Jerry Shaw, September 7, 2023

It’s been said that revising the Branford town charter is the third rail of local politics.

The Branford town charter hasn’t been revised since 1960. There are no provisions in Branford’s charter (see Section 10) to force the town chief executive officer’s compliance with RTM-approved rules or ordinances. It renders the deliberations of the RTM’s Rules and Ordinances Committee mostly moot because the town CEO can decide not to enforce the provisions of the Representative Town Meeting’s deliberations, thus negating a democratic process.

We’ve recently seen several examples of this behavior. Noncompliance with a recent revision of the town forestry and tree warden code and refusal to enforce the town code governing tour boats in Stony Creek. Another questionable practice is the waiving of a fair and equitable contractor bidding process. See this BOS meeting where 3^rd selectman Ray Dunbar questions the practice.

Update January 28, 2025

Another reason to change our form of government

As a small town it is surprising that we tend to forget stuff; like the time town CEO Cosgrove replaced the Branford Wetlands Commission membership without consulting with 3rd Selectman, as documented by Marcia Chambers in a multiple series: https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/costco_bows_out, https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/cosgrove_confronted_over_inland_wetlands_appointments/, https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/branford/entry/iwc_commissioners_/.

Quotes from the above links:

“Third Selectman Jack Ahern (retired Branford fire chief), the sole Democrat on the three-member board, said he was shut out of the appointment process and was not notified of the new nominees until Tuesday. He said it may be time to change the Town Charter to a new form of government, perhaps one with a mayor. He had asked for additional notice last month.”

“One woman said citizens should sign a petition requesting a referendum to table the appointments and create a more transparent and less political form of selecting people for critical boards and commissions. The town charter provides for a referendum.”

Other towns have revised their charters to remedy these flaws in the democratic process. Here’s what Westport’s town charter states: “§ C4-3. – Executive Powers of First Selectman.The First Selectman shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the Town. The First Selectman shall have the powers and duties vested in the office by the General Statutes and shall superintend the affairs of the Town, direct the administration of all departments and officers and be responsible for the faithful execution of all laws and ordinances governing the Town.”

There is another way to clean house in Branford – adopt a town manager form of government.

Branford isn’t the only Connecticut town that has considered this change, according to this Hartford Courant article. “The New England town meeting is a beautiful thing, the last bastion of direct democracy, but it is not suited to this era, and I don’t know how it can survive much longer,” said Gary Greenberg, first selectman of the small eastern Connecticut town of Scotland.

In a recent study on the forms of government in the state, Matt Knickerbocker, current Wilton town manager, states that “Town Meeting” (RTM) government provides broad access for public participation in a direct democratic process, but vulnerable to special interests if public participation is low.”  

Half of the 169 Connecticut towns have an RTM form of governance. Separation of powers is sometimes unclear.  Currently, there are 33 towns with town managers.

How can it happen?

By Vote at a Town Meeting CGS §§ 7-98 et seq., establishes the procedure by which municipalities with a board of finance may establish a town manager as CEO. The municipality must first hold a properly noticed vote at an annual or special town meeting on whether to do so (CGS § 7-100). If approved, the board of selectmen selects a candidate from a list the board of finance submits to it. Most of the board of selectmen’s powers and duties are then conferred to the town manager, who may hold office for three years or until a successor is appointed (CGS § 7-99). Municipalities that appoint a town manager under this law may revert to their former town management by a vote at an annual or special town meeting (CGS § 7-100).

Branford needs a plan now https://www.zip06.com/letters/20230524/needs-a-plan-now/

Needs a Plan Now

BY JERRY SHAW • 05/24/2023 08:10 AM EST • 05/24/2023 08:10 AM EST

I’ve learned a lot during the past few months about trees and urban forest management. Not because I wanted to, but on Sept. 6, 2022, my wife was almost killed by a falling tree that destroyed her car as she drove south on Leetes Island Road. I’ve written before about this incident in letters to The Sound.

What’s old is Branford has no urban forest management plan.

What’s new, and a surprise to many, is in recognition of storm-induced falling-tree risks, Branford, in a recent Feb. 10, 2023 annex submission to the South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG), revealed the following: “Tree-related hazards are among the Town’s most significant recurring and widespread issues, particularly the downing of electric and communication lines during hurricane/tropical storm and severe winter storm events.”

No mention of intrepid travelers traversing Branford roads, at risk because of falling storm-weakened roadside trees, some rooted in private property.

No mention of emergency shelter access blocked by storm-driven fallen trees.

Branford does not have a street tree inventory, made possible by LiDAR aerial technology, now promoted by SCRCOG and deployed by New Haven and other Connecticut cities. New Haven’s tree warden has recently conducted a street tree inventory (STI) of 1,987 trees that are poor, very poor, or standing dead.

In the final sentences of the above SCRCOG submission, Branford alludes to the need for some kind of plan, “Conduct a survey and develop an inventory of hazard trees and prepare a long-term maintenance plan for trees owned by the Town.”

Branford needs the plan now — one that includes hazardous private roadside trees —and put in place before serious injury or death occurs.

With global climate change, it’s only going to get worse.

Jerry Shaw

Branford

Managing an urban forest isn’t rocket science, but it does utilize some of the interdisciplinary trappings of horticulture and botany. It also requires attention to managerial detail and the needs of the environment and public safety. New Haven has all of this covered, as evidenced by their city webpage.

After Jane’s near-death encounter with a falling tree on Leetes Island Road (pictures are published in other posts on this website), I attempted to determine the status of Branford’s forest management, particularly along Branford’s roads. The conclusion isn’t favorable – there is no management process, no plan, no record keeping and no verifiable state certified tree warden. 2/19/2025 Update: A 2017 letter veriying Zielinski DEEP certification was released on April, 2024 but denied retrieval using an FOIA request. Branford roadside tree management isn’t even an afterthought. Jane’s accident didn’t even make it into the September 6, 2022 records of public works as verified by a FOIA request.

To answer the question of why this issue is important beyond one random near-fatality involving a roadside tree, there are multiple examples. In 2018 the state reached a multi-million-dollar settlement with the estate of a Pelham, N.Y. couple who died in a 2007 incident on the Merritt Parkway in which a 70-foot tree fell on their vehicle, from which their two children escaped.   The family through their attorney David Hill of Glastonbury argued that the state knew or should have known about rotting and other defects of the tree and cut the tree down. The DEEP has conducted an extensive hazardous tree removal program in state parks due to three tree related deaths, several injuries and resulting lawsuits. A month after Jane’s, accident, a woman was killed in Harrison, NY on I-95. If you Google tree related deaths in Connecticut, you will be shocked. In 2019 the CT DOT (and more recently in 2023 ) can’t keep up with roadside tree maintenance. Fairfield had two tree-related fatalities in 2022. Recently, a baby girl was killed in Massachusetts when a tree fell on their car while traveling with a Connecticut woman.

Finally, in response to municipal roadside tree maintenance costs, the state legislature is considering a DEEP fund to help towns. In response to calls for input by the state legislature, New Haven’s tree warden responded thusly:

CITY OF NEW HAVEN, TREE WARDEN, ANNIE MIXSELL supports this legislation as, “New Haven’s recent street tree inventory of just half our neighborhoods identified 1,987 street trees in poor, very poor, or standing dead condition. additional resources such as those that may be provided from this bill would allow New Haven to hire outside contractors to expedite tree removals and address the risks these trees pose”. “The funds provided by this bill would supplement municipal urban forest management plans through risk mitigation and addressing public health and safety”

Branford does not have a street tree inventory.

How many Branford street trees are in poor, very poor, or standing dead condition? How many are on private property? One only need drive Leetes Island Road south of I-95 to be doubly concerned.

Of significant importance, but often overlooked, is access to Branford emergency evacuation shelters in the aftermath of coastal tropical storms.

Have the trees leading to these shelters been mapped and categorized?

Several Connecticut towns have STI maps (Hartford and Wallingford), but New Haven’s (just click on a tree in this link to see its data) is the most relevant. Other cities have similar products, such as Queens NYC.

Needed Steps to Improved Branford Tree Management

There are a few steps to improving the safety of travelers along Branford streets while also improving Branford’s forest canopy.

There are federal funds now available. State funds may be available.

Here’s what New Haven did:

1. The analysis of New Haven’s urban tree canopy (UTC) was carried out in collaboration with the City of New Haven, the Urban Resources Initiative at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, The University of Connecticut’s Center for Land Use Education & Research, and the State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.
2. The analysis was performed by the Spatial Analysis Laboratory (SAL) of the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources, in consultation with the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station.”

Noted above that the University of Vermont has expertise in tree-mapping and their analysis uses the local GIS database. “Notable projects have included more than 75 tree-canopy assessments in the United States and Canada, high-resolution land-cover mapping at state and regional scales, automated mapping of wetlands and other ecological features, and UAS missions for flooding events, stream-channel mapping, train derailments, and road-construction monitoring.”

Recent 5-12-23 edit: A publication by SCRCOG outlines the benefits of tree canopy assessments, which use the University of Vermont SAL analysis.

Recent 5-13-23 edit: What’s new, and a surprise to many, is in recognition of storm-induced falling-tree risks, Branford, in a recent February, 10, 2023 annex submission to the South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG), revealed the following: “Tree related hazards are among the Town’s most significant recurring and widespread issues, particularly the downing of electric and communication lines during hurricane/tropical storm and severe winter storm events.”

Conclusion

In this era of climate change’s stress (wind and disease) on urban forests, Branford must elevate the professional level of town personnel devoted to urban forest management.

It’s been over six months since a tree fell on my wife’s car and the town has not conducted an investigation into the cause. We drive by on our way to Stop and Shop and see the stump of the tree. There are several stumps like it along Leetes Island Road. Public Works has no record of the incident on September 6, 2022 – not a single line of narrative of the incident according to our FOIA requests. Turns out they don’t have records of much of anything. It never happened as far as the town is concerned. No arborists reports – what was the tree’s species or physical characteristics? Was it afflicted by disease or infected by insects? Or just old age and rot. No mention of other surrounding trees that my also threaten the lives of future passersby. Not even its GPS coordinates. We only have the Branford Fire Department photos. Thank God for those.

So I wrote the following letter. We’ll wait and see.

                 

                                                                                         

Mr. James Cosgrove, Branford First Selectman

Branford Board of Selectmen

Branford, CT 06405

Dear Mr. Cosgrove and Board of Selectmen:

As you are aware, the RTM recently revised the town code that governs the duties of the town tree warden. This revision was in response to a September 6, 2022 accident when my wife experienced a near fatal encounter with a falling tree while driving south on Leetes Island Road.

It has been revealed that the town has not had a state certified tree warden for almost three years, as required by both state statutes, and previous and revised versions of the town code.

After September 6, our repeated attempts to contact either the town public works director or the town tree warden (one and the same) failed. The revised town code now requires that the town tree warden respond to taxpayer tree-related requests.

As of September 6, and as of this writing, the town tree warden webpage does not list the name or e-mail address of a state certified tree warden or anyone acting in that capacity.

It’s for these reasons that I’m appealing directly to the Board.

It should also be noted that a freedom of information act (FOIA) request revealed the outrageous fact that the town public works administration has no record of the post-accident cleanup on September 6, 2022, even given the severity of the near-fatal event involving a roadside tree.

We wonder if other similar events have not been recorded by Branford public works. We hope that the new tree warden will keep publicly accessible records.

Finally, we are concerned that the group of roadside trees that contained the tree that fell on our car continue to present a danger to Leetes Island Road drivers. We believe they are rooted in private, downward sloping soil next to the town right of way. According to the police report, these trees are across Leetes Island Road from Eversource utility pole number 44736, which was damaged by the same tree that struck my wife’s car.

According to Sec, 16-10 A and C of the revised town code, the tree warden has the town and state authority to remove private roadside trees that present a threat to public safety.

Given the town does not have a state certified tree warden, we suggest the deployment of on-call arborists to evaluate the public safety risk before prevalent recent windstorms weaken these trees further.

Jerry Shaw

As stated in a previous post, on September 6, 2022, my 85th birthday, my wife miraculously survived an encounter with a falling tree as she traveled south on Leetes Island Road in Branford. I’ve written a published letter to the Sound, which appeared on March 9, 2023. See https://static.zip06.com/zip06/magazines/thesound-03092023/index.html