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AVON TOWN COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 5, 2006
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. in the Selectmen’s Chamber by Chairman Carlson. Members present: Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs Shea, Woodford and Zacchio.
PUBLIC HEARING:
06/07-11 Sanitary Sewer Easement, 265 Lovely Street
Mr. Zacchio reported he is disqualifying himself from discussion and voting on this item because of a potential conflict of interest.
The Clerk read the call of the public hearing as follows:
“LEGAL NOTICE
TOWN OF AVON
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
Notice is hereby given that the Town Council of the Town of Avon, Connecticut will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday September 5, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. at the Avon Town Hall, Selectmen’s Chamber, 60 West Main Street, for the following purpose:
To consider and permit all interested persons to speak on the plan of the Town Council to grant a sanitary sewer easement to Jeffrey and Robin Pikor to service a lot located at 265 Lovely Street. Said easement will be approximately 20’ x 25’ located northerly of Timothy Way, as shown on a map entitled “Easement Plan, Jeffrey and Robin Pikor, Dated July 28, 2006, Revised August 12, 2006.
Said map is on file in the Avon Town Clerk’s Office and open to inspection during normal office hours.
Dated at Avon, Connecticut this 23rd of August, 2006.
Philip K. Schenck, Jr.
Town Manager”
On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council grant a sanitary sewer easement northerly of Timothy Way to Jeffrey and Robin Pikor to service a lot located at 265 Lovely Street.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs Carlson, Shea, and Woodford voted in favor. Mr. Zacchio abstained.
MINUTES OF PRECEDING MEETING
On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council approve the August 3rd meeting minutes as read.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs Carlson, Shea, Woodford and Zacchio voted in favor.
COMMUNICATION FROM AUDIENCE –None
COMMUNICATION FROM COUNCIL
Mr. Shea stated he had received documentation in the mail concerning the additional funds necessary for the Avon High School Project. He reported this is an outstanding document and the people who collectively worked on it deserved to be complemented. It is as objective as it could possibly be, as informative as it could be and it should be noted as such. The Town Council complimented the Town Clerk for her participation with this project.
Mr. Woodford reported the gardens at the Town Offices look beautiful and stated a letter of appreciation should be sent to The Garden Club of Avon for their diligent efforts in maintaining the gardens.
Mrs. Hornaday reported the Boy Scout Troop needed a place to store the American Flags that are displayed at various locations around the holidays. They were being stored at Towpath School but had to be moved to a new location. The town’s staff and Public Works Department assisted them with the move. The Troop is very appreciative for all the help from the Town.
OLD BUSINESS
01/02-80 Request for Supplemental Appropriation from Undesignated General Fund
Resources (Surplus) for Construction of Parking Lot: Buckingham Fields
$132,500.
The Director of Parks & Recreation reported the Parks & Recreation Committee had asked for the inclusion of a second parking lot in the Capital Improvement Program. At the time PAK was significantly short of their goal in private donations. He reported there are a couple of outstanding issues here, which were part of the original plans, but we ran out of funds. One was the second parking lot, which is badly needed. When two athletic games, like soccer and baseball, are being played at the same time, parking becomes a real issue.
Nick Seminara reported we had a goal of raising $250,000 for the playground. We have exceeded that goal and have actually raised $265,000 plus an additional $80,000 from in-kind donations so we are prepared to put this project into place and we think it will be a gift representing closer to $350,000 to the Town of Avon. He also reported the designs are finished, our contracts have been negotiated, and the fabrication has actually begun. We anticipate installation to begin by mid October. The site work has already been done. He reported we need the Town’s help on two items. Fencing around the playground is needed for three reasons; One is for safety because the playground is close to both the street and the parking lot. Another reason is maintenance; with a parking
lot on one side and ball fields on the other, kids with cleats would damage the rubberized surface of the playground. And finally, we think there is an enjoyment issue to mothers who will be coming there with small children and with only one or two points of egress, it will be much easier to keep track of them. We anticipate the cost to be about $10,000. The other item, which is much more expensive, is the issue of the parking lot. It was in the budget but was taken out because we did not think the playground would be completed this year, but now it is going to happen. The reason that people donated money and we were able to put this project together was because it was a handicap accessible playground, but without access from the parking lot it will be very difficult for a person in a wheelchair. We can move ahead with the original plans for the parking but if the Council thinks it necessary to serve this playground short-term, just pave a set of
handicapped spaces. The one extreme being, doing the parking lot as planned and designed, and the other extreme would be to put in a gravel access with a whole gravel lot, and pave just a few handicap spaces.
Chairman Carlson suggested to review the proposal for the parking lot; provide for a survey of the proposed Additional Parking Lot – Phase 1 $ 3,000; mass earth removal for the Additional Parking Lot – Phase 1 $30,000; fine grade, drain and pave the lot - $90,000. He also questioned what the cost would be to do what was proposed; that is gravel, grading, clearing and the number of handicap paved spots. Mr. Seminara reported the Engineering Department did not break it out on that basis, but suggested if we are going to clear the ground, we should clear the whole area, as opposed to clearing a piece now and a piece next year. If you are going to do it on a percentage basis, if you would only clear half this area, you could probably cut the cost by half. You would only be paving about
1/8 of the 63 spaces, so there would be corresponding reductions.
Mr. Woodford stated we have talked about clearing and graveling the whole lot which makes a lot of sense in terms of the economy of scale, but if money is an issue, for now we can allocate xxx amount of dollars for paving. Mr. Zacchio stated the paving has to be a large majority of the fine grading, and drains. Mr. Seminara stated if we could get a base coat on the handicap parking area that would probably do.
The Town Manager stated in terms of a portion of the paving for the eight spots, we might be able to take that out of the paving portion of the Capitol Budget, as long as we get reimbursed the following Spring.
Mr. Shea questioned how it impacts us when $173,000 is taken from surplus. The Town Manager reported we have already had close to $200,000 taken from surplus, $156,000 for the Board of Education emergency projects and $50,000 to do the detail cost estimating for Building 6 & 7. Our estimated actual surplus as of 6/30/06 will be approximately the same as it was in 2005, which is about 3.8 to 3.9 million. We are not gaining anything and are actually bringing this surplus down closer to 3.5 million and that would be as of 6/30/07. One of the biggest contributors to the prior several year’s increases has been the conveyance tax, but with the slow down in the real estate market, we are not getting anywhere near the revenue we were getting two years ago, when mortgage rates were a lot lower
and there was a lot of refinancing going on. We also used some of that in prior years when we purchased two houses adjacent to the Library and for the cost of tearing them down. We do not have any significant problems now. However, in the last two Revaluations we took money out of surplus to help mitigate the tax rate increase of the revaluations. Generally we have taken from $500,000 to $750,000 but we are trying to get to the point where we keep our surplus above 5% but obviously we have not reached our 10% goal.
Mr. Shea questioned if part of this money could be taken from the fund we have for maintenance of the fields. The Town Manager reported it might be possible, if we only funded half of the $132,000, but we would have to check the balance in that fund. The other half would be included in the Capitol Improvement Project in the 07/08 budget and would be available July 1 of next year. He also stated some of the concerns that we have are the same as what the Director of Parks & Recreation has outlined he his schedule, which is, if we do not get green lights to go ahead, we may not even get to the paving portion of this by the time the plants close in late November or early December. It will depend upon the weather so the whole scheduling thing is an issue and the use of the playground may be held up
also. In looking at last year’s Capital Improvement Program, and the Park & Recreation prioritization of the projects, this was up near the top so we would assume that they would be submitting this in their Capital Budget submissions next month. The Director of Parks and Recreation reported there is money in the maintenance fund but when we split those accounts to include maintenance costs, we took a lot of the surplus out for recreational activities special fund to pay for maintenance related projects.
Mr. Shea stated we want to reinforce all the work that has been done here and see if there is a creative way to adjust the financing. To put 40 to 50 grand into this and do it half way is not really going to benefit the Town. If this project can be completed by July 2007, it might eliminate the immediate financing problem.
He questioned if we just put the binder down are we going to have any issues with water. The Town Manager also questioned if there was any indication that there might be water problems when they start working on the parking lot. Mr. Seminara said that extensive trenching has been done so they did not anticipate any problems.
Mr. Woodford stated we just do not have $132,000 dollars lying around. Mr. Zacchio stated we do not know what the cost of asphalt will be in the spring either. We have had rate increases this year and if the cost of oil goes up it will also raise the cost of asphalt. Mr. Seminara reported as a group, PAK decided to try to move forward with this because we have people with donations, we have inkind prices we are trying to hold, and with escalating price issues, we are hoping that the town will cooperate.
Chairman Carlson stated a gravel parking area is not a bad thing and will not detract from the project. He also reported they have done a phenomenal job so far. Fisher Meadows has a gravel parking lot that has ruts in it but the playing fields are great and that is what is important to the people. As long as we have everything else and ample parking, we can live with a gravel parking lot.
Mr. Zacchio questioned if the playground was installed in October as planned, would the parking area be done in conjunction with that or do we have to wait until the playground is completed. He also questioned, as long as the playground is done and the fencing is installed, would it be a hardship to hold off on paving the parking area until funds become available in the next fiscal year. Mr. Seminara reported it will be a construction site in the Fall so to get it completed all at once would be the best situation, but as long as the grading is done and the gravel is in place, it will not be too bad to have it paved next summer.
Mr. Zacchio questioned what is the current thinking with the bidding programs throughout the town. Are we behind, are we caught up, will there be dollars within that budget that we could consider for this project and then reimburse in the next fiscal year, if we are not going to get the paving done anyhow? The Town Manager reported we could do a portion of this, but not the whole parking lot. He also reported we are way behind on our paving program, and the cost of oil in the last couple of years has further diminished what we can do. We should be talking between 3/4 to 1 million dollars to keep up with everything. He also stated the Town Council and the Board of Finance have been supportive, we used to be down around $200,000, we are now up to about $570,000. He stated we were
beginning to catch up when the oil prices took off. They have estimated $41,000 for paving material at $56.00 a ton. We can recalculate for an additional ten spaces but it should not cost more than an additional $10,000. We can probably come up with that but we are more concerned about the time frame of getting this done. We have to create an RFP, we have to go out with an RFP, we have to get bids that have to come back here, and then have to be approved, all of this needs to be done just like clock work to get this project in place. We can certainly get started on this but even if it is approved tonight, it does not go to the Board of Finance until September 25th, and they have to approve the money as well. He also stated that it makes sense to patch something together with the funding that we have, and being able to reduce it, it makes a lot more sense to the Board of Finance to at least get something going, if they are going to have
this open and operating in time for winter. Plan A which is the full amount of the appropriation and Plan B developing here which is probably half the cost, somewhere about $60,000. This would clear the whole site, which would include $9,500 for fencing, $3,000 for the survey, $30,000 for earth removal plus a ten percent contingency ($5,000 to $6,000), and $10,000 for paving. We can probably take the $10,000 out of our existing paving budget, with the understanding that it would be reimbursed.
Mr. Shea stated when these types of projects come up, like the high school track, we have always tried to work with the group. The Town Manager stated if they had State approval and they have obviously been able to raise their private funding and it had been in the Capital Improvement budget, we would not have been even talking about it tonight. It is unfortunate the way the timing goes on some of these things. It is still early into the fiscal year and we do not know what the winter is going to be like, so it adds further uncertainty to this project.
The question was raised if it is the Town’s responsibility to provide parking. The Director of Parks & Recreation stated yes and this area has parking problems right now and we do have an obligation to get the people off of Buckingham Road. The Town Manager reported the parking problem has nothing to do with this project, it has to do with the ball fields.
Mr. Seminara stated in regard to Plan B, if we are talking about grading the site, putting the stone down for the parking lot on the original plans and then just paving a small section, it will probably add up to more than $50,000.
Mr. Woodford stated if we do this project in two sections, it is probably going to cost us more than $132,000. We should consider requesting the entire amount from the Board of Finance. Mr. Zacchio reported eventually we will have to provide more parking for the ball fields, it is just a matter of when to do it and how we will fund it.
Mrs. Hornaday reported the original plans for the parking lot is needed more for the playing fields and not really for the playground. What PAK is asking for is a paved area for access to the playground and also 8 to 10 paved parking spaces to service the playground. This is such a wonderful thing and is really worthy, so I agree with Mr. Woodford that we should ask the Board of Finance for $132,000. She also suggested taking $10,000 for fencing and $3,000 for the survey for a total of $13,000 from the Contingency Fund and $119,500 out of town surplus.
Mr. Shea stated we need to talk about this a little more as to how we are going to discuss this with the Board of Finance. Although this is different than we have done business in the past, it does not make it wrong, but it has to be conveyed that we are working with one private group and many other private donations and in an effort to try to save money, we are going to surplus now to fund a project that has been overwhelmingly supported by the community. We are looking at the cost savings, we are looking at being supportive and enthusiastic towards a group that has worked hard for a very long time and have raised a great deal of money and those people that are investing in this project, the town has a responsibility to them.
The Director of Parks & Recreation reported we probably need to identify this parking area as one of the highest priorities in the first stage of this Master Plan.
The Town Manager stated all the issues that the Council brought up needed to be discussed, all of the strategies are good ones, and they need to be conveyed to the Board of Finance and we are in favor of moving ahead with this, as long as we can pay back the surplus. We are getting complaints from the people in that area during lacrosse games and soccer games. We do have the playground coming on line, which is going to exacerbate that problem, but also has a different problem, since it needs to have access to the parking lot. We do have the Master Plan coming along and you have an opportunity to discuss things with the Parks & Recreation Committee probably in November, and we think the Board of Finance should be open to some measure of financial discipline in terms of how we do it, realizing
there is a timing issue here and not something that is coming out of nowhere that has not been discussed.
Mr. Zacchio asked the Director of Parks and Recreation if there is a ratio that we can fall back on, with the number of athletic fields and the number of spaces we need, and is this going to be an adequate parking area for the fields. The Director of Parks & Recreation stated a significant problem occurs when the high school has two games there at the same time (baseball & lacrosse). Ultimately, when they have a varsity game, they have a junior varsity game at the same time, which has occurred two or three times this year, mainly because of rescheduling games due to inclement weather. He also stated it could be controlled if the Police Department posts No Parking signs.
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council hereby recommends to the Board of Finance an appropriation not to exceed $119,500.00 from the General Fund, Undesignated Fund Balance, Account #01-0390-43913 and the Town Council approve a $13,000 appropriation from the Town Council Contingency Fund for a total of $132,500 for the purpose of funding the Survey, Playground Fencing, and Second Parking Lot for the Buckingham Road Recreation Area.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs Carlson, Shea, Woodford and Zacchio voted in favor.
Because this is a major capital outlay at this time, there will be little room for Recreation Capital programs in the 2007/2008 budget.
05/06-42 Appointments: United CATV Advisory Council (2R)
Mrs. Hornaday recommended the appointment of Patty Marquis to the CATV Advisory Council. She is a long time resident of Avon and knows the community quite well.
On a motion made by Mrs. Hornaday, seconded by Mr. Woodford, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council appoint Patty Marquis to the United CATV Advisory Council.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs Carlson, Shea, Woodford and Zacchio voted in favor.
NEW BUSINESS
06/07-12 Review and Discussion: Tax Freeze Legislation
The Assessor reported there is recent legislation that allows the community by local option to freeze a tax payers property tax amount for a two year period, and with that they also included certain options; one is the provision of recapturing benefits by liening the property, and secondly, by limiting the benefits of the individual based on the overall asset value. Its title is very similar to what the State used to provide up until 1979, in practicality it is a far different program. The State used to offer a freeze program where they froze the taxes on a person’s property as the tax amount went up and the state paid the difference to the town, so the town was never out any funds. Here there is no reimbursement from the State. The State abandoned the program in 1979 because it was a
very costly project and they had no way of controlling the cost and the overhead. Actuarially, in 1979, they anticipated all of the participants would be deceased by the year 2000. Here it is 2006 and the last participant from Avon passed away two years ago, the Town of Canton still has two participants. He reported it is a very difficult program to handle as to when to start and when to end. We can start the program but we do not know when it will end, Once we adopt it, the only way someone will get off of it, is if their assets put them over income, within the two year renewal period. And further, the elderly program is for people that are 65 and older, this freeze program is for people 70 and older or disabled. In terms of a professional opinion, it is a very admirable proposal but it does not really address the issue because one, if you impose the recapture provision, why would you go on in the first place. If you impose the asset
limit, the individual is penalized because for instance, they did not ask for their house to be worth half a million dollars, so those two provisions are a bit unfair. He also stated a person has to be 70 years or older is like putting another roadblock in providing some benefits. Income is not limited to age; there are some individuals that need it at 65 or 66, which I think is somewhat discriminatory. He also stated that the Town, in its’ current system, which reviews the overall program every two years, models itself on the existing State program, extending its’ income limits from $33,900 up to $43,000, open to all individuals over 65, regardless of asset value, giving those with the lowest income the most benefits and then tiering upward. The program we have adopted has worked in that the individual property owners taxes, in case one, have stayed the same over a four year period, and in case two have gone up slightly, in case three have
gone up slightly and case four has actually gone down. And also, the person in case four, with the least valuable property, is getting the best benefit. That was one of the comments two years ago about this program, that the person at the bottom of the scale has the greatest need, so we structure the benefits accordingly, which is the way the program stands now. He also reported, if we get into all the ramifications and various options we have, we will not have to look at their asset basis, trying to recapture. I am sure if we do the recapture provision, some will plead hardship and it may be an insolvent mistake because now the State may want some of the proceeds that may be collected. He also stated this new program sounds good but administratively it does not work especially when you are refiling. If it is open to people over 70 and a spouse passes away, will that person now have to come back and refile? If the taxes are frozen and they do not
refile, they are actually loosing benefits, because as a single individual their income is less. They might even get a greater benefit than what the freeze provides. I feel the current program is working just fine, it is almost a model program. If there is a desire to change the program, it is the benefit side that should be looked at. At $43,000 for a retired couple, it is pretty much their money to spend, unlike a person making $75,000 who now has to pay Social Security, Federal Income Tax, State Income Tax, group retirement, and still pay their full share of Avon taxes, they might be down to $50,000 in disposable income. To increase the income limits would not address the issue, but to increase the dollar value of the benefit, as either the mill rate goes up or Social Security goes up, would be good. CPI has been going up lately about 3 percent and the mill rate increase has been about 3%, so they do mirror each other. Probably, if there
were a desire to make some changes, this change would be most practical. Otherwise the program is fine the way it is because you are addressing the needs of people. When we first started this program, we thought it was going to be a $50,000 cost and going back six years ago it was only a few thousand. Knowing that it never cost us that much, we increased the limits. We are up to $100,000 and that $100,000 in property tax savings for these 181 elderly, is borne by the regular tax-paying public. If you increase it by 3% or for whatever, based on CPI, there is a little compounding but you can basically project where you are heading.
Mr. Zacchio questioned if we decide to make some changes, would we look at this in January or February and present it to the Town Council who would decide whether to keep it the way it is or make changes at that point. The Assessor reported that is why this program had a two-year sun set so we could come back and evaluate where we are headed. With a two-year review, you can look at the benefits, how much is this costing us, so those thoughts were put into the program six years ago when it was adopted so it became manageable or could continue to be manageable and if you want to change anything, it should be on the benefit side. If you decide to change the income limits, it has to be done by February 1st. If you are changing the limits, you have a little more time, which has not been
calculated yet, but can be when we know what the new mill rate is.
Mrs. Hornaday questioned when the last adjustment was done. The Assessor reported it is due for review in 2007. The Town Manager reported we have been doing it every odd year and it will go into effect July 1, 2007 along with the taxes. Mrs. Hornaday reported people have really liked this. More and more people know about this and are comfortable coming to your office and speaking with you and your assistants. This program has made a big difference for some of our residents. Chairman Carlson stated he agreed with this.
The Town Manager reported the reason we brought this in is because Mr. Economu, who is a strong, advocate for the new program that the Assessor described. We wanted to make sure that you had an understanding of what we currently have in place, and this new program that was adopted, so that you could make some decisions whether you wanted to go into a new program or not, and if not, the reasons why. It is somewhat educational in terms of its purpose as well as specific. I would have brought up the existing program to see if you wanted to update it, probably in December or January timeframe and start working on it, and have the Assessor come back with some recommendations. The Assessor reported the State Program is only if the Town agrees to go with it, and is only for two years. They have
to qualify every two years.
06/07-13 Bid Approval and Capital Budget Transfer Request of $18,770.03; Dump Truck and Snow Plow: $158,770.03
The Town Manager reported we are looking at two items; one is for the dump truck and we are looking for a transfer from unexpended monies in the Capital Budget specifically to purchase 267 Country Club Road, to make up the difference in the bids. We could have also requested it from surplus, but felt these are balances that could be used. It is a similar situation with Company #1 Firehouse Roof. The cost estimates for both of these projects were made about this time last year and you can see what has happened to the estimates in a one-year period, both the roof and the dump truck. We are seeing this price inflation coming through in a number of these different arenas.
Mr. Woodford stated he is concerned that only two companies put in bids on the truck and requested that the Director of Public Works review the specs to make sure we are not eliminating potential dealers because we are including some things that are not crucial. Also he is concerned with the limited number of bidders. The Town Manager reported he had asked that same question and one of the reasons that we feel we only got two bids is that the federal government is changing the emission standards for diesel engines and we are trying to get a truck under the old standards because the new standards are going to cost us $8,000 to $10,000 more. He reported it was put in the bid specs that we wanted a manufactured product with the existing standards. If we had stated we wanted an engine with the new
standards, we might have gotten more bidders, but they would have all been higher because of the new engine specifications. He also stated that is why Public Works does not want to go with the lowest bidder, because they cannot guarantee that engine, whereas Tri-State Kenworth can guarantee it. He also reported, the low bidder states an additional cost of $6,000 to $8,000 for the new emission engine, plus they had a number of other deviations.
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mr. Zacchio, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council award the bid to Tri-State Kenworth for a dump truck and snowplow in the amount of $158,770.03 and recommends that the Board of Finance amend the FY 06/07 budget by transferring from Account #02-4857-52219 Capital Project Fund Property Purchase 267 Country Club Road, Other, in the amount of $18,770.03 to Account #02-4840-53375, Capital Project Fund (F&E) Town CIP-Equip/Dump Truck, PW: Dump Truck for the purpose of covering the difference of original estimate opposed to bid amounts obtained.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs Carlson, Shea, Woodford and Zacchio voted in favor.
06/07-14 Bid Approval and Capital Budget Transfer Request of $18,800; Co. #1 Firehouse Roof: $92,000
The Town Manager reported we hired Kaestle Boos, who put an RFP out, and we received four bidders as follows:
MDM Engineering Inc $ 92,000
Silktown Roofing $131,000
Beaulier Company, LLC $155,396
S W Debs, LLC $ 94,087
The Director of Public Works has recommended that the bid be awarded to MDM Engineering Inc.
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council award the bid to MDM Engineering Inc. for a roof replacement to Firehouse at Company #1 in the amount of $92,000 and recommends that the Board of Finance amend the FY 06/07 budget by transferring from Account #02-4857-52219 Capital Project Fund Property Purchase 267 Country Club Road, Other, in the amount of $18,800 to Account #02-4829-53381, Capital Project Fund (F&E) Town CIP-Equip/AVFD CO #1 Roof Replacement for the purpose of covering the difference of original estimate opposed to bid amounts obtained.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs Carlson, Shea, Woodford and Zacchio voted in favor.
06/07-15 National Incident Management System (NIMS) Training: Set Date for Training (4 Hours)
The Town Manager reported this training can be done this winter and stated, what will happen is that it will be picked up on the 06/07 audit. The auditors, when they are auditing the books for the fiscal year ending June 30th of 2007, they will be looking to see that you have done the NIMS Training. The Town Manager reported we are already receiving money in the form of equipment on the Regional Homeland Security Plan. We will be checked out to make sure we get the appropriate training. Chairman Carlson stated we would plan to do this sometime in February.
TOWN MANAGER’S REPORT/MISCELLANEOUS
The Town Manager reported he had talked to Mr. Harrison regarding the Board of Education. He thinks we should be doing something but he does not like the whole issue of paperwork, so he wanted to get some sort of opinion as to how the Town Council feels about doing this on a preaudited as opposed to a postaudited basis. Generally, we take care of these things at the end of the year and the Town Council gets a book, showing where the Finance Director transfers supplemental appropriations. This is very comprehensive and takes time to get through, but is more practical then doing it interim-wise and creating paperwork.
Mr. Shea reported it appears the nature of how we do business is changing. The Board of Education came in a couple of months ago with Capital Project needs or operational needs that exceeded or were not planned for in the normal budget process. He stated the culture of this seems to be changing. The Town Manager stated the second round was due to the memo we wrote to the Superintendent of Schools because Mrs. Stahl raised some issues about special education, and large appropriations and transfers that we are doing, that were not included in the Board of Education’s budget. For instance, there is one for the cafeteria fund in excess of $900,000. He reported, traditionally the cafeteria fund in the budget has been between $400,000 to $450,000. Now, the cafeteria budget
will go to $1,300,000. The Special Ed request coming to you will be over $700,000. They have only budgeted $400,000. They have not increased these budgets because by doing so, their budget goes up percentage wise, to about ten percent (10%) which makes them subject to flack from the public because of such high increases. There is also a third request of $51,000 coming in for rental of the school buildings for different groups. They are all preaudit versus postaudit. We run the risk, if we approve them on a preaudit basis, we may have to come back on the postaudit basis and go through the process again. On the post audit basis, the changes will probably be minimum, and we can put those in the spiral binder when we do the year end things and maybe get these bigger things out of the way. The Board of Finance has been discussing this over the summer and what they are going to do next year, as part of the budget for the Board of Education,
is to require that they put all of this Special Ed money in there along with the cafeteria money and any other money they anticipate they are going to get. You will probably see next April or May a Board of Education budget that is in the seven to eight percent range, of which 1.5 million is going to be catch up for not having increased the Cafeteria and Special Ed budgets in the past. He also reported the Board of Finance has been wrestling with how to present this to the public, and they have basically come to the point that it needs to be done, and will make an exception in terms of explaining these so that the public does not think these have gone up 8 to 9 percent. Once the adjustment is made next year, we should not have that problem in the 07/08 budget year. The auditors will do a readjustment to the 06/07 budget.
Mrs. Hornaday stated a few years ago, the auditors were negative about not showing these things in the budget, so it seems that this has been a problem in the past also. The Town Manager reported this has been a growing problem. The auditors have brought this up, informally initially and now more formally. The difference in what they are budgeting and the actual, over a number of years has been growing, and the budget is only growing to meet the actual. What precipitated it initially, was the Special Ed discussion at the Town Meeting and the Public Hearing back in the spring. He stated, what really turbo charged it was the fact that they used the grant money to cover the cost of getting the emergency announcements sent out telling everybody to go vote. Once it was realized that it
came from grant money, questions were asked as to why it was not disclosed in the budget and is a budget amendment process needed. Mrs. Hornaday suggested that someone should speak with the Board of Education to inform them as to what town policies are because there are so many new people who may not be fully aware of these issues. The Town Manager reported we have been trying to do this from an educating mode.
The Town Manager reported the handouts for the Town Meeting on Thursday night are still being worked on and will be emailed to you tomorrow, so you will have a copy ahead of time. He reported it is rather lengthy, about 28 slides, half of which are strictly Tom Harrison and the Board of Finance, and the other half are primarily the Board of Education, the Building Committee and Peggy Roell. He also reported there would be a need to elect a moderator. We will be at the High School at 7:30 p.m. The Board of Education will run the power point from up behind the auditorium.
Mr. Carlson reported he is presenting the first part of the slides, on overview of what the project is and then it will be turned over to Peggy Roell. She was advised today that we will not have Mr. Shopis or Mr. Boos speak, but they will be available for questions. It is the Town presenting to the town and therefore it should be Council Chairman, Tom Harrison and Peggy Roell.
Mr. Shea reported there is no way to control a meeting like this and when this presentation ends, you will see the same people that are against, get up and speak and the same kind of people that are for it get up and speak and stated we need to get past the old issues that have already been discussed over and over.
EXECUTIVE SESSION/MISCELLANEOUS
On a motion made by Mr. Woodford, seconded by Mr. Shea, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council go into Executive Session at 9:10 p.m.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs Carlson, Shea, Woodford and Zacchio voted in favor.
The Town Manager, Town clerk and Director of Human Resources were in attendance.
On a motion made by Mr. Shea, seconded by Mrs. Hornaday, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council come out of Executive Session at 9:30 p.m.
Mrs. Hornaday, Messrs Carlson, Shea, Woodford and Zacchio voted in favor.
ADJOURNMENT
The Town Council Meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
ATTEST
Caroline B. LaMonica
Town Clerk
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