Letter: Election results are disappointing

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To the editor,

The day after the Prospect election and I am sincerely disappointed in my fellow residents. I am not sure how Prospect residents could overlook the theft of more than $250,000 from a town payroll account.

When I passed the line of Prospect Republicans and supporters outside a polling place Nov. 2, someone asked, “Where is the $250,000?”

The reply was, “Don’t blame the man; blame the process.”

But in Prospect, the man is the process. Mayor Robert Chatfield, a Republican, lets nothing that goes on in Prospect escape his attention. The idea that the money could have been stolen and no one, especially Mayor Chatfield, didn’t notice is absurd.

This is the mayor who still has all incoming calls to Town Hall shunted through his office. This is the mayor who has transferred money from one town account to another without Town Council oversight. The record of this can be found in the minutes of the Town Council meetings before the pandemic. His excuse? There was no time to let them know. I was at that meeting. I heard all of his excuses.

Many people say he is first on the scene when there is an emergency. That is not unusual since he is responding as a member of the Prospect Volunteer Fire Department. He has come to my house, but I don’t see that as special. If he is trained to respond, then he has to respond. It is a job. They don’t come because people are special friends, they come because it is a job.

But the election is now in the books. I suppose the results will have Mayor Chatfield feeling vindicated. If the residents of Prospect can’t see we needed a change, then for now, so be it. Personally I have nothing against Mayor Chatfield. I just thought Prospect’s residents would have been more thoughtful and looked more toward the future.

Patricia Smith Zappone

Prospect