Kathleen Blonski
Town Manager, Town of Farmington, Farmington Ad Hoc 1928 Building Committee
Roles
- Non-voting — Town Manager, Farmington Town Council
- Town Manager, Farmington Ad Hoc Sidewalk Committee
Coverage (20 articles)
'When the Town's Paying for It': Farmington's Compost Pilot Waits on Town Hall
Residents told a Green Efforts Committee member they would compost "when the town's paying for it." The committee priced a one-year food-scrap pilot at $12,484 and has roughly $30,000 of its own, but held off: the pickups would outlast the pilot, and the town has not said it will pay for them.
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.
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.
The Signs in Farmington's New Town Hall Are Still Made of Paper
Paper signs are still taped to the walls of Farmington's new town hall. The town manager said in May that signage would be first in line for the capital money that opened July 1. In late August the package still had no price, and the committee chair put the finish somewhere in the new year.
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 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 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.
Farmington's 1928 Building Committee Spends $17,700 to Cool a Server Room That Runs at 84 Degrees
Two weeks after the May 14 ribbon cutting, the Ad Hoc 1928 Building Committee approved $17,700 for a standalone air-conditioning unit serving the new Town Hall's server room — and pushed exterior signage to the top of the FY2026-27 capital budget. Construction is essentially complete; the meeting was facilities management.
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.
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.
A Cemetery Proposal for Don Tinty Park Resurfaces in Farmington
A 2004 deed gave Donald Tinty Family Park to Farmington as a public park. On May 12, the Town Council took up — and a dozen residents came to oppose — whether part of it should become the town's next cemetery. The council's direction: a legal opinion on the deed before any work on the ground.
Farmington Advances a $30–35 Million Fire-Station Overhaul
The Farmington Town Council voted unanimously on May 12 to advance a $30-to-$35-million plan to replace two of the town's three volunteer fire stations and renovate the third, seating a new building committee to carry it toward a referendum. The only sustained dissent came from the public comment podium, where resident Tim Kelly argued the town never seriously studied consolidating to two stations.