Canaan/Falls Village Board of Selectmen

4/13/26 6:00 PM

Present: Selectmen Christopher Kinsella and Judy Jacobs. Absent: First Selectman David Barger

The Town of Canaan/Falls Village Board of Selectmen discussed a new tax abatement for the spouses of fallen public servants at their April 13 meeting, as well as potentially modifying a local law that complicates finding volunteers and staffers to serve on town commissions.

Selectman, Judy Jacobs, said the town will consider the abatement at an upcoming meeting, but she briefed the Board and the public on what the potential tax relief would be.

The ordinance would formally recognize and provide financial support for the surviving spouse of public servant residents in the Town of Canaan/Falls Village, who have tragically lost their lives while performing their official duties, Jacobs said. This includes the spouses of deceased Falls Village Volunteer Fire Department, emergency medical technicians working with the department, and members of Connecticut law enforcement agencies.

“This section establishes a 100% abatement for all Town of Canaan real property taxes for eligible surviving spouses of public servants,” Jacobs said. The abatement, she added, has a ceiling of up to $10,000 in property taxes per fiscal year. “This will have to come up at a town meeting,” Jacobs said.

Selectmen also mulled potentially amending or revisiting an ordinance that they say make it difficult to appoint members to town commissions. The conversation stemmed from the appointment of Catherine Wales as the secretary of the town’s Recreation Commission.

“Is she going to have a salary?” Jacobs asked Commission Chair Melissa Lopes, who said Wales would collect a salary. Jacobs said there is a town ordinance that prevents serving on the Board and earning a salary.

A copy of the Town’s ordinances found on Canaan/Falls Village’s website, forwarded to us by The Goshen News, shows that the ordinance that founded the commission, titled “An Ordinance Concerning The Creation Of A Recreation Commission,” prohibits appointed members to collect a salary.

“That said Municipal Recreation Commission shall consist of seven members and one alternate member, who shall serve for a period of three years, without salary, all of whom must be residents of the Town of Canaan.”; the ordinance, drafted in 1968 and amended in 2001, states.

That same ordinance establishes that the commission will maintain parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, gymnasiums, public gardens, and recreation places for the benefit of the residents of Canaan/Falls Village.

“She can’t be a board member if she is getting a salary,” Jacobs said of Wales’ appointment. “There is a town ordinance on it and we are obligated to comply with that.”

Lopes said the commission has discussed the matter and told Kinsella and Jacobs loudly whispering “do what you have to.” “It is something with a lot of our commissions too. It is not exclusively for recreation,” Jacobs said.

Selectman Kinsella said he would like to review the ordinance at an upcoming meeting. “Maybe we can review that ordinance. We have broken that law already a couple of times,” Kinsella said.  “Not to say that is okay. I am trying to understand the meaning of that ordinance if we have a hard time…”