The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
1st Business After Work of new year at Powder Ridge
MIDDLETOWN >> 2017 is off to a real fast start in Middlesex County and the chamber team continues to be on the move.
The first session of our 2017 KeyBank Seminar Series kicks off Tuesday at the chamber offices on Main Street. The seminar, which focuses on sexual harassment prevention training, will cover critically important topics, including the definition of sexual harassment in the workplace, what makes your company or organization liable in these situations, and how to best protect your company or organization from these potentially damaging charges. Attorneys from the law firm Jackson Lewis, LLP will lead the session, which meets the state of Connecticut’s requirement for two hours of sexual harassment prevention training for supervisors and managers. Please contact the chamber for registration information and keep an eye out for future sessions of the KeyBank Seminar Series. I want to again thank KeyBank Market President Jeff Hubbard and his entire team for their continued support of this important initiative.
A number of important chamber committee and division meetings will take place throughout Middlesex County this week. On Tuesday evening, our Automotive Council will meet at Cantina Café Ristorante
in Middletown. Commissioner Michael Bzdyra and Deputy Commissioner Judeen Wrinn of the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles will visit with the council to discuss some of the important issues facing their department in the new year. This council is designed to promote good business relationships within the automotive industry in Middlesex County. I thank our cochairs, Rich Jukonski of Jukonski Auto Sales, Ltd., and Michael Turner of Portland Automotive for their longtime leadership of the Automotive Council. We look forward to a good meeting.
The Durham and Middlefield Division will meet on Wednesday morning at Middlefield Community Center and the Cromwell Division will meet on Thursday morning at Cromwell Town Hall. Local updates and an update on the recently opened legislative session will take place at both meetings. Our divisions continue to play a critical role in the operation of our chamber. We look forward to two productive meetings.
The chamber’s first Business After Work networking reception of the new year will be held Wednesday at Powder Ridge Mountain Park and Resort in Middlefield. In addition to the best networking around, this event will feature free beer, wine, nonalcoholic drinks and a great spread of food courtesy of Sean Hayes and his team. I want to thank Sean once again, not only for hosting this event for our chamber, but for his commitment to this Powder Ridge project, which is creating jobs and additional tourism buzz for our region. Powder Ridge Mountain Park and Resort offers skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, tubing and much, much more. Powder Ridge also has the Fire at the Ridge Restaurant and Lounge and the Ridgeside Tavern right on site and both offer outstanding and unique dining experiences.
I know our members and their guests look forward to this exciting first Business After Work event of the year on Wednesday evening in Middlefield.
The Business After Work will serve as the official kickoff for the second annual Taste of Middlesex County, which is brought to you by Comcast Business from Jan. 16 to 22. The goal of this initiative is to highlight the numerous and diverse dining experiences within the greater Middlesex region. From the beautiful shores of Westbrook to the home of the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, there is something for everyone.
Restaurants offer a prefixed menu to give diners the opportunity to experience the area’s fine dining landscape without breaking the bank. This will be a fixed price three-course meal for $20.17 (does not include beverages, tax or gratuity). I want to once again thank Comcast Business for its strong support of Taste of Middlesex County, which is an exciting week for our chamber and for our region.
The current list of participating restaurants is as follows: Amici Italian Grill, Eli Cannon’s Tap Room, El Pulpo & Tapas Bar, Esca Restaurant and Wine Bar, First and Last Tavern, Hachi, La Boca, Lan Chi’s Vietnamese Restaurant, Moonlight Sushi Bar & Grill, Tavern at the Armory, and Tuscany Grill in Middletown; Baci Grill, Cromwell Pizza & Pasta and Sheffield’s Restaurant and Lounge at the Radisson Hotel in Cromwell; Angelico’s Lake House Restaurant, Rossini’s Italian Restaurant, The Tavern on 66, and WAVES in East Hampton; Fire at the Ridge and Ridgeside Tavern in Middlefield; Griswold Inn in Essex; Red House in Deep River, and On the Rocks at Fox Hopyard in East Haddam. Please visit the Taste of Middlesex County tab on www.middlesexchamber.com for more information and for further details on the menu offerings.
The first chamber Member Breakfast Meeting of the year is Jan. 18 at the Radisson Hotel in Cromwell. Our keynote speaker and recipient of our 2017 Role Model Award is Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill. Rich is a Massachusetts native and has Connecticut ties through his brother Larry, who lives in Durham. We look forward to welcoming Rich, who will touch on what life is like as a pitcher in the big leagues and some of the challenges he has endured and overcome along the way. Rich is having a fine career and he just signed a three year deal to remain in Los Angeles with the Dodgers. We look forward to another chamber Role Model Breakfast Meeting, and thank our friends at Webster Bank for sponsoring and for the bank’s longtime support of our chamber. Please visit www.middlesexchamber.com for registration information.
Immediately following the breakfast with Rich Hill, the chamber will host an Innovation Places Stakeholders Meeting at the Radisson Hotel. The Innovation Places program seeks to support entrepreneurs and leaders developing places that will attract the talent highgrowth enterprises need. This is a statewide initiative and Middletown’s application for an implementation grant is being led by the chamber. The Middletown team is a strong group of local stakeholders that already work well together in a variety of areas. This meeting will define what each stakeholder can bring to this important Innovation Places initiative and will explore how we can effectively channel all of the great things going on in Middletown with the goal of creating a true innovation ecosystem. This is a very important initiative for our region and we will be sure to share additional information as the process moves forward.
The 2017 Regular Session of the Connecticut General Assembly began Wednesday at the Legislative Office Building and State Capitol in Hartford. The chamber’s Legislative Committee has been busy working on our organization’s 2017 Public Policy Agenda and planning our 2017 legislative events. The chamber remains committed to promoting a positive business climate in Middlesex County, and we will certainly stay engaged with our Middlesex County delegation and with legislative leadership throughout this important session.
Our 2017 Legislative Breakfast will take place Jan. 27 at the Courtyard by Marriott in Cromwell. This event, sponsored by Comcast, will feature legislators that represent the 15 Middlesex County towns in the state Senate and in the House of Representatives. The Legislative Breakfast represents a great opportunity, on an annual basis, for our members to network with these important elected leaders.
We look forward to another successful event and will have more information on confirmed legislators as we get closer.
I must close this week’s chamber column on a sad note after the recent passing of a great friend to me and to the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, Robert P. “Bob” Byrne. Bob Byrne was a member of the selection committee that hired me to become president of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce. I am eternally grateful to him not only for this opportunity, but for all of his support and friendship over the years. He was a past chairman of our Board of Directors, was honored with our Distinguished Citizen Award in 1994, was recognized with our “Good Guy” Award by the chamber’s Golf Committee and supported our organization in so many other ways.
He was the retired owner, operator and founder of Connecticut Rental in Middletown, which is now run by his son, Tom, who is also an outstanding friend to our organization. Tom, who now serves as chairman of our Central Business Bureau, is a chip off the old block in so many ways. I am so appreciative of his support and friendship and offer our heartfelt sympathy to Tom, Bob’s daughters Donna Byrne, Dianna Peterson, Patricia Sobieski and Sharon Boyle, his stepdaughter Erin Anderson, his brother James his 12 grandchildren, three greatgrandchildren, and his vast network of family and friends at this difficult time.
Bob Byrne was a terrific man. He was a stand-up guy who led a good life and loved his family above all else. May he rest in peace, and may his family find comfort in the fact that he was loved and admired by so many. Bob Byrne will be missed.