From the First Selectman's Desk
If you were at the Board of Selectman or Board of Finance meeting this week, you heard an update to the State Urban Acts Grant that was awarded to the town to fund upgrades to the playgrounds at DRES, Devitt and Plattwood. The school playground has been installed and is being enjoyed by the DRES students and the community. As the bills came in however, this administration realized that the contract had never been signed. With most grants, contracts have to be signed, accepted and any designs and site work approved, prior to equipment being ordered and installed in order to get reimbursed. Since, we hadn’t followed this procedure, after several emails and a zoom call with the State of CT DEEP late last week, our expectation of getting reimbursed for money already spent, was quite low. We were downtrodden, however, we didn’t give up trying to plead our case. This week, our finance director and myself continued to communicate with the state DEEP, and the State Attorney General’s office who said that they would ‘go to bat for us’. We wanted to make sure we tried all avenues, so I reached out to our State Senator, Norm Needleman, and Selectman Duane Gates reached out to the Office of Policy and Management (OPM). Well, something worked, as we end the week with great news! We were contacted late yesterday by the AG’s office, that the grant money that we have already spent, about $220K will be reimbursed to the town! We are thrilled. What a nice way to end the year.
While that filled much of my week, I did fit in a couple meetings, and continued to finish up other documents for grants, end of year reports and department budget requests.
Speaking of budgets… now begins the process at Region 4 as well. The Supervision District, which Supports the Chester, Deep River, Essex, and Region 4 Schools, held their first budget workshop for 2024-2025 on December 14, 2023. They presented a draft budget outlining requests in areas such as capital expenditures, contractual obligations, and also included some new initiatives. The proposed supervision district budget represents a million dollar increase over last year. Yes, it is early in this process but make sure you attend these workshops if you can and make your voice heard. Here are pictures of 2 pages from the full report presented at the workshop and found by following this link
http://Supervision District Budget Workshop #1 Slides - 12.14.2023 v2.pptx (sharpschool.com)
The workshop dates are as follows:
● January 10: Supervision District Budget Workshop #2
● January 17: Supervision District Budget Workshop #3
● January 29: Present proposed Supervision District 2024-2025 budget at Public Hearing
● February 22: Supervision District meeting and possible Vote to approve 2024-2025 Supervision District budget
● February 22: Joint Board of Education Meeting, presentation of combined budget request, and possible Vote to approve 2024-2025 Supervision District budget
Did you know that the Tri-Town Youth Service Bureau (TTYS) has a podcast? It is called, “Tri-Town talks prevention”, and is available on Spotify. They have just released their 5th episode featuring a Deep River resident who shares her journey through recovery. Faith Sprigg, the Director of Positive Youth Development for Tri-Town leads the discussions and interviews. The podcast is sponsored by TTYS in conjunction with the local prevention council for Chester, Deep River & Essex. Be sure to give it a listen.
We want to congratulate Deep River Pizza on their grand re-opening this week. I had the pleasure to go check it out on Wednesday and even got the staff to take a break for a quick photo. It looks amazing and now even includes a large dining area. We are so pleased that Julio and the staff, chose to rebuild and keep this popular business here in Deep River. Head down, place an order and say ‘hello’.
Did you know that the state’s 5 cent surcharge on beverage containers includes the small ‘nips’ bottles? Every April and October, wholesalers must remit this surcharge for each nip sold to each municipality where one was sold during the previous six-month period. Deep River receives such funds. The law requires the municipalities that receive the funds to use them for environmental efforts to reduce the amount of solid waste generated or to reduce the amount of litter. Last year, Deep River utilized some of the funds to introduce the food scrap program to the elementary school and to help offset the cost of hauling the food scraps from the school. Deep River receives about 4K every 6 months from this program.
Looking for something to do this weekend, Saturday or Sunday, head over to the Pandemonium Rainforest Project Thrift Shop (PRP-R3) to say hello to all of the interesting animals, grab a coffee and a great bargain with their huge 75% off holiday items. This sale includes all of the Christmas items at Ashleigh’s Garden as well.
Head to Landing at Main tonight (12/29) for dinner, drinks and a live band featuring music from La Hot Jazz & Company from 8-11 pm. Every Friday, catch live bands; next week, (1/5), Sister Funk will be on hand to entertain.
High Nine Brewing also has live music tonight (12/29) and Saturday (12/30), starting at 6 pm. Tonight hear music from Lucas Neil. Saturday night, music by Chris & Ricky will be featured. High Nine is located at 6 Winter Ave.
On Monday, take part in a New Year’s Day yoga class at River Valley Dance Project. The class begins at 10 am. River Valley Dance is located at 500 Main Street.
The Nest is offering a couple of classes next week for ages high school to 30. Pre-registration might be required, so check out the Nest web site or call to get more information. The first class is a great one, if you love cats. Come make a cat plushie toy. It will be held on Wednesday, January 3rd @ 6 pm. The second class is Thursday evening @ 6pm. The Thursday class is a cooking class where participants will make pasta sauce in honor of national pasta day. A $5.00 donation is requested for each class. For more about The Nest and their mission, visit their website Home - The Nest Coffee House
The Deep River Library also is offering classes next week. ‘Terrific Thursday’ and “Fun Friday” are classes that run from 10:30 -11:30 AM on both Thursday and Friday mornings. These indoor story time classes are perfect for families with young children. Come read books and enjoy music and movement. Crafts will be available on a first come, first served basis. Please call or email Elaine, the Children’ s Librarian @860-526-6039 or drplchildrensdept@gmail.com to register.
Next Saturday, January 6th, the library will offer an adult class on the introduction to the Enneagram personality theory; an ancient model of human psychology that describes the nine personality types. The class will run from 10:30-11:30 am. Space is limited. Registration is required.
Reminder: Due to the holiday, the town hall will be closed on Monday. The library is also closed.
I hope you and yours look back on 2023 with gratitude and contentment. Wishing you all a wonderful 2024 filled with good health and peace. Be safe.
Carol