Torrington City Council
3/6/26 Special Council meeting opened at 10:05 a.m.
Present via Zoom were Mayor Molly Spino, and City Councilors David Oliver, Anne Ruwet, Rachel Hannon-Harrel, Chris Beyus, and Armand Maniccia. Councilor Paul Cavagnero was absent.
The Torrington City Council unanimously approved at a special meeting on March 6 for two projects to be considered for federal funding as part of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Community Project Funding Requests program.
City officials devised the plan for the projects with expedience, as they were informed by U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Wolcott, on Feb. 27 they could submit a list of projects for consideration as a funding request reviewed by the House’s Committee on Appropriations.
Hayes' announcement to city officials, according to Torrington Economic Development Director William Wallach, came two days after the Committee on Appropriations released guidelines for submissions for the incoming fiscal year.
“So it set off what I would call an ‘excited, mad scramble’ to put together whatever best projects are to meet the guidance for federal funding,” Wallach said at the meeting.
The city selected two projects and plans to ask for about $54 million total. One of them is the stabilization of the Naugatuck River wall, which Wallach said would cost around $5 million. The other is a new stormwater management system that could cost up to $49 million and is known as the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System — or MS4. The MS4 project is mandated by the state of Connecticut and will be completed over a five year phase, Wallach said.
“I just want to thank [Wallach] and whoever and whatever team put this together, get it out there, and hopefully we get some back,” Councilor Chris Beyus said. “So thanks.”
The projects were selected with the input of city department heads and Mayor Molly Spino. Wallach said that recent work from the Department of Public Works’ on the city’s capital improvement project helped the city narrow down the list of potential asks to Congress.
Still, Wallach said, the selection process will be highly competitive as Torrington’s submissions will have to vie for funding with projects from across Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District — represented by Hayes.
“That was part of what we used to evaluate competitive and most important projects,” Wallach said.
At the meeting, councilors also approved upgrades to the exterior parking lot camera system at the Torrington Police Department building at 576 Main St. The upgrades, which will include five new cameras, remote antennas, and converters, will cost around $45,027.69. Mammoth Security of New Britain will provide the service and hardware.
The five new cameras will be located on the existing Eversource pole in the north parking lot, the nearby existing traffic signal mast pole, the existing light pole in the south parking lot, and the building’s main lobby, according to a memo sent to Mayor Spino, members of the city council, and members of board of public safety by Torrington Police Chief William R. Baldwin, Jr.
“The proposed additional exterior cameras and lobby camera, along with the connectivity upgrades, would enable the police department to have full, uninterrupted security coverage of the entire police department's property,” Baldwin wrote in the memo.
The new system would also include sound recording. Part of the upgrades would also include replacing the existing wiring infrastructure currently in place. Currently, the department experiences frequent camera connectivity issues due to outdated wiring being buried under the paved parking area. Mammoth’s remote system, Baldwin wrote, would eliminate the need to replace the underground wiring.
This resolution was also accepted unanimously by the city council. Prior to that, the same resolution had unanimously cleared the city’s board of public safety on March 4. Councilors and board members did not publicly discuss the item on either occasion.
