Public comment dominated the Oct. 1 Board of Selectman, as questions targeted first selectman debates, an annual town meeting, sewer fees, and the public topics applicable to the meeting.

Before public comment, First Selectman Janet McCarty announced that the town had received a state grant of $250,000 to expand the public works garage. The grant is in addition to a $300,000 grant that North Haven has already received for the garage, McCarty added.

The grant will help provide town-owned storage for North Haven sanitation vehicles. “We will move sanitation trucks from a leased property and move them to the new, expanded garage,” McCarty said.

McCarty also announced that the library’s roof repairs were several weeks from being completed, that there will be an economic development breakfast on Oct. 15, and that North Haven has switched to single-stream recycling.

In public comment, speaker Irene Salman asked McCarty why she has declined to debate fellow first selectman candidate Freda in a series of unscripted debates set up by the Committee to Elect Michael Freda. McCarty responded that the question was a “political matter” and should not be discussed in a “business meeting.” McCarty added that after the meeting, Salman could receive an answer.

After the meeting, McCarty said that there is already a series of debates scheduled between her and Freda.

“Next week, there is the League of Women voters’ debate,” she said. “I know you can’t ask questions there, but after that is the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce. There will be two to three set questions, and then an hour in which people can ask questions. There is also the Mishkan Israel debate, where the floor will be open to questions.”

Additionally, McCarty said that the first selectman position keeps her too busy to attend Freda’s Committee’s debates. “Every day, all day, and most nights, I’m performing the duties of the first selectman,” she said. “If I had more time, I would take part in the debates.”

“I don’t feel we need any more time to talk about the issues,” McCarty added. “It’s clear where I stand on the record. Mr. Freda has had a chance to say where he stands on the record.”

Speaker Veronica Kivela asked the selectman whether they would ever support a charter reform committee to change North Haven’s town meeting fashion of government.

“I will not initiate such a committee,” McCarty said, “but if a charter reform group chooses to meet by themselves, I will not stop them.”

“I feel very strongly about this form of government,” Freda said. “I have no intentions on changing the town meeting form of government.”

Selectman Steve Fontana said that he also supports the town meeting government.

Speaker Jeff Brangi was worried that townspeople were not alerted that their sewer usage fees would be going up. McCarty responded that the Water Pollution Control Authority, which sets the town’s fees, had given public notice and held a public hearing on the increased fees.

McCarty added that the fee increase was due to the system’s aging.

“The sewer usage fee had not been increased in the last eight to nine years in a row,” McCarty said. “As a result, the system is very old. There are quite a few problems regarding maintenance.”

The first selectman said that much of the sewer equipment dates to the 1960s and must be fixed. “We want to make sure that the equipment is in good condition so that the people in town with sewers are not interrupted in their service,” she said.

McCarty also pointed out that those without sewer hookups will not be charged an additional fee.

Speaker Karen Genovese asked why an annual town meeting was not held at the end of the fiscal year to discuss the final balancing of the budget.

McCarty said that because the budget was not overspent and did not require new appropriations to be balanced, there was no need to hold a meeting.

“The town attorney agreed that because there were no new appropriations, there was no need for a town meeting,” McCarty said. “They money has already been spent. What would happen if the townspeople voted no, but the money has already been spent?”

The budget was balanced in August through internal expenditure transfers. McCarty said that although a town meeting was not necessary because the lack of new appropriations, she would hold a non-town meeting for expenditure transfer clarification.

“I’m happy to have an informational meeting if that’s what the public wants,” she said.

Freda stated that he was in favor of the annual town meeting, regardless of whether new appropriations were necessary.

“I would prefer to err on the side of caution,” he said. “A legal opinion has been rendered here, but I prefer to comply with Connecticut State Statute 7-348 which states that an annual town meeting should be held before any money is spent. It’s the safest thing to do for the future.”

Speaker Ann Ruocco said that she believed that there should be an annual town meeting toward the end of every fiscal year.

“I went every year,” she said of past meetings. “There were a lot of people there. I do believe that there were times that at the meetings, people asked a lot of questions and found out a lot of information. They should be reinstated.”

Ruocco asked whether Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal had responded yet to a query sent to him by the Board of Finance regarding the matter. McCarty responded that he had not.

Speaker Jim Leahy stated that the lack of an annual town meeting this year should be taken as a positive sign of the current administration.

“This is the first time that the budget has been balanced in a long time,” he said. “There was no need for another town meeting. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t see an issue.”

After several other speakers approached the subject, McCarty said that she thought it was inappropriate to continue the discussion, as the other members of the Board of Finance were not present. Kivela responded that it was inconvenient for the selectmen to limit the topics that could be broached at their board meeting.

“I can appreciate you trying to restrict the topics to what this meeting is for,” she said, “but not everybody in town can set aside five nights a month to go to every meeting to ask one question.”

“It’s very frustrating to say that we have to go to the Board of Finance to ask that question,” Kivela added. “Would the first selectman winner consider setting aside a time where people can ask anything they want to ask?”

“If you want an informational, that we can do,” McCarty replied.

“This board meeting should be a repository for all information in town – from all boards and commissions,” Freda replied. “Any question should be answered by us.”

Leahy said that being told to ask questions after the selectman meeting, or at the appropriate meeting, was in fact an answer.

“You may not like the answer, but if you’re requesting the Board of Finance, they’re not all here,” he said. “We have a balanced budget – we should all be celebrating.”