Don Lowe First Selectman Column December 15, 2025
The Board of Selectmen’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting is at 7pm on this Thursday in Mallory Town Hall. There is a link on the agenda to enable remote viewing and the meeting’s agenda is posted on the Town website. We will be discussing some smaller capital items such an electric power upgrade for the Sherman Playhouse and the possible purchase of one or two electronic movable road signs to announce events and emergencies.
On Sunday, December 14 at 5:30pm, Mary Ann and I attended the menorah lighting for Hanukah at the gazebo on the Town Green. Although it was frigid out, the ceremony was robust and fun. At 5:30 pm every night of the week another candle will be lit on the menorah as Sherman continues to show respect for all religions and cultures, and its deep appreciation for the Sherman JCC and all that it brings to Sherman’s way of life.
The Sherman Volunteer Fire Department’s Pancake Breakfast at Charter Hall on Sunday morning was a big success. Santa came by and had plenty of visits from curious children. I also got to speak to Santa and tried to learn a little about my “naughty or nice” status. He didn’t relinquish any good info on that, so I’ll have to wait to see if I get coal or presents for Christmas.
Make sure you take a drive and look at the First Annual Christmas Lights Tour. Ten houses are entered in a contest per se, and the top three winners will be chosen on December 19. The list of houses can be found on the Park and Rec Facebook page and, also, there are flyers in the daily market, the library, post office, and the bank. We took the tour last night and each house is quite spectacular! It won’t be easy choosing the winners. I don’t remember a more active and busy Sherman holiday season as this year has been. It’s very special.
In last week’s column I may have been a little optimistic about the timeframe for the groundbreaking of the new Sherman Senior Center that was approved on December 6th’s referendum. The start of that project is more likely to be sometime in the Fall of 2026, not early summer as I had written previously.
Many people ask me about how the Sherman school renovation project is coming along. Several of us attend a weekly (Wednesday afternoon) meeting of all the stakeholders in this big project. I can report that so far, all is going very well. It’s on schedule and we have had no budget surprises. This Wednesday morning, we will have a groundbreaking for the project as most of the “tear down” segment is completed and construction begins.
We had a light but substantial snow last weekend and it looks like we might not be merely “dreaming” of a white Christmas this year as we now have a nice covering of the real thing!
