From the Desk of the First Selectman

Don Lowe First Selectman Column 06/23/2025

The Board of Selectmen will hold its regularly scheduled monthly meeting this Thursday, June 26 at 7pm. The agenda is online as well as the Zoom link. As before, you will be provided the capability to observe the meeting remotely, but there is no remote inter-active feature. One of the new agenda items concerns the income threshold for elderly and disabled citizens’ tax relief, which we are looking to raise in order to include tax relief for a wider range of qualifying taxpayers.

Sherman Summer Camp got off to a blistering start on Monday in the current heat wave. But all the kids looked like they were having fun when I visited them. Everything was orderly and organized, and the lake looked mighty inviting.

For those who have been following and dreading the passing of HB5002, a land use bill that would have created many problems here in Sherman and for other towns, you will be happy to know that Governor Lamont vetoed the legislation. This bill, among other problems, would have greatly hindered our local legal ability to govern land use. For now, we don’t have to worry about it. I and several other municipal leaders wrote letters to Governor Lamont asking him to veto the bill, which was grossly unpopular with nearly anyone (First Selectpersons and Mayors) interested in running a Town efficiently.

The Sherman Art Show this last weekend was a tremendous success. The fine arts talent in our area is simply amazing and having the opportunity to see so much of it all at one time was a wonderful experience. Many of these artists are our friends and neighbors, and I love getting to know them further through their unique artistic visions. Kudos to the Sherman Arts Association for putting this great show together! I look forward to the next one.

The end of our fiscal year is on June 30 and it looks like our budget will, once again, end up in the black – meaning we didn’t overspend our budget. I will offer you some numbers on this in a later column. We don’t have anything exact until the fiscal year is over.

The Fireman’s Ball tickets are available and we all look forward to this fun event to be held on the evening of Aug 2. Expect live music, dancing, and the best roast beef in the state! I also want to repeat something I wrote last week concerning the Sherman Volunteer Fire Department: please make sure your house numbers are clearly visible in order for responders find your house in case of an emergency. Too many house numbers are tucked away out of sight or are simply not there.