The Fairfield Hills Authority held a Regular Meeting on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 in the meeting room of the Cyrenius Booth Library, Main Street, Newtown, CT. Bob Geckle called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.
Present: Bob Geckle, Andy Willie, John Madzula, John Reed and Mike Holmes and Julia Wasserman
Absent: Walt Motyka and Kathy Furey.
Also Present: Maria DeMarco (DeMarco Management Corp), Elizabeth Stocker, Director of Economic & Community Development, Brian White, One member of the public and one member of the press.
Public Participation: None
Acceptance of Minutes: Andy Willie made a motion to accept the minutes from the December 16, 2009 meeting. John Madzula seconded the motion.
All in attendance voted unanimously.
Finance: At this time Bob Geckle introduced Brian White, the Republican Party’s endorsed replacement for Don Studley on the Fairfield Hills Authority.
Mr. Geckle then informed the Authority that he and Don Studley had an unofficial meeting with Pat Llodra, the First Selectman and Bob Tait, to give an overview of this year’s budget. Mr. Geckle said he anticipated that next year’s budget will be flat this year. Mr. Geckle informed the Authority that this budget will be formally discussed on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 and cordially invited all of the members to attend.
Mr. Geckle asked if anyone had any questions or input and John Reed stated that he hoped the money slated for the campus trails is used for the expansion of the trails and not just used to finish up the area’s that are already in use. Mr. Reed stated that he thought it would be great if some of the exercise stations could be installed, as planned, so they town residents can see more progress on the campus.
Operations: Maria DeMarco, (DeMarco Management), gave an overview of her monthly report. (See Attached).
Ms. DeMarco listed the major items in the works at this time:
A work order has been placed for lights to be added to the utility poles around Cochran House to help increase security around the area. Ms. DeMarco told the Authority that she will follow-up with CL&P to see when this project will be completed. Bob Geckle asked Mike Holmes to assist Ms. DeMarco in getting this project completed as quickly as possible.
Ms. DeMarco informed the Authority that Chief Kehoe, Newtown Police Department, received a letter requesting access to the buildings on the campus for para-normal monitoring and filming. Chief Kehoe responded no to the request.
Ms. DeMarco informed the Authority of a request by the Friends of the Library to use Newtown Hall for the storage and sorting of the donated books for their annual book sale. This is a major fundraiser for the Library. Ms. DeMarco asked if the Authority for permission to use Newtown Hall on behalf of the Friends of the Library.
John Reed stated that he would happily grant the request to the Library but thought it was wise to have a caveat that in the case of the remote possibility that someone was interested in leasing Newtown Hall the Library would have to vacate the building.
Motion: John Reed made a motion giving permission to the Friends of the Library to use Newtown Hall as a storage facility for their book donations with the understanding that if a person was interested in leasing Newtown Hall, was able to quickly finalize a Lease Agreement and needed access to the building right away, the Library would have to vacate the building.
John Madzula seconded the motion.
All in attendance voted unanimously in favor of the motion.
Ms. DeMarco continued to give her report stating that the Emergency Operation Center was still at a standstill waiting for more funding to become available.
Ms. DeMarco also informed the Authority that she is in the process of monitoring all of the electrical meters on the Fairfield Hills Campus to try to find a way to reduce the cost of the utilities bills for the entire campus.
Bob Geckle stated that this was part of his discussion at the preliminary budget review and he requested that he would like to have this information for the Budget Meeting on January 28, 2010. Mr. Geckle stated that this information will be useful in breaking down the Common Area Charges for the entire campus.
Ms. DeMarco stated that the number of break-ins and vandalism on the campus have gone down. (See attached Police Reports.)
Ms. DeMarco informed the Authority she has requested quotes for the electrical work that needs to be done on the campus green and the campus sign.
Bob Geckle added that the funding for these projects will come from encumbered funds and that Bob Tait has agreed to their reassignment.
Ms. DeMarco stated that she will get the Fairfield Hills Campus sign lit temporarily if the permanent solution can not be done now due to weather conditions.
Andy Willie requested that the signs around the campus stating that it closes at sunset be taken down because they are no longer needed.
Bob Geckle also asked that the blue “Welcome to Fairfield Hills” signs be revised because the information listed on them is not current.
Ms. DeMarco gave an update to the Nextel antenna project. Ms. DeMarco informed the Authority that the employees of the Town of Newtown use Nextel phones but the service is not strong enough in the Newtown Municipal Center creating a need for the installation of a new antenna.
Nextel has proposed installing the antenna on the cupola of the Municipal Center. Ms. DeMarco was looking for an alternative place to install the antenna, possibly at the Emergency Operations Center, but this was cost prohibitive. Ms. DeMarco will keep the Authority updated.
Planning Committee Report: Elizabeth Stocker the Director of Economic and Community Development updated the Authority on the changes that have been made to the Fairfield Hills website to get their insight and opinions. Ms. Stocker showed the images from the website on the screen to show how “user friendly” the website is.
Bob Geckle pointed some changes that needed to be made. Mr. Geckle also stated that the review of the Master Plan may bring changes to the leasing cost to some of the buildings and suggested that the word “negotiable” be added to the list price of each building. All of the Authority members agreed to this change.
Ms. Stocker stated that this would be helpful because the deadline for the Request for Proposal was scheduled for January 21, 2010 and the properties would be more marketable if the prices were considered negotiable.
Bob Geckle informed the Authority that he and Liz Stocker had a discussion with Pat Llodra, First Selectman, who agreed that it was wise to move forward with this project because this information will be helpful with the review of the Master Plan.
At this time Bob Geckle reported to the Authority that Barbara O’Connor made a request to Walt Motyka that the Authority have a discussion about a possible fundraiser for landscaping around the Municipal Center and the Fairfield Hills Campus.
All members agreed that the Authority should not be involved with the fundraiser for landscaping the Newtown Municipal Center because the Fairfield Hills Authority has no involvement with the center and suggested that this idea should go through the First Selectman’s office.
Mr. Geckle said that there could still be benches purchased for placement around the actual campus and asked Andy Willie to pursue this when he returns in March.
At this time Elizabeth Stocker asked if she could give a quick update about the EPA Grant for the clean-up of Stratford Hall and one of the duplexes.
Ms. Stocker stated that she thinks the duplex that should be included in the clean-up should be the one that was slated for the Kevin’s Community Center. This recommendation was made because the location of the duplex #58, is closest to Stratford Hall.
Ms. Stocker wanted to find out where Kevin’s Community Center was in their progress.
John Reed suggested that Ms. Stocker send an e-mail to Kevin’s Community Center asking what the timeline is on their project because the town is trying to move forward on the clean-up of these two buildings.
John Reed said he would contact Maria Schwartz, KCC’s contact, to get an update.
Adjournment: Andy Willie made a motion to adjourn. John Reed seconded the motion.
The meeting adjourned at 8:55.
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