CCM conference focusing on economy

PORTLAND — Even though the state finally has an operating budget, the protracted process it took to achieve that end served only to highlight the tenuous condition of the state’s finances.

Consequently, the Connecticut Council of Municipalities, the lobbying group that represents the vast majority of the state’s cities and towns, has convened a program that invites business, labor and government officials to discuss ways to improve the economy.

The Bring Every Stakeholder Together program is the centerpiece of CCM’s annual two-day convention at the Foxwoods Resort casino in Mashantucket. The event ends Wednesday.

Portland First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield is CCM’s president. BEST brings together representatives from the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, the AFL-CIO and local government officials “to brainstorm on the best common pathways for Connecticut’s

economic future,” Bransfield said.

This is the third year in a row that CCM has sponsored the BEST conference, which is expected to attract some 150 “vital Connecticut leaders.”

“CCM has been in the forefront for the past two years in promoting our ongoing need to promote economic improvements,” Bransfield said. “This is a bipartisan effort to bring together the many stakeholders in an effort to see if we can forge a clearer path to a brighter economy for all our residents.”

The BEST conference and CCM convention as a whole serve to “reaffirm the importance and the viability of local government,” Bransfield said.

The General Assembly’s drawn-out, stop-and-go process that eventually resulted in a compromise budget earned legislators little credit.

But Bransfield was one of a number of local government officials — both Democrats and Republicans among them — who stoutly defended their efforts to craft viable local budgets and get them passed within the time frame established by the state.

A number of local leaders, including Cromwell Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore and East Hampton Town Manager Michael Maniscalco, said the state could take lessons from municipalities about the best way to go about creating budgets that, while austere, still provide residents with the services they want and have come to expect.

Bransfield remains a staunch advocate for local government. In material prepared for the convention, she said, “CCM believes that Connecticut’s towns and cities offer the best framework for cities to live, work, play, raise families and retire.

“We come together to improve everyday life for all Connecticut’s residents and businesses,” Bransfield said.

While the BEST conference is the centerpiece of the convention, it is by no means the only event of note, Bransfield said. There are more than a dozen workshops focusing on issues as varied as the opioid crisis and officerinvolved shooting.

The first day of the convention included a lunch meeting that focused on sustainability, Bransfield said. The sustainability discussion was intended to focus on “getting towns and cities more involved in incorporating more clean energy technology and using waters resources more effectively and efficiently,” she said.

Those efforts can result in savings for municipalities and taxpayers, Bransfield said.

Bransfield’s term as CCM president expires at year’s end. She will be succeeded as president by Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O’Leary.

For information, see ccm-ct.org/convention.

Bransfield