On a bridge spanning the river that divides their communities, the young and recently elected mayors of Hartford and East Hartford outlined a commitment Thursday to find ways to share services, a simple concept long viewed as political folly in Connecticut.
Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, 39, of Hartford and Connor Martin, 33, of East Hartford, two Democrats elected on the same night a year ago, spoke of an all-inclusive look at their governments but avoided any reference to “regionalism” in favor of the less provocative and more precise term: “shared services.”
“We, very intentionally, are not trying to boil the ocean,” Arulampalam said. “We want to have a really intentional conversation about ways in which we can work together, ways in which we can provide shared efficiency to both towns. This isn’t us looking for something that is flashy and big. It’s real common sense solutions.”
Common sense could mean something as prosaic as common purchasing or other back-office functions, including information technology. It could be more ambitious, such as filling hard-to-fill vacancies with positions that could be shared by the two communities, or joint efforts on helping to house the unhoused.
“Where are the possibilities? Where are the potential partnerships? I think that needs to remain our focus,” Martin said. “I think focusing too much on the political backlash is why things like this don’t work in Connecticut. And so I think we’re probably taking a risk here, but I think it’s a risk that’s best spent on figuring out, how can we bridge these two communities to find that government efficiency, find those savings.”
While Arulampalam insisted they are not looking for anything flashy, the unveiling came with a dash of political theater: The mayors spoke from the city line at a lectern on the broad promenade of the Founders Bridge, which spans the Connecticut River.
The river is both a boundary and a symbol of regional cooperation: Riverfront Recapture, a non-profit funded by donations and support from the regional water authority, the Metropolitan District Commission, operates a series of parks connected by trails on both sides of the river.
Olusegun “Shay” Ajayi and Melissa McCaw, the chief operating and chief administrative officers of Hartford and East Hartford, respectively, will lead the search for efficiencies in their municipal governments.
“We’re going to do a top-down, bottom-up review of all departments in finance and administration. Where are they at with capacity? What are they not able to complete? Is there excess capacity?” McCaw said.
The two mayors will work on a broader “shared vision” with David Robinson, the chair of the quasi-public Capital Regional Development Authority, which operates the XL Center in downtown Hartford and Rentschler Field in East Hartford, and helps finance a wide range of development.
Courtney Nogas, a vice president of Travelers, and the Riverfront Recapture chief executive Mike Zaleski will lead a third committee focused on arts, culture and entertainment.
Parochialism has been an element of the political DNA of Connecticut since its founding. Hartford is the state capital and a center of metro region of more than 1 million, but its land mass and tax base is tiny: 17 square miles, only half of it taxable.
“Nobody would build a state with three and a half million people, and out of whole cloth create 169 different municipalities. We all know that the system has inefficiencies built into it, but knowing that, knowing that we’re that’s where we are, are there ways in which we can work together?” Arulampalam said. “How much weight are we going to give to these political boundaries, these invisible lines that separate our communities, when we know that we are interconnected?”
The effort comes as a development group is pursuing a major redevelopment of under-utilized commercial property near the river in East Hartford.
Martin, who is the grandson of Marie Kirkley-Bey, a former state representative and long-time political activist from Hartford, said the two communities share common challenges and similar demographics, if with populations of vastly different sizes.
Both communities are racially diverse with varying degrees of financial and social challenges.
Hartford is a city of 120,000 with a median household income of $41,841, a poverty rate of 26.9%, and a 25.6% home ownership rate, one of the lowest in the U.S. East Hartford, the home of the jet-engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, is a town of 51,000 with a poverty rate of 13.7%, a median household income of $64,244 and a homeownership rate of 59.5%.
“There’s no reason why what we do on this side of the river is only exclusive to those who live on this side of the river. Same thing for what’s going on in Hartford,” Martin said.
Except for jobs.
Hartford has a residency requirement for many municipal jobs.
Arulampalam, who stood with Hartford council members, smiled when asked if the new era of cooperation meant an end to the residency rules.
He said, “We haven’t yet covered residency requirements.”