Health Department Tests Show No Contamination At Kolman Farms

In January the Middletown Common Council instructed the Health Department to conduct water tests near water sources on and near the Kolman Farms on Higby Road. Salvatore Nesci, of the Health Department reported to the Board of Health that according to tests his department conducted and there is no contamination of water sources by the composting operation on the farm.

In other business the Board of Health voted to deny an exemption which would allow a Wall Street resident, Patty Stickney, from keeping a horse on her property at 32 Wall Street on a lot which measures .27 acres. Town ordinances prohibit keeping horses, chickens or other livestock within 200 feet of any dwelling.

Despite her pleas that she wanted to bring her horse Jazz "home" from a boarding stable in Cromwell, the board agreed that granting the exception would set a worrisome precedent.

The Board also refused to lift a legal citation against Homer Scoville, owner of 835 Washington Street (site of a proposed PriceChopper), after the property was cleaned up but not sealed against illegal occupation by homeless squatters.

In the Director's report, Dr. Joseph Havlicek indicated that the department had prepared four prospective budget projections under orders by the mayor. At "level service," the budget projected a shortfall of $18,000. Havlicek cited the projected state budget as largely responsible for the shortfall, indicating that the Governor offered incentivized funding levels based on the willingness of municipalities to develop a regional approach to services. Havilek and Nesci both argued that Middletown should reject and overtures toward regionalization because the city would lose its autonomy, and would have to give up the more than $100,000 in revenue it realizes each year.

Board member and Common Council member David Bauer suggested that rejecting the idea of regionalism, without a thorough study of its effect on cost and revenue, was not a reasonable approach.

Nesci, indicating the case of Patty Stickney, argued that autonomy would not allow residents like Stickney to address their concerns to a local board. In the case of Stickney, she was allowed nearly 50 minutes to make her case to the Board of Health.