First Selectman's Reports
January 13, 2025
Jan 13, 2025
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First Selectman’s Report January 13, 2025 Good-bye 2024, Hello 2025! I guess I will start off with a Happy New Year, although it’s well past Larry David’s allowable date to say it. Hoping everyone enjoyed their fime off and spent it with family and friends. In a blink of an eye, it has turned into mid-January and freezing. Our puppy, Mabel, is now 6 months old and big! She is a sweetheart, although she has regressed on a few things we thought we had beat, so working through that. Frustrafing but we love her. She is shown here with Santa and on the LL Bean dog bed she asked him to bring her. Charter Revision Commission Public Hearing The date for this meefing has been set for January 23, at 6:00pm in the Tariffville Room at the library. This is your opportunity to weigh in our local government structure, from the administrafion to our boards/commissions. The last change was to the Town Manager form of government in 2017. The charter can be found here at this link: hftps://ecode360.com/26887608#26887608 We hope people will come out and share their thoughts. These meefings will be recorded for those who want to keep up with the discussions. Below is the public nofice: Marfin Luther King Day Event – January 20th Please join the community at the annual Marfin Luther King Day Celebrafion. This event will be held at First Church, on Monday the 20th, at 2:00PM. The Keynote Speaker will be Kenneth Green, past State Representafive from Harfford who holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Ken also holds a professional educator cerfificate as a school social worker and has been very involved in the educafion of our youth, working in different capacifies throughout his career. I’ll be introducing Ken on Monday. Holiday Doors Contest Our Town Manager’s Office resurrected the past pracfice of a fun compefifion among the departments and invited everyone to decorate their doors for the holiday. I was honored to be the judge, so Management Specialist Franklyn Barrueco and I visited all the doors on 12/20. First place went to the team at the WPCA for their creafivity in decorafing a Christmas tree that was very informafive and illustrated what the team has to deal with. They did use more space than most others had, but the effort that went into it proved them to come out on top of the pile (pun intended). Franklyn and I learned a lot during our visit, and it was all embodied with items represenfing what comes across their figurafive desk and a ‘12 days of Christmas’ at the water treatment plant re-write. Great job! Second place went to Social Services for the warmth and holiday spirit that their door conveyed. The invifing, homey fireplace, with real holiday cards over the mantel, and the Grinch coming down the chimney really created a sense of calm and spirit. It required a bit of craftiness too, with some cute extra touches, like an elf on the shelf and the hanging stocking. Lovely! Finally, Third Place went to our Tax Collector’s Office for their use of (fake) taxpayer dollars to create a Christmas tree topped with a dollar sign, which threaded the holiday theme with what they do in a fun representafion. I especially liked the tax bills and checks to and from Santa in the North Pole for both his property and motor vehicle taxes. Fun and on theme! A poster was created with all of the doors and has been on display in the Town Hall entry way. It will soon find a permanent home, but here is what it looks like. Next year will be bigger and befter. Feel free to reach out to me for office hours via my cell or town email. 860-543-3770 / wmackstufis@simsbury-ct.gov Thanks, Wendy