Since I took office in November 2015, we are moving forward with plans of action on several fronts.
I hope you are enjoying our new town website. It is vastly improved from our older site. It now provides sign-up opportunities so residents can be better informed on what's going on in our town. I applaud Peter Neff, Chuck Venter, Mary Schettino, Michael Nejdl and the Website Committee for all their hard work and dedication.
The fiscal year 2016/2017 budgeting is well underway and I thank all the department heads, Boards and Commissions for their efforts.
The Board of Finance will be holding a budget public hearing on April 13th. The budget referendum on the Town and Board of Education budgets is scheduled for May 11th.
We recently completed our bonding process and all went well. In addition, Moody’s Investor Services has assigned an Aa-2 financial rating which is excellent news for our town.
On the development side, we are moving forward with the Mill Pond Clinton, LLC project which will be located on the existing Morgan School site. This will include a hotel, restaurant, retail shopping and residential components which will be a great addition to Clinton.
The town was awarded a $500,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program Grant (STEAP) for facility upgrades and improvements to the Ethel Peters Complex. The funding will be used to upgrade the existing concession and lavatory building at Ethel Peters Complex.
Human Services Department has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS). This state agency, mentioned that our team is top-notch and sets the bar for other towns in Connecticut.
Recently, we applied for a grant which will include studying the placement of sidewalks to the east and west of downtown on Route 1 for safety and future growth. With regards to sidewalks, a study is underway to determine the feasibility of the of connecting sidewalks along Route 81 from the existing Morgan School to the new Morgan School.
I’m also very proud of the coordinated efforts of our Public Works, Fire Department and Police Department Services for their efforts during the two recent winter storms and for all they do all year long.
In addition to their efforts on our new website, our Technology Department is working hard to improve all of our systems for all of our agencies and departments in town to enable our people to share needed information more efficiently.
We are also exploring various initiatives and housing for seniors.
The First Church of Christ Congregational Church is very pleased to be the owner of the historic Academy Building. We are sure that the church will be great stewards of the property.
The new Morgan School is on track in all aspects thanks to the Morgan Building Committee.
I continue to welcome new businesses to Clinton and hope you will support them.
By the way, I do not take credit for any of these initiatives. It is the good people of Clinton who work and volunteer their time to make things happen and I thank them very much.
Bruce N. Farmer
First Selectman