TOWN COUNCIL MAJORITY OFFICE
ORDINANCE COMMITTEE
JANUARY 27, 2009
PRESENT Chair Richard F. Kehoe, Councillors William P. Horan, Jr. and Donald H.
Pitkin
ALSO
PRESENT Billy Taylor, Director of Public Works
Jeanne Webb, Director of Development
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Kehoe called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
September 30, 2008 Meeting
MOTION By Don Pitkin
seconded by Bill Horan
to approve the September 30, 2008 Ordinance Committee minutes.
Motion carried 3/0.
OPPORTUNITY FOR RESIDENTS TO SPEAK
None
OLD BUSINESS
None
NEW BUSINESS
Section 2-117(b): Enterprise Zone Boundaries
Jeanne Webb, Development Director, presented the proposed changes to the Rentschler Field Enterprise Zone which consists of one full census tract covering the Rentschler Field site and property across Silver Lane from the Rentschler Field site. The proposal is to reduce the enterprise zone in two general areas: (1) the elimination of certain parcels along Brewer Street; and (2) elimination of a portion of the zone that is intended to be used for retail development. The Committee reviewed the ordinance and decided that the ordinance should be amended to allow for the designation of “a portion of census tract of 5106 as depicted on a map dated ___________and certified by the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development.” The language would allow for a map to be used rather
than generate the expense of developing a survey of metes and bounds description. Ms. Webb indicated that there are numerous approvals that will need to be obtained, including the Planning and Zoning Commission and the State Department of Economic and Community Development. Once those approvals are in hand, she will then submit this to the Town Council for its review and amendment to the ordinance.
Section 10-7(b): Bidding Procedures re: Public Works Contracts
Billy Taylor, Director of Public Works, provided a review of the difficulties the town has in obtaining engineering and architectural services for construction projects in a timely fashion. Because the scope of services for ear RFP needs to be described with certain particularity, the town can only issue an RFP for engineering and architectural firms for certain preliminary work to be done on the project. Once that work is accomplished, the town has to issue a second RFP to hire either the same or different engineering and/or architectural firm to actually design and oversee construction of the project. There is a desire to try to expedite the process while also retaining a fair amount of checks and balances to insure that the selection process is fair and the decision is transparent to the public. Mr. Taylor indicated that
the federal government uses a quality-based selection system along these lines and stated that he would provide the Committee with an overview of this system in order to guide further discussion on this matter.
The Committee considered a system that we have now used for certain projects related to the dike repair. Under this system, the architectural and engineering firms submit their qualifications and their view of the scope of the particular project. Those submissions are reviewed by a town committee and rated, typically on a scale from one to ten, based on a number of factors relevant to the particular scope of work. Once the factors have been reviewed and the submissions rated, a recommendation of the committee is made. Such recommendation, and the reasons for the recommendation, is documented along with the individual ratings by the committee members. The prioritized list of pre-qualified firms will then be submitted to the Mayor who may reject that listing and state the reasons for that rejection or modification. Once the
project is underway, the town will negotiate with the highest rated firm first, and then, going down the list of additional firms if negotiations with the top-rated firm do not result in an agreement on the price for the particular phase. There would be a written analysis by the town on how the prices submitted were analyzed and ultimately approved and/or the reason for the rejection of the higher rated firm and the negotiations with the second rated firm. The Committee considered adding some auditing requirement as part of this procedure to insure that there is some monitoring of this process which provides for greater flexibility in the contracting for these kinds of projects. The Committee will also review the state procedure for a design-build project as a potential alternative to this process.
The Committee will wait for additional information from the Public Works Director prior to drafting any ordinance.
Section 2-3a. Council Review of Elected Officials’ Salaries
The Committee reviewed the elected officials’ salaries and determined that the only salary to be considered was the Mayor’s salary since the Mayor is the only full-time elected official for the town.
In light of budgetary concerns, the Committee decided that the first year of the new Mayor’s term would not see any increase in the current salary. However, in November 2010, the Mayor’s salary would increase by 2.8%, which represents the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in 2007.
MOTION By Bill Horan
seconded by Don Pitkin
to send the amendment to Section 2-3 of the Town of East Hartford Code of
Ordinances, entitled Mayor’s Salary, draft dated 01-27-09, to the Town
Council for purposes of setting a public hearing date.
Motion carried 3/0.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION By Bill Horan
seconded by Don Pitkin
to adjourn (6:48 p.m.)
Motion carried 3/0.
cc: Town Council
Mayor Currey
Billy Taylor, Director of Public Works
Jeanne Webb, Director of Development
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