Summer is winding down, but the heat was turned up early this
month. I hope you all stayed cool
during some of those historically
hot days. We
had our senior
lounge open at
Town Hall to
make sure our
residents could
stay safe in the
high temps.
Hopefully, the
hottest days are behind us as we
head into my favorite season.
But before we welcome fall,
we have one of my favorite
events: The Terryville Fair. The
Terryville Lions Club will host
the 74th Annual Country Fair
Aug. 26-28.
We have one of the best small-
town fairs in the area and the Li-
ons Club does a phenomenal job
planning this, spending countless
hours volunteering their time to
make it a success. I encourage all
Plymouth residents to attend and
support one of the pillar events of
our community. I’ll be there all
weekend working at it and hope
to see you there!
The ARPA Committee con-
tinues to meet monthly to review
proposals and hear public com-
ment on the use of the ARPA
funds. The public is encouraged
to attend and share ideas. Any-
one who has a project/business
that qualifies is encouraged to at-
tend a meeting and apply to the
Committee.
Its bittersweet to report that
our Public Works Director, Char-
lie Wiegert, has accepted a new
job and will be leaving the Town
of Plymouth this month. I would
like to thank Charlie for his ser-
vice to Plymouth and wish him
well in the next chapter of his ca-
reer.
The Town Council has ap-
proved my nomination of Paul
Pronovost, former Public Works
Director in Thomaston, to take
the reigns as interim director
until we find a permanent re-
placement. We have formed a
search committee to find that
replacement. They will make
recommendations to the Public
Works Board and Council on any
changes to the job description
they believe is appropriate and
will interview candidates. The
Town Council will decide who
the replacement will be based
on the committee’s top selected
candidates. The meetings for this
Ad-Hoc Committee will be pub-
licly posted and the public is en-
couraged to attend.
One project that has been talk-
ed about for many years but has
never been funded is upgrading
Town Hall to be more compliant
with ADA standards. Our Grant
Administrator, Vinnie Klimas,
has been hard at work preparing
an application for a $500K Small
Town Economic Assistance Pro-
gram (STEAP) grant, which
would allow us to renovate our
bathrooms at Town Hall to im-
prove accessibility for persons
with physical challenges.
Hopefully our application will
be selected so we can make these
crucial updates. Vinnie is a great
asset to our town and works hard
to get us funding to help some of
our most vulnerable neighbors,
like the funding he helped secure
for The Plymouth Housing Au-
thority.
I’m happy to share we’ve re-
ceived the first $400K (of a total
$5.3 million) allotment to initiate
the ADA renovations at Gosinski
Park.
As fall quickly approaches
and schools open back up, I want
to wish all our students a healthy
and safe year. And thank you to
everyone who makes that possi-
ble — from the bus drivers to the
cafeteria workers to the janitors
and administration — you all
play such a big role in giving our
kids a good education. And to the
parents who support your kids
and the teachers who invest in
them each and every day, they’re
lucky to have you.
As the school year starts and
life gets busier, please be sure to
add the Plymouth Block Party to
your calendars. Back by popular
demand, we will be celebrating
our small town on Oct. 1 from 11
a.m. to 5 p.m.
We will have to work around
some construction this year due
to the realignment of North Main
Street, but we will do our best
to make sure everyone has a fun
day with family and friends.
See you at the fair!
Mayor Joseph Kilduff
