Mayor Gives State of City Address

Presented to Board of Aldermen

January, 25, 2007

Mayor Tony Staffieri

Text of Mayor's Report

Good evening everyone.

I have to tell you it has been an absolute honor being mayor of our beloved city of Derby.

Who would ever think a boy born in Abruzzi Italy, with my first sight of America being Ellis Island, the son of Poalo and Concetta Staffieri, coming to this city at age 7, would ever become Mayor.

A year ago, we were given the honor by the people of Derby, to lead their City. It was an awesome responsibility and we have responded with an awesome year. An awesome year, yet it has been a very trying first year.

What many don’t realize is we have spent so much of our time doing things that should have been done years ago.

We inherited many problems from the previous administration, many contracts, many bills unpaid, many unsettled lawsuits, many things pushed aside rather than dealt with, two preferred developer agreements, both of which must be followed based upon law and proper management.

From entering City Hall the day I was sworn in, to this wonderful office, only to find all the computer hard drives had been professionally wiped clean of all information, and back up information stored on tapes had been removed from City Hall.

When you begin with past information having been destroyed, your job is far more difficult but the people of our beloved Derby deserve the ultimate of efforts and that, I can assure you, they have received.

As I think of those things we have dealt with in the past year, you will be surprised at what I think is our greatest of accomplishments.

The spirit of working together….

Democrats, republicans, unaffiliated voters.

We have put our partisan interest away and have all worked on behalf of all the people of Derby as we should.

Those people I have appointed to different commissions and boards have been appointed based on their competency, their willingness to work together and their love of our city.

They have all done well in my estimation and I ask them to continue their work and join with me to continue to make our city not only the smallest city in our state but also the best.

Rick Dunne, Henry Domurad, Ron Sill, Ted Estwan, Keith Mcliverty, Mike Kelleher, Joe Moore, Phil Marcuccio, Leo Moscato, and Jack Walsh, democrats and unaffiliated voters joining me to make our city the best.

So many more I should mention but will not due to time.

We have put our party affiliation away on behalf of our city. Washington DC should learn to follow Derby’s example.

Ken Hughes, the hours and hours he gives to our city is incredible. Each and every member of this Board of Aldermen, you give our city so much of your time and your expertise.

All the appointed boards, I can’t mention each and everyone but you all have done our city proud with your effort. I give you all, my heart felt thank you not only from me but for each and every citizen of Derby.

Look out across Main Street. Within weeks you will no longer see what was being referred to as bombed out Baghdad. It was our city’s disgrace and why others allowed it to remain for so many years is beyond my comprehension, but it will soon be gone.

We inherited a preferred developer agreement and are working hard with them to replace the disgrace with a unique concept of a mixed use modern city center. One with housing, with retail, with office space, and public areas for everyone to enjoy the gift. The gift of two rivers joining. A gift that created Derby as the birth place of industry for this country.

Our parking garage was a disaster. It had no organized leadership or any direction. It now has a thriving authority with dedicated citizens giving of their time and skills. It is safer, cleaner, and you can now find it with its new neon sign.It is a perfect and needed beginning to a modern and thriving downtown.

We now own the Onopiak property on Sodom Lane. We have cleaned up the property and now seek a state grant to begin making the property into a nature preserve as Mr. Onopiak could only dream.

Witek Park was long in completing. With the great help and expertise of Ken Hughes, the smallest city now has the two best soccer fields in the State.

How about our City Seal? Not only is it the most beautiful of city seals in Connecticut but look at it. In a small picture it depicts our history. Our two rivers joining together, with industry nestled within. I believe in spirit. I believe in a positive attitude and I think the seal illustrates our spirit and our positive attitude.

Our City Hall represents the people’s house. The people’s house now has plantings around it along with lighting. We now have signs telling everyone this is there building. We have a parking lot not filled with pot holes and soon our Derby seal will fly next to the American flag.

You may not notice it in the winter but so many people have called City Hall remarking on how clean our downtown streets are now kept and how public works weeds the sidewalks. A small thing but one never taken care of by those who have come before us.

Griffin Hospital wanted to build a world class cancer center. The people of Derby and the Valley deserve a world class cancer center. We jumped in and overcame all the obstacles by calling key people and committees together and by taking positive action to make it happen.

Again, with the attitude of spirit, we installed a webcam on the people’s building so they could monitor the demolition of our bombed out Baghdad. An ex Derby resident now watches the demolition proceedings live from Israel. To date the webcam site has had 13,000 hits.

For years the Army Corp of Engineers has been telling Derby to fix our flood gates. For years, it was not done. Guess what? We did it and thank God all those years of no action didn’t cause harm to our city.

We took action by taking the Board of Education from rented space and moved them into a city owned building and saving $6,000 a month. Better space, less cost. The previous administration planned on spending $400,000 to bring the Board of Education to the basement of City Hall. I like our plan much better and we created the media center which has been used by so many of our citizens.

For years the city swimming pool had substantial problems and for years no one paid attention. We did and the pool has now been fixed.

We have begun a process of repairing all our firehouses and upgrading their computer systems bringing them into the modern age and beyond. All those wonderful volunteers deserve the best and we thank them.

Bleachers at Ryan Field have been deteriorating for years. We now have begun to replace them.

We have finally implemented a program where our police will now replace their 12 year firearms with newer and safer guns which they deserve in their effort of protecting our citizens.

Our treasure, our Sterling Opera House, now has a new roof and this spring it will have the remaining sides fully enclosed with a million dollar grant from the State. The roofing contractor also replaced the roof on the gazebo on the green for free as a thank you gesture and illustrating the Derby spirit.

I have created a new Sterling Opera House Committee of Incorporators. Once established they will become a non-profit corporation to seek contributions and State and Federal Grants to further the restoration of our City treasure.

We have many city owned recreational facilities. I have found the responsibility for these facilities to be scattered and confusing. To provide better coordination of our city recreational facilities, I have appointed a fact finding committee to report back to me with a plan as to how better to organize our wonderful resources.

Just today I signed a contract with HUD granting the City $34,710 which we will use to beautify our downtown.

We have sought and received a grant to demolish the fire training school on the O’Sullivan Island. We are now in the process of asking help from our congress woman Rosa Delauro, Senator Chris Dodd and Senator Joseph Liebermann for funds to completely rid the island of hazardous waste.

The history of the island is vast and those responsible for the waste is equally as vast. With the full cleanup of the island, our O’Sullivan Island will become a park beyond your belief. As you know, we have had a request for an historic yacht to become part of our island along with the ability to teach our younger citizens the history of our city and its two rivers.

We have a city-wide Capital Plan, the first capital plan in five years.

We have negotiated the first Library contract with its union workers. A contract that should have been accomplished long before we took office.

We are about to conclude the negotiations of contracts with all three unions. City Hall, Public Works and our Police Department.

We have seamlessly moved from a former Chief of Police to a new Chief.

We have negotiated contracts for our liability insurance and our cell phone provider saving money in both cases. We have new copy machines in City Hall at a cost of less than the maintenance of the old machines.

You may have read recently about our Kmart Plaza. I have been working with the developers for a number of months and, shortly there will be a formal announcement of the demolition of the present plaza to be replaced with a totally new plaza housing a major national retailer.

I also have been working, for months, on a number of projects and expect the negotiations to continue and eventually lead to an announcement. These projects, when finalized, will not only provide our Derby with needed tax dollars but with jobs for those needing one.

May I remind you of a night when downtown was filled with people, families with their children, watching one of the most spectacular display of fireworks. Another example of what I believe is so important, spirit and pride for our city. Wait until this years display, July 3, 2007. You will again feel that spirit and pride…….

Has Derby ever had an A+ bond rating? No, but because of all the positives things going on, we do now.

And before I lose my voice, may I mention a little thing called our Greenway?

We have the most beautiful Greenway in all of Connecticut. Phase one was finally completed after long last. Phase two is being completed and Phase three has begun. We recently began advertising for our design professional and with the 1.4 million dollars we will enlarge our beautiful Greenway giving citizens more opportunity for good health while seeing some of the most beautiful aspects of mother nature..

We also will shortly have a computer camera system watching our Greenway for the protection of those who use it as well as to have an eye on those who abuse it. 　

Again, from my heart, I must thank each and every member of each and every board. Their dedication and willingness to serve is a credit to our community and to their families.

When I took office I said to myself, I would never put off to tomorrow anything that should be taken care of today. As I stand before you, I know I have kept my word.

To be elected to serve others is an honor. It is an incredible honor. In receiving and accepting that honor we have an obligation to serve with honesty, integrity and with the mental attitude we will always move in the direction of making our city government and the lives of its people better tomorrow than it is today.

I believe we have, but pat yourself on the back only for an instant because, here we go. Join with me in dedicating ourselves to make year two better than year one.

It is our responsibility to the people of our beloved Derby.

Join with me and lets show them there is better yet to come.