Yesterday, the Middlebury Small Town Alliance filed a petition calling for a Special Town Meeting so voters can decide whether or not taxpayer dollars should be spent defending the Conservation Commission and Planning Zoning’s appeals regarding the proposed distribution facility on the former Timex site.
The town has overspent its legal litigation line by 197% (budget: $10K, spent $29,799.16 as of 1/31/24), and taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay to fight against themselves. Because the Commissions are their own entities and make their own decisions, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) is not obligated to defend a bad decision. Since the BOS (not the First Selectman) has the sole authority to direct the legal action of the town, as well as joint authority over the budget with the Board of Finance, it is well within its right to refuse to use taxpayer dollars help the applicant defend the permits, even without a petition or a town vote.Fortunately, the previous Board of Selectmen unanimously voted against a distribution facility on 11/20/23, so now’s the time for the BOS to use its authority to deliver on its objections. It can schedule a special town meeting, or better yet, send the question straight to referendum. Or, most simply, just stop spending the money.
If the First Selectman, Police Chief, Town Attorney, and Zoning Enforcement Officer can go to Waterbury to object to a cannabis retail facility in another town, surely the Board of Selectmen can refuse to spend money not in the current budget and stop using town resources to support the project it claims to be against.
Join our call to action: we do not have to sit by and let our tax dollars be used against us. 107 voters signed the petition (see the photo for the petition language) so that all of us can have a chance vote on how our tax dollars are used.
