The Fairfield Hills Authority held a Regular Meeting on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 in the meeting room at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, Main Street, Newtown, CT. John Reed called the meeting to order at 7:32p.m.
Present: John Reed, Walt Motyka, John Madzula, Jim Bernardi, Andy Willie and Mike Holmes.
Absent: Brian White and Ross Carley.
Also Present: Maria DeMarco, (DeMarco Management), Bruce Herring, (Newtown Ambulance), Stuart Rieve (Newtown Ambulance) along with five other members from the Newtown Ambulance one member from the press.
Public Participation: No Public Participation.
Budget: John Reed asked that Maria DeMarco give an overview of the 2011/2012 proposed budget at this time because she had to leave the meeting early.
Ms. DeMarco gave everyone a copy and discussed the differences between the 2010/2011 budget and the proposed 2011/2012 budget. The biggest change is that this is a transitional budget because the plan is that the different town departments will be absorbing the campus maintenance and it will no longer fall under the property manager’s supervision. For this reason, Ms. DeMarco stated that she has reduced the amount of hours and the management fee for her services in the budget.
John Reed stated through this transition Ms. DeMarco will be with us the entire year.
Ms. DeMarco discussed the other changes made to the budget:
- The fund for emergency repairs has been consolidated various other budget categories in the 2010-2011 budget and will now be called Fire/Life Safety/Other Security.
Ms. DeMarco stated that these funds are important to have the ability to act quickly to do repairs to secure the buildings if they are broken into or dangerous, i.e. the caved in porch roof on Duplex #58.
The budget is basically a zero increase from this year’s budget.
Motion: Walt Motyka made a motion to accept the proposed Budget. Mike Holmes seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously and the motion passed.
Maria DeMarco gave a quick update about a security meeting she had with her security specialist and Scott Sharlow, Director of Technology and Maureen Wills, Newtown Police.
Ms. DeMarco stated that her security specialist showed her a solar light that can be installed strategically around the unoccupied buildings on the campus to help secure the buildings. Ms. DeMarco is going to have one installed to see how well it works. The cost per light is $500.00. Ms. DeMarco stated that she will also be getting a proposal for security cameras to be installed on the buildings around the campus.
Motion: John Madzula made a motion to accept the minutes from the November 17, 2010 Fairfield Hills Authority meeting. Walt Motyka seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously and the motion passed.
Economic & Community Development: The Director of Economic and Community Development was unable to attend the Authority meeting but sent a report requesting two actions be taken.
Motion: Mike Holmes made a motion that the Fairfield Hills Authority give their support for putting Stratford Hall and the Duplexes into the Quick Tracts Program of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center. Walt Motyka seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously and the motion passed.
The second item that the Director of Economic and Community Development requested action be taken on was the possibility of filing an application for the EDA funding for the infrastructure project. A grant writer will be necessary for this application with the expected cost of $2,000 to $2,500.
Motion: Andy Willie made a motion that the Fairfield Hills Authority approves the request for funding the cost of a grant writer for the application for EDA Funding for the infrastructure project on the Fairfield Hills Campus. Walt Motyka seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously and the motion passed.
Campus Rules: At this time Andy Willie brought up for discussion the Parks & Recreation Rules for the Campus. The authority agreed to accept the recommended rules. Andy Willie stated that even though these rules have been accepted the Authority can always make recommendations to add additional rules if necessary.
Motion: Jim Bernardi made a motion to accept the Fairfield Hills Campus rules proposed by the Parks & Recreation Department. Mike Holmes seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously and the motion was passed.
Newtown Ambulance: The Newtown Ambulance was in attendance of the meeting to discuss the possibility of building the new ambulance center on the Fairfield Hills Campus. They are interested in the area where the white staff houses currently exist.
Walt Motyka suggested that one of the first things they need to do is a site plan to see how viable this project is.
The next step will be to present this to the Authority.
Andy Willie stated that the Authority is in favor of this project being developed on the Fairfield Hills Campus.
John Reed also stated his support of the project going forward but emphasized that the Fairfield Hills Authority has no funding to assist with the project because the bond money for developing the campus has been spent. Mr. Reed stated that the cost of the infrastructure to the building would also be on the Newtown Ambulance.
Walt Motyka stated that there may be State and/or Federal money and that Newtown Ambulance should contact the State Representatives for their assistance in finding funding for this project.
Stuart Rieve (Newtown Ambulance) asked if any significant work has been done on any of the sewer lines. The answer was no and that they would need to find out if the pipe is still functional on that part of the campus.
Mr. Rieve also asked if there were any building design specifications for the campus. Walt Motyka stated that they would have to stay within the Campus guidelines and said that the Newtown Youth Academy exterior is a good example for them to look at.
Duplexes: John Reed gave a update on the planned use of one of the duplexes for Kevin’s Community Center. The buildings need to remediated whether they are renovated or torn down.
Pat Llodra is pricing the cost of using Newtown Hall to consolidate Kevin’s Community Center and Family Services.
Security: Jim Bernardi stated that he did drive around the campus and he called the Director of Public Works who informed him barring any bad weather he is planning on doing some of the safety related projects that Mr. Bernardi requested with a start date of December 13, 2010.
Authority Meetings for 2011: John Reed stated that despite a good attempt to hold the meetings in the New Municipal Center and possibly televising the meetings there are no dates available that would work for every Authority member so the Authority will continue to meet on the third Wednesday of every month.
Motion: Walt Motyka made a motion to accept the Authority meeting dates for 2011 on the Third Wednesday of every month. Andy Willie seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously and the motion passed.
Meeting Adjourned: Mike Holmes made a motion to adjourn. Jim Bernardi seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously.
Meeting adjourned at 8:55.
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