The Fairfield Hills Authority held a Regular Meeting on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 in the meeting room of the Cyrenius Booth Library, Main Street, Newtown, CT. Bob Geckle called the meeting to order at 7:36 p.m.
Present: Bob Geckle, John Madzula, John Reed, Mike Holmes, Walt Motyka and Kathy Furey.
Absent: Andy Willie
Also Present: Maria DeMarco (DeMarco Management Corp), Elizabeth Stocker, Director of Economic & Community Development and one member of the press.
Public Participation: None
Acceptance of Minutes: John Madzula made a motion to accept the minutes from the January 20, 2010 Authority Meeting. Mike Holmes seconded the motion.
All in attendance voted unanimously.
At this time Bob Geckle informed the Authority members of a Freedom of Information Act Training Session that will be held on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at the Newtown Municipal Center.
Finance: Bob Geckle gave an overview of the monthly financial report. Mr. Geckle reported that a reduction in allocated monies was done by the Director of Finance for every department and commission in the month of January. The estimated reduced amount is approximately $5200.00.
Mr. Geckle also informed the Authority that the 2010/2011 budget will probably be the $485,000 amount that is the budget for the current fiscal year. Mr. Geckle stated that this is not definite and he suggested waiting to see what the bottom line is before readjusting the planned expenditures for the next fiscal year.
Mr. Geckle informed the Authority that the Fairfield Hills Authority Bond Fund 51 has a zero balance.
Mr. Geckle stated that Brian White confirmation review is scheduled for March 1st Board of Selectmen’s meeting.
Operations: Maria DeMarco, DeMarco Management, gave an overview of her monthly report. (See Attached).
Ms. DeMarco stated that the Kevin’s Community Center cancelled their appointment from the morning because they decided that they would not be able to get a really good look at the duplex buildings with so much snow on the ground and that they will reschedule closer to the spring.
Ms. DeMarco informed the Authority that the rules/direction signs for the Fairfield Hills Campus have been taken down because the information on the signs is no longer current. Ms. DeMarco also stated that the Director of Human Resources has requested that new directional signs be created because there have been many complaints from town residents. She will present options to the Authority at the March meeting.
Ms. DeMarco informed the Authority that the Post Master has confirmed that there will be no inside mail delivery to anyone on the Fairfield Hills Campus except to the Newtown Municipal Center. Bob Geckle requested that Ms. DeMarco look into installing a “cluster” mail box somewhere on the campus.
Ms. DeMarco stated that the break-in problems have slowed down on the campus. Ms. DeMarco stated that the campus security has notice an increase in broken windows due to rocks being thrown. John Reed stated that he noticed that there was a lot of broken glass in Newtown Hall when he was doing a walk through. Mr. Reed suggested that possibly using video surveillance cameras on the buildings might help as a deterrent.
Bob Geckle indicated that a meeting with Fred Hurley, George Benson and Ms. DeMarco to address the water issue on the corner of Wasserman Way and Trades Lane.
Kathy Furey asked what the Nextel antenna deal was all about. Bob Geckle stated that some of the departments in the Newtown Municipal Center required use of cell phones in the buildings and that the coverage was not working so an antenna will be installed inside the cupola to improve the reception. Ms. DeMarco stated that they were concerned about damage being done to the cupola but that Nextel assured the town that the antenna is a small repeater unit that will installed on the inside of the cupola.
Planning: Bob Geckle informed the Authority that he gave a tour of Plymouth Hall and Stratford Hall to the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission for possible re-use.
John Reed gave the Authority an update on the Request for Proposal process for engaging a Commercial Real Estate Broker for marketing the Fairfield Hills Campus. The Planning Subcommittee held a meeting at 7:00 p.m. this same evening to hold a discussion about the candidates. Mr. Reed stated that the discussion generated more questions so the sub-committee decided that they would re-convene at a later date to finalize their choice for this position.
Kathy Furey stated that the sub-committe has narrowed down their choices and they are now doing a final review of the pros and cons to each Broker.
Adjournment: John Reed made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mike Holmes seconded the motion.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:33 p.m.
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