South Windsor Water Pollution Control Facility Dedicated to Joseph Carino

For 51 years, Joseph J. Carino volunteered on various boards and commissions in South Windsor with virtually no recognition other than the satisfaction of serving to improve his community.

Now 91 years old, Carino retired from public service this year, stepping down from both the Water Pollution Control Authority, on which he served for 35 years - 22 as chairman - and the Economic Development Commission, on which he spent 23 years.

The town thanked Carino for his five-plus decades of service on Thursday evening by naming the new water pollution control facility - now the Joseph J. Carino Water Pollution Control Facility - after him.

How much Carino’s service has meant to the town could be measured by the number of proclamations - three - that were read to him. One was from the town, another was from the state General Assembly and a third was from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Mayor Tom Delnicki summed up Carino’s remarkable run of civil service without compensation: four years as a justice of the peace, eights years on the zoning commission, 11 years on the planning and zoning commission, 23 years on EDC and 35 years on WPCA for a total of 81 combined years.

“It’s a number we’ll likely never see eclipsed,” Delnicki said. “Thank you Joe Carino.”

Richard Aries, who is the new WPCA chairman, said that Carino was a town asset who brought a sense of continuity and experience to the authority and “[kept] it on the right track.”

Louise Evans, former chairman of the planning and zoning commission who served with Carino on the commission in the 1960s, said that Carino treated her with respect and dignity at a time when women tended to be pigeonholed to the Board of Education if they wanted to hold a local public office.

“With Joe, he always listened,” she said. “He never made me feel like I knew less than he did.”

Director of Public Works Michael Gantick presented Carino with several tokens of appreciation, including a street sign that said “Carino Way.”

Carino, for his part, thanked everyone for attending the ceremony - which also served as a ribbon cutting to officially open the facility, which has been fully operational for about a year.

He also reminded people that there were other residents who have served the town for many years, including Ed Havens, Evans, John Mitchell and Bob Dickenson.

“I’m not alone,” he said. “There are many people following in my tracks.”

He also kept a sharp wit about him. When Delnicki said that Carino had served on multiple commissions for a combined 81 years, Carino quickly interjected, “I feel like it.”

In the end, Carino was simply gracious.

“Thank you all ever so much,” he said. “The one problem I have now is I have to enlarge my office, because I don’t know where I’m going to put everything that’s been given to me [tonight].”