Money begins to flow again for diverse town projects

FALLS VILLAGE — First Selectman Pat Mechare reported that long-awaited state grant applications “have some traction.� She made the report at the regular monthly meeting of the Board of Selectmen Monday, Feb. 8.

Mechare, citing personnel changes at state agencies and the nature of bureaucracies in general, said that she expected money to start flowing back to the Volunteer Fire Department relatively soon. The Fire Department spent its own funds, some $200,000, on initial engineering and site work for the new firehouse, and has been awaiting reimbursement.

Similarly, the Falls Village Children’s Theater wants to get going with drainage and septic work using its own funds, assuming reimbursement when the state grant for that project arrives.

Mechare said the Northwestern Connecticut Planning Collaborative is getting the first phase of the collaborative’s Village Center Vitality project under way. That work is being paid for by a $12,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Northwest Connecticut; the money has already been received.

The project is described in the organization’s newsletter as “an ambitious, urgent project to reinvigorate the region’s village centers.�

An earlier effort by the collaborative to establish Incentive Housing Zones — areas in town that would be appropriate for building new affordable housing units — fizzled as landowners in targeted areas declined to participate, she added.

And the town received an achievement award from the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency (CIRMA).

Falls Village was recognized by CIRMA in the category of “Establishing Risk Management as an Organizational Priority,� for “efforts undertaken by the first selectman’s office and the town’s Safety Committee to make risk management a town-wide priority through expanded and enhanced risk management training and education initiatives, and the upgrading of safety features in equipment for the Public Works department.�

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