Diana Stricker Photo
New First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove says there’s a feeling of history when he sits in the Town Hall office and looks out at the Green.
“It’s important to know the history but it’s more important not to get stuck debating history,” he said.
Cosgrove (pictured), the first Republican at the helm in eight years, says it’s time to move forward.
“It has been a really smooth transition,” he said in regard to his first few weeks in office. “You’re going to have a period of time where people get to know who you are,” he said. “The staff has been very helpful and willing to work with each other.”
Cosgrove sat down Thursday for an interview with the Eagle to talk about his key priorities in the coming year.
BUILDING PROJECTS
“Buildings and infrastructure are things I definitely want to concentrate on,” he said.
Issues regarding building projects have been in the forefront in recent years. The town has been searching for a location for a new public works building; the school district has proposed multi-million dollar renovations to Walsh Intermediate School and the former Branford Hills School; and senior citizens have been lobbying for a new senior center.
One of Cosgrove’s major priorities is the establishment of a Standing Building Commission, which would review building proposals. It would be the responsibility of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) to consider enacting an ordinance to establish a commission. It would then be up to the Board of Selectmen to make appointments, as they do for all commissions and boards.
Cosgrove said he will submit a request soon to the RTM, asking the Rules and Ordinance Committee to discuss the issue. “I want to have some draft language ready so they don’t have to start from scratch and so they have an idea how I envision it should look,” he said. “But then they will review it and make their recommendations and changes.”
He said several people have already expressed interest in being appointed to the proposed commission.
The Eagle asked if he has any preference about which building project will be undertaken first. “No. I think it will all be determined by the scope of the work,” he said. “I think they’ve all been identified as real needs, so I think we need to continue the discussion on fulfilling those needs and begin to move forward.”
He said financial concerns and potential tax increases may dictate which projects are undertaken and in what order. “Jim Finch and the Board of Finance have already been working on it and looking at the impact to issuing new debt and how that would be paid off over 10 years,” Cosgrove said. (Click here to read the story. )
During the campaign, Cosgrove said he favored building a new intermediate school rather than renovating Walsh. He repeated those thoughts yesterday, saying the costs estimated by the architects last spring were too high. “I was absolutely opposed to spending that kind of money … with very little state reimbursement,” he said, adding that neighboring towns have built new schools at a lower cost than the estimated cost of renovations at Walsh.
“The major challenge is … meeting these building needs but meeting the needs in a way that we don’t have a tremendous increase in tax burden. Branford has done a pretty good job with finances and I want to continue keeping our reputation intact,” he said
DEVELOPMENT AND THE COSTCO QUESTION
During the campaign, Cosgrove frequently talked about using new commercial development to build the tax base and ease the tax burden on residents. One element of his campaign was bringing a Costco store to Exit 56. (Click here for our recent story about Costco.)
“I’ve stated in the campaign that I’m in favor of Costco coming,” he said Thursday. “And that means is if a business wants to move into town, rather than putting up roadblocks or looking for reasons to deny them from coming into town, let’s let our focus be how can we make this happen while still making sure it’s sited appropriately. Making sure it fits into our community and working with them, rather than against them. And the same thing for businesses that are here that want to expand — how can we make that happen?”
The Eagle asked how he would address people’s concerns that another big box store would detract from the quaintness of the town. “That’s one of the concerns of people, that we will lose the character of the town,” he said.
However, he said that the town could suffer without new tax revenue from commercial development. “Small-town charm or character is not created by what stores you have in town. That’s really created here in Branford by the town as a hub of non-profits and volunteer organizations and the way we interact with each other. … I would argue that without development, without providing some type of tax relief, we’d be in jeopardy of losing that small-town charm.”
At a recent RTM meeting, Democratic representatives asked Cosgrove to look into the costs of potential increases in safety services (police and fire) and infrastructure if a big box store comes to Exit 56. (Click here to read that story.) These costs might well cancel out any tax revenue generated by the store, argue some critics of the proposed big box store.
Also at that RTM meeting, representative Joshua Brooks asked if there are any plans to develop the town-owned 77-acre Tabor property now that it’s not going to be used for the public works building. Cosgrove said there are no plans.
Cosgrove said Thursday that infrastructure costs such as road improvements and sewer upgrades would be the responsibility of the developer. He said a traffic study would need to be done to determine the impact on area roads.
In addition to attracting new business to town, he said he is also concerned about existing businesses.
“We want to promote the town for new businesses, but we want to retain the ones we have here. There are many businesses that want to expand, but they end up leaving town because they find it’s easier for them to do it somewhere else. I want to look at what we’re doing operationally within town … how we make it business-friendly.That is a priority of mine, to look into that and try to get some feedback.”
INFRASTRUCTURE AND FLOODING
Cosgrove said he has already received calls from residents about ongoing drainage and flooding issues. Addressing those concerns is another of his priorities.
“There are a number of drainage issues throughout town and it’s important to resolve them. With the last two years with the storms we’ve dealt with, we’ve seen that drainage is a major issue that impacts everybody, whether you’re directly flooded or not.”
He said there may be a variety of solutions and the entire system needs to be studied. Many of those issues have already been examined by Town Engineer Janice Plaziak who has been working with the South Central Regional Council of Governments to develop a regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. (Click here to read about a workshop last spring.)
OPEN DOOR POLICY
Cosgrove says it’s important to work together to achieve goals, and he wants people to feel free to contact him about their concerns. In this regard, he is following the example of his predecessor, Anthony “Unk” DaRos.
“My phone’s always on, my door’s always open and I check e‑mail,” he said, adding that he’s already heard from many residents. You can reach him at.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
“I think the most important thing is to set the tone, and the direction we want to go and how we approach things,” Cosgrove said. “That starts with this office. How we interact with the public, how we interact between departments, I think the tone is from the first selectman.”
Cosgrove, 40, served as third selectman for two years and was previously a Democrat. He is a grandson of Dan Cosgrove, who was a former powerhouse in the Democratic Party for half a century.
A Branford native, he attended Branford schools and graduated from the University of New Haven with a degree in finance. He worked more than 20 years in the family business, Cosgrove Construction, where he served as project manager.
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