First Selectman Weekly Update 11-15-2019
Hello North Stonington. Another week comes to a close in North Stonington!
This week I held my first “drop in” at the Town Hall office. I appreciate those who stopped by to share feedback. These will be held weekly on Wednesdays from 12-1pm and the third Monday from 6:30-7:30pm. Anyone is always welcome to call/message/email or make an appointment to come and see us at Town Hall anytime, however this is a set opportunity to casually drop by and discuss anything on your mind.
The Board of Selectmen and Historic Village improvement committee met this week to discuss the feedback received at September’s community conversation about our village. We will be making a few improvements based on feedback including re-striping a bike/pedestrian lane that used to be marked and adding crosswalks back in front of town hall. We also have some signs that identify us as a historic village which will soon go up as well. We will be meeting with this committee the second Tuesday of the month for a few months at 5pm to keep moving some projects and initiatives forward based on resident feedback.
This week our video features the 1750’s farmhouse located at Hewitt Farm. We are working on moving forward some renovations on the property and Selectwoman Nita Kincaid talks to us a bit about the history of the property and future. Click here to watch the video.
The town is moving forward on two budgeted items including advertising to receive bids on a new phone system to update communications at Town Hall. We are also completing the facilities plan which will set us up for moving our water and sewer initiatives forward when the time comes in our economic development zones off exit 92.
We are very excited that nearly all of the committees in town have been filled up with elected or appointed officials. We do have a few vacancies left. Some committees must be a certain political affiliation based on minority representation rules…
1 vacancy- Planning and Zoning alternate – must be party other than Republican
1 vacancy - Zoning Board of Appeals
Up to 9 vacancies - Affordable Housing- looking for party other than Democrat
1 vacancy- Inland Wetlands
2 vacancies- Cable TV Advisory Council of SE CT
Interested individuals should email townclerk@northstoningtonct.gov with the attached questioner… https://www.northstoningtonct.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif4806/f/uploads/application_for_boards_and_commission_writeable.pdf We are looking for applications by Friday November 29th, 2019.
As you may remember, our small dog shelter at the transfer station was closed earlier this year and we have been working with Stonington for our animal shelter needs. We would like to see if there are animal lovers in town who might have interest in being part of an initiative to have our own shelter here in North Stonington once again. To that end we will be having a brainstorming meeting Saturday November 23rd at 2pm at the Recreation Center 267 Norwich-Westerly Road. Please join us for this 1-hour discussion if this is of interest to folks in town.
On Friday Superintendent Peter Nero, School Architect Rusty Malik, School Building Committee Chairwoman Dr. Pamela Potemri, and I presented at the CABE CAPSS conference on the topic of small school districts and the challenges and opportunities they face when needing to renovate facilities. It was a great opportunity to highlight our project and help area schools as they navigate the process of school construction.
The town has received a petition with over 240 signatures requesting a referendum take place regarding the sale of the town owned Wintechog Hill Road 8-10 acre parcel to be sold for affordable housing. If you remember this item was brought forth at the last town meeting and did not move forward. The Board of Selectmen will meet Monday to discuss the topic at noon. When receiving petitions, there are certain statutory requirements that require strict timing be adhered to as it relates to acting on petitions. In order to meet this timing, we set the Board of Selectmen’s meeting for Monday and will have the town meeting November 26th at 7pm. We will then adjourn to a referendum on the topic. Stay tuned for more information.
This week the highway department continued to cleanup storm damage from storm #2. We cleaned and removed leaves and debris from the recreation playground area and park grounds. Plows and sanders were put on all trucks in preparation for the first winter storm. We completed trial testing of winter equipment and continued waterway clean outs on open basin drainage sites in town. Next week the highway will continue waterway clean outs on open catch basin drainage sites and tree work throughout town.
That’s it for today, hope you have a great week!
Mike