Farmington Town Council
People
- Bill Beckert, Town Council Member, District 2
- Kathleen Blonski, Non-voting — Town Manager
- Patti Boye-Williams, Town Council Member, District 2
- Nadine Canto, Town Council Member, District 1
- Brian F.X. Connolly, Town Council Chair
- Bruce Polsky, Town Council Member, District 1
- Keith Vibert, Town Council Member, District 2
- Dave Wlodkowski, Town Council Member, District 1
Coverage (20 articles)
Farmington's Town Survey Is Still a Draft. Here Is What It Asks.
Farmington's draft town survey asks residents how high a priority it should be to increase tax dollars in 19 areas. A town committee reviews that half of the survey Wednesday, and the launch date is no longer on its agenda.
Connecticut Made This Tax Break Optional. Farmington Decides for Four Veterans on October 13.
Four disabled veterans in Farmington would stop paying property tax on their homes under an ordinance change the Town Council sent to a public hearing without discussion. The town would give up roughly $9,900 a year and the state would not repay a dollar. Connecticut requires the exemption for veterans rated 100 percent disabled and merely permits it for veterans it pays at the same level, leaving each town to decide.
Police Are Stopping Kids on E-Bikes in Unionville. The Rules Are a Year Old and Stricter Than Parents Think.
Farmington police are stopping juveniles on e-bikes in Unionville, and the town told the council new state rules arrive October 1. The rules behind the stops arrived a year ago, and they are stricter than the ones for an ordinary bicycle. The one decision the state left to towns, whether to restrict e-bikes on local trails, Farmington has not made.
The State Plans to Close Route 10 for Two Weeks Next Summer. Farmington Is Still Waiting on a Date.
The state expects to close Route 10 through Farmington for about two weeks next summer to replace a culvert built in 1924. The town cannot yet say which weeks, whether people on foot can get through, or where drivers should go instead. Farmington gets a free sidewalk out of it, and two property owners inherit the shoveling.
The Town Gave Them a Day Each. They Had Already Built Something.
Today is Oliver Mangham Day in Farmington. Tomorrow is Liam Morrell Day. The Town Council named both on Tuesday night, for the newest Eagle Scouts out of Troop 170: one rebuilt the bullpens and fields at his high school, the other turned a 60-foot bog bridge on the Mountain Spring Nature Trail into a 125-foot one.
Farmington Counted Its Sidewalks. The $18 Million Repair Bill Isn't the Town's.
The Ad Hoc Sidewalk Committee told the Town Council there are 48 miles of sidewalk in Farmington, 11 percent of it rated D or F, and about $18 million to repair all of it. Under the town's ordinance almost none of that is the town's money. Then, holding every fact it had been asked to gather, the committee declined to recommend anything.
Farmington Asks What You'll Pay For in October. What You'll Owe Arrives in July.
Farmington's resident survey opens in early October and asks what people are willing to pay for. The first tax bills built on the town's new property assessments arrive nine months later. A resident asked the council in July to wait. Nobody answered him.
Farmington's New Website Costs Less Than Budgeted. Keeping It Costs Four Times as Much.
The Farmington Town Council unanimously hired CivicPlus to rebuild the town's website for $61,690.98, about $13,300 under budget. Beginning in year two, keeping it running costs $48,902.68 a year, roughly four times what the town pays now, with a 5 percent annual escalator and automatic renewals. And if Farmington ever leaves, it keeps its data but loses the back end that runs the site.
Farmington's Bicycle Committee Plans a September Bike Rodeo and Keeps Working the Trail List
Farmington's bicycle and trails committee met July 15 with six members absent and a short agenda, but a full to-do list: new trail signs, a bollard question, Safe Routes to School talks, and a September 19 kids' bike rodeo, plus a say in how the town's new Meadow Road sidewalk gets built.
Farmington Seats a Building Committee for a $30 Million Fire Station Overhaul
Farmington's newly seated Fire Station Building Committee held its first meeting Friday, taking control of a Town Council-scoped plan to build two new fire stations and renovate the historic Village firehouse for a total of $30 million to $35 million. The catch: none of it happens without a town referendum the committee is aiming to put on a 2027 ballot.
Farmington Approves the Meadow Road Sidewalk After Two Years of Debate
The Farmington Town Council voted unanimously to build a sidewalk along Meadow Road, approving the revised Option 2 alignment after two years of hearings, a deferral, and a redesign. The fight was never whether to build it, but which side of the road it belongs on.
Farmington Zoning Commission Unanimously Rejects the 237-Home Riverfront Enclave
Farmington's Town Plan and Zoning Commission unanimously rejected all four applications behind the Enclave at the Farmington River, the 237-home development proposed along the river between Farmington and Unionville. The vote, after a five-hour hearing and a unanimous negative recommendation from the Town Council, ended a nearly four-year effort and killed the largest residential proposal the town has weighed in years.
Farmington Council Extends Town Manager's Contract to 2030, Adds $15,000 Bonus
Farmington's Town Council reviewed Town Manager Kathleen Blonski behind closed doors on June 23, then returned to open session and unanimously extended her contract through June 30, 2030, raised her salary 3 percent, and awarded her a $15,000 bonus. The deliberation was private; the decision, as state law requires, was public.
Three Farmington Boards Have a Say in the Truck Stop. Only Two Actually Decide It.
Three Farmington bodies weigh in on the fate of the Noble Energy truck stop, but the elected Town Council, the one residents keep asking to stop it, doesn't actually decide. A guide to who votes on what, and the June 17, July 13, and July 27 hearings that do.
Farmington Town Council Comes Out Against the Truck Stop
Farmington's Town Council issued two unanimous negative referrals June 9, opposing the Noble Energy truck stop at 8261 Fienemann Road and a separate National Land Holdings residential project, even though the binding decisions still belong to the planning and wetlands boards.
Tim Kelly's Next Fire-Station Question: How Old Is the Volunteer Force?
At the May 26 Farmington Town Council meeting, Westview resident Tim Kelly asked the council for an inventory of the town's current volunteer-firefighter ranks by decade — twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties — before the new Fire Station Building Committee carries the $30-to-$35 million overhaul further. Kelly tied the demographic question to his unstudied May 12 consolidation alternative. The council didn't respond on the floor.
Tinty Park Stays a Park: Legal Opinion Closes Farmington's Cemetery Question
A legal opinion delivered to the Farmington Town Council on May 26 concludes that using the Don Tinty parcel for cemetery purposes would violate the 2004 deed covenant, and that the town has no legal obligation to provide burial grounds. Chair Brian F. X. Connolly delivered the news in a statement that came after Patti Boye-Williams moved to amend the agenda to add it. Two of the Nadia's Way neighbors who packed the May 12 meeting returned to thank the council. The opinion will appear in the June 9 manager's report.
Motorcyclist Killed in Meadow Road Crash; Silverado Driver Charged With DUI
A motorcyclist died Monday afternoon after a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck struck a motorcycle and a school bus from behind on Meadow Road in Farmington. Police arrested the Silverado's driver, Gary Berube, 63, on a charge of driving under the influence and are holding him on $500,000 bond.
Farmington Council Sets May 26 Discussion, June 9 Vote on Meadow Road Sidewalk
Town Manager Kathleen Blonski told the Farmington Town Council on May 12 that the Meadow Road sidewalk project will return as an agenda item at the council's May 26 meeting, with a potential vote at the June 9 meeting. The council is committed to building the project this year regardless of which of two design options it picks — the original south-side-throughout design or the split design that crosses to the north side west of Wakefield Lane.
Farmington Sets Mill Rate at 27.36
The Town Council voted unanimously to set the property tax rate at 27.36 mills for fiscal year 2026–27 and to divide an unexpected $1.7 million state aid grant — half for current taxpayers, half in reserve for a revaluation year the council is watching with caution.