TOWN OF SOUTH WINDSOR
WORK SESSION MINUTES
TOWN COUNCIL TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
COUNCIL CHAMBERS TIME: 7:00 P.M.
1. Call Meeting to Order
Mayor Pelkey called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. Roll Call
Members Present: Mayor John Pelkey
Councillor Gary Bazzano
Councillor Tom Delnicki
Councillor Kathryn Hale
Councillor Kevin McCann
Councillor Keith Yagaloff
Members Absent: Deputy Mayor Edward Havens
Councillor Janice Favreau
Councillor Cary Prague
Also Present: Matthew Galligan, Town Manager
3. Public Participation
None
4. Communications
None
5. Town Manager’s Report
None
6. Items for Discussion
A. Clarification of language in Ordinance #162 – Subdivision Open Space Use & Maintenance Ordinance (requested by Councillor Hale)
Councillor Hale began discussions by stating there have been preliminary discussions regarding word changes that the Open Space Task Force feels need to be made to Ordinance #162. The suggested changes or discussion regarding these changes are as follows:
- Titles of Staff members who serve on the Open Space Task Force have changed and therefore need to be changed in the Ordinance. This would include language indicating that any of the people who are listed can designate a substitute so that the Town will not have to change the Ordinance in the future.
ITEM:
6. A. (Continued)
- Making the Conservation Commission have the same membership as the Open Space Task Force. This item is being discussed further.
- Delete the work “subdivision” wherever it appears in the Ordinance. Originally when the Open Space Task Force was formed the Town had mostly subdivision open space. The scope of the Open Space Task Force has since changed where they have been asked for opinions regarding the purchase of larger blocks of land that are not part of the subdivision process.
Councillor McCann stated that he feels these presented suggestions make sense but would like the ordinance examined further to review the restrictions that have been placed on the maintenance of open space that is in subdivisions abutting property owners. The abutting property owners should be allowed the ability to maintain the adjacent open space if they so wish.
Councillor Delnicki said that he concurs with loosening up the restrictions and coming up with a very easy and manageable maintenance plan which would allow residents the ability to maintain abutting open space if they would like to. Councillor Delnicki stated that the only concern he has is if the word “subdivision” is eliminated from the Ordinance and changed to “Town owned Open Space”, would the Town still have the ability to delineate what used to be the subdivision type open space for a mowing plan because it is not the Towns intent to have Town residents maintain Town owned Open Space that had not come through the subdivision process. Councillor Delnicki requested that the Town Manager request an opinion from the Town Attorney regarding this issue.
Councillor Hale suggested that perhaps instead of talking about Subdivision Open Space, it could be defined as the mowing as applied to the 50’ or narrower strips. Councillor Hale also suggested that anyone that is going to be mowing Town owned land should be giving the Town a Hold Harmless Agreement.
Counicllor Delnicki stated that he is not looking for an answer tonight and would like an opinion from the Town Attorney pertaining to how the Town should change the terminology.
B. MUNIS (Scott Roberts, Director of Information Technologies to be present)
Mr. Galligan explained that when this system was first proposed to try to go Regionally Mr. Galligan stated he chose not to do it because the cost was too high at approximately $43,000 and there were issues whether it could be tied into the MUNIS System for the revenue side. MUNIS then offered this system for $26,000 and it was decided again not to participate. Presently the program is being offered for $8,000 through MUNIS. The program would provide a tremendous amount of service to the people in the community in accessing information.
ITEM:
6. B. (Continued)
Mr. Scott Roberts, Director of Information Technologies came before the Town Council to give an overview of the proposed program, (Exhibit A). This package will allow the public to log into a web portal and view, search and pay bills either by credit card or e-check. Information that would be able to be accessed by the public would be real estate information, personal property information, motor vehicle information, sewer bills, auto cans if a resident has an extra trash can it could be paid for on-line, request exemptions or credits, file change of address, if an individual moves out of Town and there are back notifications they will be sent to that individual, residents will be able to see their assessment history and values, bills associated with residents property id, status of building permits,
outstanding items necessary to receive permits, contractor information, submit inspection schedule preferences. There are two parts that would need to be purchased for this product. The first is called the Self Service which is the portal and is how the public could interact with the program. The cost is $6,525.00 with an annual maintenance fee of $693.00. The second component necessary is the Dashboard which is for staff to be able to interact to the portal. The cost is $2,450.00 with an annual maintenance fee of $450.00. The only other item that would need to be initialized is the ability to pay on-line. Although there are a variety of vendors, MUNIS recommends using Official Payments because they have always worked with them.
Answering questions from the Town Council, Mr. Roberts explained that if a taxpayer decides to pay their bill with a credit cared, that taxpayer will have to pay an additional 2.75% on the amount owed. The 2.75% is considered a convenience fee for having the option of paying by credit card. If an individual decides to pay by e-check there is a flat rate of $3.00 for any amount up to $10,000.
Councillor Yagaloff did not see the benefit of being able to use a credit card to pay for taxes because of the 2.75% additional charge to the taxpayer, but did feel that this is a good opportunity to have information on-line
Councillor McCann questioned if there is a pressing need to get this system running this year because it was not budgeted for in this year’s budget. Mr. Roberts responded that this item was requested by Councillor Prague and stated that this program would save staff time and allow residents to look up their information.
Mayor Pelkey felt that the Town should see if allowing advertising could save the Town some money. Mr. Roberts stated that he would inquire about that.
Councillor Delnicki requested that Mr. Roberts find out what Towns around South Windsor are using this system. Input from those Town would be beneficial.
ITEM:
7. Executive Session
None
8. Adjournment
At 7:45 p.m. Councillor Hale made a motion to adjourn the Work Session. Councillor Bazzano seconded the motion; and it was approved, unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Deborah W. Reid, Recording Secretary
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