Everything You Need To Know This Week

1. It should start to get warmer this week, with temperatures leveling off in the 40s and some rain expected. Today, the high is 52, but it should begin to rain in the afternoon and continue until about 9 a.m. Monday. The rest of Monday, along with Tuesday and Wednesday, all should have highs in the low 40s, with some clouds but no precipitation. Thursday, the rain starts back up again and continues until Friday. Saturday is expected to be mostly sunny, with a high of 39. All information from this report is courtesy of the National Weather Service.

2. An announcement from public works: This will be the first week the will be picked up, so put them out the same day as your regular trash pickup. The recycling containers will be picked up every other week.

The new containers are a good way to keep costs down for the town, Public Works Director Ron Cusano said. Regular garbage is sent to the Preston Incinerator and costs the town $60 a ton, he said. Meanwhile materials to be recycled are sent to Willimantic Waste, and the town is paid at least $5 a ton, up to $32 a ton. So by recycling, you can save the town up to $92 a ton, he said.

3. On a district level, the Waterford teachers union is expected to vote Monday about whether to . If the union rejects the freeze, up to 20 teachers could be laid off, drastically changing education in Waterford.

Students in all three elementary schools will start Connecticut Mastery Testing Monday, as Clark Lane Middle School already started the testing last Thursday. The testing will last three weeks.

At Waterford High School, Connecticut Academic Performance Testing (CAPT) will begin on Tuesday. On testing days, students will be tested first thing in the morning, and then have a condensed school day for the rest of the day, still getting out at the same time. Testing days will be March 8 - March 10 and March 16 - March 18.

At Clark Lane Middle School on Monday at 12:30 p.m., youth speaker Mark Brown will give a talk on bullying, why it cannot be tolerated and how to stop it.

4. This week marks the beginning of the board of finance’s budget review process, where each budget is analyzed, possibly cut and finally approved by the board of finance. The hearings are every Monday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. in town hall for the entire month, and often go until midnight.

Monday will be a big day for two reasons. First, the board of finance will make a decision about asking all town employees for a wage freeze. A wage freeze would save the town around $200,000, according to budget documents.

Second, the police commission’s budget will be heard. The board of selectmen already out of the police department’s budget, a move that angered police officials. It is very likely that the board of finance will cut more out of that budget, further angering police officials.

Also Monday, the ad-hoc animal shelter committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. The committee, which is looking , has extended invitations to the New London Police chief and mayor after the city showed interest in partnering with Waterford and East Lyme. However, neither official has yet to accept an invitation to the meeting. If they were included, New London’s philosophy of euthanizing animals after six days would have to change to Waterford and East Lyme’s philosophy of not euthanizing animals, First Selectman Dan Steward said.

And finally on Thursday, the conservation commission meets at 7 p.m. to again look at a proposed . Neighbors have said they would fight this proposal, so it will be interesting to see if they show up.

5. The week that was. It was a busy week for new developments, as new announced their intention of moving into town, and was proposed. The town also got , a Waterford couple pushed for public officials to , a , the legal battle between Kobyluck LLC and Salem and the Waterford boys in an instant classic.

Quote of the Week

“The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer.”

-John Madden

Trivia of the Day

What businessman-turned-politician finished third in the 1996 presidential election? What party did he belong to?

Friday’s Answer: Paul Westhead was the coach at Loyola Marymount University when Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble played there. He had coached the Lakers to the 1980 NBA championship, but was fired because he didn’t get along with Magic Johnson. He would go on to coach the Phoenix Mercury, leading them to the 2007 WNBA championship, becoming the only man in history to coach teams to NBA and WNBA championships.