The Fairfield Hills Authority held a Regular Meeting on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 in the meeting room at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, Main Street, Newtown, CT. John Reed called the meeting order at 7:30p.m.
Present: John Reed, Andy Willie, Ross Carley, John Madzula, Brian White and Jim Bernardi.
Absent: Renata Adler and Mike Holmes.
Also Present: One member of the Press and one member of the Public.
Public Participation: Two members from the Fairfield Hills Review committee came in to the meeting once it was in progress and asked at the end of the meeting if they could have a moment to speak to the clarification of the current recommendation for the Fairfield Hills Campus with regards to educational structures and commented on being reasonable in the specifications for benches for the Eagle Scout project.
Acceptance of the Minutes: Andy Willie made a motion to accept the minutes from the October 19, 2011 meeting. John Madzula seconded the motion. All in attendance voted to accept the minutes.
First Selectman: John Reed informed the Authority that the First Selectman would not be attending the meeting due to a conflict with her schedule.
Property Manager: Maria DeMarco was unable to attend the meeting but had submitted her monthly report. (See Attached).
John Reed stated that the Antennas had been removed from the buildings on the Fairfield Hills Campus by the Newtown Hook & Ladder and were going to be picked up by the Department of Public Works.
Ms. DeMarco also submitted a draft of the 2012-2013 Fairfield Hills Budget. Noted was the reduction of the budget from the 2011-2012 budget. That is due to the various departments in the Town taking on the management role of the Fairfield Hills Campus. Examples of this are: the budget for security has been included in the Newtown Police Budget, the cost of landscaping has been included in the Parks & Recreation budget and the maintenance responsibilities are mainly addressed through the Department of Public Works budget.
Ms. DeMarco submitted two different budgets. One that included her services and one that did not. The Fairfield Hills Authority agreed that they would submit the budget with her services in it until the Authority has a chance to review a plan for the campus without the use of a property management company.
The budget had an accounting error. The Authority corrected the error. In the draft the final proposed budget would be $122,935.00.
Motion: Brian White made a motion to recommend the budget as amended that includes the Property Management services. John Madzula seconded the motion. All in attendance voted to accept the motion.
Chairman: John Reed informed the Authority that the Procedure for the Development of the Fairfield Hills Campus has not been finalized. Dr. Reed is hoping to set up a meeting with the necessary town departments to continue work on the document that will occur after Thanksgiving. This document will be used to hopefully streamline the process for any business that is interested in a development project on the Campus.
Dr. Reed asked the status of the Broker Agreement for the Fairfield Hills Campus. John Madzula informed the Authority that the sub-committee did extend the Broker Contract through the end of 2011. John Reed asked that an advertisement for the Request for Proposal (RFP) be put in the paper in the month of December to start the RFP process before the New Year begins.
John Reed gave an update to the work being done around the campus. At the meeting with the Town Department liaisons held monthly on the Monday before the Fairfield Hills Authority he was informed that the Department of Public Works will make the fencing behind Canaan House more structurally secure. John Reed stated this was a reasonable step to keep the area around the building secure for safety reasons.
The Authority held a discussion as to the urgency of the demolition of the buildings on the Fairfield Hills Campus. The Authority members were all in agreement that until the buildings are removed that permanent fencing would be the best solution for securing each location for safety purposes.
Motion: Brian White made a motion for the cause of health, safety and welfare of the residents of the Town of Newtown the Fairfield Hills Authority request that permanent fencing be installed around all of the brick buildings on the Fairfield Hills Campus. Ross Carley seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously.
New Business: John Reed introduced the idea of giving a Certificate of Merit to Harvey Pessin for his unique and vital creation of the Victory Garden.
Motion: Andy Willie made a motion to recognize Harvey Pessin with a Certificate of Merit for his leadership on behalf of the Fairfield Hills Campus Victory Garden that benefited Newtown Social Services, F.A.I.TH. Food Pantry and Nunnawauk Meadows. The Authority would like to thank Mr. Pessin for making possible this unique and vital contribution to civic involvement on the Fairfield Hills Campus. Brian White seconded the motion. All in attendance voted unanimously.
Adjournment: Andy Willie made a motion to adjourn the meeting. John Madzula seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 8:45p.m.
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