Ad hoc committee closes after naming request withdrawn

The Danbury City ad hoc committee formed to consider renaming Field 1 voted Dec. 17 to close after members learned the athletic complex already carried a name and the original nomination was withdrawn.

"Initially, in March, there was a letter requesting the naming of a field, after Gary Simone, someone who's very active in youth baseball," said Andrea Gartner, the ad hoc chair, summarizing the nomination that launched the review. Gartner told the committee the nomination had been filed by Larry Susado (transcript spellings vary).

Gartner said members of the local athletic community discovered the complex had previously been named for Lawrence Viscotti (name appears with variant spellings in the transcript). After that information surfaced, the nominator withdrew the recommendation, Gartner said.

A committee member moved "that we recommend the full council this committee take no action and it be closed," and Gartner seconded. The committee voiced "Aye," and Gartner declared the motion passed. The group then moved to adjourn; Gartner said the meeting was adjourned at 07:34.

The closure means the ad hoc committee will not forward a renaming recommendation to the full council. No formal vote tally by named members was recorded in the transcript, and the committee did not schedule further action on the nomination.

Background: the nomination sought to honor Gary Simone for contributions to youth baseball. The transcript records several variant spellings for names associated with the nomination and the complex; the committee stated the nomination was withdrawn once the existing name was confirmed.