BEACON FALLS — Voters elected Democrat David Rybinski Tuesday night to fill a vacancy on the Region 16 Board of Education.
Rybinski defeated Republican Michael Krenesky by a vote of 41 to 27 at a special town meeting at the Beacon Falls Senior Center.
“It feels good,” said Rybinski following the paper ballot vote. “The people supported me and put their belief in me that I’ll do a good job for the town and the board.”
Rybinski will serve the remainder of Wendy Oliveira’s term on the board, which oversees schools in Beacon Falls and Prospect. Oliveira resigned last November to focus on her family and business. The seat is up for re-election in November.
Rybinski, 57, works as a service manager for Servpro of Meriden. He currently serves on the Region 16 School Building Committee
Rybinski was sworn in following the meeting. His first school board meeting is Wednesday night.
Rybinski said among his priorities while serving on the school board will be to ensure a fair budget is put forth.
Voters also approved budget transfer requests to zero out the 2013-14 budget at the meeting as well as spending up to $12,500 for the crosswalk at Main Street and Burton Road.
The money for the crosswalk was approved 47 to 17 with three abstentions. Approving the money wasn’t without some consternation.
Out of the $12,500, about $8,000 will be used to replace the crosswalk at Main Street and Burton Road to one that isn’t as loud and $3,300 will be for a new crosswalk across Burton Road, First Selectman Christopher Bielik explained. The remaining money is for contingency for the project.
The crosswalk for Burton Road has to be done, Bielik said. The noise issue with current crosswalk is one that has been discussed for a couple of years and residents of the Beacon Mill Village apartments have complained about.
Bielik said the plan is to use surplus money from the 2013-14 budget, which ended with a surplus of $350,000, for the project.
Board of Finance member Jack Levine argued that the vote was illegal because it didn’t go before the finance board first for approval. He asked Bielik to review the issue with the town attorney.
Bielik agreed to check the matter with legal counsel.
