Among the efforts he’ll be making on behalf of the town in 2020, Old Saybrook First Selectman Carl P. Fortuna, Jr., will focus on three primary areas—technology, recreation, and waste reduction, which includes guiding the final phase of Old Saybrook’s wastewater project. He shared his goals with the Harbor News in the first week of the year.

Using Technology to Create Efficiencies

“We’ve been really trying to push technology” in town government, Fortuna said. “It’s worked in our Building Office, in our Fire Marshal’s Office, and for our accounting system with our accounting staff. The technology we’ve brought in has definitely made us more efficient and saved time and in most cases has allowed us to not only be more efficient but [has] saved us money.”

Early in 2019, for instance, the town began the process of converting time and attendance from paper to an electronic system. This followed the town’s switch to a new general accounting system as well as an in-house payroll system, rolled out in July 2017, that saves the town around $30,000 a year.

By continuing to advocate for improved technology, Fortuna said, he hopes the town can “make public interaction with government easier.”

Late last year, the town released a request for proposals for banking services with a deadline of Oct. 31 in an effort to make the processing of tax payments more seamless for town employees.

“It’s down to two finalists,” Fortuna said of the bids the town received. “There are some neat ideas out there.”

One method, remote capture, makes use of a machine that copies the front and back of each check and transmits that information to the bank for deposit.

“The checks never go to the bank,” he said. “They’re remotely captured and deposited. The money ends up in the bank sooner” and employees don’t have to travel to the bank to make a deposit.

Fortuna is also thinking about how he might communicate with Saybrook residents in ways other than the meeting minutes, which are posted on the town website. He mentioned Facebook Live and Twitter as possibilities.

An important consideration, he said, is “where [technology] fits. It has to fit. You don’t just do it to say we have this technology.

“We’re a town of 10,000, so it has to make sense for us internally and it has to make sense for our residents. It has to...actually offer a real improvement.”

Enhanced Recreation

“I believe the Board of Finance is going to pass at their next meeting a strategic plan for Parks & Recreation with probably a report being generated in the summer of this year,” Fortuna said. “What that may do is enhance four or so of our current facilities. It also might give us a road map on how we might transform certain space or make those spaces better.”

One example is the 1.3 acres of public space between the police station and the pickleball courts, Fortuna said.

“We’re looking to figure out how we can develop that,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll have a road map for that this year. It could be something new and different that could be great for our residents and draw visitors into town.”

Waste Reduction

As waste disposal facilities become scarce and costs rise, Fortuna will continue to look into ways for the town to cut down on what it throws away.

“There’s an imminent waste disposal crisis,” he said. “Old Saybrook can lead by reducing the amount of garbage we generate...by recycling more, composting more, reusing items that we would normally throw away, and just reduc[ing] our waste footprint.

“The State of Connecticut can lead this effort also,” he continued, suggesting the state pass “legislation that will mandate more extended producer responsibility [EPR] like we currently do with tires and mattresses.”

When a mattress is brought to the town’s transfer station, Fortuna explained, rather than being thrown into a landfill or burned along with other non-recyclable waste, it is sent back to the manufacturer.

“It gets reused and regenerated,” he said. “We should be doing that with more items.”

An empty peanut butter jar, for instance, must be cleaned in order for it to be recycled. If it’s not clean, it has to be thrown in the trash.

“Maybe we should have a deposit on that,” he said. “A 10-cent deposit on mayonnaise and mustard. People will take a lot better care of those items” then, Fortuna suggested.

Last of the Septic Systems

“Part B of this [waste issue] is to finally...resolve the final phase of our Water Pollution Control Authority [WPCA] program in 2020,” Fortuna said. “At least put the town on track as to how we are going to complete our program. I hope that happens by the end of this calendar year.

For more than a decade, Old Saybrook has been working under a Department of Energy & Environmental Protection mandate to address insufficient septic systems in several coastal neighborhoods. The first two phases of the project are complete, leaving the third phase, which addresses the most challenging wastewater projects, on the drawing board.

“We have our engineer looking at two...possible options,” he continued, saying he anticipates that these will be discussed in an upcoming WPCA meeting, but likely in executive session first.

One option, he said, would be “to do something very localized. The other is to surface discharge [waste from septic systems] into the river. Those are the only two options left for the remaining properties.

“I don’t—and you can quote me on this—I do not favor surface discharge into the Connecticut River,” he said.

“We’re hoping to set the town on its path and that path...could take another three to five years to complete,” he said. “We’re moving toward a decision point.”