SALISBURY — Three months after being introduced to the community, the town’s resident state trooper has left the position for another role within the Connecticut State Police, First Selectman Curtis Rand announced at the Board of Selectmen’s regular meeting Monday, April 6.
Rand said Trooper Ryan Cooper had applied for the other position before accepting the Salisbury assignment and chose to make the transition when it became available. Cooper was introduced to the public at the Jan. 6 selectmen’s meeting.
“We will have a replacement soon,” Rand said.
Selectmen also discussed ongoing concerns about speeding in town, an issue Selectman Kitty Kiefer said residents frequently raise with her.
The selectmen discussed possible solutions, including approaching the state Department of Transportation again about installing traffic-calming medians on Route 44 – near the Lion’s Head condominiums at the eastern end and west of the Route 44/41 intersection in Lakeville.
Other ideas included the often controversial installation of speed cameras, which automatically issue tickets.
Rand expressed caution about the use of speed cameras, saying “There’s a reason other towns aren’t doing it.”
In other business, Rand said he attended a Connecticut General Assembly hearing on the future of the Torrington Transfer Station, where state funding is set to end in June, prompting debate over whether the facility should remain publicly owned or be privatized.
The transfer station serves as a regional hub where towns bring household trash, recycling and bulky waste to be consolidated and transported in bulk to disposal and processing facilities.
Rand said he attended the hearing online and waited seven hours before testifying.
The message from Northwest Corner towns was, Rand said, “overwhelmingly” in favor of the state keeping control of the facility until the newly-formed Northwest Regional Recovery Authority develops a plan for potential control.
“None of us are interested in managing it,” Rand said. “We want to own it.”
