Letter to the Editor, submitted by Jeff Hansen
I had the opportunity to see Steve Zemo in action twice this week. Our builder/developer Selectman was presenting two 8-30g Low Income Housing projects to the Architectural Advisory Council Tuesday night so he can get them approved the moment the Ridgefield moratorium ends on October 1. The next night, he followed up last week’s performance at the Selectmen hearing on Charter Commission recommendations with another doozy. After a discussion over a proposed revision (detailing a public office code of ethics and stipulations for conflicts of interest) left some members confused and unable to accept or revise wording from the Charter Commission’s recommendation (this is a red flag – our leaders need to understand and adhere to a proper standard), the Selectman meeting moved to the separation of Planning & Zoning (P&Z) and the Inland Wetlands Board (IWB). Before Mr. Zemo gave his charged opinion to keep the combined board together, he addressed growing concern of his conflict-of-interest as a Selectman having meetings and voting on issues that relate directly to his building and development business.
Rudy Marconi and Barbara Manners gave excellent reasons to separate the boards (and many were given by Conservation Commission members and former members of IWB from other towns in last week’s meeting). Steve wouldn’t hear anything of it, made a motion to keep a combined Board before Rudy or Barbara could convince the others why the registered voters should be allowed to vote on this issue, and got Maureen Klozark and Bob Hebert to back him up with a vote.
There was some banter about it being a mistake to trust the Electorate with a vote. They had a good point – we did make a mistake by voting for Steve Zemo 7 times; 6, apparently, was the right number. If Steve doesn’t recuse himself when he has a conflict-of-interest, he needs to be removed from office.
- Jeff Hansen, Ridgefield, Connecticut