The former Forster mill site in Wilton. (File photo)

WILTON — Citing personal reasons, Selectperson Ruth Cushman submitted her resignation Tuesday from the Board of Selectpersons.

“But I’m only a phone call away if I can help,” Cushman said.

She plans to continue serving until June, when a successor can be voted in to finish Cushman’s term, Town Manager Rhonda Irish said.

Town elections will now include a one-year selectperson seat to finish Cushman’s term along with three-year selectperson and school director seats, Irish said.

In other matters, Irish reported that EnviroVantage has completed a substantial amount of asbestos removal at the former Forster mill.

During the work, however, more panels of asbestos were discovered, she said. The new panels are within the third-floor ceiling and upper wall panels.

Irish does not yet have the exact amount of new asbestos, but said Ransom Consulting and EnviroVantage were working to estimate potential costs for removal. Demolition work is not expected to begin until the asbestos-abatement work is completed.

Selectpersons on Tuesday also scheduled a public hearing on potential changes to the town’s parking and traffic ordinance. That hearing is set for 6 p.m. on Feb. 20.

Irish presented some suggestions for changes to the ordinance. 

Selectpersons can vote on the changes after the public hearing, she said. Copies of the ordinance with suggestions will be available at the Town Office prior to the hearing.

One suggestion is to eliminate a section that bans U-turns on Main Street from the bridge at Prospect Street to the Weld Road intersection.

Another reverses a ruling on turns from High Street onto Main Street. Vehicles can now only turn right from High Street onto Main Street and go around the monument to reverse direction. 

The suggested change would allow a left turn from from High Street onto Main Street.

Other suggestions include allowing overnight parking in the High Street municipal parking lot to registered vehicles. The ordinance now bans parking in the lot from midnight to 6 a.m.  

Selectpersons will also consider allowing overnight parking at the lot for some downtown apartment tenants.

abryant@sunmediagroup.net