First Selectman's Reports
October 15, 2025
Oct 15, 2025
A public record published by the Town of Simsbury (simsbury-ct.gov). mySimsbury indexes it and makes it readable; it is not the official copy. View the original file.
First Selectman’s Report 10-15-2025 ISCC and St. Joseph’s University On Tuesday, 10/14/2025, during a press release held at the ISCC, it was announced that St. Joe’s would be launching Men’s and Women’s D3 college hockey teams, with our own skafing center serving as their home rink. It’s wonderful to see the ISCC thrive in recent years under Kelle Becconsall and Adam Westhaver, owners since 2021. The ISCC was established in 1994 under First Selectman Mary Glassman’s leadership, pufting Simsbury on the map with world-famous figure skaters like Victor Pretrenko, Kafia Gordeeva, and Oksana Baiul. I’m excited to welcome the University of St. Joseph’s as a partner in Simsbury. We even had Coach Jim Calhoun visit town! The puck will drop in 2026! Town Forest Park This long-planned project, instigated by the Open Space Committee and funded with American Rescue Plan dollars, was completed this month. Town staff from multiple departments—Public Works, Parks and Rec., Engineering, and the WPCA—made this happen. It looks great, and once the weather warms up again, it will be a fun place to take the kids. As a young mom in town, who lived a street over in a house without air conditioning, I spent many hot summer days relaxing on the beautiful shores of Town Forest Pond. If you have time and want to hear what we said, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XClvAvkn5qg Nod Road Solar We promised to keep residents up to date on the proposed solar field at 140 Nod Road, where the disc golf course is today, alongside the Talcoft Mountain Collecfive. Here is the link where you can find the correspondences: hftps://www.simsbury-ct.gov/planning-and-community-development-department/land-use- applicafions-of-interest/pages/140-nod-rd Tariffville Elm Street Sign Denied The State turned down our request. We will explore whether there are any other options that can be applied for with the state. Early Vofing I want to thank all those running for office in the 2025 Municipal Elecfion for their civic engagement. Vofing will take place at the Simsbury Public Library. Elecfion day is November 4th at your regular place of vofing. (Tariffville School, Lafimer Lane School, Toofin’ Hills School, and Henry James Memorial School). Friends of Simsbury Farms Golf Tournament Another fun scramble at the beaufiful farms on September 26th to support the efforts of the Friends of Simsbury Farms. My foursome was made up of the town’s very own Parks and Rec Director Tom Tybuski, who was a fun partner for the second year in a row. We were joined by my husband, Max, and Selectman Curfis Looney. We started out rough but ended up with par for the course. Curfis can hit a drive!! Max won the top raffle prize of the gas grill and Heather won the women’s longest drive. Congrats to both! Tariffville Congratulafions to Tariffville School on their 100-year anniversary. Found some amusing pix of my kids in the yearbooks that were on display – classes of 2002 (Kevin) and 2005 (Leah). Congratulafions to Tariffville on their 200-year celebrafion that was held on the Green the following day. USA Waste Leak on Gordon, et al. The latest update from Tom Roy, Public Works Director is included here, and residents have been looped in when updates occur. Except from latest email this week: Work has been ongoing, and no one has abandoned this issue - it remains a high priority. To address your concerns: Catch Basin Cleaning: Environmental Services Inc. (ESI) will be cleaning seven catch basins in the impacted areas in the coming days, as recommended by Atlas. Additional Soil Testing: We are currently in ongoing discussions to determine the best course of action for additional soil testing. We will provide an update as soon as a plan is finalized. Well Water Testing: The desire for well water testing was requested in a separate email. Based on the information gathered, there is no indication that the wells in the area have been impacted. Should residents still have concerns about their wells, and you wish to pursue individual testing, I would suggest contacting Farmington Valley Health District (FVHD). FVHD is aware of the hydraulic oil spill that occurred in your neighborhood and can provide guidance on testing options. We are actively working with Atlas and USA Hauling/ESI to move these items forward. We anticipate providing a more comprehensive update on the timeline for further soil testing and overall progress by the end of next week. Thank you to Mark and Diane Orenstein for their confinued support to the Keep Simsbury Warm program in our Social Services Department. A reminder to those coming to Public Audience: This decorum standard was implemented by the 2023-2025 Board of Selectmen at the start of their term. Community Farm Update On September 27th, the Community Farm held an open house to showcase the improvements and work being done to engage with community members, as well as how they are growing produce to share with our Social Services department for Cheese Day at the food pantry. Thanks to Chris Latz for showing me around, and to the many volunteers who are expanding the programming and engagement there. Mabel Update We celebrated Mabel’s ‘Gotcha Day’ on October 9th, as that is the day I went to the Connecficut Humane Society in Newington to just look at one of the puppies we had seen online for adopfion. The pup I went to see was walking out the door with a man, so I was a liftle bummed, but they said the last of the 3 in the lifter was left if you’d like to meet her. She left with me for her new home in Simsbury an hour later. She is such a fun, sweet, and energefic one-year-old. She loves her yard and the occasional visit to Town Hall to see the staff. She is a big fan of the Pup Cup. Here is one of the cutest pics I’ve found of her as a baby with her Aunt Barbara, a frequent visitor to Simsbury from NYC. Thank you to everyone who has humored the pictures I’ve shared since that day. Feel free to reach out! Wendy 860-543-3770 wmackstufis@simsbury-ct.gov