McCoy Weathered a Few Storms Before His Term was Over

Jason McCoy didn't exactly ride quietly out of the mayor's office and Town Hall and into the sunset.

It was more like going out with a bang.

Nah … an explosion.

Let's backtrack. The town endured a record winter in terms of concentrated snowfall. Buildings collapsed, homes floods and the recovery took until late April.

He could barely breathe when budget season was upon the town.

Then came the earthquake.

Then the hurricane.

Then Vernon was hit by an October snowstorm that was highlighted by about a foot of heavy, wet, concentrated snow that left considerably more damage than the hurricane in his last week in office.

McCoy took a few moments last week to reflect upon his wild exit from local government.

"I was really trying to wind down," he said. "I was cleaning out the mayor's office and had two trials coming up that I needed to start working on. Then, the storm hit."

McCoy said when it became apparent that the snowstorm was worse than anyone could have imagined, he sort of rolled his eyes, not in self-pity, but wondering to himself what does the town have to go through next? He even had to skip a hockey tournament in Chicago his son was playing in.

"I felt like the natural disaster magnet," he said.

But that also made him very prepared, he said.

"We all came in, we knew what we were doing and we got it done," he said. "We understood how to mobilize."

But it was not without long days and a few animated calls with representatives from Connecticut Light & Power. Even the figurehead of the political opposition - Democratic U.S. Rep. Joseph Courtney - called him an "Energizer bunny" when it came to hounding CL&P to get crews into town and the power restored.

"CLP has been hard to deal with," he said. "But we jut kept communicating until the job was done. There was a problem all along with electrical systems."

Even talking about it all a week after the snow had McCoy wound up - and George Apel had already presided over his first Town Council meeting as the new mayor.

"We were working on the transition and wire were still down and we're still cleaning up," he said.

But then McCoy took a deep breath and pondered the big-picture question

Was it a good four years in office?

"Yeah, it has been," McCoy said. "Taxes went down there are some good contracts for the town - and from day one that was my plan. The town is a lot better off ... The town is in a better situation long-term.

"I think the perception of the town - outside of about 200 people who think everything is an issue and are not happy - is a good one - a lot better."

One tradition McCoy hopes Apel will continue is sending out congratulatory letters to students homage the honor roll.

"Anything we can do to encourage kids to be more competitive in school and get a better education I am for," he said. 

His legacy?

The thing about it is that many people don't tlike change - no matter what," McCoy said. "But if I were the guy who started change for the better that is fine with me."