Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy spoke before The General Assembly on Wednesday. Here's what he said.
The following text is the speech Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gave to the state House and Senate on Wednesday. The text was provided by the governor's office. Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Senator McKinney, Representative Cafero, my fellow state officials, ladies and gentlemen of the General Assembly, honored members of the Judiciary, members of the clergy, honored guests, and all the citizens of our great state who are watching or listening today, thank you. Thank you for the honor of inviting me into the people’s House to address you. This is an important Connecticut tradition and a privilege for me. I’d like to thank my extended family and friends for being here, and my wife and three sons for their love and support. I’d like to recognize and …
Land Use and FHI are asking interested residents to join focus groups to develop new vision for Four Corners.
The town of Brookfield signed a contract with planning firm Fitzgerald and Halliday Inc. (FHI) mid-January to begin the process of designing a vision for the intersection of Federal Road and Whisconier Road, known locally as Four Corners or the Town Center District (TCD). A major component of the process, and one of the main reasons FHI was chosen over other firms, will be public participation, in the form of public information sessions, taste surveys and focus groups made up of specific interest groups. As means of achieving this last goal, the town, and in particular Community Development Director Katherine Daniel, is asking interested residents and stake-holders to contact the Brookfield Land Use Department to let the town know they …
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Brookfield needs a controller after New Britain woman takes back offer, citing commute and personal reasons.
Brookfield municipal officials had a new Town Controller on Monday to replace departing Town Controller Jay Wahlberg. But, Lisa Carver, who was announced as the new Controller, resigned her position. First Selectman Bill Davidson's office announced on Tuesday that Carver took back the offer. "Lisa cited the commute and personal reasons for rescinding her acceptance of our offer," according to an email from the First Selectman's office. At a Board of Selectmen's meeting Monday, Brookfield municipal officials said incoming Carver has both the financial and interpersonal skills to effectively manage a municipal budget of more than $55,000,000. “We wanted to offer her the job before she left the building during the interview,” said Selectman …
Monday, February 6, 2012
Here's the latest news from Hartford.
Funding of early childhood education programs, the debate over online gambling and the Senate race top the political news coming out of Hartford. On Thursday, Gov. Dannel Malloy proposed spending $12 million to improve and expand access to early childhood education, an initiative that he has talked about in the past. As part of his proposal, $4 million would go toward opening up 500 new preschool spots, $3 million in incentives and other programs aimed at improving the quality of teachers and $5 million for a rating system to help parents gauge early childhoold education options for their children. “When I was mayor of Stamford, we led the way in making pre-k available to every child," Malloy said in a statement announcing the proposal. "…
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Brookfield resident will travel to Washington in support of suicide prevention.
Dear Editor, A year and a half ago “suicide” was just a word to me. That was before my brother took his own life. Now that word has inspired action, inspired me to make suicide prevention my life’s mission. Sadly, as the 10th leading cause of death, suicide continues to take an enormous toll on families, friends and entire communities. That is why on Thursday, February 9,I will be traveling to our nation’s capital to meet with my members of Congress and urge their support of legislation furthering suicide prevention, education and research. My involvement is part of a national movement coordinated by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) as part of their Annual Advocacy Forum. Hundreds of advocates from across the …
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Town meeting OKs one-time payment from general fund.
Brookfield voters overwhelming approved a one-time $485,000 appropriation 67-4 at a town meeting Tuesday night, authorizing the town to repay a benefit assessment in the same amount to the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) for half of the sewer system that connects to Brookfield High School (BHS). The WPCA funding was used to pay the contractors for the outstanding balance on the high school renovation project and avoid a pending lawsuit. Were the motion voted down Tuesday night, the appropriation would have been included in the 2012-13 budget. One member of the public, Kerry Swift, spoke against the motion at the meeting. “Years ago we actually wanted to vote for several million [dollars] more to put into the project but we were …
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Some support an increase, while others traditionally argue that it hurts small businesses. What do you think? Participate in our poll.
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Tuesday, January 31
The following is a press release: House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan (D-Meriden) joined Democratic legislators, labor leaders, a small business owner and minimum wage workers Tuesday to propose an increase in Connecticut's minimum wage, and said legislation to be proposed in the 2012 session will call for indexing the wage to keep pace with the rising cost of living and give employers predictability on their labor costs. The proposal calls for Connecticut's current minimum wage of $8.25 per hour to be raised to $9 per hour this year, $9.75 per hour next year and then to be indexed in the years following. He was joined at a news conference today to discuss the proposals by Democratic State Representatives Zeke Zalaski, Ezequiel Santiago …
Monday, January 30, 2012
Here's the latest from what's happening in Hartford.
Republicans and Gov. Dannel Malloy's budget chief traded barbs over numbers released by the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis showing a projected General Fund deficit of $145 million, and substantially less money coming from union pension givebacks than the governor had originally projected, several news outlets reported. It started during the middle of last week after the OFA issued a report projecting the deficit, which stood in contrast to the $81 million surplus in the original budget – a difference of more than $225 million, according to the agency. While Republicans highlighted the report of that deficit as evidence of bad news for the state, the governor's Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes disputed the …
Friday, January 27, 2012
Public hearing discussion centered on the proposal to hire a professional town manager.
The Charter Revision Commission (CRC) held its second public hearing Thursday night at Whisconier Middle School (WMS) to outline their initial findings and recommendations before submitting them to the Board of Selectmen (BOS) for a town wide vote in November. While the Commission proposed several changes to the Town Charter, the focus of the hearing was a recommendation to hire a professional town manager to take over the administrative duties of the first selectman. Under the current CRC proposal, the town would still function under the Town Meeting system, in that residents would retain their current powers under the charter, and would keep the BOS as the legislative body, led by the first selectman, however the town manager would …
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The following press release was originally published on Brookfield Patch on Jan. 5, 2012.
On January 10, 2011, the Brookfield Board of Selectmen charged the Charter Revision Commission (CRC) to begin its review and consideration of the Town Charter for a term of 15 months. The nine appointed members of the CRC include: Lawrence Miller (Chair), Joni Park (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Miles (Secretary), Peter Scalzo, David Propper, Susan Martone, Ron Jaffe, Greg Dembowski and Mark Labadia. The CRC will hold a public hearing on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the Seminar Room of the Whisconier Middle School (WMS) to present its preliminary positions. This is an opportunity for all Brookfield voters to participate with comments at this public hearing. At its first public hearing on February 3, 2011, the BCRC accepted public …
Sully
10:26 am on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Bueno Pablo, muy bueno !!!!! The Latino population of Florida grew by an astonishing 57 percent in a ten-year period, Census data released today shows. The state’s African American population grew by 27 percent, whites grew by 4 percent. more ›