FAIRFIELD – Republican Selectperson Brenda Kupchick suggested earlier this week that the Vitale administration pause the rollout of the controversial speed camera program and send the ordinance back to the Representative Town Meeting to consider amendments allow another public hearing.
Kupchick, who served as first selectperson from 2019-2023, asked First Selectperson Christine Vitale and Selectperson Marcie Spolyar to consider the idea at Tuesday’s Board of Selectpersons meeting. While Kupchick didn’t officially propose such a motion, she made a strong pitch.
“I really feel that you should follow the lead of Greenwich and pause this until the RTM can take it up again and then vote on the specific details of the program, such as the hours (the cameras are operational),” Kupchick said. “I think if that happens, they (the RTM) can offer up an amendment to have it in place only during school hours and maybe even include the ($15) processing fee in the actual fine.”
She believes the responsibility for implementing the state-backed Automated Traffic Enforcement Safety Devices (ATESD) program has been “passed around” to the RTM, the police and the Board of Selectpersons without anyone being held accountable.
“Most of the angst is from reasonable people feeling that they have been shut out of this thing altogether,” Kupchick added.
Vitale, a Democrat, shut down Kupchick’s suggestion right away especially since the program is only three months old.
“I don’t want to compare ourselves to Greenwich,” Vitale said. “I’m not doing that. I’m not ready to pause the program. It’s been working. Pausing after three months will only cause more confusion.”
During an informational hearing at Fairfield Warde High School, the Vitale administration reported that on the first day of the program on May 1 there were more than 7,300 violations during a warning period. By the end of June, when the warning period ended, the number of violations fell all the way to just 945, according to a representative of Altumint, the town’s camera vendor.
During Tuesday’s Board of Selectpersons meeting, Vitale added that the RTM will receive a report from the police department in September on the progress of the speed camera usage. “We’re keeping a close eye on this,” Vitale said. “If adjustments need to be made, we will consider them.”
In the case of Greenwich, the town paused its ATESD program in March following negative public sentiment. The RTM reconsider the ordinance and has the town has since sent an amended version of its implementation plan back to the state with the expectation of restarting the program in September.
The main difference between the Greenwich and Fairfield plans is that Greenwich uses flashing yellow lights to warn drivers of the speed camera zone and the cameras are only on during school hours. Fairfield does not do either of those things.
While Fairfield’s vendor, Altumint, reported a nearly 90% drop in speeding citation warnings during the first month, Greenwich’s vendor Blue Line Solutions reported a 92% decrease.
