Mayor's Cup Golf Tournament a big hit..

Yesterday was the 26th annual Mayor's Cup golf tournament. It was a tremendous hit! I was fortunate and lucky to play golf with former Mayor Don Boughton and former Mayor Gene Eriquez. While none of us played like Tiger Woods, we were proud to be part of an event that raised over $25,000.00 for Faith Foundation for Kids, the Danbury Education Foundation, and the Danbury Jaycees. We even had one golfer who got a hole in one and won a brand new Mercedes (thanks to Mercedes of Danbury for donating the car). To all the participants and sponsors, thank you!! Richter Park is in great shape and yesterday the course really shined. Special thanks to the staff at Richter and special thanks to the tournament committee for making this the most profitable event ever! See ya next year!

All the Best,
MayorMark

PS. Congratulations to the winning team of Dave Manacek, Wayne McElree, Rob Rogowski, and Billy Craig (pictured above) second year in a row!

Danbury to get new Architectural Review Board.

Last night at the Public Hearing for the Common Council, the Council unanimously (special thanks to Councilwoman Diggs, and Councilman Rotello for their hardwork on this legislation) approved the creation of an Architectural Review Board.

The Review Boards job will be to review all plans and drawings for new projects to make sure that each new building built in Danbury will reflect the community standard, and to make sure that new construction reflects our New England heritage.

This is a huge new step for us here in Danbury. It will mean that before a project gets approval, someone will look at and sign off on the aesthetic appeal of a building. Things like the color, exterior, signage, and landscaping will receive scrutiny by this volunteer board of residents.

While you will not see an impact immediately, this intiative, like all of the new zoning regulations that we are currently putting in place, will have a huge impact on the Danbury of the future...

All the Best,
MayorMark

State Budget finished and...what happened?

Today the State Senate adopted a new two year budget for the State of Connecticut. I am not sure of what this means for the City of Danbury as nobody has a copy of the budget and it is not available online.

I am not sure how a legislative branch of our State Government could go into a Special Session without knowing what is in the budget and what is not.

Transparency has never been the hallmark of the Connecticut General Assembly and this year was no different. Could you imagine the outcry if the City of Danbury adopted it's budget in the same manner? Everything negotiated in secret, no Public Hearings, and then vote at 3:30 AM so in the rare event anyone is watching they will be too tired to figure out what happened.

Our budget is finished here in Danbury and we will wait to see the final numbers from the state. I do appreciate all of the hardwork our legislators put in, get some rest, because next year's session is just around the corner!

All the Best,
MayorMark

Being honored by WeCahr.

On Thursday evening I was honored to be recognized by WeCahr for my work on advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. I don't often get awards, (these past two months I received two- so I am definitely on a roll!) so anytime that an organization takes time out to say thanks, it is a humbling experience. WeCahr is a strong organization with deep roots in our community. They were thankful for the Dream Homes collaborative and for my work in housing. Thank you Pat Tomka, and thank you to the entire staff, keep up the great work!

All the Best,
MayorMark

Danbury gets a new Director of Finance.

Today I appointed a new Director of Finance. David St. Hilaire comes to us with twenty years of experience as a municipal finance official. David is the current Deputy Chief Fiscal Officer for the County of Rensselaer in New York.

I am excited to have David join our team. He will be stepping into an important position as Director of Finance and he will be able to hit the ground running. David has big shoes to fill with the departure of Dena Diorio and I know that he will do a great job.

Over next year, David will be relocating with his wife and children to Danbury. I know that each of us welcome David to our city, and we wish him the best here with the City of Danbury.

All the Best,
MayorMark

Police Station bids are in and the winner is...

The bids for the construction of a new Police facility are in and the winning bidder was 2.3 million dollars below our budget. This is critical as we ramp up construction of this facility and we continue to modernize our Public Safety Facilities. Coming on the heels of a successful construction of Engine 26, the new Westside Fire house, Danbury taxpayers have made a significant investment in Public safety over the last two years. Good news as we continue to update and modernize our infrastructure.

All The Best,
Mayor Mark

Lights, Camera, Action..

This week a work crew was in City Hall installing recording equipment so that we can begin broadcasting on the Government channel (24) starting the July Common Council meeting.

The equipment consists of a camera, DVR, and a character generator. Total cost of this first investment in broadcasting was about $24,000.

We would also like to broadcast EIC, Zoning, and Planning meetings as well. We will be testing the equipment this month so you may catch a meeting that we are broadcasting for practice. Please don't be alarmed if the sound is fuzzy, or the camera is pointing at the ceiling etc. etc. After all we will need the practice, so stay tuned and get ready for gavel to gavel coverage!

All the Best,
Mayor Mark

Common Council and the Parade Ordinance.

Last night was an interesting meeting as the Common Council declined to reconsider the vote on the Parade Ordinance that was taken in May.

If you recall, I asked the Council to revisit the issue at this months meeting because I had voted on the underlying motions and those votes were not allowed under our City Charter.

Having said that, there are two ways in which a vote that is improperly cast can be changed after the vote is taken.

1. Challenge the vote at the meeting. If you remember, a Councilman did that and then withdrew his challenge.
2. A motion to reconsider. According to our Code of Ordinances, a motion to reconsider must be done at the meeting in which the improper vote happened, or at the next Council meeting.

So, that brings us to last nights meeting. Mr. Cavo moved that we reconsider the vote on the Parade Ordinance, it was seconded, and then Mr. Rotello moved that the motion to reconsider be sent to an ad-hoc committee. (Are you following this?)

Here in lies the problem. While Mr. Rotello can send the motion to reconsider to an ad-hoc committee, the net effect of that would be that the Parade Ordinance vote from last month would stand and the ordinance would be adopted (because the motion to reconsider was not voted on at the next succesive meeting per our ordinance).

After consultation with our legal department during the executive session outside the council chambers, they agreed that I was right. I also believed that this was not Mr. Rotello's intention and felt that while I would be well within our process to adjourn the meeting, it would not be fair to members of the Council who would want this issue reconsidered. It is my duty to inform members of the consequence of their motions.

Once I informed Mr. Rotello what the net result of his referral would be, he withdrew is motion, we then followed through on the vote to reconsider which failed by a 11-8 margin.

So what does all this mean? It means that the vote from the May meeting in which the Council adopted the Parade Ordinance on a 10-9 vote stands.

I will have more on the ordinance in another post (I am exhausted) since there is a lot of misinformation on both sides about what it does and does not do.

But it will do one thing right away, remove the unfair practice of billing some organizations for police coverage, and not billing others.

Portuguese Day in the City of Danbury.

Today is Portuguese Day in the City of Danbury and I had a ball participating in a number of events. Including Flag Raisings, a parade, and a special mass. After the events of the morning came the best part, food! There was a day long festival at the Portuguese Cultural Center attended by many people. It was a great way to celebrate our rich cultural heritage.

Portuguese-Americans have helped build our City today and anytime we can honor their committment to Danbury is a plus. I am honored to participate and look forward to this event every year. Hats off to Dave Coelho for working hard each and every year for making this happen.

All the Best,
MayorMark