By Bill Riccio, Jr.
Voice Editor

An arbitration award that was rejected by the City Council in April will have to wait another month before a ruling. The newly empanelled arbitrators have requested 30 days to review testimony from the first set of hearings before rendering a ruling.

“We got a letter last week asking for a 30-day extension,” said Mayor John Picard last week. “That means it will be at least another month before any decision is made.

In March, arbitrators ruled the police union’s contract, retroactive to 2008, would include no pay increases for 2008 or 2009, but granted a 2-percent increase this year, and a 2.5-percent increase in the last year of the contract. But it was the benefits portion of the ruling that created much of the political upheaval.

By Bill Riccio, Jr.
Voice Editor

Using the notion no one knows what you have until you tell them, the West Haven Economic Development Task Force is sponsoring its first “Discover West Haven Day” next Wednesday in the David Beckerman Recreation Center at the University of New Haven.

The daylong event, which begins at 8:30, is an effort to present to the city’s business community and those who might be looking at the area, a glimpse of programs, services and incentives that could make doing business here more productive.

Geared toward small to medium-sized business, the days is an effort to inform owners and developers what the city has to offer, according to Ashley McLellan, special projects coordination, who is directing the event along with the task force.