USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Darien > Town of Darien, founded 1641, incorporated 1820 > Part 5
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GOVERNMENT
The principal duties of the Highway Department are : construction of new roads, bridges and sidewalks, main- tenance of existing highways, sidewalks and bridges, snow removal and sanding of icy roads during the winter, treat- ment of gravel roads to allay the dust, maintenance of guard rails, maintenance of tide gate at Gorham's Pond, care of the small parks about the town, installation of new catch basins and culverts, also cleaning them at intervals, mowing and cleaning up of the Noroton River Cemetery, cutting brush, grass, and weeds along the roadsides, and sweeping and keeping clean the streets about the business centers.
For the past five years, the Highway Department has expended funds each year to the extent of an average of 8 per cent of the total annual appropriation made by the town.
THE TAX COMMISSIONER
THE office of tax commissioner was created by act of the Legislature in 1929. Prior to that time assessments on real and personal property were made by a board of three assessors elected by the people.
The first tax commissioner under the new law was Frank D. Waddell, who, under the provisions of the act, was appointed by the Selectmen. He took office in October, 1929, and served a full term of three years. He set about making a complete revision of the assessment rolls of the town and had partially completed his task when his term expired. The late Ernest B. Crofoot was then named to the office. Following his death, on March 24, 1935, Robert Eaton Saunders was named to fill out the unexpired term.
The work begun by Mr. Waddell was continued by Mr. Crofoot, with the result that real-estate valuations have been quite generally revised; but much remains to be done before the work is completed.
The tax commissioner is required annually to make out a complete list of tax-paying properties in the town, both real and personal. Each property owner is required dur- ing the month of October in every year to file with the
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commissioner, for that purpose, a list of his or her real and personal property, signed by himself or his duly author- ized agent. Failure to do so before November I involves a penalty of 10 per cent and deprives the property owner of the right of appeal from the commissioner's assessment. The lists are made up in the commissioner's office and are filed alphabetically in volumes provided for that purpose. The owner of the property, if he sees fit, can place his own valuation on his property as against that fixed by the com- missioner. The Board of Relief, a body consisting of three citizens, chosen at the annual town election, compares the owner's figures with those of the commissioner, and after viewing the property, following any claim of over-assess- ment, it decides whether the property owner is entitled to relief. Should the findings of the Board of Relief be un- satisfactory to the owner, he can apply to the courts.
From the lists as finally prepared by the tax commis- sioner, the tax collector makes up his lists and mails bills to each person so recorded. Tax bills go out on April I, and those to whom they are mailed have until May I to pay without penalty.
The tax commissioner is paid a salary of $2400 per annum and is allowed the services of a clerk. His office in the Town Hall is open from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. daily and until noon on Saturdays.
His books for the current year contain listings of 2047 dwellings, 1651 outbuildings, 3393 house lots, 161 commer- cial buildings, household furniture to the value of $343,845, goods and merchandise in stores valued at $102,965, and various minor items. The grand list on which the rate of taxation is based amounted in 1934 to $21,736,165, an increase of $600,000 over 1933.
TOWN PLAN AND ZONING COMMISSION
THE Town Plan and Zoning Commission was created in 1924 by special act of the Legislature. It consists of the First Selectman and the Superintendent of Highways and Bridges, each ex officio, and six electors, two of whom are elected annually for a term of three years.
To prevent too close construction of buildings, to secure
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GOVERNMENT
safety from fire, to avoid undue concentration of popula- tion, and to provide for health, comfort, and general wel- fare in living- and working-conditions, the commission adopted regulations defining boundaries of districts, the size, height, and number of stories of buildings within such districts, the location of any building or any lot in such district, the percentage of lot area which might be occupied by buildings, the size of courts or open spaces, and the use which might be made of such buildings.
The town was divided into three zones: A residence, B residence, and business zone, shown upon a building-zone map. In the A residence zone a maximum of five families per acre is permitted and in the B residence nine families ; while in the business zone, a maximum of one hundred families may occupy one acre. The maximum building area in each zone is respectively 25 per cent, 35 per cent, and 90 per cent.
The regulations have been kept up-to-date by amend- ment after public notice and hearing. No business is per- mitted in residence zones, except any business in existence at the time of the adoption of the regulations. No bill- boards or advertising signs, with certain exceptions, are permitted in such residence zones. Factories are excluded from the business zone.
The regulations are enforced by the building inspector under rules adopted by the Board of Selectmen.
A board of adjustment, consisting of the chairman, ex officio, and three other members of the commission, acts as an appeal board. It has power in specific cases to vary the application of the regulations. An appeal may be taken from a decision of the board to the Court of Common Pleas. Applicants for a license to sell gasoline must ob- tain from the board a certificate of approval of the loca- tion for which such license is desired.
The commission prepares maps or plans showing pro- posed locations of public buildings, roads, sidewalks, park- ways, and building lines. No highway, sidewalk, or park- way may be laid out, opened, accepted, or located or build- ing line established until the proposed location is approved by the commission. The commission also has the power to
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widen roads and to assess benefits or damages arising therefrom.
In 1928, under instructions of a town meeting, the com- mission made an exhaustive study of the town government. Its report was accepted and its recommendations carried out. One of these recommendations was the substitution of a tax commissioner for the board of assessors. An- other was the creation of a town departments committee to meet monthly as a coordinating body of town officials and for public conference with citizens interested in town affairs.
In 1933 the commission secured the services of Joseph T. Woodruff, nationally-known planning engineer, who pre- pared a Preliminary Plan for the town. He stated that Darien "stands preeminent as the most distinctively beauti- ful bit of residential shore community within thirty-seven miles of the greatest metropolis in the world" and "that her opportunity consists in preserving this distinction, guarding against the intrusion of the commonplace while planning for growth and development."
Mr. Woodruff thought Darien could achieve this end by developing border parks along the Five Mile and Noroton Rivers, by discouraging through crosstown roads, by en- couraging the development of a new type of trail road for town circulation which would preserve existing trails and bridle paths as part of the future circulation system co- ordinated with a park program, by bringing through truck traffic through town over a grade-separated highway par- allel to the existing railroad right of way, and by the gradual development of a comprehensive town plan in co- operation with citizen groups "to secure for all time the place of individuality and distinction which Darien now enjoys." He also suggested the establishment of a village green or common, where civic interest might be focused, between Hecker Avenue and the railroad-"an area for the grouping of future town buildings second to none in New England and entirely in keeping with the rural char- acter of the suggested town development."
The Town Plan and Zoning Commission recently spon- sored a bill creating a Park Commission for Darien, which was made law by the last Legislature, as a result of which
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it hopes that this No. I project of the Preliminary Town Plan may be carried into effect.
The personnel of the commission is as follows: Chair- man, Charles Bates Dana; Vice Chairman, Thomas S. Holden; A. E. Crane, Dr. H. D. Hanson, Joseph C. Pete- rick, Lloyd H. Atkinson, and ex officio, Andrew Shaw and Walter A. Bates. The secretary is Charles P. Rumpf.
POLICE DEPARTMENT
CREATED by an act of the Connecticut State Legislature in the Session of 1925, this department consists of three commissioners, a chief of police, one lieutenant, three ser- geants, eleven patrolmen, and one civilian employee. The commissioners, who serve without pay, are appointed by a board consisting of the First Selectman, the chairman of the Board of Finance, and the chairman of the Town Plan and Zoning Commission. Each appointment is for a term of three years.
The force started work on July 6, 1925, with three members. The chief reported for duty on July 15. Four more members were added that summer, and in June of the following year three of the senior members were made sergeants. In 1929 three more patrolmen were added and in 1931 the grade of lieutenant created and a civilian employee added.
Police headquarters, from the summer of 1925 to the autumn of 1932, were in the rear of the present Town Hall, sharing a space devoted to the town lockup. The police commissioners, with their records, held regular meet- ings in their homes.
In 1931, by vote of the Board of Finance, Board of Selectmen, and the annual town meeting, there was appro- priated the sum of $2500 for the purchase of a site for a new headquarters building in which the Town Court would also be accommodated, and $30,000 for its construction. The Police Commission chose the present site on Hecker Avenue, very close to the geographical center of the town. The commission prepared the floor plans of the new build- ing, the specifications were written, and the building was erected by a building committee consisting of Col. Howard
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Stout Neilson, former chairman of the Police Commission ; Francis R. Holmes, a former commissioner; and Clifford R. Wright of the existing board. Ground was broken in the spring of 1932. The structure was completed in the autumn and was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies on October 15, 1932.
Hecker Avenue is named after a family whose home- stead stands on Old King's Highway, not far away.
This building is one of the most compact and up-to-date police stations of its size in the State. The second floor is given up entirely to the Town Court, with chambers for the Judges and an office for the clerk. On the first floor are the offices of the Police Commission, the prosecuting attorney, the chief of police, and the Bureau of Investiga- tion, a squad room and a matron's and a probation officer's room, with separate detention rooms for women and juve- niles. On this floor is also a separate modern steel cell block and a sizable garage, storeroom, and workshop.
For communication the department is equipped with telephones, teletype, and patrol call-boxes. The Police Department also operates the electric traffic signals and the town's fire-alarm system and in addition has direct tele- phone connection with the town's three fire companies.
The Police Commission is custodian of the headquarters building and the town courtroom and is charged with their maintenance and operation. This responsibility is covered by the Police Department's annual budget. Recently, at the request of the Board of Selectmen, temporary space was also made available for the town's welfare worker and her assistants, and from time to time the courtroom is used for meetings by town committees and conferences.
The police force is equipped with four automobiles and maintains both a foot and motor patrol, day and night, cov- ering the entire town. Approximately fifty miles of road is the length of this patrol. The area is fourteen square miles, taking in parts of Glenbrook, Springdale and Tal- madge Hill, Noroton Heights, Darien Center to Five Mile River, and Noroton to Miller's Bridge. Straddling as it does the Boston Post Road and the New Haven Rail- road, its southern boundary coinciding with Long Island Sound, and lying between two good-sized industrial cities,
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GOVERNMENT
this area of homes, with its school crossings, its railroad station approaches, its seasonal attractions and the attend- ing crowds at Pear Tree Point Bathing Beach, plus re- quests for assistance from Federal and State Authorities, offers an unusual field for varied and intensive police work. The force is equipped with portable fire extinguishers, night flares, drags with 1000 feet of rope, first-aid kits and in- halators; each officer is instructed by experts in the use of this apparatus. There is also a system of communication and cooperation with the emergency crews of the public utility corporations. A school of instruction for police officers is conducted, with occasional lecturers and speak- ers selected from the ranks of professional men of known experience and ability.
Seven members of the force in the last two years have been cited for meritorious service and awarded commenda- tion and decoration.
The smart appearance of the Darien police and their en- viable record of achievement have made them one of the outstanding uniformed forces in New England and the East. Members of the force are appointed as probationary patrolmen by the Police Commission when needed and au- thorized. A probationary has to be a citizen of the State and has to serve at least six months before he is made a regular patrolman. Selection and appointment are made on merit alone and are based on physical condition, appear- ance, manner, intelligence, and past history and record.
In 1925, made possible by gifts of individual citizens, the nucleus of a Police Benefit Fund was formed. This fund has gradually grown in size and today amounts to a tidy sum. It is in charge of the police commissioners as trustees and serves as a relief fund from which members of the force can secure, on application and approval, financial assistance in the form of loans without interest to meet emergency bills for hospital and medical attention for their families. The loans are repaid in installments at regular agreed intervals. The members of the force also recently formed among themselves a Benevolent Association. They give aid to the needy and are generous of their time to the town.
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FIRE DEPARTMENT
DARIEN's fire service had its beginning on the evening of May 15, 1895, when, at the call of Frederick B. Chadder- ton, acting as secretary, a meeting for the purpose of or- ganizing a fire company was held in the courtroom of the Town Hall. There was a good attendance of representa- tive citizens of the community, and the following committee on organization was named: Charles G. Waterbury, treas- urer; Alexander Mackey, Samuel Grumman, Thaddeus Bell, Charles Morehouse, and Frederick B. Chadderton. Later George Oberlander and William J. Fleming were added.
It was subsequently voted, following the report of the committee, that a company of able-bodied citizens be formed, under the leadership of a foreman and assistant foreman, to be chosen by the company when twenty mem- bers were enrolled, and that the organization be known as Darien Volunteer Fire Company No. I. A fire district was laid out and apparatus purchased.
It is interesting to note that of all the men who were active in the organization of the first fire company in Darien, only one, Samuel Grumman, now residing in River- side, survives. He then was a prominent local merchant.
The apparatus was housed in a building on the site of the present handsome headquarters. It was a modest structure and now stands in the rear of the present building, erected in 1914.
Later another company, known as the Eagles, was formed, and a truck was purchased and housed in a build- ing on the site of the present Gristede Brothers' store on the Post Road. Still later that company removed to Noro- ton. The fire house was moved to the site of the present headquarters there and is still to be seen in the rear of that building. The company is known now as the Noroton Volunteer Fire Department.
It has two pieces of motorized apparatus, pumper and chemical engine, company-owned, and the building also is the property of the company.
Noroton Heights Engine Company No. I, Inc., was or-
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ganized in 1904. It has three pieces of motorized appara- tus, a pumper, a hook and ladder truck, and a service wagon. The town paid in part for the pumper, but the other machines are company-owned, and so is the fine build- ing in which the machines are housed. William Dugdale, the present treasurer, has held that office since the organi- zation of the company.
The Darien Center equipment, motorized, consists of a pumper, a hook and ladder truck, and a hose and chemical wagon. The pumper was largely paid for by the town and is owned by it, although the company, desiring a better machine than the sum appropriated would buy, paid an additional sum somewhat in excess of that voted by the townspeople.
THE WELFARE COMMISSION
Up to the present year the problem of the care and relief of destitute cases has been handled by the town Selectmen, supplemented by the Welfare Advisory Board, an unofficial body. The present State Legislature, by special act, cre- ated what is to be known as the town's Welfare Commis- sion. The members of the new commission, as appointed and approved, are : Col. Howard Stout Neilson, chairman; Francis R. Holmes, secretary ; the Rev. James J. McGuane, Mrs. Nellie K. Meredith, and Mrs. Ethel T. Cleveland.
Section 9 of the Act, passed by the Legislature, which gives it power and authority to administer its offices, reads : "Said department shall be charged with all relief work of the town and shall be authorized and empowered on behalf of the town to make necessary expenditures for the relief of its citizens, including the care of town poor and paupers as provided under the general statutes, and generally to assume all powers in connection therewith as given to the selectmen under the statutes and including, specifically, the duty and power to act on behalf of the town in relief mat- ters in conjunction with the state and the United States."
All of the members of the new commission are identified with the progress and development of the town. Colonel Neilson is president of the Home Bank and Trust Com- pany. Mr. Holmes is a long-time resident, in the contract-
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ing business in New York. Father McGuane is pastor of St. John's Church. Mrs. Meredith and Mrs. Cleveland have both given generously of their time to charity work with citizens' organizations. The social service worker is Mrs. Augusta W. Noyce. Her assistant is Frank A. Muse who succeeded Mrs. Edward Holahan.
MEDICAL EXAMINER
THE medical examiner-an office entirely separate from that of local health officer, although they may be held by the same person-is appointed by the county coroner. His tenure of office is indeterminate, and he is paid by fees for services rendered. He is a part-time official. In Darien the two offices are held by the same person; the only re- quirement is that the medical examiner be a registered physician. The local health officer may be, and not infre- quently is, a layman. All cases of sudden, untimely, or violent death must be immediately reported to the medical examiner, who must determine the cause.
LOCAL HEALTH OFFICER
THE responsibility for public health supervision in the town is vested in the local health officer, who is appointed by the county health officer. He is appointed for three years, and his compensation is in fees for services rendered.
The local health officer is charged with the enforcement of the sanitary code of the State and of such other sani- tary rules and regulations as may be locally enacted. He has charge of cases of communicable disease, menaces to the public health which are brought to his attention, and the sanitation of schools, public buildings, railroad stations, and restaurants and other places where food is sold or dispensed.
The local health officer, since he is only a part-time official, cannot know of every infraction of the sanitary code. Every case of communicable disease and all unsani- tary conditions and nuisances are supposed to be reported to him for action.
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The present incumbent of the office is William H. Slaughter, M.D.
BUILDING INSPECTOR
THE building inspector has supervision over all buildings erected in the town. His duty is to approve permits for such buildings and to inspect the work done on them, in- cluding carpentry, electrical equipment, and plumbing. Permits approved by him are subject to the approval of the Board of Selectmen. The inspector is appointed annu- ally by that board. His office is in the Town Hall and his salary is $1200 per annum. The present incumbent is Edward G. Wallace.
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE
SINCE the creation of the Town Court, the duties of the justices of the peace have been largely reduced, but they still have certain authority. For instance, they can hear and determine civil actions and perform marriage cere- monies. There are seven elected every two years, but all do not usually qualify.
CONSTABLES
THERE are six constables in the town. Following the setting up of the Town Court and the Police Department, the functions of the constables have quite largely decreased, but they still have authority to make arrests and to serve papers in civil actions of various kinds. They are occasion- ally pressed into service for traffic duty, particularly at fires.
TREE WARDEN
THE tree warden has supervision over all trees on the public highways and on lands owned or controlled by the town. He can do work for private individuals when called upon for it and in such cases is paid by the persons em- ploying him. He is regularly paid by the Selectmen, who
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set apart each year a certain sum for that purpose. He has a free hand in the expenditure of that sum. His term is one year.
DOG WARDEN
THE dog warden is also the appointee of the Selectmen. His term is one year, and he is paid by the Town Clerk from monies received from the State. He is required to seize and impound all unlicensed dogs found running at large and to bury animals found dead on the highways.
PART IV CIVIC ORGANIZATION
DARIEN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION, INC.
THE Darien Improvement Association was organized in August, 1923, by Mrs. William L. Searles, Mrs. David Dessau, Mrs. George H. Noxon, and others, to act either independently or in cooperation with other organizations, to further all movements directed toward the constructive improvement of the town of Darien. Speakers on educa- tion, landscaping, town planning, child welfare, and recrea- tional work have been secured by this organization from its inception, and a membership of 200 women now partici- pates in its activities. They meet once a month.
In 1923 and since that time, the Association cooperated with the State Legislature in eliminating excessive bill- board advertising. It has aided and encouraged the plant- ing of trees and their preservation and the construction and proper care of sidewalks. With the cooperation of the New Haven Railroad, it planted shrubs and flowers about the local station and raised the platform. By means of prize awards and publicity it encouraged local stores to improve their window and store displays. Sanitary care of food was greatly improved by the systematic inspection of a committee.
In 1925 the Association recommended the widening of the road and other improvements at Pear Tree Point, and three years later, the restriction of the use of the beach to Darien residents exclusively.
In 1926 the Association assisted in the development of the Darien Free Library and each year has given money for the purchase of books and magazine subscriptions. It helped to renovate the library building in 1926 and has aided in keeping its furniture and books in good condition. It was largely through the efforts of the Association that
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the distribution of library books was secured for the high school, as well as $100 in State aid for new books.
In 1929 Mrs. J. Gilmore Drayton became president and articles of incorporation were taken out. Two years later, under her leadership, the name of the organization changed to the Darien Community Association, Inc., in order to broaden its activities.
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