Looking Back At 2022: What The Carfora Mayoral Administration Got Done

EAST HAVEN, CT — One of the promises Mayor Joseph A. Carfora made to the community was to restore the town's ice rink. In 2020, and again in 2021, Carfora spoke about the importance of restoring the Patsy Dilungo Memorial Ice Rink. And noted that, “Problems created over decades cannot, and really shouldn’t be fixed overnight. I’m being methodical and doing things the right way."

In late 2022, the doors again opened to the popular and longtime ice rink on Hudson Street, but this time, to a state-of-the-art facility. An accomplishment he's proud of, and it came in under budget, as cake icing.

"Just another in a long list of major issues in town that we inherited but that we made right," Carfora said. "It came out beautifully."

Originally budgeted at $5.4 million, Carfora said the town came in under budget by tens of thousands of dollars. "And we didn't skimp on anything. We were creative and smart and still came in under budget."

Once it was well underway, Carfora passed the torch on the entire project to now-Director of Administration and Management/Economic Development Michelle Benivegna. He said her style is to "take the bull by the horns and get things done."

"The mayor had a vision for the space," Benivegna said. "It is quite an investment, so his plan was to make it a year-round facility to include planned events throughout the year."

And so as not to bury the lead, what was not promised or even made public, until today, is that come June, it will be transformed into a seasonal roller skating rink complete with rental skates, concession and DJ.

"It was the mayor's idea to revive 'skateland east,'" Benivegna said. "An East Haven staple. A historic East Haven place that generations enjoyed."

Skatetown USA, or Skateland East, as it was known, was the far since shuttered, wildly popular East Haven roller rink. Owned and operated by Cappy Amodio and Ralph Castellor, it opened in 1955 and closed in 1987. So a quarter of a century later, starting this summer, roller skating will be back in East Haven. And on Carfora's watch, which he said, "I'm pretty excited about. And I want it to be a revenue-maker."

The roller skating rink plan includes help from the town's recreation department," Benivegna said, adding that skates are being ordered.

"It'll make us different," Benivegna said. "It'll be so great for our kids and young adults. We're excited."

"From day one, one of the most important things has been to work to bring back a vibrant East Haven that residents can be proud of," Carfora said. "The ice rink, beautifying the Town Green, replacing playgrounds, beautifying parks, and bringing a lot of community events all across town, that's been a very important goal and we're doing that."

In a lengthy interview with Carfora and his right hand, Benivegna, they spoke on what his administration accomplished in 2022.

Auditing 2022: Promises made, promises kept?

Life's a beach, except for the parking

When asked to evaluate what he'd vowed to accomplish, and what he did accomplish, Carfora first pointed to the "major" problem around shoreline parking.

The 2022 beach season was the first summer that the new beach parking program was fully implemented, he said. And not only was it successful in addressing the longtime mess for East Haveners who live near the Long Island Sound, a little money was made, too, around $40,000.

"This was one of my campaign promises. Parking has been an issue for years. The previous (mayoral) administration never addressed it. There've always been complaints from parked cars blocking driveways to people having Uber Eats delivered to their cars, and they'd eat outside their parked cars in front of peoples houses," he said. Carfora noted that he, Benivegna, East Haven police and in particular Capt. Joseph M. Murgo, Town Councilors Joe Deko, Karen Martin and Joe Santino, and Town Attorney Michael Luzzi, among others "worked the problem" and the new parking program was created.

The beach parking conundrum was a top-line issue raised in the 2019 election, the one that saw Carfora win the town's top job.

"People said we couldn't, wouldn't be able to do it. We had our fingers crossed. It was the first time anything like that was implemented, and it's worked out great. (Beach) neighbors are ecstatic," the mayor said. "Even they didn't think we could pull it off."

The parking permit program went live in August 2021, near the end of season, but was fully launched in May 2022. A permit is required to park in the Town Beach parking lots and more than 20 surrounding streets during the beach season, May 15 to Oct. 15, between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.

"Getting this done was big," Carfora said. "Improving quality of life is a priority."

Town beautiful: 'A magazine cover'

Next up on the list to talk about was the second-phase of the Town Green beautification project.

"It's absolutely beautiful," Carfora said. "We have one more phase we'll start on right after the Fall Festival. The gazebo bid out came back with astronomical prices, so we got creative with that too, like we always do. We look down different avenues, different approaches to save money. We had meetings with public works: could they do on their own? That was a yes. So we started looking at companies that provide gazebo kits after we'd sent out bids that went from $1.4 million to the fourth and final $428,000 bid. We kept itemizing more and more and the price came down, but to me, it was still astronomical."

Part of that "astronomical" cost is in the actual building of the pavilion, he said.

"We already knew that public works said it could be done in house. And that's what we're doing. A kit and public works will erect it, we should have it close or under $200,000. A big difference. And this is all funded with (American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) money. All the Town Green phases have been paid for with ARPA funds. We've also been making some money back, like selling bricks (personalized pavers purchased by citizens). This has been a great project overall, and I'm proud our administration is getting it done."

Benivegna noted the overhaul and beautification of the Town Green is part of a larger picture.

"This all ties in to the mayor's goal of rebranding East Haven and making it a desirable community for both businesses and families," she said. "Having a beautiful Town Green makes you proud to say East Haven is my home. This project is just one of many that he's done to bring in additional tax revenues from new business as well."

Carfora pointed to myriad other town projects that are focused on improving residents' quality of life including: new playgrounds ordered using ARPA funding; the final phase of the West End project that brings it right to the city limits, also a funded project; the Shoreline Greenway Trail from Elliot Street to Cosey Beach, funded with grant monies; and the town engineer is currently working on moving the trail to the city-limits line, again, with grant funding.

Another quality-of-life component is about events and activities that bring the town together.

Benivegna pointed to, by way of example, the town's "tremendously successful" East Haven outdoor concert series which is among a handful of summer shows to successfully hold concerts during COVID.

"I think the whole feeling and outlook in town now is much better and after Michelle did some legwork, we found out that there were close to 60 LLCs (Limited Liability Corporations) that opened in East Haven in 2022. That's phenomenal, especially coming out of COVID."

He said that some of those are businesses from homes, and Benivegna noted: "They're calling East Haven their home and their workplace. They're staying here, which is important."

And as Carfora said, a number of brick-and-mortar business have opened as well including Trachouse salon, Transilvania Restaurant & Bar, AFI Orthotics and Prosthetics, East Haven Bottle Redemption Center, Align, the grand reopening of the Main Street Dunkin’ Donuts, and others.

About the town's actual audit and looking-forward budget

The town is still waiting for the company they contracted with to get that work done. Carfora said that it's experiencing a staffing shortage, which has pushed back the town's 2022 audit.

"We had all our stuff in and on time," Carfora said. "So we're at their mercy right now but, the consensus is that we should be coming in at between a $1.3 million and $1.5 million surplus."

For the upcoming budget, Carfora that process is underway: "We've already done a couple of departments, and we're continuing."

Public safety highlights from fire and police departments

• 7,444 Calls for service an unprecedented number a 29% increase over 2021
• Each firefighter was issued a second set of protective clothing, a huge step toward cancer prevention
• Station improvements of Bradford Manor Fire Station
• 6 new Multi-band portable radios to allow all fire companies to communicate with neighboring jurisdictions
• Hired 4 new firefighters 3 attended the fire academy and one was a lateral from Memphis
• Hired a part-time highly qualified and experienced fire inspector
• Replaced overhead doors at fire headquarters
• Headquarters finally has central air conditioning installed in 2022
• Took delivery of the new Engine 4 at Station 4
• Purchased a state surplus service truck and ford explorer for the training officer

Police

Myriad awards, promotions, and new hires including two police officers. And the successful joint traffic enforcement program to improve roadway safety with other neighboring towns.