Easterseals seeks donations for $1.8 million one-stop shop veterans service center.

Norwich — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on Tuesday received an update on the Easterseals Capital Region & Eastern Connecticut’s plans to build a $1.8 million veterans service center within its existing Norwich facility.

Easterseals sees the center, which Blumenthal has said would be a model for the state and the country, as a one-stop shop for veterans and their families to access services. The organization is seeking private donations to fund the project. So far, Stanley Black & Decker has committed $1 million. Blumenthal said he’d be looking at the possibility of federal investments, such as a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs, to help fund the project.

Plans envision an 18,000square-foot space where veterans can relax and interact with one another in a safe space, but also have access to services such as mental health and job counseling. The center would serve veterans and their families living in eastern Connecticut.

Many of the state’s more than 200,000 veterans live in the region.

To start, the center would be able to serve about 500 vets and their families a year, but that number is expected to grow, said Allen Gouse, president and CEO of Easterseals Capital Region & Eastern Connecticut.

The organization also is developing programs for veterans and their families. At the beginning of this year, it began offering vocational services, providing job coaching to veterans to help them reintegrate into civilian life and find work. It also started up a program geared toward female veterans and their families, helping them to secure employment and provided support with accessing services for sexual trauma, domestic violence and substance abuse, among other needs.

New London — The New London Democratic Town Committee moved quickly this week to find a replacement for Board of Education candidate Scott Garbini on the November ballot.

Garbini, who serves as the current school board president and was endorsed at a Democratic caucus last month, announced Monday he would not seek re-election.

Democratic Town Committee Chairman Kevin Cavanagh announced Tuesday he had chosen Michael McLaughlin to replace Garbini and fill the vacancy on the seven-member slate. Cavanagh, in a written statement, said he had filed the appropriate paperwork with the city clerk, registrar of voters and the Office of the Secretary of the State.

McLaughlin is the academic coordinator for student activities at the University of Connecticut Avery Point campus. He joins the following list of Democratic candidates for the school board: Jason Catala, Wanda Cotto, Robert DeRobbio, Jeffery Hart, Mark Matson and Regina Mosley.

Republican candidates for the Board of Education are Dan Docker, Steve Kirsch, Joe Muscarella, Karen Paul, Dylan Wardwell and Thomas Spencer Wise.

The Working Families Party has endorsed Alisha Blake. The New London Green Party has endorsed Erick Carrión and Mirna Martinez.

Martinez and Catala are the only school board members seeking re-election. signatures of Norwich registered voters last week to become an unaffiliated petitioning candidate for mayor in the Nov. 7 election.

He joins a field with endorsed Republican council President Pro Tempore and former Mayor Peter Nystrom, endorsed Democrat Derell Wilson, endorsed Libertarian William Russell and petitioning candidate Jon Oldfield.

Radecki, 65, a U.S. Navy veteran of the nuclear submarine force from 1969-73, has owned C&J Septic Service in Taftville for the past 43 years, but said he is semi-retired from the business.

Radecki said Wednesday the same factors that motivated him to run in the past are still evident in Norwich, including wasteful spending, unnecessary bonding and favoritism by some city officials and departments.

He said the current proposal to spend $5 million to repave and improve city streets, bridges and drainage is premature. The city needs to fix infrastructure beneath the roads before repaving them. He said too often, roads are paved and then torn up shortly afterward. He called the proposal to study whether Water Street can be converted to twoway traffic “a waste of money.”

Radecki first ran for mayor in 2001, the first mayoral race under new charter changes that created the position. Radecki lost the party endorsement to former police Chief and then-council President Richard Abele, but then won a surprising upset in a primary on Sept. 11, 2001 — when many people were focused on the terrorist attacks. Radecki lost the election to Republican Arthur Lathrop.

In 2009, Radecki ran as a petitioning candidate and came in fourth in the four-way race won by Republican Nystrom.

“I am not spending a lot of money for this election,” said Radecki, “just to prove to people that you can do something without spending a lot of money.”