1/7/2022 A Message from First Selectman Bindelglass

Good afternoon,

This week reminds us of the power of Mother nature and her ability to humble us.  Thank you to DPW for doing such an amazing job with our roads today. The ice storm was a perfect storm in terms of speed, timing and the degree of icing.

We have had 119 cases of Covid for the week ending New Year’s Day and I am sure it is worse since then. Also, people have been home testing so they do not count in the numbers.  The hospitals are expecting roughly 2 weeks to the peak. They are stretched worse than in 2020 so this will be a difficult 2-4 weeks. Home tests more are becoming more readily available in stores.  We will have one more distribution tomorrow of tests delivered to us by the state.  Time to be determined so stay tuned. We will E-notify tomorrow. Again, we will be able to provide for about 200 cars.  When we are giving enough tests for 200 cars and 500 cars show up it is difficult to please everyone. We will again require people to line up on Morehouse from the Beers side of the road (from the South). This time we will strictly enforce this by blocking Morehouse from the intersection with Banks. For our seniors, Val and Alison at the senior center can help if you call them. I am trying not to be too strict with restrictions, as I am hoping this will be short lived and less severe. Large gatherings are a bad idea and I think people should limit gatherings in the library community room to 25 at the most, but I will leave it to people’s judgment. I would recommend that meetings that can be held remotely or hybrid be done that way. We will continue to reevaluate on a regular basis.  We would all continue to benefit from masks, social distancing and good hygiene.

Last night at the Selectmen’s meeting, we reappointed and filled a number of positions. We are always looking for talented people to volunteer for boards and commissions and will be posting a list of open positions on the website.  Also, if you were nominated, please contact the town clerk’s office to arrange to get sworn in.  It can be done virtually.

The affordable housing committee had its first meeting last night with our consultant. A public hearing is planned for February 10 at 6:00PM to be held at Samuel Staples. The meeting will be properly noticed shortly. Not knowing the Covid situation at that time the exact format will be determined closer to the meeting.  The purpose of this first hearing is to provide input as to what they think should be in the town’s affordable housing plan.

Yesterday, Alison Witherbee, Social Services Director received a generous donation of $2,000 from the United Way to assist families in need.

Have a great weekend. Stay safe. 

Dave