GOOD Morning Wilton sat down with Wilton First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice for a video Q&A. In the interview, she outlined her priorities for the next year.
“The first priority is infrastructure. Then equally as important is all of this potential development activity that may happen in town. Then the other, of course, is we’re looking to have a special town meeting in January for the police project,” she said adding that the budget process beginning in January will also be a primary focus through the Annual Town Meeting in May.
We’ve broken down the interview into four parts, below.
Development
In her talk on development, Vanderslice reveals what she thinks about the Kimco proposal to change its commercial buildings on River Rd. in Wilton Center into multi-family residential units, and discusses what she’s hearing from developers about coming into Wilton.
Infrastructure
In Part 2, Vanderslice discusses the Police Department Headquarters project, including how she thinks the town will be able to manage to pay for a now-$15-plus million price tag. She also explains more about how Wilton’s American Rescue Funds likely will be applied.
Regional Projects/Broadband
Vanderslice’s workload has increased dramatically, and now includes work representing Wilton with regional agencies like WestCOG and the South Western Region Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization as the incoming interim chair. In Part 3, she talks about how that has increased Wilton’s profile for regional initiatives and shares more about telecommunication advancements in Wilton — including broadband and improved cell phone coverage.
Finally, Vanderslice talks about how those priorities fit together, what her message is for residents and what she’s optimistic about.
Thank you, Heather and Lynne, for a hugely informative discussion. Bas Nabulsi