SEYMOUR — The following information is from Seymour First Selectwoman’s Annmarie Drugonis’ Facebook page:
What’s Happening in the 888
Here is an update on the Roads, Kinneytown Dam, French Park Flag, Board of Selectperson Awards Committee, Ordinance update, Budget update, and the next Q&A with the First Selectwoman. Warning: This is a long post, and all updates are listed in the order they appear above.
Roads
Botsford/ Bungay/ West Church
The project will go out to bid at the beginning of spring, and work will start around the end of summer and the beginning of Fall. There will be a public meeting before the construction project begins.
Aquarion will replace the water lines on West Church St / Bungay Road before the construction project starts in June.
Clinton Road / 313
We are applying for LOTCIP funding for this project. Once we start the Bungay project in the Fall, we can submit the plans for this project. This will address the island, the width, and the surface of Clinton Road. This will be a joint project with Ansonia. We must wait for the Bungay / Botsford, West Church because the town can not have more than one project in the hopper. We understand that this road is awful with potholes, and we are looking to see if we can put a skim coat over the road to help eliminate some of the issues.
Rt 67 Spot Improvement
We were informed on Monday that the project would be started on Wednesday the 13th. The detours in the Martha Street area are scheduled for the next two to three months. The Construction Project involves roadway, pedestrian, and traffic signal improvements along Route 67 (Bank Street), beginning approximately 175 feet west of Swan Avenue and extending
easterly to the Naugatuck River for approximately 2,300 feet. New concrete sidewalks, pedestrian ramps, granite curbing, benches, landscaping, and pavement markings for parallel parking stalls will be constructed along Route 67. All-Star Transportation has been informed and stated that they have reviewed our routes; we currently do not have any buses that travel on Martha. If Martha is also closed to pedestrian traffic, we will have to move any students who utilize the stop at Martha and Bank St to the intersection of Rimmon St and Pershing Ave. This would impact 40 for SHS, 32 for SMS, and 37 for Chatfield. The students would stay on their normal buses, and their pickup and drop-off locations would move. As we receive more information, we will pass it along.
Town Roads -
The Public Works Department is taking advantage of the nice weather and filling in potholes. We ask everyone to please be patient with the Department. They are getting to them as quickly as possible.
Kinneytown Dam
The Kinneytown Dam in Seymour has been in the news this week.
Coe Pond is not located in Seymour; it is located in Ansonia. There is a serious concern should the earthen dam break. While there are no residential homes or business developments west of the earthen dam, there is the active commuter railroad line and overhead electrical lines. A breach of the earthen dam at any location could jeopardize public safety, damage/disrupt the commuter railroad line, and damage the overhead electrical lines. I want to emphasize that “The main public safety issue is the commuter line.” The only loss of human life would be if the moment of the breach the train passes by. The earthen dam is located in a remote area with no “eyes” to identify a potential breach. In addition, there is no instrumentation monitoring the Coe Pond water level, so if a breach were to occur, we would not know about it until after it happens. We, the town of Seymour and the City of Ansonia, can not physically do anything. We do not own the property. NVCOG and FERC will be updating as they receive information.
French Park Flag
The Town and American Legion were made aware of the torn flag at French Park. The American Legion maintains all our flags in town. When we say maintain, that means they lower raise the flags. They replace and remove the torn flags as needed. The town does pay for the flags. The flag pole at French Park has a broken pulley; the flag cannot be lowered. A new pulley has been ordered; once it is in, we will replace it, the torn flag will be replaced and discarded properly, and a new flag will be put in its place. We appreciate the American Legion Post members for maintaining all our flags.
Board of Selectpersons Awards Committee
The Committee will be accepting names from residents who would like to recommend any Seymour residents for the Frank and Ann Conroy Community Award and the Roberta M King Excellence in Government Award. There will be an awards committee meeting this Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at 6:00 pm In the Norma Drummer at Town Hall.
The Frank and Ann Conroy Community Service Award is named after the longtime married couple (married nearly 70 years) who were extremely active in town, serving on various boards and commissions for decades. The award will be environmental-focused due to the Conroy’s love and work with the Seymour Land Trust over the years and go to someone who shared their passion for“exemplary effort in serving the community.”
The Roberta M. King Governmental Service is named after King, a well-known philanthropist who briefly worked for the FBI. King dedicated much of her time to community service, serving as a longtime selectwoman, police commissioner, and member of the Seymour Historical Society. She was also an EMT with the Seymour Ambulance Association and a volunteer for both the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. King also actively coordinated blood drives for the local American Red Cross chapter.
Ordinance Update
The Ordinance Committee and the Board of Selectpersons will present the following ordinance for public hearing: Split Tax Motor Vehicles and Naming of Facilities and Areas owned by the Town of Seymour, CT.
a. Split tax on Motor vehicles
b. Naming of Facilities and Areas owned by the Town of Seymour.
The committee is working on tightening the Blight Laws and putting together a tax break for Seniors called SAVES (Seniors Adding Valuable Educated Savings). The next ordinance meeting will be held on April 2, 2024.
BUDGET
Budget deliberations are ongoing. The Board of Finance will discuss the BOE budget on Monday, March 18, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. All Budget meetings have been live-streamed and can be found on our Town Website and Facebook page. Here are some important dates to remember;
April 1, 2024 — The Town budget must be submitted to the Town Clerk by this date. Copies of the proposed Board of Finance Town Budget will be available at the Seymour CT Town Clerk’s Office, Seymour Community Center, and Seymour Public Library.
April 3, 2024, 7:00 pm Town Hall A Public Hearing is where the residents can voice their opinion on the budget before the Town meeting.
April 17, 2024, 7:00 pm Seymour Community Center Bingo Room — Annual Town Meeting — The Town meeting will consider and recommend changes to the budget, revenues, debt services, and all legal obligations. The Town meeting shall have the power to decrease or delete any appropriations or items within an appropriation except those listed in revenues, debts services, and all legal obligations.
The next Facebook Live Question and Answer with the First Selectwoman will be held on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at 6:00 p.m.
