TOWN OF SOUTH WINDSOR
MINUTES
TOWN COUNCIL WORK SESSION
COUNCIL CHAMBERS February 6, 2006
SOUTH WINDSOR TOWN HALL Time: 7:00 P.M.
1. Call Meeting to Order
Mayor Streeter called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
2. Roll Call
Members Present: Mayor Matthew Streeter
Deputy Mayor Thomas Delnicki
Councillor Deborah Fine
Councillor Edward Havens
Councillor Kevin McCann
Councillor Tim Moriarty
Councillor John Pelkey
Councillor Cary Prague
Councillor Keith Yagaloff
Also Present: Town Manager Matthew B. Galligan
(No Town Attorney Present)
3. Public Participation –
Mr. Anthony Moskites and Mrs. Tamara Moskites, residents residing at 10 High View Road brought in samples of their tap water. These residents spoke with Mr. Robert Deptula, South Windsor’s Environmental Health Officer; the State; the Health Department; and the Avery Heights Water Association. They said that the Association put their hands up two weeks ago and said that they don’t know which way to turn. The Health Department said that the water is fine to drink, that it is edible water. They are looking for any kind of suggestions from the Council.
Town Manager Galligan said that he met with the Board of Directors of the Association, because it is a private well, and he was waiting for information from them. Town Manager Galligan said that he thinks that they need to go to one of the State Commissions and get them to qualify this as a site that can no longer be done on its own. He said that the State may demand that a water company take over and do what has to be done. Town Manager Galligan said that he will talk to Robinson & Cole about the process and see if they can get the process going. The residents said that out of the 216 homes covered by the community well, 86 responded to a survey regarding the water and 31 homes have brown water.
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3. Public Participation (Continued)
Deputy Mayor Delnicki asked if the homes are evenly divided in the entire area that has the dirt in the water. Mrs. Moskites said that there are a good portion of them that are in one area, but there are some homes that are sporadic.
Deputy Mayor Delnicki suggested that they contact the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Public Utility Control Authority. He said that any water service has to have a charter and they have to meet requirements. Deputy Mayor Delnicki said that by the looks of the water, it does not meet State standards.
Councillor Havens asked if it was brought to the attention of the Association. The residents said that they have brought this to Michelle Richards’ attention many times. They said that this has been going on for a year and 4 months. Councillor Havens wanted to make sure that Town Manager Galligan gave the Association the opportunity to know what is going on.
Councillor Fine asked if they run the water, does it clear up. They said that 4 of them could take showers and once the water gets shut off and turned back on, it is brown again. They have 11 and 13 year old children. They do not drink the water, but they do laundry, bath, and if they have to cook with it, they boil it first.
Mayor Streeter informed the Council that Mr. and Mrs. Moskites had a 4 year old water heater that they already had to replace because of the sediment build up.
Town Manager Galligan said that he will begin the process and keep the Council informed.
4. Communications - None
5. Town Manager’s Report - None
6. Items for Discussion
A. Voting Districts; and Ordinance #173 (Registrars of Voters and Town Clerk will be present.)
Mayor Streeter said that a few weeks ago, they had a Resolution on at the request of the Town Manager to have a Public Hearing to discuss possibly changing or eliminating the recently passed Ordinance to redistrict. They have raised some good questions and they want to have further discussion.
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6. A. (Continued)
Deputy Mayor Delnicki thanked the Registrars for being there. He asked if it was safe to say that there is no chance the Town would have the new voting machines in time for this Fall. Ms. Jan Murtha said that she attended the RFP meeting last week and as far as they know, they will be using their current machines this election, but anything could happen.
Ms. Fran Knipple said that they have a formula that has to be followed and for every 900 people, they have to have a machine. They do have enough machines to follow that formula with the five districts. She said that they figured out the parking and how many people they could put through. When she says that they have an 80% turn out, it is really only 70% because 10% is absentee ballots, not all are going through the doors on Election Day.
Deputy Mayor Delnicki asked what the old Timothy Edwards and High School Districts respective voting populations under the old plan and the new plan were. Ms. Murtha said that the new districts will be approximately 2,100 more people than in the old districts. Ms. Knipple said that whenever they went in with redistricting they were always 4,723, but as of today they only have 4,696 people in that district. She said that they are starting their canvas and they will lose quite a few people through the canvas; so, therefore, that will drop the districts down. Right now with the formula, in District 3 and District 5, they will be using 6 machines but they are just a little over, but they are covered well. Ms. Murtha said that she agrees with Ms. Knipple and that during Presidential and State
elections they always pick up a few; and, unfortunately, during Municipal elections it goes down.
Deputy Mayor Delnicki asked how many voters do they think are going to come out considering this is a gubernatorial. Ms. Murtha said it will probably be around 70% that they usually average 70% to 75% depending on what year and what referendum questions are on the ballot.
Deputy Mayor Delnicki also asked if it is safe to say that the older machines take longer. Ms. Knipple said “not this year,” because there will only be 5 or 6 people on the ballot. She said that by doing it this year, the people will get use to going to their new district; and, next year hopefully, they will have the new machines when there are 20 to 23 people on the ballot.
Ms. Knipple said that right now the law says that they could have gone with the new machines this year and that possibly next year they could be losing the Grant to buy the machines.
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6. A. (Continued)
Deputy Mayor Delnicki said that it seems that the Secretary of State’s Office is in some kind of disarray on this whole deal. Ms. Murtha said that it did not work out the way the Secretary of State had expected it would. Ms. Murtha said that it depends on the machine that the Secretary of State picks. She said that some Registrars and Town Clerks were invited to the Secretary of State’s Office for input on the RFP. What is coming out of the RFP is that they are going to go for both the full-faced ballot, and also a machine that does not have full-faced ballot for a better selection.
Deputy Mayor Delnicki asked if sticking with the old machines with the two “super districts” will cause any inordinate delays or longer lines than would normally be expected? Ms. Murtha said that she does honestly have some concerns on the amount of lines. In her opinion, whatever the Council decides for them to do, they will make work in their office. Ms. Knipple said that they can show them the Moderators’ notes that they get each year from the polling places. She said that they have been using these districts for many years, and they still get people going to the wrong polling place and still complain about the parking. She said that she feels that no matter what they do, it is going to take a couple of years to smooth it out; and, 10 years down the road, there are still
going to be people going to the wrong polling place. She feels that it is going to work, they may have problems, but they have always worked through every problem and the Town has never had an embarrassment brought upon them through the Registrars’ Office.
Deputy Mayor Delnicki said that they all want to see this work. Ms. Knipple said that before they started the redistricting, they went ahead and checked out the parking spaces and did all of their homework. She gave examples of different things that they have done to help the parking situations. She informed the Council that she does not feel that parking is going to be an issue or a problem. Ms. Murtha said that she agrees that the parking issue has been addressed very well.
Deputy Mayor Delnicki asked if there was going to be any savings by using the new districts without the new machines. Ms. Murtha said that there will be savings. They will be saving 2 moderators and 4 assistant registrars--and that cost right there alone is between $1,000 and $1,100.
Deputy Mayor Delnicki commended the Town Manager for coming to the Council and informing them that there might be some problems. He said that based on what has been said, he now has a comfort level.
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6. A. (Continued)
Councillor Fine said that the Registrars have told them repeatedly that there is plenty of parking, that there isn’t a safety issue, and that they would save money. She asked them that if there is a primary, that Primary as she understands it, needs to be conducted in the same manner as the election in November. Ms. Knipple said that they have about 10% to 20% that come out for the Primaries, which is a very low turnout. Councillor Fine said that her point is that if they do nothing before the Primary, then it is a dead issue. Ms. Knipple said that what she was told by the State was that everything has to be done and over with by May 10th. Ms. Murtha said that they have to use the same boundary lines in a Primary of the same candidates that are going to be in the November
ballot. Councillor Fine asked if that would include having another Public Hearing. Ms. Murtha said that she wasn’t sure and that it would have to be interpreted by an attorney that knows election law.
Councillor Fine said that she does not see any reason to change it from 5 to 7. Ms. Knipple said that it would take about $25,000 to $30,000 to go back to 7.
Mayor Streeter said that the reason for this discussion was because questions were raised. He said that from the answers that have been received, he thinks that it is better to just leave it alone. He did ask the Town Clerk for the cost savings for their office. Ms. Bickford said that their office is in favor of the 5 districts because it means less work for them which equates into dollars and they have less materials to order. They have to prepare all of the Moderator boxes for them to take to the polling places, which is 2 less for them to do. She said that there is also less extra ballots for them to order.
Mayor Streeter said that he sees no reason to amend the Ordinance.
Councillor Yagaloff wanted to know why so much time is being spent on this. He asked Ms. Murtha what the specific concerns are that she still has. Ms. Murtha said that her biggest concern is the lines of people waiting at different times. Councillor Yagaloff asked how she is gauging that there will be lines. Ms. Murtha said that when it is peak times they have lines now. She said that, yes, there are the machines that should take care of the lines, but at peak times she is still concerned. She said that she feels that the Town Manager had a right to bring this to the Council.
Councillor Yagaloff asked which district is going from 2,700 to 4,700 people. Ms. Murtha answered District 3, the South Windsor High School; and, basically, the same thing at District 5, Timothy Edwards. Ms. Murtha said that she took the figures from last year’s election. She said that, hopefully, it will not be a problem, but it is still a concern.
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6. A. (Continued)
Councillor Pelkey followed up on a comment regarding the Secretary of State’s Office being in disarray. He said that the Secretary of State did not produce what they said that they had. He said that parking situations were accounted for and that the Town, essentially, has the same amount of machines as before—just, basically, in different locations. It seems that the bases were all covered. He did ask Ms. Knipple and Ms. Murtha how many years they have been the Registrar of Voters. Ms. Knipple said 22 years and Ms. Murtha said 24 years. Councillor Pelkey said that together there is 46 years of experience and he thinks that they know what they are doing and that he has never had a concern about it.
Councillor Pelkey said that if lines do queue-up in the election, that is a good sign that the system is working and people are out voting. Hopefully, that doesn’t discourage people from voting.
Mayor Streeter thanked everyone for coming out and answering the Council’s questions.
Ms. Murtha said that they will be contacting the people that will be affected by the change. She suggested that people vote early to avoid the lines.
Councillor McCann said that in the interest of removing the confusion that has grown up around this issue, that it would make sense to make a statement to the public that what they are deciding to do tonight, is to not touch what they did several months ago. Several months ago they changed from 7 districts to 5 districts and they are not changing that.
7. Executive Session –
Deputy Mayor Delnicki made a motion to go into Executive Session to discuss Negotiations/Collective Bargaining at 7:40 p.m.; Councillor McCann seconded the Motion, and it was approved unanimously.
8. Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Vanessa Perry
Assistant to the Clerk of the Council
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