From the First Selectman's Desk

First Selectman’s Weekly News:

Thank you to all who reached out to tell me that they missed my weekly news last week. I had a shortened week due to illness and never could get caught up enough to write it all down! So, to look back at the last two weeks involves writing way too much to fit into a short column. So, a quick overview….

April is National Volunteer Month! I want to give a shout out and thank you to all of the volunteers who keep Deep River humming along, day in and day out. You are the backbone of our town and you are so appreciated!

Speaking of volunteers, the Deep River Fire Department recently (4/6) held their annual banquet to recognize the outstanding efforts of all of their members. Years of service awards were given to 4 members; Don Lee, Sr.- 30 years; Reverend Tim Haut - 45 years and with 50 years of service- Rich Sypher and Pete Waz.  Both Pete and Rich were recognized for their 50 years of service by receiving not only a plaque from the department but also with a Proclamation from the State of Connecticut. Sadly, due to illness, I was unable to attend the banquet, but Selectman Russell was on hand to present the proclamations on behalf of the town. We thank all of our first responders for their time, dedication and commitment to keeping the residents of our town safe. The new officers of the DRFD were also announced, and they are: Chief-Tim Lee; Deputy Chief-Adam Kerop; Assistant Chief-Barry Luft; Assistant Chief-John Ely; Treasurer-John Kollmer; Chief Engineer-Tim Lee; Secretary -Christine Nowak.

The Board of Finance and Board of Selectman have been meeting weekly, usually on Tuesday evenings, to work on the town budget. Our Finance Director is doing a fantastic job keeping both boards up to date with the most current expense figures, revenues and projections for next fiscal year. This is a tough job as it involves making tough choices. Presently, it pains us that the bottom line will result in a mill rate increase. The Boards will again meet this Tuesday evening, 4/23, for the final budget workshop. As always, the public is invited to attend. The budget will be presented to residents at a town meeting to be held on Tuesday, April 30th. Please mark your calendars and come out to let us know what you think.

Wednesday of last week, had me in meetings with two town residents, the Zoning Department, the Community Health Committee, our Resident Trooper and a quick hello at a P & R meeting before Town Hall lost power around 8:45 pm! Nice excuse to go home!

Thursday, I sat through the CCM (Connecticut Council of Municipalities), Legislative Committee meeting to learn about all of the important bills effecting cities and towns coming before the State Legislature. Some of the bills that the CCM supports include the approval of online publication of legal notices vs the burden of towns to publish the notices in print media and incur the hundreds of dollars in fees that go along with it. Another bill concerns disconnected youth. This bill was co-sponsored by Rep.Christine Palm and would seek to improve among other things, the data sharing agreements between local and regional boards of education and youth service bureaus, and improves collaboration and transparency between teachers, social workers and agencies. This collaboration would help support at-risk and disconnected youth. Potentially, it could allow P & R departments to benefit from shared information so that each camper, from day 1, could receive the accommodations that they might need in order to have the best camp experience. Currently, the information is not shared, resulting in, in some cases, an unpleasant first day of camp for both camper and staff, until needs are assessed and an accommodation plan can be put in place.  

Next, I sat down with Barbara Lunn from the Deep River 60 Club. We discussed the club and ideas for future programs. The group has some great programs in the works. One such event is an author talk with local author, Peggy Alder, who will speak about her book “Pallenberg Wonder Bears from the Beginning”. The book chronicles Emil Pallenberg’s migration to the US in 1914 with three trained, acrobatic bears. The free program will be held at the DR Ambulance Barn and is open to all area residents, 60 years and up. The program will be held from 2-3 pm.

Later, I was invited to Adams Hometown Market to accept a check from The Hometown Foundation to help cover veterinary costs that the town incurred from the animal seizure in late January. The Foundation sold raffle tickets, the local store did a ‘round up’ campaign, where customers could ‘round up’ when checking out, and even employees of the store could opt in to have a payroll deduction for the cause. All of these efforts resulted in the town receiving a check for $7128.00! What a generous donation! I am pictured here with Doug Shaw, Director of The Hometown Foundation, Inc., Anthony Caponera, the manager of the Deep River store, Animal Control Officer Caroline Fountain, and other wonderful staff members for the check presentation. We are so very grateful for the outpouring of compassion and for the generosity from so many in the community.

A wrap up meeting was held to discuss what worked and what needs improvement regarding our Early Voting Procedures. In attendance was the Town Clerk and the Registrars of Voters. For the most part, the Early Voting went well, with only a few hiccups. The small conference room here at Town Hall was utilized and the Town Clerk’s office staff assisted the Registrars as three trained staff were recommended to be present at all times. As you can imagine, some challenges presented themselves as the four days of Early Voting were underway. Each was addressed successfully but it was quite a burden on all those involved. Thank you to both of our Registrars, Lori Gregan and Michael Harris and to the Town Clerk’s office (Amy Winchell and Paula Weglarz) who worked so hard to ensure the integrity of the voting process.

Moving into this week, I was excited to interview two outstanding candidates for our part time social services position. This was the final interview round, so a tough decision awaits! Both, outstanding candidates. Stay tuned as I hope to announce the new staff person in next week’s news column.

I had several meetings this week including with the Board of Finance, our Finance Director, several residents, the Public Works Director, our Resident State Trooper, our Building Official, the Assessor, one of our constables, Planning and Zoning, the Middlesex County Revitalization Commission, a local real estate agent (concerning some Deep River properties), Selectman Gates, a locksmith and finally the Region 2 Regional Emergency Planning Team Steering Committee. Of course, many other things come up as the days go on and the endless emails and phone calls take time to address. All wonderful aspects of the job.

• is hosting a Community Resilience Building Workshop, May 15th from 9am -12pm. The workshop will be held via Zoom. They are looking for input from all of our Boards and Commissions and from any resident that wants to participate. Please mark you calendars and be part of this discussion on building our community resilience. Do you want more information? Please email Sara Connor (http://Contact Sara E. Conner | Deep River CT) through the Sustainable page on the town’s website. Invitations to all parties with details will be coming out next week.
• Also, the Sustainable committee wants to thank everyone that is participating in the food scrap program. Please keep up your great efforts as the food scrap program is ongoing. If you can’t find compostable bags, did you know you can use brown paper bags or no bags at all- dump scraps directly into the food scrap bin. One Sustainable Committee member mentioned that they “have been using BioBags successfully for 2 months now.  They are 100% certified compostable and can hold 2.6 gallons of food scraps without failing. They fit perfectly in our Oxo Compost Bin and we usually use 2-3 bags/week.”  The BioBags are available in a 100-count box from Amazon for $12.88 ($0.13/bag) and similar bags are available at local stores, such as Walmart, Ace Hardware, Kohl's, Ocean State, and Target. The food scrap program is offered as a free service to the town. Remember, reducing waste, reduces the town's disposal costs as well as methane emissions at landfills.
• The textile bin has arrived. Please plan on taking advantage of this great resource to keep the weight of old, worn old textiles such as stained or torn clothes, bedding or towels out of your household waste bags. The town will get paid for each ton collected.

• Monday night (4/22) into Tuesday morning (4/23) – 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
• Tuesday night (4/23) into Wednesday morning (4/24) – 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
• Wednesday night (4/24) into Thursday morning (4/25) – 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
• Thursday night (4/25) into Friday morning (4/26) – 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
• Friday night (4/26) into Saturday morning (4/27) – 11:30 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. 

• An eco-friendly lantern for each participant to decorate and personalize on-site
• Great food and company with The Nest’s Vintage Food Trailer
• An Artist’s Showcase featuring local neuro-diverse artists and makers from our Possibilities Boutique
• Music, kids’ activities and even a quiet sensory accessible area
• A 50/50 Drawing

The event will take place at Valley Regional HS in Deep River and culminate with a massive display of lit lanterns folks can view close up! Bonus this year is that all lanterns can be taken home to display for years to come!
More details can be found at http://Lantern Illumination Celebration – A Little Compassion

• Let’s welcome our new P & R Director, Michael McDowell. Mike is joining us from his previous job as Recreation Supervisor, in East Lyme where he has worked for the last 10 years. He will start in his new position on Monday, April 29th. Plan to stop by and say ‘hello’.
• Summer youth camp registration is now open. Don’t miss out on the week you might want/need, as space is limited. Field trips are back. Hanna and Jake are back too! Register today.
• Last call for the P & R bus to NYC on Sunday, April 28th. Register today!

• Friendly reminder, sewer tax is due in April

• They are proposing a new fee schedule. The proposed changes will be posted shortly for all to review. The decision to enact the new fees will be yours, as all changes will be voted on at a town meeting.

• Again, welcome to our new P & R Director, Mike McDowell.  He will begin on April 29th.
• Reminder to come in and check out the display of artifacts found inside the time capsule which was opened last spring as part of the 75th anniversary of the naming of Deep River. Jerry Roberts, the newly elected President of the Deep River Historical Society, recently set up the display in a case in the large conference room here at Town Hall.
• There is an upcoming Buy Nothing Junk-in-the-Trunk event happening Sunday, April 21. This will be taking place at the Essex Town Hall Parking Lot. At last look, they had 18 people signed up to give! This is a wonderful way to keep items out of the trash AND to connect with our neighbors. *Important to note* that to be able to GIVE, you have to be part of the Buy Nothing group which is linked below. ANYONE from the tri-town community is welcome to come browse and take what they need for free  http://Link to the Buy Nothing Group