Minutes of the regular meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners held on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 in the Lower Conference Room, 3 Main Street, Newtown, CT. Chairman Mattegat called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
PRESENT: C. Mattegat, G. Finnegan, R. Simon, D. Giannini, R. Connor. ALSO PRESENT: Chief Kehoe, Captain Rios, Lt. Mooney, Chairman of Planning and Zoning Bill O’Neil, five members of public, one member of press.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. Diane Merrifield, 26 Pocono Road, is concerned about Arthur Hilario parking trucks on two properties that are not zoned for this; one is Arthur’s Café and the other is a residential property. The trucks parked on the Pocono Road side of the street block the sight lines when exiting Pocono Road and Payne’s Nursery. She presented photos of trucks parked. She spoke to Mr. Frenette, the Zoning Enforcement Officer, and wrote a letter to him (Attachment A). Chief Kehoe said that the State had placed ‘No Parking’ marking on the west side of the street. Mrs. Merrifield said that she saw Mr. Hilario’s snowplow knock them down. She called an officer who said he could park where he was on the road. Chief Kehoe said he could park there if it is not a hazard
and if it is not designated a no parking zone. Chief Kehoe will call the State Traffic Commission Signs Administrator to request that the area up to Pocono Road be designated as no parking. He said that parking on the other side of the road on private property is a zoning issue. Glenn Atkinson, 5 Pocono Road, said that the State put up stakes to prevent parking there and Mr. Hilario’s son took them out two days later. He said his wife was in accident with someone who was pulling out of Hilario’s who could not see her. Paul Grenier, 29 Pocono Road, agrees and said you cannot see when pulling out.
MINUTES. The minutes of January 7, 2006 will be amended to note that Commissioner Connor was not present. Upon motion of Commissioner Simon, the minutes of January 3, 2006 and the addendum were unanimously approved as presented.
CHIEF’S ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT (January, 2006). Overtime is within the monthly goal. Budget balances, GL Accounts were unremarkable. Fleet has no changes since last month. Personnel new hires are doing very well at the Academy. Officer Richter is doing well in phase III of field training. The Accounts Receivable Clerk resigned. Training was in the report. Several Letters of appreciation were received. Annual Internal Affairs Date Report was prepared. A letter was received from the Diocese of Bridgeport concerning ATV’s on their Toddy Hill Road property. Captain Rios will look into borrowing an ATV from another police department. Citizens Police Academy will begin on March 28 at 6:00 p.m. at Town Hall South.
CAPTAIN’S OPERATIONAL REPORT (January, 2006) included Motor Vehicle Activity Report, DUI Report, Monthly Calls for Service and Detective Division Report.~Tobacco compliance program resulted in citations to three out of twenty establishments. The Connecticut State Police and the Newtown Police Department conducted Commercial Vehicle Enforcement resulting in fines of $2,500. This was conducted under the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant. Officer Silver took a two week course at the Massachusetts Police Academy in Commercial Vehicle Training.
OLD BUSINESS.
Application for Edona Commons Residential Development, Church Hill Road. Ryan McKain made a presentation representing Dauti Construction. The application is for 23 residential units, not age restricted. Michael Gallante, Traffic Engineer, was also present and will prepare a revised traffic report. The Commission is concerned that there is only one access to the site with no emergency vehicle access. Mr. Gallante said there is a 700 foot driveway that could be made into a boulevard with a median. Mr. Gallante stated that this would be a driveway and not a road which the Commission questioned. The Commission is concerned with the amount of traffic that could be generated. There would be a school bus issue. The bus would have to enter the complex or children would have to cross Church Hill Road. Mr. O’Neil noted
that if a bus stops to pick up children, traffic would queue along Church Hill Road.
Morgen McLaughlin, Alberts Hill Road, wrote a letter asking that the Commission deny the application (Attachment B). She also stated that people turning left into the site would back up traffic on Church Hill Road and that the driveway would be very close to the Walnut Tree Hill Road intersection.
Megan Williams, 82 Church Hill Road, lives across the street from the development and said she has a terrible time turning into her driveway or exiting in either direction. She feels that traffic would back up on Church Hill Road while people waited to enter the site.
Fire Marshal Bill Halstead will be invited to the April meeting for his comments.
Commissioner Connor moved to table the application, second by Commissioner Simon and unanimously carried.
NEW BUSINESS
Application for amendment to a special exception, 12-16 Pocono Road. The Commission feels that the driveway is not wide enough and should be as wide as a town road. The applicant will be invited to the April meeting. Commissioner Connor moved to table the application, second by Commissioner Simon and unanimously carried.
Traffic sight lines. Mr. O’Neil feels that better sight lines would improve safety. He recommends that the current sight line distance be increased. He suggested that the Police and Planning and Zoning Commissions write a letter to the Legislative Council asking that the Road Ordinance be revised. Commissioner Simon moved that the Road Ordinance be revised to increase the sight lines to one and one-half the current requirement. Second by Commissioner Connor and unanimously carried. Mr. O’Neil will draft a letter to be reviewed by Chairman Mattegat to be presented to the Legislative Council.
Application for a special exception, 182 South Main Street. Commissioner Connor moved to recommend to the State Traffic Commission that there be No Left Turn onto Route 25 from the site. Second by Commissioner Giannini and unanimously carried.
Resignation of PPO Douglas Summa. Commissioner Connor moved to accept the resignation of PPO Douglas Summa, second by Commissioner Finnegan and unanimously carried.
Replacement of the department’s command vehicle. Lt. Mooney developed the specs for an all purpose vehicle. A fourteen to sixteen foot box would be the most applicable with a 450 chassis. Two work stations would open to the front of the cab and could seat seven people. The back would be for equipment storage. There would be two telescoping lights. A hitch for a trailer will be added to the specs. The vehicle would be temperature controlled. The cost would be approximately $98,000. Chief Kehoe said that there are available Homeland Security funds of $36,000 from 2004 and $21,700 from 2005. Asset forfeiture funds could probably be use because the vehicle would be used at drug sites. Chief Kehoe said that this type of funding was approved in other towns. He could not get a commitment from other area towns for a
tri-town concept but the Commission is in favor of having its own vehicle. Lt. Mooney is commended for the work he did on developing the specs. Commissioner Simon moved to authorize spending Homeland Security monies up to $57,700 as well as Asset Forfeiture money up to $45,000 for the command vehicle replacement. Second by Commissioner Connor and unanimously carried.
Commissioner’s Participation (next agenda). None noted.
Executive Session. Commissioner Simon moved to enter executive session at 9:30 p.m. and to invite Chief Kehoe and Captain Rios to attend, second by Commission Finnegan and unanimously carried. At this time the clerk left the meeting.
Ann M. Mazur, Clerk
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