Franklin Johnson Museum

A century and a half of silver making in Connecticut will be explored during an upcoming open house at the Franklin Johnson Museum in Wallingford.

The September 17th open house, which is being put on by the Wallingford Historic Preservation Trust, will focus on the impact that silver industry had on Wallingford, Meriden and other surrounding communities, Volunteer tour guides show off examples of locally produced silverware products like platters, trays and plates.

The mansion is located at 153 South Main Street in Wallingford. The open house will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

A voluntary $5 entry fee to support the museum is suggested.

Summit Technical Services, a company that provides staffing for high technology and engineering companies, has added an office in Wallingford on Barnes Road.

A company official, who declined to give her name, said the new office is actually a relocation from the space that Summit Technical Services had at 1157 Highland Avenue in Cheshire. The new Wallingford location is at 1062 Barnes Road, where the company leased 1,700 square feet office space, according to officials with
Pearce Real Estate's commercial division.

Summit Technical Services provides its clients with mechanical, electrical, software and manufacturing engineers, CAD designers and drafters. It is part of a larger staffing services organization, The Reserves Network, which is headquartered in Ohio.

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The Wallingford Town Council next week is going to consider renaming Yalesville Elementary School in honor of Mary Fritz, the long-time state rep, who died in July.

Mary Fritz

It would be a fitting tribute for Mary, who at one point in her long life, was a school teacher. And her time as an educator yield one of my favorite stories in the decade or so that I covered Mary for the Register

During on election campaign season, Mary spoke at a meeting of the Democratic Committee. Former Town Councilman Jim Vumbaco was launching a run for Mayor and it was Mary's job to introduce him.

I expected Mary to start out her remarks by extolling his virtues. But instead, she drew on personal anecdote about Vumbaco.

"Ya know, Jimmy, I can remember when I had you in one of my classes," Mary said.

As I recall, the look on Vumbaco's face suggested that he was a tad embarrassed by her recollection.

The Wallingford Board of Education has called a special meeting for Wednesday at 6 p.m. at its South Turnpike Road offices.

.The meeting was scheduled late Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the board authorized Superintendent of Schools Salvatore Menzo to begin negotiations with an unnamed food service vendor. Menzo (shown at left) said the purpose of the meeting is to give the board an update on the negotiations.

"We want to proceed very carefully with this because it's the first time we're doing it," he said. "I want to keep the board as well informed as possible."

 

The board's authorization vote came just weeks after current Food Service Director Sharlene Wong informed the district she was leaving to take a similar job with the Bridgeport Public School system. Wong had been on medical leave for several months before her announcement that she was leaving to take another job.

The meeting agenda also includes a notification that the board could take action on what it discusses in the closed door session that is also part of the meeting . Menzo did not indicate whether a vote was likely to take place, saying only that the notification is included on the agenda to give the board the ability to vote based on what it hears during the executive session.

Wallingford is a town filled with at grade railroad crossings: Six in all, from Tolles Road in the south to Pent Highway in the north.

So when one of those crossings gets disabled - either from a malfunctioning or broken equipment - it becomes a public concern. Such was the case around noon on Saturday when a truck hit one of the gates at Pent Highway rail crossing in Wallingford and broke it in half

Wallingford polce were quickly dispatched to the scene because the broken gate set of the flashing red lights and alarm bells that are normally activated as train approaches the crossing. Only in this case, while there were bells and flashing lights, there was no train.

During one 15 minute period, the signal at the Pent Highway rail crossing went off 5 times, which backed up traffic on either side of the crossing.

In the aftermath of the crash of an Amtrak train on May 15th outside of Philadelphia that killed eight people and injured about 200, there is a renewed concern about rail safety in this country.

Although this particular incident caused no injuries or fatalities, it was something that warranted reporting on. A call to Amtrak yielded a quick return call from a surly spokesman based out of the rail agency's Washington, D.C.

I got most of the information I was looking for, but not without having to spar with the spokesman over the description about what had occurred in Wallingford. He took issue when I called it a signal malfunction.and the conversation went south from there.

I don't know what prompted the negative reaction from the Amtrak spokesman. What I do know is that at a time when Amtrak is getting a lot of negative publicity for safety issues, its spokespersons need to remember that the media has a job to do.
Allowing journalists to show that repair crews from Amtrak quickly fixed the problem does not hurt them, it helps them.

 Enjoy holiday music with a little Latin flavor on Tuesday night at the Wallingford Public Library

The Mariachi Academy of Connecticut, which is part of the Spanish Community of Wallingford, will perform at the library at 6:30 p.m. The group, which is under the direction of Evangeline Mendoza-Bourgeois, will  perform a selection of Christmas carols from Mexico and Latin America.

For more information on this free program, call the library at 203-265-6754.

Michael Misiti has resigned as chairman of  Wallingford Housing Authority and for at least the time being, we don't know why.

Misiti confirmed Tuesday afternoon that he had resigned, but refused to give a reason for his decision.

"Let's just say it was time," Misiti said.

It is his right not to offer a reason for his decision. Some may even consider it a classy move on his part for not getting into the reason for his departure.

But it has been my experience in decades working as journalist that if people have simple reasons for resigning for a job, they usually make them clear. Things like spending more time with family or needing to devote more time to work are the explanations most frequently used.

When somebody leaves a job and declines to offer an explanation, it's because they're trying to save somebody from being embarrassed. Sometimes, it is themselves, sometimes it is someone else, and in some cases, it is the organization or company they represent.

Let me say from the outset that I don't believe Misiti is leaving because he did anything wrong.

I have spent nearly a decade covering Wallingford and for much of that time, one story that never seemed to die was controversy involving the town Housing Authority. That all ended about the time Misiti joined the Authority in March 2011 and became its chairman soon afterward.

 Misiti was chosen because of his background in facilities maintenance. He is assistant director of facilities at Quinnipiac University.

 Things haven't been perfect at the agency by any means, including some difficulties this year developing an operating budget. But they are better than they were.

Based on my dealings with him, I can say Misiti was able to remove the Authority from its place as a local political football.

 That was something his two predecessors, Robert Prentice and the late William Fischer, couldn't do because they were both chairman of their respective Town Committees. Prentice still heads the Republican Town Committee and Fischer was a long time chairman of the Democratic Town Committee.

Much of controversy at the Authority prior to Misiti's arrival Nere, and allegations of questionable activity made against him by Democrats on the Authority. That all ended in November 2011 when Nere accepted a $130,000 buyout of his contract.
centered the housing agency's executive director, Stephen

I hope I'm wrong in speculating that Misiti's resignation signals a return to the bad old days when the Housing Authority was a cauldron of controversy. But there is something more here than meets the eye.

There seems to be a little of disagreement between AT&T and some of its customers over the scope of a service outage that occurred late last week.

An AT&T customer from Wallingford contacted the New Haven Register on Monday to complain that some of the company's customers in town and in neighboring North Branford had lost their phone, Internet and television services from company. The caller said all three services had been out since last Thursday.

An AT&T spokeswoman described the outage a "temporary" and said that it was only the UVerse television service that went down. Meaghan Wims, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement that only a small number of customers lost their service late Thursday.

"Technicians restored service early on Friday afternoon," Wims said. "We apologize for this inconvenience."

While acknowledging that a problem occurred, AT&T wasn't quite as forthcoming about the number of customers who lost service or the cause of the problem. Wims did not address the cause of the outage and said the company does not release customer numbers.

That's too bad because for the amount of money AT&T's customers pay for their service, they  -or journalists working on their behalf -ought to be entitled to get some basic information about the length and scope of outages. 


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Twelve new firefighters on Thursday joined the ranks of the more 100 in Wallingford who are members of the town's three volunteer departments.

 The ceremony at the Yalesville Volunteer Fire Department station on Hope Hill Road was held to mark the completion of two months of classroom and field training that earned the dozen new members Firefighter One status.

 "It was very intense," said David Poach, one of the veteran volunteers who led the training. "We normally do this over three or four months time."

 Among the 12 new volunteers who completed the latest Firefighter One training program was Billy White. The 19-year-old, who will serve as a firefighter with the North Farms Volunteer Fire Department, said he is not intimidated by the prospect of possibly being faced with life-or-death situations.

 "I'm kinda used to it because my mother is a paramedic," White said. "It's a good feeling to know that you have the training that can save someone's life."

 Poach has been a volunteer firefighter for 13 years, following in the footsteps of his father and great-grandfather. Both men started as volunteer firefighters and later became career firefighter.

The number of new volunteer firefighters that Wallingford attracts varies from year to year, Poach said. In recent years, he said as many as 30 people a year have taken the Firefighter One course.

 Call (203)294-2730 if you are interested in becoming a volunteer firefighter in Wallingford.
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Thursday night's Cheshire Board of Education meeting is being called off because of the prospect of heavy snow.

 The meeting was to have featured Superintendent of Schools Greg Florio debuting the district's proposed 2014-15 budget. Florio (shown at left) will now debut the proposed budget at the board's Jan. 7 meeting.

The Jan. 7 meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Dodd Middle School

 The proposed 2014-2015 budget for the Wallingford school district will be debuted by Superintendent of Schools Salvatore Menzo at a Board of Education Operations Committee on Jan. 13th.

When you enter the voting booth in Cheshire and Wallingford on Tuesday, here's the field of candidates in contested races that you will see on your ballots.

D = Democrat
R = Republican
I =  Incumbent
W = Write-in


Cheshire:


District 1

 David Schrumm (R, I)
 Kristen Selleck (D)

District 2

Thomas Ruocco (R,I)
Matt Bowman (D)

District 3

Joseph Falvey (R)
Liz Linehan (D)
Cindy Kleist (W)

District 4

Mike O'Donnell (R)
Peter Talbot (D,I)

Councilman-at-Large

Robert Oris (R)
Paul Bellagamba (D)
Sylvia Nichols (R,I)
Patti Flynn-Harris (D,I)
James Sima (R,I)
Michael Ecke (D,I)
Timothy Slocum (R,I)
Daniel Nowak (D)

Board of Education 

Adam Grippo (R)
Kathryn DeMartino Fabiani (D)
Sandra Pavano (R,I)
Mark Ecke (D)
Anthony Perugini (R,I)

Planning and Zoning Commission

Edward Gaudio (R,I)
Vincent Lentini (D)
Lelah Campo (R,I)
James Bulger (D, Currently serves as PZC Alternate)

Planning and Zoning Commission Alternates

 Jon Fischer (R)
Diane Visconti (D)

Zoning Board of Appeals

Marion Nero (R,I)
Breina Schain (D)
Agnes White (D,I)

Zoning Board of Appeals Alternates 

Robert Formica (R)
Gerald Devine (D,I)

Wallingford

Mayor

William Dickinson Jr. (R,I)
Jason Zandri (D)

Town Council

Christine Mansfield (R)
John Sullivan (D,I)
Robert Parisi (R,I)
Dana Camp (D)
Ray Rys (R)
Larry Russo Jr. (D)
Thomas Laffin (R,I)
Vincent Cervonia (R,I)
 Nick Economopoulos (D,I)
John LeTourneau (R,I)
Debi Reynolds (D)
Craig Fishbein (R,I)

Board of Education 

Christopher Shortell (R)
Particia Mills (D)
Michael Brooder (R,I)
Patrick Reynolds (D,I)
Roxane McKay (R,I)
Jay Cei  (D,I)
Michael Votto (D,I)
Chet Miller (R,I)
Joe Marrone (R,I)
Kathy Castell (D,I)
Karen Hlavec (R)
Lorraine Connelly (D)

For some reason, municipal politicians and electorate that they seek votes from can't seem to get really fired up about campaign until after Labor Day.

That is when the door-to-door visits start in earnest and the lawn signs and the ... well, you know the drill. A two-month sprint that ends on the first Tuesday in November.

In Cheshire, Republican Councilman Andy Falvey said last week that he will wait until after Labor Day to announce whether he will remain on local GOP's Town Council ticket. During his party's caucus back in July, Falvey had said increased demands being made upon him at work were making it harder for him to find the time necessary to serve  his constituents the way he wants.

To the East in Wallingford, some candidates for elected office aren't waiting for Labor to come to begin preparing for November.

School board candidate Karen Hlavac was cited at a recent Board of Education. She is the lady in blue on the left in a photo from the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services web site.

There's nothing wrong in Hlavac doing a little homework on the current issues. But she's hardly a neophyte, having done a stint on the board before.

Jason Zandri, the Democratic mayoral candidate, had pens touting his candidacy ready when his Town Committee chose its slate in July. Now, Zandri (shown in photo at right) has got even more political swag: shirts.

Republican Councilman Craig Fishbein is seeking re-election. Fishbein (who is shown at left in a photo from his law practice)  is also getting any early jump on the start of the campaign,  launching his web site this weekend.

Zandri (who is shown at right) took a page from presidential campaigns by announcing his plan to challenge incumbent Mayor William Dickinson almost a full year before the vote. And Zandri's campaign web site has been up since ;last December.

Wallingford's annual fireworks display gets underway at around 9;20 p.m. at Mark T. Sheehan High School on Hope Hill Road.

Before we get into the details about parking, I'd like to commend Councilman Jason Zandri for leading the fundraising effort so that the town can have a holiday weekend fireworks display again this year.

Fireworks were cut from the town's budget several years ago and Zandri, working at first with fellow Councilor Craig Fishbein and later on his own, convinced The Campus at Greenhill to become a presenting sponsor.

Now, on to the important details if you're planning to attend.

Public parking for this year's Wallingford fireworks will be available at Moran Middle School, Sheehan High School, Highland Elementary School, and in the paved parking lot of Our Lady of Fatima Church. Lt. Anthony DeMaio with the Wallingford Police Department's Traffic Division says parking in fire lanes, on sidewalks, or on the grass is prohibited. 

Parking is also prohibited along Hope Hill Road, according to DeMaio, as well as on some side streets where police are posting temporary "No Parking" signs. Police will shutdown Hope Hill to through traffic once parking at all of the school lots is taken or by 8:30 p.m., whichever comes first.

Because of the large crowds expected for the event, use of any type of fireworks, including sparklers is prohibited. So is the use of  alcoholic beverages on town property.

   

At the conclusion of the event, there will be two northbound lanes of traffic on Hope Hill Road from the northern most driveways of Sheehan High School and Moran Middle School to Route 68.  There will be two southbound lanes on Hope Hill Road from the southern most driveways of Sheehan High School and Moran Middle School to the intersection of Parker Farms Road. 

James Powers, a Wallingford native and Durham resident (shown at left), will discuss his new book, Saving the Farm: A Journey through Time, Place, and Redemption at Wallingford Public Library on June 10th.

Powers, a history teacher at Guilford High School, says his maiden effort as an author details how a farm in that Shoreline community was preserved in the face of development. It also the story of 10 generations of the Dudley family in Guilford, he said.

 “Above all,” Powers said, “Saving the Farm speaks to the need for our communities to renew their sense of place and work to preserve our disappearing historic and cultural resources that make us who we are."

The June 10th program begins at 7 p.m.

More than a month after the New Haven Register first reported that Wallingford Town Council had agreed to settle a sexual discrimination case in which a female police officer claimed she had been denied a request for light duty after she became pregnant, a settlement in the case was officially announced.

As part of the town's settlement with Annie Balcastro, she will receive an unspecified amount of money, according to the Connecticut office of the American Civil Liberties Union. officials. Because Wallingford does not provide light duty opportunities for its officers, Balcastrowas forced to take an upaid leave of absence.


“I was relieved when I learned that Connecticut protects pregnant women in the workplace,” she said in a statement. “You shouldn't have to choose between working and starting a family.”

The sexual discrimination charge was filed last June after Wallingford Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio denied  Balcastro a light duty assignment.

Mayor William Dickinson Jr. said he supported the chief's decision as well as the  council’s vote, which he called “a business decision.”

“It would not have made sense for us to litigate this matter because our insurance company was urging us to settle,” Dickinson said.“If we had not settled and a ruling had gone against us, the town would have been solely responsible for any financial damages."

Dickinson said he supports Dortenzio’s policy “because if we offer light duty to one person, than you have to offer it to everyone.”

“If you want to be a police officer, you have to be able to do all the work that entails,” the mayor said.

Dickinson said Bolcastro was offered clerical work with another town department during her pregnancy. He said the town has faced similar legal challenges before and “we’ve prevailed in every one of those.”


Sandra Staub, legal director for Connecticut's ACLU chapter, the pregnant employees in all types of jobs need to "understand their right to be accommodated under the Connecticut statute, particularly women in jobs traditionally held by men."


The complaint charged that the police department’s unwritten policy of denying accommodations to pregnant officers violated state and federal civil rights laws, including the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. Connecticut law states that it is a discriminatory practice for an employer “to fail or refuse to make a reasonable effort to transfer a pregnant employee to any suitable temporary position which may be available.”
Ariela Migdal, senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said "the ability to stay on the job is key to women’s equality in the workplace.”

If Matt Powers were a college basketball player, we'd be saying that his team just got its ticket punched for the Big Dance, the NCAA Tournament

But here at "Life In Two Northern Towns," we abhor old sportswriting cliches. And besides, what the Quinnipiac University freshman achieved Tuesday didn't occur on a basketball court.

It occurred at Florida amusement park.

Powers, an engineering major from Wallingford, won a competition at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida that will allow him to skip all the lines associated with earning an audition for the Fox Network's "American Idol." Having out-performed hundreds of "Idol" hopefuls in Disney's "American Idol Experience" with his rendition of Train's "Drops of Jupiter," Powers has secured an audition for the show this summer in a city of his choice.

Winning the "American Idol Experience" competition could be a good omen for Powers. Quinnipiac University officials tell us that 17 of the aspiring "Idols," who made it to Hollywood for the show also won the  Disney competition.

The Yalesville branch of the Wallingford Public Library will be closed Jan. 15th so that new windows can be installed in the building.

Regular hours at the library will resume Jan.17th. Anyone with books due on Jan. 15th will be exempt from fines, according to library officials.


 The library branch is located at 400 Church St., across the street from the Yalesville Elementary School. Regular hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m

TOWN OF WALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT

REGULAR TOWN COUNCIL MEETING

Town Council Chambers

TUESDAY

January 8, 2013

6:30 P.M

AGENDA

Moment of Silence

1. Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call

2. Correspondence

3. Consent Agenda

3a.  Consider and Approve Tax Refunds totaling $1,738.40 (#445 - #462 )

Acct. # 001-1000-010-1170 - Tax Collector

3b. Consider and Approve an Appropriation in the Amount of $6,085 to Miscellaneous  Revenue Acct # 1009052-47040 and to Replacement Pay Acct # 10020150-51500  – Fire Chief

3c. Consider and Confirm the reappointment of Mr. Robert P. Blanchard

to the Pension  Commission for a six-year term Effective December 31, 2013 –  December 31, 2018 - Mayor

3d. Consider and Approve a Request for a Bid Waiver to extend the Farmland lease for  open space property (Field 18A) located at 995C East Center Street for a term of  five (5) year – Environmental Planner

3e. Set a Public Hearing for 7:00 P.M. on January 22, 2013 to repeal Chapter 75- Bicycles of the Code of the Town of Wallingford – Vincent Cervoni and Craig  Fishbein, Co-Chairmen of the Ordinance Committee

3f. Approve minutes of Regular Town Council meeting of December 18, 2012

4. Items Removed from the Consent Agenda

5. PUBLIC QUESTION & ANSWER PERIOD

6. Acceptance of Donation and Appropriation in the Amount of $250 from Mrs. Souza to  Revenue Miscellaneous Donation Acct # 1009052-47040 and to Veteran’s Aid (new  account to be established in Veteran’s Budget) – Veterans’ Service Officer

7. Acceptance of Donation from Evonic Industries and Appropriation of Funds to new  Special Revenue lines in Fund #250 as follows:

TO:

$500  Wallingford MRC   Fund #250 Revenue

$1,500  Wallingford Fire Department  Fund #250 Revenue

$1,500  Wallingford Police Department Fund #250 Revenue

TO:

$500  Wallingford MRC   Fund #250 New Line to be established

$1,500  Wallingford Fire Department  Fund #250 Revenue New Line to be established

$1,500  Wallingford Police Department Fund #250 Revenue New Line to be established

- Mayor

8. Consider and Approve a Request for Bid Waiver for the purchase of ION-8600 Substation  Class Revenue Meters – Electric Division

9. Executive Session pursuant to §1-200 (6)(D) of the Connecticut General Statutes with  respect to the purchase, sale and/or leasing of property – Mayor

You're looking at some of the 40 blankets purchased through a fund raiser held at the High Road School's high school program in Wallingford.

The special education school is donating the blankets yo a high school in Staten Island, N.Y. as the community there recovers from Hurricane Sandy.

The blankets are being shipped out today.

Take some time Sunday to stop and honor our fellow Americans, past and present, who have served in this country’s Armed Services.

The Veterans Day ceremony in Wallingford will be held on the Parade Grounds, next to Town Hall, starting at 11 a.m.

 Before heading to the ceremony, you may want to head over to an all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Wallingford Elks Lodge, located at 148 South Main St., from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Veterans eat free after showing the proper military identification.

Cheshire's Veterans day ceremony will be held at the First Congregational Church, which is adjacent to the Town Green (where the town's Civil War monument, shown at left, is located), at 3 p.m.

The ceremony will feature a choral piece from “Letter from Italy,” an original musical composition based on the life of a U.S. Army doctor who struggled to keep his life and family together after serving in World War II.  Choirs from the First Congregational Church, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and United Methodist Church, as well as the Cheshire High School VIP Chorus, will participate in the ceremony.

The ceremony will also feature remarks by a chaplain from the Veterans Administration Hospital in West Haven, who will talk about veterans’ needs and what they face upon returning home from combat.