A Vote Of Conscience Or Consensus

From Voice July 25, 2008

MIDDLEBURY - A seemingly cut-and-dry Board of Selectmen meeting Monday, July 21, where the only comment from the public was a request for the town to replace the batteries for the clock in the Town Hall Conference Room, took a more complicated turn when Selectman Elaine M.R. Strobel asked about a photograph of former First Selectman Edward B. St. John's that was hanging on the wall at the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department.

Mrs. Strobel told Voices she is sorry for what occurred and called the policy a lose-lose situation for the town. She said she felt like the board needed to present a united front on the matter.

"I'm sorry for the volunteers who worked hard and who have their pictures on the wall," she said. "It's a tribute to them and now everything has got to come down. Unfortunately, there was only a vote to take the pictures down, never a vote to put one picture up."

I am confused by Mrs. Strobel’s comments to Voices.

She started the snowball rolling by asking about Mr. St. John’s picture being taken off the wall at Fire HQ, even though First Selectman Tom Gormley was quoted in the Waterbury paper that very day saying, he had too many things on his plate to worry about pictures.  Mrs. Strobel has been to the Firehouse and knows where it is.  If she wanted to find out why the picture was taken off the wall, then she might have thought to come to Fire HQ and speak with the members who voted to remove it. 

But that was not the plan.  The plan was to keep the issue alive for Mr. St. John, who she appears to hold more allegiance to, than the current BOS.  The plan worked like a charm. The issue is still alive. Its hardly a topic that should be brought up at a Selectman's meeting.  Tom was right, there is a heck of a lot more important things on the BOS plate then how the Firehouse is decorated.

If Mrs. Strobel is sorry that volunteers who have worked hard will have their pictures removed from the walls, then why in the world did she vote for it?  She calls it a lose-lose situation, yet votes in favor of it! Why did the board need to present a united front?  Is that what she was elected to do?  Government should not rule by consensus. If she thought it was wrong, she should have voted against it no matter what. 

It appears that Mrs. Strobel never wanted to have a vote to take all the pictures down, but rather a vote to put Mr. St. John’s picture back up.  That shows the level of respect Mrs. Strobel has for the members of the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department. She is not interested in the reasons why it came down, and would not support the Fire Department just as she never supported the Fire Department when the MVFD asked her for her support in 2006 and  2007. Nothing has changed.  

The fundamental point that Mr. St. John should really understand.  As much as he would like to believe,  it was not a Perrotti idea, it never was a Perrotti idea.  It was tabled on several occasions by Chief Perrotti, and Chief Perrotti never voted on the motion with the rest of the 28 members.  This is important.  As much as Mr. St. John appears to hate the Perrotti family, the removal of his picture from Fire HQ had nothing to do with them, but rather was the culmination of events precipitated by Mr. St. John against the MVFD as an organization.  

Those who volunteer their time, risk their safety and health, disrupt and inconvenience their family, and save the Taxpayers of Middlebury more than 4.5 million dollars a year for what they do, should be listened to. The majority of members of the MVFD genuinely believe that Mr. St. John damaged the Fire Department, and looking at his portrait every time they enter the building was not something they wanted to continue doing.