Litchfield Board of Selectmen
9/1/2026 5:30 p.m.
Present: First Selectman Denise Raap. Selectmen Dan Morosani, John Bongiorno, Anne Dranginis, and Jeff Zullo.
The Selectmen heard from Jerry Geci with the Litchfield Waste Reduction Committee, Mark Dancy and Tory McBrien-Vranken with Waste Zero, and Jennifer Weymouth with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) regarding the Town's Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) grant.
The presentation included the proposed voluntary Unit-Based Pricing (UBP) and food scrap programs at the recycling center. Unit-based pricing, also known as “Pay-As-You-Throw”, charges residents based on the amount of waste they generate, incentivizing them to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Weymouth said. “Litchfield was one of 10 communities that received sustainable materials management Round Two grants to implement residential unit-based pricing and food scrap collection.”
“So, unit-based pricing really reduces a town's financial risk of rising disposal costs and declining disposable capacity, which is the state that we're in right now,” she said. “And it's environmentally responsible as well because you're reducing your waste and you're reducing any greenhouse gases that are resulting from waste management.”
The Board also discussed coordination with USA Hauling & Recycling regarding residential hauling options and the collection of program data during the pilot period.
“We have a year to gauge the temperature of the participants and the people who have no interest in participating,” Raap said.
Bongiorno then discussed a draft legislative proposal concerning educational tax exemptions in Connecticut. The proposal was circulated to District 30 Sen. Steven Harding (R), and State Representatives Karen Reddington-Hughes (R) from District 66, and John Piscopo (R) who represents District 76.
Piscopo requested that the Board approve the proposed language so that it may be presented to the State Legislature as a Town-supported proposal.
The proposed legislation includes a local-option provision allowing municipalities that are satisfied with existing voluntary arrangements with private schools to remain exempt from the bill's provisions. It also establishes tuition thresholds for the application of tax-exemption restrictions.
Zullo requested the proposal be forwarded to the Town Attorney for legal review and asked that the Tax Assessor compile an inventory of real estate owned by local private schools, including assessed values.
Also at the meeting, Marissa Pfaffinger with the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) offered a Traffic Analysis Demonstration regarding the evaluation of potential improvements to the Litchfield Green. The CTDOT reviewed traffic data collection and modeling methods, traffic volumes, intersection operations, seasonal variations, and the process for evaluating potential improvements.
The Board agreed that preserving center-of-town parking is a priority and directed that future design work retain as much parking as practicable.
“I think we would all be very interested in just making sure that the solutions that are put in place are robust and resilient to those periods of sustained higher traffic, especially fall weekends,” Bongiorno said.
The meeting adjourned at 7:38 p.m. on a unanimous vote after a motion by Zullo and second by Bongiorno.
