Rep. Cam Staples, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee and a member of the State Bond Commission, voted against $20 million in Small Town Economic Assistance grants today because he wanted a list of individual projects. Gov. Rell put the total on the agenda even though the finalists of 150 applications had not been selected.
“I would like to aks why we’ret acting on this authorization without a listing of projects and whether there is any reason why we can’t wait until the next Bond Commission meeting,” Staples told Rell. “My understanding is the list is not ready yet, which suggests to me that we shouldn’t be acting on it yet.”
Mike Cicchetti, deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, Rell’s budget office and a member of the commission, said this year the application process began later than usual and the number of applicants, 117 towns, was unusually large. “As we vet those projects we not only vet them through OPM, but we also check to make sure that the plans are consistent with our state plan of conservation & development and then if necessary we check with other agencies to make sure they are consistent with their programatic needs. So this process does take some time. We did want to make some awards before the close of the construction season this year, which is why we put the item on this month’s Bond Commission agenda, not knowing when the next Bond Commission may hold its meeting. It may not be for some time… Some of these projects are very much shovel-ready and as soon as the awards are made by OPM the information will be provided to all members of the Bond Commission and the General Assembly.”
Staples: “I don’t agreed with us approving it without any knowledge of what it covers… I will be opposing it today because I think it is a bad practice. For this commission not to know which projects we’re funding is not really appropriate for us.”
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