Developer wants to transform former Stamford Savings Bank into 11-story, 4-star boutique hotel
STAMFORD — About four years after receiving its proposal,
the Stamford Zoning Board could be only a month away from greenlighting a
downtown hotel project.
The Old Towne Hotel project would convert the Stamford
Savings Bank building at 160 Atlantic St. beside Veterans Memorial Park into an
82-room boutique hotel with a ground-floor restaurant and rooftop patio. The
project was initially referred to the Zoning Board by the Planning Board in
early 2019.
The building, formerly the headquarters of now-First County
Bank, was built in 1940 for about $238,000, according to a May 1951 article in
The Advocate. A 2022 valuation appraised the building at about $3.27 million,
city building records show.
Architects designed the two-story building with a
“conservative New England” style in mind, according to a February 1939 article
announcing its proposal. The red-brick building is built on a base of solid
granite, with 27-feet-high limestone columns lining its facade.
The renovation would add nine additional stories atop the
existing structure. Previous plans had the high-rise tucked behind the bank
building.
According to city building records, the bank was acquired in
June 2019 by Old Town Square LLC, a company run by business partners Nagi Osta
and Shalinder Nichani. Osta is the owner and founder of Nagi Jewelers, a High
Ridge Road family jewelry business that’s been open since 1980.
Osta said Nichani, who owns eight hotels, approached him
with the idea. He said it would provide needed activity for a corner that is “a
bit neglected,” and provide a high-end hotel option for downtown.
“We want to make it high end — hopefully four or five
stars,” Osta said. “People like that. It’s going to be … something different
for downtown, especially for those luxury apartments (nearby).”
The hotel's theme will also honor veterans, in keeping with
the city park outside its facade, he said.
"We've gotten a letter of support from the Stamford
Veterans Park Partnership," attorney John Leydon, representing Old Town
Square, said at a Zoning Board public hearing Dec. 5. "We're going as far
as naming rooms, if that will be allowed ... they have programs at the park
where they're going to use our hotel, we assume, for guests coming into speak
at events."
At the public hearing, the Board requested several changes
to the project, including a complete redesign of the building's rear, which
previously would have included a loading dock, dumpsters, electrical
transformers and a guest entrance. On Monday night, Leydon requested four more
weeks to present the revisions.
The group has not decided on what restaurant would go
downstairs, but Osta said it would be a fine dining experience.
The city announced last month that downtown business
leaders, through the Stamford Downtown Special Services District, had received
a $5.6 million state bond to remake the nearby Atlantic
Street ramp to make the area more walkable and friendlier for non-motorists.
Osta said the hotel project and re-imagined street would
help to remake the area.
“It’s going to be much more pedestrians (and) safer. Much
more urban living. This is going to be good for Downtown Stamford and this is
going to be the finishing touch,” Osta said.
Should federal grants favor highway repair over expansion?
JEFF McMURRAY
Arizona officials refer to a notoriously congested stretch
of desert highway through tribal land as the Wild Horse Pass Corridor, a label
that's less about horses than the bustling casino by the same name located just
north of where the interstate constricts to four lanes.
With the Gila River Indian Community's backing, the state
allocated or raised about $600 million of a nearly $1 billion plan that would
widen the most bottleneck-inducing, 26-mile section of I-10 on the route
between Phoenix and Tucson.
But its bid for federal grant money under the new
infrastructure law to finish the job fell short, leaving some advocates for
road construction accusing the Biden administration of devaluing those projects
to focus on repairs and mass transit.
“Upset would be the right terminology,” Casa Grande Mayor
Craig McFarland said of his reaction when he learned the project won't receive
one of the law's first Mega Grants the U.S. Department of Transportation will
announce this week. “We thought we had done a good job putting the proposal
together. We thought we had checked all the boxes.”
The historic federal investment in infrastructure has
reenergized dormant transportation projects, but the debate over how to
prioritize them has only intensified in the 14 months since President Joe Biden
signed the measure.
The law follows decades of neglect in maintaining the
nation’s roads, bridges, water systems and airports. Research by Yale
University economist Ray Fair estimates a sharp decline in U.S. infrastructure
investment has caused a $5.2 trillion shortfall. The entire law totals $1
trillion, and it seeks to not only remedy that dangerous backlog of projects
but also build out broadband internet nationwide and protect against damage
caused by climate change.
Some of the money, however, has gone to new highway
construction — much of it from the nearly 30% increases Arizona and most other
states are receiving over the next five years in the formula funding they can
use to prioritize their own transportation needs.
For specific projects, many of the biggest awards available
under the law are through various highly competitive grants. The Department of
Transportation received around $30 billion worth of applications for just the
first $1 billion in Mega Grants being awarded, spokesperson Dani Simons said.
Another $1 billion will be available each of the next four
years before the funding runs out. Still, the first batch has been closely
watched for signals about the administration's preferences.
Jeff Davis, senior fellow at the Eno Center for
Transportation, said it’s already clear that the Biden administration plans to
direct a greater share of its discretionary transportation funding to
“non-highway projects” than the Trump administration did. However, with so much
more total infrastructure money to work with, Davis said, “a rising tide lifts
all boats.”
For example, one of the projects that the administration
told Congress it had chosen for a Mega Grant will widen Interstate 10 — but in
Mississippi, not Arizona. Davis said the department likely preferred the
Mississippi project due to its significantly lower price tag. This year’s Mega
Grants combine three different award types into a single application, one of
which caters specifically to rural and impoverished communities.
Some of the winning grants are for bridges, while others are
for mass transit — including improvements to Chicago’s commuter train system
and concrete casing for a rail tunnel in Midtown Manhattan.
Along with the nine projects selected, transportation
department staff listed seven others as “highly recommended” — a distinction Davis
said makes them clear front-runners to secure money next year. Arizona’s I-10
widening effort was part of a third group of 13 projects labeled as
“recommended,” which Davis said could put them in contention for future funding
unless they’re surpassed by even stronger applicants.
But such decisions remain largely subjective.
Advocates for regions such as the Southwest, where the
population is growing but more spread out, argue that their need for new or
wider highways is just as big of a national priority as a major city’s need for
more subway stations or bicycle lanes.
Arizona state Rep. Teresa Martinez, a Republican who
represents Casa Grande at the southern end of the corridor, said she was livid
when she heard from a congressional office that the administration might have
turned down the I-10 project because it didn't have enough “multimodal”
components.
“What does that even mean?” she said. “.... They were
looking to fund projects that have bike paths and trailways instead of a major
interstate?"
Testifying in March before the Senate Committee on
Environment and Public Works, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg assured
Arizona Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly that he understood the state's unique
highway needs and that his department wouldn't “stand in the way of a capacity
expansion where it's appropriate.”
Some Republicans, however, remain skeptical, in part due to
a memo the Federal Highway Administration distributed in December 2021, a month
after Biden signed the bill. The document suggested states should usually
“prioritize the repair, rehabilitation, reconstruction, replacement, and
maintenance of existing transportation infrastructure” over new road
construction.
Although administration officials dismissed the memo as an
internal communication, not a policy decision, critics alleged they were trying
to circumvent Congress and influence highway construction decisions
traditionally left to states under their formula funding.
Last month the Government Accountability Office concluded
the memo carried the same weight as a formal rule, which Congress could challenge
by passing a resolution of disapproval. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West
Virginia, the ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee,
pledged to write one.
According to figures the Federal Highway Administration
provided to The Associated Press, 12 capacity-expansion projects have received
funding through previous competitive grants since the memo was issued. States
also have used their formula funding toward 763 such projects totaling $7.1
billion.
As for the Arizona project, some state officials have
expressed plans to move ahead on their own if they can't secure federal money —
although they're not giving up on that, either. Considering that one crash can
back up traffic for miles between the state's two largest cities, they say it
remains a top priority.
McFarland, the Casa Grande mayor, said perhaps the next
application will stress some of the other components of the $360 million
request besides the highway widening — including bike lanes that tribal leaders
have long sought for some of the overpasses.
“If you read the tea leaves, you can see where they're at,”
McFarland said. “... It's a competitive process. You don't always get it the
first time you ask for it. So, ask again.”
McMurray reported from Chicago. Associated Press writer Josh
Boak in Washington contributed to this story.
Quinnipiac University's new $45 million recreation center part of plan to 'nurture the community'
HAMDEN — From a fitness center and dance studio to a
smoothie station, rock garden and rock climbing wall, a new $45 million
building at Quinnipiac University has it all.
“If I look familiar, I was the guy on the treadmill grasping
for oxygen while all of you young people are exercising with your headphones on
having a great time,” said Robert Potter, a trustees and a university alumnus.
Potter said when he first went to the gym, he immediately
texted university President Judy Olian and Chief Experience Officer Tom Ellett
that “I’m re-enrolling.”
University officials, along with students, faculty and local
community members, officially opened the new Recreation and Wellness Center in
a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, with the goal of providing students with
“social, emotional and physical well-being support.”
“You’ve got to take yoga or spin classes or mindfulness or
aerobics or zumba while looking at the Sleeping Giant,” Olian said. “If that
doesn’t make you happier and healthier, I don’t know what will.”
Olian said the new building is an embodiment of a pillar in
the university's strategic plan to nurture the community while reinforcing the
vision of Quinnipiac being “the university of the future.” The building also
was designed for LEED gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council,
according to the university.
Ellett said the building is “run by students for students,”
with a goal of hosting weekly programs for three to four nights a week on top
of other activities that will take place daily
“I’m excited that students will gain confidence in
themselves, their purpose for being at QU and abilities to go out into the
world as active contributors and Bobcat alum,” Ellett said
Student Government Association President Owenea Roberts said
she hoped her peers will take advantage of the new facilities — “myself
included, because I currently do not exercise,” she said.
The rock-climbing wall inside the Recreation and Wellness Center at Quinnipiac University.
Chatwan Mongkol/Hearst Connecticut Media
The $45-million building also is home to the university’s
partnership with Hartford HealthCare. The university’s student health
services merged with the health system last year in a $5 million deal.
The agreement was to grow the Connecticut health care workforce by creating a
career pipeline for students and expanding nursing and medical programs at
Quinnipiac.
“Fantastic, fabulous, strategic and collaborative” were some
adjectives the university president used to describe the partnership Friday.
Jeff Flaks, president of Hartford HealthCare, said his team was “enriched by
the culture” at Quinnipiac since the project started.
“What I really want to bring attention to today is the
leadership of this university from the board to the president and to the entire
team,” Flaks said. “It wasn’t just the innovation, the big thinking, but it was
the personal advocacy of the health and well-being of the entire community.”
Through the partnership, the university already increased
the size of nursing placement by 22 percent, according to Flaks, and is
increasing placement for the medical school over time, too.
Leaders of the two institutions both said the partnership is
“great for Connecticut” for “building the workforce of the future.”
Quinnipiac began construction of the Recreation and Wellness
Center in 2021, and partially opened the building to students last fall.
The construction prompted Quinnipiac to try to move its tennis courts to a new location with both Hamden and North Haven campuses under its consideration. The relocation hasn’t been accomplished after two years, and the zoning applications were withdrawn after facing challenges with Hamden zoning ordinances and opposition from neighbors.
Associate Vice President for Public Relations John Morgan
said, “we’re continuing to explore the best location for our tennis courts and
plan to proceed with an application for them once that analysis has been
completed.”
In 2022, Quinnipiac received zoning approval to begin another construction for its $293
million South Quad project for three new buildings under a planned development district, something that wasn’t well received by neighbors.
The ongoing project is expected to be complete in the
2024-25 academic year, according to the university.
MIDDLETOWN — The city's central business corridor is
undergoing extensive rehabilitation work to revitalize four historic buildings
downtown into a development featuring restaurant spaces, some two-dozen housing
units, an extensive wine bar, a rooftop patio with river views and much more.
In all, Durham developer Dominick DeMartino, who owns
properties around the state, will
be investing $15 million in these ambitious projects. He chose
Middletown because he’s “very connected” to the city and active in numerous
area organizations.
“This is not a developer coming in and trying to make it
quick, and run,” he said.
Construction is underway for 10 housing units in the top two
stories of 418-22 Main St., where, on the ground floor, the original Amato’s
Toy & Hobby was located in the 1970s, as well as Vinnie’s Jump & Jive
dance hall, which
closed in late July.
Signage has been removed from both storefronts, which are
now covered in wood. These spaces haven't been fully used for decades,
DeMartino explained.
At the rear, near the Melilli Plaza parking lot entrance to
Sicily Coal Fired Pizza at 412 Main St., Fresh Cutz, a
barbershop specializing in urban hairstyles with other locations in
Hamden and Wallingford, will be moving in. Owner Javier Colon will have 15
chairs for stylists to rent, said DeMartino, who owns the Sicily building.
Colon also will offer barber license training for young men and women who want
to get into the trade, he noted.
There will also be three retail spaces, including one
selling gourmet cookies and ice cream, as well as the wine bar in association
with Sicily restaurant in the building DeMartino also owns.
The wine bar will offer all of the Italian eatery’s menu
items, as well as a selection of 72 different wines by the glass. There will
also be 3,000 bottles on display. “It will be extremely unique,” the developer
said.
The raw bar will include clams, oysters, shrimp, as well as
cheese, vegetable and dried meat charcuterie boards.
At the former Schlein’s Furniture building at 584 Main St.,
between 5,500 and 6,000 square feet of retail space will be constructed, with a
tapas / Latin eatery on the ground floor, although DeMartino hasn’t yet
identified tenants.
He has an application in to the city to build 12 market-rate
apartments — six on each floor — geared toward young professionals, college
students, medical workers and those “who live and play on Main Street,” the
developer said.
In the old Woolworth’s building at 428 Main St., most
recently occupied by Irreplaceable Artifacts, there will be a restaurant
located below a rooftop patio bar overlooking the Connecticut River.
DeMartino said several restaurateurs have contacted him
about possibly securing a space in the buildings. “They’re very interested in
downtown Middletown as they’ve seen the success Sicily is having,” he said.
The roof area will be ADA-compliant with the addition of an
elevator, so everyone has access to the upstairs, and can dine in full view of
the water on summer days, DeMartino added.
The Woolworth’s building is being used temporarily for
a series
of storefront displays as part of the Downtown Business District’s
plan to liven
up the streetscape and fill vacant spaces.
Dominick, who doesn’t charge for use of the ground floor by
the organization, has been working with coordinator Sandra Russo-Driska on the
project, he said.
As part of the initiative, in November 2021, Haiti native
and local artist Pierre Sylvain created three vibrant
paintings of Caribbean musicians and diners, which cover the
bottom facade of the building.
Prior to that, Middletown resident and Hartford
research scientist Kat Owens incorporated a full-size fabric replica
of a sperm whale using plastic making its way into oceans and endangering
marine animals.
Through next month, Haddam artist Ted Esselstyn, who runs
City Bench, upended the furniture he has crafted from reclaimed city trees
across the state. They stand among upright slabs of wood to create the effect
of a
“forest” of trees in the storefront.
“Dominick DeMartino’s investments in downtown Middletown are
really invigorating — not only the level of businesses he plans to bring here,
but the [care] he takes in renovating the buildings,” said Russo-Driska, who
called him a “phenomenal partner” with the DBD.
“We’re truly excited to have him here, and we hope other
investors do more in our downtown,” the coordinator added.
DeMartino said he’s received much support from area business
owners as well as city officials. “Middletown is moving forward,” he said.
No town funds needed for Groton Long Point Road Bridge replacement
Kimberly Drelich
Groton ― The Town of Groton won’t have to pay for the
planned replacement of the Groton Long Point Road Bridge over Palmer’s Cove,
saving about $1.7 million in town funds, according to town and state officials.
The town originally had anticipated it would participate in a program in which
it would have to pay 20% of the estimated $8.4 million cost to replace the
bridge. But the town recently was accepted into a newer program in which the
town would not have to pay anything toward the project cost, according to town
officials.
The program places the state in charge of the bridge
replacement process. The project will be paid for through at least 80% federal
funds, with the state providing up to a 20% match, according to a letter from
the state Department of Transportation to the town.
“Being part of the 100% program will save the town from
spending approximately $1.7 million of their own funds on the project,” said
Town Manager John Burt. “The state is also well suited to do this work, and it
frees up our public works staff time.”
Burt said design and permitting is scheduled for 2023-2024,
while construction is slated for 2025-2026.
The town wants to replace the 1935 bridge, which connects Groton
Long Point and Mumford Cove to the rest of Groton, and improve its condition,
make it safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, and make it more resilient
to storm surge, according to a presentation over the summer.
The Town Council Committee of the Whole on Tuesday
recommended moving forward with the funding program, with the full council
slated to take a final vote to approve it at its Feb. 7 regular council
meeting.
Public Works Director Greg Hanover told councilors that
under this new federal local bridge program, called the Design Managed by State
Program, the state would take the project through design, permitting and rights
of way acquisitions, and manage the contractor during construction. He said the
town will still be involved in providing input throughout the design and
construction phases and there will still be a public input component to the
project.
Last summer, town councilors looked at a preliminary design from engineering firm
AECOM for an elevated bridge that included two bike lanes and a
sidewalk. The Groton Long Point Association Board of Directors asked the town
to remove from the project a sidewalk from the bridge to East Shore Avenue.
Burt said the Town Council did not endorse a design. The
town will send to the DOT all the materials related to the bridge, including
the preliminary design, and the state will be gathering more public input.
At Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, Town Councilor
David McBride asked about the association’s involvement. He said the
association had information it was prepared to discuss in July, but his
understanding is that the association has not been able to do that. He said the
Groton Long Point Association firmly believes it owns the road. He said he is
fully in favor of the project, but thinks it is going to be delayed if Groton
Long Point isn’t involved.
“I’d like to see if we can bring them to the table and see
if we can move this long,” McBride said.
Burt responded that the state will make its own decisions on
the project, and the town will see what the state believes as far as ownership
and if sidewalks make it into the design.
Josh Morgan, spokesperson for the state Department of
Transportation, told The Day that the Groton Long Point Road Bridge project is
in the early stages of development and will be designed to meet state and
federal standards.
The bridge is owned and maintained by the municipality, but
since it is more than 20 feet long, the state DOT inspects it, Morgan said.
As part of the DOT’s Local Bridge Program, a pilot program
was started in 2016 for municipally owned, state inspected bridges, in which
the state DOT would partner on the design for future improvements. This speeds
up the design process for projects and unlocks additional federal funding
opportunities, Morgan explained. “Due to the 2021 federal infrastructure law,
these projects in the Local Bridge Program no longer include municipal tax
dollars and are entirely funded with state and/or federal dollars,” he said.
State says it won’t pay New London for school demolition work
Andrew Brown
New London may be forced to pay several million dollars in
demolition and remediation work for a new high school project because local
officials allegedly heeded the directions of Konstantinos Diamantis, the former
leader of Connecticut’s school construction program.
Officials with the Department of Administrative Services,
which houses the state’s school construction office, recently informed the city
that it will not pay for any of the roughly $4 million in demolition or
abatement work at the New London High School because that contract was never
put out to bid, as state law requires.
“Work that was not competitively bid or work that was done
using a state contract without obtaining multiple quotes is not eligible for
reimbursement at any rate,” said John McKay, a spokesman for DAS.
Elected leaders and school construction supervisors in New
London said that news came as a surprise to them, considering Diamantis
allegedly instructed the city to hire a demolition contractor from a short list
of state-approved vendors.
It’s unclear if any other school districts in the state
could face similar problems obtaining state reimbursement for work that was
performed on local school projects in recent years.
McKay said the state would need to do more research to
determine if other municipalities neglected to open bids for some of the
contracts for local school projects in the past.
But the allegations that Diamantis pushed municipalities to
hire certain contractors are not new, and they are not unique to New London.
The Kosta Diamantis timeline
After a federal investigation into the school construction
program burst into public view last year, local leaders in several towns and
cities came forward to accuse Diamantis of pressuring them to hire specific
contractors for local school projects, including demolition and abatement
companies.
Diamantis, who resigned from his post in late 2021, a few
weeks after the state was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, denies ever
instructing New London, or any other school district, to choose a specific
contractor for demolition and abatement work.
“I want to be clear. I never directed anyone to hire a
particular vendor, and I did not instruct members of my team to advocate for
any,” Diamantis told the CT Mirror this week. He laid the responsibility for
any errors on a former subordinate who died in December 2021.
But officials in New London argue that the city is being
unfairly punished for following the past directives of Diamantis and his team.
Dianna McNeill, who has served as a senior manager for the
New London High School project, said the city hired AAIS, a company based in
West Haven, without a formal bidding process due to directions they received
from Diamantis and his staff at the Office of School Construction Grants and
Review.
McNeill told the Mirror that she considered those
directions, at the time, as a “bit of a head-scratcher” because she had never
seen a demolition or hazardous waste remediation contract awarded in that
fashion for a school before.
But, she said, New London officials complied with the order
because it came from Diamantis, who had significant authority over school
construction and the state grants for those projects.
“Again, it came from the guy at the top,” McNeill said. “New
London was following his direction.”
After the contract was approved, McNeill said, Mike Sanders
— another former staffer in the state’s school construction office — stepped in
to personally direct AAIS at the high school project. And she said Sanders
pre-approved the more than $4 million in work that the company performed at the
site.
Based on those circumstances, McNeill and local elected
leaders in New London do not believe the municipality should be on the hook for
those construction costs.
Three state Democratic lawmakers representing New London —
Rep. Christine Conley, Rep. Anthony Nolan, and Sen. Martha Marx — sponsored
legislation this session that would require the state to reimburse the city for
the work performed by AAIS.
Conley argued this week that New London should not be
punished for following the advice of Diamantis, who served as the director of
the school construction program for roughly six years.
“The schools were told to use a certain company, and that
they did not need to bid it out,” Conley said. “And the schools followed what
they were told by the person who had the job.”
Diamantis said anyone claiming he instructed New London to
hire AAIS for the high school project was seeking to make him a scapegoat.
Local school officials were allowed to use the list of
state-approved contractors for work on school projects as long as they obtained
quotes from multiple companies on that list, Diamantis said. But he never
suggested or ordered local officials to use the state-approved list of vendors
in order to simply pick one from the list or otherwise circumvent the normal
bidding process, he said.
Other districts have made similar claims
Officials in New London, however, aren’t the first to allege
that Diamantis personally ordered them to ignore the state’s bidding
requirements and to hand a contract to a demolition and abatement company that
was pre-selected by the state.
An executive and an attorney with Stamford Wrecking, another
demolition company, sent numerous letters to Attorney General William Tong and
other state officials in 2020 and 2021 alleging Diamantis was encouraging
municipalities to side-step state law.
One of those letters, sent to Josh Geballe and Melissa
McCaw, the former leaders of DAS and the state Office of Policy and Management,
mentioned the New London High School project. And it alleged that the contract
AAIS received for the project was arranged because of “overtures” by state
officials.
Diamantis responded to those letters at the time by
dismissing many of the concerns from Stamford Wrecking. In internal emails, he
referred to the company’s attorney as a “well known shabby complainer.”
Local leaders in Groton and Bristol echoed many of the
allegations that were presented in those letters last year. In the case of
Bristol, local officials provided documents to the CT Mirror that detailed what
was communicated by Diamantis and his team at the time.
One of those documents described how Sanders issued a
“directive” to Bristol officials — reportedly on behalf of Diamantis —
instructing the city to throw out the bids they received for a school
demolition project and to hire Bestech, a company selected by the state.
Both Bristol and Groton eventually chose to ignore those
directions, and unlike New London, the two municipalities hired their own
contractors for the demolition and abatement work using a local bidding
process.
Diamantis: ‘Issues were corrected’
Diamantis told the CT Mirror he had nothing to do with those
contract disputes in Bristol or Groton. And he said that if anything like that
transpired in New London, it would have been the fault of Sanders, who died in
December 2021 from a suspected drug overdose.
“If that happened early on, it was Mike’s error. He was new
to the program. It was certainly not intentional,” Diamantis said. “And I am
speaking for Mike, God rest his soul.”
The disputes that arose in Bristol and Groton, Diamantis
said, were isolated to a few schools, and he said he quickly moved to fix those
mistakes.
“Those issues were corrected,” Diamantis said, “and Mike
Sanders was made clear that he was not to go to school districts and tell them
to do anything with respect to how they run their project.”
According to Diamantis, the only reason New London officials
are pointing the finger at him now is because they don’t want to get stuck
covering the cost of the demolition and abatement contract for their new high
school.
“Continuing to slander me with inaccurate statements or
false statements for the failures of professionals hired to know the process
and to follow a simple process will no longer be tolerated,” Diamantis said in
a follow-up email. “I do not know what happened in New London.”
“Hopefully we are clear on the facts,” he added. “I ran a
solid program with a great team. We took pride in our work and our program in
the best interest of the kids, and no community was forced to hire anyone.”
Conley said she and her colleagues in the legislature are
simply trying to correct an issue that was created by the state.
Officials at DAS said they are required to follow state law
when it comes to reimbursements for school construction projects.
That means the agency’s can’t reimburse New London for those
costs unless the legislature approves special exemption for the New London
project.
Conley said she expects the General Assembly to pass that
legislation this year.