The Fairfield Hills Authority held a Regular Meeting on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 in the meeting room of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, Main Street, Newtown, CT. John Reed called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m.
Present: John Reed, Andy Willie, Brian White, Walt Motyka, Ross Carley, John Madzula and Jim Bernardi, Mike Holmes.
Also Present: First Selectman Pat Llodra, Maria DeMarco, (DeMarco Management), three members from the public and two members from the press. At 7:00 p.m at the request of the Fairfield Hills Authority the State Representatives arrived to attend the meeting – Senator McKinney, Representative Hovey and Representative Lyddy.
Public Participation: No Public Participation.
Acceptance of Minutes: At this time Walt Motyka made a motion to accept the minutes from the September 15, 2010 meeting. Andy Willie seconded the motion.
All in attendance voted unanimously to accept the minutes except Mike Holmes who abstained..
Reports and Recommendations:
First Selectman: At this time First Selectman Llodra brought up for discussion several items on which she would like feedback from the Authority:
CIP – Ms. Llodra commented on the document that was proposed from the Board of Finance to the Legislative Council and how it was in many ways similar to the proposal from the Authority.
Selectman Llodra also had three items she touched on to update the Authority members :
#1 – Contractual management by the Town Departments – Ms. Llodra explained that there has been increase discussion of putting all of the contractual services under the management of specific town departments. Ms. Llodra used as an example, the Fairfield Hills Campus landscaping contract – the vendor also does work for the Parks and Recreation Dept. so the thought is that if it was under one large contract that could bring a savings to the town.
#2 – Security: Ms. Llodra informed the Authority that there has been some discussion of the potential benefits of the management of the Campus Security being done by the Newtown Police Department and she is awaiting a response from the Chief to this concept.
#3 – Engineer’s House (aka – Fairfield Hills Campus Office): Ms. Llodra informed the Authority that there is discussion to relocate the campus office and staff to the soon to be vacated Probate Office. Ms. Llodra stated that she is trying to decide what the best use of the Engineer’s House is and would welcome any input from the Authority members. Andy Willie stated that he did not see a great savings by closing the building – it will still have to be maintained/heated/electricity. Maria DeMarco confirmed that the monthly costs of the building are $1200.00 so the savings would only be on the monthly phone bill - $200.00 the copy machine contract and some modest fuel and electrical
savings..
At this time Selectman Llodra informed the Authority that one of the most imminent projects is Kevin’s Community Center (KCC). The town is still in possession of the $500,000 grant that is to be spent on interior and exterior of the duplex that KCC may use. Ms. Llodra also requested that the Authority take some time to review the lease structure and to see what the relationship should look like between the Town of Newtown and Kevin’s Community Center. This is a somewhat difficult task because this is a non-profit organization so how do you facilitate the common area charges, what would the length of the lease be? John Reed suggested that the Long Range Planning Committee – that includes himself, John Madzula, and Walt Motyka could assist
in this process. John stated that the item the First Selectman wants feedback on will be discussed at the November meeting.
7:00 p.m. At this time John Reed acknowledged and thanked the State Representatives for attending the meeting and tabled the regular agenda discussion.
John Reed stated that the reason for requesting the attendance of the representatives was to give an overview of the cost implications to the Town of Newtown from the purchase of the Fairfield Hills Campus. (See Attached Financial Break-down).
Mr. Reed stated that he was hoping that this information for this dynamic and profound venture could be shared with their colleagues at the legislature to emphasize the Town’s commitment to making this venture successful.
The Representatives were very supportive of the efforts by the Town of Newtown and stated that they are willing to work with the town to find funding for specific viable projects and offered their assistance with contacting the various agencies necessary to move the projects along. They did stress that Newtown’s plan for the campus was important to securing funding.
Pat Llodra wanted to affirm what a great potential asset the Fairfield Hills Campus was to the Town of Newtown but stated that the cost to make the campus viable is considerable and that every million dollar spent on the campus is one less million that can go toward other needs in the town.
John Reed again thanked the representatives for coming.
8:00 - The regular meeting re-convened.
Property Manager: John Reed stated that everyone received the monthly Property Management report from Maria DeMarco and suggested that the report will stand as written and asked if anyone had any questions for Ms. DeMarco. Mike Holmes asked why there was a discrepancy in the electric bill. Ms. DeMarco stated that the billing cycles are different for each bill so they are received at different times.
That ended the Property Management discussion.
Finance: John Reed asked Brian White if he had anything to add to the financial report. Mr. White stated that he and Ms. DeMarco reviewed all of the expenses that afternoon.
Mr. White also reported that the expenses toward the Brownfield Grant have equaled $92,800 from RW Bartley and Assoc, and Bestech. This is for the clean-up of Stratford Hall and Duplex #58L&R.
Old Business: Walt Motyka and John Madzula reported on their charge to put together a proposal to recommend a location for the Newtown Ambulance on the campus. They were asked to consider the long term possibility that the Police Department could also be located on the campus.
Walt Motyka gave an overview of the proposal outlining three areas that could be used. The approximate acreage each building would require is 2. Mr. Motyka also explained that a possible cost effective solution because it would be combining all of the infrastructure costs, building costs in a common area use. (See Attached Breakdown of Proposal).
John Reed stated that this will be further reviewed and put back on the Agenda for the November Authority meeting.
At this time Ross Carley informed the Authority that he did go in to Canaan House to look for more of the drawings of the Campus Buildings and found that most of them had been strewn about the basement of the building. Some also had water damage so Mr. Carley was hoping to find a place to spread them out to dry them and organize them. Maria DeMarco suggested that he could use Newtown Hall and that she could have some tables put in there for this project. Ms. DeMarco also suggested that he contact the State of Connecticut Department of Public Works because they would have records of the original drawings. Mr. Carley stated that he would look into that and updated everyone at the November meeting.
Proposed Campus Rules: John Reed asked if the Planning Committee had a chance to meet to discuss the proposed rules for the campus trails by the Parks and Rec. Department. Andy Willie stated that Parks and Rec did adopted 6 of the rules. John Reed ask that the sub-committee meet to finalize their thought on these and any additional ones they might recommend. Andy Willie, Mike Holmes, Joe Bernardi and Ross Carley are on this sub-committee and will be meeting before the November meeting.
New Business: At this time John Reed brought to the discussion the possibility of having the potential developer of housing in the Cochran building give an overview of the proposed project perhaps at a joint meeting at of the Master Review Committee and the Fairfield Hills Authority. He thought the citizens of Newtonw need to know the scope of the proposed undertaking e.i. specific building in addition to Cochran and what their proposed use would be. Without such knowledge he wondered how individuals could make informed judgement. Mr. Reed asked for input from the other Authority members. Mr. Reed stated that there seemed to be an assumption that the apartment plan for Cochran was the only thing the developer would do.
Walt Motyka stated that the Authority was in charge of implementing the Master Plan and that it was the Fairfield Hills Review Committee that would have to decide if housing was going to be included in the master plan for the Campus. Mr. Motyka suggested that the Authority wait to see what the review committee come up with their suggestions before have the developer give a presentation.
Andy Willie agrees and suggested that the review committee be left to flush out the best additions for the campus.
Mike Holmes concurred that they Authority should give the review committee time.
John Reed stated that he was respectful of everyone’s input.
Executive Session: 9:05 - At this time Walt Motyka made a motion to go into to Executive Session to hear Jim Bernardi’s recommendations for the security on the Fairfield Hills Campus. Andy Willie seconded the motion. Maria DeMarco was invited to attend Executive Session.
9:40 p.m. – The Authority members returned to public session. After a discussion there was consensus that Jim Bernardi would continue to work on his recommendations and time-lines. He will bring the results to the November meeting.
Motion: Being no further business Andy Willie moved and John Madzula seconded that the meeting be adjourned. All in attendance voted unanimously.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:46 p.m.
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