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Week of April 14, 2010
Week of June 24, 2010
- Below
By Art Secondo
I can remember sitting at my circulation desk in 1966 on a cool autumn afternoon when my colleague, Edna Wood, a political reporter for the old Southington News, came rushing into the newsroom with a surprised look on her face.
"I just got the word. The town has hired this young man from Ellenville, N.Y. as our first town manager but I can’t pronounce his name."
Forty four years later it’s safe to state that John Weichsel’s name continues to be mispronounced but it won’t matter much in the coming months. John Weichsel is retiring, or at the very least, leaving as the town’s top administrator. Did he want to stay longer? Sure he did. John Weichsel is from old school New York. The truth is he would have stayed at the job for a few more years but the political winds have changed over the past decade and it’s no secret that many councilors over the past several terms have expressed the opinion that 40-plus years is just too long.
Before you begin cheering about Weichsel’s eventual departure, keep your feet on the ground long enough to understand that Southington in 1966 was in no way, the Southington you enjoy in 2010. John Weichsel didn’t change his personality over the past 44 years; his mannerism remained intact; and although the general public found him abrasive at times, the man learned to become a survivor.
John Weichsel took the job without a contract, leaving himself vulnerable to five negative votes and yet survived four decades and more than 20 council elections. The mere fact that politicians listened to his wisdom and closed their eyes to his unemotional style and lack of public relations skills, is testimony to John Weichsel’s vision of how Southington needed to navigate through difficult decades.
Southington was a tight, politically charged town in the early 1960s. There were arguments about the pros and cons of a full-time manager or mayor form of government. Some wanted to be the mayor. Some clinged to the notion that the town didn’t need an “outsider” to direct the future. It actually took Weichsel almost a decade before he would muster political support as along came Andy Meade, a popular councilman who would finish more than two decades serving the town.
Then there was the late Bill DePaolo and the late Jim Wallace , both of whom saw the sheer intelligence of Weichsel, now at 77, drifting into the twilight of his career.
I’m sure most long-time Chamber business owners were not happy that Weichsel lasted so long. They had made their minds up years ago that Weichsel did little for economic development and literally staked him to the cross about "losing ESPN" to Bristol.
In closing, allow me to be specific about Southington legends. It should always start with Sam Woodruff who founded this town before 1779; Joe Fontana, the great college athlete who came back to Lewis High and then Southington High, to create a sports tradition that continues today; G. Robert Triano, perhaps the greatest law enforcement officer this town has hired; John J. Fontana, a legend among state and national coaches; Ralph and Vito Riccio, Valentine and Margaret DePaolo whose determined devotion to retail business has made our downtown exceptional; Retired U.S. Air Force two star General Mike Ingelido; Marcus Holcomb who became a state governor; Jack Zilly, the great former NFL player and Rob Dibble, the town’s first major league baseball star; Art Della Vecchia, Juanine DePaolo, both former state representatives who adored this community; Andy Meade, who holds the mark for serving longer as a councilman than anyone, former civic leaders Al Della Bitta, Nick DePaola, who has served without compensation on more commissions and boards than anyone in local history and now John Weichsel, who came to Southington not knowing he’d become part of our history.
Who will carry the torch after January 2011? More to come later.
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