Carfora: Inherited A Neglected Town To Fix, And Taxpayers Pay

EAST HAVEN, CT — Shortly before the public health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic gripped the community, East Haven Mayor Joseph A. Carfora was focused on contending with what he said was a crumbling infrastructure left to him by the previous mayoral administration.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. And while concentrating on trying to protect residents from the virus’s spread, he said, “the disaster of the (former longtime Mayor Joseph) Maturo administration” was revealing itself no matter where he turned.

“Listen, every day — no matter where you look — we find another way the town was screwed,” he said in a recent interview with Patch.

Carfora said the “negligence to do the most basic” of maintenance and preventative maintenance on public facilities “is not only gonna cost us, but we don’t have a pool for residents because the Maturo administration failed to do a thing,” for example, he said.

In January, Carfora and the town health department shut the pool down, citing dangerous-at-best conditions found there.

Read related story here: Mayor: Pool Condition Is Unacceptable, Calls Health Officials

But the pool was just the beginning, he said.

A crumbling gazebo

Carfora pointed to another structure, perhaps a smaller but no less important to the community, as an example of the “complete disregard” for the proper care of town buildings and facilities: the gazebo on the Town Green.

“The gazebo was cracking. It was not maintained and, in some areas, it was unsafe,” he said.
So public works employees repaired it. Why had they not done the work before, Carfora was asked by a reporter.

“They weren’t told to," he said. But he noted that when the repairs were made by town workers, the employees, “took a lot of pride in that work. It just should have been a job they were told to do. They weren’t.”

But the gazebo was small potatoes compared to the scope of the disrepair to the roof of the public works building, he said.

Roof deterioration: "No regard for the employees, for the taxpayers"

“It’s apparently been leaking for many, many years," he said. "It’s literally falling apart around our workers.”

Carfora said that when it rains, workers need to “relocate until the weather lets up.”

The roof needs to be repaired soon. So the town had a survey done by a roof management firm, and its “findings were unbelievable.”

“This type of damage is nothing that develops in a year or so; it takes numerous years of neglect to get to this point,” Carfora said, as shown by the firm's 42-page survey, with recommendations for short- and long-term repairs and their costs.

“This damage is not something that could have gone unnoticed," Carfora said. "The building was intentionally ignored, and the conditions were allowed to worsen with no regard for the employees or the taxpayers who would ultimately pay for the repairs.”

In the survey obtained by Patch through Freedom of Information Act requests, the problems with the roof are illustrated and recommendations are made as to how to move forward with repairs and/or replacement, “before a complete system failure.”

Built in the early 1980s, the roof of the East Haven public works and engineering building was photographed, and the images show extensive damage, some of which appears to have had patchwork repairs, although those have “failed.” Photos show a crumbling roof with ponding, insulation falling into bays, gaping holes and more. From the report, the issues are: “blistering and cracking, failing repairs and lap seems, flashing failures, pitch pocket failures, failed chimney blocking, and edge seam failures.”

Carfora said he was incredulous.

“An administration that was forward thinking would have headed this off at the first sign of damage in order to minimize the future costly repairs," he said. "But no, it was left to decay until it crumbled or someone was injured.”

Fix it or face a "complete system failure"

The report obtained by Patch offers four repair options. It stresses that whatever option is chosen, the work needs to be done as soon as possible and especially before winter sets in.

The options to repair run from $9,000 for a quick, temporary fix to $200,000 for a 40-year fix.

• The first option would cost around $9,000 and last a year, maybe two, and involve a couple of workers doing a “spot treat.” The report says that at the very least, the town must make basic repairs “asap in order to get through the next winter without a complete system failure.”
• Another, which would last up to possibly seven years, would cost $40,000, would have four workers making repairs over seven days and, at the very least, “These repairs will buy the town time to get full reroof budget money is approved the repairs are recommended ASAP.”
• The third, at a cost of $89,000, could last 15 years; and while more expensive, it is still a “spot fix.”
• The final suggestion, which would last up to 40 years or more and is warranted for at least 30 years, would go out to bid and run around $200,000. This option calls for the installation of a “modified built-up roof assembly installed in hot-applied adhesive that is proven to be the most durable roof assembly.” The report says this type of warranted roof is “crucial on important buildings” such as town and government facilities.

And it’s the latter option the town believes is the one that, while not a lower-cost "MacGyver-ing," makes the most sense.

“I've made this repair priority as soon as it came to my attention. The bid is in the process of going out, and we will once again fix and pay for the neglected town property left in my administration by Maturo.”

The Veterans Memorial Ice Rink

Patch has filed a FOI request with Recreation Director Louis Pane and Town Attorney Michael Luzzi for all documents related to the maintenance, or lack thereof, of the town’s Veterans Memorial Ice Rink.

Carfora said the facility is in such disrepair that it could cost $1 million to fix.

Patch will provide further information as soon as those documents are received.