A recount is scheduled for today that will determine with certainty the will of the voters on the question of whether to sell a portion of Riverside Park to the adjacent Coast Guard Academy for $2.9 million. Academy officials have said they need the property to expand and build new facilities that will help fulfill the Coast Guard's mission to provide national security. Opponents decry the loss of open space.

The election Nov. 8 showed voters approving the measure by 13 votes. On Tuesday Mayor-elect Daryl Justin Finizio delivered his own message to the citizens of New London: I don't care.

At a news conference at Riverside Park the mayor-elect said today's recount is moot. Mr. Finizio, who strongly opposed the sale of park land during the campaign, has decided the city is not selling regardless of the referendum results. This disregard for the democratic process is not a good start for the man this newspaper endorsed for mayor.

The mayor-elect points to language in the $2.9 million sales contract: "Not withstanding the foregoing, in no event shall the closing extend beyond November 14, 2011."

That voids the deal, Mr. Finizio said at a noon news conference at Riverside. Attended by anti-sale supporters, it had more the feel of a political rally than a policy announcement. His declaration that when he becomes mayor Dec. 5 he will not attempt to correct the problem and consummate the sale, regardless of the recount, received cheers. Those who voted in favor of the sale, only to learn their vote meant nothing, will have a different reaction.

Perhaps New London's next mayor sees his actions as decisive and rewarding the support of the anti-sale advocates who backed him. But many of those who voted for him also voted in favor of the park sale and to them this is a disservice.

The federal government was aware of the situation. A Nov. 10 letter to the sitting council-appointed mayor, Martin T. Olsen, references the Nov. 14 closing date. In the letter the General Services Administration recognizes the need to extend the closing due to the recount, offering to push it all the way back to Dec. 31 if necessary.

In other words, federal authorities were acting in good faith, willing to await the dictate of the voters rather than insisting on a quick closing.

Conveniently, the law director, Thomas J. Londregan, supplied a legal opinion dated Nov. 15 favoring Mayor-elect Finizio's position, saying the passing of the Nov. 14 date "poses a serious legal issue to the validity of the contract." The city attorney concludes in the opinion addressed to Mayor Olsen that "the contract with the United States of America has expired."

Mr. Londregan may have just improved his chances to win reappointment as law director.

Of course, Mr. Londregan could have shared his concerns with the sitting council earlier, giving it the chance to extend the closing date. They are the ones who are officially in office.

None of this is to say that contractual problems could not have blocked the sale regardless of the vote. State law requires the city to "find replacement land at least equal in value" to any park land sold or taken. That is a challenge the city has yet to meet. It could have sunk the deal. The existing council should have settled that matter long ago.

But for the incoming mayor to move to kill the deal before the votes are counted, to not even try to adhere to the decision of the majority vote if it stands, goes beyond the definition of heavy-handed.

If the recount shows a yes vote, we suspect this is not the end of the matter, as much as Mr. Finizio may want it to be. Federal authorities will almost certainly have a different interpretation of the contract. Seeking to circumvent a referendum result invites state involvement. And the sitting council may yet be heard from.

Before even being sworn in, the incoming mayor has botched the handling of the first controversy confronting him. It's unnerving, but it's also early.