In the “guest column” of the Valley Sentinel, Dan Foley wrote: “Over the past five years, the mishandling of several lawsuits levied against the City of Derby has cost you, the taxpayers, millions of dollars in avoidable legal fees.”
An educated, retired Derby schoolteacher, such as Mr. Foley, should seek the truth before formulating political attacks.
Here are the facts:
When the Staffieri administration took office in December 2005, it was confronted with a lawsuit that was pending in the judicial system since 1994. The city was scheduled for trial in June, 2006, and after many negotiation sessions, the matter was resolved at the cost to the city of $1 million.
The Board of Aldermen were confronted with a judge’s estimate of a possible exposure of a $14 million dollar judgment, and acted prudently in resolving the matter.
In 2006 the fund balance was at approximately $3.7 million dollars, not $5.5 million as Mr. Foley claims.
A downtown development agreement was signed long before Staffieri came to office.
It was a sweetheart deal for the developer and a horrible deal for the people of Derby.
The mayor began weekly meetings with the developer to move the project along. After two years of meetings, it became obvious the project was never going to happen without substantial city financial contributions.
The agreement allowed for termination by any party. The city terminated the agreement but was obligated to reimburse the developers for the costs expended on behalf of the city.
According to the terms of the agreement, executed by the prior administration, the city had to reimburse the developer for the costs of purchasing property, demolition of the buildings along Main St.; including all the environmental testing accomplished from the beginning of the project, and refund of the advance of funds paid to Derby for other costs.
Once again, the Board of Alderman acted prudently in resolving the claim, and reimbursing the costs expended by the Developer on behalf of the City in the amount of $1.7 million dollars.
The city also acquired property along Main Street, demolished buildings along Main Street, and prepared the area of Downtown for future development with the use of the fund balance.
The investment of the fund balance is a proper fiscal use; which is what a fund balance is saved for, investment into the future of the city.
Mr. Foley suggests “this money could have been spent to keep city services up to par.”
I hope that Mr. Foley is not suggesting the use of the fund balance for expenses that the city must fund every year. This type of fund balance misuse is a path to bankruptcy, and is fiscally irresponsible.
Do your homework Mr. Foley.
The author is the chairman of the Derby Town Republican Committee.
Editor’s note: The Valley Indy welcomes ‘guest columns’ from those running for local office and their campaign reps. We take each submission on a case-by-case basis. We’ll print up to two a month per candidate. We ask that the columns offer positions and solutions, as opposed to simply criticizing an opponent. We insist on a 500-word limit. If a political opponent takes issue with a guest column, responses are encouraged in our comment section. We encourage candidates to register for this site with your first and last name to post a response. We will not post your responses for you.
