Table of Contents
- AARP Age Friendly Community Initiative
- Should the MDC property remain forest land?
- Improving critical infrastructure
- How would you propose managing the costs of trash?
- What programs would you like to see offered to the library?
- How do you suggest handling water uranium remediation?
- What steps can Glastonbury take to control property taxes?
- Should we increase town employee pensions?
- What zoning changes would you recommend to TPZ?
AARP Age Friendly Community Initiative
| In 2018 Glastonbury became part of the AARP Age Friendly Community Initiative. Please specify an area that you believe is most necessary to support this initiative and why? |
I’d like to start by saying what is great about the AARP designation that we got. It’s really about making sure that Glastonbury works for everybody. If we’re making things work for our seniors, it works for everybody.
One of the things I can think that I’m most proud of that we did within our time on Town Council is the sidewalks that we’ve been extending not only within the center of town, but also all of out to South Glastonbury.
As far as making sure that this is a livable community for all, one thing that I think we really need to start looking at, as I’ve heard from many residents and people who hope to be residents, was making sure that we had affordable senior housing within our town. There’s not as much housing that is easily accessible to seniors within the town center where it would be very easy for them to access all of the great things that we have in the downtown area.
That is something that I think that is something that I’m really interested in working on in the next term.
I have worked in the medical field. My husband’s a physician. I’ve been an administrator and I’m an attorney right now. What I can tell you is there is a lot this community can do for its seniors and prevent them from leaving our town or becoming the winterbirds.
One area that I think is really huge. We all know there’s a state mandate that requires our town to increase affordable housing in the town. And we can make that possible by giving it as a senior affordable housing that would service the seniors and also help us meet the mandate, but it’s important that when we do this we make sure that we control these projects so that they are done the way Glastonbury is built through our planning and zoning commissions and if we can take a lead on this and create these projects it would meet the need of the seniors. It would meet our mandate for affordable housing, and we will control what these buildings look like so that no builder will be able to take the historic and beautiful history from our town. I think this is something we can ask the council members take a lead and work together. It seems like we all seem to be in agreement that this is something we can do together as a team.
Should the MDC property remain forest land?
| Should the MDC property remain forest land with no other uses permitted? Please explain your position. |
The simple answer is yes. It should remain forest land in perpetuity. The history of that property is really quite fascinating. It began as the East Hartford Water District back in the 1920s and for a number of years it served the water needs of East Hartford.
What happened during the Great Depression was that the East Hartford Water Company went bankrupt. The MDC took over that property without paying anything for it. At a number of occasions that property, beginning in the 1970s, was proposed for development.
At one point they wanted to put in a regional trash facility there. Don Noel, who at that time was the editor of the Hartford Courant opposed it and thankfully he did! In a referendum that went to all of the member communities the sale of that property was rejected.
Myself, Jolly Stephens, Deb Smith. At that point was president of the Land Heritage Coalition stood up when the MDC came back and wanted to redevelop that property and opposed it all the way to the Supreme Court with the support of a town council that Mister Kavanaugh, I think you were part of the council that ended up saying no that property would not be developed that way, and for that I will be ever grateful to you.
The land should stay in perpetuity forest.
Improving critical infrastructure
| What plans or efforts would you support to improve the resilience of critical infrastructure needed to ensure the safety of our residents? |
It’s an interesting question because we just had a discussion last night regarding ARPA funding and some possible uses for it, and I thought an interesting suggestion was updating our drainage system.
We do have some development that’s causing increases in runoff water. I do think it’s probably a good idea for us over the next few years to be taking a substantial look at our drainage system in town so that we can make sure that we have proper drainage over our roadways and we’re not seeing any of our roads or bridges get flooded or washed out.
I think we have a pretty good capital improvement project system to look at improvements in town. We’ve regularly done bridge updates, road repaving, so I think that we make sure our roadways and access points are all being maintained as much as possible.
I think as long as we are looking at our roadways and accessibility I think we should be planning well for emergencies down the line. We’ve seen issues with hurricanes in the past. I think that building out a bit of a better relationship with companies like Eversource is probably a good idea. This includes companies like Cox, so we can make sure that if we do have things like power lines go down they can be taken care of.
How would you propose managing the costs of trash?
| With the closing of MIRA, costs to remove trash are going to skyrocket. How would you propose managing the costs of general trash, food waste, recyclables, and heavy glass? |
It’s an interesting question because we just had a discussion last night regarding ARPA funding and some possible uses for it, and I thought an interesting suggestion was updating our drainage system.
We do have some development that’s causing increases in runoff water. I do think it’s probably a good idea for us over the next few years to be taking a substantial look at our drainage system in town so that we can make sure that we have proper drainage over our roadways and we’re not seeing any of our roads or bridges get flooded or washed out.
I think we have a pretty good capital improvement project system to look at improvements in town. We’ve regularly done bridge updates, road repaving, so I think that we make sure our roadways and access points are all being maintained as much as possible.
I think as long as we are looking at our roadways and accessibility I think we should be planning well for emergencies down the line. We’ve seen issues with hurricanes in the past. I think that building out a bit of a better relationship with companies like Eversource is probably a good idea. This includes companies like Cox, so we can make sure that if we do have things like power lines go down they can be taken care of.
What programs would you like to see offered to the library?
| The Wells Turner Memorial Library has always been a good resource for the Glastonbury community. What programs would you like to see offered to the library by the newly expanded library |
I was very happy when we went to the referendum and we were able to get the referendum passed to get the expansion of the library. We were able to get a million dollar endowment from the friends of the library. We got a million dollars from the state of Connecticut. We wound up paying on a six million dollar project only $3 million dollars.
We’ve had a lot of makerspace to that. That’s a very important thing because a lot of libraries have a number of different uses. They’re not just for books anymore. The kids can use the makerspace. The adults can use the makerspace. It really helps with our local small businesses. It gives people a place to go.
We also have a lot of mixed-stage activities from our youngest to oldest book groups. There are a number of different things. We have a lot more space in there and I think it’s just a fantastic opportunity for the town and I’m glad we were able to make it.
That is an excellent addition that’s being built to the library for the makerspace. The other thing I would add is that during one of our long-term power outages, I was able to go to the library. Use their Wi-Fi and continue to work. I think the ability to support people that are working from home through having a facility where they can set up a temporary office is an excellent thing and I would certainly support making sure they have the Wi-Fi and internet capabilities that support that.
How do you suggest handling water uranium remediation?
| We also have a lot of mixed-stage activities from our youngest to oldest book groups. There are a number of different things. We have a lot more space in there and I think it’s just a fantastic opportunity for the town and I’m glad we were able to make it. |
That’s a big question that the town is currently dealing with. There have been a couple of studies done. It’s going to be an enormous amount of money – probably in the 30 million dollar range, according to our town manager. The state has passed a law to look into it and see how they can help municipalities.
But in the meantime if people don’t want to wait for the state government to move and take some action, I think they would have a responsibility to protect their own water supply and protect their own families. As you know anything that involves the state is going to take a long time to review upon review. So I would encourage homeowners that want to see something done sooner to take the action into their own hands.
My background is in environmental health. So, you know, uranium and drinking water, and just clean water is a huge issue for me. That said, I kind of echo Kurt’s comments in terms of what we can do, you in terms of looking at the timeliness and addressing the issue and homeowners have gone ahead and installed their own system.
It’s not cheap, but it’s orders of magnitude smaller – that can be addressed by a household budget. Whereas I think if we’re looking at a town responsibility I’m not sure we justify that at the scale that’s needed for that large of expenditure.
I think in terms of dealing with it we have the two water districts. For the residents and the MDC district it’s really up to them to petition the MDC. If they wish to request public water in their neighborhoods and until that happens, there’s little we can do. I have heard from colleagues that the town manager recommends against using ARPA funds for this use just because it’s going to be a very large project – a phenomenal benefit that isn’t for the whole of the town.
What steps can Glastonbury take to control property taxes?
| What steps can Glastonbury take to control property taxes? |
I love this question. I think this is something that a lot of people think Democrats can’t be fiscally conservative. I used to be a Republican and that’s one of the things that held true as I moved over to the Democratic Party.
I manage budgets at work, as I mentioned earlier. I think one of the things that you really need to think about is the priorities of what you are going to find when you’re looking at a budget.
I’m happy to say over the last four years that the Democrats have controlled the town council, we have had the lowest mill rate increases in over a decade. And that really came down to us looking and making hard choices when it came to the budget.
We did not just accept whatever the Board of Education was asking and we actually cut them every year that I’ve been on the town council. But it’s a matter of making sure that we are funding the services that are necessary within town.
Encouraging businesses so that we can keep the revenue coming as Lilian said, not just on the residents who live here but also allowing the businesses to thrive and contribute to our town as we go forward.
I think some of the ways that the Board of Education has actually helped us with that is having innovative programs like the Lynx program which has kept a lot of our special ed education students, which are the most expensive students within the system, instead going outside of the school system keeping them within and helping control those costs.
Should we increase town employee pensions?
| There is a divided opinion on whether or not the town should increase its contribution to employee and teacher pensions. What is your position? |
My colleagues all know that the thing that makes me most anxious is math. I was a high school English teacher for 20 years, but I will say in the last four years I’ve had a pretty robust education.
In terms of increasing the pension contribution, I know that the mortality table suggested that we increase our contribution for the pension assumption. The Democrats agreed, and I agree that we need to cover that assumption.
At the same time trying to do it all in the course of one year was something that we did not feel was appropriate for taxpayers to do, and softening the edge of that and doing it over the course of two years made more sense.
We need to make sure that we are covering our liabilities but I think there’s a way to meet our obligations without necessarily making it a challenge that’s followed by taxpayers in the course of one year.
What zoning changes would you recommend to TPZ?
| What changes would you recommend to TPZ regarding zoning codes and why? |
To be honest, I haven’t served on the TPZ so I’m not I have the ability to answer the question about changes, but what I would definitely want them to do is to make sure that the integrity and the history of Glastonbury is maintained.
Developers should come in and develop things, not just take advantage of our court system.
What brings people to our town is its history and beauty. The historical district, I support that. I think the TPZ must take into consideration anytime that they accept a project.
I do not believe that big developments have a place in town and if they are going to come to town they must adhere to our natural historic beauty in Glastonbury.
I really like this question. I did serve on TPZ prior to joining the Town Council I’ll be very direct. I think the biggest change that we can make is what’s in the pipeline right now – which is adding the village district overlay to the town center.
My wife and I moved here a number of years ago. We looked in the same areas that young professionals in Greater Hartford look in. You look at West Hartford, Avon, Simsbury, Glastonbury and the reach clincher for me was being stuck in traffic on a side street in West Hartford on a Tuesday midday. Glastonbury just had that small town feel with all of the amenities you could find in the other great twins around Hartford and it also had a great historical feel.
It had a great scale to it and it has a town center, and I think that remember driving into Glastonbury prior to moving here and we had the old McDonalds and I was impressed with how much it seemed to fit in with the area and then just a year later prior to my joining the council they replaced it with what it’s become. I think that we’ve seen that sort of spread out to other areas and now we’re seeing it start to pop up in our downtown and we’re really looking at the risk of losing those historic buildings.
So I’m very much in favor of a village district overlay, and I think that will give us the control we need over controlling the scale and aesthetic of what’s being developed down there.
Village district will give TPZ the tool that it needs to control that.