'Never Could I Have Imagined': Kupchick Gives Annual Speech

FAIRFIELD, CT — A year ago, First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick gave her first State of the Town speech.

Monday evening, she delivered her second annual address to a community which, in the intervening year, bore the unforeseeable pain of a rare global pandemic with resilience and resourcefulness.

“Never could I have imagined what 2020 would bring,” Kupchick said in her speech before Fairfield’s Representative Town Meeting, which gathered via videoconference. “Never did I anticipate the many obstacles that our town would face.”

As of Monday, 189 Fairfield residents had died in association with the coronavirus and 3,604 cases had been reported in town since the pandemic reached Connecticut in March, according to state data. Kupchick called on Fairfielders not to forget those who remained ill or who died of the virus, as she looked back to the early days of the pandemic, when she signed a declaration of emergency, and the town held its first virus mitigation meeting and established a contact-tracing program.

“It is during trying times like these that people of great characters so often rise to the occasion to benefit all of us,” she said, leading the town meeting in rounds of applause for Health Department Director Sands Cleary and Fire Chief Denis McCarthy.

Throughout her address, Kupchick told the story of the town in numbers.

• 124 jobs were saved and 14 new ones were created across the 67 businesses that received grants through the town’s small business assistance program. In addition, more than $40,000 in gift cards was sold through Fairfield’s Buy Local campaign to support local businesses.
• 50 outdoor dining locations, including 27 businesses that had not previously offered outside service, received expedited permitting with no fees in order to help restaurants more quickly comply with state pandemic protocols.
• Over 11 percent of Fairfield’s tax base is now commercial property, up from about 9 percent. In the coming year, Kupchick said she will continue to prioritize the future of the Exide Battery and Fairfield Metro Center Station properties as well as other large commercial areas.
• $550,000 in relief reimbursements have been received by the town, and more are expected. Fairfield is requesting all available funds, according to Kupchick.
• More than 10,000 hot lunches were delivered to home bound seniors and residents with disabilities by Fairfield social services. The department also brought nearly 400 bags of groceries to families, while local nonprofits established a drive-thru food pantry to improve safety and community members held donation events most weekends. Additionally, 47 households received assistance from the Fairfield COVID-19 Relief Fund to pay for mortgages, rent, utilities or other living expenses.