UPDATE (June 27, 2019): This story has been updated with additional comments from First Selectman Dan Rosenthal.

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Calling news about Newtown’s Hubbell plant closing “a kick in the gut” and a “wake-up call” to state officials, members of Newtown’s legislative delegation, along with First Selectman Dan Rosenthal, all expressed concern after the company announced June 25 it was relocating its local manufacturing operations on Prospect Drive to Puerto Rico.

But a day after that formal announcement, the first selectman was able to confirm the closure of the Newtown plant, and a neighboring facility in Bethel, were essentially pro forma business decisions.

The high tech manufacturing facility due to close in about six months, has deep roots in the Newtown community, which was the longtime home of Harvey Hubbell IV — grandson of the company’s founder who worked there and held his own patents in electrical and related fields. Today, Hubbell continues to manufacture electrical equipment for commercial, telecommunications, lighting, utility, industrial, and consumer markets, and has holdings around the world.

The first selectman told The Newtown Bee he “was very disappointed to hear the news of Hubbell’s plan to close its Newtown production facility,” adding, “I am sorry to see that change based on global competitiveness issues.”

“My chief concern is to the employees that may be displaced as part of this decision, and I have already been in contact with the appropriate parties to marshal all available resources for them,” Mr Rosenthal said. “This is not the news that our town or state needed; however, Newtown remains a great place to live and do business, and I will continue to tell our story for as long as I have the privilege of serving.”

The announcement came as the community continues to work aggressively to attract appropriate economic development to help offset residential property taxes with a growing commercial tax base.

State Senator Tony Hwang (R-28) said the plant closing would impact in excess of 140 employees, while at the same time adding to the growing number of global brands and smaller businesses closing or departing Connecticut.

“This is another kick in the gut to our economy,” Sen Hwang said on Monday, June 25, within hours of the announcement. “I know I speak for many when I say that our hearts go out to the 140 workers and their families who are impacted by this terrible news.”

Sen Hwang said he hoped this latest announcement, “compounded by the recent bad news of Hubbell announcing the closure of its plant in Bethel and the United Technologies Corp’s announcement of its corporate headquarters moving to the Boston area, will serve as a wake-up call to the majority party and Governor Lamont at the State Capitol.

“No more political spin. Admit and address the fact that our predicament reflects a continuing trend that is not working,” Sen Hwang said.

Nearly 200 Jobs Lost

Newtown’s State Representative Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) wished “the very best for the 140 displaced workers, whose immediate needs are a priority, as they begin six-month process of shuttering their 60-year-old Newtown plant on Prospect Drive.

“With last month’s closure of their Bethel plant, our little corner of the state has lost 194 good jobs,” Rep Bolinsky said. “While I can understand Hubbell’s business decision and the need to stay competitive in a worldwide marketplace, I am deeply disappointed that another great Connecticut legacy company, with roots dating back to 1888 in our state, has found that they must move operations elsewhere to be competitive. In this case, our Newtown jobs are going way south to Puerto Rico and the Bethel jobs to Alabama.”

As a 30-year private sector manufacturing/marketing professional, Rep Bolinsky said he recognizes the 60-year-old Newtown Hubbell facility was probably in need of updating.

“But because Connecticut keeps raising taxes; layering on more mandates; creating greater regulatory hurdles; and with the threat of tolls, possibly raising its logistics expenses, there was probably little margin left to make a major capital investment in an older building like this,” Rep Bolinsky ventured.

Representative JP Sredzinski also remarked that any news of local job losses is disappointing.

“But the State of Connecticut should not be surprised after the General Assembly just concluded one of the worst sessions ever for business,” Rep Sredzinski said. “Increased sales taxes, a mandatory family leave program, a pending pension crisis, a minimum wage increase, and a budget full of empty promises have all led to businesses being hesitant to grow here. I hope that announcements like this one will serve as a wake up call to the majority party of the General Assembly that the decisions we make in Hartford have consequences.”

A June 25 statement from the company said Hubbell “notified our employees that we have made the difficult decision to close our Newtown facility over the next six months.”

The statement said this closure, along with the Bethel facility closure announced earlier this month, is part of an ongoing operational efficiency initiative that involves Hubbell operations across the company.

“Connecticut is our home,” the company statement continued. “In addition to our corporate headquarters in Shelton and other smaller sites in Winsted and Mystic, we have just invested in a new facility in Avon for our iDevices brand, which focuses on smart technologies, a growing focus for our company. All told, these facilities represent more than 650 jobs.”

State Rep Raghib Allie-Brennan, who represents Bethel as well as a number of constituents in western Newtown, said despite the fact that the company will continue to maintain a presence in Connecticut, “it’s critical that employers understand the decisions they make have tangible, often life-changing implications for the workers they employ and their families.”

“Hubbell’s decision to relocate 194 jobs from our state is a significant blow to families across the region,” Rep Allie-Brennan said. “While I am encouraged that Hubbell’s headquarters will remain in Connecticut, and they have pledged to support and assist the affected workers, I am still very disappointed by their decision. I stand ready to assist the affected employees and their families in any way possible.”

The company pledged that its “primary focus at this time is on supporting our employees through this transition.”

Rep Bolinsky and Sen Hwang both mentioned that Hubbell officials apparently reached out to the state ahead of their official decision to shutter the Newtown and Bethel facilities.

“It is my understanding that Hubbell officials contacted the governor’s office as early as December to discuss the company’s struggles,” Sen Hwang said. “This raises new questions. Was there a follow-up on the part of the governor’s office? Were meetings held? If so, what was discussed?”

Rep Bolinsky said he, too, was “even more disappointed that the governor’s spokeswoman brushed off these 194 jobs, dismissively saying the Hubbell still has 650 jobs elsewhere in Connecticut.”

“I’m sure that was comforting for those 194 people and families,” Rep Bolinsky added. “I will be looking into whether our state’s Department of Economic Development has been in negotiations with Hubbell to retain these jobs through investment tax credits or if they were just as surprised as I was to hear this news.”

Seeking further clarification, Mr Rosenthal said he reached out to a company official who explained that the Newtown facility was only operating at about 40 percent of its capacity, manufacturing the exact same product line that was also being made at the Puerto Rico plant. The first selectman said his Hubbell source described similar capacity and product redundancy issues between the Bethel and Alabama plants.

Mr Rosenthal also learned that interaction between the company and the Governor’s office was more an informational exchange to ensure newly-elected Ned Lamont was familiar with Hubbell’s technology and products.

The first selectman said he was assured that the Newtown plant was in good condition both in terms of its structure and infrastructure, and that Hubbell was even planning to make several improvements to the plant before putting it on the market.

“I was told there were no problems related to deferred maintenance,” Mr Rosenthal said.

Piling On Burdens

Sen Hwang echoed Rep Sredzinski’s remarks, saying that “newly signed legislation regarding Paid Family and Medical Leave, minimum wage increases, and regressive tax increases have the potential to really have a negative impact on jobs in Connecticut. I have great concern also for how small and mid-size businesses — the true engines of our state economy — are going to handle these new bureaucratic burdens and multitude of new taxes and increased cost of simply doing business in Connecticut.”

Nonetheless, Sen Hwang said he remains committed to passing policies that put Connecticut on a more reliable, sustainable path, and move Connecticut away from its reputation for levying “tax hikes, government spending hikes, and revenue grabs.”

“That path must prioritize transparency,” the senator added. “We have got to regain the trust of Connecticut taxpayers and business owners.”

Rep Bolinsky lamented that “for nine years now, we’ve had this Governor and his predecessor speaking about ‘business-friendly policies’ and promising job growth on one hand, but with the other hand, reaching around to pick the pockets of businesses.”

“That’s not a successful strategy for retaining and attracting businesses to invest in our beautiful state,” he said. “For goodness sake, we’re the only state in the region, and one of a only couple in the nation, to have not yet recovered the jobs we lost in the Great Recession of 2008. Last I read, Connecticut’s post-recession jobs recovery is still below 90 percent. Contrast that to Massachusetts’ post-recession jobs recovery rate of over 300 percent over the last decade. How can this be?”

Rep Bolinsky noted that Connecticut’s closest neighboring state “is exploding with job growth and record revenues because of a favorable business environment, while Connecticut has languished under nine years of business-unfriendly tax and regulatory policy, annual multi-billion dollar deficits, and biennial tax increases because we insist on spending more than we take in.”

On a far more positive note, Rep Bolinsky pointed out that “Hubbell is a class act, and I trust they will do right by all employees and redeploy many of the displaced professionals at other facilities and with third-party supply partners. They have been a benchmark Connecticut manufacturer for 131 years, and despite these local closings, they have recently renewed their headquarters lease in Shelton, so they remain a Connecticut company.

“I wish them a successful next 131 years.”