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Works appointed to Oak Hills Park Authority

By Nancy Guenther Chapman

NORWALK, Conn. – Pamela Block Works has been named to fill an opening with the Oak Hills Park Authority. Mayor Richard Moccia has appointed her to replace Patricia Williams, who had been handling the authority’s finances and who recently resigned.

Works is the wife of Councilman David McCarthy (R-District E).

McCarthy has been vocal about his support for a driving range at Oak Hills.

Neither McCarthy or Works returned an email requesting information.

Works has been a freelance copy writer since 1999, according to her resume. She was director of marketing and advertising for the Charles H. Greenthal Group in New York City from 1995 to 1997, a position she also held from 1987 to 1993. In between, she was vice president of advertising sales for EIFinanciero International lnc. in New York City.

She is a member of the Roton Point Association, the Rowayton Tennis Association and the Pine Point Association.

The appointment will be voted on at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Pamela Works, Oak Hills Authority

 

Comments

22 responses to “Works appointed to Oak Hills Park Authority”

  1. dc2

    Nancy, file under your “Seen and Heard in Norwalk”: Ms. Works introduced herself to Bob Virgulak as “your new committee member” last Thursday after the meeting adjourned, so obviously a confident gal, assured of her appointment even days in advance of the Council meeting. And referred to Authority Member Ernie Desroches as “darling” – obviously they know and admire one another. I don’t believe she mentioned she is the wife of a sitting councilman, much less one who supports the driving range. Stacking the decks, as if OHPA needed another “driving range at all costs” voice.

    She sat through the meeting quietly, listening to speaker after speaker after speaker ask the OHPA not to put a driving range in the woods; questioned the lack of financial data; noted the apparent disregard for viable alternative locations; the lack of transparency, and even the plight of an abutting neighbor whose bedroom window will be a birds eye view from the restaurant!
    I’d love to know her opinion on the range after seeing a 300-signature petition delivered and hearing every public speaker, all 14, speak out against it. Yeah, right, what am I thinking?

  2. Suzanne

    Excellent financial background, yes? Copywriter, Marketing and Advertising, Advertising Sales, Tennis and a Homeowners Association. Where are the numbers? Can she even read a spread sheet much less untangle the accounting mess she is sure to find with this OHPA? Or, as the wife of David McCarthy, is everything going to seem “just fine” in order to support the poor practices and management that is business as usual for the OHPA? Certainly this screams of politics and not purpose – a book keeper would be better than this resume seemingly unprepared to deal with the realities of financing a valued and large public asset belonging to all people of Norwalk. A public park with an advertising agent as a financial manager. What will this administration think of next to ruin this beautiful place?

  3. Jlightfield

    The people who serve on boards and commissions are there to provide oversight and guidance to staff, not perform staff work. Pam’s background is certainly an asset to the board. If one thing is clear, Norwalk’s municipal golf course could use someone who understands and values market research and feasibility.

  4. Suzanne

    Correction: A public golf course with a copywriter as a financial manager. No better than ad sales, I suspect, in preparing one for the intricacies of financing a golf course, a specialized field that would require someone with that kind of accounting background if to be at all taken seriously as a financial entity.

  5. Bruce Kimmel

    I agree 100% with JLightfield. Pamela Works has an excellent resume and is involved in community affairs. And what does she get? Trashed — e.g., can she even read a spreadsheet — in an online discussion. Don’t you think this is a bit much? Also, consider the implications of what’s being said: Are we to believe that spouses and close relatives are intellectually dependent on their office-holding relations? If so, my wife cannot be appointed to a city agency because I’m a member of the Common Council.

  6. dc2

    Suzanne, Perhaps because Ms. Williams headed the finance committee of the Authority and reporting fell to her is that folks think Authority members are supposed to be doing the work of staff – not so. I agree with others that Ms. Works background would lend itself to some market research, which clearly has never been done at Oak Hills. As recently as last Thursday they discussed the decline in adult resident cards, and that they should market it better, but without understanding WHY the adult residents have left is an effort in futility, a hit or miss, throw it at the wall and see what sticks mentality. No doubt Ms. Works brings something to the table, especially hopefully an understanding of “bang for the buck” marketing, but one should wonder how many other qualified resumes were submitted?
    @Mr. Kimmel – no issue to me that spouses step up to the plate to serve our city, but NEVER under horse-trading votes………..

  7. EastNorwalkChick

    Every Non-Profit/Not-for-Profit that I have worked for over the years,(five of them), the Board’s financial officer/Treasurer always had a financial background.
    .
    Does OHPA even have a bookkeeper? From what I have been reading about them, it sounded like Patricia Williams was handling the books.
    .
    @dc2 – This another one of those done deals, it doesn’t matter what the citizens of Norwalk want, we are going to get a driving range whether we want one or not.
    .
    This is like putting me, an accountant, in charge of writing ad content….wordsmiths we are not, numbers are our forte.

  8. Dana

    With so many viable candidates in the job force currently seeking employment it seems rather strange to me that the wife of a councilman be chosen above all the others. Something is wrong with this picture –. Or do I just smell a rat?

    1. Nancy Chapman

      Authority members are unpaid. All the commission, board and authority members are volunteers. Common Council members get a $50 a month stipend (David Watts refuses his) but when you factor in the expense of driving to events and things they are essentially volunteers also.

  9. dc2

    @East Norwalk chick – at least with other ‘shove it done our throat’ projects they’ve admitted the majority opposes, but in this case they are delusional about the support for it. Unless the hundreds who oppose it start showing up at meetings and sending emails, you’ll be correct that it is a done deal. By the way, the meeting last week somehow never made it to the city calendar – wonder how that happened.
    Authority members Bob Virgulak and Ernie Desroches terms are up tomorrow, yet the committee members re-elected Mr. Virgulak as Chairman, and both will serve at the discretion of the mayor until further notice. “Until further notice” meaning until the driving range is complete?

  10. Joe Espo

    The fact is the majority of Norwalkers do not oppose the driving range – only a half-dozen loud lunatic fringe tree huggers do. And if the recent Hour poll is any indication (nearly 80 percent are in favor) it’s the malcontents here that are delusional- and quite chronically disingenous.
    .
    http://www.thehour.com/do-you-think-that-a-driving-range-should-be-built/poll_9f4248dc-aaec-11e2-b456-0019bb30f31a.html
    .
    I have never seen in Norwalk such an obscene and odious exercise of Clintonesque politics of personal destruction tactics as here. And it certainly does not win friends or supporters. Rather, it gives impetus for a grudge campaign in support of the driving range and perhaps incorporating reputation-destroying retribution against the opponents.
    .

  11. dc2

    @Nancy – Re: council $50 month stipend….I still have the collection jar to pay some of them $100 a month to stay home…..

  12. Suzanne

    It says to “replace Patricia Williams who has been handling authority’s finances” not to perform feasibility studies or advertising functions or market research. Now who is going to do that? How many people even knew this was a considered position? Who else submitted resumes? Why would marketing expertise be considered at all “oversight” for financial work? This just doesn’t add up – it is not personal, it is not and I find this a particularly funny term “Clintonesque”, it is simply asking the questions about nuts and bolts that this Council and Authority refuse to cop to on behalf of the Norwalk taxpayer. DC2, I would reevaluate exactly what this position is supposed to entail – if it is just “oversight”, what has Ms. Works done to provide these services at a sport’s facility or golf facility that would lend her the expertise to provide the “oversight” of finances required? Certainly, “handling finances” is not within the auspices of the resume presented here.

  13. spanner

    Wife of David?Is that the councilor who stood on a hazardous waste test well on Meadow street to defend City Carting on a clean operation?Or is the councilor seen tagging along like a lost puppy with the Mayor and Hal on DPW day with a DPW shirt on?

    Good luck to her,seems some of the endorsements are coming from players who have proven themselves obsolete in Norwalk shortcomings.

    This was a fine way to waste money in Norwalk since this whole OHPA came up has one dollar been made to profit the city?

    A lot of kids in this city went without jobs this year,more at the parks go without things kids need but we have this place.How many kids did they hire this summer?From what I can gather correct me if I’m wrong is it Norwalks money running this place? How many kids did OHPA hire this year?

  14. M. Murray’s

    Not sure if most people are against this project. If 300 people out of 86,000 residents sign the petition, it wouldn’t appear that there a majority are against it

  15. Oldtimer

    Until there is a serious performance or forensic audit, it is impossible to tell why the OHPA is in such financial trouble. Virgulak is a convicted felon

  16. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1916&dat=19821009&id=RypJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rwYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3942,1604004

    17. after a conviction for stealing from the 2nd taxing district when he was on their commission. If a performance audit shows no “missing” money, then it might make sense to consider a driving range to help their bottom line, but it should be built, and operated, by the OHPA, not by an outside contractor, taking most of the profits.
    I don’t know Ms Works, and, therefore have no opinion on her. If she is anything like her husband, she will be taking orders from Moccia, until he is out of office. I doubt if that is a good thing.

  • dc2

    The Hour poll was specific to building a driving range, an amenity that many of us did not originally oppose – however, MOST people would oppose the range when the question is worded more accurately as “Do you think a driving range should be built in the wooded park-lands of Oak Hills?”
    As a potential supporter of the range I am sick over the lack of transparency that this process has had (despite claims otherwise by OHPA) and the fact that no financials are being released. Appears to be just another boondoggle giveaway of public land to private development, and one that will surely backfire, at the expense of taxpayers (Oak Hills Golf Course too big to fail, or some such crap)

  • David McCarthy

    My god in heaven. First me. I have never said anything about supporting a driving range, other than generically saying that most people would seem to want one, something that has been fairly well proven. To say I have been vocal in my support is simply poor journalism.

    What I said was that I am adamantly opposed to the methods by which the driving range concept was being attacked. 2 dozen extremely vocal people making poorly formed arguments against anything and everything is not a way to influence public policy.

    That being said, I have not seen any proposal, nor even heard of one, that I would support up to this point.

    Now to my wife. To assume that one person taking another’s seat on a board or commission is going to take over their role precisely is silly. To use that as a springboard to criticism is a real reach.

    My wife is extremely qualified, as noted. When I saw that Ms. Williams had resigned, I sent my wife’s resume in, which is the normal process, simply because I knew she wanted to get more involved and had a specific interest in OH. I don’t know of any other resumes having been submitted, but that is not my place, either.

    We are acquainted with the Desrochers for many years through St. Matthew’s etc., and using the word “darling” doesn’t really strike me as odd. When I consider that the commenter has herself called me “my dear” many times, I wonder why that needed to be said at all…

  • M. Murray’s

    I think a more accurately posed question would be “Do you feel that more people would utilize that area of the park if it were a driving range than the amount if people who currently visit that area I the park?”

  • Suzanne

    I think a more accurate question would be, “What is Norwalk’s responsibility to a bevy of homeowners’ property values who will now be looking at a giant net and hearing the thwacking of countless golf balls instead of residing in a peaceful, wooded area with a quiet stream, wetlands and pond, all which will be adversely affected by a driving range?

  • Mike Mushak

    If the current wooded location for the driving range somehow miraculously passes muster with the city’s Conservation Commission, with the rocky steep slopes and downhill wetlands, I suspect a state investigation triggered by a lawsuit will soon follow.

    I applaud the choice of the smart Ms. Works for this troubled Commission, and only hope she can improve the current arrogance and disdain towards the public as many of the current board members have demonstrated.

    I also would warn any driving range opponents to watch your back, as Ms. works husband Dave McCarthy is famous for secretly videotaping folks he doesn’t agree with and posting it on the internet.

  • EveT

    What was the process by which Ms. Works was nominated and appointed? Was there ever an opening posted? What about the other OHPA members whose terms are expiring? Has there been any process for people to apply to replace them? This is so redolent of “inside baseball” it’s very distressing.

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