BREAKING NEWS: Tuesday, Feb. 21 8:30 p.m.–At this evening’s Board of Selectmen meeting, the selectmen unanimously voted to adopt a Proclamation affirming the town’s commitment to civility, respect and understanding.
Following a draft written by two Wilton residents, Heather Wilcauskas and Pamela Hovland and submitted at the prior BOS meeting on Feb. 6, the selectmen decided to adapt the language that had been submitted and compose their own proclamation.
One major change was to replace original wording of ‘tolerance, inclusion and civility’ with ‘civility, respect and understanding.’
After almost 15 minutes of discussion, parsing words and meanings of what language they would accept and what they wanted to convey, the four members present (first selectman Lynne Vanderslice, Michael Kaelin, Dick Dubow and Dave Clune; selectman Lori Bufano was absent) voted unanimously (4-0) to adopt the proclamation.
The proclamation they wrote and adopted reads:
“We the selectmen of Wilton, CT do hereby affirm our town’s commitment to strive for civility, respect and understanding, and to value the diversity of those who live in, work in and visit our community without regard to gender, religion, sexual orientation, race, national origin, ethnicity, disability, political views, or social or economic status.
“We encourage all of our citizens to participate fully in our town government as envisioned in our Town Charter. Our commitment to inclusion of all citizens informs our values and enriches our community
“We further resolve that the principles of civility, respect and understanding will guide the actions we take as selectmen.”
After the vote, selectman Dick Dubow commented on the high number of emails they had received about the proclamation proposal, noting it was the most emails he could recall receiving from the public.
This story will be updated with further details…
Great news! Thank you to all involved for your leadership.