Middlefield selectmen have agreed to send a petition requesting the town end its membership with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities over the group's recent gun control proposals to a public hearing next month.
But although he indicated last month that residents would decide whether or not the town should cut ties with the municipal lobby group, Middlefield First Selectman Jon Brayshaw said Monday night that a town meeting on the petition wasn't likely.
The petition, signed by 115 residents, was filed last month by Middlefield resident Peter Brown who argued that CCM overstepped its role by crafting a 13 point plan designed to prevent gun violence in the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
At Monday night's Board of Selectmen meeting, CCM Executive Director Jim Finley explained that the measures presented to legislators in January were the result of "strenuous debate" among more than 70 mayors and selectman, or nearly half of the organization's 155-town membership.
"In the end, the majority of the draft proposals were adopted by the membership. There were only six negative votes," Finley said. "That is how we established our position."
Finley was invited to attend the meeting after selectmen sent a letter, at Brown's request, to CCM requesting that the organization explain how it reached its conclusion that the measures would prevent gun violence.
"The stance they took is just beyond the pale," said Brown. "My tax dollars are being used in Hartford to lobby against something that is a constitutional right."
While Finley acknowledged concern over the legality and constitutionality of the legislation recently signed into law by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, he said the gun control issue is only "one of about a thousand issues we deal with."
"I just ask you, if you disagree with one position taken by CCM you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater," Finley said.
CCM's other services include review of the governor's budget and its impact on cities and towns, training seminars for town officials and a popular drug prescription benefit program.
Middlefield pays an annual membership fee of $2,785 and last year received about $73,000 in increased state-aid as a result of the organization's lobbying efforts, according to Finley. "That's a return of about 25 dollars to one dollar invested in the membership," he said.
While Brown said the town charter gave selectmen the sole power to make the decision to terminate membership with CCM, Brayshaw said residents also had a means of redress.
"If the public wanted to not be members of CCM they would want to be at the budget hearing. There's a line item in the budget which would include membership and they could conceivably [reject] that," Brayshaw said.
The public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 14 at 7 p.m. at the Middlefield Community Center.
Related articles:
Gun Control Petition Prompts Public Hearing in Middlefield
Middlefield Residents Call Group's Gun Control Proposal 'Ludicrous'
Resident Leads Petition Effort to Terminate Town's Membership With CCM
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