2016-02-12

Career program at Mason Library

Ora Mason Library, 260 Benham Hill Road, is hosting a bi-monthly program for people who need help negotiating a career path because of a desire to change careers, step down from management, or to find employment.  The series will begin on Tuesday, March 1, and be held in the library meeting room from 4 to 5 p.m.  Career Navigator Patty Bossler will lead this free series.

The goal of this program is to help individuals find not just any job, but one in which they will  be successful.

Patty Bossler has been helping people find satisfying work for more than 15 years.   She is a resident of West Haven and is pleased to be able to give back to the community by leading this free program at Ora Mason Library.

The topic for the first meeting is The Resume: Your Best One-Page Marketing Tool, and participants are invited to bring a copy of their resumes for Ms Bossler to review and comment on.  Other topics in the series include:  How Do You Figure Out What You Do Well?, Referral vs Recommendation, Cover Letters, Interviewing, Salary Searches, Networking—What to Do and How, The Job Search, Career Transition, Do Not Cast a Wide Net—How to Narrow Your Search, How and Where to Search for Employment, Negotiations–$$ Question, Staying On Track, Job Search Expenses as Tax Deduction.

Sign up for this bi-monthly series online at www.westhavenlibrary.org or by calling Ora Mason Library at (203) 933-9381.

Apply for $100K Innovations

Applications are being accepted for the $100,000 Innovations in American Government Awards Program.

Offered by Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, the innovations award is the nation’s premier award for the public sector. It recognizes programs that demonstrate creative and effective government at its best.

All levels of government — federal, state, local, tribal and territorial — from all policy areas are eligible to apply for recognition.

The Ash Center is also offering the Roy and Lila Ash Innovations Award for Public Engagement in Government, a special award recognizing government-led programs that demonstrate novel and effective approaches to increasing public engagement and participation.

Winners of the Innovations in American Government and Ash Innovations awards will receive a $100,000 grant to support replication and dissemination activities in 2017. Finalists will also receive monetary grants.

Applications are available at www.innovationsaward.harvard.edu and are due April 15.

Register for adult fitness classes, karate club

The Department of Parks and Recreation is registering participants for adult fitness classes — Zumba and cardio toning — for those at least 16 years old.

The department is offering a trial class for Zumba at 6:15 p.m. Jan. 19 or Jan. 21 in the Haley Elementary School gym, 146 South St., and for cardio toning at 6:15 p.m. Jan. 20 or Jan. 25 in the Johnson Community Center exercise room, 201 Noble St.

Also, the department is offering a six-week karate club at the city’s six elementary schools starting late this month.

The after-school club, which costs $55 and includes a T-shirt and belt, meets for 45 minutes once a week in each school’s gym.

For details, go to www.whparkrec.com or call (203) 937-3651.

Register online or at the department’s Painter Park office, 190 Kelsey Ave.

Tax help offered

The West Haven Senior Center is offering a free tax preparation service to help low- to middle-income taxpayers.

The AARP Tax-Aide program is available by appointment from 9-11 a.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, starting Feb. 3, at the Johnson Community Center, 201 Noble St.

Special attention is given to help those 60 and older fill out federal tax forms.

The service, which includes tax counseling, is offered by trained volunteer tax preparers from AARP, in cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service.

For an appointment, call the senior center at (203) 937-3507.

Longtime married couples to be honored

City couples married at least 50 years will be honored during the city’s 26th annual Valentine’s Day party Feb. 12 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Savin Rock Conference Center, 6 Rock St.

The couples will receive chocolates and long-stem roses from the mayor’s office.

The party, featuring music by the Clam Diggers, will include cake and coffee.

For reservations, call Elderly Services Director Sharon R. Mancini at 203-937-3507 by Feb. 8.

Allingtown Senior Center schedules bus trips

The Allingtown Senior Center, temporarily located at 201 Noble St., is offering two trips, both of which depart from the Savin Rock Conference Center, 6 Rock St.

—Feb. 16, Foxwoods Resort Casino, Ledyard. Bus leaves at 8:15 a.m., cost is $25 and includes free buffet and $10 slot play.

—March 10, “Say Goodnight Gracie,” Nelson Hall, Cheshire. Bus leaves at 11 a.m., cost is $74 and includes lunch at Brazi’s Restaurant, New Haven. Entrees are chicken parmigiana, veal Marsala, sole francese or chicken cacciatore. Entree choice is due with payment Feb. 5.

Trips are payable to the Allingtown Senior Citizen Trip Account. To register or for information, call 203-937-3509.

City issues snow rules for parking

To help expedite snow removal, the Department of Public Works is reminding residents and businesse to observe parking regulations during and after snowstorms.

Under normal snow conditions, once snow begins to fall, a parking ban is in effect on the even-numbered side of most roads, unless one is posted with a “no parking” sign on the odd side.

The ban is in effect for 36 hours after a snowstorm. Residents are urged to park in driveways or designated private lots.

During an official snow emergency declared by Mayor Edward M. O’Brien, a parking ban will run from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on both sides of Campbell and Savin avenues, Morgan Lane, Elm Street, Meloy Road, Second Avenue from Elm to Beach streets and Main Street from Savin to Washington avenues.

Police will tag and tow vehicles violating the parking ordinance at the owner’s expense.

Per city ordinance, residents and businesses are responsible for removing snow from sidewalks on and bordering their properties. Also, per ordinance, plowing or blowing snow into city streets is prohibited, and violators are subject to fines.

Residents and businesses with mailboxes damaged by snow thrown from a plow are the responsibility of the property owner. The city will only repair mailboxes damaged by the striking of a plow blade if there is visible evidence, such as paint or tire tracks.

Snow removal around mailboxes is the property owner’s responsibility.

For information, call the Public Works Department at (203) 937-3585.

Residents reminded about Christmas trees

The city reminds residents not to put Christmas trees in plastic bags or stands for curbside pickup.

Plastic bags and other items can become tangled in the machine that grinds the trees into compost.

Also, residents are reminded that four holidays during the year delay curbside pickup one day.

Trash Master LLC of East Haven, the city’s private rubbish contractor, will not pick up rubbish, recyclables, metals or tires Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

If a holiday falls on a weekday, pickup for that week will move ahead one day.

But when a holiday, such as Thanksgiving, falls on a Thursday, only Thursday and Friday’s collections will move up a day.

Thanksgiving is also the only holiday that excludes metal and tire pickups in those affected districts.

Separate metals and recyclables from regular trash.

For details, call the Department of Public Works at (203) 937-3585.

Bulk trash pickup schedule

The 2016 bulk trash pickup schedule is March 7-11, June 6-10, Aug. 8-12 and Oct. 3-7.

Residents are reminded that bulk pickup is on their scheduled curbside collection days in the second calendar week of the four designated months. They are also reminded to separate metals and recyclables from regular trash and to put out trash no more than 24 hours before pickup.

Violations carry a $100 fine per daily offense.

Bulk items include couches, chairs, mattresses, tables, carpeting, padding, fencing and small amounts of bundled lumber, which may not exceed 6 feet in length.

The amount of bulk trash per collection is limited to 6 cubic yards, which is equal to a pile of trash 6 feet long, 6 feet wide and 4 1/2 feet high.

Along with tires, the city also picks up such white goods as refrigerators, washing machines and stoves on residents’ weekly collection days.

To prevent a potential fine, property owners should familiarize themselves with the city’s trash guidelines, which are posted on the Department of Public Works page at www.cityofwesthaven.com.

To report a complaint, call the department at 203-937-3585. Complaints are kept confidential.

Also, the 2016 e-waste drop-off days are Jan. 9, March 5, June 4 and Sept. 10.

Residents can drop off electronic recyclables — typically anything that plugs in or needs a battery — from 8 a.m.-noon at the highway maintenance garage, 1 Collis St.

The city is partnering with Take 2 Inc. of Waterbury, a recycler and collector of universal e-waste devices, to collect residential electronic items on a quarterly basis.

The collection is free for residents who have such items as TVs, hand-held video games, computers and monitors, copiers and scanners, microwave and toaster ovens, dehumidifiers and other small appliances.

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