TOWN OF SOUTH WINDSOR
WORK SESSION MINUTES
TOWN COUNCIL TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2012
COUNCIL CHAMBERS TIME: 7:00 P.M.
1. Call Meeting to Order
Mayor Delnicki called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. Roll Call
Members Present: Mayor Thomas Delnicki
Deputy Mayor Gary Bazzano
Councillor M. Saud Anwar
Councillor Cindy Beaulieu
Councillor Kevin McCann
Councillor Cary Prague
Councillor Janice Snyder
Councillor Keith Yagaloff
Members Absent: Councillor Ed Havens
Also Present: Matthew B. Galligan, Town Manager
3. Public Participation
Mr. Robert Dickinson, 19 Birch Road came before the Town Council and requested that when the Town is reconstructing or repaving roads throughout Town that consideration be given for improvements to pedestrian and bicycle safety. Mr. Dickinson also requested that 11 foot lane width be considered so there is maximum shoulder width for pedestrians.
Mr. Larry Torff, 521 Quarry Brook Drive commended Councillor Snyder on taking a leadership approach on making decisions on the capital projects. Mr. Torff felt that items should not be bonded longer then the life of the asset and also felt that items should be split into separate referendums. The Town Council should be showing leadership when deciding what should go to referendum. Mr. Torff then requested the status on the bonding of the October snow storm.
4. Communications
Councillor McCann informed the Council that he has been in contact with the Town Manager and the Town Attorney regarding revamping the sidewalk ordinance. The necessary sections of the sidewalk ordinance will be repealed but he would like a section drafted making sure that if a resident who actually damages the sidewalk is held responsible for the repairs. It has been suggested by the Town Attorney to include in the amended ordinance the requirements of removal of snow, ice and debris from the sidewalks. A formal discussion regarding this issue will be brought to the Council at the next meeting.
ITEM:
5. Town Manager’s Report
Mr. Galligan reported on the following items:
- The Town has received two reimbursement checks from Storm Alfred, one in the amount of $56,000 and the other in the amount of $54,000. There is another check in the amount of $8,000 that is in the mail. The Town took notes for $6,000,000 and $2,000,000 which were bonded over 10 years. Additional funds were taken out of the operating budget that will also be reimbursed. Mr. Galligan stated he would be meeting with Congressman Larson to discuss this further.
- The Town Council received a memo from Fred Shaw regarding the 1/20th payment for the Treatment Plant upgrade. The Town has had discussions with DEEP regarding a proforma that the Town felt was wrong and a new proforma was issued. The Town is looking to close October 1, 2012. The Town will have to come up with approximately $410,000 in addition to the 1/20th payment of $700,000 to meet the schedule of payments. The sources for these funds would be in closing out two capital projects. Next year the debt service will be paid over 12 months in the amount of $1.76 million. Interest savings will be about $260,000 over the life of the loan.
Answering questions from the Council, Mr. Galligan explained that South Windsor has not received any reimbursements for the interatown roads under the DOT program. Mr. Galligan then explained that he has heard that Vernon has received reimbursement payments from FEMA but will confirm that and get back to the Council.
Councillor Anwar requested that the Town Manager find out how much surplus there is from different projects to help pay the extra $410,000.
Councillor McCann requested that the Town Manager take another look at the debt scheduled for the sewer and make sure that the total includes the accrued interest and if the actual payments are equal to the principle balance, not including the accrued interest.
Councillor Yagaloff stated that he does not want to hear from WPCA that they need help with this project because he feels they should have funds in their reserves.
6. Items for Discussion
- Results of the South Windsor Capital Improvement Survey for Potential Referendum
Councillor Prague came forward and reviewed the results of the South Windsor Capital Improvement Survey for Potential Referendum for the Town Council and the public, as shown in attached Exhibit A.
Mayor Delnicki thanked the Committee for their hard work on the survey.
ITEM:
6. A. (Continued)
Councillor Yagaloff recommended that the Town Council decide on 1-3 items to be put out to referendum. The athletic fields should be scaled down and go to lease purchase. A well defined project should come back to the Council that will be able to go out to referendum.
Mayor Delnicki requested that the lease purchase concept not be part of the conversation tonight.
Councillor Anwar stated he feels the infrastructure and maintenance in the amount of $7 to $8 million should be included in the referendum. Separate referendums should be done on the athletic fields as well as the Community Center.
Mayor Delnicki stated he felt the survey was a good exercise and also feels that multiple referendums should be done instead of one referendum.
B. Proposed Referendum (s)
Councillor Snyder reviewed the proposed items to be put out to referendum under the Capital Projects.
Answering questions from the Council, Mr. Doolittle the Town Engineer explained that he would like to do the whole parking area and driveway at the fire station at the same time. It would cost approximately $75,000 to $100,000 to pave the front area.
Mayor Delnicki requested increases and decreases in maintenance & operating budgets. This information will help the Town Council with budgets. Councillor Snyder stated that she would get that information for the Council, including run time on generators and underground storage tanks targeted for replacement. Councillor Snyder then informed the Council that the list of capital projects was not put into priority.
Answering questions from the Councillor Answer, Mr. Major explained that the fire alarm system is currently working and is functional. The proposal will make sure that they remain functional. The cost of generators vary due to the size of the generator, where they are located and if additional piping is necessary. The cost for the generator at the Community Center is $75,000 and Mr. Major will let the Town Council know how much power will be generated.
Councillor Yagaloff felt that the capital project list should be prioritized. Mr. Majors explained that the list he presented is prioritized.
Mr. Galligan stated that the generator at the High School is a priority rather than having a fuel cell which is not on the list.
ITEM:
6. B. (Continued)
Councillor Yagaloff felt that the most of the items on the list could be put into the budget. Mr. Galligan explained that these items have been in the budget, have not gotten done and need to be taken care of before their useful life expectancy is done.
Mr. Galligan explained that the tax increase for a $250,000 house would be $78.00 per year for the 22 year bond to fund these capital improvement projects.
Deputy Mayor Bazzano voiced concern regarding how this list was structured.
Councillor Snyder stated that she has been on Capital Projects since 1999. Every year a list has been drafted consisting of targeted projects. The Council cut the budget and the Capital Projects Committee would get done the projects that they were able to fund. The other projects would be moved to the following year. Projects fell behind because of this and there have been more projects that need to get added to this list. The Capital Projects decided to take all of the projects from 1999 and requested staff to put together their priority list. The list came out to an amount of $17,000,000 which was then discussed further and cut down to $15,000,000. Again there was more discussions and work done; the amount was cut even further. The proposed projects will ultimately save
taxpayers in the long run.
Deputy Mayor Bazzano stated that he would like to make sure that items are priorities and not wants as it seems to be perceived. Councillor Snyder stated that all of these items are priorities.
Deputy Mayor Bazzano questioned if the front entrance to the bay doors at the Fire Station #1 would be concrete or asphalt? Mr. Doolittle answered the Town has not used concrete and would need to do an analysis to see if there would be any cost savings. The Town can review this suggestion. Deputy Mayor Bazzano requested that if this is going to referendum, he would like the question to be generic so the Town would not be tied to doing asphalt.
Councillor Beaulieu stated that these items have not been done for a number of years because there has not been funding in the budget. Councillor Beaulieu felt that the Town Council should move forward with the list, although warned Council members that the Council should look at the useful life of the proposed items when considering bonding.
Councillor McCann felt that the Town Council should establish a comprehensive plan and stand united. The Town has an opportunity to move forward with bonding to get infrastructure done for the Town at reasonable rates on bonds.
ITEM:
6. B. (Continued)
Councillor Prague felt the Town should be doing these proposed projects. The Council needs to trust the Town employees and let the voters decide on the projects they would like to get done.
Councillor Snyder stated that she would get a break down of the computers for the Town from Scott Roberts and give that to the Council.
Councillor Yagaloff recommended having an infrastructure referendum in the amount of $3,000,000 to $3,500,000 to take care of the roofs and the school issues, a Town road, culvert and infrastructure referendum to take care of major road repairs, culvert repairs and major Information Technology issues in the amount of $3,000,000 to $3,500,000. Deputy Mayor Bazzano should come up with a robust athletic field referendum that would stand alone. This contrast should bring some approval from the public. Councillor Yagaloff stated he feels the Community Infrastructure referendum is going to fail and the Town Council should not put items out to referendum that will fail.
Councillor Snyder came forward to present to the Town Council what the Capital Projects Committee is recommending regarding the South Windsor Community Infrastructure referendum, as shown in attached Exhibit B.
Major Delnicki stated he liked seeing the referendums broken out in the fashion as presented. The suggestion of Councillor Yagaloff’s about two to three referendums is too much bundling. Mayor Delnicki stated he would rather see two to three items passed that need to be done then to see items fail. The Council needs to review the Public Building Capital Project needs and remove items that are not of the highest priorities so the Town can put the generator at the High School.
Mr. Galligan stated that the generator at the High School is extremely important issue for the emergency operations. It will be about $200,000 and would power the entire building. After reviewing the list, Mr. Galligan suggested putting the generator on the list and removing items such as the generator and fire alarm system at the Community Center. Under the Town Garage, the fuel oil storage tank has to be replaced and that generator has failed so that could wait. At the Town Hall the windows can wait and also the elevator. The Police Department should remain as it is. The generator and fire alarm system at the Library can wait another year. The recommendations would eliminate approximately $350,000 from the referendum.
Mayor Delnicki stated there could be a meeting scheduled for September 6, 2012 in order to have a plan that could go to referendum. The five referendums make a lot of sense.
Councillor Anwar felt that as a community, the Town has outgrown the Community Center and believes it should be a separate question.
ITEM:
6. B. (Continued)
Mayor Delnicki stated to Councillor Anwar that he could make that recommendation at the Tuesday night meeting.
Councillor Prague suggested that the Council request the Public Building Commission to do a study on an expansion to the Community Center instead of a referendum.
Mr. Galligan explained that the Town will be reimbursed on a few projects and those funds could be used in other areas.
Mr. Favreau came before the Town Council to answer questions. He explained that the two water features that were installed this year were both a tremendous hit with the children. They add a great value to the facility and Mr. Favreau stated he would like to add additional features to increase the customer base. Maintaining and upgrading parks retains a customer base. The plan is what the Parks and Recreation Commission would like to do over a five year period. Mr. Favreau stated he did not do a priority list because he wanted the flexibility for the projects but stated he would make that priority list for the Council. The playground facility is being proposed for a year round use. It would not be feasible to make the pool an indoor facility.
Public
Mr. Craig Zimmerman, 5A Amato Drive came forward and stated that the creation of a Recreation Center should be reviewed further which would help with space at the Senior Center also. Mr. Zimmerman felt more information would be necessary for the public to make a good decision on the referendums.
Chief Reed stated that the generator at the High School is very important for emergency operations center as well as there would be no interruptions to education. The technology portion is very important to the operations of the Town. Technology does cost a lot of money, but is necessary.
Mayor Delnicki explained that there will be separate resolutions for each item with the ability for Council members to amend the resolutions. Councillor Prague may want to bring a resolution forward with sending the expansion of the Community Center to the Public Building Commission. The goal is to come up with the referendum items that would go on the ballot in November.
7. Executive Session
None
ITEM:
8. Adjournment
At 9:37 p.m. Councillor McCann made a motion to adjourn the Special Work Session. Deputy Mayor Bazzano seconded the motion and it was approved, unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Deborah W. Reid
Recording Secretary
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