By Clark Judge.
For the first time in 12 years, Cathy Iino is not Killingworth’s First Selectwoman. Republican Nancy Gorski is. A former member of the town’s Boards of Selectmen and Finance, as well as the RSD 17 Board of Education and Killingworth Charter Revision and Conservation Commissions, Gorski is grounded in local politics. “So I’m ready,” she said. She proved it when she sat down on her first day of office to explain why.
Q: You’ve been in town politics before. But never at this level. Why now?
GORSKI: Good question. I retired in June, 2020 and thought: Well, I have an opportunity. In all fairness, I never expected to win. I expected Cathy to run again. And (I thought I’d challenge her) just to present some new ideas; to give her some things that I’m thinking about that maybe she could use. Cathy’s been such a force in this town. When I found out after the fact that she wasn’t running I was shocked. Truly shocked. But I’m ready to do this. I’ve got some ideas for this town, and I’m ready to go forward.
Q: New ideas?
GORSKI: I really do want to focus on health and safety. That’s first and foremost. But that’s not a new idea. Some of the new ideas are with people in Town Hall. I was talking with women for the Krier, and I’d like to see the town pay for a monthly page where we could spotlight people who work in our town. I think we should pay for that because it gives everyone an opportunity to see what people do. Another idea is that I want to work with the town employees and make sure that we look at their job descriptions and make sure they’re getting timely annual reviews. It doesn’t sound like it’s new, but it’s been falling through the cracks. Probably under the health-and-safety aspect, I want to work on a water filtration system for the Town Hall campus. That to me is critical. We shouldn’t be moving forward to look at what we need to do with Town Hall and the Fire Hall until we make sure that the water is managed. Walter filtration is important there. Spotlighting our employees is important but secondary to their well-being. I want to put money into the 2022-23 budget to do this.
Q: Well, since you mentioned it … PFAS water contamination, Deer Lake and affordable housing are hot-button issues waiting for you. How soon do you plan to address them and in what fashion?
GORSKI: The PFAS situation is an on-going activity, so there are monthly meetings with the state and DEEP to go over that. Right now, with the town residences that are over the threshold … those filtration systems have been put in place. But we just recently found out that with the sale of the Killingworth Cafe that PFAS is as far south as the circle.
Q: How about the street where you live? There are numerous residences there with contaminated water.
GORSKI: Yes. I‘m below the action level of 70 (million parts per trillion). I’m at 10. But my neighbor directly across the street is in the 1,000s. It is absolutely crazy. What I’m hearing from the state right now is that they only look at the filtration systems as a short-term solution. They need something long-term. They’re looking into whether any of the infrastructure bill that’s been recently signed can be utilized to help with the situation or alleviate the situation. I asked whether or not Killingworth was unique or how many other towns are being impacted by this, and the answer was: No, Killingworth is unique, though there are some pockets of PFAS in other areas.
Q: Then there’s the sale of Deer Lake. Does that have your attention?
GORSKI: Yes. The Trust for Public Land has submitted an offer. It’s not the only offer that has been submitted. We talked to the Yankee Regional Council (that owns Deer Lake) and some of the challenges in the offer the TPL submitted. It’s a range, and if it’s at the lower end of the range, they’re not going to buy it. If it’s at the upper end of the range, they’ll consider the offer. I do feel that there are private funding sources, as well as state funding sources. The town may have to pony up some (money). I don’t know yet. I will tell you this: The Yankee Council is not meeting until Dec. 14. My guess is that if we get information back on this by Dec. 15 there would have to be a January Town Hall where I could present this to the town. That really has my attention now. Because if we’re going to have to act, we’re going to have to act quickly. The Yankee Council did come back and say to us that they have to start paying on their debt … I believe in January. So they’re anxious to move.
Q: And what about affordable housing?
GORSKI: I met with the Committee on Alternative Housing in mid-November, too. I’d been to one meeting, but that was my first time as First Selectwoman. We do need to have a plan in place by this coming summer (2022), and that’s under state statute. So I want to have more information there, and I will continue to meet with the committee. I don’t have the numbers, but my intuition tells me that the housing that we need is in the (age) 55-plus type of housing. We don’t have employees necessarily that work in this town that need access to small apartments or things of that nature. I don’t see that in this town. But I can’t be certain until I get the information back from Alternative Housing. We talked about Deer Lake and whether or not that would be some place they could do that, but the infrastructure’s not there.
Q: You’ve said communication is key with your administration. The past year-and-a-half Town Hall meetings have been held virtually. Do you envision returning to in-person sessions? If so, when and where?
GORSKI: There is something coming from the state that prohibits us from having an in-person meeting unless it’s hybrid. We have to be able to dial into a meeting if we offer in-person contact. So I’m looking into the Middle School to see whether or not it has the equipment that will allow us to do that. I think the Board of Education does meet at the middle school, and if the Board of Education is having in-person meetings I see no reason why the Board of Selectmen can’t do the same. As long as we can offer the hybrid solution that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Q: Before leaving office, Cathy Iino described “a change of attitude” in local politics, saying it’s become “an aggressive team sport.” Do you agree? From what I’ve heard you seem to be a moderate who can bring people together.
GORSKI: I’m glad to hear that. I portray myself as being a very moderate Republican. I work with people on boards and commissions. I try to be fair, but I do recognize what Cathy went through. I think the biggest challenge was when Charter Revision was found to be outside of state statutes. From that point forward it’s turned into a political football, and I don’t want to see that happen. Facebook (conversations) were very acidic, and I didn’t like to see that. In fact, I’m drafting an e-mail to people who were on the Charter Revision asking them if they want to come back. But I have to be careful that I can’t guarantee a spot. Because I have to make sure we’re in compliance with the state statute.
Q: You plan to pursue renovations to Town Hall, the Fire Company and Town Barn (EOC). The town pays approximately $400,000 per year in debit service. How much additional spending do you believe will be required to complete those projects?
GORSKI: It’s premature for me to say. I do know that the Town Hall and Fire Department are on the Capital Plan for 2022-23. Now whether or not one has to come before the other … we may have to juggle both to figure out when we’re ready. Looking at town property, what I’m most concerned about is that we need improvements to these buildings. But my challenge is that I don’t want to raise the mill rate.
Q: I’m glad you mentioned that. Because rather than – or, as a supplement to – borrowing, the mill rate could be raised to finance those projects. Presently, each expenditure of $700,000 equates to one mill rate of taxation. How much do you anticipate the mill rate increases as a result of these projects?
GORSKI: It’s something we have to discuss with the Board of Finance. Here’s the challenge: We do have money in the Capital Reserve. So do we use some of that to fund some of these projects? Could we use funding from the American Recovery Act? We already have an acting committee – the economic recovery committee – looking into that. I want to meet with them at their next meeting and say, ‘Where are we going with this?’ To me, and this is just my personal opinion, distributing funds to our townspeople would be a wonderful way to put money back in the economy. But the problem is: If we don’t use some of that money to fund some of our big projects I’m taking that money right back in taxation. So my thought is: Are there other avenues of funding that we can use to help us get there without us impacting the mill rate?
Q: In recent years the town has had an aggressive road maintenance program. Do you plan to continue it and, if not, why not?
GORSKI: Absolutely. I want to continue that Capital Improvement plan. It works. Year after year it works. And, actually, it keeps our mill rate steady, as opposed to having big spikes to maintain the roads.
Q: You live north of the circle off Route 81. There are two schools there. Two churches, too. A library, ambulance service, the fire house and Town Hall … not to mention dozens of residences … are also on it. The speed limit is 35 north of the circle, yet it’s not uncommon for vehicles to exceed 50. Does that have your interest?
GORSKI: There are things that are happening in the background. I will tell you that we have posted speed signs being placed strategically to see what’s happening at different speeds in different areas. I sent an e-mail this mail this morning to Stephen Krause and Rich Mulhall, our state resident troopers. Cathy had reached out to DOT to look at issues on Route 80 and Roast Meat Hill Road because when you’re coming out of Roast Meat and going south you have limited visibility on both sides. You also have issues on Stevens Road and Route 81. People are coming in from Clinton at 45 miles an hour or more. So their recommendation is: First, clear vegetation on both sides of the road. That’s easy. But they’re also saying put in some (blinking) speed signs to see if they can reduce some of the speeding. I do plan to meet with Stephen as soon as possible. I know he was doing speeding checks on Green Hill Road, but it would be more interesting for him to be on 81. And I also have people complaining of speeding on 148.
Q: The RSD Board of Education has a surplus of $1.5 million. State law requires that such a budget surplus in the next budget year be spent on students or returned to the towns. Will you, with the help of Haddam’s town leaders, advocate that this happens with the next town budget?
GORSKI: I will. For sure. We’ve done that in the past. I remember several years ago returning money to the town people. I think it’s important. We have other issues. I think the Board of Ed is doing a fine job for our students, but if there is excess money I think it should go back to the townspeople. We need to get it back as soon as possible, and I know that process.
Q: You were on the Charter Revision board that was disbanded. There was a lawsuit filed last month challenging the town’s opinion that members of its Board of Selectmen cannot hold another position in the municipal government. However, the lawsuit was withdrawn after the plaintiff lost in the election. Where does Killingworth stand on that issue now and does there need to be a clarification?
GORSKI: I was very disappointed, and I understood for various reasons why we dropped the lawsuit. It made perfect sense. But to me, we need this to move forward so we understand whether or not RSD 17 is indeed a portion of the town. I would argue no, but I’m not a lawyer. The problem is that we have a lot of vagaries in the charter. But in December I will charge a new Charter Revision commission, and if they want to make that clarification we should. We need clarity. We need to understand what our founding fathers who wrote that charter meant. In all likelihood, it originated well before we had a regional school board. So my question would be: Does a regional board of education – I’m not talking about Killingworth; anywhere in this state – constitute a form of government in the town?
Q: So you would not advocate pursuing a lawsuit?
GORSKI: No, we don’t want a lawsuit against the town. The Town Council provides an opinion. They expressed that. I need somebody to weigh in at the state level as to how this works under state statutes.
Q: What’s the best advice you received before taking this job?
GORSKI: Be open minded. Just because you have an objective in mind, remember that there are other people who may not agree with you. If nothing else, be sure to listen and continue to formulate the process going forward. I have to listen more and talk less. I need to learn from townspeople what they want. I can’t be head strong. I’ve got to make sure people come to me, and I’m ready to listen.
Photo by Tim Gannon.
