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AVON TOWN COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
AUGUST 5, 2004
I. 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: Carlson, Shea and Woodford.
II. PUBLIC HEARING: None
III. MINUTES OF PRECEDING MEETING
On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council approve the minutes of the July 1, 2004 meeting as read.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Carlson and Woodford voted in favor. Mr. Shea abstained, absent from meeting.
IV. COMMUNICATION FROM AUDIENCE
Diane Carney, 36 Rosewood Road, reported she is one of those that uses the Senior Center twice a month, from September to June. We have in addition to members from Avon, members from Farmington, Simsbury and Granby. We are the Avon Arts Association, and I am the Vice President. The condition of the chairs is embarrassing, they are so dirty and stained and she wonders how we get them cleaned or replaced. Chairman Hines reported it is a budget item, purely a cost item.
The Town Manager reported if we were to replace all of them, it would cost close to $20,000. Chairman Hines reported you can tell with our budget problems, why we cut out some of those things. There are many items we decided not to do, others we put back in such as replacing more of the old windows in Town Hall, but we try to do our best, those are the kind of decisions that come up. The Town Manager reported maybe we could do something on a matching basis, if your group or the Seniors would like to consider that. Mrs. Carney reported there are many organizations that use the Center, and we, as the Avon Arts Association, contributed to the new stove there.
Peter Marzano, of Secret Lake, reported he would like to go over a few things. At their summer meeting of the Secret Lake Association, the members discussed the gate at the south end of the street. As a result of those discussions there was agreement to look at speed bumps, and stop signs as an alternative to a gate. We have discussed several styles and sizes of speed bumps available and will review several other areas as to stop sign locations and sizes of speed bumps, and are also working with the Fire Department and Police Department.
We have had problems with water, and we are pursuing putting in water into our community. One of the benefits of that for the Canton and Avon Water Company would be that they would connect the two water systems through a main that would go at the north end from Canton Water Company to the south end along Secret Lake Road to the Avon Water Company. He has had discussions with the Avon Water Company, and has been provided with a preliminary estimate of what that may cost, on a per household basis. It consists of two components, one is the main itself, the second component are the drops that would go to the property line in front of each house. He has had preliminary discussions with the Town Manager about how a project like that might be financed, similar to Lakeview, and is following through with
the Avon Water Company, coming up with a number and then discuss it again with the Town Manager, then to the members of Secret Lake to see whether they would like to vote for that. Chairman Hines reported that would be combining the two water companies together. Mr. Marzano reported there is some interest in doing that. There is some benefit to everybody involved to have those water systems connected. We do not have fire hydrants in Secret Lake, there has always been the opportunity to use the lake water, but having hydrants would be of benefit to the residents and the Fire Department.
Chairman Hines reported there is a real difference regarding the financing of the water for Lakeview verses Secret Lake. At Lakeview we had polluted wells, and that is not the situation in Secret Lake, where we already have sewers. We looked at Lakeview purely from the pollution example to help them out. I do not see it as much an emergency in Secret Lake, that is a different set of circumstances that is going to have to be looked at very carefully, and with all of the other budget problems. For many years we have been considering looking for another area for the fire house, and now as the problems develop in Secret Lake we need to get it out of there, it is just not the right place for it anymore.
Chairman Hines reported with regard to a new site for a firehouse, the general comments we received from the Fire Department was that they were not too interested in the Huckleberry Hill area. The Town Manager reported they want one on Lovely Street. Chairman Hines reported even there they are saying they would not get volunteers, but we cannot think that way today, as this is probably the last firehouse we are going to build, and it has to be in an area where you have to service it, and in the long term we are going to become a paid fire department. So if we are going to build that firehouse we should be thinking about that as the ultimate use, and not in their terms of where they are going to get volunteers. The Town Manager reported some of the complicating factors with that, which he is
waiting for the Fire Department to return with - - what are their requirements so that we can start looking at what we would need in terms of acreage. They were talking about a relatively extensive training facility, and other things there. Although he has informally approached residents in the Lovely Street area who said they would be willing to work with the Town, but that is as far as we got as we do not know exactly what we would be talking about in working with them. You are probably talking about an estimated project in the neighborhood of $1.5 to $3 million dollars, if we are going to have this extensive training program, for the buildings, land and the project entirely. Mr. Shea reported in light of the cost - the landfill is not an option? The Town Manager reported this is where this gets complicated, one of their other plans was to use the landfill as the training facility, and just build a two bay station somewhere else. But they have not settled in on what they
want, whether it be a training facility up at Company 4, at the landfill, or build another station. The Town Manager reported he is hoping that out of the Capital Improvement Program process we will get some clarification on that from the Fire Department, as to where and how much in terms of acreage, the space, and a decision from them as to where they want to be.
Mr. Shea reported in this discussion it appears as though the landfill area is not going to be considered a priority option. The planning process should involve the Fire Department, the Town Council and Town Staff, but we should start with the land we own, before we look at purchasing land. The problem he is having is that there should be more consideration given to the landfill. The Town Manager reported he can write them a letter indicating that is the Town Council’s preference, or secondly that we have them in at a meeting prior to them getting into their capital budgeting process in November and early December, to discuss this issue so that the Council can give them the benefit of your guidance, so that when they come back in November or December they have a plan that fits in with what the Council is
looking for. Chairman Hines reported that makes sense, and he always thought that the area of the landfill could be used for recreation and for the fire department. Mr. Carlson reported he agrees. He would like the fire department to come to us with their strategic plan, this is what they need, and to make their case and have it proven out. He questions why we need to have our own training facility, and he is still not sold on it. Mr. Shea reported it has to be regional. Mr. Carlson reported that is a costly facility that is not going to be used 24/7, 365 days a year, in that case why are we not talking with other towns about all the above and build that into it. It may be easier to have our own, but it might not be feasible. Chairman Hines reported it might be appropriate to send a letter to them, about all of the things we had discussion on tonight. Mr. Woodford reported we do not have a preference at this point, and I do not think
we can at this point. The Town Manager reported he can phrase it by using the issues which have been brought up - use of Town land versus purchasing.
Mr. Shea reported he does not want to purchase land, based on all of the discussions we have had in the past year, that is the least viable option for him. He further reported as we plot out these projects, we are also planning out when we are going to face the costs that have turned into a million dollar exercise every time we do it. The Town Manager reported this issue came up at the time we sold the site on Avonwood Road, then again in the capital budget process because the fire department was concerned about us selling the site.
V. COMMUNICATION FROM COUNCIL
Mr. Woodford reported tonight is Stephanie’s last night as Avon’s Hartford Courant reporter. “Stephanie, well done - you did a great job.” Chairman Hines reported on behalf of the Town Council, Board of Finance, Board of Education, Planning & Zoning Commission, all of the boards have felt they have had excellent objective reporting due to your efforts. It was really rare for us to see that kind of effort and we wish you well. We hope you will be back here. Stephanie – thanks.
Chairman Hines reported we received a letter from CCM on the Ethics bills, that came up this past year, however the final version never got out of committee. Surely with all the problems this year that we had on ethics, it is going to get through and CCM has taken the lead and came up with a document, and requested our comments. What I would like to do is put a document together by the end of this month, and get all of your comments. I will try to put a summary document together that says here are the things that we like and what we do not. There are quite a few things that he does not like about it, but there are some things that are good too. If anyone has any comments get them to him by the end of the month.
Chairman Hines reported during the budget process with the Board of Finance, Public Hearings and the Town Meeting, there were several residents who spoke about uncontrolled growth as being the problem in Avon. He does not think it is but believes binding arbitration is the biggest one. For instance, in West Hartford they do not have the growth that we have, and they have all kinds of budget problems. In any case, at this time it would be appropriate for the Town Council to send a letter to the Planning & Zoning Commission, asking them to look into this situation. He would like to outline what could be in that letter - indicating during these budget meetings some people said that uncontrolled growth is the problem, and the Town ought to be doing something about it. While the Planning & Zoning Commission is looking at updating the Comprehensive Plan of Development, it is an appropriate time for them to be evaluating this. If you look at the policies and regulations that
Planning & Zoning has put in over the years, they have done a very good job in helping to control the growth, especially after the largest growth we had which was in the 60’s. We want them to continue that effort, and to try to look at anything in either regulations or zoning. Because there are some people that still feel the Town is growing too fast, we also want them to continue on the very responsible basis they have done, so that we do not institute new policies that are not appropriate and that are going to cause all kinds of legal problems. He would like to say in the letter that we appreciate the efforts they have done, and are looking forward to the results of the Comprehensive Plan, and we urge them to consider our thoughts.
Mr. Woodford reported first of all, we have had very controlled growth, and the Planning & Zoning Commission has done an excellent job. Secondly, he is sure that they are aware of the comments that have been made. Say, here are some items, to keep this issue in mind, and that is exactly what we think and in that frame it would be fine. Mr. Shea agreed, but nothing critical. Chairman Hines reported exactly, just something positive.
VI. OLD BUSINESS
03/04-103 Appointment: Planning & Zoning Commission
On a motion made by Mrs. Hornaday, seconded by Mr. Carlson, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council appoint Pamela V. Samul to serve on the Planning & Zoning Commission for a term to expire December 31, 2007.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Carlson, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.
04/05-09 Appointment: Board of Finance
On a motion made by Mrs. Hornaday, seconded by Mr. Woodford, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council appoint Catherine M. Durdan to serve on the Board of Finance for a term to expire December 31, 2005.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Carlson, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.
VII. NEW BUSINESS
04/05-10 Acceptance of Gift: $500, Avon Junior Women’s Club
On a motion made by Mrs. Hornaday, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council accept with gratitude and thanks for the Avon Junior Women’s Club gift of $500 to be used by the Police Department to help fund their “Use of Force Alternative Program”.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Carlson, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.
04/05-11 Authorization to Accept State Grant: $93,000 Buckingham Fields
On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
BE IT RESOLVED, That Philip K. Schenck, Jr., Town Manager of the Town of Avon be and hereby is authorized to execute on behalf of the Town of Avon an Open Space Grant Agreement with the State of Connecticut for financial assistance to construct the Buckingham Road Athletic Complex at 10 Buckingham Road (CSAP 2004-34).
IN ADDITION, That Philip K. Schenck, Jr. was appointed Town Manager. His term of office began on April 17, 1978 and will continue indefinitely. As the Town Manager, Philip K. Schenck, Jr. serves as the Chief Executive Officer for the Town of Avon, and is duly authorized to enter into agreements and contracts on behalf of the Town of Avon.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Carlson, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.
04/05-12 Review and Approve FY05/06 Budget Schedule
The Town Manager reported we will schedule the Capital and Budget meetings beginning in November at our regular meeting on the 4th, then the special meeting the 3rd Thursday, then finish it up at the first meeting in December.
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
04/05-13 Acceptance of Gift: Rails-to-Trails Shelter Avon/Canton Rotary Club
Mr. Carlson questioned whether the shelter would look like the one in Farmington. The Town Manager reported he is not sure that it would look exactly like that, but there will be a common theme of all of them all the way through. It would be a three sided shelter maintained by the Rotary Club, and it is being done in conjunction with Farmington, and the Trails Council Rotary will maintain them as well. Mr. Woodford reported the opening should be towards the parking lot, and should be located appropriately as you want to have visibility from the safety standpoint.
On a motion made by Mr. Carlson, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council accept the gift of a Rails-to-Trails shelter from the Avon/Canton Rotary Club, to be located on Town property at the Rhodes/Thompson Road parking site, to be built and maintained by the Avon/Canton Rotary Club.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Carlson, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.
VIII. TOWN MANAGER’S REPORT/MISCELLANEOUS
The Town Manager reported he indicated in a letter that Pond Place Association is talking with Ensign/Bickford Realty about the potential transfer of 26 to 28 acres that Stub Pond is located on. This goes back at least 20 years, off and on over that period of time, with regard to the future of the pond and the dam, and the costs of maintaining the dam. Pond Place is interested in purchasing it, and Ensign/Bickford is in the process of negotiating that.
The Town Manager reported he met with representatives from Sconsett Point, and they are interested in having the Town take over the road, and also to have irration pumps installed in the pond that the Town owns, which has algae. He informed them that they can approach the Town Council, but numerous times that people with private roads have come before the Council the Town has not been willing to take on the responsibility of those private roads. The Town Manager reported he did tell them that we had in the past accepted one or two private roads after they had been brought up to Town standards, or after we had given them a waiver, such as Hawley Hill Road where we required they repave the entire road before we would accept it. They are also concerned, as there is room in there for more units, 4 cluster
pod units, northerly of the existing ones. He suggested that if that plan comes before Planning & Zoning, that at the appropriate time they suggest to the Commission that the road be brought up to standards.
The Town Manager reported there is a background memo from both the Town Clerk and the State, in terms of the size of the vault and some of the issues that the Administrator found with regard to the vault area. He asked the Town Clerk to speak with the architect we have had over the years working on the Town Hall master plan, which is Glenn Arbonese, to get some preliminary ideas of what it would take to expand the vault to meet the necessary requirements of the State. The Town Clerk reported we do understand that it is very overcrowded, unfortunately the morning the State was in there, there were many taxpayers and title searchers in the office. Some people come in and spend a good part of the day working in the vault. She spoke with the Architect, Glenn Arbonese, and he is going to give us a very
preliminary cost estimate for something like a 20’ x 30’ addition which would be about 500 square feet of additional space. She does not imagine the cost may be too great, but we do have some funds from the Historic Grant, that she can apply to paying for his preliminary architectural study. Before the State came in - in March the Town Clerk had already spoken to a group called Dupont Systems to come in and assess the space. They came in this week, they were given the letter from the State, and will speak directly to the State to work towards a solution, as the State indicated problems, but did not offer any solutions.
The Town Manager reported the vault is becoming an issue that we had managed to avoid over the last ten years at various times when we have been inspected, but now apparently they are starting to put the pressure on, and now with the study we will have some idea of what this may cost if we decide to move ahead and deal with it. Mrs. Hornaday reported one thing to be considered also, if we add office space over in the other buildings and bring out some tables from the vault. She has title searched in some communities where the documents are kept in the secured vault but the people using them bring them out to another place, that frees up space for storage, however in this case there is not space in the office.
The Town Manager reported there is one issue that we cannot dodge, and that is the issue of security, and one of the things that the State talked about in the report was in essence having a gate keeper there so that nobody can walk into the vault and take things out of the vault, and leave with it, and we lose things. We have a very good focus right now the way it is set up, and we have not had any problems with that, but there is always the potential that we could lose a document. When we are designing this we have got to look at this somewhat from a security aspect. The Town Clerk reported the last time we did renovations to Building 2, we did have approval from the State to place that vault door where it is placed today, but this is a different Public Records Administator and she indicated she was
concerned about security, however, literally all of our records are on microfilm.
The Town Manager reported we have not received a letter from the Fire Department, but Mike Farrell called for permission to use the 10 Sunnybrook Road property for a training exercise, no live burns but they will have synthetic smoke generators. Mr. Woodford reported we made a commitment to that neighborhood not to do anything that would cause a problem. Mr. Carlson reported it is a heavily populated neighborhood, and you are going to have a lot of volunteer firemen’s cars, trucks, and what have you. Mr. Woodford reported he does not like it. The consensus of the Town Council was not to permit a training session.
The Town Manager reported as requested he checked with Canton on the issue of their facilities coordinator. In discussions, as part of the school building program in Canton, the Board of Education had asked for an additional custodial and maintenance people for the new school. At that point in time, and there are subsequent longer term school issues that are beginning to appear in Canton, as they have over 450 lots being subdivided in Canton, they are beginning to look seriously at some longer range planning for schools and education. What they are doing is to go ahead and try to catch the maintenance issue before it happened and see if they could go ahead and dovetail both the Town and Board of Education maintenance into one operation. To do that they set up a sub-committee with one member of the
Board of Selectmen, one member of the Board of Education and one member from their permanent Building Committee. They came up with a job description and this new position will report to this three member committee. What they are looking at is combining 17 Board of Education custodial and maintenance employees and 4 town custodial maintenance employees into a new Facilities Unit that will report to a new Facilities Director, that will report to the sub committee. They are going to try that out, but not hire any new custodial or maintenance people for the new school until they have tried this concept. It is designed as a preventive concept, preventing hiring more custodial staff and maintenance staff on the Board of Education side. Now there may be a request that comes with the expansion of the high school, and as you know on our side we do not have any custodial people, we contract all of our custodial services. We do have grounds
maintenance people in Public Works, and we are already doing a significant amount of field maintenance because we are already using each others fields, so we work pretty cooperatively that way. He questioned whether he should investigate it further and come up with a more formal report. Chairman Hines reported we should take a look at it in a year or so, then see how it works by talking to the Chief Administrative Officer.
Chairman Hines reported in general we have made some improvements in our schools, especially with that maintenance committee several years ago, who came to the conclusion to not bring it all together just put adequate funds in there to do it, and things have been better. Mrs. Hornaday reported she would like to review and get an update on that program, partly because it was one of the things that the residents also brought up during the budget hearings, and to review this when we already have all of that work that was already done, to have our Maintenance Committee look at it again, to see if there have been changes that might need to be looked at. Mr. Woodford reported the outside maintenance would not be that difficult to consolidate into one operation, to become a more efficient operation. Chairman
Hines reported the Town Manager should talk with Dr. Kisiel about bringing that committee back, and the suggestion to have one purchasing person for the both the Town and Board of Education should be addressed. The Town Manager to include these suggestions in a letter to Dr. Kisiel.
The Town Manager reported we have the quarterly financial report. These are obviously not audited and we have not made year end transfers, but there are some significant information to bring your attention to. One is an estimated statement of revenues/expenditures and changes in fund balance, the estimated June 30th 2004 undesignated general fund balance is about $800,000 less and that is due to primarily to the $500,000 that was used to balance the budget, the balance of this is for the purchase of the Rendell’s property. Some of that will be offset by corresponding revenues, in other areas, but generally that comes out to a fund balance of 5.75%, but that is just an estimate, it reflects the 03/04 conveyance tax revenues. There is a list of negative variances in various
departments and activities over the year, some of these have comments, the details are in those next few pages, these have already been taken care of in the year end transfers, approved earlier.
The Town Manager reported he signed today the agreements on the Sprint Tower, that will now be moving forward.
IX. EXECUTIVE SESSION (Labor Negotiations, Property Purchase/Sale Negotiations)
On a motion made by Mr. Carlson, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council go into Executive Session at 8:50 p.m.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Carlson, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.
On a motion made by Mr. Carlson, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council come out of Executive Session at 9:40 p.m.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Carlson, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.
On a motion made by Mr. Carlson, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council authorize the Town Manager to sign on behalf of the Town of Avon the Purchase and Sale Agreement by and between Brian M. McLaughlin and Charlotte H. McLaughlin for the purchase of 267 Country Club Road.
RESOLVED: That the Town Council favorably recommends to the Board of Finance an appropriation not to exceed $348,700 from Account #01-0390-43913 General Fund, Other Financing Sources, Undesignated Fund Balance and Account #01-8700-58000, General Fund, Other Financing Uses, Interfund /transfer-our to Account #02-0390-43918, Capital Projects Fund (Facility & Equipment), Other Financing Sources, Interfund Operating Transfers In and:
Account #02-4857-5213 – Capital Projects Fund (Facil & Equip), Property
Purchase 267 Country Club Road Legal Fees: $ 500;
Account #02-4857-52219 – Capital Projects Fund
(Facil&Equip) Property Purchase 267 Country Club Rd Other: $ 62,000;
Account #02-4857-52239 - Capital Projects Fund (Facil&Equip),
Property Purchase 267 Country Club Rd Materials Other: $ 6,200;
Account #02-4857-53344 – Capital Projects Fund (Facil&Equip)
Property Purchase 267 Country Club Rd Land & Building $ 300,000
$ 368,700
For the purpose of funding the purchase of land and building at 267 Country Club Road and estimated associated environmental, demolition and site costs.
RESOLVED: That the Town Council schedule a public hearing for August 31, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. to consider the purchase of 267 Country Club Road.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs: Hines, Carlson, Shea and Woodford voted in favor.
X. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.
ATTEST:
Caroline B. LaMonica
Town Clerk
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