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Town Council Minutes 10/02/2003
TOWN OF AVON
TOWN COUNCIL MINUTES
OCTOBER 2, 2003

CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Selectmen’s Chamber by Chairman Hines.  Members present: Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Shea and Woodford.  Absent Mr. Carlson.

PUBLIC HEARINGS: None

MINUTES OF PRECEDING MEETING

On a motion made by Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED:       That the Town Council accept the minutes of the September 4, 2003 meeting as read.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

COMMUNICATION FROM AUDIENCE
Jim Genco, 80 Reverknolls, reported he is speaking on behalf of the Reverknolls Association, as the President of the Association could not be here.  A letter was circulated along with attachments, to be read at the Council’s leisure.  He asked the Town Council to consider using their influence and authority to have the Water Company honor a memorandum of understanding that was drafted between the Water Company and the Town regarding the use of the well that is going to be installed at Fisher Meadows, pending DEP permits.  The reason we are asking is that, first of all we have been participating in this process for over two years, and are very cognizant of the various roles of the different entities involved, the DEP, the Town Council, and the Town land because that is where the  wells will be drilled and operated.  We have expressed concern about the impact that this would have on our individual wells.  

The  Water Company, to allay our concerns and to basically work with us to make this work well for the whole community, entered into a memorandum of understanding that was negotiated, offering to put in water mains throughout the Reverknolls area.  At the very end of the  whole process, they unilaterally voided the agreement because another party, not our Association, had filed an objection to the DEP permit.  It is our position that there is an issue of fairness here, and that is that we have been basically led along as a community to depend upon the fact that once the well starts drawing, if our wells are adversely affected, we would have these water mains to fall back upon, and therefore we would not suffer individually.  Obviously what we are talking about is based on the fact that the Water Company will be drawing up to 3 million gallons of water a day, and for obvious business purposes for a profit and there is just a real inequity that they are making a profit when we would then incur great expense, potentially, if our wells are damaged.  For that reason, it is our position that it would be reasonable and appropriate for the Town Council to readopt that MOU, and compel the Water Company as a condition for giving them the right to draw water on Town land to say that it is fine but that they would have to take care of the 80 existing homeowners that already have wells.  Based on science, according to the DEP, we should not be too adversely affected, but there is the risk, and the DEP felt that it was a significant enough consideration that in the last draft of the permit it was a specific condition, it had reference to the MOU between the Town and the Water Company and said this is part of the permit.  

When the Water Company unilaterally voided it, and the Council voted to void it as well, after that they removed it from the permit, so we have no safeguards, no protection as homeowners and we are greatly at their mercy.  We are here saying as taxpayers and homeowners in a community that we would like you to use your influence to basically approach the Water Company and say - let us be fair, we are going to give you the authority and permission and rights to pump on our Town land – which we recognize is good for the whole town – but it should not be at the cost or expense individually of the homeowners who already have existing wells – who have really depended upon the process of the State and the Town to safeguard our interests.  Realistically we cannot go out and hire lawyers and get scientific data to fight them about the permit, but we are depending on our elected representatives to watch out for our interests and to use their ability and power to try to make sure that the right thing and the fair thing is done in this situation.  That is our position, we wanted you to know.

Chairman Hines reported when the Memorandum of Understanding from the Water Company and all of the residents was terminated, our agreement no longer had any real meaning, and our Attorney generally agreed that we should void that, as there was no longer an agreement that you had with the Water Company that is part of this application.  We also looked at, when we saw all of the technical data that has been presented, both by the DEP and the Water Company, it generally says there is not going to be a major impact on the wells, and we hope that is right.  We can understand your concerns and what you are trying to do, and he would suggest to the Town Council that we get a small group together, the Town Manager, Town Council Chairman, and representatives of the Reverknolls Association, and try to get someone from the Water Company to come back and talk with us to see if we can get a new agreement.  He is not sure they would do this, but we might be able to use our influence to say that there are a number of people concerned.  

Chairman Hines questioned whether the Association would be willing to sit down with the Water Company and the Town Council to see whether there is anything that can be done.  The group should outline what they would like to see from the Water Company, it should be something definitive.  The Water Company may not agree to it, but what you think would be appropriate should be presented, then they can work from there, a compromise, but he does not know how this would impact the DEP.  

The Town Manager reported  looking at the economics of this, as this is an issue with everybody involved, recollections of last year’s meetings, we are talking roughly $1 million to $1.2 million to bring the lines in to service roughly 80 homes, and it was to be done over a six to eight year period of time.  So we are looking at a cost, of $10,000 to $14,000 per unit, whereas he heard second hand that the Water Company spent a considerable amount of money to have the public hearings that had to be provided for the diversion permit, say it was $100,000, now it is an additional amount of money that the Water Company had to pay, assuming the permit goes through, and we did receive a letter of tentative determination from the DEP for their approval with conditions.  The types of questions that are going to be asked by the Water Company, of the Association, which they may need to contemplate is whether they as a group would be willing to pick up that particular cost, as an equitable share among all of the homeowners.  The Town of Avon has in the past for various areas of town where there have been significant problems and issues, regarding water supplies or sewage service of sufficient number to require us to get involved, have gone in and the Town has acted as a bank and recovered the cost to the Town over a two or three year period.  So another option presents itself, and generally when this has happened the Council has wanted a petition signed by 50% or more of the affected homeowners that they would be willing to accept an assessment on their property for an estimated amount, usually we have the Engineering Department determine that, the Town then could appropriate funds to go ahead and have these things done.  

There is a safety net out there if something should happen to the area, where you have significant depletion of wells or problems, but it costs money, and you would be looking at $10,000 to $12,000 per unit, if the Town were to get involved with it from a financing aspect.  Given the size of the project, it could require bonding, which would mean that we would have to go to a Town wide referendum, and have the whole Town vote on whether to do it or not.  

Chairman Hines reported before we go before the Water Company you need to contemplate some of the actions that the homeowners might be willing to come forward with, or at least discuss.  

When we have done this type of extension, it was for a very short time, and a small amount of money.  It can be done, but we are talking over $1 million, and the Town Council and Board of Finance may not be willing to spend that kind of money, especially if they did not see a real need.  When the Town Manager talked about an emergency, if they drilled this well and then the area got into trouble, then the Town Council would probably be more willing to come in and help on that kind of basis, and we would become some kind of banker.  Chairman Hines reported it would have to be an emergency situation for us to respond in that manner, a 50% number of residents is going to be key so before we meet with the Water Company you should see what kind of percentage you have with your people.  The Water Company is going to ask if we are willing to pick up the expense, and right now it is not a real hardship, however, to sell that to the residents in a referendum would be difficult.  

Mr. Genco reported the Association had nothing to do with the MOU being voided, they put a condition in there that was completely beyond our control, and that was that if anyone objected, they would void the agreement, and as it turned out some people who did not live in the Reverknolls community took up a petition, plus a few members of our community objected.  But the Association as a group had voted and had 100% support of this, then it was unilaterally pulled out from under us, so you can see why we felt like there was just some bad faith going on here.  We certainly are realistic, but on the other hand they are a business and they are going to be making money from this, and there should be some way that we do not incur a huge amount of expense because they are taking our water to sell it, from our perspective it does not seem right or appropriate that we should have to fork out a large sum of money just to preserve what we already have.  

He further reported the original agreement was that the Water Company would pay over a period of 10 years to put the mains in at their expense, and he would like to think that we could pursue that as an opening concept because we as an association have done nothing to renege or void that, and we were taken aback when we found out that they had done it, and startled that the Town had voided it as well.  We would like the opportunity to sit down with the Water Company and do something to make the MOU work, as a lot of time went into drafting that and it did give us a comfort level.  

Chairman Hines questioned how much time they would like before we try to meet with the Water Company.   Mr. Genco reported their President has been negotiating with the DEP on this and is not here, but they indicated that they would at the end of this month make their final determination on the permit.  Chairman Hines reported on the 24th  would be the last time they would take information before making any decision.  Mr. Genco reported within a week to 10 days.  Chairman Hines reported we can do this in two steps, the Town Manager to contact the Water Company to see whether they would be willing to meet, and second then set up a date within two weeks.  Mr. Woodford reported the Association should not bring a large group.  Mr. Genco reported that is correct, but he cannot unilaterally assume that role without speaking with the Association members.  Mr. Shea questioned how many members in the association voted against the MOU.  Mr. Genco reported he is not sure, there was not a vote in that sense, there were people who were vocal about it at the meeting, but there were very few who opposed it.  Mr. Shea questioned whether there was a difference between the people that attended the Association meeting, and the people that did not, could there be others out there.  An Association Member reported there were three who opposed it, and two were from one household.  Mr. Genco reported they initiated the petition, and got together with the Valley View residents.  They wanted everything immediately basically, they wanted the mains in and all set up before the Water Company was allowed to pump, and he reported to them that we need to trust the science and were not questioning the integrity of the DEP and the Water Company, but the individuals were very skeptical of it.   The few said they did not want them to pump any water until the mains are in, and will fight unless they agreed to that, at that point the Water Company withdrew its MOU.   

Mr. Burke, of Reverknolls, reported it is not just the lack of water for our wells, but the possibility of ground water seepage from the State Garage, the problems in the area being pulled into our water levels because of the extreme pumping at Fisher Meadows, this was something that was not addressed at the DEP hearings.  The Town Manager reported when the sewer line was put in on Chidsey Road, the State Garage was required to hook in, and that included part of their drainage system because the area around the maintenance garage is polluted from the State’s salt pile, but that problem now has been resolved at the site but that does not mean that there is nothing already in the ground that still has to work its way out, which is the concern of residents there.   Chairman Hines questioned whether DEP checked into that at all.  Mr. Burke reported he mentioned it at the public hearing and they have the recording.  The Town Manager reported at the time there was a difference of opinion which led to aggressive discussions between the Town of Avon, the State DOT and the DEP, because the DEP was requiring the State DOT to connect to the sewer line, and the State DOT did not want to do it because they had to pay a connection charge.  We ended up in essence filing a formal complaint and they eventually ended up connecting in, and we took care of the problem.

Chairman Hines reported we will proceed to set up the meeting with the Water Company and the Town Manager will keep you informed.  

COMMUNICATION FROM COUNCIL
Mrs. Hornaday reported after she attended the PTO meeting last night at the Roaring School, several people approached her about the Town Council being on television.  There is much more interest in providing televised meetings than she had thought, perhaps we should ask our representative to the Nutmeg Public Access TV to look into what it takes to have it happen, to determine is there a way of knowing how many watch it.  The residents indicated a lot of interest and that for them it is a matter of hiring sitters if they want to attend meetings, but they also suggested that some of our older residents who do not like to drive at night but have been involved in the Town for a long time might have interest.  Perhaps we could look into it.  She does know that Nutmeg provides training for people to do the filming, and if there is interest on the part of the residents, that we should look into it to see what is involved and at least be able to respond to them about that.  Chairman Hines reported he talked with various people at CRCOG, and they all say that since they went on television the meetings have gotten very long and everybody has to speak.  Mrs. Hornaday reported she does think that happens because people are fearful that the residents are going to think if one does not talk, they are not doing anything.  

Chairman Hines questioned how the Council feels.  Mr. Woodford reported there is a cost to it also.  Mrs. Hornaday reported she did not know that.  The Town Manager reported we looked at it several years ago, when the equipment was probably more expensive, but to do a live telecast from this spot, they were looking at around $20,000 just to set everything up with the cameras, wiring, and the feed out to the street.   Mrs. Hornaday reported she thought it was taped, then run at a later time.  The Town Manager reported it can be taped, but this was for a live broadcast, as far as the taping process he is not aware of the cost.  He reported you would need to have trained camera people, for audio as well as video.  There are options, a live telecast, another would be to have someone from Nutmeg come in and do it here, the third option would be to contact the High School and have the students and everyone come here and they can take it over to Nutmeg and put it on television, we cannot depend on the staffing, without paying them.  The Town Manager reported we will contact Nutmeg and work out different scenarios, to see which is the least expensive.  Mr. Shea reported he would suggest the Town Manager speak to Farmington and Simsbury and see what the pros and cons are, as to how they do it, clearly the productivity of the meeting and the efficiency of the meeting, no matter what meeting it is, is going to be critical.  The Town Manager questioned whether the Council would be looking at just having the Town Council meetings, or Board of Finance.  Chairman Hines reported look at all of it, if we are going to do it, what is available and what it would cost.  If we are just doing this facility, and everything set up, you could do several meetings, but not the Board of Education.  The Town Manager reported he could get the cost of a three hour meeting to tape it.  Mr. Shea reported before we get too involved in this it should be defined, the issues are going to be cost, productivity, efficiency and the pros and cons with other towns.  This is not going to get done in a month, but it would be all of the boards, not just the Town Council.

Chairman Hines reported he has been working on the high school enrollment committee, we last met on September 30th, he asked for but has not received any final number of students in every classroom during the day.  He received charts which show all of the classrooms that are being utilized, but the student numbers are not included.  Today he received latest numbers on average size, for example, English is 19.6 students, Social Science 20.9, Science 18.7, Math 20.5, World Language 15, but no actual numbers for every classroom all the way through.  They are going to the Board of Education but not with a recommendation, but with all of the study results, which we have studied for over a year.  It contains all of the alternatives and possibilities that you could think of; 12 month sessions, day/night sessions, portable classrooms, building an addition, and going a little longer in the day. The Board of Education has to now look at all of this, and decide what to do, the report will go to them in October.  The bottom line is that all of the projections that they have made previously are coming in higher compared to what they see in the school now, and if you take kindergarten, first and second grades and project that out in this time period, it will be even greater than any other projections they have had.  All of these grades are moving into the high school, and everything that is coming is that is not a temporary thing.  The Board of Education  will work on this in October and November, then they will come to Council and give us what they would like us to do.  He informed them that if we do that it should be a special meeting, it is not something that you can do in a short time, we want to devote an entire meeting to it.  The Superintendent of Schools had a pretty good summary on the 30th with the different things that he would like.  He is looking at how he can minimize some of these cost increases and so forth.  What will probably come up is that we may want to consider forming a building committee to do some preliminary work, hire an architect to do some preliminary studies.  Chairman Hines reported a preliminary study would tell us how many basic classrooms we want, how many science labs, whether we want a gymnasium, what we have to do to the cafeteria - enough to tell us how best to do this – whether it be two stories, to do some preliminary ideas as to how we might execute the ideas that the Board of Education think that they need.

What was outlined a year ago sounds reasonable, that in the fall of 2003, the Board of Education request Town Council to build an addition of high school, then early in 2004 we appoint a building committee, the building committee comes up with a recommendation for an architect, then maybe in the fall of 2004 you have some preliminary plans and cost estimates,  in December 2004 you go to a Town Referendum, and you have final plans in June 2005, in the fall of 2005 start contracting for an addition ready for occupation in 2007.  His guess is that they are going to come in with something like that, and it would be good to have a joint meeting with the Board of Education, Board of Finance  and Town Council so that everything is discussed right up front when we do this.  

Mr. Shea reported we have discussed this in the past, and he is in favor of talking about it but we also need to coordinate that with the Library.  Chairman Hines reported that is the next question, after we hear this from the Board of Education, after we have talked about our financial studies, we should combine those two, considering the present economic studies, he would say we would go ahead with the school addition if we decide to go that route, then procurement of property adjacent to the Library as part of the first bonding, then after the school is on it way, then maybe do the construction at the Library, and if we still have Towpath, maybe that is the next step on a recreation area that we have also talked about down the road. Mr. Shea reported an architect will be critical, so the Board of Education should be a little careful when they go about doing that because his understanding of this renovation, from what he has heard – it is about things like classrooms and gymnasiums.  Chairman Hines reported yes, the only things that he saw on the list were an air conditioner that had to be replaced and reinforced, a roof that needed to be redoing that was not done the last time.  The Superintendent of Schools outlined all of that for us, so we will get that.  Mr. Shea reported we would then take that number plus the land next to the Library, as that is going to be a number, and our Financial Advisor is going to have some work to do.  Chairman Hines reported we should have this meeting with the Board of Education and Board of Finance, and then have our Financial Advisor in after we get a better idea of what might have to be done.  This meeting may not come before January, as the Board of Education will probably have to take more than two meetings to come up with what they think they want for the high school before they come to the Town Council.  Mr. Shea reported they would want their new members to take part in it as well.    

Mrs. Hornaday reported she would like there to be some of that general discussion over some of the Superintendent of School’s idea, because one of the concerns she has had since it came up, has been that the potential growth for our Town is limited now, in terms of what is available for building houses.  She spoke with a person from another town, that had a lot of growth and built schools and additions, then as the demographic of the town changed, they ended up closing a lot of schools, and we want to be careful that we do not overbuild for what might be here ten or fifteen years from now.  On the other hand if their projections show that we are still going to have these needs in ten years, that is a different matter, but we do not want to start with a preconceived picture when we have this joint meeting with them.  Chairman Hines reported the Superintendent should go through all of the different items that he previously discussed, and he will work with him to make sure that they have a good review for us at that time.   

Mr. Shea reported something that should be discussed is that the high school site is limited at best.  Chairman Hines reported that is one of the reasons why a preliminary architect needs to come in to say how do you best utilize that.  Mr. Shea reported we also should discuss the option of a different site, even if that is not going to be pursued it should be on the table.  They are going to come in with another elementary school, if you project this out, and you go out to 2008/2009 and all of a sudden somebody starts talking about another elementary school, the option of what you do with these buildings should be something that is thoroughly discussed.  Chairman Hines reported right now they do not project any need for elementary schools in the foreseeable future.  Mr. Shea reported he is hearing higher numbers tonight, and that is fine, but we must look at all of the options on the table as we are going to be dealing with millions of dollars, much like as we are approaching the Library it has a great chance of staying where it is, but we have to look at all of the options on the table, if we do not do that we expose ourselves to some vulnerability as we go down the road.  As we speak with all three boards he would like to hear in a public meeting that there is no need for an elementary school in the next decade.  Chairman Hines reported they have a draft report which tries to cover all of the schools, with all of the projections, his copy of the report is six months old and will be updated.  Anything that the Council feels we would need we can request from them before we meet.
             
OLD BUSINESS
01/02-59  Extension: Local Options Elderly/Disabled Homeowners Tax Relief Program

On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council extend the Local Elderly Homeowners Tax Relief Program to expire January 1, 2006, and approve increased income limits for 2003, as attached and made a part of these minutes.   
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

02/03-102  Appointment: Alternate: Zoning Board of Appeals

On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council appoint Robert M. Paine to serve as Alternate to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a term to expire December 31, 2003.   
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

03/04-09  FY04/05 Budget: Approve Capital Budget Review Schedule

On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council approve the Capital Budget Review Schedule as follows:
                  November 6, 2003      Regular Meeting in Selectmen’s Chamber
        7:45 p.m. General Government
8:15 p.m.  Police Department
November 20, 2003  Special Town Council meeting 7:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m. Parks and Recreation
7:45 p.m. Public Works
8:15 p.m. Engineering
December 4, 2003       Regular Meeting in the Selectmen’s Chamber
7:30 p.m.  Board of Education
8:30 p.m.  Fire Department         
8:45 p.m.  Library
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.                 

03/04-11        Supplemental Appropriation: $4,000 Local Law Enforcement Block Grant

On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council hereby recommends that the Board of Finance amend the FY03/04 Budget by increasing:
REVENUES:  General Fund, Intergovernmental, Law Enforcement Block Grant, Account #01-0330-43373 in the amount of $4,000 and increasing:
APPROPRIATIONS:  General Fund, Administrative Services, Other Equipment, Account #01-2101-53319 in the amount of $4,000 for the purpose of purchasing Network printers.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

03/04-18  Review and Discussion: Farmington Valley Visitors Association/Central Region Tourism District: Nancy Anstey
Mrs. Anstey, Council Representative to the Farmington Valley Visitors Association, reported she would like to give an update on her affiliation with both organizations.  The first is the Farmington Valley Visitors Association, with 175 members and have extended our visibility two fold by more articles in newspapers, by marketing events, our newsletter and our media marketing program.  Our Visitors Guides have been distributed to 42 states and 17 foreign countries, and will probably get all 50 states by the end of December.  Our media marketing program was included in a letter this past August.  We hired a firm out of Tallahassee Florida, Geiger’s, that works solely with destinations in terms of marketing and bringing travel writers into an area to try to promote that specific area.  Based on the way we have been going in terms of the State of Connecticut’s role in marketing and our own Greater Hartford Tourism District marketing, we decided it was in our best benefit to go ahead with this project.  From the information we gained, we hired them, we have now completed our first full year, we had two bus trips, one in October and one in July, we had 50 travel writers come into the Farmington Valley spending at least a day in Avon, one in Farmington, Canton and Simsbury, and a little in Granby, East Granby and New Hartford.  From that October trip we received 36 articles in newspapers from as far away as Denver in Colorado.  From those articles we are now up to 70 phone calls requesting information to come to the area, and we are also getting exposure from the July trip.  Each year’s program costs us about $75,000, last year.  When speaking to Geiger’s to begin the project we realized it would take three years of getting a minimum of two trips into the area for three years for your message to get out consistently for people to begin to believe in the Farmington Valley as a destination.  At this moment we have raised $40,000 for the second year programming, and are scheduling a third bus tour trip in May, part of that $40,000 is a $15,000 challenge grant from the Connecticut Office of Tourism, and we have just finished the paperwork to get that money by the end of the month.  We are presently working on raising the rest of the money which is $35,000, by asking last year’s members, trying to get corporate response.  After this three year period we are going to have some tangible statistics to report, although it may take an additional two to three years thereafter for us to really see a volume change, especially in this economic climate.

It has been quite a wonderful experience, based on those 36 articles, Geiger’s tells us it is approximately 2,192,000 people have read something about the Farmington Valley based on the circulation of those 36 articles, and if we had paid for that ourselves it could have cost us over $206,000.

The other interesting thing in terms of FVVA is that we have had to change our focus a little, we used to be strictly tourism, now we have added enhancement of economic development for the last year and a half.  The ING Corporation who took over a building in Avon Park North, they asked for 175 relocation packets plus the visitors statistics for their company, so that everyone in that new company received this information.

She reported the office gets 120 visitors into their little office every month, 20% of those are people that want to relocate, either they are sure they are going to or they are very interested in the area, so we are expanding.  She reported the other project they are currently beginning is an extension of  rails-to-trails within the area, the regional rails-to-trails services is involved in a big push to complete the entire Greenway Trail System from North Hampton to New Haven.  The regional office out of Worchester, Massachusetts has organized this meeting.  They are hoping to have State Representatives and Senators from both Massachusetts and Connecticut and state officials. She was called because The Valley is a central location and the land part of it is in Simsbury, so the morning meeting is going to be at Eno Hall on November 15th.  

Mrs. Anstey reported she would like to thank the Council for being so prompt and discussing and approving the letter to change her representation from Greater Hartford Tourism District to Central Tourism District.  This is the thing that is more up in the air than anything that she is aware of at the moment, right now officially there are five tourism districts - - we went from eleven to five.  

The Greater Hartford Tourism District is now part of Central which also includes New Britain area, North Central which is the Enfield/Suffield/Windsor Locks area and now includes most of Middlesex, so we now go from Granby, East Granby and that border all the way down to Westbrook and Essex.  We went from a 21 town organization trying to provoke tourism, we now have a 46 town organization which becomes completely unwielding.  Not only is it 46, but once it is up and running, each tourism district is allowed to appoint attractions, lodgings and restaurants, so it will be over 60 individuals attempting to sit around a board table and try to figure out what to do with approximately $900,000 in terms of marketing opportunities for 46 towns.  Chairman Hines questioned the reason for that legislation.  Mrs. Anstey reported they seemed to think that tourism is not a revenue generating entity.  The defunct 11 tourism districts do not have enough money to stay open to help switch over to the five districts, and Greater Hartford closed its doors yesterday.  The State currently is not even paying them what they have owed them for the past two months so they have no operating budget.  What we managed to do two weeks ago was try to meet with as many representatives who had gotten their approval, with not many only 15 to 20 sitting around the table, but we were able to appoint an interim executive director which is Paul Mayer who was Greater Hartford’s Executive Director.  We adopted interim by-laws and budget, which is what they had said we needed to do to get the Central Tourism District working.  We did all that in a couple of hours, and sent it off as instructed which we believe will go to the Attorney General’s Office, but there has been no word back yet.  What seems to be happening is when the funding occurs it will happen, and then the only governing body of the Central Tourism District will be its Executive Board with committees.  Mrs. Anstey reported what she is going to try to do is to position herself on there, because otherwise they will be meeting once every three to four months and there is nothing that she can do for Avon and the Valley three times a year.   Chairman Hines thanked her for the great work she is doing and the Council appreciates her report.

03/04-29  Appointment: Natural Resources Commission

On a motion made by Mrs. Hornaday, seconded by Mr. Woodford, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council table the appointment to the November 6, 2003 meeting.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

NEW BUSINESS
03/04-30  Resignation: Representative to Secret Lake

On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council accept with regret the resignation of Florence P. Stahl as Council Representative to the Secret Lake Association.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

03/04-31  Appointment: Representative to Secret Lake

On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council appoint Peter J. Marzano to serve as Council Representative to the Secret Lake Association for a term to expire December 31, 2003.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs:  Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

03/04-32  Approve Schedule of Town Council Meeting Dates
On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council approve the 2004 Town Council Meeting dates as follows:
        Thursday, January 8, 2004               7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, February 5, 2004      7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, March 4, 2004         7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, April 1, 2004         7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        MONDAY, May 3, 2004             8:30 p.m. – AVON SENIOR CENTER:  ANNUAL BUDGET MEETING
Thursday, May 6, 2004           7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, June 3, 2004          7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, July 1, 2004          7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, August 5, 2004                7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, September 2, 2004     7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, October 7, 2004               7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, November 4, 2004      7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, December 2, 2004      7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
        Thursday, January 6, 2005               7:30 p.m. – Town Hall
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

03/04-33  Approve: Joint Town Service Agreement for Diagnostic Services for People with Special Needs, Farmington Valley ARC, Inc.
Chairman Hines reported this sounds like just an extension of what we are doing. The Town Manager reported that is correct.

On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council authorize the Town Manager to sign on behalf of the Town of Avon the Joint Town Service Agreement for Diagnostic Services for People with Special Needs with Farmington Valley ARC, Inc.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

03/04-34  Approve: Agreement with University of Connecticut Center for Survey Research and Public Policy
The Town Manager reported part of our update of the Comprehensive Plan of Development includes the solicitation of opinions, input and information from the residents of the Town.  The Town Planner reported this is going to be one of the earliest parts of the plan of development update, and we would like to hire the University of Connecticut to conduct a scientific telephone poll for the Planning & Zoning Commission.  Use of telephone is thought to be the most sophisticated and reliable way of conducting a survey, so that the survey results would be statistically accurate.  They will survey 400 households randomly, and will keep calling until they get 400 results.  When calling the persons caller ID would say the University of Connecticut which they say goes a long way towards keeping people on the telephone as opposed to an unfamiliar company name.  When they have 400 survey results, the University will analyze the results and then will present the results to the Town with a power point presentation and attend as many meetings as we might ask them to attend with us.  Mr. Woodford questioned what they are going to ask.  The Town Planner reported they are going to ask a lot of questions relating to planning growth and development, how people value the acquisition of open space, we are going to give them opportunities to rank different types of services that the community is providing right now, such as public works, ask them to comment on the Town’s infrastructure, the Town’s roadways, road network, ask them questions so that we can get some background and try and equate some of the responses as to how to serve the demographic profile of the community.  We are going to get some information on how long they lived in the community and we are going to ask some questions on income, although we are told that people are reluctant to give out that information, also ask questions about schools.  The Town Planner reported some of that background information is to make sure that we have a statistically representative sample across the Town of people we are analyzing, the same thing with male, female, we want an equal number of male and female respondents as well. This is a standard way of operating and updating the comprehensive plan, to style the public opinion poll to see what is on people’s minds with respect to growth and development and conservation issues, and hopefully they will give the Planning & Zoning Commission some valuable information on moving forward.  

Mr. Shea reported there is line between the Planning & Zoning Commission and the Town for the sake of the discretion of the Town Council on policy, so how does this survey bridge all of the different boards, would there not be a comingling of what one board thinks they are going to do versus what another board should be doing.  For instance open space - the Town Council make the decision on whether to purchase open space or not.  The Town Manager reported back in 1998 we asked the Planning & Zoning Commission to give us the top listing of the top five parcels of property that they though we should be looking at, and they did give us a memo to that effect.  Mr. Shea questioned what if we survey 400 people and 200 or more say they do not want open space, develop it, he would not look at that as being representative of the community.  The Town Manager reported then he would look at it as interesting, and it may not be representative, and that is where you have to draw an opinion from the data and make some decisions, if we have to make decisions concerning where it sits on the priority list for open space.

The Town Planner reported what the University told us, with respect to the overall base questions, as with all questions obviously it is important how you word it, so the result is visibly valid.  If you ask the question are you in favor of preserving more open space or rural character in the community, you might predict that 95% respondents would say yes, hopefully they would like the community the way it was.  But a better way to ask the question would be – at the present time approximately $200 of your annual tax bill has historically been used for the acquisition of open space, do you feel as though that is a wise use of your tax dollars, and would you be willing to increase it by an additional $50, to put a number on it which might result in the acquisition of x number of additional acres.  The Planning & Zoning Commission has indicated that they want to be in control, but receive guidance from the University of Connecticut.  They want to have a substantial amount of input in drafting the survey, and drafting the questions then get advice on how to word them so that the results will be scientifically supportive.   

Mr. Shea questioned whether someone was hired to work with the Town Planner on this.  The Town Manager reported we have a part time planner that is working on the Plan of Development, not necessarily on this component.  The Town Planner reported we have a part time planner who has been reporting here to the Town Hall two days a week, that is helping assemble a lot of his background information.  In fact he just completed the power point presentation for the Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday night, a demographic profile of the community using a lot of different resources, mainly the census results of 2000 and a lot of other state sources.  It is comparison data to see where Avon stands in comparison to the Farmington Valley and also state wide, in areas relating to income, housing growth, population growth, school enrollment projections and things of that nature.  That was part one, for part two we are working to do a build on analysis, which is always a very interesting exercise, and unlike the way we did it in 1998/1990 this time we are using some computer technology to help us, it is the geographic information based system that you have heard a lot about over the last few years.  What it allows us to do is to take the base map of the community showing 6,000 individual parcels of land, linked to the Assessors’ tax assessment data, first of all determine the vacant land which is already protected because they are owned by the Town or the Land Trust or the State, and to superimpose on that some other natural resource layers like steep slopes, wetlands, and flood plains so that can be discounted.  Then to build on top of that a zoning layer because each zoning district permits different types of zoning densities, also other variables that we have in the zoning regulations like our developable land formula and the computer sorts all that out and will give you a projection, but we must use people to figure this out, but the computer does the analysis for us.  Within the next couple of weeks we will be very close to completing the exercise, we should have some results that will be able to help us predict the future growth potential that the community has assuming that there were no major changes from the current zoning map.  No significant rezonings of land, no significant projects being approved with multi family developments that would generally yield a higher density, so we will know how many housing units we have to build out, and then we can make some projections based on family size as to what the maximum build out in the community will be.  

Mr. Shea reported we would need the information for our joint January meeting.  Chairman Hines reported the Town Planner gave a good review at a school enrollment building committee meeting, but any updated information would be good too.  Mrs. Hornaday reported she would be interested in seeing this, she would like to review it as it really sounds interesting and it is the kind of background information that is good for the members of the Town Council even if we do not deal with it directly to have so that when residents ask us, we can give them a little information and then steer them in the right direction for more details.  The Town Planner reported he will copy the Town Council on some of the interim reports when we start to generate them.  The Planning & Zoning Commission will be providing opportunities for public input, as there are a series of meetings, leading up to a final public hearing they will have for the adoption of the plan.  The Chairman of the Planning & Zoning Commission and he put together an article for the newsletter on the comprehensive plan and some issues relating to growth and development and in that article we mentioned that we always welcome opportunities for help along the way.  Mrs. Hornaday reported people do like that, they are more interested in the comprehensive plan than you are sometimes aware, very interested in the long range plan for the town and they ask about it.     

On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council authorize the Town Manager to sign on behalf of the Town of Avon the Agreement with the University of Connecticut Center for Survey Research and Public Policy, to conduct a survey as part of updating the Comprehensive Plan of Development.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

03/04-35  Review and Discussion: Resolution on Arbitration
Chairman Hines reported we may not want to do a resolution, we may want just to have the Town Manager write a letter endorsing some improvements to it.  The Town Manager reported in terms of providing something to our legislative delegation, a letter specifically is proper and we can also enclose this resolution and indicate that we support the intent of it.

On a motion made by Mrs. Hornaday, seconded by Mr. Woodford, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council authorize the Town Manager to send a letter outlining the Town’s position to our Legislators regarding Binding Arbitration.       
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

03/04-36  Request for Use of Town Hall: Dr. David Schiller, Connecticut Chiropractic Council’s Doctors Speaking Bureau
The Town Manager reported Dr. Schiller called and wanted to set up a free clinic in the Avon Room, and signed up for it.  When we saw the request, we had him fill out an application for the use of the Town Hall, and he was told that it had to come before the Town Council.  The issue here is we have not allowed generally private profit making organizations, to come in, and even though it is a free clinic.  It could open it up to all kinds of businesses to do this type of thing at a Town facility. Chairman Hines reported he has reservations about it and Mr. Woodford  reported he does also.  The Town Manager reported it is on the agenda because it was something new in terms of the use of the facilities.  Chairman Hines reported the Town Manager should send a letter stating in general that we are not opposed specifically to his issue, as he is working on a good issue, but for the reason the Town Manager stated we have not gotten in this type of use.  Mrs. Hornaday reported her observation has been that these kinds of presentations about health issues are usually held at the Senior/Community Center.  It was the consensus of the Town Council to have the Town Manager write a letter to Dr. Schiller stating our decision.  

On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town council add to the Agenda Items: # 03/04-37 Resignation from the Water Pollution Control Authority and 03/04-38 Appointment to the Water Pollution Control Authority
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

03/04-37 Resignation from the Water Pollution Control Authority
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council accept with regret the resignation of William J. Severni from the Water Pollution Control Authority.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs:  Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

03/04-38 Appointment to the Water Pollution Control Authority
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council appoint Michael J. Farrell to serve on the Water Pollution Control Authority for a term to expire December 31, 2003.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

TOWN MANAGER’S REPORT/MISCELLANEOUS
The Town Manager reported there is a memo from the Planning & Zoning Commission concerning the possibility and the need for a noise ordinance, and they would like us to consider that.  He questioned whether it should be put on a future agenda for review and discussion.  Chairman Hines reported we should have a discussion on it right now.  The best of his understanding is that it is purely for construction and not lawnmowers or other items, he also heard that it is not needed for Sunday because we have blue laws which already limit that.  It is only needed for six days a week, and probably more early mornings, and evenings, and he would say that he sees construction going on in his neighborhood seven days a week, he does not hear it early in the morning, but he has not found it to be loud late at night.  It should be something seven days a week, and something that we do not have to have very expensive equipment to measure, it has to be something that we can easily say yes, this is a violation, or it is not.  Mr. Woodford questioned what is precipitating this. The Town Manager the problems are coming from those in the areas near the Buckingham Subdivision, building in Northgate and also up in the Lofgren Road area, where the contractors and the sub contractors are in there at daylight and going until darkness, and people cannot sleep, and they are going on Saturdays and Sundays sometimes – and despite repeated warning from our enforcement people, despite the fact that we have had as a condition of the subdivision permits that they have hours of operation in essence – we are  constantly spending time up there.  What we are looking at is, because of the complaining, people come to the Planning & Zoning Commission and particularly to our enforcement people, the issue has trickled up to the Planning & Zoning Commission and they feel that it is really a Town Council issue in the form of a noise ordinance that would prohibit construction activities.  

We have threatened builders and developers that we would end up having to pass something if they did not conform.  Part of the problem too, is the time of year that this is going on, a lot of people have their windows open during the spring, summer and fall, during the winter it is probably not going to be as much of an issue.  The fact of the matter is we still have a lot of building going on in Town.

Mr. Shea reported in the Town Planner’s letter, the last paragraph states that our Attorney would not get involved in the sound levels or certain types of activities or how it is generated, it would just be before a certain time and after a certain time, on the week days and week ends.  The Town Manager reported we do not have anything specific, the Town Planner spoke with the Attorney to make sure that we could construct something, that is was reasonably possible to put something in place that would hold up under a challenge.  And that is how they crafted it, conceptually, at this point.  We do not have anything in place, we have used the nuisance provisions of the State Statutes periodically to go after people, by the Police.  What very often ends up happening is that we, meaning the Staff, are the complainants, we sign the legal complaint with the Police Department and the Police Department goes out.  Many of the homeowners do not want to sign the complaints.  Mr. Shea reported he is not opposed especially the way the Attorney and Town Planner lays it out here, but what if somebody has a party in their neighborhood, would it be only construction?  Chairman Hines reported it would only be for construction, that is definitely the way they want it.  It would be purely hours and days for construction only, for this say 7:00 a.m. to certain time at night.  The Town Manager reported we would have to let the attorneys craft it, it would be something similar to that or until darkness or to a specific time.  Chairman Hines reported there can also be holidays, and how you handle that, and limiting it to weekdays, contractors like the opportunities to get the job done, with good weather in the summer.  Mr. Shea reported they deserve the opportunity to do that also.  He questioned whether the Police Chief is aware of this.  The Town Manager he is aware of it, they may feel that if we are going to have something, from the conceptualized way that it is set up, it is the easiest type of thing to enforce.  Mrs. Hornaday reported it is a problem in the western part of Town as we are between two ridges, at her house we can hear every announcement at the Holiday Ridge, so that gives you an idea, and the people who live further up they also get more sound from the work at the development that might be the case elsewhere.  The Chief told her that he had talked to them, and told the company that their trucks were not to leave up there before 8:00 a.m., and the very next morning she was awakened at 7:20 a.m. by the big trucks.

The Town Manager reported what we are seeing is that the Town has grown to the point where we have a density of population, where we are going to get more and more of these types of things that we have not had in the past, strictly because of the density.  We probably have a few people in Town that would love to have a more detailed noise ordinance where they could get their neighbor to stop mowing the grass or something else, and we have specifically tried to stay away from that.  But the writing is on the wall, and if you look at other towns in the area, West Hartford has a very large regulation on noise, they have trained technicians that go out with decibel meters, and a lot of it is strictly due to the fact that you have a lot of people living closer together.  

The Town Manager reported he does not like to have more ordinances to enforce, but we have a problem.  We have complaints, people calling in that we cannot resolve them, and we need something to handle these things.  Once the building slows down, and particularly if we have a build out analysis, a noise ordinance related to construction will probably have relatively minimal applicability because there will not be all that much construction going on.  So it is a reactive measure to take care of a problem that is existing now because of the significant amount of building that is going on in the community.  Mr. Shea questioned whether everyone would be in favor of the Attorney drafting something that we look at.  Chairman Hines reported we could look at a very preliminary draft, then decide whether it is something we want to move ahead on.  The Town Manager reported we could have a draft prepared by the Attorneys. Chairman Hines reported we do not want to spend a lot money, just a draft, and let Planning & Zoning look at it at the same time. Mrs. Hornaday reported definitely just to do with construction.  Chairman Hines reported definitely nothing else.

The Town Manager reported included in the packet is a copy of a letter he wrote to UNICO about the dedication of a bench on behalf of Amy Toyen.  They came up with the idea about ten days ago and wanted to be able to order it and have it in place and dedicated over Avon Day.  Chairman Hines questioned where it would be located.  The Town Manager reported the Town Planner is determining the location for that.

The Town Manager reported also included is information on a refrigerator for the Senior Center, the Seniors have voted to buy a refrigerator, we have not received an official letter in terms of this.  It is his understanding that half of it will be dedicated strictly to the Seniors, the other half will be open to other groups who use the center.  It is a two door industrial stainless steel model, that you would see in an institutional environment, and that one of the existing refrigerators is going to be moved into the mechanical room and used primarily for ice and storage, so there will have to be a plumbing connection put into that mechanical room.

The Town Manager reported the Library, pursuant to Council comments at the last meeting, the Library Director has contacted neighbors, there is one who is interested in selling.  It is the one that  would be top on our list for acquisition, the one south westerly of the Library.  He questioned whether the Town Council would want him to move ahead and start discussing anything with them.  The second part of it that the Director did was to go to our GIS system, and we included a copy of a GIS map that shows the circumferential half mile, mile or mile and a half that the Council wanted us to look at for all of the vacant property, there is a narrative and also a colored portion of the map as to what pieces of property are within that center from the existing library.  He questioned what the Council would want him to tell the Library at this point in time, other than you have the information and are considering it.  Chairman Hines reported there are two things, one is that Mr. Carlson should be allowed to look at this first, as this was his request, and second we would like to look at all of the information you would be getting from the Board of Education on the school, then we can look at this total.  Mr. Shea reported assuming that this property is not a bad thing.  Chairman Hines reported one of the things that we should decide right away, is if we are going to expand the Library, and his feeling is that 50,000 square feet is out of the question anyway, not only today but any time in the future.  So that we should be going with something a little more reasonable, perhaps 35,000 or 40,000, and that is a good site, then he would recommend going for the land.  Mr. Woodford questioned the financing of the land with the house on it.  The Town Manager reported it would probably depend upon what we could come up with and what we wanted to do, for the land you are talking probably close to $250,000 from surplus, then restore it later, but he has not received any numbers from the Assessor as yet.  

Chairman Hines reported once Mr. Carlson has looked at this, we should discuss this with the Library Board, but 50,000 square feet we cannot justify.  Mrs. Hornaday reported after the last meeting she remembered them coming once before and telling us that the direction of the Library was not to hold volumes.  

Mr. Shea reported he would like to focus on the property with the house on it.   The Town Manager reported he will report to the Library that the Town Council reviewed it, but that Mr. Carlson was not here, and it will be discussed at the next meeting, and that there seems to be some interest potentially in moving ahead with the land acquisition on Sunnybrook, after he discusses it with the Assessor. The people to the east are willing to talk as well, but the owners on the south west are anxious to do something.  Mrs. Hornaday reported if this is a good buy and this property can be used for parking or something else, but if we are going to find ourselves with this property and it does not work out with other people in the area for the expansion project. Mr. Woodford reported he does not think we would need any other properties.  Chairman Hines was in agreement.  Mr. Shea reported whether we need them or not, they are not all going to come to that conclusion at the same time, and we do not want to miss the opportunity. The Town Manager reported he will make sure the Director gets back to them and indicates we are going to have discussion on this at the next meeting.   

The Town Manager reported on September 13th, there was the first exercise of the Regional Disaster Drill, integrated in with the Bradley Air Crash Disaster Plan of which Avon was one of the communities in that.  We got very good reports back on our people, and mainly the Police Department, Dispatchers and Jamie McCaffrey in particular who was literally up at the site of the exercise.   We finally moved in two years from having nothing on a regional basis in terms of a Regional Local Emergency Planning Committee to one where we have one in place, and we have created a regional plan, we have exercised the plan, and we are now in the process, which he received an e-mail on yesterday, they are coming out with modifications to the first plan based upon the exercise.   So we have a system in place, it is now working, Chief Austin of the West Hartford Fire Department is the Chair of the LEPC and has done a fantastic job in moving that whole project along.  Chairman Hines reported Chief Austin gave a review to the CRCOG Policy Board a couple weeks ago, and he gave a copy of the charts to the Town Manager to review from the presentation.  
          
EXECUTIVE SESSION:  Litigation/Negotiation
On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council go into Executive Session at 9:30 p.m.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.

On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council come out of Executive Session at 10:10 p.m.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Shea and Woodford voted in favor. 

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 p.m.

Attest:



Caroline B. LaMonica
Town Clerk