On Wednesday Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont will, for the first time, run the state Bond Commission meeting via teleconference to ensure social distancing required by the COVID-19 emergency.
Lamont says the Bond Commission meeting is needed now to get $1 billion in infrastructure improvement money out to Connecticut cities and towns – and also to take advantage of any new federal COVID-19 supplemental infrastructure funding that might come from Washington.
“Get some money into our municipalities and also put into place some really key design features so that we can be at the front of the line if this infrastructure bill comes through as part of the next supplemental.”
Budget director Melissa McCaw helps the governor set the agenda for the Bond Commission. McCaw says the imperative is to get the municipal aid money for school construction and other infrastructure improvements out to cities and towns as quickly as possible.
“The funds for all muni aid that is capital funded, all those large funding sources are on the bond agenda. And usually it takes about three or four days thereafter for the funds to actually show up in the municipality’s bank account.”
Despite the virtual setup, she says Wednesday’s meeting will be open to the public.
“It will be recorded through CT-N and then as a teleconference audio.”
CT-N is the Connecticut network that provides TV and live online video stream coverage of state government to the public.
