As we head into another season, I want to thank our community for your support in the recent election. I’m, once again, honored to begin another term as your First Selectman and look forward to our continued work ahead. As we move into the December and January, here are the key updates I’d like to share.
First, congratulations to all who were elected or re-elected in November and welcome to our new Board and Commission members. A big thank you to everybody who came out and voted. We had one of the largest voter turnouts for a municipal election. A special thanks to our Registrar’s office to include the full-time staff and volunteers who spent the entire day and the two weeks of early voting manning the polls.
On Veteran’s Day, the schools and Town once again partnered to honor and celebrate our veteran’s while bringing awareness and educating our students on the importance and meaning of the day. Thanks to the entire school faculty and staff, every Principal and Assistant Principal, Assistant Superintendent Laura Norbut, Superintendent Matt Dunbar, the Scouts, volunteers, VFW members, and of course our Veterans and their families for participating and hosting the events. I encourage any veterans for next year, who didn’t come out, to join us on Veteran’s day for recognition and celebration.
The Department of Public Works recently completed a road study on all of our Town owned roads. Unlike past road studies, this one gives you the ability to interact and look at it online. For those interested to see what the condition of their road is and how the results were formulated, the link can be found in the DPW section under the “Department and Services” tab on our Town website. We will be utilizing this study to plan for future repairs, reconstruction and budgeting on the roads for both a short- and long-range plan.
We’ll be going out to bid over the next few months to get pricing on the planned reconstruction of the Windsor Locks Canal Trail. The project is funded through the Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program (LOTCIP), which gave Suffield $1.2 million for the project two years ago. There is still some engineering and design work that needs to be completed before we receive a final sign off from our Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) for final funding approval.
The Permanent Building Commission (PBC) continues their work on the Facilities Master Plan that includes the top priorities of major construction or new builds of the Middle School and FD Station 1 Headquarters. We continue to have Collier’s, as our consultant, guide us through the appropriate and necessary steps for you to consider what project should move forward. The Town has recently hired Tecton for architectural design and educational specifications on the Middle School. The PBC will be going out to bid for an architect as well, on Firehouse 1.
Suffield Alight will be on December 13 at 5 p.m. on the Town Green. Hope to once again see a large turnout for our annual tree lighting event.
Our Veteran’s Breakfast is December 6 and January 3 from 9-11 a.m. at the VFW.
Coffee Hours will continue to be held the first and third Friday of the month at Café Barista from 8:30-9:30 a.m.
I look forward to another productive term and to all we will accomplish together. Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and a bright year ahead with family and friends. As always, my door is open at Town Hall. Enjoy your holiday season.