Date: Fri 01-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-land-use-Frenette

Full Text:

Another New Hire For The Land-Use Department

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The town has hired a former Fairfield Hills policeman to serve as the new

municipal zoning enforcement officer.

Gary J. Frenette of Woodbury is scheduled to begin work Monday, May 4, as

zoning enforcement officer. He will be based at the town land use office in

Canaan House at Fairfield Hills.

Since 1996, Mr Frenette has worked as a security and safety associate at

Heritage Village, an age-restricted condominium complex in Southbury. From

1991 to 1995, Mr Frenette attended Naugatuck Valley Community-Technical

College where he learned to be a paralegal. Paralegals aid lawyers with legal

work, but do not practice law.

Mr Frenette worked in the state's office of the public defender in Litchfield

in 1993 and 1994. From 1982 to 1990, Mr Frenette served as a police officer

and acting shift supervisor for the former Fairfield Hills Police Department.

The Fairfield Hills Police Department went out of existence after the patient

population of the psychiatric institution dropped so low that law enforcement

personnel were no longer needed. The hospital closed in December 1995.

Mr Frenette has an associate's degree from Naugatuck Valley Community

Technical College in Waterbury; computer training from the Computer Processing

Institute in Waterbury; certification from the Connecticut Police Academy; and

an associate's degree in criminal justice from Mattatuck Community College in

Waterbury.

In April 1989, Mr Frenette received an Emergency Lifesaving Award for saving

the life of a woman at Fairfield Hills.

While serving as the town's zoning enforcement officer, Mr Frenette will

receive $35,000 annual salary.

Four Days And Gone

The first item listed on a recent Planning and Zoning Commission's (P&Z)

meeting agenda was the formal appointment of Mara Porwitzki of New Fairfield

as the town's new zoning enforcement officer.

But it was not to be.

After William Nicholson resigned as zoning enforcement officer at the end of

February, the town hired Ms Porwitzki, who started work here April 6. But she

worked for only four days.

She left to take a post in New Fairfield as that town's assistant tax

assessor.

Before her brief stint in Newtown, Ms Porwitzki had worked as New Fairfield's

zoning enforcement officer.

After starting work in Newtown, she apparently received an offer to become New

Fairfield's assistant assessor and then accepted the post.

Of the P&Z's first agenda item, which read "Appointment of Mara Porwitzki as

authorized Zoning Enforcement Officer for the Newtown Planning and Zoning

Commission," P&Z member Heidi Winslow said, "Cross that out with a big X."

"She's no longer in our employ," said P&Z Acting Chairman Daniel Fogliano.

After three days on the job, Ms Porwitski had decided the Newtown job wasn't

the one for her, Mr Fogliano said.

At that P&Z session, P&Z members formally appointed C. Stephen Driver as the

P&Z's authorized agent for erosion and sediment control.

Office In Flux

The town land use office in Canaan House at Fairfield Hills has been in a

state of flux in recent months.

Mr Nicholson resigned his post after former Conservation Official Christopher

Majewski resigned his job in mid-February. Mr Majewski was on the job less

than one year. Mr Majewski had replaced David Thompson as conservation

official. However, while Mr Majewski worked for the town, he was known as the

environmental enforcement official.

Also, land use secretary Kathy Reymers left in February after less than a year

on the job.

Mr Driver replaces Mr Majewski.

The town has hired Melissa Morin as land use secretary, replacing Ms Reymers.

To oversee the activities of the land use department, the town has hired Rita

MacMillan to be land use director. In the past, Ms MacMillan had worked as the

P&Z's administrative aide.

Mrs MacMillan replaces Town Engineer Ronald Bolmer as the head of the land use

department. Mr Bolmer now focuses his energies on town engineering duties.

Janet Burns remains as the land use agencies' administrative aide.

During the periods when the town has had no zoning enforcement officer, Jean

St Jean, who normally serves as the borough zoning official, has filled in as

the town's zoning enforcement officer.

The town government has rewritten the job descriptions of various town staff

members, as needed, in light of the changing personnel picture.