Mayor proclaims Letter Carriers food drive and World Migratory Bird Day; clerk reports high spring election turnout

Mayor Mark Herter presented two proclamations to the council: one supporting the Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger food drive and one recognizing World Migratory Bird Day on May 10, 2025. The council voted to ratify the World Migratory Bird Day proclamation 9–0 when asked to cast ballots. The Letter Carriers proclamation encourages residents to place nonperishable food items by mailboxes on the food-drive day and cites the national one-day drive’s long history and local benefit. The World Migratory Bird Day proclamation highlights migrant birds’ ecological and economic roles and urges citizens to support habitat conservation. The city clerk reported that election results and turnout details were included in the council packet and noted turnout for the April election was about 52%, compared with approximately 8% in the February election. The clerk said more than 500 additional voters participated compared with typical spring elections and that several polling places had to hand-count ballots because supply ran short. The clerk clarified that the reported results were City of New London–specific and provided links to county- and school-district-level official results in the meeting packet.