Dear Fairfielders,

Very early this morning, the Board of Finance (BOF) voted on my proposed budget that passed the Board of Selectmen. The BOF made reductions and additions that are unprecedented.
 
In February, the Board of Education (BOE) presented me with a requested $10.4 million increase or 5.42% in this year's budget. This increase, as a percent, is higher than Bridgeport, Stamford, West Hartford, Greenwich, Stratford, Trumbull, Westport, Darien, Wilton and New Canaan.
 
I reduced the Board of Education requested increase by $2.5 million leaving a nearly eight million dollar increase over this year's BOE budget. 
 
Last night, the newly elected majority on the BOF voted to restore the entire $2.5 million to the Board of Education, fully funding the $10.4 million dollar increase without cutting one penny in a budget that represents over 66% of the Town's total budget.

You can watch my comments on this motion here. 
 
It’s important to note that during the budget process last year, I reduced the BOE requested increase by $2 million, which the former BOF upheld, and the BOE finished the fiscal year with a $200,000 surplus.
 
I advocated for more funds to go toward classrooms and less towards administration costs when I served on the BOE. I can understand and appreciate the desire to restore the BOE funding.
 
However, in all my years of service to our Town I have never witnessed a BOE budget fly threw without a single change.  I reduced the requested 10 million dollar increase from a 202 million dollar budget because I have real concerns about increasing expenses for our residents as basic commodities costs continue to rise, and inflation is at record highs.

Our Town also has many residents still recovering from the financial impact of COVID and last year's revaluation. I believe my budget was mindful of those economic concerns while providing a budget that maintains services for all our residents, young and old.
 
In order to soften the impact of restoring the BOE funding, the majority of the Board of Finance then went on to cut $1.9 million in key operational expenses for the Town, some of which I believe are reckless, detrimental to taxpayers and the services our government provides. They delayed items to out years, and they pushed items to the Town’s credit card. In addition to those cuts, they added additional spending in the general fund, which ignores requests made by my administration to properly service the Town. 
 
In a vote that was not explained and made no sense to me, the BOF cut $118,000 out of the Human Resources Department, which services 500 employees, 175 seasonal, 150 part timers, 500 retired employees and 650 Board of Education for pension administration and exempt employees. They handle labor relations, personnel administration, employee benefits, staff services, pension administration and risk management. 
 
My reorganization plan for this department included an Assistant HR Director (which would absorb the responsibilities of the eliminated Risk Manager), a full time HR Generalist (currently part time), and a new part-time diversity recruitment coordinator to help expand the Town's recruitment efforts. 
 
This would mean 5.5 employees for a department to service over 1,975 current or past employees. This cut is an incredible disservice to our employees and is a small amount in a $345 million budget. Four full time employees is simply not enough to effectively run this department.
 
I am incredibly disappointed after a very sincere request, you can watch here, that five members of the new majority of the Board of Finance cut a position without making the effort to visit the department, speak to the Director and staff, or provide an explanation. Because the Town needs staffing levels just to handle daily operations of the department, the arbitrary cut will not allow the Town to hire the diversity recruitment coordinator or move our generalist to full time. Recruitment efforts are a real challenge in this economy and this cut will only make it harder.

In what I believe is irresponsible, the Board of Finance also eliminated the annual appropriation to the Risk Management fund of $850,000, completely zeroing the line out. The annual contribution, which has never been eliminated before, handles workers comp claims, general liability and medical claims. The amount contributed to this fund each year is determined by an analysis of outstanding cases between the Town Attorney and the Finance Department, who expressed great concern about this cut. A lesser reduction was suggested by the CFO but ignored.

The Board also cut the Town's $350,000 contingency fund that is for emergencies. One bad weather event could create catastrophic issues for our Town. This cut speaks for itself.

I have tried my best to keep residents informed of the budget process throughout the last month through this newsletter and the Town budget website. 

We have spent two years closely reviewing department operations, reorganizing, and creating efficiencies to better meet the needs of our Town. My term started on the heels of a massive public corruption scandal and mismanagement of our Town on a level we still have not fully realized - we do not know the total costs related to the fill pile and Penfield Pavilion, but it will be in the tens of millions of dollars, and court cases and felony charges are still pending. In my first two months as your elected leader, I had to terminate critical department heads of their jobs who are now facing criminal charges, manage the Town while building my first budget, and navigating the onset of a pandemic.

I am a third generation Fairfielder. I hope I have proven to you my commitment to this community and dedication to improving the services to our residents. I served on the Board of Education for 6 years, on the RTM for two terms and as State Representative for 9 years. I have a unique understanding and a proven commitment to both the Town and School operations.

I am transparent; I communicate regularly, and am not afraid to fight for change when I think it's to the benefit of our residents, businesses and employees. I believe I have earned some credibility in deciding what the Town’s needs are.

We worked hard to keep the budget increases to 0% in my first year when the pandemic hit, .78% in 2022, when we had to make up some cliffs made in year one, and my budget proposal now which was .98% this year, less than 1%.
 
After the Board of Finance actions, the mill rate will increase from .98% to 1.29%, with an assumed increase to the tax collection rate, that has not yet been voted on by the BOF.

This revised budget will now go before the RTM, which can decrease but not increase the budget. I will never stop fighting for the best interests of our community and for reforms I believe are important for Fairfield's future. Other boards have every right to disagree, but I will certainly speak up so our residents know exactly what I think is needed and what I stand for. 

The Charter Revision Commission convened again on March 24^th for a presentation of the Governance Model made by Attorney Steven Mednick. Their discussion focused on the possibility of eliminating the Board of Selectmen and possibly  moving to a 9 District RTM with less members. The Commission also discussed the importance of minority representation. You can watch the full discussion here and reference the baseline document here. The Commission's next meeting will be held on Monday, April 4^th.

I highly encourage our residents to participate in this critical process. I find the discussion of our Town's governing document to be fascinating, and if you would like to catch up on the Commission's prior discussions of our Town Charter, you can view them here. To exemplify the important impact the Charter Revision Commission has on Fairfield, you can read Josh LaBella's article in the Fairfield Citizen.

REDISTRICTING UPDATE
The purpose of voter redistricting is to establish and maintain voting districts that are faithful to the principle of one-person, one-vote. In Connecticut, responsibility for re-drawing legislative and congressional district lines generally rests with the General Assembly.  Federal law requires voting districts to have equal populations so that everyone's vote has equal importance. State law requires that Congressional and legislative district lines be re-drawn every 10 years. The districts must be based on the federal census and consistent with federal constitutional standards. In 2021, and in accordance with Federal law, new legislative and congressional district lines were re-drawn.

What does this mean for you as a voter in the 2022 elections? In Fairfield, we reside in the 4^th Congressional District (US Representative) and the 28^th State Senate District. However, there were changes to the boundary lines for the 132^nd, 133^rd, and 134^th State House lines. This means that your State Representative district may have changed to check which State Representative district you are in, please click here.

By the Town Charter: After completion of the census of the United States and after any reapportionment of the State General Assembly Districts affecting the Town, voting districts of the Town shall be established by an ordinance proposed by a committee of the RTM. The committee shall be composed of an equal number of members from each party. The redistricting ordinance adopted by the RTM shall provide for an equal number of members from each district, and to the extent practicable within the constraints of this Charter and State General Assembly redistricting, shall provide for districts that are in only one State General Assembly District.

The Fairfield RTM representation will remain the same this November. However, for the 2023 elections, the RTM must begin the process of adopting new boundaries. That work is currently being done by the RTM redistricting committee, which consists of 4 RTM members, 2 from each party. The committee will then make a recommendation to the full RTM. The RTM has until early to mid-2023 to adopt a final map for use in the next municipal election.

As you know, the Charter Review Commission is also meeting and is having discussions about Town governance and the possibility of a geographic map with 9 districts instead of our current 10 districts. This would allow for an odd number of members and avoid a “tie” situation between political parties. Creating an odd number of members on the RTM would also make them more consistent with other boards and commissions, which all operate as odd member boards.

At the most recent RTM Redistricting Meeting, held on March 22^nd, the Committee adjourned the meeting without acting on a map. Representatives Iacono (R-8) and McCormack (R-2) voiced their opinion that the committee should first hear from voters in November before a new map is adopted. They feel it is least disruptive to voters to change polling locations potentially twice. Representatives Schwartz (D-2) and Wackerman (D-7) disagreed and preferred to adopt a map immediately, change polling locations now, and also possibly change them again in November if necessary, as a result of Charter Reform.

You can watch the full meeting here.

The Town's Engineering Department held a pre-construction meeting with consultants, the state, and the contractor on March 31^st to go over the plans for the Duck Farm Road Bridge reconstruction project, which will begin next month. The Contractor’s “notice to proceed” begins on April 1^st for minor project setup and ordering materials. The contractor anticipates closing the road on or about April 18, 2022, and lasting through the construction season around the first week of December 2022. Please know there is always a possibility with large projects like these to experience delays, especially with some of the supply chain issues and extreme weather.

Detours will be designated as illustrated in the approved plan. The main detour will utilize Brookside and Mill Plain Road. However, the Town will install additional signs well before the bridge to alert traffic to take alternate routes and avoid the area, if possible. The Fairfield Police Traffic Unit will monitor potential issues.  

In November, the Board of Selectmen approved the project, and the Town has since been going through the permitting process with the State. The proposed detour map is listed below. If you have any questions regarding this project, please contact the Town's Engineering Department at (203) 256-3015. Please click on the image to view it larger.

 

 

 

FAIRFIELD ROTARY CLUB
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of being invited to share a Town update with the Fairfield Rotary Club.

The Fairfield Rotarian's focus is to encourage and foster the ideal of Service Above Self. They seek to make our communities, and our world, a better place by being people of action.

 

The Troop Leaders have successfully created a space where the girls enjoy immersing themselves in learning. The girls recently earned their Bronze Award by creating a Peaceful Garden at Riverfield Elementary, and they sing carols to residents with Alzheimer's at local rehab facilities.
 

I had the pleasure of meeting Cory Metz last week, an impressive and inspirational young man. Doctors discovered a tumor on his spinal cord in middle school and Cory has experienced extreme health challenges ever since. The surgery to remove the tumor left him paralyzed, and although he was eventually able to gain movement back in his legs, he is physically disabled. Just four years later, a tumor was found in Cory’s brain and he was put on life support. It's remarkable the journey Cory has undertaken and the strength he shows today.  

Cory’s wish to take a trip to the MLB All-Star Game in St. Louis was granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation in 2009, where he met his favorite player, David Wright. Cory has gone from a Make-A-Wish recipient to a dedicated and invaluable Make-A-Wish volunteer, helping grant wishes to others for the past seven years. It's impressive how he has used his struggles to give back to other kids and teens who have been through or are going through what he’s experienced. 

Cory is also the author of More Than a Wish: My Life and Stories from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. All book sales go directly to Make-A-Wish Connecticut. What makes Cory especially amazing is he didn’t let his hardship defeat his spirit of kindness and turned it into something positive. Meeting Cory and his family touched my heart because my family experienced a life-changing health issue with our own child. I was honored to meet Cory, and proclaim March 24, 2022, as Cory Metz Day. 

On March 19^th, the Connecticut Odyssey of the Mind (OM) State Tournament took place at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU). Tomlinson Middle School had one team participate in this year’s competition, and they won 1^st place in their division! The team, headed by coach Karen Anahory, was in Division 2 which is for grades 6–8. Eighth-grade team members Jack Anahory, Vaden Thakkar, Anshul Sinha, Anshika Sinha, Henry Quinn, Carlo Desy, and Eram Alaba, tackled problem 3: Classics (Name Here): The Musical Production.
 
The team will be headed to the World Finals at Iowa State University this May. 850 teams from all over the world will be competing, and students and coaches will be representing Tomlinson Middle School, and Fairfield, CT, at the competition.
 

If you would like to donate in support of the Tomlinson Middle School Odyssey of the Mind Team to directly help them participate in this opportunity, you can click here. For more information about Odyssey of the Mind, please visit https://www.odysseyofthemind.com/.

Ron Piccolo, Chair of the Commission on disAbilities and Julie DeMarco, Human Services Director, are pleased to announce a partnership with graduate students in the Occupational Therapy Program at Sacred Heart University. The Masters-level students are conducting a Town-wide needs assessment of services in Fairfield for adults with disabilities ages 18 and older.
 

“Through our partnership with Sacred Heart University, we will gather valuable data and insight into the needs of our disabled citizens,” said Mr. Piccolo. “Understanding these needs will guide the Commission to focus on topics that will deliver lasting benefits to those with disabilities and change the dialogue on what we can do to be a more inclusive community.”
 

COVID-19 UPDATE

Learn how to compost alongside Master Composters Mary Hogue and Dan Martens from Sustainable Fairfield. They will demonstrate the best ways for you to successfully recycle food scraps in your back yard, leaving you with a rich compost that helps to return valuable nutrients to the soil and improve the quality of your garden and lawn. Compost
is a natural fertilizer that will improve soil aeration, control weeds and reduce the need to water.

The event will be held on Monday, April 4^th from 6:30 – 8:00 PM in the Caroline Platt Walsh Community Room at the Fairfield Public Library, 1080 Old Post Road. Register here for free.

 

The PAL Trout Fishing Derby is Saturday, April 16^th from 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM at Mill River – Riverside Park (Mill Plain Road @ Brookside Drive). Rain or Shine & FREE for any girl or boy ages 3 to 15 years old. Each participant must bring a fishing pole and tackle, but a limited amount of bait will be provided by Black Rock Bait & Tackle. Prizes will be awarded in several categories. All CT DEP regulations will be enforced.

The safety seminars are set for Tuesdays, April 19^th, April 26^th and May 3^rd
 at 7 PM.

Lunch catered by Herbaceous Catering can be pre-ordered for $20, upon registration. Beverages included. This event is held in conjunction with the Pequot Library Climate Summit 2022. Register for Free Compost Workshop here.

 

SOCIAL SERVICES
The hardest part of getting help is reaching out. We are here to help. Please call us at (203) 256-3170 Monday through Friday between 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM for more information or to schedule an appointment.

For more additional information and resources, social services offers a comprehensive newsletter with various programs addressing career development, service members, and housing here.

Both branches of Fairfield Public Library are open the following hours:  Monday – Thursday, 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM; Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday, 1:00 – 5:00 PM. 

Easter holiday hours:  Both branches of the Library will close at 5:00 PM on Thursday, April 14^th (Main Library will remain open from 5:30 – 7:30 PM for the Kershner Gallery reception only). Both libraries will be closed on Friday, April 15^th and Sunday, April 17^th.

April 3 – 9 is National Library Week!  This year’s theme is “Connect with Your Library” and we invite our community to show its support for Fairfield Public Library by visiting us in person or online, following us on social media @fairfieldpubliclibrary and using the hashtag #National LibraryWeek. We are also participating in the “Passport to Libraries” program:  stop by anytime in April to get a passport, get it stamped, and receive a small gift. Anyone who visits at least five CT libraries during the month of April will be eligible for a chance to win a $150 Visa gift card!

Town Librarian Scott Jarzombek will be available to talk with patrons individually on Tuesday, April 12^th, from 1:00 – 6:00 PM at Fairfield Woods Branch Library, as part of a monthly series of Community Office Hours.  Please stop by and share your observations.
Other April events:

• April 1^st, 3:15 – 4:45 PM –  First Friday Jazz with Mark Edinberg (Main Library)
• April 7^th, 7:00 – 9:00 PM – Best Selling Author Event: Psychological Thrillers (SHU Community Theatre). Sponsored by Friends of Fairfield Public Library; tickets are $35 (visit www.shucommunitytheatre.org for more information).
• April 10^th, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM – Mini-golf at Main Library!  All ages; $5 per person or $20 per family. Register in person. Sponsored by Friends of Fairfield Public Library; all donations benefit the Library.
• April 14^th, 5:30 – 7:30 PM – Bruce S. Kershner Art Gallery Reception: “Kaleidoscope”. The public is welcome to help celebrate the opening of the Kershner Gallery’s latest exhibit at Main Library, featuring the work of Patrick Burhenne, Katya Lebrija, and Jill Harrington Nichols. The show will run from April 9 – June 6, 2022, during regular Library hours. 

One-on-one Medicare appointments are available on Thursday, April 7^th, between 1:00 – 4:00 PM at Main Library. Register online for a free, 30-minute session with Claire Volain from the Southwestern CT Agency on Aging and ask any and all questions related to Medicare benefits.

Free tax assistance is still being offered at Main Library on Tuesdays until April 12, 2022.  IRS-certified counselors will meet with residents between 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM on a first-come, first-served basis; no appointment is necessary.  This service is intended for low- and middle-income households and those over age 60, although all individuals will be assisted.

Book Donations Needed!  Friends of Fairfield Public Library welcome your gently-used books for their ongoing book sale at Main Library (no textbooks, please). Donations can be brought to the Friends’ Book Room on the first floor of Main Library during regular Library hours.

Masks are welcome when visiting either Library.

The Library continues to offer a mix of in-person and virtual programming at both locations for children, teens and adults. Please view our online calendar of events on our website (Fairfield Public Library | You Belong Here!) to see the offerings and reserve your spot!

Fairfield Public Library offers 24/7 access to its digital collection of books, music, magazines, movies and databases.  Information services are available in person, by phone (203-256-3160), by email at eref@fplct.org, and via text messaging (text askfplct to 833-232-4100).

Pequot Library: We are open for browsing! Visit Monday – Friday, 10 AM – 6 PM, Saturday 10 AM – 4 PM, and Sunday Noon – 4 PM. Drop in during browsing hours to check out items from our circulating selection, see our latest exhibit in the Perkin Gallery, or view treasures from our Special Collections.
 
Now on view: [Her]story - Women's Roles Through History
Dating from the 1700s forward, holdings from Pequot’s Special Collections reveal the evolution of roles women have held and hold. The selected items will uncover the impressive accomplishments made by women and show connections to Pequot Library over time, featuring local and national figures such as Mary Hull Wakeman, Mabel Osgood Wright, and Amelia Earhart. Join Pequot Library for a walk through [her]story from Colonial America, the Gilded Age, Women’s Suffrage, World War employment, and to modern professional life. Looking at a girl’s life then and now will tell a story of fluid educational and social norms. Follow visionary women through text and visual representations to witness their strength and resilience, as they move from atop a pedestal to protest, lead, and love.
 
For more programming, visit Upcoming Events – Pequot Library 
Get details on our website and social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Sign up for Pequot Library's Digital Digest eNewsletter or contact our Chief Librarian for personalized book recommendations.