Winsted Board of Selectmen

7/21/2025

Present:  Todd Arcelaschi, Troy Lamere, Paul Marino, Williams Hester, William Pozzo, Linda Groppo, and Candy Perez.

Absent: Paul Harrington

The board appointed Mary Ann Marino to Inland Wetlands. She is currently a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and was looking to hold both positions, which drew some discussion.

Mary Ann Marino said overlap between the ZBA and Inland Wetlands tends to be minimal. She said of the 255 total wetlands applications, only 23 (she originally said 19, but corrected the figure in the August 8 meeting) land use applications appeared before both committees, saying she referred to all meeting minutes dating back to mid-2018. Further, both the town charter and town attorney allows for dual service.

“I spoke with land use offices across the state,” Mary Ann Marino said. “None prohibit dual service, and I’ve always recused myself where appropriate.”

Marino cited her family cottage on Highland Lake, purchased in 1970, as something that “transformed my life,” sparking the desire to pursue the role.

“I really feel like this place made me, so it is really important to me to return the favor and take care of it.”

When the measure was taken up later in the meeting it passed, with Paul Marino abstaining.

Arcelaschi ultimately voted in favor, but first laid out his main concern.

“I did have some concerns about one resident serving on two of our top-tier boards,” the mayor said. “We are about two years from when our former finance director was finally released from prison after 10 years, because that was a gentleman who had too much power. And one person having too much power in this town makes me nervous.”

Town Hall hours also were revisited after the May debacle where it surprisingly opened on a Saturday for absentee voting ahead of the budget referendum.

The board discussed a proposed ordinance from the Democratic Town Committee to formalize and restrict the hours town business could be conducted. Arcelaschi conceded they “did kind of screw up with the posting of the hours” in May, however, the proposed ordinance had language that could be too restrictive.

“Following this ordinance, in theory I would no longer be able to present citations or special proclamations to recognize accomplishments outside of posted business hours,” Arcelaschi said.

The matter will continue to be discussed.

“Having something set prior to referendums would create fairness that we're trying to accomplish without trying to restrict the town employees from working a minute of overtime,” Paul Marino said.

“Right, I think that’s all people want is the public notice,” Perez responded.

8/5/2025

Present:  Todd Arcelaschi, Paul Harrington, Troy Lamere, Paul Marino, Williams Hester, William Pozzo, Linda Groppo, and Candy Perez.

Harrington offered updates on the Eversource project happening on Main Street throughout the summer.

The town manager said that the utility service has “struck a few water lines” over the course of the project, which is to install a gas line down Main Street.

“The last one happened middle of last week and the road started the cave too,” Harrington said. “It was all hands on deck – even the DOT came out because they hit a pretty bad one.”

The project has featured its share of hiccups outside of the water line strikes. The line was supposed to go down the median, but Eversource pivoted to putting it in the westbound lane without first informing Harrington. There also have been two light poles knocked over – one by town hall and the other by the post office, the former of which Harrington saw happen in real time.

The post office light post won’t be replaced. The town hall light is on backorder, with Harrington estimating it probably was two months away. Eversource is covering the cost of the replacement.

As the project continues to make progress, one thing that will be closely monitored are road conditions.

“I did speak with Tim today, our Eversource liaison, about the patching job that they have right down our Main Street. I already see holes in it, and they're going to address that with the contractor. I'm waiting for Tim to follow back up, but I want to put another skim coat on it until the final payment comes because it's already creating a rough ride. I see it out my window every day and we simply can't have it because our Main Street was a very, very smooth coat.

Despite that, Harrington said by and large Eversource has been “very pleasurable" to work with – and that they’re “a little ahead of schedule.”.

“As much as this has been an inconvenience, Eversource has been very pleasurable to work with. They’re responsive, they’re doing the best that they can. They are a little ahead of schedule, I think the weather has a lot to do with them being ahead of schedule

They’re going to be out of here probably before the Fall Fest, which is great.”