Proll Resigns from Senior Citizen Commission Amidst Ethics Complaint

Disagreements regarding the direction that the Senior Citizen Commission is taking has led to the resignation of one member who believes the recent decisions by the board, paired with an ethics complaint and changes to the process, has the commission moving in the wrong direction.

Constance Proll, who was appointed to serve until March 2014, submitted a letter of resignation Thursday and the letter was critical of the commission and several members she said “have a destructive agenda.”

“I feel that it is more important that other 'active members' of the Calendar House have a seat on the board in order to better advise the town of their needs and wishes, rather than an outside commission in which several members have a destructive agenda that affects the membership and the hard working staff that bends over backwards to help and accommodate their members,” Proll wrote in the letter.

A message for Proll was not returned Friday.

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The resignation comes as members of the town’s Board of Ethics continues to debate the merits of an ethics complaint involving the Senior Citizen Commission and Calendar House staff, although further details of the complaint including who filed it and why remain unclear.

The complaint remains active, officials said, but no one was able to comment further.

Commission Chairman Earl Temchin called the resignation Friday “disappointing” and said he is unsure what the comments in the letter are directed towards. He said he believes it may stem from a disagreement regarding transportation functions at the Calendar House.

“I don’t know what Connie meant, but I assume it may be because commissioners asked questions about the particulars of the Calendar House transportation program,” Temchin said.

The discussion may have come across as critical of the program and the way it has operated, he said, but members were looking at the ins and outs of using part-time drivers and program funding in spirit of better serving seniors using existing resources.

He said Proll seemed to be of the opinion no change was needed.

Temchin also said that with recent changes, which included the addition of a membership services representative on the board and a move to have all employees answer directly to Southington Town Manager Garry Brumback, he is confused by comments that more “active members” are needed.

He noted that Clifford Snow Jr. was recently seated to increase the representation of active members and said although Proll has supported the move to have more active participation for those served by the Calendar House, he personally does not see an advantage to having the board made up only by these “active members.”

“A successful board is not filled by those in the membership association and active cliental only,” he said.

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