KENT, Conn.—The Selectmen declined during a special meeting last Thursday to change a line in the communications strategy draft document before an ongoing survey is completed on Sept. 30.
Eighty-three persons had responded to the survey by Aug. 11. Feedback from it will help the local Sustainable CT Team strengthen communications and deepen engagement with the community and help earn the community a bronze certification from Sustainable CT.
Selectman Lynn Mellis Worthington, who leads the local Sustainable CT team and who was unable to attend the selectmen’s meeting, had conveyed the request for the line change via email to First Selectman Eric Epstein. She said that Sustainable CT leadership had asked for the addition, which would make the strategy a “continuously updated document” and that the “feedback from the survey will be used to continue to shape the communications strategy now and in the future.”
Epstein said he was reluctant to change the language of a document the selectmen had previously approved during the period when survey feedback is being solicited. “We put that document out there for [a period] of two months,” he said, “and I am not sure why we are changing it.”
“I would like to see the responses before we consider a change,” agreed Selectman Lynn Harrington, further musing, “’to continue to shape the communications strategy now and into the future.’ I am not comfortable approving something like that. Does that mean we’re obligated?”
She also questioned some of the fine points in the document as already approved.
The selectmen decided not to take action and to call for a meeting of the Sustainable CT Team with the selectmen to clarify the issue.
Setting up the communications strategy could advance the town’s ranking with Sustainable CT to a bronze certification, according to Worthingon. To earn bronze certification, a town must complete at least 200 action points, fulfill equity toolkits and complete actions across categories such as local economies, clean energy and efficient infrastructure.
Sustainable CT is a voluntary certification program recognizing thriving and resilient Connecticut municipalities.
The survey can be accessed here. For those unable to access this survey using a computer or phone, there are printed copies of the survey available at Kent Town Hall, Kent Senior Center and the Kent Memorial Library.
