Advisory Military and Veterans Liaison Committee

MEETING MINUTES ADVISORY MILITARY and VETERANS LIAISON COMMITTEE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2021 – 6:00 P.M. ONLINE – ZOOM WEB CONFERENCING NORWALK, CT 06851 1. CALL TO ORDER, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: the meeting was called to order at 6:01 p.m. and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Jeff DeWitt. 2. PUBLIC FORUM: a. None. 3. ROLL CALL: a. Present (6): Jeff DeWitt, Chair; Irene Dixon, Mayor Rilling’s Staff; Leon Breault, Veteran At-large; Matt Seebeck, Veteran At-large; Fred Wilms, Financial Services Chair; Brian Griffin, Norwalk Chamber of Commerce (by phone). b. Absent or excused (4): Orlando Aquino, Community Health Center; Deanna D’Amore – Health Department; Howard Dixon, Veteran At-large; Bryan Rooney, Veteran At-large. c. A reminder, there are vacancies for Vice Chairman and a legal advisor. In addition, there are two vacancies for At-Large veterans who are interested in getting involved. 4. OLD BUSINESS: a. (REPEAT) Physical binder of veterans’ resources in the City of Norwalk is being finalized. There is a collection site for documentation online until a resource document can be built or published online. UPDATE: The Google Drive for the committee is the repository for much of what has been collected to date and the shell of a physical binder was started months ago. Continuing to work on the content. Matt Seebeck and Fred Wilms both gave their thoughts on the way forward. This remains the #1 priority for the committee. UPDATE: The committee has a list of 458 veterans in Norwalk that was provided by the Tax Assessor’s office. The list is now two years old. We will ask for an updated list. There are some people missing from the list also. (OPEN) b. (REPEAT) Creation of a veteran registry in Norwalk is being requested to the IT Department in City Hall. A link was sent to IT and they have been asked about the feasibility of duplicating what the State of Pennsylvania has already done. Irene Dixon will follow up with the IT Department who are quite busy these days. (OPEN) https://www.dmva.pa.gov/veteransaffairs/pages/outreach-and- reintegration/pennsylvaniaveteransregistry.aspx c. Partnership with the Norwalk Chamber of Commerce: UPDATE: A database of veteran owned businesses in Norwalk has been started. This would give those business owners a chance to get together to share best practices and ways to market themselves in the city, as well as to participate in larger Chamber events throughout the year. See attachment 1 to these minutes for the list as of 9/16/2021. (OPEN) f. The Ceremonies & Honors Committee have started to plan for Veterans Day. Norwalk was named a regional site for Veterans Day observance by the VA. This year, Veterans Day falls on a Thursday. Plan A is to hold the event in the Concert Hall at City Hall. Plan B is Veterans Park like last year. (OPEN) g. The process to add a Purple Heart Monument to honor Norwalk’s combat wounded in Veterans Park is complete. A vendor was chosen and Recreation & Parks will work with them on placement. Early to mid-Spring 2022 is the target timeframe. (OPEN) h. The addendum to the Vietnam War plaque at the Shea – Magrath memorial will be installed next week. Coordination with surviving family members will be needed to have an event where the plaque is unveiled. (OPEN) i. The sculpture at Veterans Park titled “Denial of War” is in need of a facelift. It was donated in 1966 and there is no way to know if it has ever been cleaned. The bronze needs to be uniform in finish and hue. The concrete beneath the sculpture has been discolored over time. Recreation & Parks will take care of this per Ken Hughes. (OPEN) j. Permanent flag holders for Riverside Cemetery have been purchased by the American Legion and VFW. The intent is to honor the veterans who died during wartime service that are buried there. There is a concern of theft, so a request was put in to permanently affix the flag holders via an underground concrete base. The cemetery owner has given the grounds crew the project to complete. The goal is to honor a select group of veterans – those who died during time of war. Not all were killed in action. Some were by disease or accidents, but none less worthy than the other. They answered the nation’s call. The long-term goal is to replicate the project in every cemetery in Norwalk. The Knights of Columbus will complete this project in St. John’s Cemetery next year. (OPEN) k. Meetings will move to the second Monday of each month. The pandemic era meetings moving to quarterly has been overcome by the vaccination of a large majority of residents. Our hope is to go to in-person meetings, however, we are bound by the business rules of the City of Norwalk and will await their guidance. See paragraph 10 below for the date/time of our next meeting. (OPEN). 5. NEW BUSINESS: a. None 6. GOOD OF THE ORDER: a. The City of Norwalk has applied to host the mobile Vietnam Veterans Wall, “The Wall That Heals”, in 2022. We have explicitly asked for a date during the school year so youth in the area can really get a sense of what the wall and the war means. This will be approached as a county- wide event, versus Norwalk-centric. Norwalk is the host city but the reach should be far and wide to attract people and Vietnam Veterans this event. (OPEN) b. The American Legion is hosting several events through the end of the year. See the calendar information in the next paragraph. 7. MILITARY AND VETERAN RELATED EVENTS SEPTEMBER 2021 5: Veteran of the Month / Flag Raising Ceremony at the American Legion, 11:00 a.m. 6: Labor Day 9: VFW Post 603 meeting, 7:30 p.m. at the American Legion 11: Patriot Day 14: American Legion Auxiliary meeting, 7:00 p.m. 16: Sons of the American Legion meeting, 7:00 p.m. 17: POW/MIA Recognition Day; ceremony at the American Legion, 60 County Street, 7:00 p.m. 18: USAF birthday 21: American Legion membership meeting, 7:00 p.m. 29: Gold Star Mother’s Day and National VFW Day OCTOBER 2021 3: Veteran of the Month / Flag Raising Ceremony at the American Legion, 11:00 a.m. 5: Veteran Memorial Committee meeting, 7:00 p.m. 12: American Legion Auxiliary meeting, 7:00 p.m. 13: U.S. Navy Birthday 14: VFW Post 603 meeting, 7:30 p.m. at the American Legion 16: American Legion tag sale, 8:00 – 3:00 p.m.; $25 per spot 17: Vietnam Veterans Recognition Dinner, 5:00 – 9:00, American Legion, TICKETS 19: American Legion membership meeting, 7:00 p.m. 21: Sons of the American Legion meeting, 7:00 p.m. NOVEMBER 2021 2: Veteran Memorial Committee meeting, 7:00 p.m. 6: Virginia Military Institute Commander’s Band, 5:00-9:00; American Legion; TICKETS 7: Veteran of the Month / Flag Raising Ceremony at the American Legion, 11:00 a.m. 9: American Legion Auxiliary meeting, 7:00 p.m. 11: Veterans Day; Norwalk Concert Hall, 9:30-11:30 11: VFW Post 603 meeting, 7:30 p.m. at the American Legion 14: Veterans Recognition Dinner, American Legion, 5:00-9:00, TICKETS 17: Vietnam Veterans Recognition Dinner, 5:00 – 9:00, American Legion, TICKETS 16: American Legion membership meeting, 7:00 p.m. 18: Sons of the American Legion meeting, 7:00 p.m. 25: Thanksgiving 28: Christmas Tree Lighting (5:00-6:00) and Vendor Fair (9:00-5:00), American Legion DECEMBER 2021 5: Veteran of the Month / Flag Raising Ceremony at the American Legion, 11:00 a.m. 7: Pearl Harbor Day; Norwalk ceremony TBD 7: Veterans Memorial Committee meeting; 7:00 9: VFW Post 603 meeting, 7:30 p.m. at the American Legion 11: Army – Navy game, 3:00 p.m. 14: Advisory – Military and Veterans Liaison Committee meeting, 6:00, Zoom 16: Sons of the American Legion meeting, 7:00 p.m. 18: National Wreaths Across America Day 21: American Legion membership meeting, 7:00 p.m. 8. ADJOURNMENT: the meeting was adjourned at 6:29 p.m. 9. NEXT MEETING: December 13, 2021, 6:00 p.m.; likely via Zoom. Attachment 1 Veteran owned businesses that have replied to the Chamber of Commerce questionnaire DVB Commercial Realty, LLC Law Office of Miklos P. Koleszar THF Tax Solutions, LLC Integrate4IT Jack T Wolf LLC RON AARONS PRIiME, LLC Chamber Seaport Electric Ray Rumer, Realtor, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services New England Omni Natural LLC