Who was Concetta Marie Masiello, and why did she leave more than $200,000 to the town?

Members of the Barrington Town Council may have been asking themselves that question during this month’s meeting, which was held on Nov. 1. Toward the end of the meeting, councilors discussed a large gift left to the town by a resident who passed away a little more than a year ago.

In her will, Ms. Masiello left half of her estate to Holy Angels Church on Maple Avenue. The other half she gave to the town.

Barrington Town Manager Jim Cunha said Ms. Masiello did not place any restrictions on how the town could use the $202,804.20. 

According to the town manager, Ms. Masiello was unmarried and left no heirs. An obituary showed that she died in May 2020 at the age of 99. Her four brothers predeceased her. 

Now the town council is tasked with deciding how to spend — or whether to spend — Ms. Masiello’s parting gift to the town of Barrington. 

Councilor Carl Kustell said he would like to direct the funds to something that would be consistent with Ms. Masiello’s values and interests. To that point, Mr. Kustell added, he did not know Ms. Masiello and had no specific recommendation on what to do with the funds. Mr. Kustell asked his fellow councilors how they felt about the situation.

Council president Michael Carroll said he liked Mr. Kustell’s idea. He then suggested two options: The first was to take some time to consider where the money should go; the second, said Mr. Carroll, would be to direct the $202,804.20 to the Spencer Trust, a fund that was established to help the poor and unfortunate of Barrington. Mr. Carroll reminded councilors that depositing the money in the Spencer Trust would place restrictions on how it could be used.

Councilor Annelise Conway, who serves as the president of the Spencer Trust board, recommended the council not place the money in that account. She said officials should take some time to learn more about Ms. Masiello’s values and interests. Ms. Conway said that it may be the money is placed in the Spencer Trust eventually, but officials should not do that until taking time to conduct some research.

It was then the public’s turn to offer ideas on what to do with the money.

Katherine Quinn, a Barrington resident, was the only person in attendance to speak. She recommended the town use a small portion of the money to provide arborvitae to the Breen family. 

Ms. Quinn said the Breens could plant the bushes between their property and that of a neighbor’s. She said the gift would serve as an act of goodwill from the town, to show empathy to the Breens for what the local family has experienced recently. (There has reportedly been an ongoing confrontation between the Breens and a neighbor — news of the situation surfaced during a recent zoning board meeting and at a prior council meeting.)

Mr. Carroll asked Ms. Quinn if Candace Breen would want the town to purchase the arborvitae for her family. Ms. Quinn responded that she would. 

Mr. Carroll then suggested the council continue the discussion to a future meeting, allowing the town manager some time to learn more about Ms. Masiello and her interests. Mr. Cunha said he planned to contact the attorney who handled Ms. Masiello’s estate.