Rep. Willis listens to constituents

NORTH CANAAN — State Rep. Roberta Willis (D-64) was at the Douglas Library on July 15 to meet with any and all constituents. 

Only about 10 people came. Some stayed for the duration of the two-hour session. Others stopped in to express a concern or listen for a while to a discussion of aspects of town life and how the state impacts them through aid and legislation. Despite the small number, it was a productive session.

Willis brings a very personal approach to representing people here.

She was early to the session that was to start at 3:30 p.m., and found a constituent waiting to discuss Medicaid issues. Willis was ready with a stack of blank case reports. 

Later, residents said they valued the chance for the town meeting-style discussions, and hoped they could be a regular occurrence. All said they love living and raising children here, but see new and old issues that need to be addressed. Among them are the lack of involvement, as evidenced by the low turnout.  

For Willis, it is a matter of scheduling. When the Legislature is in session, her calendar is at the mercy of others who are planning committee meetings and so forth. Committing to a regular meeting schedule in district towns would be impossible.

“But I live here. I’m accessible. I spend a lot of time working on individual cases, from health care issues like the woman who was here first and is trying to care for her sister, to people who can’t pay their rent or buy heating oil. That’s a big part of what I do when I’m not in Hartford.”

She also spoke to concerns that she gets criticism from people who only hear about a portion of what she does. She was encouraged to “toot her own horn.”

“That’s just not me,” she said, “and I prefer to do case work.”

So what are the issues for involved residents?

Regional education costs continue to rise, and North Canaan is paying a very large share. It has driven up the mill rate by about 20 percent in the last few years. 

“We got a break this year, but we’re going to be hit really hard again, starting next year,” said Tom Gailes, a former selectman and business owner, serving on the newly established economic development commission.

He left soon after saying that something big was coming that was going to make all the difference in town.

Trains and depots

That said, the final phase of the depot restoration project is close to going out to bid. Willis had the latest information, as reported at the July 6 selectmen’s meeting, that it could go out to bid any day now. 

Cranford Club member Lynne Martin stopped in to greet Willis and commended her for writing on behalf of the club and taking state Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker to task for depot project delays. The state is distributing the federal appropriation that will pay for it.

In a related issue, a push to get a funding commitment for upgrades to the state-owned Housatonic rail line tracks was not successful during the regular legislative session or the special session that just ended. Proposed passenger service needs aside, some of the rail is more than a century old and is a safety concern.

“There was no bonding proposed,” Willis said, “but the governor is appointing a task force to draw up a plan. He doesn’t want to commit any money until then.”

Costs to finish what has not been done by the Housatonic Railroad Co. to upgrade from the border south to Danbury are about $44 million. A $1.6 million state grant has yet to be spent, Willis said, and Connecticut and Massachusetts have made a joint application for a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant.

Education and jobs

Jobs and the business climate are a big concern, although at 4.4 percent, North Canaan has a relatively low unemployment rate. Still, Jessica McCue said, people are moving south in large numbers to escape the weak economic climate.

Willis noted there are about 600 jobs available here, and talked about her ongoing initiative toward providing easier access to funding to maintain relevance of training for high-tech manufacturing jobs. 

Increased attendance at Oliver Wolcott Technical School and a much higher percentage of its graduates who are now college-bound was applauded by residents as a move in the right direction. Technical schools are losing the reputation of being mainly an alternative route. Sending students on to short-term training focused on high-tech jobs seems like just the thing to meet demand by employers and to keep young people from leaving the area.

A 45-week course can be a portal to a wealth of available jobs that start at an annual salary of about $60,000.

Among those who came to be part of the discussion were Jayne Fagan and Erin Drislane, both of them moms and small business and homeowners who grew up elsewhere and think a lot about the pros and cons of living here. Like many, the last thing they want is to be forced to leave.

Education is a cornerstone, and they see a good school system — one that doesn’t send families running by driving up taxes — as key.

Fagan was recently appointed to the Board of Education. (She replaces Laurie Perotti, who resigned.) She will be on the ballot of the November election in the hope of continuing to serve. Drislane is also seeking a party endorsement for that board. 

Both were very interested in an initiative Willis spoke about to provide shared space within the business center, where people can interact with clients, share copiers and other office equipment, or simply work away from distractions at home affordably.

Health care is a primary concern, from insurance to services at Sharon Hospital, which is beleaguered by doctors cutting their affiliation and financial impacts of new legislation. 

Willis said she is proud of being able to help maintain state aid to towns like North Canaan, particularly education funding, and despite struggling to recover from a 25 percent loss in tax revenues.

“Forty percent of Connecticut’s revenue comes from Fairfield County, where a lot of people come to work in financial services. In 2008, 100,000 people lost jobs there. That was a quarter of the state’s money gone. I am most proud that we didn’t cut education funding by 25 percent. We held everybody harmless.”

That meant making cuts elsewhere, she said, such as social and mental health services, but the priority to fund towns, the overall social services network and public safety was held to firmly. 

Willis offered a glimpse of what will come in terms of saving tax dollars.

“The next big saver is the Department of Corrections. Recidivism is so high in Connecticut, we need to do more to keep people from going back to jail. We can do a lot more with a jail diversion program for non-violent criminals, and offer more programs in jail to address illiteracy that is very high among inmates.”