Strike Force and a Blue Ribbon Parks Committee. 

The Youth Council became an integral part of STEPS with a place on its Advisory Board and committees; our youth are a virtually untapped source of new ideas; they make things happen. 

John, (Dobbins), and I talk at least once every two weeks and as often as 2 to 3 times a week. We’re set to activate a Reverse 911 network, essentially an emergency public information system for citizens with their option to subscribe.

Asked what are the principal factors in bringing about progress, they said: 

Dobbins: I’ve been a resident for 29 years but I’m always impressed with Southington’s volunteers who serve on boards and committees, doing needed hands-on work; not only improvements in systems and infrastructure, but in developing plans that maintain systems. Each job is done right the first time.  

Palmieri: The value of volunteers is real but often goes unrecognized. It is invisible to many. Except for a few positions, elected and appointed officials serve without pay.  Though we don’t always agree, we communicate before meetings. It avoids blindsiding. Progress comes with learning, experience and application to task with communications as the major conduit to progress. 

The next question was about challenges and disappointments:

Dobbins: In my 4 years of council service, we haven’t seen much progress in our Sewer Plant, (Water Pollution Control Facility). Our end-needs remain a stubborn challenge. We couldn’t do everything at once because the projected fiscal needs are high, but we remain confident in resolution.

Palmieri: There’s a delicate balance between identifying needs and effectively addressing them fiscally. Toughest challenges are ultimately overcome with review and patient exploring of new ideas.

How do you believe the political parties work best for the town?

Dobbins: Safety and well-being of the residents come first. Consider the storm cleanups we’ve had since 2011.  I try to reach out to Chris on the weekend prior to council meetings to talk about topics needing consideration and our communication works well to bring about understanding of the issues and various positions. 

Palmieri: We’re elected by the whole town, not by a political party. Once in that position, decisions must always be in the best interests of the town. Parties do share information, caucus subjects and conversations.  John and I serve as liaisons to our respective parties.  Partisanship exists, however, when it comes down to decisions, bi-partisan votes far outweigh partisanship. Debate can be positive if done civilly and respectfully.

What’s the outlook for 2014-2016 and beyond? 

Dobbins: The town’s future is bright. Council and boards will produce through collaboration and with good leadership, such as that of (Joe) Erardi, (Superintendent of Schools), and Garry, (Brumback). We’ll see continued upgrading of infrastructure, more efficient communications and services. But it's very important for the public to keep telling us what they expect of the town.

Palmieri: We need to contue to increase efficiency wherever possible.  The challenge is to balance our agenda with budget realities through strong communications and public input.