Board of Selectmen May Meetings: Land Purchase, North Street Collision, Bears, Break-Ins, Payments, Appointments & Roadside Bananas
May 2
The Board of Selectmen held their first meeting of the month on Tuesday, May 2nd. First Selectman Todd Carusillo and fellow selectman Mark Harris were present in-person. Dexter Kinsella joined remotely via Zoom. The selectmen unanimously approved the last meeting’s minutes. The board then approved town payroll and warrants for bills for vendor invoices for May 4th, 2023 in the amount of $1,466,084.13 with Carusillo and Harris voting for approval and Kinsella abstaining.
Following Public Comment, the board unanimously agreed to amend the agenda to add reappointments of four members to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Reappointed were Daniel J. Kobylenski, Amanda Cannon, Donald H. Moore, and Bruce Arsego. own Clerk Barbara Breor told Goshen News that ZBA members are often reappointed after their terms end, unless they formally withdraw from the position. It should be noted that there was no way to reach these appointees for comment, according to Breor. The board then motioned to receive Public Works and Recreation Department’s 2023-2024 budgets and unanimously approved sending them to the Board of Finance for review.
Carusillo motioned to call a special town meeting to be held on May 9th at 8 pm at the Goshen Center School cafeteria, to approve the purchase of 13.84 acres of land from Alfred and Peter Wright. This special town meeting will have residents vote to use funds to purchase the land, to be used for future construction of a new storage facility for the Public Works Department and the Fire Company. The Board of Finance approved the $200,000 purchase of this 13.84 acre property to house this new facility. According to Carusillo, purchase of this property was possible by negotiating a lower price from the land-owners, “We were in search of a piece of property in town and we started at Sunset, another piece on Route 4…I contacted the sellers and they threw a number at me of $300,000 and I said, ‘The town’s not going to pay 300. We will pay maybe close to 200 and we settled at 200”.
The meeting ended with three more subjects. First, the board unanimously approved the motion to approve recommended changes to the Goshen Library Director job description from the Library Board. The description changed from requiring a minimum of five years of library experience to a minimum of two years of library experience with a masters degree in Library and Information Sciences. Next, the board unanimously approved the motion to refer chip seal contract bids from Comer Contracting Inc., New England Asphalt Services LLC., and Dosch-King Co. Inc. to Garret Harlow of the Public Works Department to negotiate contract prices to better reflect square footage of the town hall parking lot. All three companies are registered to work in the state according to the Connecticut State Business website. Finally, the board unanimously approved the motion to adjourn the Board of Selectmen meeting for Tuesday, May 2nd.
May 9
The Board of Selectmen’s second meeting this month was relatively brief compared to the first, primarily due to the Special Town Meeting to vote on the $200,000 land purchase scheduled for later that same night. Nevertheless, important topics for Goshen were still discussed. All three Selectmen were in physical attendance. The meeting began with the selectmen unanimously approving the last meeting’s minutes. The board then unanimously approved of town payroll and warrants for bills and vendor invoices for May 11th in the amount of $65,778.48.
For the First Selectman’s report, Carusillo noted that some town members want to launch Adopt a Road programs in order to clean up litter, especially bananas, appearing alongside roads. Similar to Adopt A Highway programs, Adopt a Road would allow any town business or non-profit community organization to adopt a road and become responsible for litter pickup on said road. Programs like these often encourage community cooperation and help keep local environments clean. The launching of a Goshen Adopt A Road program is still up in the air.
After briefly bringing up the Special Town Meeting, Carusillo continued his report by updating the status of new state flags. While the staff and base of the new flags arrived on time, the new flags themselves are still on back order and have not arrived yet. Veteran organization Legion Post 46 suggested Carusillo make a Goshen Task Force in order to bolster town security in the wake of multiple car and home break-ins and eggings in neighboring towns. Carusillo will check with insurance companies to determine the feasibility of creating such a task force but reiterated, “Please lock your doors…your houses and your cars. Somebody is breaking into cars.”
Carusillo ended his report by warning people to not feed local black bears amid increasing human-wildlife encounters. Selectman Harris added to the report saying, “It’s against the law to feed the wildlife. By state law.” According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, approximately 154 bear sightings were reported in Goshen so far this year. Only three human-bear conflicts have been reported, two resulting in damaged structures.
The meeting ended with the board unanimously approving three motions. First, the selectmen voted to appoint Anne Green to the Goshen Library Board. Second, the board added an asphalt chip seal contract bid recommendation to the meeting’s agenda. Garret Harlow, the Supervisor of Public Works, recommended taking Comer Contracting Inc.’s bid for $249,809.70. Third, all selectmen voted to accept the recommendation. The meeting adjourned at 5:16 pm.
May 16
On Tuesday, May 16th, First Selectman Todd Carusillo and fellow selectmen Mark Harris were present in-person. Dexter Kinsella joined the meeting remotely via Zoom. After unanimously approving the last meeting’s minutes, the board approved the town payroll and warrants for May 18th in the amount of $40,077.40 with Carusillo and Harris voting for approval and Kinsella abstaining.
For the First Selectman’s report, Carusillo applauded the Goshen Fire Company’s fast and efficient response to an accident on North Street on Saturday, May 13th. 17 people were transported to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington. A southbound Nissan Rogue crossed the street's center line causing a northbound bus to roll onto its side and strike an SUV. The Nissan Rogue then collided head-on with a second bus. The two buses were transporting a girls lacrosse team from the Frederick Gunn School to a game at Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass. The SUV was transporting a girls golf team from Hotchkiss School in Lakeville to a game at Choate School in Wallingford. Most victims of the four vehicle accident only received minor injuries including bruises while two suffered substantial, non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the Nissan Rogue, Pena R. Florentino from Torrington, was charged with failure to maintain a lane. Chairman of the Economic Development Commissions, Scott Olson, was on the scene that day and noted in the public comment section of the meeting that, “[I] was very impressed with the high level of professionalism and the services that our fire company offered…the service that they rendered on that day was right on par and in line with what a paid fire company would have been able to offer.” Carusillo thanked neighboring towns Bantam, Falls Village, Cornwall, and Canaan for sending their ambulances to help in the transporting of the victims.
Selectman Harris suggested a trial program wherein residents can report instances of people intentionally feeding wild animals, particularly black bears, so that Carusillo could contact them and convince them to stop.
Harris made the motion to add the appointment of Fire Commissioner Alternate to the agenda. This was unanimously approved. He recommended Seth Breakell to that position which was also unanimously approved by the board.
Harris motioned to add a Tax Collectors update report to the agenda which was unanimously approved. According to the report, Goshen taxes acheived a cumulative collection of 99.69% to date. This means that tax collections are higher and more efficient than usual. Carusillo noted that $36,243.76 is owed to the town. Of that total, taxes owed for Real Estate are $12,491.54, for Personal Property $1,429.49, for Motor Vehicles $17,057.29, and for Motor Vehicle Miscellaneous $5,265.44.
The meeting adjourned at 5:17 pm.
May 23
On Tuesday May 23rd, only First Selectman Todd Carusillo and Selectman Mark Harris were in attendance. Selectman Dexter Kinsella was absent from the meeting due to working in the Boston area and dealing with a water main break, according to Carusillo. The remaining selectmen continued the meeting by approving last week’s meeting minutes and the town payroll and warrants for May 25th in the amount of $42,253.01.
For the First Selectman’s report, Carusillo began by reiterating that residents should lock all of their property and ensure all valuables are taken out of cars overnight. This was in response to multiple break-ins occurring in the town and surrounding areas in the past few weeks including a car break-in at a West Side Rd residence. Carusillo added, “If you see anything suspicious, please report it to the Connecticut State Police and to my office so that I can warn residents.”
In accordance with a new Connecticut House Bill, nicknamed the “Lights Out Bill”, Carusillo reminds residents to turn off all nonessential external lights from 11 pm - 6 am till May 31st in order to prevent birds from flying into buildings and houses during this aviation migration period. He also reminds residents to stop throwing trash on the ground and to secure any outside trash containers amid increasing bear-human encounters. Carusillo ended his report on a personal note, announcing the birth of his grandson, Michael Carusillo III, over the weekend.
In appointments, Harris motioned to approve Clyde Breakell to the Zoning Board of Appeals alternate position. Breakell previously held the position but his term ended in April. He notified Carusillo of his desire to return to that position. The motion was unanimously approved.
The selectmen then announced a date and time for this year’s annual budget special town meeting. It will be held on Wednesday May 31st, at the Center School cafeteria starting at 8 pm. The meeting will have residents vote on the town’s budget for the fiscal year starting July 1st, 2023 - June 30th, 2024, elect one new member to the Board of Education, and authorize the Board of Selectmen to apply for and receive any state or federal grants for the benefit of the town. Harris motioned to adjourn the meeting which was unanimously approved.
May 30
The Board of Selectmen held their last meeting for the month of May on Tuesday, the 30th. First Selectman Todd Carusillo and Selectman Mark Harris were present in-person. Dexter Kinsella joined remotely via Zoom They began the meeting by approving last week’s meeting minutes. Carusillo and Harris voted in favor of the motion while Kinsella abstained since he was not in attendance in the prior week. The motion carried. Selectman Harris then motioned to approve town payroll and warrants for June 1st in the amount of $67,881.64. Carusillo and Harris voted in favor of the motion while Kinsella abstained so that he can review the payroll and warrants on Friday, June 2nd.
First Selectman Carusillo began his report by reminding attendees of the Special Town Meeting on Wednesday, May 31st at the Goshen Center School cafeteria at 8 pm to vote on the town’s annual budget. Regarding recent break-ins in the town and nearby areas, Carusillo suggested creating a neighborhood watch to help prevent further crimes. Referring to an earlier campaign on Hageman Shean Road, he said “I did it through the Torrington Police Department and we got the neighborhood watch signs on both ends of the road and all our neighbors watched out for one another. So maybe we should maybe start a neighborhood watch program… Maybe we could do it for different neighborhoods or all neighborhoods if we want to… Contact me if you want to come in and do it.” Harris added that the town should also work with the Litchfield Police Department to assist in any criminal activity, especially if it involves schools.
The town has been looking to hire a new part-time bus driver due to the current driver reaching his maximum hours. No applicants have applied for the position yet but Scott Olson, Chairman of the Economic Development Commissions, and David Parillo, Vice President of the Goshen Fire Company, have volunteered to drive the bus since they have prior experience. New signs were also installed at the pickle ball court, warning people to play safe, report all injuries, and that dogs are prohibited on the courts. The purchase of 13.84 acres of land at Sharon Turnpike for the eventual new storage facility was closed on Friday, May 26th. Carusillo ended his report by adding that excess foliage and overgrowth were cleared from the property.
For old business, the selectmen were contacted by their chip seal vendor, Comer Contracting Inc., stating that they needed authorization from the town to have First Selectman Carusillo sign for contracts as a town representative. Comer previously had issues with individuals signing agreements when they weren’t eligible to do so, and those individuals failed to submit payment for their services. Kinsella motioned to approve a Resolution and Proof of Compliance so that Comer can receive authorization to sign their contracts. The motion was unanimously approved.
For new business, the board received a municipal mowing bid from Old Oak Landscaping based in Goshen. Old Oak is registered to work in the state according to the Connecticut State Business website. The company offers services for Spring and Fall cleanup at Tyler Lake for $225 per season, 38 Torrington Road for $175 per season, and East St. North for $450 per season. It additionally offered mowing services at these locations ranging from $50-$60 per mowing. Kinsella motioned to receive the bid and forward it to Public Works Supervisor Garret Harlow. The motion was unanimously approved. Kinsella then motioned to adjourn the meeting which was also unanimously approved.
