We liked this week

Meriden officials toured a second area senior center, the Wallingford Senior Center, as part of a continuing effort to study the redesign and relocation of the Max E. Muravnick Senior Center on West Main Street. Meriden is using money from the American Rescue Plan Act to help explore options.

For the first time since 2019, the Plainville Hot Air Balloon Festival will return to Norton Park, with large crowds anticipated for the 36th event, set for Aug. 25-26.  The event is the largest fundraiser for the Plainville Fire Company.

A flood control prevention project along Harbor Brook in the area of Hanover Street is nearing completion and could be done as early as this autumn. Expanding and deepening Harbor Brook is part of a decades-long effort to counteract repeated flooding in downtown Meriden.

A committee tasked with recommending projects for American Rescue Plan Act funding in Meriden is recommending requests by the Meriden Police Cadets, Legendz Barbershop and the Solomon Goffe House. The 1711 Goffe House is the oldest remaining building in the city and operates as a living museum. The $200,000 in funding recommended by the committee would go toward upgrades.

Southington officials are looking for state funding to continue maintaining an old cemetery on Marion Ave. The town received a $3,000 state grant a year ago for upgrades to the Merriman Burying Ground and is seeking similar funding to continue work. The oldest death date at the burial site is 1764.

A unanimously approved resolution in Meriden will allow comment from the public at all meetings of City Council appointed boards and commissions. “Residents have said to me, they didn’t get to speak to the matter at hand,” said We the People Councilor Bob Williams Jr. “Of course the public should have a say on the matter at hand before a board or commission,” said Williams. “Why couldn’t they have their three-minute say?”

The Southington United Way has hired Britt Lynch as its new executive director. Lynch is a Southington native who was the development officer at the University of Hartford and is a stay-at-home mother. “I've been thinking about making my way back into the professional world as my kids are getting older,” she said. “And to be in town is great, to be more involved with my community is important to me.”

Expenses for a new library project in Southington continue to prompt disagreement. Officials are looking to raise money for the project, with the Library Capital Campaign Committee working with a consulting firm to figure out the best way of going about raising up to $700,000 for needed interior furnishings for the new building. Voters approved spending $17 million for the project at a 2021 referendum, but rising construction costs and supply chain issues have complicated the project since. Library spending was an issue of contention between the political parties on the Town Council at a meeting on Monday, with Democrats wanting to consider another referendum asking for more money for a bigger library.