ADMINSTRATION COMMITTEE
OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
June 23, 2010 Meeting
The Administration Committee of the Legislative Council held a meeting on Wednesday, June 23, 2010, in Meeting Room #1 in the Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT
Present: Chair Gary Davis, George Ferguson, Mary Ann Jacob, Jan Andras (arrived around 7:30 p.m.)
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
No one spoke during public participation.
COMMITTEE MINUTES
The Committee minutes from the meeting on March 31, 2010, were approved by Mr. Davis and Mr. Ferguson. Mrs. Jacob abstained as she was not on the Committee at that time and had not attended the meeting.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Communications Update: Mr. Davis reported that the training for the A/V Room was successfully held earlier on Wednesday. He said the afternoon training session focused on use of A/V Room equipment and was attended by seven people, including two town residents, a member of the police department, three members of the high school tech team and Mr. Davis. He said one of the volunteers was recording the Inland Wetlands Commission meeting that evening. Mrs. Jacob asked if Mr. Davis’ efforts with the local media to solicit volunteers had met with success. He said one of the people attending the training session was there in response to those efforts. Mr. Davis said the policy guidelines for use of Channel 17 had been discussed by the Board of Education. The Board had no
issue with the guidelines in the policy, but was working on an overall policy statement for the document. Once that work was completed, the new policy statement would be ready. Mr. Davis noted that the use of Channel 17 in the summer might prove challenging because the high school is closed. He wasn’t sure what access students might have to load video on the server for Channel 17. He said Channel 21 might be another option if Channel 17 was not available for use.
NEW BUSINESS
2011-2012 Budget Review: Mr. Davis expected the Council would move forward soon to investigate what items it would like to review prior to the next budget being submitted. He said Legislative Council Chair Capeci had sent a letter to Board of Ed Chair Bittman to start discussions on making school district operations more effective. Mr. Davis noted that the Administration Committee might have a role in those discussions based on the letter. Mr. Davis asked Committee members to come to the next meeting on July 7 with any thoughts on what areas under the Committee’s purview that might like to review. Mr. Davis said one area of interest to him was Economic Development.
Communications Using Digital Media: Mr. Davis said First Selectman Llodra had announced the creation of a task force to look at ways to better use the town website. Mr Davis said any member of the Administration Committee was welcome to participate in these discussions. He asked each member of the Committee to come prepared at the July 7 meeting with ideas for improvements to the town website to make it a more effective communications vehicle. Mr. Davis noted that the Committee’s mandate went beyond the town website, and included all forms of digital media. There was some discussion among the Committee members as to which entities operate the various town websites. That was an area of interest. Mr. Davis and Mrs. Jacob discussed the benefits of creating an email list that
would provide information to town residents on government meetings, noting the beneficial communications that were provided by the school district and Parks and Recreation to residents through use of email. Mr. Davis suggested having Town Clerk Aurelia attend a meeting to discuss what she was doing in this area as he understood she was developing an email list.
Long Range Planning: Both Mr. Davis and Mr. Ferguson updated the Committee on their individual discussions with Planning and Zoning Chair Dean. Mr. Davis said he explained to Mrs. Dean how the Committee’s activities were meant to be complimentary to what her Commission was undertaking in updating the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development. Mr. Ferguson said Mrs. Dean indicated the P&Z review to update that document would take up to two years. After further discussion, the Committee asked Mr. Davis to draft a letter for Committee review to send to the appropriate town entities to obtain long-range plans and information. Mr. Davis aid he would draft the letter and do his best to have it reviewed by First Selectman Llodra and Chair Dean by the July 7 meeting so the
Committee would have the benefit of their input. Mr. Ferguson noted that Mr. Davis had already obtained the long-range plan for the school district. Mr. Davis told the Committee members they could review the current Plan of Conservation and Development on the town website.
Review of Council Regulations: Mr. Davis asked the Committee members to review the current regulations for the Legislative Council and come to the July 7 meeting prepared to identify items that they might be interested in modifying. Based on that list, the Committee would then lay out an appropriate process for conducting a review and getting recommendations to the Council for its consideration.
Enhanced Grant Writing: The Committee members noted the town does quite a bit in this area. Mr. Davis said the intent was to figure out how the process works, who is applying for grants, and is the town and school district taking full advantage of the grant programs available. Mrs. Andras noted that the town already gets information on various grants as a member of Connecticut Council of Municipalities and the Council of Small Towns. Mr. Ferguson observed that the town regularly gets grants for land use purposes. Mrs. Jacob said that parents sometimes help the school district identify and apply for grants. The Committee agreed to do more investigation in this area.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
No one spoke during public participation.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Mr. Davis said the next meeting of the Committee would be on Wednesday, July 7, at 6:30 p.m.
Having no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
Gary Davis
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