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From the First Selectman's Desk

Posted on: February 24, 2024 - 12:48am
News from the First Selectman

The week in review:      I hope everyone enjoyed their three-day weekend. We had no heat on the Tri-Town side of 56 High Street over the weekend, so Monday was the perfect day to get that taken care of when no one was in the office. It was nice and warm when everyone returned to the office on Tuesday.

Tuesday was a busy day. It began with a member breakfast meeting of the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce in Rocky Hill. The keynote speaker was Congressman Joe Courtney. Senator Courtney has been a tireless advocate of our nation’s veterans and our men and women in uniform. As a ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, he teamed up with the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and along with other members sent a letter to the President urging him to maintain the continued procurement of two Virginia-class submarines per year. These nuclear-powered submarines are designed by General Dynamics Electric Boat here in Connecticut. Congressman Courtney voted to pass the bipartisan, Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 and has successfully led House passage of the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act. He has a great track record of helping Connecticut families. And how awesome to see two volunteer members of our Economic Development Commission, Alison Sloane and Renee LaMark Muir in attendance as well.  Here I am with Renee and Congressman Courtney.
chamber

I sat down with Mallory, our representative from CIRMA, who for years I have only spoken to on the phone! CIRMA stands for ‘Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency’ and serves Deep River and about 132 other municipalities (out of 169 in CT) as well as Boards of Education. They ensure that the town has access to adequate insurance coverage and helps us to manage our risks. They offer effective loss control and claims management programs. I spoke to Mallory often while serving as your Parks and Recreation Director. When planning town events or allowing people to hold events on town owned land, I always reached out to CIRMA first, to make sure that we were properly covered.

Tuesday afternoon I had the honor of being invited to Kirtland Commons to celebrate Deep River’s newest Centenarian, Alys Louise Albrecht! It was a Great Gatsby themed party with guests in flapper dresses enjoying great food, live music by Kenny H. and cake and cupcakes.  I read a proclamation from the State of Connecticut General Assembly, declaring February 20, 2024 as ‘Alys Albrecht Day’. To honor the occasion, the Town of Deep River also prepared a proclamation, declaring Alys “Dodie” Albrecht our “Queen of the Valley” for the day. What a wonderful celebration. We all wish you a Happy Birthday Alys. Best wishes for a happy and healthy year ahead. I will join you for cake and ‘punch’ (wink, wink) again next year.

meme

Wednesday brought more interesting meetings; the Middlesex Chamber Revitalization Commission who is working hard to help small business and economic recovery in the region met via Zoom. Later, I walked around Devitt Field with our Public Works Director and our interim P & R Director to develop a work plan in order to prepare the area for the arrival of our new playground equipment due to arrive mid-March (fingers crossed). The goal is to have it in by Little League Opening Day. The afternoon brought a meeting with both the Essex and Chester First Selectman to talk about the increase cost of waste disposal for our next budget year, Region 4 schools and our shared animal control officer. Back in Deep River, I met with our sustainable chair people, who continue to work hard to make our town more environmentally aware and ultimately more sustainable. They are hoping to apply for silver certification in August, if not before. This group of volunteers is doing a tremendous job.

Like so many from the community, I headed up to Valley Regional High School on Wednesday evening for the public hearing presented by the Region 4, Board of Education regarding John Winthrop Middle School. The BOE is proposing a 5.8-million-dollar project which includes just the minimum amount of work and clean up to get the students back into JW for the fall. It is not a long-term fix. There will be a referendum on Tuesday, March 26th, when you will be able to cast your vote to determine if this project moves forward. Need to learn more? Get yourself educated on the project and come out and vote. There is a great deal of tax payer money at stake here. Legal notice for referendum . School info here; JW building info

Please attend the BOE meetings and let your voice be heard as they are preparing their budgets. They want to hear from you.
Yesterday, I did a live webinar offered through the combined efforts of our elected state officials about securing state and federal grant money. Later, I sat down with our Director of Finance to start looking at next year’s budget. We sit down at least once a week to go over the current budget in order to keep an eye on invoices and expenses. Beginning the first week of March, the Board of Finance will start to meet weekly to discuss next year’s budget. Remember, the public is invited and allowed at all board and commission meetings.  
Tina and I sat down with John Kollmer, who has been serving as the editor of our town newsletter for years. He confirmed that he will continue to offer his expertise and we couldn’t be happier. John is a gifted photographer, and lends his skills to the layout and design of our popular newsletter. We are planning a mid-April edition; so, all groups, organizations and committees, are asked to send in their articles. Maybe, you want to run an ad? The deadline for submittals is approaching, so please reach out to Tina @ 860-526-6020, option 1.  
I finished my Thursday off by attending another two Board of Education meetings. The first was the Supervision District, followed by a joint meeting of the DRES BOE, Chester BOE, Essex BOE, and the Region 4 BOE. The agendas are posted on the Region 4 web site and the public is invited to attend and is given a chance to speak. You may attend the meetings either in person or via Zoom.
 

This morning, I attended a River Cog Hazard Household Waste Committee meeting to edit and finalize our interlocal agreement for the regional authority. There are 16 towns that are participating in this agreement.  With my back ground in environmental science and hazardous waste mitigation, I was asked to be on this committee. Deep River is fortunate to be able to participate in this regional agreement as it offers our residents a convenient and proper way to dispose of household hazardous waste free of charge.

What’s Happening:
DRES PTO - The sixth graders at DRES (in partnership with the DRES PTO) are working hard to raise funds to build a well in Uganda. They will be hosting a bake sale in front of Adams this Sunday, February 25, from 12:00pm-3:00pm. They would love a visit and an opportunity to share their project with you. You can find details regarding their efforts here.

The DRES PTO along with the Deep River Garden Club will be holding a flower sale. The PANSY SALE is open! The deadline to purchase your gorgeous blooms is March 18th with a pick up date of March 28, just in time for Easter. These locally grown flowers come in biodegradable baskets and will last for months. Supporting the beautification of our elementary school and town has never been more lovely. Pansy Sale 

The PTO also held their ‘Someone Special’ dance tonight with an Enchantment Under the Sea theme. They asked me to have you all keep an eye on their socials for pictures from this fun event.

They also are planning a Tip-A-Teacher night @ Marker 37 on Wednesday March 13th from 5-8 pm. All proceeds will go to two great causes; The Nest Coffee House and the Deep River Fire Department. Save the date and plan to come down for dinner.

DRES is celebrating their school spirit by selling fleece blankets. The patterned picnic blankets are red and black and can be purchased on-line at Blanket sale. They make great gifts and are great to keep you cozy during these winter months.  Show your school spirit.

Reminders:
Deep River Historical Society-presents an interesting program called Tories, Spies, and Traitors: Divided Loyalty in Revolutionary Connecticut. March 7th @ 7:00pm.
 
Deep River Chester Little League is holding a Munson candy fundraiser. What a delicious way to support this youth organization serving Deep River and Chester ball players. The sale will run through 3/17/24. Place orders by visiting the web page or click candy sale.  Orders will be ready around 3/25/24.
 

Deep River Public Library has many exciting programs. Please visit their web site for all the details and to register. Tomorrow, Saturday, 2/24, a short play performed by the Grove School Children’s Theater Troupe, titled The Day, The Crayons Quit will begin @ 10:30am. This is a free program.

Teen Creative Crawl coming to SOMA (South Main Street Art Collective) on Friday, April 19th. This program is offered to teens ages 12 and up. Participants will create fusion glass with River Fire Glass; take a yoga class with River valley dance and make a candle with Shell & Bee Studio. This program is being co-sponsored by Tri Town Youth services as well as Middlesex United way. To register please call 860-322-3986 or email to somadeepriver@gmail.com

Parks and Recreation: The Spring Egg Hunt has been tentatively scheduled for Saturday, March 23rd -time and details to be announced. It will be held at Devitt Field. They are accepting applications for summer employment. Please visit the town web site for more information and to download an application.applications

Update from the Animal Control Officer:If you are interested in adopting a dog, please fill out an adoption form on the town of Essex web page. Photos of the dogs and descriptions will be published shortly. Caroline will reach out to each qualified applicant to schedule a time to meet at the pound to greet the dogs. Everyone interested in adoption, must fill out the application. Animal Control

Reminder: The food scraps program continues at the transfer station. You do not have to use a bag, if you prefer to bring your scraps in a container from home and dump the scraps into the large collection container. If you are using bags, then they should be Bpi compostable bags. I have found them locally but if you are having trouble, you can find them at Home Depot and on Amazon (Amazon.com : bpi compostable bags ). Remember, if you still have some of the ‘free’ green bags that you were given as part of the Pilot program, feel free to use those. However, Please do not use black bags of any size!

Celebrating the Elephant: Yes, we have dark history when it comes to these majestic animals. But now we can do our part to help them survive. I will speak more about this in upcoming installments, but I did want to announce that I have adopted an elephant. Each purchase helps contribute to saving these wonderful animals. My elephant is named ‘Habiba”. She is sweet and resilient. I adopted her through an organization called fahlo. I have a QR code and it allows me to track her. Won’t it be exciting and fun to follow her journey?

Upcoming Town Events:

  • Start training for a 5K, so you can “Catch a Leprechaun” running the Region 4 Education Foundation Inc.’s, 5K Run/Walk on March 16th. The race kicks at 10:00 am from the Essex Town Hall. To register and learn more go to registration
  • Remember to purchase your tickets for the Valley Regional High School Musical production of the “Wizard of Oz”.  Performances are 3/15 @ 7 pm; 3/16 1pm & 7pm & 3/17 @ 1pm. Tickets can be purchased at Celebrations and at VRHS. All tickets are $15.00.  
Community News: In case you missed the news, Jane Moen, Executive Director of the Nest, has announced her retirement. But rest assured, as she really isn’t going anywhere; she has announced that she will stay on in a volunteer capacity to be a daily presence in the business. She has done so much and will continue to contribute to the community. She has brought her vision of ‘creating a safe space for neurodiverse youth and young adults to land’, to fruition. We are so grateful.
 
Have a great weekend. 
Carol