Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Legislative Council
Held in the Board Room in the Newtown Municipal Center,
3 Primrose Street, Newtown, Connecticut
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
* These are draft minutes and as such are subject to correction by the Legislative Council at the next regular meeting. All corrections will be determined in minutes of the meeting which they were corrected.
Chairman Jeff Capeci called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
PRESENT: George Ferguson, Ben Spragg, Dan Amaral, Jan Andras, Gary Davis, Rich Woycik, Kevin Fitzgerald, Jim Belden, Kathy Fetchick, Mary Ann Jacob, and Chairman Capeci
ABSENT: Bob Merola
ALSO PRESENT: First Selectman Patricia Llodra, Economic Development Commission Members Don Sharpe and Margaret Oliger, 2 members of the press and 1 members of the public.
VOTER PARTICIPATION: none
MINUTES: Approval of the minutes of the Regular Meeting of Jan 19, 2011, Special Meetings Jan 26, Feb 9, 2011:
Ms. Fetchick moved to accept the minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 19, 2011, as corrected, and the Special Meetings January 26, 2011 and February 9, 2011 as corrected. Mrs. Jacob seconded.
Corrections/ Amendments:
Minutes of January 19, 2011 –
- Mr. Fitzgerald wanted it to be noted that during the charter revision discussions, Ms. Schierloh of the Charter Revision Commission suggested that if a budget was to be bifurcated, and one side passed referendum, the options available to the budgeting authority would be reduced because they would not be able to move funds from one side to the other in order to formulate an acceptable budget. Mr. Fitzgerald noted New Milford as an example of a town that currently does this. Mrs. Jacob stated that the practice may be illegal but she does not think it is appropriate to change the part of the budget that was approved by a majority of the electorate.
- Page 6, 5th paragraph should read “get a plan in place”
Minutes of February 9, 2011
- Page 2, 2nd paragraph from the bottom, starting after the first “and” in the middle of the 2nd sentence, should read, “. . . and the word ‘bifurcation’ was not mentioned, while Legislative Council members and members of the public who spoke mentioned the term ‘advisory questions’ a multitude of times.”
Chairman Capeci informed the Council that he met with the Mrs. Llodra and Town Clerk Debbie Aurelia to address the concerns about posting draft minutes that may contain factual errors. He said they agreed upon a new practice where the Council can request by motion that the approved minutes be posted to the town website along with the draft minutes.
Mrs. Llodra indicated that this was the process that they agreed to and she is comfortable with.
Mr. Woycik suggested that the Council be allowed to make corrections to the minutes and post the corrected minutes as the final minutes.
Mrs. Jacob questioned why the Council was making changes if the approved minutes were not being posted. She added that she believed all the boards, commissions and committees had a right to see the corrected minutes. She suggested the final minutes be posted electronically.
Ms. Fetchick told the Council that the minutes are to capture the essence of the meeting and need to be correct.
Mr. Ferguson noted that he used the minutes of the Council’s previous meetings as a research tool and added that in some cases there were entire paragraphs he didn’t understand.
Mr. Fitzgerald suggested that if the Council is going to make substantive changes to the minutes they should be presented to the public. He noted that non-substantive changes to the minutes could be reflected in the text of the minutes of the following regular meeting.
Chairman Capeci suggested the Council not change the process until a change agreeable to the majority is determined.
Mr. Davis addressed what he believed to be an important issue. He suggested they change the message at the top of the minutes to a larger font and indicate that the minutes are a draft and any changes can be found in the minutes of the next regular meeting.
Chairman Capeci called for a vote on the motion to approve the minutes. The motion was unanimously carried.
COMMUNICATION:
Chairman Capeci reported that he had received a letter from the Board of Finance on the audit asking the Board of Education to tighten up loose ends.
Per the letter, “The Board of Finance supports the Board of Education policy of ‘encumbrance based’ budgeting as presently employed but should be coupled with performing transfers as a matter of practice. As a result, the Board of Finance would recommend the following changes:
- The Board of Education return to performing transfers as a standing practice as outlined in their current policy, town charter and state statute
- The Board of Education revisits 2009-2010 yearend financial report and corrects the tree items, or object codes, that ended the fiscal year in deficit and return to compliance as recommended by the town auditor.
- The Board of Education revisits the motion made in September 2009 requiring the Board to approve transfers only for ‘errors and corrections’ and at a minimum, reverse the motion and abide by the current policy absent the change.
- The Board of Education should consider instituting a policy of financial controls that is more detailed than ‘object code’. Perhaps extending the transfer threshold to a line item of a certain amount or greater. This would provide more transparency and clarity as well as oversight of spending. Currently, ‘object codes’ vary greatly in amounts because current policy provides an amount or percentage threshold (or greater) for transfers, this creates inconsistency with transfer amounts. For example, the salary object is dramatically larger than supplies and could render a substantially larger transfer without oversight of the Board of Education.
- The Board of Education, as recommended by the auditor, performs and approves transfers as a matter of practice prior to expending the funds as allowed by current practice.”
The second item, Chairman Capeci addressed was Moody’s Report. He reported that Moody’s assigned an AA1 Rating to Newtown’s $14 million General Obligation Bonds and MIG 1 Rating to $10.5 million General Obligation Bond anticipation notes. The Chairman noted that Moody’s listed Newtown’s strengths as follows: stable tax base and strong demographic profile, financial position guided by formal policies, and well funded pension plans and pro-active OPEB funding. According to Moody’s, Newtown’s challenges are: recent General Fund balance draws has reduced reserve position to levels below similarly rated municipalities.
FIRST SELECTMAN’S REPORT:
Cost of Winter Storms - Mrs. Llodra reported that the total cost of storms as of February 27, 2011 was $635,000.
Mrs. Jacob asked if given the character of the roads as their uncovered, if the First Selectman was anticipating any changes. Mrs. Llodra indicated that they don’t know everything yet. She added that the plan for the work in the spring will change because the Town had to use some of that money to manage all the weather related issues.
Mr. Amaral asked if the Town was applying for FEMA money and the First Selectman indicated that they were and had met the standard for FEMA assistance and are awaiting a response.
Permits – The First Selectman told the Council that permits were up $230,000 February 2011 from February 2010.
Mercury Spill at FHH – Mrs. Llodra reported that originally Russell Bartley, a consultant hired by the town, indicated that the spill was not the Town’s responsibility and he stated that the Town would not be called upon for documentation of the spill. However, Mrs. Llodra noted, the State is requiring the town to do the documentation so the consultant has one more final task. She added that this means an additional cost of $2,000 for his services and noted that the monies will come from a state grant. Mrs. Llodra indicated that she is anticipating the final plan for the new animal control facility to be done in April 2011 and the building to be completed by October 2011.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: none
NEW BUSINESS:
Economic Development Commission Presentation on a Small Business Survey Conducted Last Year – EDC members Margaret Oliger and Don Sharpe reported on the survey the Commission had conducted last year and the “Actions for Survey Implementation the EDC unanimously approved on December 14, 2010. (Actions for Survey Implementation attached to minutes)
According to Ms. Oliger, they started the input to get feedback from the businesses in Town. She indicated that they got a very good response from the survey and EDC members are hoping to use the findings to bring business to Newtown. Ms. Oliger noted that one thing that came out of the survey was that there was a lot of competition to bring business in and a lot of businesses were closing. She indicated that the EDC had studied nine towns. She noted that for every tax dollar raised by commercial development cost of services increased just 21 cents.
Ms. Oliger told the members of the Legislative Council that the EDC would like to ask for additional money to be added to the budget. She noted that they would need $10,000 to hire a temporary Economic Development consultant to work 19 hours a week and help maintain the website and other matters.
Mrs. Llodra indicated that the Board of Selectmen had already added $5,000 to the budget to open the door for the need, but stressed that the Board had already told other agencies they would not entertain requests from other agencies for additional monies.
Mr. Spragg suggested that the EDC wait 2 months to get budget approved before getting a part-time person.
Mr. Sharpe noted that the EDC members are asking for $10,000 out of the budget to get a start and added that they are doing this in dire times because they think the payback will be quick.
Mr. Spragg told Mr. Sharpe that he was not judging the merits of their request but believed that things have a tendency to creep in unintended directions and again urged the EDC to wait.
Chairman Capeci noted that the Council will take the temporary position into consideration when considering the entire budget.
Mrs. Llodra added that the request will be considered by the Board of Selectmen and if approved will come back to the Council.
Discussion and possible action on: A Request for an Ordinance for Controlling Felines by Newtown Animal Control –
Mrs. Jacob made a motion that the Council move to instruct the Ordinance Committee to prepare an ordinance for controlling felines at the Newtown Animal Control shelter. Mr. Spragg seconded and the motion was unanimously approved.
According to Mrs. Jacob, in order to have felines at the new animal control facility, state statutes require the town have an ordinance pertaining to felines.
Discussion and possible action on: A Request to Amend Ordinance #79 Tax Abatement for Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Personnel to Include NUSAR Volunteers –
Mrs. Jacob moved to instruct the Ordinance committee to consider amending Ordinance #79 Tax Abatement for Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Personnel to include Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue (NUSAR) Volunteers. Mr. Spragg seconded and the motion was unanimously approved.
Mrs. Jacob indicated that the amendment would provide NUSAR Volunteers with the same tax abatement currently offered to the fire and ambulance volunteers.
VOTER PARTICIPATION:
Edward Shanley, 7 Little Brook Lane, stated that he has lived in Town for 47 years. He stated that small businesses do not seem to get help any more, only the big ones. Mr. Shanley suggested that the Town should look at the smaller businesses and see what can be done to help them. He thanked the Legislative Council for doing a wonderful job and added that it was not only a good job by the Council but the Selectmen and other boards. Mr. Shanley concluded by suggesting the Council move the meetings along a little faster.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Mrs. Jacob reported that the ordinance committee had met and they are close to bringing back to the Council the Ordinance to Protect the Children and have adjusted the language in the FHH Ordinance to close the loop hole that will allow for negative leases.
ADJOURNMENT:
Mrs. Jacob made the motion to adjourn at 9:34 pm. Mr. Belden seconded and the motion was unanimous.
Ted Swigart, Clerk
Motions of the Regular Meeting of the Legislative Council
Held in the Board Room in the Newtown Municipal Center,
3 Primrose Street, Newtown, Connecticut
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
* The Following motions are not finalized until approved, and any corrections will be reflected
in the minutes of the next regularly scheduled meeting.
Chairman Jeffrey Capeci called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
PRESENT: George Ferguson, Ben Spragg, Dan Amaral, Jan Andras, Gary Davis, Rich Woycik, Kevin Fitzgerald, Jim Belden, Kathy Fetchick, Mary Ann Jacob, and Chairman Jeff Capeci
ABSENT: Bob Merola
ALSO PRESENT: First Selectman Patricia Llodra, Economic Development Commission Members Don Sharpe and Margaret Olger, 2 members of the press and 1 members of the public.
MINUTES: Approval of the Minutes of the Regular Meeting January 19, 2011, and the Special Meetings January 26, 2011 and February 9, 2011 - Ms. Fetchick moved to accept the minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 19, 2011, as corrected, and the Special Meetings January 26, 2011 and February 9, 2011, as corrected. Mrs. Jacob seconded and the motion unanimously carried.
NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion and possible action on: A Request for an Ordinance for Controlling Felines by Newtown Animal Control – Mrs. Jacob moved that the Council instruct the Ordinance Committee to prepare an ordinance for controlling felines at the Newtown Animal Control shelter. Mr. Spragg seconded and the motion was unanimously approved.
Discussion and possible action on: A Request to Amend Ordinance #79 Tax Abatement for Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Personnel to Include NUSAR Volunteers –
Mrs. Jacob moved to instruct the Ordinance committee to consider amending Ordinance #79 Tax Abatement for Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Personnel to include Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue (NUSAR) Volunteers. Mr. Spragg seconded and the motion was unanimously approved.
ADJOURNMENT:
Mrs. Jacob made the motion to adjourn at 9:34 pm. Mr. Belden seconded and the motion was unanimous.
Ted Swigart, Clerk
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