The Fairfield Hills Authority held a Regular Meeting on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 in the meeting room at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, Main Street, Newtown, CT. John Reed called the meeting to order at 7:30p.m.
Present: John Reed, John Madzula, Jim Bernardi, Andy Willie, Ross Carley, Brian White and Mike Holmes.
Absent: Ross Carley.
Also Present: Pat Llodra, First Selectman, 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.
Acceptance of the Minutes: Jim Bernardi made a motion to accept the minutes from the December 15, 2010 Authority Meeting. John Madzula seconded the motion. All in attendance voted yes to accept the minutes.
First Selectman Report: At this time John Reed asked to move ahead in the Agenda to accommodate the First Selectman so she can leave to go to the Legislative Council Meeting.
Ms. Llodra gave an overview of the proposed budget for the Fairfield Hills Campus. Ms. Llodra stated that because the Board of Selectman’s meeting had been cancelled the night before this information had not been shared with them yet.
Ms. Llodra stated that because the town is in a transitional phase of moving the management of the Fairfield Hills Campus to different departments within the town and away from having a private contractor oversee the campus, there have been significant steps accomplished to move closer to this goal.
The first has been is that now the Landscape Company that handles snow removal and grass cutting throughout the campus will now be managed through Parks and Recreation.
The second change is that the Engineer House will be transitioned from the Fairfield Hills Campus Office to a sub-station for the Newtown Police Department and campus security with room for meetings and records. The Fairfield Hills Campus Office will now be located in the Newtown Municipal Center and should be moving in there at the end of January.
The third change in this transition is that the Campus Security will now be managed by the Newtown Police Department.
Ms. Llodra went on to say that these changes are being done gradually so the funds for these contracts are still listed in the 2011/2012 Budget but will be moved over to the appropriate departments once everything is finalized. Another aspect of these changes is that the DeMarco Management Contract will be reduced by half and Maris DeMarco will be coming to the campus office twice a month instead of once a week. Ms. Llodra also stated that if necessary the town has retained the option of enlisting Ms. DeMarco’s services on a task by task basis.
Ross Carley asked Ms. Llodra if the same security guards will remain on the campus. Ms. Llodra stated that at this time there is no plan to change but that will be up to the discretion of the Newtown Police Dept. as to what security they will want to use in the future.
Ms. Llodra stated that the long range plan is that the Fairfield Hills Campus has the same level of security as the rest of the town.
Andy Willie asked if there was still any consideration to move the Police Department to the Fairfield Hills Campus.
John Reed responded that certain things are still too nebulous but that good planning is to assume that they mayl eventually move to the campus.
John Reed then asked Ms. Llodra if the Legislative Council might have on their Agenda plans to discuss the development of the Fairfield Hills Campus.
Ms. Llodra stated that the Legislative Council planned to discuss that they would like to encourage the Fairfield Hills Authority to hear more details from an interest developer which include a provision for apartments..
Andy Willie stated that maybe a discussion needs to be held to come up with ways to look outside the box and maybe change how the lease agreements are presented and that not expecting that the money be paid “up-front” might open up some other development plans. Mr. Willie suggested that possibly a small group get together to come up with some idea’s and that possibly Mike Struna could join them.
Ms. Llodra stated that one of the problems is that there is no clarity as to how to move the campus forward. Ms. Llodra also stated that what she hears from Mike Struna is that in order for any Commercial Development to succeed it requires that some housing go hand in hand with the project.
Another point that Ms. Llodra made was that because there is so much available vacant space in the area the cost of refurbishing the buildings on the campus really prices them out of the market.
Ms. Llodra left the meeting at the end of the discussion.
Newtown Ambulance: At this time John Reed suggested that the discussion about the development of the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Association be moved up in the meeting. John Madzula presented the preliminary architectural drawings that he did for the Association.
John Reed stated that because of John Madzula and Brian White’s volunteer involvement with the Ambulance Association they will abstain from voting on any of the motions associated with this project.
John Reed stated that the Authority is in favor of Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Association building their new facility on the campus but wanted to stipulate some points before moving forward:
The Fairfield Hills Authority approves the designation of a parcel of land of approximately 2 acres located near the intersection of Mile Hill South and Keating Farms Avenue for use by the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Association for the construction of a new ambulance facility and will proceed with the development of a formal lease subject to the following:
- Approval of the site plan by appropriate Town Agencies.
- Identification of a specific time period for the start of construction.
- Formal approval of a mortgage application or other means of financing for the complete cost of construction and site work including abatement and remediation of structures on the site and the location of gas, electric and communication lines to the property.
- A shared understanding of the impact of possible construction of a new Police Station nearby in order to maximize the effective use of this area of the Fairfield Hills Campus.
A discussion followed:
John Madzula stated that first a concept is created then the Ambulance Association will have to get more specific and then the entire plan will go before Planning and Zoning to see if it is plausible.
Ross Carley asked if the location would require the demolition of the white houses along Mile Hill South and if this was the best use for these houses.
John Reed stated that these buildings have always been slated for removal and removing three is progress. John also stated that the Authority must make sure that the community understands that the Authority is not committing any of the cost for developing, removal or abatement for this project and that the Authority has no funding to assist with any aspect of this project.
John Reed also inferred that there needs to be discussions about whether or not the Ambulance Association will be treated as a quasi-town organization or if they will be expected to pay common area charges as any other lessee on the campus. There will have to be a way to differentiate between the groups.
Ross Carley stated that he is concerned about the single family homes across from the proposed location for the Ambulance Association and the noise that they will generate.
John Reed stated that not every call is answered with their sirens on.
Jim Bernardi asked the Ambulance Association group how many calls they answer each day and how many require the use of sirens. Stuart Rieve stated that they answer about six calls a day but not all need sirens.
Brian White stated that in general the Authority is in favor of moving forward with this project and that they Ambulance Association should go through with the steps to get them off the block to get started.
Bruce Herring stated that the only hesitation he had about the proposed stipulations is the time frame. Mr. Herring stated that with a big donation this project will be completed in a year’s time.
The other item he would like changed is instead of the designation of 2 acres of land he would like 3 acres.
Motion: Jim Bernardi made a motion to approve the designation of a parcel of land of approximately 3 acres located near the intersection of Mile Hill South and Keating Farms Avenue for use by the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Association for the construction of a new ambulance facility and will proceed with the development of a formal lease subject to the following:
- Approval of the site plan by appropriate Town Agencies.
Identification of a specific time period for the start of construction.
- Formal approval of a mortgage application or other means of financing for the complete cost of construction and site work including abatement and remediation of structures on the site and the location of gas, electric and communication lines to the property.
- A shared understanding of the impact of possible construction of a new Police Station nearby in order to maximize the effective use of this area of the Fairfield Hills Campus.
The motion was seconded by Andy Willie.
Ross Carley stated that he was not sure he was on board with the site chosen for the new facility.
John Reed stated that two separate locations had been looked at – one on Wasserman Way and the one on Mile Hill South and it was decided that the latter was the best location.
Mike Holmes stated that his only hesitation with this motion was the lack of a specific time frame. He suggested that a one year limit be included just in case another project does come up the campus would not be tied up waiting for this project to move forward.
Jim Bernardi again made the motion with an amendment stating that this agreement is subject to a one year expiration timeline.
Andy Willie seconded the motion.
John Reed, Mike Holmes, and Ross Carley all voted yes. Brian White and John Madzula abstained.
Operations: At this time John Reed asked Maria DeMarco to give an overview of her monthly report:
Maria informed the Authority that the temporary solar light that she had installed was working very well and she would like the members to take time to see how well it works to see if they want to move forward with installing them on the various un-occupied buildings around the campus.
Ross Carley asked how big of an area the light covered?
Ms. DeMarco stated that she will confirm how large an area the lights illuminate and stated that the more lights that can be ordered the more bargaining power she will have to lower the price.
Ms. DeMarco also wanted to follow-up on a letter the Authority received asking for permission to hold craft shows on the Fairfield Hills Campus. The person making the request has held shows at Edmond Town Hall. Ms. DeMarco wanted to clear it with the Authority before she told him he could use the campus.
John Reed stated that he has attended this craft show in the past and has no problem for this type of use of the campus. His only hesitation was that some research as to what types of charges should be levied for this type of event and that this would be setting a precedent for future uses for the campus.
Ms. DeMarco stated that she would look into what the Edmond Town Hall charged this group and what type of organization they were like to work with. She also stated that this will help in putting a policy together for future events like this.
Economic & Community Development: John Reed gave an overview of notes from the Director of Economic and Community Development.
The bid process for the cleanup of Duplexes 60, 61 and 63 is underway. There will be a walk-through on January 26, 2011. The town is going to use State approved businesses.
It is known that the grant for the project will not cover all of the costs, probably two with the third duplex getting partially done, so the plan is to finish us much as possible until the funds run out.
Finance: Brian White gave a quick update – he is tracking the budget process of the town relative to the Fairfield Hills Campus.
Litchfield Hall: Ross Carley stated that he missed the last meeting and was wondering what the status was for Litchfield Hall. John Reed stated that the town has reached an agreement to move forward with the demolition.
John Reed also made the suggestion that maybe the Authority should look into the cost of having the windows of the other buildings slated for demolition be tested for asbestos to avoid what happened to Litchfield Hall.
Maria DeMarco made the suggestion that because there will be a testing company on campus for the duplex work maybe the Authority could “piggy back” the testing of the other buildings.
John Reed asked everyone to think about it and he will get an idea of what the cost would be for these tests.
Adjournment: At this time Jim Bernardi made a motion to adjourn. Mike Holmes seconded the motion.
The meeting adjourned at 9:02 p.m.
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