Mayor's Corner John D. Labriola

In September 2020, the previous Mayor and Town Council changed council members’ tenure from two to four years, which resulted in valuable overlap between new and experienced council.

With this format, new council members are exposed to experienced members’ ideas, goals and strategies, allowing them to work together to build upon those plans and see them into the future. These interactions fuel camaraderie and illustrate the tangible positive effects of working together to bring about change for the community.

Each year in the first quarter, Town Council holds a strategic planning session to map out our priorities for the year. On February 2-3, Town Council held a two-day strategic planning retreat. To view the retreat, click to watch Day One and Day Two. Below is an overview of some of the items discussed:

Communication and a New Level of Transparency

The Town is pleased to introduce a new interactive communication platform that entails regularly scheduled Community Drop-In Meetings every Friday following the monthly Town Council meetings, which are held on the first Tuesday of every month. Two Council members (on a rotating basis) will be available for 2-3 hours for community members to drop in to ask questions, voice concerns and recommendations and provide feedback on the work of Council and staff.

Additionally, Council will begin holding regular office hours (for example, every Monday from 9-11 a.m.) where community members can stroll into the Town building and meet with a Council member (on a rotating basis) to answer any questions. These dates and times will be announced in the coming weeks.The Town’s new website, featuring a robust new transparency portal, will provide a wealth of information to our residents and property owners. We will continue to improve and expand this resource ongoing, as we want you to know what is happening in the Town and how it may affect you.

In addition, we will continue to further develop the use of podcasts for the community.

For example, we recorded the latest podcast on March 8 to explain the meaningful discussions that took place at Town Council’s March 7 meeting.