Minutes of the regular meeting of the Legislative Council held on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 in the Senior Center, Riverside Road, Sandy Hook, CT. Chairman Rodgers called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
PRESENT: William Rodgers, Timothy Holian, Daniel Amaral, Joseph Borst, David Brown, Jeffrey Capeci, Joseph DiCandido, Michael Iassogna, Francis Pennarola. ABSENT: Stacie Doyle, Keith Jacobs, Patricia Llodra. ALSO PRESENT: Financial Director Benjamin Spragg, Board of Education member Paul Mangiafico, member of public Paul Lundquist.
MINUTES. Upon motion of Mr. Borst, the minutes of the regular meeting of July 11, 2007 were unanimously accepted with a spelling correction.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. None noted.
COMMUNICATIONS. Mr. Rodgers distributed the final report from the Charter Revision Committee. The Committee requested that the Legislative Council act in such a way that the recommendations come up for referendum in the spring in connection with the budget or in the fall in connection with the elections. A public hearing must be held before August 26, 2007. Mr. Rodgers would like to combine a public hearing for the Charter Revision report and any ordinances that are ready for hearing with a meeting of the Legislative Council. Mr. Spragg noted that he had met with the Charter Revision Committee but did not discuss the budget with them so he has not reviewed the report. Mr. Holian will ensure that Charter Revision responded to everything that the Legislative Council included in its charge to them.
COMMITTEE REPORTS. None noted.
FIRST SELECTMAN’S REPORT. Mr. Rosenthal was not present. Mr. Rodgers noted that the item concerning an irrevocable trust fund to benefit the Town of Newtown will be carried forward under Unfinished Business. He distributed a letter from Mr. Brown to Mr. Spragg concerning the Town Attorney’s opinion regarding Town of Newtown trust Fund (Attachment A to original minutes). Mr. Rodgers said that Attorney Grogins said the issue is not whether a trust can be established but whether municipal financing or donations can be used to fund this trust. Attorney Grogins feels that we must have a Charter provision allowing this. Mr. Brown feels that this is an item for the Charter Revision Committee to consider. He also thinks that it is up to the Town to create this authority. Mr. Rodgers said that we had such
an account that was set up by Mae Schmidle with $1.00. Mr. Spragg recalls a fund that Representative Wasserman requested be established with $25,000 for open space but this was only funded for one year. He said that we now put fee in lieu of open space money in that fund. Mr. Brown said that perhaps the State will offer an opinion.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
BOE request for special appropriation concerning health insurance savings. The Board of Finance has not yet sent a recommendation to the Legislative Council so this matter will be tabled.
NEW BUSINESS.
Year-round schooling. Mr. Rodgers had requested that the Board of Education review Dr. Pitkoff’s report and make recommendations to the Legislative Council concerning either short term space crunch needs vs. long range year round schooling. This item will be tabled.
Report from Finance Committee concerning suggestions for Administrators’ Contract. Mr. DiCandido will redraft his letter that he sent to the Board of Education three years ago for discussion at the next Legislative Council meeting. He has not received any input on his letter from the Board of Education.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
Paul Lundquist’s offer to conduct a survey of the residents of Newtown. Mr. Rodgers reported that he and First Selectman Rosenthal met with Mr. Lundquist last week and Mr. Lundquist decided to remove some questions and distribute the survey after the elections. Mr. Lundquist said that he scaled back the survey and asked that the Legislative Council give him any comments or objections concerning the June 26, 2007 draft.
Partially completed surveys will not be counted. Mr. Borst suggested that the survey tie in with long range strategic planning. Mr. Lundquist agreed. Mr. Lundquist said that an I phone will be offered for a completed survey. Only the first response from an i.p. address will be counted. Council members will email Mr. Lundquist with their comments before the next meeting.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. Paul Mangiafico, 15 Kent Road, said that a survey can be valuable if done properly. The purpose and scope must be clearly identified. We must guard against bias. The survey takers’ qualifications must be identified. If the number of responses is small, there could be a larger margin of error.
ANNOUNCEMENTS. Mr. Rodgers noted that the meeting scheduled for August 1 is cancelled.
EXECUTIVE SESSION. None noted.
ADJOURNMENT. The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.
Ann M. Mazur, Clerk
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