The Common Council of New Britain, Connecticut, held its regular meeting on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, at 7:00 PM in Council Chambers. The meeting began with public participation at 7:00 PM, followed by a regular session at 7:24 PM. Thirteen council members were present. The meeting was marked by heartfelt tributes to Alderman Jerrell Hargraves, who passed away unexpectedly on February 3, 2026, and the appointment of his successor in Ward 3. Several resolutions were adopted, including recognition of Black History Month, equipment purchases for public works, a FEMA grant for smoke detectors, and a resolution affirming public trust and equal access to city services.
I want to welcome you to the regular meeting of the Common Council for February eleventh, twenty twenty six. We will begin we will begin with public participation portion of the meeting. Time is now seven PM. I ask if you would like to speak. Uh please state your name and address clearly for the record. Your your speaking time is three minutes. And I will call from this list and then open it up to anyone in the room who wishes to speak, or anybody uh calling in remotely. And I have one name on the list, and that is Mr. Paul Cantonzero. Thanks, Doc. Good evening, Paul Canton Zero, two fifty Hill Hurst Avenue. Not gonna really talk about anything on the agenda today. Talk about my friend. Somebody I knew for probably twenty years. Working for recreation, I was in the park department. Used to work the shell of the concerts. He was in charge of the cooking crew. A little quick story. Parking rec always bought bulk items for food. He bought the cheapest hot dogs. We used to call them the salty dogs. They were horrible. And the kids used to not always clean the grill. There was a couple grease fires during my time there. And uh one day he came real early and he disinfected and cleaned the whole grill. Beautiful. We talked about the hot dogs. He goes, Yeah, why aren't we buying Russell hot dogs? I said that's a great great question. We got the best hot dogs in the country. The next concert, I happen to be working with him. He came in with a box of Martin Russell hot dogs that he bought. Right then and there I knew this is a special kid. That cares about what he does, cares about the people around him, cares about the city. Didn't speak much, but when he did you listen, because it meant something. It came from the heart. Was it anybody that I know that was that cured and loved about this city more than him and his district? And when it comes and and this can be my opinion when it comes time to fill that seat, I hope we honor him by picking somebody that's similar to what he is. Independent, unaffiliated, person of color. Um because in my opinion, that's still his seat, and it will be for two years. Anybody else? anybody else? Yes, sir. Would you like to speak? Come up and state your name and address for the record. My name is Sohea Lokenwaller, 139 Fraser for Road. Yeah, first of all, I think that's a tough thing to follow. I think we should firstly hold a moment of silence for Jeremy for 10 seconds. We'll be doing that in regular meetings, sir. But thank you.