Connor Deane, the Democratic candidate for Orange first selectman, on Tuesday questioned incumbent Jim Zeoli’s handling of the town’s purchase of the land under the Race Brook Country Club. Zeoli in response has said Deane apparently doesn’t understand the negotiation process.
A town-wide referendum passed in February allowing Orange officials to purchase the 287 acres on which the Race Brook Country Club sits for $8.5 million, then lease the land back to the club with rent starting in 2022 at $250,000 per year. The lease was to last 40 years with an escalation to the rent every five years.
“The public hearing that preceded the vote was run exclusively by the First Selectman who selectively read each email question and answered them,” Deane said in a press release. “There was no room for genuine collaboration between residents and the administration.”
“Rightly so, residents questioned the terms of the lease agreement. The First Selectman said there was no lease because they needed the referendum to pass before they could work on the lease,” Deane said.
“We have waited patiently for the next steps with no communication from our First Selectman as to the status. Even our Board of Selectmen are in the dark on this issue,” he said in the release. “It’s time to share the progress and details of this lease with the residents of the town. The residents are paying the bill through yet another tax increase and have no idea what the agreement is between the club and the town.”
Zeoli said that Deane did not seem to understand how the negotiation of the purchase is handled, pointing out that the lease agreement had not yet been completed and calling it a “nonissue.”
“The Board of Selectmen have been advised that discussion has been on going and will be aware when a lease is completed,” he said.
“I have always put Orange first ahead of political games, it would be irresponsible to compromise the Town’s position in an $8.5 million dollar purchase and multiple year lease, to say anything further,” Zeoli added.
Town attorney Vincent Marino also weighed in on the matter. “The negotiated drafts of the purchase and sale agreement and the lease agreement have not been finalized yet. Draft documents have been circulating between the parties for the past few months. Presently, the Town is waiting to hear back from the attorney for RBCC on the most recent drafts. The Board of Selectmen has been kept informed on this transaction and the process that we are following is in accordance with the Selectmen’s direction,” he said in an email.
Marino also noted that the town’s strong fiscal management and AAA credit rating allowed it to borrow the proceeds for the transaction at an interest rate of 2.04 percent.
“The Town is prepared to finalize this transaction when agreeable terms are achieved by the parties. Until then, we look forward to continuing our working relationship with the seller,” he said.
The measure to buy the land had enjoyed vocal bipartisan support from members of the Board of Selectmen at the time, including former Democratic first selectman Mitch Goldblatt, who beseeched residents to vote in favor of the deal in a letter published in the Milford-Orange Times, calling it “an investment in our town for generations to come.”
