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An 88-year-old woman named Joan Coe was second to speak at the Simsbury Board of Selectmen Meeting on October 15th.
She first talked about the recent First Selectman candidate forum chaired by the Simsbury Chamber of Commerce in which current First Selectwoman, Wendy Mackstutis, appeared.
Coe alleged that after receiving the list of prepared questions, Mackstutis had to refer to her prepared notes to answer the questions because she was "not comfortable" explaining to the public what she did during her four years as First Selectman.
Coe went on to allege that "throughout the years," Mackstutis has been a "control freak, insecure when conducting the meetings and unable to speak extemporaneously."
"Democrat First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis has had the Democratic members of the Board of Selectmen meet in a caucus prior to meetings to control the dialogue of the agenda items," said Coe before she alleged that some members of the Board of Selectmen did not run because of the "failed leadership"of Mackstutis.
Coe further alleged that Mackstutis "tried to control" the public with a stop watch and would hit the gavel, "interrupting the speech after 5 minutes, without prior notice."
Coe described the adoption of those Rules of Procedure as "unconstitutional" because it limits people’s right to Free Speech.
"At the September 24, 2025, Board of Selectmen meeting First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis admonished me for saying her name incorrectly as it was another unacceptable annoyance she could not tolerate," said Coe. "As a result of her concern, I have decided to give her a nickname, Wendy Mackstupid, which..." — that's when Coe held up the below meme, and got immediately scolded for not respecting decorum.
While the Selectman wondered if they should call the police on the 88-year-old woman for violating the decorum standard, Coe started to share the story of what happened after a grieving mother heard about Simsbury's Proclamation on Suicide Prevention Month, so the mother decided to attend the September 24, 2025, BOS meeting to reveal the issues that resulted in her child’s suicide.
In the middle of Coe's comments about the grieving mother, whose tragic story we have covered in the Centinal, the Board of Selectmen voted to take a recess for five minutes, apparently in order to interrupt Coe's comments, which continued to refer to the First Selectman as "Mackstupid."
Just as Coe explained how the grieving mother gave a "detailed accounting of the lack of support services from the Board of Education," the BOS cut the sound to her microphone, and went into recess.
Coe was about to talk about the lack of support services the Simsbury BOE provided to the mother during her child’s secret transition, but Mackstutis wasn't having it.
Coe published her full comments in the Patch after the meeting.
"First Selectman Wendy Mackstupid was more interested in the 5-minute rule than listening to a grieving mother in stress," wrote Coe, stunned that Mackstutis had also cut off a grieving mother speaking about her own daughter's suicide.
The mother shared the story on social media, including the disingenuous email Mackstutis sent to her, which Coe translated as: "Take your grief somewhere else—we’ve got more important things to do here."
Coe argued that the insensitivity of Mackstutis toward the grieving mother "should be a disqualifier for a First Selectman" and called for a change in leadership.
After the BOS meeting, the Simsbury Democratic Town Committee issued a statement, calling Coe's behavior "immature and abusive" toward the First Selectman.
They further argued, "the that issues raised at the last meeting against Wendy are based in bigotry and not reality."
You can watch Coe's comments below, well at least until the recess:
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