A Big Bowl of Cherries

With the amount going on in most households this time of the year, perhaps it's not so coincidental that Congress readies itself for a holiday break (like any of us would notice they stopped meeting and not getting anything done?) while statehouses across the country empty out so folks can back 'to the district' and the lights in the local City Hall seem to burn a notch or two lower as the wheels of government squeak a little more quietly.

Here in Connecticut's Christmas City (we claimed the title about a hundred years ago and so far nobody else in the Nutmeg State has noticed), you can keep your lamps trimmed and burning as we pare meetings down to some essentials this week, which leaves us plenty of time for sleigh rides and snow angels or jaunts to the local casino to plump up those Christmas Club savings acounts.

This morning, at/about 9:30 (it's complicated, if you want to attend and don't want to be late be there at this time; otherwise show up at 10 and hope they didn't start without you), it's a regular meeting of the Southeast Connecticut Council of Government (SCCOG) Regional Water Committee who meet once a month except when they don't, like last month. And I'd compliment them on their compliance with the public law on the timely posting of meeting minutes, but they're doing a terrible job, so here's to striving for improvement. Good luck with that.

Tuesday evening at 7:30 in City Council Chambers, the new City Council is sworn into office in Council chambers and some basic housekeeping, in terms of appointments and committee assignments are finalized, and then there's a reception in Room 335, so bring your appetite.

Wednesday afternoon at five, in Room 319 of City Hall it's a regular meeting of the Emancipation Proclamation Commemorative Committee, whose membership, purpose, meetings agenda or minutes of any of their previous meetings, remains completely absent from the city's website.

Speaking of which, good news! If you'd put off taking the website survey on the city's website (think: barber shop infinity of mirrors trick), no worries. It's over. You can view the feedback from the less than one hundred people total who took the survey right here. And later you can tell me with a straight face again about why 'nothing ever gets better around here.'

At 5:30 in the Kelly Middle School Library (and you missed a great concert Friday night in the auditorium, by the way), it's a regular (and possibly the very last) meeting of the (Kelly Middle) School Building Committee (dedication is a week from this Wednesday, the 14th, in the same auditorium you didn't go to for the music concert).

Reading their November meeting minutes is a bit like revisiting a Bronte sisters' novel. There's a mention of forwarding "information to the Norwich Police Department in order to seek retribution" that is so American Gothic, we should considering renaming the school for Hester Prynne.

Thursday morning at 7:30 in their offices at 77 Main Street, it's a regular meeting of the Norwich Community Development Corporation, who've had themselves a busy year and will hopefully have an even more productive one in 2012, as they reinvent their own board of directors and expand their focus. Not sure why the municipal website tells when/where the meeting is but doesn't serve as a repository (careful with that prefix, Eugene) for the minutes of previous meetings. You can always get them by dropping a note here, but we can do better and should.

At two, in the Planning Department conference room (in the basement at 23 Union Street), it's a special meeting of the Community Development Advisory Committee, hearing presentations into what projects to reinvest recovered CDBG funds. You can't review the minutes of previous meetings to gain some insight into the decisions to this point because there are no meeting minutes posted. I know what you're thinking and you're welcome.

At four, in the Central Office of the Norwich Public Schools, it's a regular meeting of the Budget Expenditure Committee says the city's website. Here's what it says on the Board's website. I doubt the year is a typo. Seriously. In light of how heavy this committee's workload is about to get as we head through winter to budget formulation season, wouldn't it be nice to not look so goobered up in cyberspace?

And at seven, in Room 335 of City Hall, it's a regular meeting of the Democratic Town Committee. There's a rumor about a rental of a three hundred foot slip and slide and a tanker truck of Jell-O shots. It's taken me all week to get that circulated and I can only hope someone on the committee thinks it's a good idea before Thursday (you might want to wear old clothes and stay thirsty, my friends).

Saturday at noon, consider heading to the Sacred Heart Cemetery if you're in Norwich for Wreaths Across America. It's a national observance, with thousands of sites and lots of people participating. You can find out about it here.

This is the time of the year we linger a moment longer when thinking of absent friends and family members, hold the door more often for one another and generally behave with a bit more of the spirit of the season than we do at, say, Labor Day. Maybe we can start to work harder to be nicer to one another longer. Otherwise, what's a heaven for? I'd hope to see you at something but can well understand if you don't share my enthusiasm.

-bill kenny