Chaos Compromises Special Town Meeting

Goshen’s Center School gymnasium was host to a hybrid special town meeting on Monday, June 17th. Over 300 town residents attended the meeting, with many having to park as far as the Saint Thomas Cemetery due to the lack of parking at Town Hall. The meeting had residents vote to authorize the Board of Selectmen to move STEAP funds designated for 190 Sharon Turnpike to 38 Torrington Road to construct a Public Works Storage Facility, to elect one member of the Board of Education of Regional School District #20 from Goshen for a term running from July 1st, 2024-June 30th, 2028, and to respond to a petition to either use the 190 Sharon Turnpike property as protected open space, for recreation, or to sell the property to another organization.

The meeting began with Henrietta Horvay nominating Planning and Zoning Commission member Patrick Lucas as the moderator. This was unanimously approved. Lucas then motioned to move $500,000 in STEAP grant funds from 190 Sharon Turnpike to 38 Torrington Road, the current location of Goshen’s Public Works Department. This was also unanimously approved.

For the Region 20 Board of Education position, Lorraine Lucas nominated Ashley Daddona, seconded by Deputy Republican Registrar Lucia Miller. Krista Rizzo nominated Emily Cole for the position, seconded by former Selectman Mark Harris. The nominees as well as the people who nominated and seconded them were then allowed to speak on behalf of the candidates.

Lucas claimed Daddona will ensure children in town will be able to grow and thrive and will demand a quality education. Daddona expressed disappointment with how large class sizes will be in Region 20. “In this larger school system, many parents have already expressed dismay over the larger class sizes and the lack of response from the BoE leadership to this concern,” said Daddona. “...Goshen’s children and taxpayers deserve better representation, full transparency, and a positive working relationship with the new Region 20 Board of Ed and the superintendent. My opponent’s leadership has failed in all of these issues for us.” Daddona is a small business owner of the Goshen-based Daddona Properties, LLC and Litchfield Hair Bar, LLC and served as Treasurer for the Goshen Republican Town Committee. Daddona previously spoke against the book Gender Queer: A Memoir at a Board of Selectmen meeting on April 23rd, calling the book “beyond graphic” and “disgusting”.

Rizzo claimed Cole, the incumbent Chairperson for Region 20’s Board of Education and Vice Chairperson for Region 6’s Board of Education, kept the transition from Region 6 to 20 smooth and will make sure personal politics stays out of classrooms. Cole echoed those sentiments. “Region 20 is at a very crucial stage of its development,” she said. “It would be a great disservice to take the chair out of that position at this point… It is important to note that I have never and will never put my personal, political, or religious beliefs into my work as your representative. Not only is it against our board policy, but politics do not belong in our children’s school. I will, however, always advocate for any child, parent, or staff member that needs a voice.” Cole also served on Negotiations and Curriculum Committees for the Board, has a Master’s degree in elementary education, and taught for 10 years in Torrington.

Residents stood in line for over an hour to vote for a Board of Education representative.

Voting on the Board of Education then commenced, a prolonged process that had residents standing in line for over an hour to be checked off and handed blank slips of paper on which to enter the name of their preferred candidate. The process of hand-counting those ballots was then begun.

While votes were being tallied, the petition for 190 Sharon Turnpike was considered and people were able to comment on the petition. Michael Leonard had Attorney Wilson Carroll of the Connecticut-based Cohen and Wolf law firm clarify the petition. “So, you’re gonna’ vote yes or no tonight,” Carroll explained. “You’re not voting whether the use should be to sell it to the [Goshen} Land Trust or not. You’re voting to restrict what the town is allowed to do with the property to two choices: the first choice is to keep the property as open space by diverting it to passive recreational use and the second is to sell it the property to a nonprofit land trust or land protection agency for it’s fair market value.” Marissa Wright, co-author of the petition, claimed voting to keep the property as open space is vital as the site is at risk of being developed and could spread pollution. First Selectman Todd Carusillo requested residents vote no on keeping the site as open space. Selectman Scott Olson suggested Goshen may need the property for a future project and claimed voting to keep it as protected space is not a good decision.

Voting then commenced on the petition but instead of having people line up to vote at a table, tellers and registrars of voters handed people scraps of paper to either vote yes or no. Amid this voting, the completed tally for the Board of Education vote was announced. Ashley Daddona receiving 161 votes while Emily Cole received 160.

Chaos then ensued with some voters allegedly splitting the scraps of paper up to cast multiple votes on the 190 Sharon Turnpike petition and others allegedly taking more than one paper from ballot tellers’ desks. Board of Fire Commissioners member and teller for both votes Michael Bergin motioned to vacate the 190 Sharon Turnpike vote and hold it again at a future date due to the moderators losing control of the ballot. This was approved by the majority of residents.

Wright was disappointed by this outcome but remained hopeful for the 190 Sharon Turnpike Property, “Despite how disappointing it is that we have no conclusion, we were able to at least move the STEAP grants off of 190 Sharon Turnpike which is a huge win. So we’re going to focus on that for now and then we’re hopefully gonna’ go back and get that last piece so we can protect the land.”

Shortly after this decision was made, an error was found in the Board of Education vote.  Initially, Democratic Registrar of Voters Nanci Howard, stated one vote was cast by someone who wasn’t registered to vote in Goshen. This unnamed individual was the father of a registered voter and in the confusion and hectic nature of the first vote, his vote got through the tellers. However, as more information became available, Howard stated that there were voters who were turned away as they were deemed “inactive” in the voter registration information.  They could have voted if the proper paperwork was available for them to sign.  When The Secretary of the State’s office was contacted, the state claimed they had no jurisdiction over Town Meetings and that Goshen should refer to its Town Charter.  This was not possible, as Goshen does not have one.  (See “Just Chaos”  What went wrong at June 17^th Meeting”). Michael  Bergin then motioned to redo the Board of Education vote at a later date as well. This was approved by the majority of residents.

Two days later on Wednesday, June 19th, the Board of Selectmen announced that a recount for the Board of Education vote between Ashley Daddona and Emily Cole will be held at the Goshen Center School gymnasium on Thursday, June 27th starting at 8 pm. The vote did not proceed on the 27th, however, as protests were filed with the State Election Commission, according to 1^st Selectman Todd Carusillo. The meeting was simply called to order and then motioned to adjourn without any business being conducted.

A Town Meeting to redo the vote for the 190 Sharon Turnpike petition has since been set for July 16^th. Votes on two other Selectmen-sponsored alternatives have been added to that agenda.