The Fairfield Hills Authority held a Regular Meeting on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 in the meeting room of the Town Hall South, Main Street, Newtown, CT.
Present: Bob Geckle, John Reed, Mike Holmes and John Madzula.
Absent: Don Studley, Amy Dent and Julia Wasserman.
Also Present: one member of the press and one member of the public.
Public Participation: None
Informal Discussion: Do to inclement weather a quorum was not complete at the beginning of the meeting so the Authority members in attendance held an informal discussion.
At this time Bob Geckle gave an overview of the financial reports that the Authority received from Town of Newtown’s Director of Finance.
Mr. Geckle explained the various breakdown’s for the different expenditures on the Fairfield Hills Campus and the Town of Newtown. Mr. Geckle explained that he is working closely with the Director of Finance to create a separate financial report that summarizes the expenditures of the Fairfield Hills Campus exclusively. The goal is to put this report up on the Fairfield Hills website so the public has access to this information.
Mr. Geckle also gave a status update on Greenwich Hall. Mr. Geckle informed everyone remediation process has been agreed up by the State of Connecticut and Town of Newtown. The lab samples are being taken to confirm if there is less than 1% or greater than 1% asbestos contamination. The results will decide if the building can be demolished as a whole or dismantled piecemeal as hazardous materials.
At this time the discussion changed to the updating of the Developer’s Package. The updated package will now include Newtown Hall. This property has become available because the lease agreement did not come to fruition. Mr. Geckle suggested the asking price for the building should be $860,000.00. Mr. Geckle asked what everyone thought of this suggested price. All in attendance agreed that this asking price is fair and reasonable.
John Reed made the suggestion that in the future all Lease Agreements be subject to a “non-refundable” deposit to cover any costs incurred by the town during the lease negotiations. John Madzula agreed with Mr. Reed.
Mr. Geckle pointed out that the potential lessee of Newtown Hall have agreed to pay the costs of legal fees, environmental testing and other incidentals attributed to the negotiations.
At Mr. Geckle’s request, John Reed and John Madzula gave an overview of the February 3, 2009 Planning Committee meeting. The meeting was attended by Mr. Reed and Mr. Madzula along with authority member Amy Dent and Elizabeth Stocker, Director of Planning & Community Development.
This meeting was held to “Brainstorm” to improve communications between the Fairfield Hills Authority and the residence of the Town of Newtown.
At the meeting it was decided that John Madzula would put together an outline for Construction and Performance Policies for Lessees and Contractors participating in the Fairfield Hills project. (See Attached).
Mr. Madzula informed everyone that he received feedback from some of the listed committee members and was waiting to hear back from the rest.
Bob Geckle stated that he thought the outline looked good and suggested that Mr. Madzula bring the committee together to confirm that everyone is “on the same page”.
John Reed then presented the points that were established at this meeting for future lease agreements and the public hearings required for the agreements.
At this time Walt Motyka arrived at the meeting creating a quorum. Bob Geckle called the meeting to order at 8:16 p.m.
Motion: John Reed made a motion to accept the following Policy and Procedures for future Lease Agreements for properties on the Fairfield Hills Campus:
#1. The proposed Lease Agreement be in a substantially completed format before a Public Hearing is held. This will help expedite the signing by the Board of Selectmen and more of the details of the lease agreement will be able to be discussed at the public hearing.
#2. A presentation is to be given at the beginning of each public hearing for every future lease agreement along with a “Bullet Point” hand-out explaining the key points in the Final Lease such as how many years, renewal options and the lease terms.
#3. A wrap-up at the end of the Public Hearing to help address any questions that may have arisen during the Public Presentation section of the hearing.
#4. A complete Economic Impact Study done by the Fairfield Hills Authority, Planning & Community Development Department and the Finance Department prior to the public hearing using a standardized format.
#5. Create a “Construction Oversight Committee for Policy and Procedures. This committee will communicate with all town departments before any construction can begin. This Committee will also create a Rules of Operations to give the Lessee the town’s guidelines for the construction site and what departments need to be notified throughout the project.
At this time the panel held a discussion regarding these points. Bob Geckle thought the Bullet Point hand-out was a good idea and made the suggestion that this be done prior to the Public Hearing so it could be left at the Town Hall along with the proposed Lease Agreement so any member of the public could review it before the Public Hearing.
Walt Motyka stated that it should have the same opening statement at the top of the document and more specific information to follow. This will give the town a standardized guideline to follow.
Bob Geckle stated that he and Walt Motyka will create a template for this document and will bring it to the next Authority meeting.
This ended the discussion of the motion.
The motion was seconded by Walt Motyka.
All in attendance voted the unanimously.
Motion: Walt Motyka made a motion to accept the minutes from the January 21, 2009 Fairfield Hills Authority Meeting. Mike Holmes seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously.
John Reed made a motion to accept the minutes from the Planning Committee meeting from February 3, 2009. John Madzula seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously.
Motion: John Reed made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Walt Motyka. All in attendance voted unanimously.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:44 p.m.
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