Litchfield Board of Selectmen: R20 Accounting Discrepancy, Prospect St. Traffic Calming

9/2/2025

Present:  Denise Raap, Dan Morosani, Jeff Zullo, Jodiann Tenney, John Bongiorno (arrived eight minutes late).

The board voiced growing concerns with Region 20, namely around their financial and recordkeeping practices. A recent audit cited by the board showed Litchfield is owed $178,000 from the district for budget overruns. However, Region 20 has stated the actual amount is $118,000.

“I have been approached,” Bongiorno said, “By at least seven individuals who are 100% positive and actually gave me invoices that were changed and charged to Litchfield Public Schools when we were sharing services, which were not Litchfield bills.”

Said Zullo: “We have a documented audit that shows Litchfield is owed $178,000. Nothing’s been amended. … This a public document going forward and I’m not accepting anything unless it’s correct and certified.”

Additionally, there was concern about document preservation.

“They are not holding onto invoices,” Tenney noted. “They’re digitizing them right away and shredding them.”

Tenney also pointed to potential consequences of not having a physical paper trail.

“We had theft in our town, the way that was picked up was you go through things and you look and say ‘that doesn’t look right.’ … and you make patterns,” Tenney said. “If you’re digitizing everything, you’re going to lose the patterns of those things that your eyes might pick up.”

Ultimately, Raap said she would reach out to Region 20 CFO Julia Cardillo about the recordkeeping.

Raap also reported on a visit she made, along with Public Works director Raz Alexe and Litchfield Fire Chief Dave Rogers, to residents on Prospect Street who were seeking speed bumps on the road.

Prospect Street is a short road that connects North Street and North Lake Street, which some use to circumvent the stoplight at the center of town and access the signal near Village Green Drive.

“It’s picked up,” Bongiorno said. “Everybody cuts down that road now because they don't want to sit at the light.”

While the end result was not speed bumps, Raap did say a solution of sorts was found.

“Our fire personnel and our public works director is not in favor of (speed bumps), but we did come up with some solutions that we’re going to implement sooner than later,” Raap said. “Things like narrowing the lanes down to 10 (feet), and then we’re also going to put in some perpendicular lines to give the illusion that there is something maybe in the road, that is known as a traffic calming measure.”