Town Car Decals: Needed or Not?

As the Legislative Council considers approving the funding to purchase 11 new police vehicles, one council member says she wants the town's police on how town cars are marked qualified.

Councilwoman Betty Wetmore said she wants to see tighter controls on which cars are allowed to remain unmarked and who is allowed to drive those unmarked cars where.

It's upsetting for residents to see Hamden town cars parked in shopping centers in far-off towns and the town employees filling those cars with groceries and packages, she said, or to see town cars used to run errands or drop children off at school.

"The taxpayers get mad," she said, "and so they should."

There are only a handful of cars that are assigned to officials 24/7, Chief Administrative Officer Curt Balzano Leng said, and those include the Police Chief, the Fire Chief, the Public Works Director and the Mayor.

A car will now be assigned to the Building Official, who often does work on his own time on the weekends, Leng said, which warrants his access to a town car on the weekends.

But in general, town cars need to be plainly marked with permanent decals on them, Wetmore said, so taxpayers can easily identify them.

Leng said he would come up with a policy for the council to review at its next full meeting scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Government Center third floor conference room.