Crystal Mall's Peeping Tom; RTM Rejects Sewer Rate Hike

This was the first week of October, as the leaves were changing color, lights and goblins begin to decorate Waterford’s homes and police are searching for an alleged Peeping Tom at the Crystal Mall.

That’s right, the most well read story of the week was about a white male, described as 6 feet tall, weighing roughly 200 pounds and wearing glasses, who was twice caught going around with a camera attached to the top of his shoe. The man would put his foot under the changing room doors of the Crystal Mall, trying to get a shot of somebody changing, and twice ran away when confronted.

But it wasn’t all icky news. On Monday, the Waterford Representative Town Meeting went all Dikembe Mutombo on the Waterford Utility Commission and rejected a proposed sewer rate increase of 6.28 percent. The RTM said the utility commission – for the umpteenth time – did not provide any back-up ahead of time to justify the increase, and said the commission needs to be more forthright with the RTM. The Waterford Utility Commission will try again in December.

On Monday, Patch had a speculative story about what the revaluation will mean to Waterford homeowners. Monday was the “snapshot” day for the town's revaluation, which happens once every five years, and values should be sent out by Thanksgiving. This revaluation will most like lead to lower assessed home values, which means entities that are assessed annually – like Millstone Nuclear Power Station – might pay a larger share of town taxes.

On Friday, we had a story about somebody coming and another going. After just five months on the job, Human Resources Director Adrienne DeLucca left for a different position. The town is again looking for a human resources director, as Waterford is one of the few municipalities that has a human resources director handle both the school district and all municipal employees.

Coming back though was WATERFORDrama director Shane Valle. Valle originally planned to take this year off, but came back and said he plans to put on two shows this year – a play in January and a musical in May.

Then there was a story about a new coffee shop in Quaker Hill, Jazzy Joy’s Java Joint and Shoreline Gifts. The store has not yet begun selling coffee and food, but will soon, and also will have gifts and collectables.

In other news, Waterford Police arrested a man already on parole for identity theft, Mohegan Sun paid out millions of dollars to the employees it just laid off, the Connecticut deficit is exploding and apple season is finally here. O, and then two guys got into an argument in Denver, with Waterford saying the guy on the right won.