Saturday, January 27, 2007

Former Jewett City Fire Chief joins slate as candidate for Bailiff

Jewett City Party Founder To Run For Warden In May
by Megan Bard - published in The Day - January 26, 2007

The newly founded Jewett City Party has endorsed candidates for the May 7 Borough of Jewett City elections.

Party founder Ron Ward accepted the party's nomination for warden. Borough residents Angela Adams, Gayle Renaud and Katrease Gerace will seek three of the four burgess positions, and former Jewett City Fire Chief James Couillard is the party's candidate for bailiff.

Ward said Wednesday that as warden he would oppose dissolving the borough into the town of Griswold. His platform includes, among other things, establishing a Consumer Board of Utility Control and creating a plan to reduce electric and sewer rates for borough residents, improving borough roads and sidewalks, and improving bus service.

Ward said borough residents who wish to seek the party's nomination for clerk, treasurer or tax collector should contact him at 376-3530 or at founder@jewettcityparty.com

Friday, January 26, 2007

Does your road or sidewalk need repairs?

Going out the door to take a stroll on the sidewalk or a drive down the road should give residents an opportunity to see their tax dollars hard at work making the trip a pleasant one.

The candidates for Warden and Burgess running on the Jewett City Party (JCP) ticket have a plan to repair and improve our roads and sidewalks here in Jewett City. "Any expenditure of tax dollars starts with the residents and taxpayers that are paying for the improvements," said Ron Ward, JCP candidate for Borough Warden.

Ward, announced that Katrease Gerace, JCP candidate for Burgess, will be taking the lead to get input from Jewett City residents on the roads and sidewalks that need repairs. Gerace stated, "I look forward to meeting with residents to learn about the road and sidewalk repairs that are needed in their neighborhood."

The JCP candidates for Warden and Burgess will be making a list of needed repairs to present at the annual April meeting when the elected officials of the Borough of Jewett City and the Town of Griswold meet as required by the Charter of the Borough of Jewett City. The Charter states,
Section 22: The town shall annually in the month of April pay to the Borough of Jewett City such sum of money for the maintenance of streets in said Borough as may be necessary properly to maintain said streets, such sum to be agreed upon by the Warden and Burgesses of said Borough and the Selectman of said Town, and they failing to agree the amount to be fixed by a Judge of the Superior Court on application of the Warden and Burgesses or the Selectman." (page 21 of the Charter of the Borough of Jewett which is on file in the Slater Public Library, Jewett City).
Residents, taxpayers and community members with suggestions for road and sidewalk improvements are encouraged to contact Ron Ward or Katrease Gerace.
Katrease Gerace, JCP candidate for Burgess
860-376-9423 phone
email: katrease_gerace@jewettcityparty.com

Ron Ward, JCP candidate for Warden
860-376-3530 phone
email: founder@jewettcityparty.com

Jewett City Party: Road and Sidewalk Improvements email: roads_sidewalks@jewettcityparty.com

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Jewett City Party Announces Candidates for Upcoming May 7, 2007 Jewett City election

At a public meeting held yesterday evening, Wednesday, January 24, 2007, at the Griswold Town Hall in Jewett City, Ron Ward, Jewett City Party (JCP) Founder, announced that the Jewett City Party slate for the May 7, 2007 municipal elections will include the following candidates:
  • Warden: Ron Ward
  • Burgess: Angela Adams
  • Burgess: Katrease Gerace
  • Burgess: Gayle Renaud
  • Bailiff: James Couillard
The Jewett City Party has openings available on its slate of Borough Candidates for the following offices:
  • Clerk of the Borough
  • Treasurer of the Borough
  • Tax Collector of the Borough
  • Burgess of the Borough (one seat)
Any resident of Jewett City interested in being a candidate for Burgess, Clerk, Treasurer, or Tax Collector who is at least 18 years of age, eligible to vote, committed to improving our community and desires to be part of the JCP team, should contact:

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

New option for electricity provider in Town of Griswold??

Consumers living in Griswold that receive electricity from CL&P may find themselves with a new option for meeting their electric needs. An effort is underway to give Griswold consumers the option of buying electricity from the Jewett City Department of Public Utilities (JCDPU).

Ron Ward, candidate for Borough Warden running on the Jewett City Party (JCP) ticket, has announced a plan to extend current JCDPU services beyond the limits of the borough. Ward stated, "By including more customers, individual rate payers will realize the savings achieved through economies of scale. The objective is to ease the financial burden of families confronted with an ever rising tide of higher electric bills."

An act of the Connecticut Legislature approved on April 21, 1909 indicated that the "new option" might be available. The text of the legislative initiative is printed on page 37 of the Charter of the Borough of Jewett City which is on file in the Slater Public Library. It reads as follows:
  • Authorizing The Borough of Jewett City to Furnish Electric Light Outside the Limits of Said Borough. RESOLVED by this Assembly; That the Borough of Jewett City be and hereby is authorized and empowered to furnish electric light from its municipal electric light plant to the inhabitants of that portion of the Town of Griswold located outside the limits of said Borough. (Approved, April 21, 1909) (Substitute for House Bill No. 351).
Ron Ward will be contacting legislative leaders to seek guidance as to how this "law from the past" can serve as a means to provide less expensive electric service to the consumer of today.

"Currently, JCDPU electric rates are 16% higher than rates charged by CL&P," explained Ward. He continued by stating, "However, I am committed to creating the JCDPU Consumer Board of Utility Control and taking immediate action as Warden of the Borough to make our electric light plant the obvious choice for competitive electric rates."

Residents, taxpayers and community members are encouraged to attend a public meeting being held by the Jewett City Party at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at the Griswold Town Hall which is located at 28 Main St., Jewett City, CT.


Monday, January 22, 2007

It's cookie time!!!

The Brownies and Girl Scouts are knocking on our doors, emailing and phoning for cookie pledges - $4 per box. Please help instill a community value that hard work is rewarded.

Be a Cookie Monster and not an Oscar the Grouch!!!


Sunday, January 21, 2007

Jewett City Party gaining momentum for May elections

Our view: More Choice on Ballot

Norwich Bulletin - Editorial published January 21, 2007

Some folks in Jewett City are unhappy with the "good ole boy" political network they perceive among Democrats. Ron Ward has founded the Jewett City Party to counter that, and he intends to fill a slate of candidates for the May 7 election.

Since Jewett City is small -- a community within a community -- Ward has a shot, although, historically, such efforts do not fare well at the state or national level.


Democrats long have been the party in power and Republicans had little influence. The recent exception is Republican Anne Hatfield, who was elected Griswold first selectman in 2005, surprising townspeople as she defeated five-term incumbent First Selectman Paul Brycki.

Jewett City is a borough, a section of Griswold. It is run by the Board of Warden and Burgesses, similar to a town board of selectmen. Cynthia Kata is the warden. She began working for the borough in 1983 as treasurer; she was elected warden in 1999.

Borough residents own the sewage treatment plant and the electric company (which buys electricity at wholesale rates from Connecticut Light & Power and resells it to borough residents). Jewett City Department of Public Utilities is run by appointees of the warden and burgesses.

Unhappiness among borough residents has emerged on three fronts: the police, the sewage treatment plant and electric rates.

Ward intends to challenge Kata as a member of the Jewett City Party because he lacks confidence in the Republican Party. He is convinced the borough has been dominated by Democratic leadership for so long the leadership is unresponsive to the borough's best interests.

Ward's platform includes these planks:

  • Plan to reduce electric and sewer rates.
  • Create "Consumer Board of Utility Control."
  • Initiate specific road and sidewalk improvements in the borough
  • Improve SEAT bus service, which has undergone three reductions in service in the past year.
  • Bring light manufacturing -- as opposed to service jobs -- to the former Triangle Wire property.
  • Review and implement recommendations from the 1994 National Main Street study of the borough.
  • Create new opportunities for residents as appointees to boards and commissions.

Half of the borough's budget -- $254,000 -- pays for police protection. That pays for two resident state troopers who work the first and second shifts, but there is no third-shift coverage.

The sewage treatment plant was built with an eye to future needs -- nearly 20 years down the road. As a result, it is operating now at only 50 percent capacity. While capacity may be 100 percent in 20 years, the current shortage led the Jewett City Department of Public Utilities' Sewer Authority to increase rates 44 percent on the last day of fiscal 2006, an action that infuriated some residents.

The Jewett City Department of Public Utilities Electric Division retail rate per kilowatt hour is 13.13 cents -- 16 percent higher than CL&P charges retail customers. Norwich Public Utilities charges 12 percent less than CL&P.

At a minimum, Ward's candidacy is stirring interest. Party candidates must submit to the Secretary of the State's office petitions bearing the signatures of at least 1 percent of the number of voters who voted for the same office in the 2005 borough election. The top voter getter in the 2005 elections was Kata with 75 votes.

Candidates will need just two signatures, that of one voter and their own, so Ward probably can fill a slate of candidates for the May 7 elections.

The record shows keeping a third party together can prove nettlesome.

Six years ago, Richard Mackin formed the Griswold Independence Party. He thought Griswold government was controlled by a clique of Democrats. The Griswold Indep-endence Party lasted about one year.

Nationally, in 1968, George C. Wallace ran for president as a member of the American Independent Party; in 1992 Ross Perot ran for president with the Reform Party.

In Connecticut, Lowell Weicker was elected governor in 1991 as a member of A Connecticut Party. None of these parties survived longer than the involvement of their founders.

That said, nearby Canterbury First has proved successful in Canterbury, but that party evolved for about three years; it was not founded overnight. According to party Chairman Bob Noiseux, unhappiness with the Republicans running the town led to Canterbury First.

The Democratic Party had been ineffective since the 1970s and provided little in the way of an alternative, according to Noiseux.

The 2005 election in Griswold revealed a chink in the armor of Democrats when Republican Hatfield defeated Brycki. There are no guarantees, of course, but in his platform, Ward has identified issues that resonate with voters.

The Jewett City Party is gathering steam, and there is no reason that should not continue through Election Day, less than four months away.

Where the relatively unknown Hatfield pulled an upset in Griswold, Ward just may do the same in Jewett City.