LITCHFIELD – Cornwall First Selectman Gordon Ridgway was elected last month as chair of the Northwest Hills Council of Governments, the regional organization that coordinates planning, secures grants and fosters collaboration among 21 northwest Connecticut municipalities.
Ridgway said one of his first priorities will be bringing the region’s leaders closer together after months of internal division over the organization’s budget process.
The COG’s Executive Committee, which helps guide the organization’s work, met July 2 for the first time since members were elected. The committee now includes Sharon First Selectman Casey Flanagan alongside Ridgway, giving Region One greater representation in the organization’s leadership.
The state is split into nine different COGs, which function as regional planning agencies. The Northwest Hills branch covers Northwest Connecticut, and brings together local officials and municipal leaders to “discuss issues of inter-municipal concern, promote regional cooperation, and direct various regional initiatives to enhance government planning, efficiency, and service delivery.”
During the meeting, Ridgway, who has been first selectman in Cornwall for 35 years, proposed reviving a roundtable discussion every meeting to “knit the organization together a little bit.” He said the move could improve the group’s discord in recent months, which has mostly revolved around the organization’s budget process. The roundtable used to be a feature of the monthly meetings but “it was phased out because people kept talking too much,” Ridgway said.
The new iteration will cap each official at one minute, just enough to relay a story or report that may help another town with a similar situation or establish a dialogue about an important issue in the region.
During Thursday’s meeting, Flanagan was enthusiastic that the roundtable could address the recent contention. “I’m seeing some division within our group that I don’t really care for,” he said, adding, “We’re all in the CEO seat… if we can’t support each other, that’s a problem.”
Roxbury’s First Selectman Patrick Roy, the Executive Committee’s treasurer, said that even after five years in the role, “there are days I’m drinking through a firehose.” He said he sees value in establishing connections between town leaders to deal with difficult issues.
“This is about doing the best thing for our people,” he said, “and not having to reinvent the wheel.”
Ridgway said the bottom line to his approach in leading the monthly meetings will be simple: “I’ll be making sure that people’s voices are heard without wasting people’s time. It’s not a place to grandstand.”
