First Selectman Weekly Update 8-23-2019

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Happy Friday North Stonington!

We hope you all had a great week! Another busy week closes here in town and there is much to report!

As we reminded folks a couple of weeks ago, there are no dogs allowed at the rec fields. They are allowed and encouraged at Hewitt Farm and now all dogs must be on leashes at Hewitt Farm. Please adhere to these rules for the safety and enjoyment of all that frequent the grounds. 

On September 7th there will be Hazardous waste collection at Wheeler High School from 9-1am. This is a great opportunity to get rid of materials that cannot be disposed of otherwise. For a list of items that you can dispose of see this link http://scrrra.org/how-do-i/recycle-hazardous-waste . Paper shredding is also available.

Also on September 7th don't forget about our community conversation about the greater village area. Please come to join your neighbors and discuss ideas about your North Stonington village. The Community Conversation will run from 9-11am at the Library so perhaps join us then go around the corner to dispose of your waste.

Construction has begun on the 3 bay garage for additional storage at the Center for Emergency Services. We should see it completed in around 3 months time. As a reminder this is the final piece to complete the emergency services center project which will be finished within the original approved budget. 

In the Kingswood/Meadowood area there was flooding that took place last Saturday in some areas. I would like to thank the North Stonington Volunteer Fire Company and our resident troopers for their immediate on site response to this situation. It was determined the major cause of this was due to a beaver dam and overgrowth in the Assekonk swamp area. Highway Foreman Donny Hill along with the crew worked to remove the blockage as quickly as could be done and subsequently the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) was notified. A meeting took place with DEEP this week and they will be doing additional work to the dam in September to further improve the conditions in the dam. Residents should take comfort the drainage project that was done in 2010 has been working well and the catch basins are cleared regularly. This is anomaly we do not expect to happen again. That being said there is no question global warming is changing the severity of storms and anything is possible. All the more reason to please sign up for CT Alerts so you can be immediately advised of emergency situations in the area. Sign up for CT Alerts here https://www.ctalert.gov/ctalert/site/default.asp . 

I am incredibly happy to report to developments regarding local bridges. The bridge at 49/216 is now open to traffic once again. It will be complete soon. If you see the bridge it looks great and it will soon have a staining that will make it look even nicer. Additionally, after 13 years and much work between a great many people at local, state, federal, and environmental agencies, Boombridge Road bridge will be going out for bid in approximately 1 month with anticipated construction in spring 2020! We will keep folks posted as more details become available.

Monday evening we will have our second farmers market meeting/discussion. If you are interested in helping to see a farmers market become a reality in North Stonington please join us at the Recreation Center at 5:15 this Monday.

You may have seen there was a positive test of West Nile Virus in North Stonington in the area of the Shunock Brook. Please see the press release here and consider the recommended protocols...
 

Finally some folks may have noticed when tax bills went out this year you received multiple envelopes for your bills where we usually combine bills in one envelope. The reason for this is due to our server failure QDS (our tax billing software company) sent the bills out on our behalf due to the timing of the server failure. They did not combine the billing envelopes. This was an unusual circumstance and we will look to combine the bills in one envelope once again next time we mail them ourselves. We certainly do everything we can to contain costs even if its just the cost of an extra stamp!

That’s it for today, have a fantastic week!

Mike Urgo First Selectman