Compared to some of the Fairfield County intergovernmental meetings in past years, the one held at the Century House in Ridgeway on Monday evening was a virtual mutual admiration fest, focusing on the the leadership’s desire for cooperation and moving forward together.

County Administrator Jason Taylor set the tone, saying that while the County is, fiscally, in good shape, he and other town and county government officials are looking toward greater economic and community development.
Repeatedly throughout the evening, talk turned to water and sewer.

“If we don’t address our needs with water and sewer, economic and community development is going to be difficult for us to achieve,” Taylor said. “We’re losing population now, and if we don’t do something to address the basic infrastructure we need, we aren’t going to attract the jobs and houses so that our community can grow and thrive.”

Taylor said he wasn’t just talking about the County but about the towns as well.

“We really need to work together. Right now, we’re trying to set the initial legal framework so we can see how we can put our assets, our revenues together to grow our system to where it needs to be so that in the future we can grow and thrive,” Taylor said, receiving several enthusiastic. ‘Amens!’ around the room.

Each government leader assembled as well as the legislative delegation presented, Read more about those presentations in the April 27 issue of The Voice.