Connecticut Postings

BRIDGEPORT – A truck hit a pole on Myrtle and Railroad Aves. Wednesday evening, leaving some surrounding homes and businesses without power.

Witnesses reported the accident, assistant fire chief Robert Morton said. The truck driver left the scene and police are still searching for the vehicle.

United Illuminating was dispatched to the scene and is in the process of restoring power, Morton said.

The Stratford Board of Education has yet to name a committee to head the search for the district’s next superintendent.

Irene Cornish, acting chief of schools, announced her intent to retire Jan. 1 of 2013 at an education board meeting Monday night. Cornish was superintendent for six years before she was named acting superintendent after her quasi-retirement in June 2009.

Education Board Chairman Gavin Forrester said a search committee probably won’t be named for another couple months. But he said he hopes to hire a permanent replacement for Cornish before the year’s end.

“I will be looking to have a permanent replacement in place by the end of the year if not sooner and I think we will be able to accomplish that goal within the timeline of the next 6 – 9 months,” he said in an email.

There will be a public hearing on the Trumbull First Selectman’s budget recommendations on Thursday, Feb. 2, in the Trumbull Town Hall council chambers.

Stratford’s Ordinance Committee, which is comprised of the Town Council membership, has tabled a proposed ordinance change that would set the council meeting start time at 7:15 p.m. instead of 8 p.m.

At a public hearing earlier this month, a slew of residents slammed the proposed meeting time change, saying a 7:15 p.m. start time would make it difficult for commuters and working residents to participate in their town government.

The council then kicked the issue over to the Ordinance Committee, which tabled the proposal at its meeting Monday night.

Read more about residents’ opposition to the proposed earlier meeting time here.

Stratford’s Traffic Authority will have to decide whether to allow golf carts on the town’s roads, freshman town councilman Craig Budnick said in a phone interview Wednesday.

At a public hearing before the Town Council early this month, about a half dozen residents — most from of the Lordship section of town –requested an ordinance allowing residents to drive golf carts on town roads marked with a 25 mph speed limit or lower.

Residents who spoke at the hearing said golf carts are a convenient mode of travel for short trips to the beach and around the neighborhood. Driving a golf cart is better for the environment than driving a car, one resident pointed out.

“The Town Council as a body does not have the right to regulate golf carts,” Budnick said. “The residents who may be concerned or want to have golf carts allowed in the Lordship section of town can submit a Traffic Authority request online on the town website.”

Budnick, a republican representing the seventh district, said residents who would like the town to draw up a golf cart ordinance can request that the Traffic Authority take up the issue by filling out this online request form. Residents may also contact the Traffic Authority via fax (203-381-1234) or email (mdunbar@townofstratford.com).

“At the end of the day, it’s really up to the citizens concerned about the golf cart issue to contact the town’s Traffic Authority,” he said.

By Tim Loh

Staff Writer

BRIDGEPORT — In its inaugural meeting Tuesday night, the city’s charter review commission elected three officers, set a tentative schedule for its ambitious look at Bridgeport’s constitutional document, and posed several questions to three attorneys who’ll guide the commission’s work in coming months.

As chairwoman, the seven-member panel voted Cathleen Simpson, a Black Rock resident, Democrat and attorney who works for the state Office of Policy and Management’s Labor Relations section.

George Estrada, a Republican, former Bridgeport public facilities director and current vice president of Facilities Planning and Construction at the University of Bridgeport, was voted vice chairman.

Florisca Carter, an unaffiliated voter and director of school operations for Achievement First Bridgeport Academy, was voted secretary. Her duties in that post remained unclear as the meeting closed, though. A stenographer is already keeping track of everything the panel discusses.

The commission will hold a public forum next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the city council chambers. It will reconvene the next night, and then likely meet publicly every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

City Attorney Mark Anastasi introduced attorneys Ed Maley and Steven Mednick, who’ve each worked on charter revisions around Connecticut as well as with the city attorney’s office for years on various projects. Mednick will draft the commission’s final recommendations in late spring.

The commission could enact big changes over how Bridgeport manages its schools. It will also conduct a comprehensive review of the city charter for the first time since 1993 — maybe even 1984 or 1978, depending on how widespread its proposed changes are, Anastasi said Tuesday.

In coming months, the commission will ask city council members, Mayor Bill Finch, department heads and experts of various fields how the current charter should be altered. It will submit final recommendations to the Secretary of State’s office by September, so that the potential changes land on November’s ballot for a “yes or no” vote. First, the suggestions must be cleared by the city council, which should see a draft of the proposed changes by May, Mednick said.

While the education debate could be heated, the attorneys said Tuesday that other issues may unexpectedly turn hot under the public’s microscope.

In the late ‘90s, Mednick helped a commission in New Britain review a charter that hadn’t been touched since before the Vietnam War, he recalled Tuesday. After much work, the recommendations were torpedoed by a veteran’s group that didn’t want its legal standing moved under the city’s code of ordinances.

So the city charter lived on — and with it the requirement that the veteran’s group include someone who fought in the Spanish-American War, back in 1898.

Connecticut Against Violence, an anti-violence group founded by DJ Kingsley Osei and Bridgeport Police Lt. David Daniels, will bring a squad of DJs to Bassick High School tonight for a men’s basketball game against Harding High School.

The disc jockeys will host special guests DJ Buck from Hot 93.7 and former NBA player Wesley Matthews. Matthews, 52, is a Bridgeport native and former Harding High School President.

CAV uses music to inspire youth to stand in unity against gun violence. The group will dedicate its music show tonight to victims of gun violence in Connecticut.

The Bassick-Harding game starts at 7 p.m. tonight at the Bassick High School gymnasium.

Two tax centers in Derby and two in Shelton are set to open between this week and the first week of February.
The centers will be located at TEAM, Inc. and Derby Neck Library, both in Derby, and at the Plumb Memorial and Huntington Branch libraries in Shelton.
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, part of a nationwide initiative, offers free federal and state tax return preparation to households earning less than $50,000 per year.
In 2011, area VITA centers prepared more than 600 tax returns. In 2012, families earning less than $49,078 may also be eligible for Connecticut’s new State EITC, worth up to an additional $1,700 depending on income and family size.
Taxes will be prepared by IRS-certified volunteer tax preparers. In addition to tax preparation, VITA customers will also have the opportunity to learn about other financial resources, such as savings accounts and free financial education.
Community residents can call 2-1-1 or visit www.ctfreetaxhelp.org for details about VITA sites in their area.
Local officials will be on hand Wednesday at TEAM, Inc. to officially announce the opening of the four Valley tax centers.
That event is being held in partnership with the Lower Naugatuck Valley Community Coalition for Financial Security, the IRS, and the Connecticut Association for Human Services.