MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL & WPC AUTHORITY
JANUARY 3, 2006
A REGULAR MEETING of the City Council & WPC Authority was held on Tuesday, January 3, 2006, in the Council Chambers.
Those in attendance included Mayor Ryan J. Bingham, City Councilors James F. McKenna, Thomas C. Jerram, Rick E. Dalla Valle, Andrew J. Slaiby, Marie P. Soliani, and Drake L. Waldron, Corp. Counsel Albert Vasko, City Engineer Edward Fabbri, Purchasing Agent Charlene Antonelli, and Deputy Fire Chief Jaye Giampaolo.
Mayor Bingham called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m.
MINUTES #070
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Jerram, the Council voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held 12/19/05.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC #085
On a motion by Councilor McKenna, seconded by Councilor Slaiby, the Council voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public. There wasn’t any public participation.
SMALL CITIES: ICS, INC. # 100
On a motion by Councilor McKenna, seconded by Councilor Soliani, the Council voted unanimously to authorize the payment of $50,450.70 from Small Cities Grant # 143-DSS, to I.C.S. Inc. of 315 Litchfield St. New Milford, CT for construction work on the Thrift Store at the Senior Center.
BID: FIREFIGHTER TURNOUT GEAR #110
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Slaiby, the Council voted unanimously to award the bid entitled “Lease/Purchase of Firefighter Turnout Gear” to Total Fire Group for a total of $23,183.55, which will include the basic purchase cost, the cleaning and maintenance fees, and the lease interest of 6.490%. (Tabled on 12-19-05.)
DESELL CONST. #120
On a motion by Councilor McKenna, seconded by Councilor Jerram, the Council voted unanimously to authorize the payment of $6,370.00 from Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Fund #490 to Desell Construction, LLC for Invoice #574 for manhole adjustment work and referred it to the Board of Finance.
APPOINTMENTS: FLOOD & EROSION #130
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Slaiby, the Council voted unanimously to approve the following appointments to the FLOOD & EROSION CONTROL BOARD for 3-year terms to expire on February 1, 2007:
REGULAR MEMBERS ALTERNATES:
Doris Murphy James Bobinski
Richard Calkins Gregory Mele
David Frascarelli Donna Greco
Gregory Perosino
Paul Summers
BOARD OF ETHICS #175
On a motion by Councilor Dalla Valle, seconded by Councilor Jerram, the Council voted unanimously to accept Mayor Bingham’s recommendation for the following appointments/reappointments to the BOARD OF ETHICS for three year terms to Sept. 1, 2008:
Reappointment: Juliana Bray, Timothy Driscoll, and Stephanie Lauer
Appointments: Donna Mattiello, Donna Isely
Alternate: John Todor
SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY #190
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Slaiby, the Council voted unanimously to accept Mayor Bingham’s recommendation for the following appointments/reappointments to the SERVICES FOR THE ELDERLY COMMISSION for three year terms to July 6, 2008.
Reappointment Martin Boyajian
App. to reg. status Donald MacLeod to replace Archie Perez
App. to reg. status Maureen Matava replaces Frank McGowan
Commission’s Recommendation for Alternates:
Don Angino, Peter Bronzi, Roger Janelle
PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION #200
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor
Waldron, the Council voted unanimously to reappoint Doris
Murphy to the PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION for a 5-year
term to expire December 1, 2010, and James Bobinski as an
Alternate for a 5- year term to expire December 1, 2010.
INLAND WETLANDS COMMISSION #210
On a motion by Councilor Dalla Valle, seconded by Councilor Soliani, the Council voted unanimously to accept Mayor Bingham’s recommendation to reappoint the following to the INLAND WETLANDS COMMISSION for 3-year terms:
Rick Bette, to expire in 2007
Christine Altman, to expire in 2007
Kathy Carlson, to expire in 2007
John Bate, Jr. to expire in 2008
Nancy Schroeder-Perez, to expire in 2008
Jane Bakker, to expire in 2008
Doris Murphy, P & Z Rep.
RE-OPEN TO THE PUBLIC #220
On a motion by Councilor Dalla Valle, seconded by Councilor Jerram, the Council voted unanimously to reopen the meeting to the public for agenda items only. There was no public participation.
BUS: DEPT. HEADS #230
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Slaiby, the Council voted unanimously to consider business presented by Department Heads.
City Clerk Joseph L. Quartiero stated that he will be requesting items for the agenda by 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday prior to City Council meetings so that packets can be mailed on Thursday rather than having the Police Department deliver them. We have already begun to e-mail agenda items to the Board of Public Safety and the Council will also be receiving their packets by e-mail in the near future.
Secondly, Mr. Quartiero spoke in regard to the Lanier Recording Machine which is in need of repair or replacement. He stated that the machine was purchased five years ago at a cost of $3,325.00 and that repairs to date totaled $3,032.00, including the expected amount to repair it at this time.
He asked the Council for some guidance in terms of whether or not to have the Lanier repaired at an estimated cost of $1,000.00, or to purchase a new machine at $3,295.00. Either way, funds would need to come from Contingency. He explained that the machine didn’t really belong to his department, since it was used by a number of boards. Consequently, he didn’t budget any funds for repair or replacement. Perhaps a line item should be set up in his budget as well as Planning & Zoning’s budget for future repairs and a service contract.
Some of the benefits of staying with Lanier are that we already have a supply of rather expensive tapes that can be reused, the microphones are in proper working order and we have a Lanier transcription machine.
Mr. Quartiero stated that the selection of systems is limited. Other towns comparable to our size also use the Lanier while others use more elaborate systems and TV networking.
ADD ITEM TO THE AGENDA #450
Councilman Dalla Valle made a motion to add an item to the agenda in regard to the Lanier recording machine. Councilman Jerram seconded the motion. Unanimous.
PURCHASE LANIER MACHINE
Councilman Dalla Valle made a motion to purchase a new Lanier machine, not to exceed $3,400.00. Councilman Jerram seconded the motion.
Councilwoman Soliani felt we needed to repair the machine and look into other options rather than purchasing a new one at this point. It was her belief that funds should be allocated in the next budget year for a new system.
Councilor Dalla Valle said the idea for Contingency was specifically for unexpected circumstances such as this, that isn’t tagged to any particular department.
VOTE #1070
Councilors Dalla Valle, Jerram and Waldron voted in favor of the motion to purchase a new Lanier machine, not to exceed $3,400.00. Councilors Slaiby, McKenna, and Soliani opposed the motion. On a 3-3 tie vote, Mayor Bingham voted to oppose the motion until further information could be obtained. Motion failed.
Deputy Fire Chief Giampaolo congratulated Mayor Bingham and the Councilors for their victory at the November election and invited them all to visit the firehouse and to call them with any questions or concerns they may have in the future.
BUS: MAYOR & MEMBERS #1130
On a motion by Councilor Dalla Valle, seconded by Councilor Jerram, the Council voted unanimously to consider business presented by Mayor Bingham and members of the City Council.
ADD TO AGENDA #1140
Councilor Jerram made a motion to add an item to the agenda by 2/3rds vote in regard to the removal of street lights. Councilor Dalla Valle seconded the motion. Unanimous.
Councilor Jerram made a motion to remove street lights from the following: pole number 8 located on Church Street, pole numbers nine & 10 on Migeon Avenue, and pole numbers 1262 and 3869 on Pearl Street. Councilor Dalla Valle seconded the motion. Unanimous.
Councilor McKenna inquired about the City Engineer’s memorandum in regard to the retaining wall failure along Troy Brook at 112 East Pearl Street dated 12/27/2005. A brief discussion took place.
Mr. Fabbri indicated that there were some track records in the file, however, he was unable to locate any documentation as to how the wall came about. He said it appears that the wall was installed to help stabilize the slope of the land twenty years ago as part of a sanitary sewer project. He stated that NRCS’s program requires that the work be done on private property and would not apply to city property. The city would merely be the middle person to do the leg work in getting permits, easements, etc. NRCS would do the design and fund a portion of the project, and the DEP would pay the balance. The city would put the DEP money up front and get reimbursed later on.
Mr. Fabbri had just delivered the paperwork in regard to Mrs. Paganini’s easement to Corp. Counsel Vasko for his perusal.
Councilor McKenna said it was his understanding that, with a little cooperation from Mrs. Paganini, the wall could be repaired at no cost to her or the city. He asked her if she was in agreement with that, and she said yes, however, during her meeting on December 7 with the city, she was told that someone would fill in the hole on her property, and to date no one has done anything about the hole and her driveway was continuing to deteriorate as well as the wall and the fence.
Mr. Fabbri indicated that he had spoken with the Superintendent of the Street Department and that it was on his schedule for this week.
Councilor Dalla Valle introduced “Brodie,” the newly appointed police canine, and his owner Officer Justin Deloy, who recently underwent fourteen weeks of training with Brodie.
Councilor Slaiby suggested that perhaps more attention could be given to snow plowing the area of Newfield, Marshal Lake and Saw Mill Road.
Councilor Dalla Valle attested to the fact that the street does become a wash board after a snow event, however, the Street Department does an awesome job plowing the area and the problem is really that the trees prevent the sun from melting the snow that’s packed down to ice from cars driving over it. Perhaps the Street Department could use a different method, i.e., more salt than sand.
Councilor Soliani stated that Torringford East Street was divided into three towns and the Torrington side needed more attention in terms of snow plowing as well.
Mayor Bingham indicated that his office also receives complaints of streets not being plowed and he would talk with Mr. Lizotte on behalf of the Council in regard to these two streets.
Councilor Waldron reported that Torrington High School will be playing basketball against Crosby tomorrow evening.
He requested an update on Southeast School. He reminded the Council that they signed an agreement with a private company to rent the facility to an after school program, and was wondering if the building was being used as it was supposed to be and if the city was collecting the rental fees.
ADJOURNMENT #2050
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Dalla Valle, the Council voted unanimously to adjourn at 7:28 p.m.
ATTEST: JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CMC
CITY CLERK
| 
