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11/19/2014 11:00 PMRemember the “protest wagon?” By unanimous vote on Nov. 18, the Board of Selectman (BOS) approved a $500,000 settlement to close a chapter in the legal dispute brought by citizen Wayne Cooke (also the wagon’s designer/driver), against former First Selectman Anthony “Unk” DaRos and Town Tax Assessor Barbara Neal.
In November 2012, claiming violation of his First and 14th amendment rights; including the right to publicly criticize public officials, Cooke filed a federal suit against DaRos and Neal. The two were named as defendants and described in the suite as having “embarked upon a series of retaliatory acts” with “no notice of warning” including Neal’s revocation, beginning in 2008, of farm tax designation on four Cooke properties; skyrocketing an annual $17,000 tax bill to $85,000. Additionally, in a state suit filed against DaRos (Nov. 2012), Cooke sued for slander based on a comment made during a public meeting by DaRos in 2006. PDFs of both suits appear with this story.
On Nov. 18, the BOS went into Executive Session for an hour with attorneys for the town, the town’s insurance carrier and Cooke’s attorney present. Then, First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove reconvened the Special Meeting of the BOS and announced the terms of the town’s settlement agreement with Cooke.
By unanimous vote, the BOS then approved the terms of the settlement agreement in the cases of Cooke vs. DaRos and Neale; and Cooke vs. DaRos for a total settlement of $500,000 to be shared equally by the town and the insurance carrier. The BOS also consented to the insurer carrier’s payment of money related to those two cases.
Before voting to approve the terms, minority Third Selectman Bruce Storm (D) explained his decision to vote in favor.
“A couple of my concerns going into the meeting had to do with we were rushing to judgment with regards to a settlement in this case, and that there was a lack of clarity as to why we were doing it so quickly; and why wasn’t there more information available,” said Storm. “As a consequence of the executive session, I come away with a completely different perspective and a better understanding of what the nature of this settlement is.”
Storm continued, “I’m not supportive of the entire settlement but I am supportive of part of it. I wish that the information had been available earlier and that more information could have been shared with regard to it. It would have clarified a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings about this settlement and various cases that it pertains to. That said; the information that I received in executive session, which I suspect will eventually become known, is very helpful and very useful to me. So I’m not going to make any comments about transparency; I’m not going to make any comments about rushing to settlement -- those are concerning things -- and I’m not going to go down the road of campaign promises about development either. So I appreciate the opportunity to say those things, and as I said, I wish I knew a lot of this about 24 hours ago.”
Storm’s reference to “campaign promises” touched on Cosgrove’s 2013 campaign plank encouraging development off Exit 56 including big box businesses such as Costco. Part of the 2012 federal law suit’s claim states Cooke was retaliated against by the town for attempting to allow commercial development at his East Main Street property off Exit 56, including discussions with Costco which did not pan out.
On Nov. 18, Cosgrove followed Storm’s statement with his own comment.
“A year ago tomorrow, all of us took an oath to serve this town, and I took an oath to faithfully discharge the duties of First Selectman,” said Cosgrove. “And I will say this, as a fiduciary for this town, I stand by this settlement and I feel like it’s truly in the best interest of the town. In considering this settlement, we didn’t consider the individuals or the personalities involved; we considered the facts and what was in the best interest in the town and the tax payers.”
Following the vote approving the payment terms of the settlement, the BOS also voted, 2 -1 (with Storm against) to approve settlement terms in which the town will restore the 490 Farm Land Tax classification on Cooke’s property at 616 East Main Street and Thimble Island Road and East Main Street. The owners of the property and Cooke individually will execute and deliver full releases of the town with respect to the matters raised by the tax appeal.
The town will collect approximately $80,000 in back taxes for the properties, billed at the farm land tax rate and due by Dec. 31, 2014. Of that amount, $30,536.30 has already been paid to the town, noted Cosgrove, who shared the settlement language during the Nov. 18 meeting.
Additionally, “...the commercial portion of 616 East Main St., the valuation of which was contested in the tax appeal related to that property, will be adjusted, pursuant to a stipulated judgment to be entered by the superior court,” read Cosgrove.
Prior to voting against approving this portion of the settlement, Storm commented , “...my concern here was about fairness to the other tax payer who doesn’t have the opportunity to have their cases heard and their request for forgiveness allowed. I understand better now why the circumstances going down (sic) but I’m not going to support the motion.”