Town Manager Report for the week ending August 28, 2026
Tonight, is the last performance of our 2026 Summer Concert Series put on by the Parks and Recreation Department featuring Repercussions from 600pm to 730pm. I want to thank all of our performers this summer for their participation in our program and we look forward to doing it again next year. Thanks to Kim for coordinating all of the music that was enjoyed all summer!!
With fall approaching the Coventry Parks and Recreation Department is planning a day trip to Salem, Massachusetts on September 20. It is $100 per person and includes transportation and admission to the Real Pirates of Salem. For more information log into coventryrecreation.com.
The Coventry Community Learning Center has begun filling its programming responsibilities as part of the federal grant with the Comprehensive Community Action Program (CCAP) moving into its training space in the learning center and beginning to offer services. The Office of Veteran Services has also started to move into its space and we expect more tenants to arrive in the next several weeks. Once all of our partners are in place we will be creating a monthly newsletter on all of the services that the learning center will be providing to the community.
On Tuesday night we had our only Council meeting in August and we able to discuss and vote on a couple of very important matters that involves the Centre of New England property. After many months of negotiation and deliberation the Council approved a Tax Stabilization Agreement with Starr Capital and its owner Tim Eden. The negotiations began with him valuing his project, and therefore the taxes he pays on it, at $43m; on Tuesday that value was increased to $85m which means more income. Currently the taxes paid on that particular lot he is looking to develop with 350 rental units is $19k. At the end of this agreement in 12-14 years those taxes will be $12m. As part of the discussion the developer has also agreed to reimburse the Town up to $525k for the cost of a temporary and permanent traffic light at the intersection of Hopkins Hill Rd opening up the connectivity that’s been on hold for 30 years.
On Friday the Police Pension Board, the School Related Personnel (SRP) Pension Board, and the Council 94 Municipal Employees Pension Board met with our pension advisors Focus Partner for our quarterly meeting. The update was very positive for all three boards with the return on investment exceeding our benchmark and the funds continuing to grow to insure all of our employees have a fully funded retirement.