Minutes of the regular meeting of the Legislative Council held on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 in the Meeting Room of the C. H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street, Newtown, 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, Joseph Hemingway, Patricia Llodra, Po Murray. ABSENT: Christopher Lyddy.
ALSO PRESENT: First Selectman Joseph Borst, Financial Director Robert Tait, Deputy Director of Land Use for Conservation Rob Sibley, Parks and Recreation Director Amy Mangold, Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman Ed Marks and member Pat Barczak, one member of public, one member of press.
VOTER PARTICIPATION. None noted.
MINUTES. The minutes of the regular meeting of December 3, 2008 will be amended to note at the end of Mr. Borst’s report “Mr. Davis asked which board was the more appropriate agency to lead long-term planning: the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Finance or Planning and Zoning. Mr. Rodgers indicated he felt the Board of Selectmen was the appropriate group to take the lead. Mr. Davis asked what role the Legislative Council could play if the Board of Selectmen decided not to move forward. Mr. Rodgers will research this. ”Upon motion of Mrs. Brookes, the minutes of the regular meeting of December 3, 2008 were unanimously accepted as amended.
COMMUNICATIONS. Mr. Rodgers reported that under the Charter the Board of Selectmen is responsible for long range planning and the Legislative Council does not explicitly have responsibility. Planning and Zoning has long range planning also. He does not feel that it would be appropriate for the Legislative Council to do anything on its own.
Mr. Rodgers reported that the Board of Finance will reserve time at its budget meetings for participation by Legislative Council members; Mr. Borst said that the Board of Selectmen would do the same.
COMMITTEE REPORTS.
Ordinance met tonight to consider changes to the ordinance that provides relief for elderly tax payers, to increase the tax credit and to slightly increase income levels for eligibility. Also housekeeping changes to the Parks and Recreation Ordinance will be looked into further. A public hearing will be held before the January 22 Legislative Council meeting on the Parks and Recreation Ordinance. The Legislative Council can act on the elderly tax relief ordinance; thus this does not require a public hearing.
Communications continues to work to insure that the infrastructure is in place in the conference room in the new Town Hall to telecast municipal events on Channel 17. The Committee is now down to two members with the loss of Mr. Lyddy. Mrs. Llodra reported that the footprint of the space in the new Town Hall is being looked at as it does not allow for a control room. The Committee will meet with Dr. Robinson on Friday to discuss the policy piece. Mr. Davis suggested looking at recording budget meetings to be telecast on Channel 17. He noted that the meetings would have to be at the High School in order to record them for the upcoming budget meetings. Mrs. Llodra said that the Committee is looking at having meetings taped at the present facility as the High School would not allow for the present configuration.
Mr. Rodgers prefers the present configuration.
Education. Mrs. Llodra reported that LEED guidelines have not yet been drafted. She said that excess cost grants may be reduced and towns may receive 90% rather than 100% of the excess costs.
FIRST SELECTMAN’S REPORT. Mr. Borst reported that the Bronze Star has been awarded to World War II veteran Rich Andras. He said that Leap of Faith will continue with no charters for municipal patrols. Concerning Fairfield Hills, Mr. Borst said that work continues on asbestos at Greenwich and Bridgeport Halls and we cannot take down Greenwich until asbestos testing has been done. He said that the State Department of Health will witness the testing at Greenwich and he assumes for Bridgeport also. He reported that he will request that AT&T relocate the VRAD box on Queen Street across the street onto their own property. Concerning the High School rebidding, Mr. Borst reported that the Board Selectmen authorized additional funding of $209,500 from the architect design account for Fletcher-Thompson and Morganti
for the rebid process. He reported that the Public Works contract has been extended one year and that the employees will receive a 3.5% increase for that additional year with an additional $1 increase in insurance premiums. Mr. Borst said that Newtown Main LLC will go back to Planning and Zoning Thursday. He said that in Bridgeport Hall under the dining room wing there are voids in the soil that need to be stabilized; he feels that this should have been detected by testing. There is no further information concerning the company replacing Pitney Bowes. Mrs. Murray asked if we could have the same issues with the remaining buildings at Fairfield Hills as we have with Greenwich and Litchfield. Mr. Davis asked if we have the expertise to continue at Fairfield Hills.
Mr. Rodgers said that Mr. Mangiafico had written to Mr. Borst recommending no tax increase but that two department heads reported to him that Mr. Borst wrote them advising a 3.5% to 5% increase. Mr. Borst said that he did not send that information to the departments. He will research this.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
Discussion concerning expenses for maintenance of municipal and school facilities. Mr. Borst will suggest a contact from the Board of Education who can meet with Mr. Amaral to discuss further.
NEW BUSINESS
Discussion and Possible Action: Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Ed Marks, Chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission requested that at least $350,000 of the $700,000 that the Board of Finance removed from the first year of the CIP for the Parks and Recreation Maintenance Facility Interior Renovations be restored. He said that of the Board of Finance’s cuts totaling $3.2 million, $1.9 million were Parks and Recreation items. He said that renovations are necessary to bring the maintenance facility up to code. Regarding Dickinson Park, Ms. Mangold distributed photos showing the deterioration of the tennis courts. Mr. Marks said that if necessary, Parks and Recreation could reduce Dickinson Park renovations by just patching the parking lot now and addressing it in the future, but he does not feel that
this would save $350,000.
Mr. Marks said that Ames and Whitaker has been selected as the architect for the Community Center which is still in the design phase. Mr. Borst said that O&G will have a separate contract for the Community Center.
Mr. Sibley solicited the Legislative Council’s support for the $2 million per year funding for open space in the CIP.
Mr. Tait noted that bonding for each year in the CIP will affect the following year’s budget.
Discussion and Possible Action: General Fund, Unreserved Fund Balance Policy and Debt Management Policy. Mr. Tait noted that there was a recent Charter change that allows the Town to retain a cash surplus for a reserve fund and in a shortfall year we can use this fund. He said that we should always plan to replenish this fund. The fund should be in the range of 5-16%. Mr. Pennarola moved that the Legislative Council adopt General Fund, Unreserved Fund Balance Policy and Debt Management Policy as proposed by the Financial Director. Second by Mr. Davis and unanimously carried.
VOTER PARTICIPATION. John Voket, The Newtown Bee Associate Editor, recommends that the Communications Subcommittee not utilize Charter Communications exclusively as this subscription service may not be available to all in Town. He said that The Bee is moving into video stream in 2009 and he offered the services of The Bee to stream the Legislative Council videos. Mrs. Llodra noted that Charter is under obligation to provide free service to municipalities but thanked Mr. Voket and noted that the Communications Committee will consider The Bee’s offer.
ANNOUNCEMENTS. None noted.
EXECUTIVE SESSION. None noted.
ADJOURNMENT. Having no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:28 p.m.
Ann M. Mazur, Clerk
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