Thomaston Selectmen Meeting

4/7/26, 6 PM

Present: First Selectman Rich Sileo, and Selectmen Michael Burr and Beth Campbell

The Town of Thomaston is exploring two new roles that could reshape oversight of wastewater treatment and the Department of Public Works.

Sileo brought forth a discussion item at the Board’s meeting on April 7 regarding the creation of two new roles: Superintendent of Public Services and Reporting Coordinator.

Sileo’s proposal would significantly condense the responsibilities of the Department of Public Works and the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) into the Superintendent of Public Works post. Currently, the Department of Public Works is helmed by Director Glenn Clark, while the WPCA is operated by Facility Superintendent Bert Galpin and has a six-member Board of decision makers. The impetus behind creating that new role, Sileo said, is Clark’s potential retirement, and would reshape and realign operations.

The other role envisioned by Sileo is the Reporting Coordinator job. That position would take many of the reporting responsibilities that are currently assigned to the WPCA and Public Works departments.

Those reporting duties include the renewal of Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System permits, or MS4, the management of the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, or SWPPP, and the maintenance of a Dam Emergency Action Plan, Sileo said.

MS4 is a general permit filed for the regulation of stormwater discharges from storm sewer systems owned by certain municipalities, public universities, and state and federal facilities, according to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). It is renewed every five years, and permit holders are required to file a yearly report.

SWPPP is a mandatory document required by DEEP to manage runoff pollution. It is a requirement for industrial facilities and construction sites to prevent pollutants from entering waterways through erosion control, best management practices, and regular monitoring, according to DEEP.

A Dam Emergency Action Plan (EAP) is a formal document, required for high/significant hazard dams, that outlines procedures to minimize loss of life and property damage during an emergency, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.

The Reporting Coordinator would have three responsibilities, according to Sileo. The first is to manage all of the reporting required by state environmental authorities and local ordinances. The second would be to be a project coordinator.

“Whether that is helping manage invoicing, processing, making sure meetings are being scheduled, getting progress reports out, things like that,” Sileo said. Ideally, he added, the role would help with the day-to-day management of projects with matters like rescheduling meetings.

“The third piece is to ensure that we are searching for and applying for all the grants that we can possibly find for initiatives that we are hoping to achieve going forward,” Sileo said.

Burr and Campbell expressed reservations regarding Sileo’s proposal. Burr argued that some of the duties that fell on the new Superintendent of Public Works job may be too much for one person.

“I don’t think one person can do all that, quite frankly,” Burr said. “And if they do, that to me is a $150,000 to a $200,000 position. That’s a lot to manage.”

Burr noted that he would see a job posting process through to see if there are willing and qualified candidates to fulfill the role, but he was skeptical that a single superintendent could take on the workload.

Campbell said the first thought she had was if condensing the two roles would save the town money.

“No,” Sileo said. “It’s also not going to cost the town money. If I can pull it off the way I anticipate.”

Sileo said some of the duties in the new job descriptions he presented to Board members are a rough draft of where he wants to take the new roles, but that they are not final. He first wanted to hear what the Board had to say, Sileo noted.

Funding for the positions — particularly the Superintendent role — was a concern raised by Burr. He noted that currently, the WPCA pays for their Superintendent’s salary. Burr wondered if Sileo was hoping the WPCA will pay for half of the new Superintendent’s job.

“When you think about the salary question that you just had, yes, we have some real questions to answer there,” Sileo said. “I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t have all the questions. So I’m starting here with this Board asking if we can consider this.”