Source: Kevin Maloney, CCM

For Immediate Release
Kevin Maloney, 203-710-3486

CCM delegation to meet with Senator Blumenthal and Senator Murphy on March 28 on key federal-local issues impacting Connecticut towns and cities in 2023

Leaders from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) will meet with Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator Christopher Murphy on key federal-local issues impacting Connecticut towns and cities on Tuesday, March 28 in Washington, D.C. beginning at noon in the U.S. Capitol Building.
 
The Connecticut leaders will conduct the meeting as part of their participation in the Congressional City Conference from March 27-29  in Washington, D.C., organized by the National League of Cities. 
 
Municipal leaders will be focused on key federal/local issues with Connecticut’s two Senators. These issues include: 

1. Supporting the President’s budget proposal for providing $4.4 billion for combating violent crime and gun violence, and $880 million in discretionary grants to state and local law enforcement agencies and $3.3 billion in mandatory grants for the Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS) and the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). 
2. Backing the President’s call for a significant funding increase for the EPA Brownfields Program, with a proposed total of $131 million compared to $100 million in FY23. 
3. Supporting funding the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds ($1.639 billion and $1.126 billion respectively) and an increase in funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program ($71.9 million). 
4. Enhancing and streamlining federal/state/local coordination of funding available through the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA).
5. Supporting Project Longevity, which has been a successful program that brings local, state and federal law enforcement together with community.
6. Backing and investing in partnerships to connect local workers to careers in local industries that have significant hiring needs and expected growth.
7. Advancing programs that provide direct, flexible funding to cities for substance use, mental health and other community violence strategies.

The meeting will be led by Thomas Dunn, Mayor of Wolcott and CCM President, Laura Hoydick, Mayor of Stratford and CCM 1st Vice President, and Luke Bronin, Mayor of Hartford and immediate past president of CCM. 

Key councilmembers from the Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford will be in attendance at the meetings. They include, from Bridgeport -- Scott Burns, Jorge Cruz, Jeanette Herron, Frederick Hodges, Michelle Lyons, Lydia Martinez, AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia, Ernest Newton, Aidee Nieves, Rolanda Smith and Samia Suliman; from New Haven -- Frank Douglas, Rosa Ferraro-Santana, Tom Ficklin, Evette Hamilton, Eli Sabin, Honda Smith and Brian Wingate; from Hartford --Thomas Clarke; and from Hamden -- Walter Morton of the Hamden Board of Education.

Other senior, key city and town hall staff members who are part of the Connecticut delegation include Mary Dean, Sarah Knight and Christopher Tymniak of Stratford, Joel Black of Norwalk and Robert Knight of Ridgefield.

“Our delegation looks forward to a very productive meeting with our two esteemed U.S. Senators,”  emphasized Joe DeLong, CCM Executive Director and CEO. “They have a strong appreciation for the importance of federal funding overall for cities and towns, the value of workforce development programs, the implications of federal taxes on towns, and other key federal issues affecting Connecticut municipalities in 2022.”   

The Connecticut officials in Washington D.C.  are all members of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM), Connecticut’s statewide association of towns and cities. More than 3,000 municipal leaders from around the nation — mayors, first selectmen, council members, town/city managers, and other key local officials — will take part in the 2023 NLC conference.

The conference will include a wide range of cutting-edge, public policy and municipal-management workshops, as well as a series of seminars by NLC’s Leadership Training Institute; a resource center for assisting local officials in responding to the complex challenges of community leadership and an opportunity to learn from experts by join city leaders at intimate, intensive workshop sessions on topics ranging from economic development to funding opportunities.  

NLC will also adopt its 2023 Action Agenda at the conference as the basis for coordinated action by municipal leaders across the country.