A special town meeting in Chester drew a crowd of nearly 100 citizens online and in-person at the Chester Meeting House on Dec. 17, with many voicing concerns related to their perceived lack of input on many of the items on the agenda.

Out of 11 agenda items, three were approved by citizens with the others being tabled for further discussion. The items that passed included amending two ordinances dealing with creating alternates to the Board of Finance (BOF) and the building records fee schedule, as well as providing $70,000 from the town’s share of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the Chester Hose Company’s new fireboat.

The meeting, which lasted more than three hours, revealed what seemed to be pent-up frustration on behalf of the citizenry, with Moderator John Bennet asking people to stop speaking out of turn, especially as they interrupted First Selectwoman Lauren Gister as she explained items.

Banning Certain Boat Engines, Trailers on Cedar Lake

At least one person, who was not a Chester resident, called out from the second-floor balcony on more than one occasion, generally expressing that he was being treated unfairly. He was later identified as Don Peterson of ctfisherman.com, who was in attendance to speak against one of the more seemingly controversial items, amending the Cedar Lake ordinance.

This amendment, which was initially proposed by the Cedar Lake Watershed Commission, was to ban certain types of motorboats and boat trailers as a way to prevent hydrilla, an aquatic invasive species, from entering the lake. Peterson argued that the amendment was a front to privatize the lake.

“It seems like you’re in cahoots, shall I say, with [Camp Hazen] YMCA, who has put in a lot of money, millions of dollars in the last couple of years, to make this public lake a private lake and we’d like to hear your response because the invasive species is a cover front for something larger,” said Peterson. “That’s how we feel because none of this makes sense scientifically.”

More than a dozen other people also spoke on the amendment, with many questioning the rationale for banning combustion engines and trailers when hydrilla can be transported by other means including by waterfowl, birds, and watercraft such as kayaks and canoes.

They all criticized the amendment for allegedly stifling access, with Greg McGee pointing to how a trailer to launch a boat is sometimes used by “groups of people who are less basically mobile.”

“If you’re not able, by yourself, to lift your vessel on top of your car, or vehicle, you’re not going to be able to recreate on Cedar Lake,” he said.

After this item was tabled, more than a dozen of some of the more vocal critics stood up and left the meeting.

Decision Making Process

Concerns about lack of input in the decision-making process were also voiced by members of the BOF, as it related to the seven projects on the agenda earmarked to be paid for by the ARPA funds.

“We find the ARPA, the American Rescue Plan, can be a real boon to the town, but we believe, on the finance board, that it’s really important that each of the proposals be examined fairly closely,” said BOF member Richard Nygard.

Nygard said the board had not been asked to formally approve the items and asked that the townspeople “vote against passing them.”

BOF member John O’Hare discussed how state statute “says all things financial need to go through the BOF.”

Other speakers pointed to lack of information when it came to these projects, as well as lack of involvement in the decision-making process.

“We have three years to spend this money. Why is it that three people in town get to decide how we spend the money and that we haven’t had any information given to us yet about this except now?” said Chester resident Felice Cressman, referring to the three-member Board of Selectmen.

Former Economic Development Commission chair Susan Wright said, “I don’t think that we’re saying that we don’t want some of the things on this list. What I think people are saying is that we want to have more input.

“And you guys may think the three of you can make the decisions solely, but I also trust that nine people who we elected on the BOF who look at all the money, there is nine of them, so it wasn’t just two or three people, all nine of the people that were on the board said, ‘Let’s hold off and let’s take a look,’” she continued.

Steve Klein discussed how the motions to table the projects were about whether “the system give[s] adequate input, not only to the BOF, but to the residents of Chester in a way that we can spend this windfall of this ARPA money in a way that satisfies the immediate needs of all of the town members, not a select group, but all of the town members.”

Tabled for Further Discussion

The appropriations for the ARPA funds that were tabled for further discussion included $120,000 for the purchase and installation of a full-service generator at Chester Town Hall, $44,820 to the Tri-town Youth Services Bureau for youth and mental health support services, and $93,000 to repair and replace sanitary sewer system infrastructure.

Other tabled projects included $10,000 for the Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries for a refrigerated truck, contingent upon the participation of eight other towns; $60,000 for upgrades to technology at Chester Town Hall and the Chester Meeting House; and $50,000 for the town to hire a two-year social and human services support person.

These allocations for ARPA spending were in addition to tabling an ordinance on the disposal of garbage and recyclables in Chester’s downtown.

‘A Level Of Distrust’

Directly upon adjournment of the town meeting, the Courier asked Gister about the results of the meeting.

“I was surprised. I am disappointed. I’m concerned that there is a lack of understanding about how the ARPA process works and whose responsibility the decision making is left to, but it is what it is and the town has spoken,” she said.

Gister, who recently announced she would be leaving the First Selectman’s Office Jan. 5, responded to a comment made during the meeting about its timing and that it was being done to rush projects through during a busy holiday season.

“One of my goals was to try to make sure that we were actually able to accomplish some of these things and I didn’t dump it on a new Board of Selectmen or a new selectman who may not even have the background on all of the things that we have been doing for the last few months,” said Gister.

She acknowledged that citizens expressed their disagreement with the Board of Selectmen at the meeting.

“I did feel tonight that there was a level of distrust,” she said.

The online portion of this meeting was recorded and is available in the First Selectman’s Office.