Minutes of October 5, 2007 Meeting
Hosted by First Selectman Richard Smith and the Town of Deep River
at the Carriage House of the Deep River Historical Society

Present:  Curtis Johnson, Skip Haskins, Larry McHugh, Tom Marsh, Dick Smith, Phil Miller, James Spallone, Justin Good, John Kennedy, Gina Sopneski, Greg Shook, Grant Westerson, Peg Reyer, Glenn Reyer, Leslie Strauss, Donna Gilbert, Angus McDonald, Jr., Nancy Dahlstrom, Denise Learned, Bruce Watrous, Sirge and Marsha Orzech, Hope Matthies-Rayner, Marian Bairstow, Susan Huyberise, Peter Howard, Martin Heft, Susan Scott, Donna Gilbert, Tom Alexa, Bettie Perreault and others who did not sign the guest book.

Curtis Johnson opened the meeting at 8:15, welcomed everyone, thanked Dick Smith and the Town of Deep River for hosting the meeting. 

Curtis explained the ground rules for candidates speaking this morning:  the challenging candidate to speak first for each town, followed by the incumbent First Selectman; each to be allowed 5 minutes; after all candidates had spoken, questions/answers would be allowed as time permitted.  (For the purpose of these minutes, no commentary will be included.)

For Chester, Justin Good (D) challenging candidate spoke first, followed by Tom Marsh (R) incumbent.
For Deep River, John Kennedy (I) challenging candidate spoke first, followed by Richard Smith (D), incumbent.
For Essex, where there is no challenging candidate; the only presenter was Phillip Miller (D), incumbent.
There were no questions from the audience following all presentations.

Larry McHugh spoke of the loss of Rep. James Spallone’s father, Daniel Spallone this past summer and asked for a moment of silence in his memory, noting that Daniel Spallone had been a magnificent individual, an outstanding person who did a lot for the town, region and the state in many areas of public service. 

James Spallone thanked Larry for the remarks and recognition.  He said that the Legislature is in session and explained the budgeting process in which during odd-number years the budget is formulated, to be adjusted in even years.  He spoke of the importance of providing funding of various types, pointing out the impact on of the Small Town Economic Assistant Programs (STEAP) on local projects.  There is currently a stalemate between the Governor and Legislature in connection with bonding legislation, with the Governor’s position being, “it is too big” and the Legislature saying, “as Chair of the Bonding Commission, the Governor can control what goes before that agency”. 

Larry said he concurs with Spallone’s position in connection with the bonding issues.  Phil Miller noted that the Town of Essex has lost approximately $16,000 in connection with the school project alone because of this issue.  Larry thanked members for their support and spoke of the many events, activities and programs on the Chamber’s calendar each month.  The Calhoun Breakfast later this month is sold out; this breakfast will be followed by a book signing by Calhoun.  The Chamber has established an alliance with R.J. Julia’s Books of Madison through which noted authors will be invited as future Member Breakfast speakers with associated book-signings.  Continuing Education programs for various disciplines are offered by the Chamber, which will add more fields in the future.  These are an excellent opportunity for professionals to maintain their standing at an economical cost and convenient schedule. 

The November 5 Member Breakfast will be to Support Our Troops and Honor Our Veterans and will feature Sen. Joseph Lieberman as speaker.  In December, Governor Rell will speak at the Member Breakfast.  He reminded businesses they can arrange for flu clinics at their place of business through the Chamber.  He thanked Nancy Dahlstrom for her leadership of the program scheduled for October 17 to promote wellness in the workplace.  The Chamber has formed two new councils:  Arts and Creative Industries and Affordable/Attainable Housing (of which Phil Miller is a leader).  The Chamber is taking leadership roles in health literacy initiatives to get businesses to help their employees get educated and will get involved in energy issues, for which it is seeking a grant to support its activities.  He said he is excited about the year coming up and thanked the officials and candidates for their participation this morning and their willingness to become involved in the political process. 

Bettie Perreault advised the November meeting would be in Chester with a planned program of an “Ask Me 3” presentation designed to teach now to ask questions of your doctor, nurse or pharmacist; the meeting will be held at Camp Hazen-YMCA.  The meeting adjourned at 9:00 A.M.