The Fairfield Hills Authority held a regular meeting on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 in the meeting room at Town Hall South, Main Street, Newtown, CT. Andy Willie called the meeting to order at 7:33 p.m.
Present: Andy Willie, Michael Holmes, John Reed, Walt Motyka and Amy Dent.
Absent: Bob Geckle, Moira Rodgers, Don Studley and Julia Wasserman.
Also Present: Maria DeMarco, DeMarco Management, Dave Cravanzola, O&G, Bill Halsted, Fire Marshall, Ed Marks, Parks & Rec., one member of the public and one member of the press.
Public Participation: Ruby Johnson, (16 Chestnut Hill Road), posed the question to the Authority that if the design for the ball fields already included lights, why were they removed and then put back into the plans.
Ed Marks, Commissioner, Parks and Recreation, graciously replied that the installation of the conduit for the lights was in the original plans but was taken out. The financing for the lights became available once the plans for the second ball field were cancelled.
Acceptance of Minutes: Walt Motyka made a motion to accept the minutes from the March 18, 2008. Moira Rodgers seconded the motion. Michael Holmes requested that the wording “All in attendance voted unanimously” be added to the motion he made dated August 29, 2007.
John Reed reiterated the point that these corrections were done because three members of the Authority’s terms had expired so all of the motions had to be voted on again.
John Reed also made a request that the Agenda for next months meeting include a discussion of the overall expenditures for the Fairfield Hills Campus and where the finances for these expenses will come from, if not from lease agreements.
The motion was posed again and all in attendance voted unanimously.
Financial Report: Members of the Authority were in receipt of Don Studley’s year to date operating expense report as well as Maria DeMarco’s (DeMarco Management) expense report. (See Attached).
Maria DeMarco, DeMarco Management, also presented her monthly financial report and stated that there are no increased costs expected at this time.
Operating: Ms. DeMarco asked that before she gave her monthly report she would like to give the floor to Bill Halsted, the Fire Marshall for the Town of Newtown, so he could present to the Authority the new drawings of the Emergency Management Building (the old Chiller Plant). Mr. Halsted explained that the new plans were drawn up in collaboration with the Parks and Recreation Department so that the future ball fields would not be hindered by the proposed location of the driveway and overhead door into the building. Ed Marks, Chairman, Parks & Rec. made the point that this plan works for everyone.
Andy Willie asked if anyone had any questions for Mr. Halsted.
Walt Motyka asked what the timeline was going to be. Mr. Halsted said that by September/October the building should be up and running. Mr. Motyka asked if the building will have a security system. Mr. Halsted confirmed that the building will have a security system installed.
Mr. Halsted stated that the building will house a spare pumper fire truck that will be used when one of the Town’s other emergency vehicles was out of service, not during emergencies.
Mr. Halsted and Ms. DeMarco wanted the Authority to know that the internal demolition was done by the contracted for no cost saving the Town money for this project.
Michael Holmes stated that this was a great use for this facility.
A motion was made by Walt Motyka to approve the new drawings for the Emergency Management Building. The motion was seconded by Michael Holmes. All in attendance voted unanimously.
Maria DeMarco, (DeMarco Management) gave an overview of her monthly report. (See Attached).
The Pet Ordinance Signs will be installed very soon now that the weather is cooperating.
All of the requests to Public Works for security work to be done around the campus has been started, i.e. the fencing around the Kent Building has been put back up, the re-boarding of Litchfield.
Ms. DeMarco also reported that she and Andy Willie met with the Postmaster to discuss the establishment of a postal delivery route throughout the Fairfield Hills Campus. Ms. DeMarco stated that the Postmaster said that they will work to make this as easy as possible and they will do anything that the town needs to do. This process will start as soon as the streets on the campus have been re-named.
Ms. DeMarco presented to the Authority the possible use of the Fairfield Hills Campus for the annual Parks and Recreation “Rooster Run”. This is a 5K run that will start at the Reed Intermediate School and run throughout the campus twice. Ms. DeMarco said she discussed this event with O&G and found that the course of the run will not interfere with any construction on the campus. The proposed date is May 31, 2008. Parks and Rec. wants to use the Fairfield Hills Campus because it is safer than running on the roads throughout the Town of Newtown.
A motion was made by John Reed to approve the use of the Fairfield Hills Campus for the Rooster Run. Walt Motyka seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously.
Ms. DeMarco gave an overview of the security incident reports on the Fairfield Hills Campus. There were several break-in attempts that were thwarted by the Campus Security and the Newtown Police Department. The Authority is in possession of the police reports.
Ms. DeMarco also reported that the “Spring Cleanup” for the campus has begun.
John Reed noted that he saw that some trees were taken down. Ms. DeMarco confirmed that some trees around campus had been trimmed and cut down that the Department of Public Works did this.
O&G: Dave Cravanzola gave an overview of a meeting he had with Yankee Gas and stated that they are re-working the agreement and that they will be focusing on three buildings – Newtown Youth Academy, Bridgeport Hall and Newtown Hall.
Mr. Cravanzola also stated that AT&T’s new service station location is planned for Mile Hill South and Cochran Street.
Mr. Cravanzola gave an update on the State Traffic Commission (STC) application for certificate of use. The Town’s application for the certificate was slated for the April 15, 2008 hearing but this hearing was cancelled. This will cause a delay for the application because this will now be on the Agenda for the May 6, 2008 State Traffic Commission Hearing. This will push back the timeframe for the project bids to mid May/early June. The start date will then become July, 2008 for the New Town Hall.
Mr. Cravanzola also gave an update to the ball field project and said that a “punch list” of items to be worked on will now be completed because the weather is warmer.
Planning Committee: Amy Dent stated that there was no information to update regarding Economic Development.
Ms. Dent discussed the memo she had sent to the Authority regarding the re-naming of the streets on the Fairfield Hills Campus explaining the historical significance to each name. (See Attached)
A motion was made by John Reed that the new street names be accepted by the Fairfield Hills Authority and recommended to the Board of Selectmen for approval. The motion was seconded by Walt Motyka.
Everyone in attendance voted unanimously.
Dave Cravanzola informed the Authority that he will match up the new street names to the existing campus map to be presented to the Board of Selectmen so there is no misunderstanding of what streets will be re-named.
John Reed gave an update to the Trails throughout the Fairfield Hills Campus. He stated that there will be work done throughout the summer to clean up the trails and that the blacktopping of the trails will not be done until the Fall of 2008.
Andy Willie stated to the Authority that there will be a special meeting planned to discuss a lease for one of the Duplexes and for remediation for Newtown Hall. This meeting could possibly go into executive session.
Adjournment: John Reed made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mike Holmes seconded the motion.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:32 p.m.
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