Politics & Government

Beer Goes on the Ballot, CL&P Grievances at Selectmen Meeting

Here are the most important discussions and votes that took place on Tuesday (Sept. 6) night's Board of Selectmen meeting.

The great beer question

The question of whether or not beer sales will be permitted to occur in Wilton grocery stores will be featured on a town ballot taking place November 8. Specifically, the question is phrased “Shall the sale of alcoholic liquor under Grocery Store Beer Permits be permitted in Wilton?” ‘Alcoholic liquor’ is apparently the exact term used in the permit book, according to First Selectman William Brennan.

“We haven’t seen any comment on this, but there seems to be a lot of support in the petition,” said Brennan, probably referencing the 10 percent of total Wilton voters needed to submit a ballot question—a number that was easily .

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Discussion on CL&P

As of the morning of September 6, Brennan said that “99 percent” of Wilton residences have power.

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Gary Jerardie of Musket Ridge Road, asked several questions about CL&P’s response.

“It was not clear to me who was to do which—who was to remove the trees? Was it the utility’s job of doing it or what?” asked Jerardie.

Fire Dept. Chief Paul Milositz said that it was the town’s job to clear up fallen limbs and to assist CL&P in removing limbs that pulled down power lines. To remove a tree from a wire, CL&P had to first confirm the power to that wire had been cut off.

“It’s how CL&P chose it….Those wires that were arching and sparking got priority,” said Milositz.

“There was a lot of misinformation out there,” said Brennan. “I heard from two people, for example, that the first selectman was giving priorities to roads…[and that] CL&P wasn’t going to be working over the weekend due to overhead costs,” neither of which were true, he said.

“I want everyone to be very clear that CL&P management has a lot of explaining to do. But we also have to thank the CL&P crews for their work,” said Brennan.

“They go out for 16 hours sleep, go back to a motel, get some sleep and some food, and go out again. They deserve our thanks. They worked around the clock,” he said.

Brennan and other town officials will be getting together in a closed-door meeting to discuss what should be addressed with CL&P in the near future.

Election emergency guidelines

A document that has a slew of emergency procedure guidelines to go by in the case of an election mishap was approved unanimously. The emergency guidelines come in light of a messy Bridgeport election last year. All counties must now have a procedural emergency election guideline.

Gail Lavielle (R-143) speaks about MTA troubles

Not long ago, passengers on a with no way out, prompting an investigation into the Metro Transit Authority’s (MTA) communication systems.

“Metro North could not respond to the first responders in Westport where the train was [stuck]” said Gail Lavielle, a representative of Wilton and Norwalk.

In reference to the 16 percent tax hike fare increase, she expressed skepticism: “What would those fare increases pay for?” Lavielle also said that the money raised from those fare increase were “not specified” to be allocated anywhere in particular.

Brennan said it was “inappropriate” for both MTA’s tax hike proposal and CL&P’s plan to raise prices on consumers in light of both companies’ recent emergency-response situations, which some

Where’s the road work?

Jerardie asked when Musket Ridge would be paved because he had seen it on a town  Brennan said that he was waiting on a response from an official, and because of recent emergencies, this official was not able to get back with an answer right away.

“It’s an issue of money. We’ve had a hurricane, a number of things have come up,” said Brennan. “We’ll spend every dollar in our budget,” said Brennan, but also warned that even so, the roads would not be in tip-top shape.

“I look at all these rate increases and ask, ‘When does it end?’ I don’t know if anyone has looked at their paycheck recently but there’s less there because of raised taxes,” he said.

Solar panels

The town’s plan to have solar panels installed on Town Hall has been delayed because the company selling these certain panels has gone bankrupt.

Scenic road hearing

There will be a public hearing on October 3 to discuss whether or not Wampum Road should be designated as a scenic road.

Appointments

Mark Ketley was appointed to the Parks and Recreation Commission, and Douglas P. Walker was appointed to the Wilton Water Commission.


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