Malloy: Negotiations with GE Are Continuing

Gov. Dannel Malloy will be meeting with GE officials again on Friday as the state continues talks designed to keep the corporate giant in Connecticut.

“We have been in discussions and have a meeting Dec. 4,” Malloy said after he spoke to nearly 300 members of the Greenwich Retired Men’s Association and their guests at First Presbyterian Church in Greenwich on Wednesday morning. Malloy added, “We’ve had other meetings but that’s the next one.”

Malloy declined to say with whom he will be meeting or where the confab would occur.

Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE that has had its corporate headquarters in Fairfield for 40 years and other corporate divisions in Norwalk and Stamford, has said he is looking to relocate the conglomerate. Immelt has expressed frustration over Connecticut’s new business tax increases and the state’s business climate.

Immelt has said he anticipates a decision will be made by the end of the year. GE reportedly has been in talks with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo about relocating to the greater New York City area, and with the city of Boston. In November, the city of Atlanta announced that it was no longer in consideration by GE.

Immelt also has said that GE will always have a presence in Connecticut — but it remains to be seen just how large that presence will be.

Hearst Connecticut Media reported on Wednesday that Malloy met with a number of legislative leaders on Tuesday as they try to hammer out an agreement in reducing the state’s $350 million deficit.

Fairfield First Selectman Michael Tetreau, a Democrat, told Hearst, “I feel that we’re still in the running; otherwise they would have told us that we’re not.”

Photo: Gov. Dannel Malloy speaks to the Greenwich Retired Men’s Club on Dec. 2, 2015. Credit: Barbara Heins.