NORWICH – During a meeting last week on the 2021 proposed budget, the former City of Norwich mayor, Christine Carnrike, said to the council that messages and calls to the current administration go unanswered.

She said she was raising concerns on behalf of others and herself. Carnrike lost her bid for reelection against current mayor Shawn Sastri in 2019. According to the the final results Shawn Sastri received 478 votes; Jill Osterhout-Kraft 423; Joe Maiurano 380 and the former incumbent mayor, Christine Carnrike received 248.

Carnrike said she had personally dealt with being ignored by the current mayor after reaching out about his tie breaking vote, which stopped a local park from being renamed “Carnrike Park.”

“I messaged you the following morning, without any response, a simple received message would have sufficed, better than no response, which brings me to tonight’s concern,” Carnrike told Sastri at the meeting.

Sastri read Carnrike's message back to her, “Extremely disappointed in your tie breaking vote in favor of rescinding the name change for the park. An opportunity for you to do the right thing and you failed.”

Sastri then explained, “I chose not to engage her, because I felt that a text like that to the mayor did not need to be warranted with a response.”

Carnrike said lackluster communication from City Hall to the rest of Norwich is a major concern for the community.