East Hampton CT - State of the Town Address

Tonight we are here to celebrate all of you! All too often we focus on what is not working, what is not being done, complaining about this or complaining about that. Tonight, however is different! Tonight, we refuse to participate in any bemoaning, for the next few hours we won’t take any complaints about potholes, street signs, budgets, Lake problems, nor will I field any complaints about the food! Tonight we focus all our energies on celebrating you; and all you have done to help move East Hampton forward.

The economists cried we are in the midst of a great recession (some called it a depression) an economic crisis that we have not seen since the “30’s. I am reminded of a joke about ‘an economist and a dog.” Sitting around the dinner table someone asked, what is the difference between a dog and an economist? The reply was, “when you let them both into the house, the dog stops whining.”

Despite your own personal views on the economy, we all have them; and we all know people who are in the midst of having to find a new job, a key economic indicator points to economic recovery. This year the nation enjoyed an increase of 2.6% over the previous year in the gross domestic product and here in CT we saw a 2.3% increase. This is a strong indicator that the recession is turning a corner. Did you know that 65% of all Americans own a home, 20% of all Americans own two homes, and 5% own three or more.

Here in East Hampton we weathered last years economic storm quite well. In the worst recession; we saw a double bump in our bond rating, in the worst recession; we ended the year with a $180,000 surplus and continue to enjoy a very healthy fund balance, in the worst recession; we secured upwards of $2 million in new federal and state dollars for infrastructure improvements, and in the worst recession; we secured upwards of a million gallons of clean fresh drinking water a day, insuring that future generations in East Hampton do not have to struggle with finding a solution to what we know is becoming not only a local but statewide problem….clean drinking water. Not too bad for an economic crisis, wouldn’t you agree!

I attribute our Towns economic stability to this, “the decisions we make in good times, are just as important as the decisions we make in bad times” Year after year, our political leaders, the Town Council, our Board of Finance, and our Finance Director, Jeff Jylkka (who I happen to think is one of the best Finance Directors in the State) are great stewards of the Towns treasury. They know that the decisions we make in both, the good and the bad times, can affect this town for many years to come.

Despite the sour economy the Town made great progress on infrastructure improvements as well, particularly, in the areas of blight, road and sidewalk improvements. After 12 years as the gateway to the Town, the blighted foundation at the corner of Main and 66 was removed. It is our hope that soon you will see a small pocket park and a memorial to former Governor Bill O’Neill go up at this location…thanks to a recently announced state grant the Town just received. The water tower came down, the industrial building at 3 Walnut Avenue was demolished, the old pump house was rehabilitated and the whole area “greened” up. Our facilities department, (a one man show) managed and oversaw the construction or improvement to over 25 different building projects. We tip our hat to Town Facilities manager Frank Grzyb.

Our, not so new anymore, public works Director, Keith Hayden, along with myself, inherited the well known bridge project; and despite the cries and criticism; and some really funny internet jokes the bridge was completed. In reality and contractually it was only two months behind schedule, Next time, however, we will direct the contractor to wait for the new bridge to get here before they tear down the old one. One wonders what ever happened to common sense!

Mr. Hayden also inherited approximately $15 million dollars worth of road, sidewalk and drainage projects that need to be done. And, of course everyone would have liked for him to have them all done in his first year of service with the Town. Keith did, however, hit the ground running. He implemented an on-call sidewalk repair program, initiated a pavement management system (and if you haven’t seen his marble presentation you are truly missing out), more importantly he resurfaced 4.7 miles of roadway improvements and even muscled a $25,000 donation out of Connecticut Yankee for much needed road work up on Haddam Neck road.

Our police department, led by Chief Matthew Reimondo, had a stellar year as well. We led the nation in solving residential break-ins and thefts. On average our department solved 56% of these cases. The national average hovers around 15%. What makes this even more significant is that many of these crimes were committed in other communities as well, Portland, Glastonbury, Haddam, Killingworth and many of the shoreline community police departments worked with our Chief and our police department to solve these regionally significant crimes. Additionally, our department, after three years of intense investigative work, arrested two individuals for the murder of Louis D. Antonio whose skeletal remains were discovered in the southern part of Town in September of 2005. A career in Law Enforcement is not easy. Police are either “loved or hated” and this can be expected! However, for four small children who had their beloved 4 month old kitten “Socks” stolen during a recent home break-in, our department rose to the occasion, they caught the perpetrators, found the 4 month old kitten and brought it home. I can assure you, that these four small children “love our police department.” And I’m hopeful; this first good impression upon them will last a long time.

We are fortunate to have one of the best librarians in the country, Sue Berescik and her staff sponsored over 450 free programs and activities for all ages, attendance at these programs were at an all time high and topped 13,000 people. Our on-line services attracted over 170,000 visits and increased 19% over last year. The library participated in the 08-09 Greening our Valley Campaign and even designed the poster used to advertise the Greenfest, a countywide event hosted by Middlesex Community College. Also this year our library continues to be at the cutting edge of technology and was one of only a few selected nationally to test a new patron service portal. Sue also is responsible for the annual report you have at your tables. She did a remarkable job with it and we appreciate this immensely.

Not to be outdone our Senior Center, led by JoAnn Ewing, sponsored several activities for our local seniors, my favorite was the Connecticut River cruise, though I wasn’t able to go it was well attended and they picked probably the best day of the entire summer for it. This past year the senior center processed over 250 applications for energy assistance and provided over 3600 rides for seniors. Through a technology grant they upgraded several technology programs for the seniors and I can assure you they have one of the best bowling alleys of any of the senior centers in the state. Their crowning achievement, however, was securing a $750,000 (we just learned of the award on Monday) to do a 2200 foot expansion of the senior center, construction should begin in late spring. Lastly, the seniors and the leadership of the senior center were the driving force behind the implementation of a “Commission on Aging” which has hit the ground running.

Our Parks and Recreation department, under the leadership of Ruth Plummer, is always busy. They led the initiative to develop and propose a major capitol improvement program for our soon to be 100 year old park. They have plans to add new ball fields, an access point to the Connecticut River, and a new tennis court in Middle Haddam. What folks often forget is that this crew is also responsible for the upkeep of all of the schools athletic fields and does a remarkable job of it. If you haven’t checked out the 100’s of programs they offer you should. I even attended my first Boston Red Sox game ever (do not construe this as me saying I am a Red Sox fan), through a program sponsored by our parks and recreations department. If you haven’t participated in any of the programs offered by our Parks and Recreation department you should.

I would like to ask Anne McKinney to stand! For over a year, maybe even longer, Anne McKinney led the behind scenes effort to insure that the probate court remained somewhere on this side of the river. Because of her self-less efforts to make this happen, we are pleased to say that just a few weeks ago the Governor signed into law a restructured probate court system insuring that folks in our area are assured of having a court remain in our jurisdiction. Knowing Anne, I would place good odds on it that the physical court actually ends up in East Hampton. Thank you Anne for making this Happen!

On the building, development, environmental and community planning front. A great deal has been accomplished. Chief Building Administrator Jim Carey led the initiative to update our Plan of Conservation and Development plan to include an implementation plan, which has now become the framework for many of our commissions work. He bolstered the department’s enforcement capabilities (an area where a great deal of attention is being placed) by hiring a competent building official and adding a full time office technician to stay focused on enforcement issues. He secured a $50,000 grant to explore the feasibility of adopting an affordable housing incentive zone, hopefully which will mitigate the negative impacts of the affordable housing appeals. In addition, Kamey Peterson, Daphne Schaub and Bill Hayes assist Jim in keeping this department running smoothly.

Our new environmental planner, Kerry Nielson, is leading the charge on implementing solutions to our Lake problems and recently submitted a $300,000 grant application to begin some of the much needed catch basin work we absolutely have to do to catch runoff before it ends up in the Lake. She also was the behind the scenes person putting together the 400 some pages for the recently awarded senior center grant.

Our WPCA, led by Vin Susco, completed the sewer connection between East Hampton and Marlborough, saving the Town several hundred thousand dollars and brings to an end a project begun over 7 years ago. The crowning achievement, however, was the elimination of the Towns Consent Order at the Village Water System and adding capacity to bring on additional customers….the first being Epoch Arts in the Village Center.

I have only touched upon the many successes our Town Hall staff achieved this past year. Sandi Wieleba in the Town Clerk’s office, along with Bernice Bartlett and Donna Marsden and Carol Ann Tyler in the Assessors office and Nancy Hasselman in the Collector’s office have contributed immensely to the Town’s success. There are those too, behind the scenes making things happen, the folks in the basement, Teresa Shulman, Jeanne Bishop and Jeanne Theobald and of course Mary Ann Wall all works so hard to keep our financial affairs and treasury in good order.

And I would be pummeled if I forgot to mention, those in my own department. I can honestly say that there is not a more pleasant voice to speak to at Town Hall than Cathy Sirois; she is the epitome of how I would like all town staff to respond to citizens concerns. Lisa Seymour has a difficult job keeping our employee development programs in order. And who do you think assisted in putting this program together today? Cathy and Lisa…thank you both so much!

Inevitably, I know I am missing some folks, and I am certain I will hear about it tomorrow, so to help me in this regard I would like to ask all Town staff that are here tonight to stand up and be publicly recognized for all your hard work. We would not be where we are today if it wasn’t for each of you. Please join me in publicly thanking this dedicated group of professional public servants.

At the helm of all of this is the Town Council. I would advocate that before a person moves onto their afterlife that they must be required to sit on or at least run for a Town Council seat. I reminded of a saying “that when you are not a leader no one really cares, but when you become one, everyone will surely let you know.” It takes broad shoulders to be in politics. There are majorities and minorities, right wing, left wing, unaffiliated and everything in between, there are democrats, republicans, and independents, there are conservatives, liberals, no growth, and growth advocates, and there are contrarians, ideologists and obstructionists. You name it, in politics it exists! One wonders how we even manage to get anything done in this sort of environment…but we do! You can be proud of this Town Council. They worked together and moved close to 70 items this past year alone. 77% of the items were moved unanimously! This council worked hard together to make things happen and you can be really, really proud of them. I know I am!

Lastly and in closing, I need to thank my feisty Italian, my wife Donna; she is here with us tonight. Many a night she lay in wait wondering if I was ever coming home. She has supported me, encouraged me, listened to me whine and has been my greatest champion. Thank you Donna! She also brought my mother-in-law, Marie, with her tonight. Sometimes it takes two Italians to keep ONE Irishman in line!