Board of Selectmen: Lyman Ln/Town Hill Rd Paving, FEMA, Speeding, $500K Grant for Rt. 4 Municipal Storage Building

On Tuesday September 12th, the Board of Selectmen met. First Selectman, Todd Carusillo, selectmen Mark Harris appeared in person with Dexter Kinsella joining via Zoom. The meeting began with Kinsella motioning to approve last week’s meeting minutes. This was unanimously approved. Harris then motioned to approve town payroll and warrants for September 14th in the amount of $62,648.33. This was also unanimously approved.

Carusillo began his First Selectman Report by discussing how he and Kinsella attended the Goshen Garden Club’s 90th Anniversary on Friday, September 8^th.  Emergency Management Director Shilo Garceau requested the selectmen purchase a new laptop due to the current age and  problems with the existing one. Carusillo will talk with the Board of Finance to try and get a new laptop but warned that since the Civil Preparedness budget doesn’t have a line item for a new laptop, Garceau might have to wait till May 2024 to get one. Carusillo then reported that the town paid $16,581.04 in tipping fees for the month of August. Carusillo explained, “Just to let you know that the numbers are still staying steady there.”

Carusillo signed up Goshen to participate in Connecticut’s “Drug Take Back Day” scheduled for Saturday, October 28th. However, if Troop B is unable to provide a trooper that day, the town will cancel the event. Carusillo then reported that paving along East Street North was completed on Monday, September 11th. Damaged culverts along North Goshen Road were additionally patched but pavement for the road will have to wait, “We’re not going to spend money on paving down there until we see if we get any FEMA money for replacing that culvert that washed away.” (Note: FEMA funding was later denied.)

The report concluded with Kinsella commending Joe and Shirley Pedone for cleaning up town displays, flower beds, and trees. “ They just work endlessly without ever asking for anything. I just wanted to recognize them for their service.”

Connecticut Department of Housing will host a seminar in Stonington. Goshen Housing Trust President, Chris Sanders, asked if any of the Selectmen will attend to represent the Town of Goshen.  After a brief discussion, Harris motioned to formally request Sanders to represent the Town of Goshen at this meeting. This was unanimously approved.

09/19/23

The third meeting for the month of September was on Tuesday, September 19th.  As in previous meetings, First Selectman Todd Carusillo and fellow selectmen Mark Harris were present and Dexter Kinsella joined the meeting remotely via Zoom. The previous meeting’s minutes were unanimously approved, as were the town payroll and warrants. That amount for September 21^st was $192,068.92. 

Carusillo began his First Selectman Report by announcing that the neighborhood watch signs originally ordered in the beginning of August have finally arrived. The town’s Public Works Department will install them in various neighborhoods. Carusillo then announced that an aging railing will be fixed at the Goshen Public Library.  Pond Ridge residents requested a 15-mph speed limit sign be placed in their neighborhood due to speedsters driving recklessly through the area. Carusillo suspects some of the speedsters to be contractors working on new homes near Pond Ridge. He will have Public Works Supervisor Garret Harlow place a few speed limit signs in the area.

Troop B will be unable to provide a trooper to collect drugs for Goshen’s “Drug Take Back Day. … so we’re not going to be doing the ‘Drug Take Back Day’ on the 28th,” Carusillo explained. “So if you have any prescriptions that you want to get rid of that are old and you don’t want to throw them in the garbage or down the toilet, take them up to Troop B or to Litchfield.” Troop B will host their own “Drug Take Back Day” at 463 Ashley Falls Road, Canaan on Saturday, October 28th. There, residents can drop off left over prescription medications to be properly disposed of by state troopers from 10 am - 2 pm.(43% of the world's rivers are polluted with ingredients from pharmaceutical drugs through waste discharged by pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, farms, and people who dump unused drugs into plumbing, according to a 2022 report published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The study assessed data from 258 rivers across 104 countries and delved into the concentrations of active pharmaceutical ingredients in surface waters.)

Carusillo ended his report by announcing that Goshen will not receive any financial aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to fix roads and culverts damaged from torrential summer rain storms. Emergency Management Regional Coordinator, John Field, reportedly told Carusillo that the town failed to meet the required threshold to receive Public Assistance Grants. Carusillo expects total flood damage repairs to cost over $2 million and claimed funding for the repairs may have to come out of Goshen’s Town Aid Road (TAR) budget.

In Public Comment, Audrey Blondin suggested the town issue an ordinance to ban smoking and vaping on any municipal property. “What I’ve heard is that, between the vaping stuff, whatever that is, and the legalization of the marijuana, if you don't have an ordinance and let’s say you’re at Camp Coch… that people can go there and smoke marijuana or vape or do whatever.” Carusillo will consider the ordinance but Harris warned that they should identify instances of people smoking or vaping on town property before anything else is underway. They will coordinate with the Recreation Department to determine if there’s a severe smoking or vaping issue in town.

For Appointments, Harris motioned to appoint Iain Kinsella as a Goshen Land Trust Liaison. This was unanimously approved. Kinsella is also the Goshen Conservation Committee representative for the Land Trust.

For New Business, after having all required permits approved, Harris motioned to approve the Special Permit for the Black Bear Americana Music Festival. This was unanimously approved. Over 4,000 people are expected to attend the fair. The 5th Annual Black Bear Americana Music Festival will be held from Friday, October 6th to Sunday, October 8th at the Goshen Fairgrounds.

Harris then motioned to move the Board into an Executive Session. This was unanimously approved. No action was taken during the session.

09/26/23

The fourth and final meeting for September was on Tuesday, September 26th.  First Selectman Todd Carusillo and fellow selectmen Mark Harris appeared in person and Dexter Kinsella joined the meeting Zoom. The meeting began with Harris addressing matters from last week’s meeting minutes. Harris explained that the reason for the Board moving into an Executive Session was “Personnel Reason.” He then motioned to approve last week’s meeting minutes. This was unanimously approved. Harris then motioned to approve town payroll and warrants for September 28th in the amount of $55,830.76. This was also unanimously approved.

Carusillo addressed townsfolk' concerns regarding Lyman Lane and Town Hill Road getting paved. “Everybody has to understand that we do have a couple different plans in town,” Carusillo explained. “One is the ten-year equipment replacement plan and then the ten-year road maintenance plan that covers the paving and chip sealing of the roads every ten years, and the roads move in rotation.” He clarified that much of the town’s spending recently has been focused on repairing roads damaged from torrential July rainstorms. The town spent over $87,000 in gravel, almost $26,000 in paving on East Street North, and almost $2,700 for rip rap on East Street North and a few other roads, totaling to around $110,000 in July damages. Rip rap are stones or loose rocks typically placed along shorelines or bridge foundations to protect structures and their surrounding soil from erosion. Lyman Lane was originally scheduled to be paved in 2018 but was delayed due to complications from the COVID-19 Pandemic and rising material costs. “Apparently, it was talked about in 2018. I don’t know if everybody remembers it but it was put on my desk yesterday. It’s part of the plan. Lyman Lane was part of the agenda for road maintenance and paving…” Kinsella pointed out, “The only thing I’ll say, Todd, is that I was not aware that was approved, there was no talk of it… As you know now, there are many dissatisfied people and undertaking a project like that fundamentally changes the character of the neighborhood and the places that the residents live [in]… To not understand that, that’s gonna cause a firestorm, I just think that it could have been handled a little bit differently and I overreacted. I apologize to anybody but it was a gut punch for me. I grew up on that road.”  Carusillo responded that he just wanted to let people know that this was approved before he took office since residents were blaming him. Harris proposed that, for future construction projects that may make major changes to areas, Carusillo or Public Works Supervisor Garret Harlow bring the project up in a selectmen’s meeting to remind people it’s occurring. Harris felt that residents were particularly upset because they were blindsided.

In other business, Carusillo stated the automatic enforcement safety device bill was passed by the state senate and will go into effect starting Sunday, October 1st. These devices are automatic cameras designed to enforce speed limit and red light violations. The cameras can be placed at school zones, defined pedestrian safety zones, and other areas approved by local officials and the Office of State Traffic Administration. Carusillo believes the cameras could be used to deter local speedsters. “We don’t have a resident state trooper. Nobody wants to pay for a resident state trooper cause it’s $250,000. If the selectmen, and Chip [Roraback, Town Attorney] agree, and we could have an ordinance made up for the speed cameras, maybe this might be able to curb the speeding in town.” Speedsters were recently reported in West Street, Lyman Lane, Beach Street, East Hyerdale, and Route 4 West, among other areas in Goshen. An ordinance would be subject to approval at a Town Meeting in November.

Adam Andrusia, a Lyman Lane resident, spoke during Public Comment on the speeding going through the neighborhood and the paving issue, “Obviously Lyman Lane I’m not happy about it.  My only concern is the traffic, the increased speeds… It’s probably double what they were before and they were fast before. So my question is: The road by Milk House (Town Hill Road), is that going to get paved all the way? My concern is, I know people use that as a cut through to get through town and if that’s paved, the traffic is going to increase which would increase on Lyman, cause people do cut through Lyman quite a bit to avoid the rotary…” Public Works Director, Garret Harlow, who was in attendance at the meeting, responded to his concerns saying Town Hill Road will be paved in its entirety, but not in the near future. “Eventually [it will be paved] but it’s going to take years to get there because of all the road reconstruction that would have to happen before,” Harlow said, referring to the road repairs from the July rainstorms. (Note: As of publication date, paving of Town Hill Road is well underway.) “Speed limit signs didn’t go up today on Lyman. They should be going up in the next few days when the guys get back out to do more signs…” Andrusia additionally asked if speed bumps would be installed if traffic or speedster appearances increase near Lyman. Carusillo responded that permanent speed bumps wouldn’t be feasible especially in the winter months due to the bumps conflicting with snowplows.

New Business-- the selectmen reviewed three Dry Screened Road Sand bids. The sand is commonly used to provide traction on slippery roads often caused by snow or ice. Segalla Sand & Gravel Inc. of North Canaan, Mountaintop Enterprises of Winsted, and  Laurelbrook Natural Resources, Inc. of East Canaan,

submitted bids for the supply and pick up of sand to Goshen.  All three companies are registered to work in the state according to the Connecticut State Business website. Kinsella motioned to forward the Dry Screened Road Sand bids to Harlow for his review and recommendation. This was unanimously approved. Harris then motioned to add a request to transfer funds from Goshen’s Town Aid Road (TAR) budget to Capital Line Items for Major Road Projects to the agenda. This was unanimously approved. Harris then motioned to consider three fund transfer requests. The requests included:

• Transferring $32,715.88 from TAR to Capital to purchase and process stone materials from Mountaintop Trucking per town bid process for repairs to areas of road from storm waters,
• Transferring $25,767.62 from TAR to Capital to pave East Street North for repairs from damage inflicted by rainstorms on Sunday, July 9th and Sunday, July 16th.
• Transferring $2,688.75 from TAR to Capital to purchase rip-rap from Mountaintop Trucking per Town bid price for repairs to areas of road and bank erosion from rainstorms.

These were all unanimously approved.

Harris then motioned to move the Board into an Executive Session. This was unanimously approved. No action was taken during the session.

10/03/23

The first meeting of the month of October was held on Tuesday, October 3rd. First Selectman Todd Carusillo and fellow selectmen Mark Harris  appeared in person and Dexter Kinsella joined the meeting  via Zoom.  After a few corrections to September 26th’s meeting minutes, the minutes were unanimously approved. Town payroll and warrants for October 5th in the amount of $45,925.55 were also unanimously approved.

Carusillo announced that Goshen received a Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grant of $500,000 for the proposed building on Sharon Turnpike. (Note: there as yet is no approval from wetland authorities to build on that site).  According to the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management, municipalities can apply for STEAP grants to fund economic development, community conservation and quality of life projects. Municipalities could receive a total of $500,000 for each fiscal year with applications due on August 18th. He will take a class on Thursday to learn how the funds are allocated. The fund will be used to build the proposed new Public Works and Fire Departments Storage Facility along Route 4. Kinsella requested a copy of minutes from the class be forwarded to him and requested he be assigned to a building committee for the project if one is created.

Carusillo stated that many town municipal agencies have still not submitted their annual reports, “To all of the boards and commissions that are out there, our annual report is due by October 16th. So if you didn’t get your annual report in, please submit it to the fiscal office.”

 Recurring heavy rainstorms have caused many washouts throughout town roads and neighborhoods with some parts receiving up 5 inches of rain last weekend. The First Selectman recommends residents report washouts to the Public Works Department or his office. On September 28th and 29th, several crime incidents were recorded in people's driveways in Woodridge Lake. “Couple of white males with white-hooded jackets were seen 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning going through people’s cars on people’s Ring cameras,” Carusillo reported. “So please lock your doors.” State police were notified of the incidents and Carusillo urged residents to call the police if they see a crime happen.

Though the 1^st Selectman had already told all elected officials that they must provide email/contact information so townspeople could contact them, Carusillo seems to have reversed himself.  The selectmen are unsure if they are required to have commission members create email accounts for the public and journalists to easily reach them. The Goshen News, acting on FOIA rules, previously requested town government members create emails in August. Carusillo did recommend members to create email accounts in an early August meeting but he reportedly received no follow-on the emails since then, “I don’t know how many people were working on Gmail accounts because nobody got a request from the local newspaper that they wanted to be able to contact commission members and if the pubic wanted to contact commission members. (The Goshen News did ask Carusillo for these emails in August. As it stands currently, any elected official using personal email accounts for Town business can be subjected to FOIA requests for those emails.  The elected officials were given a choice of whether or not they wanted those personal email addresses or other contact information published, or obtain new, free email accounts for town use.  To date only 3 officials have complied, LuAnn Zbinden, Bill Lane and Henrietta Horvay).  Carusillo continued,  “I did contact the town attorney and I’m waiting for his decision on that, if we need to do it. Do we have to do it?” However, Carusillo recommends town government members create official Gmail accounts instead of using personal email accounts.  (Note: in the recent interview for The Goshen News, Carusillo stated that the town attorney agreed that officials should set up gmail accounts for town business.)

 Senator Richard Blumenthal got back to Carusillo regarding Goshen not receiving Federal Emergency Management Agency aid to cover road repair costs from damaging July rainstorms. One of his aides will send the First Selectman storm damage grant opportunities to help cover costs. Carusillo will look over the grants to see if Goshen is eligible for their aid.

For correspondence, Carusillo received an email from the Northwest Hills Council of Governments stating that they will no longer handle prescriptions for three senior residents in Goshen. The NWCOG received funding from the Foundation of Community Health to cover copay prescription costs for senior residents. Carusillo is investigating the matter, “I don’t know why the COG is not handling it anymore but I’m waiting for a response and I will give everybody an update next week.”

10/10/23

On Tuesday October 10th, the  second meeting this month was held. First Selectman Todd Carusillo and fellow selectmen Mark Harris  appeared in person and Dexter Kinsella joined the meeting  via Zoom.

The previous meeting minutes were unanimously approved. Town payroll and warrants for October 12th in the amount of $115,601.40 were voted on. Selectmen Carusillo and Harris voted in favor of the motion while Kinsella abstained. The motion carried.

Carusillo reported that a camper at the Black Bear Concert last weekend accidentally damaged the Goshen Fairgrounds main waterline. “One of the people camping at the Black Bear was putting their stake in the ground and hit the main water line,” Carusillo explained.

The damage temporarily caused campers to lose access to toilets, showers, and sinks. Goshen Agricultural Society maintenance staff and plumbers were able to fix the waterline Friday night. Kinsella was onsite when the issue occurred and noted that more lighting is needed for the fairgrounds to provide more visibility, especially across road crosswalks. “That’s also something that the fair association probably should look into because they own the parking lot across the street and the fairgrounds,” said Kinsella.  Trees have grown to the point of blocking the fairground’s current light masts but the fairground plans to hire a tree company to trim the brush in the near future. The Selectmen will additionally advise Goshen Agricultural Society President Scott Fraher that future compliance for use of the Goshen Fairgrounds will contain approvals/responsibilities covering utilities therein.

Carusillo then reiterated from last week’s meeting that several town municipal agencies still have not submitted their annual reports.

The Selectmen are waiting for approvals or refusals from Woodridge Lake on whether or not they would like Neighborhood Watch signs.

Carusillo ended his report by announcing that Harris submitted his resignation from the Northwestern Connecticut Transit District. Based in Torrington, the NWCTD provides public transport services to 14 towns including Goshen. Former First Selectman Robert Valentine requested Harris represent Goshen on the NWCTD board and help with management issues. Those issues have since been resolved and Harris believes his position does not need to be refilled. According to Carusillo, the town no longer uses the NWCTD since Goshen has its own bus service. Kinsella motioned to accept Harris’ resignation. This was unanimously approved.

In Public Comment, Recycling Coordinator Paul Collins thanked Union Savings Bank for sponsoring Recycling Day on Saturday, October 7th, in addition to thanking several other town government officials and locals, “It was a good event. It was well attended. We had 135 cars worth of electronics for a total of 5,498 pounds… We got pretty close to 9,000 pounds of shredding and 41 mattresses. That’s a significant amount of stuff that did not go into the trash, that went into recycling and [the] residents are really doing a good job.”

For New Business, Harlow, after reviewing all of Dry Screened Road Sand bids from September, recommended the Selectmen go with Segalla Sand & Gravel Inc. of North Canaan to provide the town its sand and gravel. This was unanimously approved.

Harris then motioned to form a Building Committee to oversee the construction of the new Public Works and Fire Departments Storage Facility on Sharon Turnpike. This was unanimously approved. Carusillo suggested the committee be composed of Garret Harlow, Patrick Lucas, Todd Carusillo, Seth Breakell, Dexter Kinsella, Jason Whatley, and Barry Hall. After a brief discussion, Kinsella motioned to approve the new Building Subcommittee made up of the previously suggested members. Additional members can be added as needed by the committee. This was unanimously approved. The committee will begin establishing what is needed to construct the building and review what people want to see come from the completed facility.  (Though the Town meeting approved the land for such a building, it was promised to have another town meeting for review of the building, which has not happened.  It was noted that the notice for that meeting was not adequate for many in town to be to make plans to attend.)