Daily Five: Waterford Club Named Business of the Year

1. Today, there is a 60 percent chance of light snow in the morning, and winds are expected to be between 17 and 25 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Tonight, a mixture of rain and snow is expected, along with heavy winds, according to the National Weather Service.

2. Last Thursday, at the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut’s annual meeting, the chamber named the Great Neck Country Club as the business of the year.

Last February, David and Ann Mortimer bought the New London Country Club, which had been foreclosed on by the Dime Bank. They have since sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into the club, redoing the entire clubhouse and banquet hall, and renamed it the Great Neck Country Club. They also opened Langley’s restaurant in the club in January, which is open to the public.

The Mortimers also dropped the price of golf memberships, while keeping the course private, and now have a waiting list for people wanting to sign up. They have been praised by the local community for the effort they have put into the club, with one newspaper editorial describing them as “knights” who came in and saved the club from irrelevancy and financial ruin.

3. Monday night, the Board of Finance approved a $224,767 budget proposal by Waterford Youth Services for the 2013-14 fiscal year, which is a 12 percent increase from this year’s $200,610 total.

The increase is mostly from the bureau turning their part-time secretary into a full-time position. Right now, the bureau has a secretary work 19 hours a week, and under the proposal the secretary would worked 35 hours a week.

The extra hours for the secretary cost about $20,000 a year in salary, which is reflected in the bureau’s budget. Also, as the position is now full-time, the secretary is eligible for health and retirement benefits, which is not reflected in the bureau’s budget. Health insurance and retirement plans for municipal employees each have their own separate budgets.

Waterford Youth Services Director Dani Gorman said the secretary is needed as requests for mental health services have reached “unprecedented highs.” The board agreed, with board member Mark Wiggins saying this isn’t the time to cut funding for mental health services.

The proposal still needs to be approved by the Representative Town Meeting.

4. Speaking of the Board of Finance, tonight the group continues its month-long budget review. The board will review all the town department’s budget proposals for the 2013-14 fiscal year this month, and then make its final recommendation to the RTM on March 28^th.

Tonight, the Board of Finance will review the budget proposals by the Registrars of Voters, the Ethics Commission, the Waterford Public Library, the RTM, the Town Clerk’s office, the Board of Finance, the contingency fund, Waterford Emergency Management and the Waterford Police Department.

The meeting begins at 7 tonight in Town Hall. It is open to the public and there is time at the beginning of the meeting for public comment.

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5. On this date in 1981, Walter Cronkite did his last show as anchor of the CBS Evening News. And on this date in 1912, Nabisco introduced the world to the Oreo cookie.

Quote of the Day

“If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

-Yogi Berra

Trivia of the Day

On this date in 1951, the trial of this married couple began in the United States. The couple was later executed for passing along information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. What were their names?

Yesterday’s Answer: Penn Jillette’s longtime partner is Raymond Joseph Teller, with the two forming the magic team Penn & Teller.