North Stonington weekly update 7.24.2020- please consider taking the time to read and become informed of town happenings

Another hot and busy week ends here in our beautiful town!

These updates are a way of trying to encapsulate some highlights of the past week and take some time to put together. We hope you have been enjoying them since they began in November 2017. They are a way to become informed of town happenings and we always welcome additional feedback on how we can make them even better.

I have spoken with people over the last couple of weeks in relation to the protest happening on Sunday at 2pm-4pm at the old middle high school. These conversations about the protest in many ways have been very meaningful. I want to share some personal thoughts on this. The first thing I want everyone in North Stonington to know is you should be proud of your town. I know some people feel ashamed of the negative rhetoric taking place around this protest. Some of the talk is indeed shameful and horrifying at times. It is happening in towns everywhere right now. We may have been blind to the fact that racism still exists and indeed right here in our own community. You should know for certain that that this type of talk is from the minority of people. Most people are good and reasonable and care about their neighbors regardless of color or nationality. There are people who are concerned because of what they see on the news and read online about things happening in cities like Portland. Who can blame you? It is scary to see these things. While we understand anything is possible, protests are happening in every town around us and have been overwhelmingly peaceful. You are ok to feel concerned but please know the safety of our residents is paramount and will not be sacrificed. In my own opinion after hearing and reading much of the discussion about this protest it opened up a dialog that needed to be had. We must be on the right side of history with this issue and I know that North Stonington will be a leader in making things right. You can be proud to be a resident here! So many people care deeply about their neighbors and stand for love and understanding. North Stonington is indeed a very special place and everyone is welcome here! 

This week you may have heard some arrests took place in the Billings Lake area. We have increased patrols, security, and enforcement in the area. We have also made modifications to parking and added some additional safety measures. This week we were happy to have had participation in a meeting with our troop, local DEEP officials, Ledgelight Health, & town to discuss solutions to the issues we were facing. We love everyone enjoying our lakes and want to make sure they remain safe and beautiful for everyone to frequent. Thank you for your cooperation with the new rules in the lake areas. 

I wanted to make mention of my recent departure from social media engagement. I had made the decision recently to withdraw from Facebook specifically. I wanted to outline my reasoning and future plans of participation. I personally have always struggled with Facebook because of the way communication happens with someone who isn’t a super active participant. When you make a statement or have a conversation on social media you are speaking to everyone in the same way. When in person, I would speak with people in different ways depending on our relationship. This is why I do not tend to be an active “poster” on Facebook. The other reason I have recently struggled was that people often “tag” me and this would happen in posts, groups, or on pages where I was not notified or unable to see the tag. This left people with the thought that I was not following up with them, and for me customer service is of the utmost importance. I always do my best to follow up, so given this inability to even know when I am being asked something, I thought it best to depart from the application. Upon further review, I am going to continue to be a part of the social media communities as I had always been, but as I stated in my recent Facebook posting, please contact me either by phone, email, messenger, fax, or otherwise. I cannot commit to responding to comments and tags as it is difficult to keep track of them and quite frankly I have many other priorities that take precedence. I appreciate your understanding and patience as I continue to be as engaged as possible within the community.

To this end, I would like to include a new section to the update titled “What’s the real story?”. There are so many mistruths spoken on Facebook that it will be nearly impossible to keep up with them all but I will try and address certain ones as time allows. We will do our best to outline correct and factualize information. This week we will take up the Middle School wing demolition…

What’s the real story with the old middle school?

In May of 2016 the town passed a resolution giving the School Modernization Committee the authority to begin reconstruction of our schools. This resolution was written and approved by the prior First Selectman Shawn Murphy. At the time until being elected in Nov 2017, I was the volunteer Chairman of the School Modernization Committee and worked hard with the committee to put together a plan with the limited funds we had to repair our ailing schools. As we moved through the bidding process, the committee realized the funds that were allocated may not be able to accomplish all of the goals that were laid out. In the resolution put together by the prior administration, it gave the authority of reduction of scope of work on the project to the committee. In January of 2018 in the midst of a petition to “revote” on the school project, the committee had received the bids for the project. In review of them they realized that the possibility existed that other priorities may take precedence over middle school demolition so the contract they proposed made the tear down of the middle school an alternate meaning it would happen if funds allowed. This was within their right to do and was a smart decision in retrospect after the PCB and environmental issues among other things at the school took a higher priority.

Knowing this may occur, your active Board of Selectmen proactively put a committee together to investigate alternative uses of the parts of the building that will not be used by administration. That committee met a number of times and has reported back into the Selectmen. We are currently in the midst of entertaining offers to rent the space to an educational partner as well as looking at the updated cost of demolition. While some people may disagree with the approach, this seemed to make the most sense given our alternatives. While the information given to the school modernization committee from the prior Board of Selectmen indicated the building would not be useful, our review of the school affirmed that while it didn’t make sense to try and repair for use as a public school due to code requirements and upgrades, it would be a good building for other educational entities who do not need to adhere to these stringent codes. We are hopeful that a good partner comes forward who would like to invest in the building and be a great neighbor for us here in the village.  We are also concurrently looking at the possibility of demolition and any grants available to that end.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this is that while the 2016 resolution laid all of this out, the “revote” in 2018 put the issue back before voters for reconsideration at the advice of bond council. At that very meeting the middle school alternate was explained in great detail by the new Chairwoman Dr. Pamela Potemri. This meeting was the highest attended town meeting with between 800-1000 people in attendance to hear the presentation. It was recorded for all to see an is viewable here https://www.northstoningtonct.gov/home/pages/north-stonington-town-meeting-february-1-2018 (see around 20 minutes in the video for middle school wing explanation). The revote was a 2-1 margin affirming the construction project and this was after people had the information about the middle school demolition becoming an alternate. While certain people are trying to make an argument that the project could be construed as “over budget” due to the middle school not being taken down, this is simply false. If the project had been over budget we would have had to go to a town meeting to ask for the additional funding per State Statute. People may disagree with the decisions but these are the facts.

If you have another topic that you are seeing discussed on Facebook or another social media outlet, email selectman@northstoningtonct.gov and I will do my best to address it in the “What’s the real story” section with factual truthful information.

In other town news, our highway crew was very busy with tree trimming, mowing, and road repairs throughout town. We completed some painting at the new elementary school that had been outside of the project scope. As previously mentioned much work took place in the Billings Lake area and wildlife crossing signs were placed on Fowler and Grindstone. In addition, route 201/Mystic Road is currently being paved by the State and that work should be complete this week. Next week we plan to fix potholes and washouts throughout town.

Speaking of our schools, you may have heard that the school reopening task force has been hard at work putting in plans so we can reopen to our kids this fall. It is the intention of the group to have a three phased approach. This will allow for all families to have a choice but also puts safety first with the main goal of getting everyone back. Please see the Board of Education’s letter to parents here… http://www.northstonington.k12.ct.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/School-ReOpening-Letter-to-Parents.pdf 

Our registrars have officially relocated to their new home in the media center at 298 Norwich Westerly Road in the back of the old media center. Their hours remain Monday and Thursday 9:00-11:30am They can be reached by phone at 860.535.2877 ext 113. If you need to visit them you may enter through the main entrance on route 2 and proceed to the media center/library or handicap access is available pictured here.

Our summer camp has been a success this year! Great work to our councilors and camp coordinator Lori Umphlette for keeping our kids entertained. We are following the State protocols with the kids as it relates to COVID keeping them in the small groups where masks are not required for activities. We are so happy to see our kids having so much fun this summer!

An online zoom event will take place to learn about 5G small cell technology . The event will be hosted by CT Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) and will take place at 12:30pm on August 12^th. PURA is statutorily charged with regulating the rates and services of Connecticut’s investor owned electricity, natural gas, water and telecommunication companies and is the franchising authority for the state's cable television companies.

This workshop will offer the opportunity to hear about the state’s current small cell siting process, how municipalities can follow specific proceedings, provide input and intervene, as well as what is anticipated as 5G efforts continue to increase.  Please feel free to join using the following zoom link : https://ctdeep.zoom.us/j/91803669901 If you wish to join by phone you may call 16468769923  and us Meeting ID: 918 0366 9901

That’s it for today,