ΟThis is the fifth volume of the History of Connecticut Assessors. It has been a challenge to get it published. Previously, Volume #1 was probably the most challenging. The Committee had never done it before, so we were trying things out for the very first time. We knew we had less material in 2019 than we needed for publication of Volume #5 in 2020. June of 2020 was our original target date for publication. We had been able to publish a volume every three years (2008, 2011, 2014 and 2017). We made the decision in the fall of 2019, long before anyone heard of Covid-19, to aim for publication in June 2021. Then in March 2020 everything came to a halt. With Covid-19 shutting down everything (and us too), the Committee met only one more time in 2020 and one time to date in 2021. The Committee decided to publish Volume #5 with the material that we had because the future continues to remain uncertain and we believed the best course was to publish now and then reset for future volumes.
This History of Connecticut Assessors, Volume Five, is dedicated to Paul W. Slattery for his dedication to the task of the CAAO Research and Historian Committee. His persistent, prolific effort and devotion to compiling the history of our Association has been the predominant force in the publication of Volumes #2, #3, #4 and #5 of the History of Connecticut Assessors. He was the researcher and author of almost all of the articles in those four volumes. A summary of Paul Slattery’s career can be found in Volume #1 on page 85 of the History of Connecticut Assessors.