First Selectman Weekly Update 2-14-2020

Happy Valentines Day North Stonington,

Another busy week comes to a close here.  Last week we ended the week with high winds as many of you know resulting in power outages for nearly half the town. We’d like to thank the highway crew, North Stonington Volunteer Fire Company, North Stonington Ambulance Association, & Troop E for all of their quick responses to incidents. Eversource was also on top of things working vigorously to restore power. Additionally we’d like to thank Emergency Management Director Gary Baron for his work at our Emergency Operations Center which we partially opened during the event. Luckily the temperatures were mild and given the many trees we have taken down over the past two years the results of this were not as bad as the similar event that happened in 2017.

Monday we had our walk through of the 1750’s house at Hewitt Farm with painters to begin to get pricing to repair all of the peeling paint in the home. We look forward to getting some bids back on this work to move things forward.

The School Modernization Building Committee met this past Monday and things continue to move quickly at the Elementary School. The flooring is now complete on the second floor and now fixtures are starting to be installed. Each day more and more progress is evident. .

nses nses

nses nses

I was happy to be able to spend a bit of time with our Emergency Responders this week having attended the NSVFC Board of Trustees meeting Monday, NSAA meeting Tuesday, and NSVFC meeting Wednesday. There is much great work happening with our volunteers in town and we are fortunate for what they do for the community each day. To that end we are still looking for a couple of volunteer citizens to help on the newly forming Emergency Services Operations Committee. Here is the link for the description of their charge https://www.northstoningtonct.gov/emergency-services-operations-committee. Please consider filling out an application on the site if you feel called to help.

The Wheeler Library is hosting a Flu Shot clinic tomorrow! Its not too late to get your flu shot so please take advantage of this opportunity close to home. 

flu shot

The School Building Repurposing Committee has been appointed and is gathering information to help determine future uses for the old school building. This past week they met to do a walkthrough of the facility. They will look over the next few months to come up with the best ideas and propose them to the Selectmen. This building sits in the cultural center of the community and is a very important asset to the town. It is exciting to see what future lies ahead for the building. We appreciate the work of this dedicated group of volunteers.

 

Speaking of our schools, they have been in the news quite a bit this past week between our test scores, school of distinction award, & school of choice options. Joining me this week to discuss all of this was Superintendent Peter Nero and Middle/High School Principal Kristen St.Germain. Click Here to view this weeks video.

 

Finally budget deliberations are in full swing. This past week the Board of Selectmen concluded the joint meetings with Board of Finance hearing presentation from our Recreation and Emergency Services groups. Now BOS will finish putting the budget together to present to the BOF. The Board of Ed will also make their presentation to BOF. These presentations will happen next week. Feel free to attend any budget meeting to be informed of the budget process. I also would encourage everyone to mark their calendars for our “State of The Town” taking place at the new MS/HS Commons on Thursday February 27th from 6-7pm. We will look to inform the public on town initiatives and projects and field questions. We hope to see you there.

state of town

 

That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend!
Mike Urgo

First Selectman