Submitted by (see list below)
Last week, we were dismayed to learn about First Selectman Fred Camillo’s appointment of Dr. Michael Goldstein to the Greenwich Conservation Commission, an advisory board “to assist the Town with planning and management of its natural and cultural resources.”
The Conservation Commission oversees the work of the Town’s Environmental Affairs Department, which includes the staff of the Inland and Wetlands Watercourses Agency.
In 2023, Dr. Goldstein and his wife received a cease and correct order from the Wetlands Agency for what is likely the largest wetlands violation in the agency’s history. In order to level out the area around his pool, Mr. Goldstein was found to have dumped more than 1,000 truckloads of fill onto a slope adjacent to a wetland and stream. Nothing but a single silt fence protected the wetland, and there were multiple breaches. Further, the fill was so deep that trees on the slope – critical to preventing erosion and flooding of the Converse Pond brook, a tributary of the Byram River – were buried in up to 18 feet of fill and dying.
“Taken together, these unauthorized activities represent a complete disregard for the wetland and watercourse on and immediately adjacent to this site,” the Wetlands Agency reported.
Dr. Goldstein has not yet completed the work on the Order to Correct that the Wetlands Agency issued. Nor does he have any demonstrated experience in conservation issues.
Now, Mr. Camillo’s appointment of Dr. Goldstein to the Conservation Commission puts Goldstein in charge of the people overseeing his case. This is a clear conflict of interest, whether or not Mr. Goldstein uses his position to influence the Agency’s work.
The appointment also sends a terrible message about the town’s commitment to preserving its natural resources.
We urge the First Selectman to rescind this appointment. Greenwich is blessed with many volunteers with decades of experience working to protect Greenwich’s precious natural resources. We urge Mr. Camillo to approach this candidacy with the respect and rigor that this choice demands.
Patricia Adams
Jen Barro
Bob Chaney
Julie DesChamps
Mary Connolly Flynn
Ali Ghiorse
Myra Klockenbrink
Mark J. Lewis
Mary Ellen Markowitz
Heidi Matonis
Janet Stone McGuigan
Cheryl Moss
Jonathan Perloe
Michael Puskar
Joan Seguin
Lucy von Brachel
Svetlana Wasserman