The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘What’s next Winsted?’ invites public input
Community forum held at St. Anthony School
WINSTED — “What’s next, Winsted?” Town officials asked residents that question, and many others, at a forum held just days after municipal elections.
Newly re-elected and re-appointed Mayor Candy Perez, Superintendent of Schools Melony Brady-Shanley, Police Chief William Fitzgerald Jr., and Gilbert School Superintendent Anthony Serio discussed signs of progress in town with residents who gathered for dinner and conversation at the St. Anthony School on Thursday.
Perez pointed to the presence of a fund balance, financial controls, communication between the schools and town government, volunteers in town, and support from the Board of Selectmen for town staff, including Town Manager Robert Geiger, as examples of a new time in Winsted.
“We have moved beyond a lot of what has happened before — and people still keep talking about it; I keep seeing it written about in articles,” said Perez. “But we are so far beyond that in terms of how we’re doing.”
Perez said there is more communication now between town institutions. Among others, she credited former Town Manager Dale Martin for putting foundations for this change in place, and Geiger for building on it.
“Everybody seems to be talking with each other now. It used to be that everything was kind of disconnected,” said Perez.
Brady-Shanley, hired to take over leadership of the town schools in May, said there was a new focus on serving town residents and using social media to spread information.
“When families, community members, citizens, engage with our school personnel, we expect that they’re going to walk with an excellence around customer service, and understand that we’ve done our very best to meet their needs,” said Brady-Shanley. “You might not always agree with what we have to provide, but know that we’ve explained it, we’ve offered it, and we’ve put an excellent customer service presentation in front of you.”
She pointed to new initiatives in town schools, such as mental health counseling at Batcheller and a new health center at Pearson, and said she hoped to use skills learned attracting students to magnet schools, providing similar opportunities and services to keep them in Winchester.
”I know how magnet schools draw our kids out of town. I know because I did it,” said Brady-Shanley. “But now I know how to market kids back into town, and that’s what we’re here to do.”
She said she was interested in building on a collaborative relationship with Gilbert, St. Anthony School’s, Explorations Charter School, and Northwestern Connecticut Community College, and that the district and the Board of Education had opened up communication to work together with the Board of Selectmen.
“I want you to know that we are moving from the spirit of distrust that had been housed in the past to now moving to a spirit of community, transparency and trust,” said Brady-Shanley.
Fitzgerald said the department was committed to community-based policing, empowering patrol officers and giving the public more license to raise concern, including quality-of-life issues. Officers have also responded to overdoses with Narcan — there have been 26 overdoses in the community thus far this year, with three fatal.
“We are interested in making this the best community possible, and the safest community possible, and I have the personnel to do that,” said Fitzgerald.
The department is also embracing technology, he said. There are iPads in the cruisers, which allow officers to take statements and pictures and write reports from the field, and a new Command Center SUV has been purchased, allowing police access to video feeds from district classrooms to respond in case of emergencies.
In the future, he said, he would like to offer a Citizens’ Police Academy as well, offering residents a realistic glimpse into police work.
Serio noted ongoing initiatives at Gilbert, including a television studio for students and the international program, and said there was more collaboration in the community now then there was when he was hired in 2012. He said he was pleased to see the schools exit receivership, credited the Board of Education for providing additional funding for education, and said that he would seek to fight against state mandates affecting education.
A birth to higher education group, featuring NCCC President Michael Rooke, Geiger, and Ruthann Horvay of Winchester Cradle 2 Career, among others, was established to consider how to market the town and share what it has to offer, Serio said.
“We’re going to continue to work on themes that bring this community together — bring it to a new level of understanding of itself,” said Serio. “There is so much really here, in this community, and we just have to find a way to bring it to the surface so people understand.”
Participants formed small discussion groups after the remarks, with residents sharing their thoughts and concerns.
Among other topics, Perez talked about increasing the flow of information about town events, Fitzgerald about neighborhood watch and calling police more regularly, and Brady-Shanley about the potential future of Batcheller and the former Hinsdale School, which remains under district control and could be used as a school in the years to come.
The event was hosted by Winchester Cradle 2 Career , a local group aiming to “ensure a continuum of support for Children, Youth and Families prenatal through graduation,” according to its website.