(WFSB) – Voters across Connecticut will decide on local ballot questions on November 4th, including infrastructure spending, municipal leadership positions and policy changes that could impact their communities for years.

In Middletown, voters will consider two major spending proposals: $33 million for infrastructure improvements and $9.5 million for water and sewer upgrades.

“I think everybody has that responsibility if you want to be a good citizen. You should make your voice heard,” said Stephen Civitello, a Middletown voter.

Plainville voters will decide whether their town manager can keep their job if they choose to move out of town.

Manchester faces a similar question about their superintendent, along with two additional ballot items: whether the town should become a city and whether to spend $19.5 million on buildings and roads.

In Glastonbury, voters are split on whether to allow large artificial turf fields, excluding the current one at the high school. Campaign signs throughout the town reflect the division on the issue.

“I saw all the signs and I thought everyone seems to care a lot about this referendum and it’s for the turf,” said Maggie Dunn, a Glastonbury voter.

Dunn said she felt compelled to vote despite the smaller scale of local elections.

“So, I was like I can’t just yell about how everybody should go vote and then not go vote,” she said.

Civitello called voting a “civic duty.”

Local elections typically see lower turnout than state and federal races, but the issues directly affect residents’ daily lives through money, schools and infrastructure.

Some local ballot questions are decided by dozens of votes.

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KILLINGLY — Troopers responded to a Pratt Road home Monday to investigate a suspicious incident, state police said. 

A spokesperson for the Connecticut State Police said that as of 10 p.m. the scene was active and no further information was available. 

This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available. 

In his recent essay in CT Mirror, Melvin Medina asked: whose voices matter to Connecticut policymakers when we talk about housing? I hope it’s clear to anyone listening that the voices of those who need affordable, accessible, and safe housing are being drowned out by what Mel calls the “No-Growth, No-Opportunity Coalition.”

Connecticut once welcomed newcomers, young families, and growing businesses as essential to our civic and economic life. My own family benefited from growth-friendly policies in 1971, when my young parents were able to buy a small ranch-style home in Waterbury to raise their growing family. I want my kids to have the same opportunities in Connecticut, but that’s unlikely if we keep ignoring what young people are telling us.

Still, I feel a shift. Have you noticed it too? Connecticut’s foundations are shifting. Too many young people don’t see a future for them in Connecticut. We’ve ignored this growing problem for too long. Like so many of life’s challenges, the longer we delay facing our housing affordability crisis, the harder it becomes to solve. It’s simply too expensive to afford a home in Connecticut, and the consequences of denial are becoming more severe.

I work in housing policy, and I hear heartbreaking stories every day from people struggling to find or keep a home. But something unusual is happening more often — maybe it’s happening to you, too. More and more people in my personal life are sharing how Connecticut’s housing problems — high costs, limited options, aging and unsafe homes — are making their lives less secure, less affordable, and less successful.

Here are three stories I’ve heard recently from people who didn’t know I work in housing policy:

• A family fears eviction without cause if they ask their landlord to make necessary repairs. They choose not to ask and instead try to fix the problems themselves. They know how difficult, if not impossible, it would be to find another affordable rental home in their school district. They want their son to stay with the friends and teachers he loves.
• A young man who recently sold my daughter a car wishes he could live closer to his job and family in Fairfield County. He endures a long commute from the Naugatuck Valley because he and his wife can’t afford to rent closer to work. Now, they’re considering a larger apartment even farther away to make room for a future family. What he really wants is to buy a home but that feels impossible.
• A young dental hygienist is frustrated that she still lives with her parents, despite avoiding student loan debt and working multiple jobs in her field for years. Her advice to young graduates is practical but disheartening: move out of state.

Connecticut’s housing shortage is reshaping people’s life choices. It’s weakening our families and our economy like rot in a home’s foundation that, left untreated, spreads through the structure. What was once a limited and solvable problem is now systemic, demanding immediate and serious intervention.

Yet, our local and state leaders have not been united to address the crisis. Too many local officials remain obstacles to progress, letting those voices of NO dictate a less vibrant future for Connecticut. We’re still waiting for the promised special session from the Connecticut General Assembly and Governor Lamont after the governor’s veto of a comprehensive housing bill in June.

When it comes to housing, the status quo isn’t working. Building homes is harder and more expensive than ever. Public policy can’t fix everything, but the state must do what it can. We need our leaders to share the urgency that this crisis has brought to so many of our neighbors and pass meaningful reforms.