TOWN OF SOUTH WINDSOR
SPECIAL BUDGET WORK SESSION MINUTES
TOWN COUNCIL MONDAY, APRIL 9, 2012
COUNCIL CHAMBERS TIME: 7:00 P.M.
1. Call Meeting to Order
Mayor Delnicki called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.
2. Roll Call
Members Present: Mayor Tom Delnicki
Deputy Mayor Gary Bazzano (arrived at 7:05 p.m.)
Councillor M. Saud Anwar
Councillor Cindy Beaulieu (arrived at 7:06 p.m.)
Councillor Ed Havens
Councillor Kevin McCann
Councillor Cary Prague
Councillor Janice Snyder
Councillor Keith Yagaloff
Also Present: Matthew B. Galligan, Town Manager
3. Public Participation
None
4. Communications
None
5. Town Manager’s Report
None
6. Items for Discussion
A. Volunteer Fire Department’s Budget Presentation
Chief Crombie came before the Town Council to present the proposed Volunteer Fire Department Budget. Chief Crombie reviewed the proposed budget as shown in attached, Exhibit A.
Mayor Delnicki stated that he feels the department has been very successful in growing the department.
Chief Crombie stated that the department has been a steady increase due to the fact that there is a great program that helps the department attract and retain individuals.
ITEM:
6. A. (Continued)
Answering questions from the Council, Chief Crombie explained that the Volunteer Retention and Recruitment account has been $6.00 per incident for four years. There is $82,000 that has been used to fund the $6.00 per incident in this year’s current budget. The length of service program contribution is really the monies that go to individuals that have retired from the Fire Department which is about $62,000.
Councillor Prague suggested that the amount of $6.00 per incident be increased to $7.50 per incident which would equate to a $20,000 increase. Councillor Prague requested that the Town Council consider this in the budget.
Answering various questions, Chief Crombie stated that the $6.00 per incident includes the mileage for individuals to use their own vehicles. The bulk of training is done by the State or the Hartford County Fire School for Firefighter certification. All of the new members have to become certified within two years at the Firefighter I level. The new Firehouse has not impacted the proposed budget. The maintenance for all of the Fire Departments firehouses are paid for out of the budget.
Mayor Delnicki stated that the South Windsor Volunteer Fire Department delivers exemplary services to the community and any money that is put into this department is money well spent.
Chief Crombie stated that he will be retiring in June 30, 2012 and introduced Kevin Cooney who will be the Fire Chief beginning in July of 2012.
Mr. Cooney came forward and thanked the Town Council for their support; and stated he is looking forward to working with everyone.
Councillor Havens thanked the members of the Fire Department for all their hard work and dedication.
Chief Crombie explained that 2013 marks the 75th Anniversary of the South Windsor Volunteer Fire Department. There are a number of activities that have occurred and there are more that will be occurring in order for the Town to raise funds for this event.
B. Fire Marshal’s Budget Presentation
Mr. Walter Summers, Fire Marshal thanked Chief Crombie for all of his support and guidance. The Fire Marshal and Fire Chief have formed a great partnership and Mr. Summers is hopeful that relationship will continue when the new Fire Chief begins his position.
ITEM:
6. B. (Continued)
Mr. Walter Summers introduced his staff and explained that the Town Council should have received a staffing level for the past five years and an organizational chart, as shown in attached Exhibit B. Over the last six years the Fire Marshal’s office has put an emphasis on forming partnerships with different departments within the Town. The Information Technology Department has helped with technology in the Fire Marshal’s Office. Through their help as well as Chief Crombie’s, the inspection program has been computerized. Over the last four years laptops have been purchased and air cards so there is more efficiency in the field. The Inspector can go out and do an inspection and do the report on site, print out the inspection report without coming back to the Town Hall. I Pads have been purchased to further give efficiency assistance to the Fire Marshal’s Office as well as cutting down on costs. Another partnership that has just recently been established is with the Board of
Education. It is hopeful that the Fire Prevention program will be increased in the schools. This program will also involve Human Services and the Police Department. The program will include safety messages from all three departments. The Fire Marshal’s Office will be filling out a FEMA grant to help offset some costs.
Mr. Summer’s reviewed his proposed budget which he submitted to the Town Manager. There was a proposal of $909,269 budget which included a Juvenile Fire Setter Commission, the Fire Marshals Office and the utilities account that pays for the water company charges for fire protection. The increase was $39,288 or a 4.25%. The Town Manager reduced this request to $880,284 which would be an increase of $10,303 or 1.18%. The changes made by the Town Manager included a $17,995 reduction in wages in the part time account and full time account, a $1,920 reduction in training and operating and $9,270 in utilities.
The goal for the original proposal before it was reduced by the Town Manager was to fund another part time safety inspector position to continue the smoke alarm program. The grant that funds the position currently for the Smoke Alarm program will run out in December. The $17,000 was to fund that position for the rest of the year. This program is a joint effort between the Fire Department and the Fire Marshals Office to provide the condominiums (over 2,000 of them) with 10 year smoke detectors. When the Fire Marshal’s Office did the first inspection on a condominium, over 80% of the smoke detectors were not working or were not there. The Fire Marshals Office re-inspected the condominium complex and found that 31 out of 108 units of the smoke detectors were now not working or were not
there. Smoke alarms are the only early warning and the Fire Marshal’s Office needs to be more productive in this area.
Mayor Delnicki requested that the Fire Marshal send a summary of what is being requested within the salaries.
ITEM:
6. B. (Continued)
Councillor Anwar stated that he would be supporting this budget because the Town needs to be ready to invest in prevention.
Answering questions from the Council, Mr. Summers explained that the additional funding of $16,000 is to continue the position that was previously funded by a grant, through the rest of the next fiscal year.
Councillor Yagaloff stated he would be supporting the continuation of work being done by the grant funded position as proposed by the Fire Marshal. Fire prevention is very important and would be an investment that is well worth the cost.
Councillor Snyder stated she would support this position and program.
Councillor Havens felt that once the Town begins a program, it would not be a good idea to discontinue the program. Councillor Havens stated he would support the additional $16,000 to save a life.
Answering questions from Councillor McCann, Mr. Summers explained that the projects would be affected if the position was eliminated would be inspections to businesses. The condominium inspections and apartment inspections would be the only things that would be done other than inspections that are called in.
Answering questions from Councillor Prague, Mr. Summers stated that the Town has approximately 2,000 condominiums. In six years the Fire Marshal’s Office has inspected Pleasant Valley which has 140 units and Westage which has 142 units. Candlewood and Briarwood Condominiums will probably be next. Safety days are being scheduled at each of those condominiums and then inspections will take place later this year. Scheduling is very hard to coordinate. Restaurants are inspected once per year and day cares are done once a year or every other year. Schools are inspected in August.
Mr. Galligan stated that he had cut this position because there should be other ways to handle this situation and it is also felt that the property managers of these complexes should be doing something about the smoke detectors in the units.
Mayor Delnicki stated that since these employees are part time there is flexibility to design the program. There may be individuals at the Fire Department that may be able to do these inspections.
Mr. Summers explained that the Fire Marshal’s Office uses different strategies to get residents educated in Town. There are discussions presently about coming to a Town Council meeting to discuss this issue. Also Twitter, Facebook, channel 16 and the press could be used to inform residents about smoke detectors.
ITEM:
6. B. (Continued)
Councillor Prague suggested using a banner in Town center which states “change your smoke detectors”. Chief Crombie informed the Fire Marshal that some Towns require landlords to get the Fire Marshal to inspect apartments to make sure smoke detectors are in place and are working before they are allowed to rent the apartment out.
C. Information Technologies Department’s Budget Presentation
Mr. Scott Roberts came before the Town Council to present his budget. This year’s proposed budget is $543,358 which represents an increase of $31,148 or 6% over the current year’s budget of $512,210. The increases in this budget are driven primarily due to contractual software maintenance costs for the Town departments and an anticipated increase for training Town staff in the new Microsoft Office suite. The department has expanded services with the Fire and Ambulance Departments. The requests for service from Town employees have remained in excess of 2,600 per year since the program was implemented in 2009/2010 fiscal year. Over the next year, the IT Department has plans to expand the dash board, mobile offerings and the GIS website to provide the public more of what South Windsor
has to offer. In July taxpayers will have the ability to pay their taxes on-line. Both credit card and debit card payments will be acceptable.
Answering questions from the Council, Mr. Roberts explained that the Town of South Windsor is providing IT services to the Town of Coventry and it is believed that the amount Coventry is being charged is $30,000. In 2006/2007 the Police Department had their own staff doing IT services. In 2007/2008 the IT Department took over computer services for the Police Department. The taping of the Town Council meetings was previously done by the Building Maintenance Department and is now part of the Information Technologies Department. The version of Microsoft Office the Town is currently using is 2003 and would like to update the system to 2010. Training for staff will be through New Horizons Technology.
Answering further questions from the Council, Mr. Roberts stated that the increase of $10,330 is the increase in the maintenance contracts. The $15,000 is for training Town staff. The only other increase is a 2% salary increase that the Manager asked to budget. These increases are to maintain the operations of Town government. A 10% increase is being reviewed for services provided to Coventry. Coventry is presently serviced for 8 hours per week currently and it is being looked at to go to 9 hours per week which is split between three people.
ITEM:
6. C. (Continued)
Mayor Delnicki felt that the IT Department should be covering their overhead.
Mr. Galligan explained that South Windsor is not held liable for any actions that may happen and it is good to work regionally with another Town.
Councillor Anwar stated he supports the regional collaboration. South Windsor should be looking at strengths in other Towns and try to collaborate with them on other various issues that can be done by that Town.
Councillor Havens stated that South Windsor does collaborate with other Towns for assistance within of fire or police services. Regionalization should be promoted amongst communities. Councillor Havens stated he supports the contract with Coventry.
7. Executive Session
At 8:44 p.m. Deputy Mayor Bazzano made a motion to go into Executive Session to discuss possible purchase of real estate at 491 Kind Street for the Town. Councillor Snyder seconded the motion; and it was approved, unanimously.
Those who went into Executive Session are as follows: Town Manager Matthew B. Galligan, Mayor Delnicki, Deputy Mayor Bazzano, Councillors Beaulieu, Havens, McCann, Prague, Snyder and Yagaloff.
At 9:01 p.m. Councillor Snyder made a motion to adjourn the Executive Session. Deputy Mayor Bazzano seconded the motion; and it was approved, unanimously.
8. Adjournment
At 9:02 p.m. Councillor Snyder made a motion to adjourn the Work Session. Deputy Mayor Bazzano seconded the motion and it was approved, unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Deborah W. Reid
Recording Secretary
| 
