Dear ,

With a new year underway and important organizational milestones ahead, there is significant momentum building within the West Hartford Republican Town Committee.  Please note an important scheduling change: due to the President’s Day holiday, our regular February meeting has been moved from Monday, February 16 to Tuesday, February 17.  As usual, we will meet at 7:00pm ET in West Hartford Town Hall, Room #400 (fourth floor).  After tomorrow evening, RTC meetings will return to their regularly scheduled time — the third Monday of every month. If you have any questions, please contact SHAWN DALY or visit the West Hartford RTC website at www.whgop.com. Attached below is a copy of the agenda for tomorrow night’s meeting.

Meeting Details

📍 West Hartford Town Hall – Room #400
🗓 Tuesday, February 17
🕖 7:00pm ET

February 17 Meeting Agenda Highlights

(Full agenda attached)

• Call to Order & Pledge of Allegiance

• Motion to approve Sandra Berenstein as temporary Secretary

• Approval of February 2026 Agenda & January 2026 Meeting Minutes

• Recognition of Guests

• Treasurer’s Report

• Elected Officials Reports (Town Council, BOE, ROV, State Central)

• RTC Executive Team Update (March vote preview)

• Motion regarding March Stop & Shop Food Drive

• Good of the Order & Adjournment

📰Chairman’s Conception

New Committee Elected

In January, a new West Hartford Republican Town Committee was elected. This newly elected body will officially begin its term at our March 16th RTC meeting. The March meeting will mark both a transition and a renewed opportunity to set strategic priorities for the coming cycle. Organizational clarity and strong internal leadership will position us well for the work ahead.

Executive Team Elections

At the March 16th meeting, the newly seated RTC will elect its Executive Team. A slate of candidates from the previous RTC leadership intends to run. Any member interested in seeking an executive position should follow the formal nomination process at the March meeting. Transparency and participation are foundational to strong committee governance, and I encourage thoughtful engagement from all members.

📣Town Council Corner

Below is a message from Town Council Minority Leader, John Lyons:

Dear Members and Friends,

Mercifully, January is now in the books as I write this and hopefully the bitter temps will soon follow January out the door.

Gayle, Jason and I have two full months in the books, and it has been fun with a few interesting challenges along the way. I could not be happier with the caucus, and I hope you are proud as well.

The January meetings brought some meaty issues before us including traffic enforcement, RV ownership changes and an interesting 830G proposal. We’ve also started to discuss short term rentals (like VRBO type things) in committee and expect something on this will come out of committee and before Town Council in the coming weeks.

I’ve counseled the caucus to always be the reasonable ones at the table and I think we have so far accomplished this. This proved out several times this month. The first example of this is the traffic camera enforcement ordinance. We voted unanimously to accept a grant to start the program, and buildout will happen this year.

Jason brought up a great issue which the media seized on; one of the proposed camera enforcement sites was shown in the preliminary study to have nearly a 70% non-compliance rate. In other words, 70% of drivers going through that area would receive an infraction and fine. That is not fair and seemed predatory as Jason correctly pointed out. While two of the democrats were effectively saying ‘too bad, let them all get tickets’, Jason called for other traffic calming measures to ensure a more equitable result. This resulted in additional attention being paid to that location and other calming measures slated to be implemented.

In the most recent meeting, we primarily looked at two issues. The first was a citizen-submitted proposal to allow for RV parking on personal property and the other was for an 830G project on Newington Road.

The RV proposal was very interesting and in reviewing, it had significant merit but based on my experience on Zoning, it was not well written and did not address any aspects of storage. It was only the second citizen submitted ordinance in the last 25 years. In voting against it, I strongly encouraged the applicant to work with town staff and refine the proposal to address some of the missing or ambiguous items. Gayle was the star on this one bringing up that these items are subject to town property taxes and as such, owners should have the right to store on their property. It was a point no one else had considered and really made an impression.

The 830G proposal was for a narrow interpretation as outlined by state law and while we all questioned the applicant on a variety of things, we could only vote on this item based on health or safety concerns. As such, it passed unanimously even though all three of us had concerns with aspects of it. This is where things kind of got strange. Councilor Walters for some reason took issue with Dr. Wang’s questioning of the applicant. Rather than approaching Jason privately, later Tuesday evening, he went public on his personal and political campaign Facebook page with a post threatening to denounce Jason if Jason was guilty of ‘classism, arrogance or misuse of his privilege’. Presumably, thousands of people saw it. It was not a good look, and Jason took the high road and offered to call privately to discuss.

The Republican caucus is the one making sense.

We are going to continue to stay focused on the issues and not take the bait when provoked. Stay tuned!

John

💭Parting Perspectives

Momentum matters. Organizational discipline matters. Showing up matters.

Tomorrow night’s meeting is more than a calendar adjustment due to President’s Day — it is an important step toward seating our new committee, preparing for March leadership elections, hearing directly from our elected officials, and advancing initiatives like the March Stop & Shop Food Drive.

Your participation strengthens the Committee. Your presence signals engagement. Your voice contributes to the direction of our local party.

I strongly encourage you to join us Tuesday, February 17 at 7:00pm in Room #400 at West Hartford Town Hall. Let’s continue building forward — together.

Warm regards,

Shawn Daly