The Town acting through the Wilson Deerfield Advisory Committee, will be holding a public hearing to solicit input on the Town's past and present community development initiatives and gather input on projects for possible inclusion in an application for Community Development Block Grant - Small Cities funds. The hearing will be held in the Community Room of the Windsor Community Center located at 330 Windsor Avenue at 7:00 p.m., September 22, 2004. Interested parties can speak at the hearing or submit written comment. Eligible activities include, but are not limited to, housing related activities, economic development projects, public services and infrastructure improvements. For more information, call 285-1985.

The emergency communication system upgrade has encountered some technical issues, which have prevented the full implementation to occur. During the month of May the new system was turned on and testing occurred. The results of the testing showed the coverage issues that had occurred in the previous system had been resolved. Testing also verified that all the hardware for the backbone of the system was operating correctly. In early June Public Works, Police and Fire departments switched over to the new system on a limited basis to allow for further testing and adjustment of the new system. During this period three technical issues were found that could cause delays in communications. It was decided at the end of June to switch off the system to allow the vendor, Marcus Communications, the time and uninterrupted access to the equipment to find and resolve the issues. Marcus Communications, using both internal resources and the resource of the manufacturers, is diligently working on a solution. Meetings have been occurring on a biweekly basis with Marcus Communications and we feel progress has been made on identifying the issue(s) that are creating the performance problems and the resolution that will solve them.

As part of our ongoing planning efforts with the Town of South Windsor, we will be participating in a tabletop exercise Thursday, September 23^rd to test part of the Smallpox Mass Vaccination Clinic Plan. This tabletop exercise will be conducted at the South Windsor High School from 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM and will be facilitated by a representative from the Connecticut Association of Directors of Health. This tabletop is one of the deliverables required by the 2003-2004 Bio-Terrorism Grant through the State of CT. Results from this tabletop will be used to review and revise the Region's Smallpox Plan. Approximately 30 clinic coordinators and others will participate in the tabletop.

I am pleased to announce that Captain Kelvan Kearse has been invited to attend the 219^th session of the FBI National Academy. Captain Kearse, a fifteen year veteran of the Windsor Police Department will be attending the academy in Quantico, Virginia from September 26^th through December 10^th.

In the past few years the Town has applied for State Grant moneys under the Small Town Economic Assistance Program. This program is geared to communities with population less than 30,000 and the annual funding cap is $500,000 per town.

The Town has been notified that we are no longer eligible for the STEAP funds, but are now eligible for state funding as a Public Investment Community. Eligibility is determined by measuring the relative wealth and need of all Connecticut towns, using social and economic data from various sources. Including Windsor there are 42 towns designated as Public Investment Communities.

Being designated as Public Investment Community allows the Town to access Urban Action bond funds for a variety of development projects including economic and community development, transportation, environmental protection, and public safety. There is the potential the
Town can access funds in excess of the $500,000 annual cap under STEAP.

Staff is currently researching the program regulations and time schedule. We hope to have recommendations for Town Council’s for review and authorization in October. Our first priority will be to address existing projects in the adopted Capital Improvements Plan in order to reduce planned debt financing.