Don Lowe First Selectman Column 02/17/25
I hope that this ice storm hasn’t left your property in too much disrepair and that you are safe. I had a sizable tree limb (about half the tree) crash into our house, but luckily there was no damage. The woods that surround our house sounded like a war zone with all of the crash-boom-crunch of things falling nearly every minute from the trees. Cleanup will be challenging for some of us and will also be challenging for public works who has a whole town to look after. Please be patient. Public Works’ first concern is the snow and ice on the roads. They will deal with the branches and limbs on the roads when they can.
The Board of Selectmen (BOS) holds its first budget intake meetings this week. The first is on Wednesday (yesterday as you read this) at 7pm and the next is on Saturday at 9am. Both are in Mallory Town Hall. These meetings are for each budget entity to present its budget, and it gives the BOS acting as the Town’s Board of Finance the opportunity to question each presenter about its budget. After all of the budgets are presented then the BOS holds as many budget workshops as needed to make decisions about what to keep and what to cut. The first budget workshop is on Wednesday, March 5 at 7pm in Mallory Town Hall.
Thank you to those who reached out about volunteering to fill the vacancies on the Commission on Aging and for the Inlands/Wetlands Commission. We still have at least one spot for Inland Wetlands available if anyone would like to take a look at this. Let me know.
A word about social media, especially Facebook: Regarding Town things, Facebook is a great tool for announcing events, acknowledging accomplishments, and for providing updates when we have emergencies. It’s an awful tool for discussing important local, state, or federal issues – particularly those involving politics. Nearly every discussion thread on these topics goes off the rails into a blur of misinterpretation, misinformation, or downright mean pettiness. That’s why, concerning Town business, I only use it (except in rare exceptions) for announcing events, acknowledging accomplishments, and updating emergencies. Away from Town business, Facebook is good for announcing events, showing off fun personal activities, along with it being good for humor, music, and for connecting with old friends. Beyond that, I wish it hadn’t been invented. If you’re not on Facebook, you’re not missing much. Believe me.
A lot is going on in Town with regard to capital projects, budgets, and events. I will be giving updates in subsequent columns when there is solid info to give out. But in the meantime, don’t be shy to reach out to my office and ask me anything. Just don’t ask me where the fish are biting because I obviously, based on recent fishing results, don’t know the answer to that. My office number is 860 355 1139; my cell is 860 778 3394. My email is: dlowe@townofshermanct.org.
