By Becky Coffey
Harbor News Senior Staff Writer
January
The Board of Selectmen (BOS) approved the bid to buy a new Pierce fire rescue truck for $650,000 with funds from capital reserve and budgeted equipment funds.
Jeffrey Stark, age 44, was found dead alone in his home.
Governor Rell spoke to more than 200 attendees at the annual Old Saybrook Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Saybrook Point Inn.
February
The first teenage clients moved into a group home on Anchorage Lane after the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) awarded a license to Gilead Community Services.
Old Saybrook High School held a Community Open House with live music and art displays to showcase new and renovated program spaces that were part of its $16.3 million school construction project.
The Chamber of Commerce held its 12th Annual Chili Cook-Off.
The Inland Wetlands Commission’s decision denying the Preserve project a permit was upheld on appeal in a decision in Superior Court this month. About 114 acres of the 927-acre project parcel is considered wetlands.
The State Freedom of Information Commission fined First Selectman Michael Pace $100 for not ensuring that town employees delivered public records to Youth and Family Services Director Larry Freundlich in a timely manner.
March
The State Election Enforcement Commission ruled this month that four $1,500 contributions to the Committee to Elect Dan Moran violated state statute by exceeding the monetary limit. Matthew Rubin and Hadass Rubin, two Rubin relatives, and Campaign Treasurer Donald Brodeur, Jr., were fined.
As investigations into the records of the Raymond McMurray Memorial Fund by the Attorney General and the Freedom of Information Commission continued, Police Chief Ed Mosca said that the memorial fund, created from voluntary donations, was a private fund “used to pay for non-budgeted items that benefit the police department, its personnel, and the community at large” and that it currently had no more than $32,000.
An investigation into a dispatcher’s handling of a 911 distress call led to disciplinary action against 17-year veteran David McDonald and a requirement for re-training. The investigation found he failed to recognize in his telephone conversation with Ronald Gebo, who was later found dead, that Gebo may have required medical assistance.
In one final pass, All-Habitat’s ATV mower cut down the last stand of Phragmites australis grasses to end phase one of a multi-year effort to remove the invasive species from North and South Cove marshes. Through the tenacious efforts of Janice Holland of the Old Saybrook Land Trust, signed permissions were obtained from 75 percent of the 200 marsh-abutting property owners to first spray and then mow the phragmites stands.
April
After a nationwide search, the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center trustees named Chuck Still as the center’s first executive director. The non-profit Center Trustees organization pays Still’s salary.
The State Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities dismissed complaints filed by four female employees of the town’s Youth and Family Services agency against director Larry Freundlich.
Old Saybrook’s de-illumination program won national recognition as one of 50 Innovative Government Programs earning semi-finalist status in a Harvard Kennedy School of Government/Ash Institute for Democratic Governance contest.
With federal funding of $4.3 million to dredge North Cove finally approved, the Army Corps of Engineers restarted the administrative process that led to dredge contractor selection by fall 2008.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment asked the state appellate court to reverse the February ruling allowing the Inland Wetlands Commission 2004 approval of a previous developer’s free-standing golf course on the Preserve property stand.
May
In a town-wide referendum vote on May 22, electors and property owners approved the proposed budget for general government of $15,120,098 and for the Board of Education of $20 million–an overall budget increase of 3.57 percent.
June
Lieutenant Michael Spera, 33, was appointed by the Police Commission to the newly reinstated position of Police Department deputy chief.
A new town Bikeways Commission were appointed and charged by the town’s selectmen to a two-pronged mission: to improve facilities and signage and to create a public outreach campaign to encourage more residents to bicycle through town.
July
The Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) delivered to the state Department of Environmental Protection a Wastewater Facilities Plan by the July 15 deadline. The plan, which includes site-by-site improvements needed for properties in 15 different town neighborhoods, was developed over a two-year period by the town’s engineering firm. WPCA also held a public meeting to introduce and discuss the plan.
Two grants–one from the state to the town for $50,000 and one for $3,000 from Liberty Bank Foundation to the HOPE Partnership to use for educational outreach effort–supported improving affordable housing opportunities in town.
The 45th annual Old Saybrook Arts & Crafts Festival was held on July 26 and 27.
August
Town electors voted to send the selectmen’s proposal to allocate $215,000 of budget surplus to the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center project to a town-wide referendum. The funds were requested to replenish the center’s depleted construction contingency account.
Heston Sutman was promoted to a central office administrative post overseeing curriculum development and scientifically research-based intervention programs, while Mandy Ryan was appointed to take his former post of associate principal of Old Saybrook Middle School.
September
By a vote of 985 to 670, the town’s electors voted against taking $215,000 of last year’s budget surplus to add to the $4.3 million already approved for the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center construction budget.
In the September primary, newcomer Carol Conklin won the nod over incumbent Elizabeth Steffen to be Democratic registrar of voters for Old Saybrook.
The Founders Memorial Town Park recreational development project was unveiled in an official ceremony with members of the Clarke Family, donors of the core parcel that spearheaded creation of the park, on-hand to celebrate.
The long-awaited project to dredge North Cove began when Congressman Joe Courtney personally removed the first of the channel buoys.
The BOS, after spending a year deliberating on the language and scope of a proposed ordinance for cleaning up blighted properties in residential areas, voted to move it to a town meeting vote in November.
October
The Katharine Hepburn Center Building Committee identified about $145,000 in “deductions” for tasks that will remain undone. About $75,000 of the savings will be re-allocated to install additional infrastructure like conduits and cables within the interior walls before they are closed and finished.
In the Middlesex County Substance Abuse Council awards ceremony, Old Saybrook’s Project Ninth Grade, a team-building retreat for all freshmen that uses senior students as mentors, won top honors as the top asset-building program for youth.
Old Saybrook Fire Department held its 11th annual Haunted Hayride at Clark Memorial Field.
November
The November issue of Connecticut Magazine ranks Old Saybrook High School as 20th in its list of the top 35 Connecticut high schools.
Incumbent Republican Marilyn Giuliano won a tightly-contested election against Democratic challenger Eileen Baker to serve another term as state representative. Incumbent Democratic State Senator Eileen Daily beat out challenger Vincent Pacileo. State Senator Democrat Andrea Stillman was also reelected.
Felix Diaz died at an area hospital following injuries he received after he was found beaten and lying unconscious in the parking lot of the Comfort Inn in Old Saybrook.
December
The residents of Old Saybrook, in a close 54 to 50 vote, approved the new blight ordinance at the annual town meeting.
Town residents voted to repeal the golf cart ordinance adopted two years ago to regulate safe use of the carts on town and private roads, though voting to do so only under protest. State legislative action last year revoked the town’s right to regulate golf cart use.
December holiday events in Old Saybrook again included the 20th annual Saybrook Stroll, the Torchlight Parade, and a benefit concert for the Shoreline Soup Kitchen & Pantries.
Harbor News Police Correspondent Jason J. Marchi contributed to this report.