IVAIN REVEALS PLAN FOR HIS FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE, IF ELECTED MAYOR OF TORRINGTON

Torrington, CT, October 26, 2021 – Stephen Ivain, the Democratic candidate for mayor of Torrington, released a list of the 10 steps he will take in his first 100 days in office, if he is elected on November 2. According to Ivain, economic development will be his administration’s first priority.

“Torrington doesn’t have a budget problem,” Ivain says. “We simply don’t bring in enough revenues from businesses to keep ahead of inflation. The answer is not to keep cutting valuable services and neglecting repairs. To fix our infrastructure and cut property taxes we must stop giving tax breaks to developers who don’t need them or deserve them. To do economic development right, we have to say no to projects that don’t sufficiently benefit the city. The days of offering city properties as if we were having a fire sale must end.”

Ivain says that, if elected, he will take these ten steps in his first 100 days as mayor:

1. Meet with the heads of Economic Development in Connecticut cities that have a been consistently good at attracting businesses to learn how we can do better.

2. Meet with Torrington’s leading employers (large and small) to learn what we can do to help them grow.

3. Convene all City Hall employees to discuss why Economic Development must be our highest priority and how they can help us to succeed.

4. Review why the current administration has failed to attract businesses who could pay their fair share taxes and provide high-quality jobs.

5. Draft outlines for five- and ten-year Economic Development plans.

6. Change the city policy to ensure that the public and City Council members have at least five business days to review and discuss the benefits of pending development projects.

7. Fully staff the Economic Development Commission with 9 local leaders and work with them to agree on how to measure their success.

8. Meet with officials at the state Department of Economic Development and the city’s state representatives to discuss how we can work more closely together and qualify for grants and marketing funds.

9. Partner with the Board of Education to ensure that city hall’s priorities align with theirs and that we are both aligned with the needs of employers.

10. Schedule annual public forums to review Economic Development progress reports for all four years of his term.

“Our city has never fully recovered from the loss of Torrington manufacturing companies that employed nearly 5,000 workers,” Ivain says. “But there is no reason we have to continue to have one of the highest mill rates in the state. To grow, we must increase revenues from new development projects from approximately $12 million today to at least $20 million a year.”

“If we succeed in attracting good businesses to Torrington,” he said, “we will use the money we generate to fix our aging public buildings, roads and sidewalks; stop losing police and fire professionals to other cities; expand our partnerships with arts and non-profit organizations, and finally begin cutting residential property taxes.”

Ivain earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematical Science from Connecticut College. He has worked for more than 25 years as a senior business manager at The Hartford, Prudential and other Fortune 500 companies. He is a third-generation resident of Torrington and lives in town with his wife, who is a teacher at Forbes Elementary School. They have three grown children