Minutes of the regular meeting of the Legislative Council held on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 in the Meeting Room of the C. H. Booth Library, 14 Riverside Road, Sandy Hook, CT. Chairman Rodgers called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
PRESENT: William Rodgers, Francis Pennarola, Daniel Amaral, John Aurelia, Jan Brookes, Jeffrey Capeci, Gary Davis, Joseph DiCandido, Patricia Llodra, Christopher Lyddy, Po Murray. ABSENT: Joseph Hemingway. ALSO PRESENT: First Selectman Joseph Borst, Selectman Paul Mangiafico (departed early), Financial Director Benjamin Spragg, Registrar of Voters LeReine Frampton, Deputy Director of Land Use for Conservation Rob Sibley, Attorney Robert Hall, three members of public.
MINUTES. The minutes of the regular meeting of December 5, 2007 will be amended to note under Public Participation the spelling of a resident’s name is “Jannine Krowell.”
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. None noted.
COMMUNICATIONS. Mrs. Llodra distributed and discussed “Exhibit A Newtown Build-Out Study Scope of Work December, 2007.” (Attachment A to original minutes). She noted that Planimetrics may be hired to prepare the Committee’s report. She stated that the Plan of Conservation and Development was also included in the Committee’s review. The Committee will report to the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Rodgers asked Mr. Borst to see if the Long Range Planning Committee is aware of this study.
Mr. Rodgers advised that the Board of Finance requested and advised of the need for an extension to forward the Capital Improvement Plan to the Legislative Council due to information it was awaiting from the First Selectman. The First Selectman advised that information was now in the BOF’s hands.
COMMITTEE REPORTS. None noted.
FIRST SELECTMAN’S REPORT. Mr. Borst said that there has been a final signoff for Brookheights and also there is a donation of fifteen acres across the street.
Mr. Borst stated that he had met with O&G to review the budget for Bridgeport Hall. The project came back within budget but for an extra $200K +/- for parking improvements associated with the project. He said that there are technical problems with the State School Facilities Unit (SFU) with the application for cost reimbursement that was submitted to them and the project will not go out to bid until January 1 or 15. He said we are looking for 30-60 days extension from the State and that the Town may go for a local review. Mr. Borst said that the Town was expecting to receive reimbursement back from the State of $600,000 but that the State said that $172,000 is the most we will get. Mr. Borst said that O&G understands and will take care of this problem with the State. Mrs. Llodra asked if there is
an appeal. Mr. Rodgers said that it was unfortunate that Mr. Rosenthal was not in attendance at the meeting with O & G. because he held the greatest corporate memory for the Town on the subject. Mr. Rodgers said that he had been present at the BOS meeting where this was discussed and understood Town Attorney Grogins to have submitted a letter to the State with the understanding that the Town did not have to submit full plans for Phase II during Phase I. Mr. Rodgers said that there was no response from the State to this so Mr. Grogins assumed that this was all right. Now that work has begun the State says there is a problem. Mr. Rodgers said that Mr. Rosenthal and Mr. Grogins have been dealing with people who are higher up in the State and that they are confident that this will be a non-issue.
Mr. Borst was asked if he had anything to report on the leases. Mr. Borst said he had not been tendered final leases but there are technical problems. He said there were supposed to be four exhibits in the leases that were blank. Mr. Rodgers noted that as the leases have not been finalized and in some cases are in lessee hands, he would presume those Exhibits will be attached before the Town Attorney submits a final version to the First Selectman. Mr. Rodgers asked if Mr. Borst plans to sign the leases. Mr. Borst said that the leases have to go to the lessees. Mr. Rodgers agreed and added that he believes that the leases have to go to the town attorney before they go back to Mr. Borst. Mr. Borst said that the attorney agrees. Mr. DiCandido asked if there are any of the leases that are time-sensitive, to which Mr.
Borst said not that he is aware of. Mr. Lyddy asked aren’t most of them going to be time-sensitive? Mr. Borst replied that one lessee backed out and that others are still active. He said that they are skittish with the fact that there is a new administration and with what happened with Bridgeport Hall. . Mr. DiCandido asked if there is a time plan with Mr. Borst getting the leases after Mr. Grogins has approved them. Mr. Borst said they then have to be signed. He said that O&G was asked to look into providing infrastructure for each building. He said we are looking for a $2 M grant for electric, gas, fiberoptics and phones and that a finger of the loop needs to go to the Newtown Youth Academy. Mr. DiCandido asked how Mr. Borst feels about the leases. Mr. Borst said he has no problem if they are approved but he does not want to sign them if we don’t have proper assurances.
Mr. Rodgers said that in light of the fact that we are seeking to reassure the potential lessees, the past two BOS meetings were attempts in that direction. The Board of Selectmen voted to go forward at its first meeting and at the second meeting Mr. Borst indicated he would sign the leases if advised by the Town Attorney that they are in proper form.. Mr. Rodgers asked would Mr. Borst plan to sign the leases when they are in approved form? Mr. Borst said I will expect to sign them if they are in proper order. Mr. Davis said that this sounds like a normal lease process. Mr. Amaral asked if Mr. Borst knows about the financial portion of the leases since Mr. Geckle is not here. In particular, he asked, who will pay for construction costs? Mr. Rodgers noted that will be the lessees. Mr. Amaral asked if the lessees’ interior personal equipment will be taxable to which Mr. Rodgers said yes. Also Mr. Amaral asked if the buildings will be taxed and Mr. Rodgers said they would be. He
noted that Mr. Geckle will report on this. Mr. Borst said that the idea is to have a commercial presence on the campus so that there is no ongoing cost to the taxpayer for the campus as whole. Mrs. Murray asked if Mr. Borst will pursue a cost benefit analysis prior to signing the leases and will this be presented to the Legislative Council or to the public? Mr. Borst replied yes.
Mr. Rodgers noted that Mr. Borst had just left him with conflicting impressions, on the one hand indicating to Mr. DiCandido that he anticipated signing the leases when presented and on the other hand indicating to Mrs. Murray that he would only do so after conducting a review. He asked Mr. Borst whether he is going to sign the leases before he conducts an independent review. Mr. Borst said he is conducting a review. Mr. Rodgers asked that if any of the leases are in final form, and approved by the attorney, but your review is not complete, are you going to sign them? Mr. Borst said that he would sign but probably say that he is personally not in favor of them.
Mrs. Murray asked if the State Board of Ed approved the reimbursement regarding Bridgeport Hall. Mr. Borst said that the State is reviewing this. He said there is a question of whether this is a design build contract and there is some confusion on the State’s part. He said that O&G asked for a local review and that this review would be with the State’s approval. Mrs. Murray then asked if the reimbursement issue would be resolved before Bridgeport Hall went forward. Mr. Borst indicated yes. Mr. Rodgers said he is not sure this is correct based on his knowledge at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting. Mr. Rodgers said that it is his understanding that the Town went to the State prior to Phase I and asked if there had been a submittal for Phase I. He said the State advised the Town that it may
lose eligibility for reimbursement for Phase I, but given the costs of construction delays and the fact that the reimbursement was a small amount, we were told that this was the only ramification of not submitting the proposal at this juncture. He said that Attorney Grogins feels that this will work out with the State Board of Education and that our reimbursement is not in significant jeopardy. Mr. Rodgers said that the project is not in jeopardy of delay pending outcome on the reimbursement question because it was not bonded contingent on any level of reimbvursment. Mrs. Llodra noted that this is not unusual for this to occur in a mixed-use building such as this. She said that the State SFU is looking at the proposal from the architect and challenging what the architect said is the use.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
Report from Finance Committee concerning suggestions for Administrators’ Contract (possible executive session). This item will be removed from the agenda.
Request by the Town of Newtown Water & Sewer Authority to increase the general water rates and water rates for Nunnawauk Meadows retroactive to January 1, 2008. This item will be carried forward on the agenda.
NEW BUSINESS.
Transfer from Account 01570-2000 Contingency $3,601.00 to Account 01360-0003 Lake Zoar Authority $3,601.00. Mr. Pennarola moved to transfer $3,601.00 to Account 01360-0003 Lake Zoar Authority $3,601.00. Second by Mrs. Llodra. Mr. Spragg explained that this is for a shortfall in the budget. With the change of treasurers for the Lake Zoar Authority, they did not submit a budget and Mr. Spragg submitted the same amount as the previous year, but they requested an additional $3,601.00. Motion unanimously carried.
Transfer from Account 01570-2000 Contingency $5,720.00 to Account 01180-1007 Election Workers $5,720.00. Mr. Pennarola moved to transfer from Account 01570-2000 Contingency $5,720.00 to Account 01180-1007 Election Workers $5,720.00. Second by Mrs. Llodra. Mr. Spragg explained that this transfer is for the mandatory recount. Motion unanimously carried.
Moving the location of the District 3-A polling place. Mr. DiCandido moved to transfer the polling place of District 3-A to a unspecified area pursuant to the recommendation of the Registrar of Voters. Second by Mr. Capeci. Mrs. Frampton noted that this should be District 3-B; Mr. DiCandido amended his motion and Mr. Capeci amended his second. Mrs. Frampton said that the Registrars are concerned with safety of the children when people may be in unauthorized areas of the building. She said that voters have to ring a bell for admission to the schools in order to vote because the doors are locked for voting. Middle Gate School has an entrance on the side but that voters insist on using the front door which the Secretary of State said they have to have access to. Mrs. Frampton said she has not talked to the
principal of Middle Gate about the issue of having people in the building without the administration’s knowledge because they do not yet know if the polling place will be moved. Mrs. Frampton said that the preferred location would be Edmond Town Hall, probably the Old Courtroom. Mr. Rodgers asked about amending the motion to move the polling place on a trial basis for the February primary and Mrs. Frampton said this cannot be done on a trial basis because the State only permits permanent designation s. Mr. Amaral asked about moving Districts 3-A and 3-B but Mr. Rodgers said we are discussion moving only one district. Mrs. Frampton said that Edmond Town Hall cannot hold both districts. Mr. Lyddy asked if a temporary remedy could be to hire more monitors for the schools. Mrs. Llodra is in favor of a long term solution not a temporary solution. Mr. DiCandido is concerned with traffic flow at Edmond Town Hall. Mrs. Frampton said that the parking a Middle Gate is limited and there
are buses going in and out. Mr. Davis suggested challenging the Secretary of State that the front door must be opened. He suggested also hearing from the principal. Mr. Aurelia said that handicap access at Middle Gate is terrible. He said that there is concern about a known pedophile and that this matter should be given more consideration. Mr. Rodgers is in favor of experimenting with this for the presidential primary but is against it in that if it is not broken don’t fix it. We need a long term solution. If we hop-scotch we will disenfranchise the voters. He noted that we have District 3-B for state representative districting purposes and that Representative Hovey may want to weigh in on this. Mrs. Murray is not in favor of a temporary solution and we should stick with the current plan until we find a long term solution.
Mr. DiCandido moved to amend his motion to moving the location of District 3-B polling place from Middle Gate School to Edmond Town Hall effective with the February primary, second by Mr. Capeci. Motion carried by roll call vote YES (7) (DiCandido, Pennarola, Davis, Amaral, Brookes, Capeci, Rodgers). NO (3) (Lyddy, Llodra, Murray). Mr. Aurelia abstained.
Acceptance of a conservation easement (DeGraff; others?). Mr. Sibley noted that is a gift to the Town as a direct result of the acquisition of open space by the Town one month ago. It is along Obtuse and Pond Brook Roads. Attorney Hall noted that this is 13.8 acres and the DeGraff family will retain the right of having a managed forest on the property. It will provide the DeGraffs with 25 acres which is the minimum size for forestry management. He noted that at the end of 2007 the 50% that people can receive for these gifts will revert back to 30%. Mr. Rodgers asked if the Board of Selectmen had an opinion on this matter and Mr. Hall said that according to the Charter it must presented to the Legislative Council then to the Board of Selectmen because only the Legislative Council may authorize the acquisition
of gifts of real property. Mr. Rodgers asked if regardless of procedure the BOS had expressed an opinion. Mr. Hall replied that to his knowledge it had not been presented to the BOS. Mr. Hall said that this document permits the passage of people but not motorized vehicles along the railroad bed. Also the Town may enter the property to prevent or fix environmental damage with seven days notice. Mr. Sibley noted that this would allow the DeGraffs to continue with a forest management program. Mr. Pennarola moved to accept the gift of the conservation restriction from Sandra K. DeGraff revocable trust and Arthur C. DeGraff revocable trust and to extent necessary to those two individuals subject to approval of the Town Attorney if the form of the document conforms with the Charter as shown on a certain map #6878 as recorded in the Town of Newtown Land Records. Second by Mr. DiCandido and unanimously carried.
Administrators’ contract. This item will be tabled.
Committee assignments. Mr. Rodgers asked that the Legislative Council members list their Committee choices as one of the major Committees of Finance or Ordinance and one of the minor Committees which are Education, Public Works, Public Safety and Administration. Discussion will continue at the next meeting.
Possible Part Two presentation (finances) from the Fairfield Hills Authority. This item will be tabled.
Mr. Davis asked that items be added to the next agenda to discuss public participation protocol and to discuss a proposal to better communicate with the public.
Mrs. Murray asked if Mr. Rodgers could define when the Fairfield Hills Authority will make a report. Mr. Rodgers said this will be when Mr. Geckle is available. He noted that this report will not include going over numbers associated with the Town Hall.
Mr. Davis asked in the future for background information on agenda items to which Mr. Rodgers replied that information will be provided when available. Mr. Rodgers agreed and stated this meeting’s lack of materials was not typical. He warned, however, that there will be many times when issues unavoidably will be presented for immediate decision. Mr. Davis asked if this material can be emailed to which Mr. Rodgers said that he is concerned with routinely sending emails as a legal issue and a control measure is hard mail or a disclaimer on email documents.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. Bob Merola, 22 Ashford Lane, commends Mrs. Llodra with the Build Out Committee’s efforts to bring a different slant to the build out in the Town. He encourages Boards to collaborate more and feels that information is not always flowing. He said that the Board of Education did not seem to be aware of the fact that the Town Attorney sent a letter to the State Board of Education and did not receive a reply.
ANNOUNCEMENTS. None noted. Mr. Borst asked Mr. Rodgers if the Legislative Council will hold a January 2 meeting. Mrs. Murray noted that the Board of Education will have a meeting with Drs. Prowda and Bothwell on January 2. Mrs. Llodra noted that this will be a working session for the Board of Ed. Mr. Borst said that the Board of Selectmen must meet on December 31 if the Legislative Council meets on January 2. Mr. Rodgers said that he probably will cancel the January 2 meeting and have a regular meeting on January 16. He will impress on Mr. Geckle that the Fairfield Hills Authority Phase II report will be on the agenda.
EXECUTIVE SESSION. None noted.
ADJOURNMENT. The meeting adjourned at 9:35 p.m.
Ann M. Mazur, Clerk
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