Beach stickers mailed with tax bills

WEST HAVEN, June 18, 2020 — City tax bills — real estate, personal property, motor vehicle and sewer — have been mailed and are payable in two installments: July and January. Included in the mailing are the new two-year beach parking stickers.

Each tax bill, which is sent out once a year, has three parts: a payment coupon for July, payment coupon for January and payment coupon for taxpayers’ records.

Taxes are due July 1. Payments after Aug. 3 are considered delinquent and subject to interest, Tax Collector Dorothy Chambrelli said.

Thanks to the city’s COVID-19 relief ordinance, delinquent taxes remaining due and payable from April 1 are subject to a reduced interest rate of 3% per year for 90 days from April 1. New taxes due July 1 will have a 30-day grace period and in the event they are paid late will also qualify for a reduced interest rate for 90 days.

Taxpayers can make a payment at Tax Collector. Sewer bills are on the same page but under a separate heading. Tax payment history can also be viewed and printed.

The fees for credit cards and electronic checks are available at Tax Collector Payments.

Current taxes can be paid by the drop box at the Main Street entrance of City Hall. Current taxes can also be paid by mail — check or money order, no cash — to the tax office lockbox: City of West Haven, Tax Collector, P.O. Box 150461, Hartford, CT 06115-0461. When paying by lockbox or drop box, the canceled check is the receipt.

After Aug. 3, taxes with interest can be paid by mail to the City of West Haven, Tax Collector, P.O. Box 401, West Haven, CT 06516.

In-person payments are not offered at the moment because City Hall remains closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

West Haven residents who own their vehicles and are current on their motor vehicle taxes will receive the 2020-22 beach stickers in the mail with their tax bills. Anyone who leases a vehicle will also receive a sticker in the mail.

Delinquent taxpayers are not eligible for the free stickers, which expire June 30, 2022, until their motor vehicle taxes are paid, city officials said.

Beach stickers are for new, leased and military-exempt vehicles, including motorcycles. A “new” vehicle means it was registered in West Haven after Oct. 1, 2019. Commercial vehicles are excluded and will not receive a sticker.

Each sticker includes the vehicle’s license plate number printed on it and is nontransferable.

Beach stickers are a benefit for resident taxpayers whose vehicles are registered in West Haven. They allow free parking in the following municipal lots: South Street, Dawson Avenue, Sea Bluff, Bradley Point, Rock Street, Oak Street, Altschuler Plaza, Morse Park, Sandy Point and the boat launch on April Street.

The boat launch is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and closed overnight. Use of the launch is for city residents only.

Beach stickers are only valid if affixed to the inside lower left corner of the vehicle’s windshield.

Anyone who did not receive a beach sticker or has recently purchased a new vehicle registered in West Haven can contact the tax office at 203-937-3525 or taxoffice@westhaven-ct.gov.

Nonresident stickers are not available at this time because of COVID-19 restrictions limiting the capacity of beach parking lots.

For beach sticker information, call the tax office at 203-937-3525.

West Haven reopening recreational venues June 17

Certain recreational venues reopen in West Haven

WEST HAVEN, June 18, 2020 — In accordance with federal, state and local guidelines, the city reopened certain recreational venues this week, Mayor Nancy R. Rossi and city Health Director Maureen B. Lillis announced.

On Wednesday, the city reopened the West Haven High School track and tennis courts, the Painter Park tennis courts, and the shoreline bocce and horseshoe courts.

Also on Wednesday, the city increased the capacity of beach parking lots to 75%, Rossi said. Beach parking is for West Haven residents only until further notice.

Rossi noted that the boat launch on April Street is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and closed overnight.

Use of the boat launch is for city residents only. Residents must comply with COVID-19 boating guidelines from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Lillis said.

Rossi is encouraging residents to continue keeping West Haven’s 3 miles of public beaches clean and litter-free, saying, “Whatever you carry in, carry out.”

Registration underway for West Haven summer camp programs

WEST HAVEN, June 16, 2020 — Registration has opened online for the Department of Parks and Recreation’s modified camp and playground programs this summer, Mayor Nancy R. Rossi and Park-Rec Director Mark E. Paine Jr. announced.

Register at http://www.whparkrec.com.

All programs will hold three sessions: July 6-16, July 20-30 and Aug. 3-13. Each session is for West Haven residents only and will meet Monday through Thursday.

Painter Park Day Camp, which costs $190 per session, will meet from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Junior Day Camp, which costs $110 per session, will meet from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pagels Elementary School.

Playground camps, which cost $48.50 per session, will meet from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Bailey Middle School, Carrigan Intermediate School and Washington Elementary School.

Paine said the Junior Counselor in Training program and Tiny Tots Camp are canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Suggs sworn in as West Haven police commissioner

WEST HAVEN, June 16, 2020 — (Pictured): Mayor Nancy R. Rossi swears in Christopher M. Suggs to the Board of Police Commissioners during a ceremony attended by dozens of colleagues, friends and loved ones June 10 at The John C. Ireland Bandstand on the Green.

Suggs and Rossi were joined by state Rep. Michael A. DiMassa, D-West Haven; City Clerk Patricia C. Horvath; city Treasurer Michael P. Last; Planning and Zoning Commission Chairwoman Kathleen Hendricks; and City Council members Bridgette J. Hoskie, D-1, Elizabeth Johnston, D-3, Robbin Watt Hamilton, D-5, Peter V. Massaro, D-6, Treneé McGee, D-7, Chrystal Fanelli, D-8, Robert Bruneau, D-9, Barry Lee Cohen, R-10, and Gary Donovan, D-at large.

Suggs, a longtime member of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Democratic Town Committee, succeeds Commissioner Peter BonTempo, a former deputy chief of the Police Department who retired in 2000 after a career of nearly 23 years.

A lifelong Westie, Suggs represented the 5th District on the City Council from 2007 to 2011.

(City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)

Applications available for summer public works jobs in West Haven

WEST HAVEN, June 4, 2020 — The city is accepting applications from residents ages 18 and older for summer seasonal employment for the Department of Public Works.

The minimum wage jobs consist of working 40 hours per week until Sept. 1.

Download an Application.

Applications are also available by calling the personnel office at 203-937-3558.

Send applications to the City of West Haven, Department of Personnel, 355 Main St., West Haven, CT 06516. Applications can also be inserted into the drop box at the Main Street entrance of City Hall.

Rossi sets committee to mark West Haven’s centennial

WEST HAVEN, June 1, 2020 — Mayor Nancy R. Rossi is commissioning a special committee to create, organize and oversee events for West Haven’s 100th anniversary next year.

The West Haven Centennial Committee will celebrate the 1921 birth of Connecticut’s youngest town with a series of commemorative events 100 years in the making.

The centennial will include a kickoff ceremony and other events that observe West Haven’s rich and diverse heritage, Rossi said.

In addition to Rossi, the committee members are city Human Resources Commissioner Beth A. Sabo, mayoral aide Ruth G. Torres, Public Works Commissioner Tom J. McCarthy, city Treasurer Michael P. Last, Charter Revision Commissioner Rohan Smith and West Haven Historical Society President Jon E. Purmont.

The honorary members are state Sens. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, and James Maroney, D-Milford; state Reps. Charles J. Ferraro, R-West Haven, Michael A. DiMassa, D-West Haven, and Dorinda Borer, D-West Haven; City Council Chairman Ronald M. Quagliani, D-at large; and council members Bridgette J. Hoskie, D-1, William X. Conlon, D-2, Elizabeth Johnston, D-3, Mitchell L. Gallignano, D-4, Robbin Watt Hamilton, D-5, Peter V. Massaro, D-6, Treneé McGee, D-7, Chrystal Fanelli, D-8, Robert Bruneau, D-9, Barry Lee Cohen, R-10, Gary Donovan, D-at large, and Colleen O’Connor, R-at large.

Rossi said the committee will meet in the coming months to plan various centennial events for 2021. The committee will announce the events once they are finalized, she said.

West Haven, now a city, incorporated as Connecticut’s youngest in 1961, is also one of the state’s oldest communities.

In 1648, West Haven, then known as West Farms, was settled by farmers from the New Haven Colony. West Farms became the separate parish of West Haven in 1719 through a petition granted by the General Assembly. In 1822, the parish united with North Milford to form the town of Orange before separating from Orange in 1921 to become the town of West Haven.

According to the Historical Society, West Haven was founded by several New Haven Colony leaders who recognized the value of the extended shoreline, unadulterated forests and potential farmland. The historic crossing into West Farms was by horse bridge over the West River near New Haven Harbor. The West River Crossing is an event that is commemorated to this day both in ceremony and in a master mural in the post office on Campbell Avenue.

Soon after, according to information on the society’s website, guilds built six large post-medieval houses within a short distance of the community’s central Green, a common grazing and meeting site. The earliest settlers shared the lands with three major Native American tribes that historically summered in West Farms, using the resources of forests, three tributaries and a shoreline abundant with both freshwater and saltwater life.

The brick Veterans Walk of Honor in Bradley Point Park. (City Photo/Michael P. Walsh, File)

Application deadline for Brick Campaign extended to July 17

WEST HAVEN, May 21, 2020 — The West Haven Veterans Council has extended the application deadline to July 17 for the 13th phase of its popular Brick Campaign.

Download a Brick Application.

Veterans Council members and city officials will dedicate the 13th phase of the brick Veterans Walk of Walk of Honor at 10:45 a.m. Nov. 11 in Bradley Point Park.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing restrictions, the event, originally slated for May 23, has been rescheduled to coincide with the annual Veterans Day tribute.

In November 2006, the council began the first of 13 campaigns selling bricks to memorialize veterans on the 100-yard Walk of Honor between the William A. Soderman and Vietnam Veterans memorials.

The bricks, which cost $75, have charcoal lettering for personalized messages.

More than 2,700 bricks have been installed so far, including 51 for the 12th phase, which was dedicated May 25, 2019.

Park-Rec holds photo challenge

WEST HAVEN, May 21, 2020 — Are you running out of ideas and looking for something to do during this unprecedented time of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic?

Why not test your knowledge and awareness of things and locations found right here in West Haven!

The Department of Parks and Recreation will post a photo weekly at https://www.whparkrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=29656 for you and your family to figure out “what or where is it?” Then all you have to do is respond by registering* and give your answer.

The names of individuals with the correct answer for each week’s photo challenge will be placed in a random weekly drawing* for a $50 Park-Rec gift certificate/household account credit.

So, are you up for the challenge? Good luck!

* Please, only one registration/entry per family per week.