STAMFORD – If it has happened before, city legislators have no memory of it.
Monday night’s decision by the Board of Representatives to reject an honorary resolution was likely a first.
Such commendations recognize a public contribution and thank a person or group for improving the community. Honorary resolutions are, as far as anyone knows, always approved. It’s true even though board rules are stringent – if more than one representative votes no, an honorary resolution fails.
So it was surprising when four representatives voted no, and six abstained, on an honorary resolution intended for Jackie Heftman, one of the city’s longest-serving and most influential politicians.
Heftman, a Democrat, is the immediate past president of the Stamford Board of Education who began her community service as president of the Parent Teacher Council more than 30 years ago.
According to the resolution, Heftman’s involvement expanded to boards and commissions that reshaped the city.
From 1993 to 1998, she served on the Urban Redevelopment Commission, which oversaw development of the downtown.
From 1998 to 2008, Heftman sat on the Zoning Board, where she helped set requirements that 10 percent of new housing units be designated as affordable; added senior housing and historic preservation to zoning regulations; and improved public access to the water, the resolution states.
From 2008 to 2024, Heftman served on the Board of Education, the last two years as president. Her service included the School Building Committee and the Project Planning Committee for the new Westhill High School.
Comment before voting
The honorary resolution was listed first on the agenda, but city Rep. Eric Morson, one of three representatives to submit it to the board, asked that the public speaking portion of the meeting go ahead of it. His colleagues agreed in a voice vote.
The first speaker was Andy George, who said he’d served all 10 of his years on the Board of Education with Heftman. Her “service to the city is exemplary,” George said, and “anyone who’s contributed as much time and in as many capacities as she has deserves to be recognized by the city.”
He provided the first hint that the stringent vote requirement for passing the resolution might be a problem.
“I can’t fathom anybody voting against this,” George said, but he “can fathom someone perhaps abstaining,” which doesn’t count as a no vote. “I would hope any petty differences or political differences would be put aside,” George said.
Another caller, Board of Finance Chairman Richard Freedman, said it was his pleasure to work with Heftman on and off for 20 years on the Zoning Board and the Board of Education.
“We are a city run by volunteers,” Freedman said. “We are really blessed to have people who have put in as much time as Jackie has over the decades.”
Jim Fleischer, a member of the Democratic City Committee, also called in. The DCC is the city’s powerful party organization that decides which candidates are endorsed, the surest path to an office seat in Democrat-dominated Stamford. Heftman is the DCC treasurer.
Fleischer said Heftman’s “commitment to Stamford Public Schools and her efforts to help improve the educational experience for all students is remarkable … the impact she has made will remain for years to come.”
‘Simply mean-spirited’
Michael Hyman, the new school board president and deputy treasurer of the DCC, made it clear that Heftman supporters knew the honorary resolution might not survive the vote.
Hyman said Heftman “has done so much good work for … the citizens of this town. She is more than worthy of this simple accolade, yet it is my understanding that there are a few among you who might choose to ignore and belittle such dedication and commitment. To withhold such recognition I believe would be seen by many as just simply mean-spirited.”
Representatives could “rest assured that Jackie Heftman will receive the appropriate honors from the Board of Education, the mayor’s office, and countless other civic and social service organizations across the city,” Hyman continued. “I want to thank those of you whose acrimony made it possible for so many of us to come forward tonight to heap praise on this honorable woman.”
Then came the vote. City representatives Bonnie Kim Campbell, Jeff Stella, Kindrea Walston and Anabel Figueroa were no’s, and the honorary resolution failed.
After the meeting, Campbell said she worked as a paraeducator in Stamford Public Schools for the time Heftman served on the Board of Education.
“I knew Jackie. I had a relationship with her,” Campbell said. “I wish I could have said yes to this resolution, but I can’t. Mine was an honorable dissent which I have a right to have. I think it makes me an honorable person who is willing to shoulder responsibility for the decisions I make.”
Her reasons go back to the pandemic, Campbell said. Heftman was among the school district leaders who instituted virtual learning from March to June 2020 but required that everyone return to their buildings in August. That was dangerous for the more than 100 paraeducators and teachers who had pre-existing conditions, Campbell said.
“We were forced to return to work even after our doctors submitted requests for us to stay home until a vaccine was made available. A lot of people resigned, or they took leave without pay. I have to remember how my colleagues were treated without compassion during COVID,” she said.
Beyond that, the school board “failed to support policies that needed time to grow, to take hold. It was very frustrating,” Campbell said.
‘Trying to shame people’
She didn’t appreciate the comments from the callers before Monday’s vote, Campbell said. Those who spoke are, like Heftman, “powerful people in the Stamford Democratic Party,” she said.
“I believe they were trying to shame the board to not vote it down,” Campbell said. “I took it as voter intimidation. It happens continuously on the Board of Representatives. But I am going to tell the truth.”
Stella said he heard from parents in his West Side district who are unhappy with a loosening in the student tardiness policy and the new high school block schedule. He heard from veterans unhappy with a recent push to remove Veterans Day from the school holiday calendar, Stella said.
“It was not an easy decision. It weighed on me. I was leaning toward abstaining,” he said. “Then I heard the callers. They were not parents speaking for the resolution. They were politicians. They felt comfortable telling the board to vote a certain way. I thought, ‘Once again, this is about politics.’ It made me go from an abstention to a no.”
Figueroa said representatives “can’t bend to someone telling us how to vote.”
The function of the Board of Education “is to hold the superintendent accountable; they are her only boss, but they don’t do that,” Figueroa said. “My constituents feel their interests are not represented. They said the resolution is like a trophy. None of them called in to support it. If they had, it would have balanced my thinking.”
Walston said she had no comment.
Nobody agrees with everything
Morson said his colleagues fail to understand the purpose of honorable resolutions.
“They are meant to recognize the duration and continuity of commitment to the city,” Morson said. “It’s not a referendum on someone’s service. Otherwise we would never recognize anybody because nobody ever agrees with everything somebody does. If the person gave decades to the city, say ‘thank you for your service.’”
The failure Monday was “short-sighted,” Morson said. “It should not be political or personal.”
He would like to do something that was left undone during the meeting.
“The honorary resolution was not read into the record,” Morson said. “I would at least like to see it read into the record.”