Civil Discourse: Goshen 1st Selectman Candidates Forum

On October 2, the candidates for Goshen 1^st Selectman met at a forum hosted by the Litchfield County League of Women Voters at Camp Cochipianee. For just under an hour, candidates Seth Breakell and Todd Carusillo answered questions submitted by voters on topics ranging from speed cameras to affordable housing to Library Board administration and more.

As requested by the League, the roughly 70 townspeople in attendance remained silent throughout the discussion. Both candidates also remained respectful of each other, delivering answers that at times indicated agreement, rather than a sharp divergence of views.

The League Moderator opened the session by expressing appreciation for the fact that what the candidates were doing “is not easy. Running for office, and then holding office, is a very huge commitment of their time, that can be very rewarding but it can also be filled with stress and sacrifices that people often never see.”

The following are excerpts of some of the questions and answers discussed during the forum.

Asked why they are running for office, both candidates cited their love for the Town.

“I'm going to continue to fight to keep the taxes low”, Carusillo added. “And, you know, make sure our kids are educated, our roads are plowed, and, you know, our power is on. And that's what I do every day for the last four years.”

Breakell said that “in the past few years, I've just seen kind of a decline in the kind of the culture and the climate and the way things become divisive and contentious in the town of Goshen. And I just don't think that lends itself well to moving us forward in anything, really. And I think that… I'd like to try to change that.”

On the question of speed cameras, Breakell said: “So I'm not a big proponent of the speed cameras. Matter of fact, I'm not a proponent at all.” He went on to cite flaws in the way infractions are administered by third parties, referencing challenges made to the accuracy of the devices.

Carusillo was more ambivalent, citing the potential benefits of the revenue that speed cameras generate. “The monies that come in can be used for infrastructure. If it's paving the roads, chip sealing, signage, all those things that, you know, sidewalks, culvert pipes, anything that's near the roads or around the roads, the money can be used to it... we could take that burden off taxing our taxpayers.” He proposed placing them only on Routes 4 and 63, rather than local streets. “Honestly, we could probably pave every road in Goshen just with the cameras in front of my office. That's how fast the trucks and the cars go past my office on 42 North Street.”

On the issue of affordable housing, both candidates addressed the need as well as the challenges Goshen would face in implementing an affordable housing plan.

Carusillo cited state statute 8-30g which requires affordable housing plans, and acknowledged the need to help keep young people, seniors and workforce members in town. He pointed towards the property owned by the Goshen Housing Trust as a site for potential expansion.

Breakell said “I do think that it's imperative that Goshen ourselves take care of our affordable housing needs without any input or demands…from the state. I think it's imperative that we control our own future and our own affordable housing.”

A follow-up question asked whether the candidates favored using Title 67 Land Acquisition funds for affordable housing.

Carusillo favored lending the funds to the Goshen Housing Trust or a similar entity, at interest rates favorable to the Town. “I mean, [if] they came and said, hey, we're going to pay 5 or 6 percent... We're already making 4. I think it's a home run to... loan out the money.”

Breakell focused on the need for detailed proposals before any decision could be made to utilize the funds, and said that the ultimate approval would have to come from the townspeople in a town meeting.

The next question regarded a Code of Ethics.

“Who's not for a code of ethics, right?”, Breakell said. “But I think if you get into an actual code of ethics with potential penalties for violations or stuff like that… I don't know. I think you get into a lot of potential legal issues and stuff that maybe we're not quite ready to deal with just yet for a little town of 3,100 -ish people in Goshen.”

Carusillo was more supportive but expressed concerns about some of the details of a potential code. “The board of selectmen would vote on it and hopefully approve the code. But before probably we even make a vote, we would probably send it to the town counsel… to make sure there's no different legalities in there that's gonna cause the town any problems… Does the town or does the Code of Ethics Committee have the right to go through financials and stuff like that?” He explained that other than for the Town Treasurer and Tax Collector there would be no need to go through the personal bank accounts of board or commission members.

The next question regarded the role of the 1^st Selectman in regard to the Library Board and Library Director.

Carusillo said: “Well, the first selectman is the CEO of the town. And the library board right now is the immediate supervisor of the library director. But I am the HR also in town, and I have a responsibility to protect my staff and the staff of the library.”

Breakell’s position was “You let…the library board…manage the library and the library director. And then if there's issues, that would come to the 1^st selectman as the HR compliance person… And then there's a discussion that takes place about whatever the particular issue is… The first selectman should then go back and come up with his plan [of] action… and bring that back to the library board and then it's discussed… and then the library board carries out its authority over the library director or whoever the particular employee is that they're talking about.”

The next question regarded new ideas for expanding the tax base in Goshen.

Breakell said there are very limited opportunities to expand the tax base and it would “be more a function of attracting more people to Goshen to buy or build homes in Goshen.”

Carusillo’s response also focused on new homes, stating that currently “There's 36 brand new homes being built in Goshen and five of them are waterfronts, and the rest are maybe second tier or around the town. So there's $395,000 in new taxes coming in for the town.”

Should there be a forensic audit of both the Region 6 and Region 20 budget spending?

Breakell responded: “I don't see the necessity for a forensic audit. I don't think you're going to find anything there. I think money was misspent or not wisely spent. I think that's fairly obvious… But I think the term forensic audit, I think someone's looking for something nefarious to have happened, right? And that just didn't happen. That's the way it went… So to spend $100,000 plus… it's just not a wise expenditure in my opinion.”

Carusillo said: “A forensic audit takes the three towns, Warren, Morris, and Goshen, to agree on doing a forensic audit… I was all for a forensic audit when I saw the amount of monies that were misused, misplaced, and overspent. I mean, you know, with four years of pension monies that disappeared and were spent somewhere else, nobody could give us answers of where that money was spent... But you have to have all three towns agree on it. And Goshen was the only one that wanted to do a forensic audit. Morris and Warren did not want to do it.”

Both candidates agreed that civility and respectful dialog in how town boards operate were important, but lacking.

Breakell said: “Well, it's critical. I think anybody that's paid attention over the last few years to some of our… board meetings… It's obvious that we have an issue there, right, with civility, discourse, again, culture and climate of the town. As far as the first selectmen goes, I think it's incumbent upon them to take that leadership role, to sit in on those meetings, particularly the ones that tend to be more difficult. And monitor those meetings and keep those meetings, I guess we'll say civil, because quite frankly some of them have not been over the years.” Breakell also related that when people are elected or appointed to boards and commissions “there's no letter of introduction or meet[ing] with a select member or meet with another board and say, hey, this is what your role is, this is what we expect of you, this is how you're expected to conduct those meetings.” He favors more proactive orientation for new board and commission members.

Carusillo said “Well, you know, it seems like the last two, three, four weeks there's been problems with my board, the board of selectmen. Civility is not there. You know, you have the residents come in, in a public comment, and some are not being civil, some are a little rude, a little harsh. And, you know, you try to take control of the meetings. But, you know, you have to, if you have public comment on the agenda, you have to let people speak. But… all boards should be working in a civil manner… this is a small town and everybody does have to be civil and work in a nice manner.”

With time running short, a quick “yes or no question was asked, and it related to a potential scenario where one of the 1^st Selectman candidates is defeated for the 1^st Selectman’s position, but receives sufficient votes to secure a seat as a Selectman. Asked if they would accept that seat both candidates answered “Yes”.

The forum ended with general applause for both candidates.

To view the entire forum recording, click here.