Interview with mayor covers one week in time of Covid

By David Fortier

Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu and I talked on Saturday, May 2, via phone. At my prompting, she described her day-to-day routine as it unfolded from Monday, April 27 to Friday, May 1. Here is a quick summary followed by audio segments of her comments for each day.

Note: While I was breathless over the amount of activity, the mayor laughed and told me this was a slow week with a lighter than usual meeting schedule.

The discussion covered the following topics:

housing and services for the homeless,
tax deliberations behind the latest budget,
essential workers and precautions at Public Works,
an additional $393,000 Community Development Block Grant to adjust coronavirus related costs,
coordinating services between city departments, specifically, how police and fire department personnel worked together during a recent homicide,
working with Hartford to help Bristol Hospital acquire more testing supplies, and
developments with the Sessions Building on Riverside Ave.

Of course, three weeks have passed since the conversation, so some of the information is dated.

At the same time, the conversation is insightful in that it provides details about how the mayor rallies resources to anticipate crises and potential crises during this time of Covid.

For instance, on Monday, Zoppo-Sassu discusses with the pastor of Immanuel Lutheran the possibility of housing people at the parish house and gymnasium if and when cases of Covid-19 required them to be isolated or quarantined.

Later, another thread of deliberations arose, when Zoppo-Sassu alludes to an agreement with the Little League Eastern Regional offices to handle similar cases, if and when they arose.

A final thread deals with costs for these services and comes up when on Thursday she meets with the interim directors of St. Vincent De Paul Mission Shelter Tom Morrow and Don Palaia to discuss an additional $393,000 CDB grant, part of the Cares Act, some of which might be used for emergency housing.

Another city-wide initiative that is several years in development and starting to show results she discusses in an aside. Her administration and city council have emphasized hiring, developing and promoting Bristol talent within city departments.

She says she considers the hiring of the new street superintendent Craig Kasparian, who has worked his way through the ranks, as a great local success story.

Finally, there is a brief discussion about developments with the Sessions Building on Riverside Ave. The defunct factory that manufactured trunks and hardware for trunks has qualified for brown field cleanup and development into market rate apartments.

Monday, April 27

Topics: Conversation with Immanuel Lutheran about housing homeless and other who might need to be isolated or quarantined. A single topic here before turning to what her days looked like, resulting in the descriptions and details below.

Tuesday, April 28

Wednesday, April 29

Topics: paperwork, meeting with comptroller, mask distribution at the chamber of commerce, meeting with Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments–land bank partner for the Sessions Building project, bi-weekly meeting with public works director–essential workers and precautions, weekly call from governor to mayors and chief elected officials.

Thursday, April 30

Topics: Conference call with Bristol Resource Recovery Facility and economic development calls, call with the interim directors of St. Vincent De Paul Mission Shelter, economic development meeting to deal with the governor’s decision to reopen some businesses on May 20.

Friday, May 1

Topics: Viewing suggestions for Memorial Boulevard project, human resource conversation about expectations for new street superintendent, public health issues surrounding convalescent home safety, Bristol Hospital testing supplies and the important of strong working relationships with Hartford, a death on Talmadge St. and coordination of police, fire, EMS and hospital personnel.