Tolland Town Council Chair Report

The Tolland Town Council held its first meeting of the new term last week. Councilors were sworn in and I have the privilege of serving as the Town Council Chair. As Chair, I want to make Council business as accessible as possible for Tolland residents because I understand that people often have many competing commitments that can make attending a Council meeting difficult. As a result, I will be posting a Chair Report that corresponds with each Council meeting. I’ll provide a brief summary of the business the Council addressed at each meeting. In an effort to keep the reports succinct, I will not include every detail. Should you be interested in learning more, I encourage you to read the meeting minutes, watch the recording of the meeting, or reach out to the Council.

For this first report, I want to share some introductory remarks I made at last week’s meeting. I want to thank the residents who came out to vote in the municipal election. It was a historically high voter turnout and, regardless of who you voted for, greater community engagement is so important to the success of our town. I also want to thank election officials for ensuring a smooth and secure voting process.

We have a lot of work to do for Tolland. The Council is responsible for ensuring we have a safe, thriving community that serves all residents from our youngest to our oldest. We have an obligation to balance providing top notch services to residents with the economic reality that many of our neighbors face.

Everyone’s voice on the Council is important to carrying out our responsibilities. The Council makes the best decisions for our town when all perspectives are part of the conversation. We will not always agree, but if our starting point is that we are all acting with the best interest of the town in mind, we can be sure our discussions are respectful and policy based. I can assure you that I will promote transparency and open lines of communication with both Democratic and Republican councilors. Each councilor volunteers countless hours to making Tolland better and I am proud to serve with each of them.

It is my hope that residents continue to be engaged in Council and other board meetings. Attend the meetings, read the minutes, and let your elected leaders know your perspective during public participation or by writing in. We are listening. At last week’s meeting, the Council made a change to our rules of procedure to try and improve residents' experiences at Council meetings.

I will also be holding Chair Hour in Study Room 3 in the Library on the first Tuesday of the month from 6:00pm-7:00pm. We want to know how best to serve Tolland and the best way to do that is by hearing directly from residents. After all, we work for you.

Thank you for the trust you have placed in each of us. I have no doubt that every member of this Council takes that seriously.

The next Council meeting is November 25, 2025 at 7:00pm.

You can find the meeting minutes for the November 12, 2025 Council meeting here: https://ecode360.com/TO1208/document/753202837.pdf