Shuffle Opponents Working to Obtain Signatures for Referendum [Update]

A group of opponents to the town's pending facilities shuffle is working to obtain enough signatures for a referendum on .

According Kathy Finnegan, one the organizers of the effort, about 20 to 25 copies of a -certified petition had been handed out by Saturday to a collection of "concerned citizens," who are circulating the document and reaching out to other Darien residents.

Finnegan sent an email to a number of those residents Saturday afternoon seeking their support.

"I am writing to ask for your help in an effort to stop the 'Facilities Shuffle' as proposed by the Board of Selectman and approved by the RTM this week," she wrote. "Saying no to the Shuffle does not mean saying no to a senior center. A new senior center can be built sooner and for less without spending millions of tax dollars to move the Board of Ed."

"Let’s stop the shuffle and have a town wide conversation on where and how our money should be spent with the ultimate goal of a solution that meets the needs of our citizens and is fiscally responsible and justifiable," she added.

By a margin of 58-28, the RTM for the shuffle project on Nov. 1. The vote was the last major approval by a town body needed for the Republican-led plan, which would see the 's offices shifted to the old library at 35 Leroy Ave. and the fraying  given a new home at a renovated annex (dubbed the Mather Community Center).

But under the Darien Town Charter, expenditures over $50,000 and bond issues are subject to overrule by referendum. In order to trigger such a vote, organizers would need to submit the petition to the Town Clerk by Friday, Nov. 11 — ten days after the RTM's action — with the signatures of more than 5% of the town's registered voters (or around 630 people).

If they are successful, the Board of Selectmen would be obligated to call a special electors' meeting "as soon as practicable," which would be open to all registered voters. For the RTM's decision to be overturned, a majority of those participating would then need to vote against the action, and the "no" votes would have to exceed 25 percent of registered voters as of Darien's last annual municipal election (or around 3,100 votes).

The registrar of voters' office told the Darien Times that a referendum would cost the town between $25,000 and $27,000.

In an interview, Finnegan said the referendum effort was not arranged by the Democratic Town Committee or the Democratic Board of Selectmen slate, and vowed to stop the project if elected.

"There were many Democrats who are opposed to the shuffle, but I have nothing to do with the campaign at all," Finnegan said.

Finnegan said her opposition to the plan is rooted in years of watching school projects and programs delayed out of fiscal considerations, including roof and boiler repairs, , and adding social workers and guidance counselors to the town's schools.

"There are a lot of things we choose not to prioritize as being important as far as our education," Finnegan said. 

"To place that up against saying we're going to put $2.6 million into an office building … is not a good use of taxpayer dollars," she added.

Finnegan said that many of the shuffle opponents she's spoken to are parents of school-aged children, "that is by no means the only group of people."

Selectman and Republican first selectman candidate Jayme Stevenson said that while it's "absolutely their right" to push for a referendum, she was "very disappointed that they're choosing to do it given what I think was a resoundingly positive vote in the RTM."

"I also think it's extremely unfortunate that an issue that we've tried to position very hard as a nonpartisan issue — as a community issue — they have purposely turned into a political issue," Stevenson said. She pointed to comments by Selectman David Bayne characterizing Tuesday's election as a referendum on the shuffle.

"That's exceedingly disappointing to me. We all know that serving on the Board of Selectmen is so much more than the shuffle project," she said.

Stevenson added that "continuing to draw relationships between Board of Selectmen capital budgets and Board of Education capital and operating budgets is irresponsible."

Both sides of the budget must obtain approval from the Board of Finance and RTM but are drafted through fully separate processes.

Democratic first selectman candidate John Lundeen declined to comment on the referendum effort, but Selectman David Bayne said he believed that "Tuesday should be the real referendum on the shuffle."

"It is much easier to stop the shuffle by voting for the three of us than it is to stop the shuffle through a referendum," he said.

But Bayne added that he had signed the petition and that if a referendum is needed to stop the project, "So be it."

"I certainly support the right of the people to have a referendum if that's what they want to do," Bayne said.

Below is the relevant section of the Darien Town Charter:

• (a) Any action of the town meeting described in section 57 of this act shall be subject to overrule as follows: If a petition, drawn in accordance with section 7-9 of the state statutes [G.S. § 7-9,] as amended, signed by as many electors as are not less than five percent of the electors of the town as of the last annual municipal election, is filed with the town clerk during said ten-day period, requesting that the action be referred to a vote of all the electors of the town, the board of selectmen shall promptly call a special electors' meeting to be held as soon as practicable thereafter, for the purpose of voting approval or disapproval of such action.
• (b) At such meeting, the polls shall remain open from two o'clock p.m. until eight o'clock p.m., but the hours for voting may be increased in the discretion of the board of selectmen. Voting shall be by voting machine or ballot, at the discretion of the board of selectmen.
• (c) If a special meeting is called to vote on any action of the town meeting described in section 57(a), only electors of the town shall be entitled to vote at the meeting. If such a meeting is called to vote on any action of the town meeting described in section 57(b), voters as well as electors shall be entitled to vote. In this subsection, the terms "elector" and "voter" are used in the sense in which they are defined in section 9-1 of the general statutes [G.S. § 9-1].
• (d) The ballot labels or ballots shall state separately each matter to be voted on, in substantially the following form: "Shall the following action of a Town Meeting held on (date) be approved?" followed by a statement of the action in substantially the same language and form in which it appears in the records of such town meeting, and the voting machine or ballot shall provide a means of voting "Yes" or "No" on each question so presented.
• (e) Any action so submitted to a special electors' meeting shall stand approved unless a majority of those voting thereon shall have voted "No" and such majority shall exceed in number twenty-five per cent of all the electors of the town as of the last annual municipal election.