MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL & WPC AUTHORITY
OCTOBER 15, 2007
A REGULAR MEETING of the City Council & WPC Authority was held on Monday, October 15, 2007 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, and Drake L. Waldron, Corp. Counsel Ernestine Yuille Weaver, Director of Elderly Services Nancy Hodkoski, Supervisor of Elderly Nutrition Project Joel Sekorski, Acting Purchasing Agent Pennie Zucco, Building Official Brett Zuraitis, Republican Registrar of Voters Amelia K. Waldron, Republican Deputy Registrar of Voters Roberta Waldron, Data Processing Manager, Rudy Pullano, and Executive Director of NW CT Transit District Carol Deane. Councilwoman Marie P. Soliani was absent.
Mayor Bingham called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m.
MINUTES #020
Councilor Waldron made a motion to accept the minutes of the regular meeting held October 1, 2007. Councilor Slaiby seconded the motion.
MINUTES TABLED #030
Councilor Jerram made and McKenna seconded a motion to table the minutes of the regular meeting held October 1, 2007. Unanimous.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC #040
On a motion by Councilor Slaiby, seconded by Councilor McKenna, the Council voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public.
Andrew Nargi, Weed Street, reported that at 5:20 p.m. this evening, he called the Police Department to report that a quad and a dirt bike trespassed onto his property at a speed in excess of 60 MPH. At 6:20 p.m. he left his home and the Police Department still had not responded to his call. He reported that this was an ongoing problem and requested the Ordinance Committee to establish an ordinance to register all dirt bikes within the city to help identify their owners.
Councilor Dalla Valle, Chairman of the Ordinance Committee, said he would look into such an ordinance. However, he noted that state statutes govern the use of quads and off road vehicles. The committee can’t supercede the state statute but perhaps they can enhance it.
Nancy Hodkoski, Director of Elderly Services, and Joel Sekorski, Supervisor of Elderly Nutrition Project, informed the Council that a survey will soon be sent to residents between ages 45 and 55, to gather information so they can better chart the future of the Sullivan Senior Center.
CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION: THS INTERNS #225
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Slaiby, the Council voted unanimously to award Certificates of Appreciation to THS Interns.
HONOR: TAYLOR FRANCESKINO #540
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor McKenna, the Council voted unanimously to honor Taylor Franceskino with a Certificate of Achievement for scoring the highest in Torrington on CT Mastery Test in 3rd Grade.
PUBLIC WORKS GRIEVANCES #570
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Waldron, the Council voted unanimously to discuss Public Works’ grievance #07-01 (Tabled on 09/17/2007 and 10/01/07.)
MOTION TO DENY #575
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor McKenna, the Council voted unanimously to deny Public Works’ grievance #07-01.
CHARTER REVISION #590
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor McKenna, the Council voted unanimously to establish a Charter Revision Commission to place any revisions to the Charter on the 2008 Election Ballot.
Mayor Bingham informed the Council that they have 30 days to fill between nine and eleven members to the Charter Revision Commission. The committee needs to be comprised of no more than one over a simple majority, and only 1/3 of them can be from public office. He was looking for representation from the Council. The intent is to place recommended Charter Revisions on the 2008 election ballot. There’s a need for language changes among other items that could be up for debate, i.e. term lengths.
NW CT WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD #685
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Waldron, the Council voted unanimously to authorize Mayor Bingham to enter into a contract with the Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board.
RESOLUTION
I, Joseph L. Quartiero, certify that I am the Secretary of the Board of Councilmen, City of Torrington, as contractor herein, that Ryan J. Bingham who signed this contract on behalf of the contractor was then Mayor of said City of Torrington by authority of its governing body and is within the scope of its corporate powers.
JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CMC
CITY CLERK
INFO QUICK SOLUTIONS CO. #705
Councilor Jerram made a motion to approve the request from the City Clerk and Data Processing Manager to enter into a contract with Info Quick Solutions Co. of Liverpool, NY for a new land record, vital records, sport licensing and dog licensing software modules for the City Clerk’s Office. Councilor Slaiby seconded the motion.
After reading the material supplied by the City Clerk, Councilor Jerram agreed that IQS was the better of the three options. It appeared that IQS will not only enhance the ability of the City Clerk’s Office but provide enhancement to the Building and Zoning Departments as well, and provide some savings in microfilming and postage.
Councilor Dalla Valle asked that the motion be amended to include the waiving of the bid process.
Councilor Jerram amended his motion to waive the bid process and to approve the request from the City Clerk and Data Processing Manager to enter into a contract with Info Quick Solutions Co. of Liverpool, NY for a new land record, vital records, sport licensing and dog licensing software modules for the City Clerk’s Office. Councilor Slaiby amended his second. Unanimous.
MOTION TO TABLE: CRRA #795
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor McKenna, the Council voted unanimously to table the Public Works Director’s recommendation to authorize Mayor Bingham to execute an agreement with the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA).
RESOLUTION: HOMELAND SECURITY #800
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor McKenna, the Council voted unanimously to authorize Mayor Bingham to sign a resolution requesting reimbursement of Emergency Management and Homeland Security grant funds that provides funding for Emergency Operations Centers staffing and other emergency management activities.
RESOLUTION: HOMELAND SECURITY
I Joseph L. Quartiero, do hereby certify that the following is a true and correct copy of a Resolution adopted by the Board of Councilmen at its meeting held on October 15, 2007, at which a quorum was present and acting throughout, and that the Resolution has not been modified, rescinded, or revoked and is at present in full force and effect.
RESOLVED, that the Mayor, Ryan J. Bingham, be and hereby is authorized to act on behalf of the Board of Councilmen in executing a Memorandum of Understanding with the State of Connecticut, Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, for the FY 2008 Emergency Management Performance Grant program.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has affixed his signature this 16th day of October, 2007.
Joseph L. Quartiero, CMC
City Clerk
PUBLIC HEARING: JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT #825
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Waldron, the Council voted unanimously to accept Chief Milano’s request to schedule a Public Hearing on November 5, 2007 to utilize a recently awarded $25,000 Justice Assistance Grant for in-depth drug enforcement investigations.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT REPORT #840
On a motion by Councilor McKenna, seconded by Councilor Jerram, the Council voted unanimously to accept the Building Department Report for September 2007.
P & G PEPPER CONST. #845
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Waldron, the Council voted unanimously to accept the City Engineer’s request to award the Eastwood Road Sanitary Sewer Repair contract, to P & G Pepper Construction in the amount of $95,056.00. Funding for the project will be from Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Fund #0490.
BUS. IN SECTION B #855
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Jerram, the Council voted unanimously to consider business in Section B.
SECTION B:
LHS ASSO. #860
On a motion by Councilor Slaiby, seconded by Councilor Jerram, the Council voted unanimously to authorize the purchase of 8 Accu-Vault cabinets at $999.00 each, plus $150.00 each for shipping and handling from LHS Associates of Mass. Funds will come from the Election Budget Line Item 10-0010-5265 and $8,000.00 will be reimbursed by the Secretary of State’s Office.
City Clerk Joseph L. Quartiero indicated that this item was placed on the agenda because he wanted to alert the Council that the purchase will nearly deplete the miscellaneous fund line item in the election budget and Contingency may be needed to cover any expenses for a possible referendum in December.
FITZGERALD & HALLIDAY #960
On a motion by Councilor Slaiby, seconded by Councilor Waldron, the Council voted unanimously to waive the RFP and award the Planning Study for the Community Based Regional Transportation System for the Elderly to Fitzgerald and Halliday, Planning Consultants, in an amount not to exceed $50,000.00.
Mrs. Hodkoski informed the Council that the Western Connecticut Area Agency received a $50,000.00 planning grant from the State of Connecticut DSS. There are four or five awards made throughout the state and the Area Agency was one of them. The Area Agency and the City of Torrington entered into an agreement to carry out the steps of the grant application. Initially, they were going to be forming a Connecticut cluster to join the independent transportation network based out of Portland, Maine and replicate their service, which was using automobiles instead of busses and vans to transport seniors for various reasons, including the fact that it’s more comfortable, it’s more cost effective and there’s more flexibility. After careful consideration, they decided to replicate that
system in some manner but won’t join the system for two major reasons: 1) fund rasing up to approximately $125,000.00 was required, and they preferred putting that kind of money into services as opposed to paying fees for software, and 2) our population density meant that we would have to expand into the Waterbury region, which they weren’t interested in doing. After much consideration, they decided to perform a study on their own. They met with Rick Lynn and the Litchfield Hills Council of Elected Officials who support and endorse the plan. Because Torrington is the lead agency, Mrs. Hodkoski’s request was to waive the RFP and hire Fitzgerald and Halliday.
Carol Deane, Executive Director, NW CT Transit District, stated that the Transit District fully supports this project. People are uncomfortable using a bus after having a procedure done at the hospital, so the use of a car would be much better for some of the disabled persons.
RE-OPEN TO THE PUBLIC #1165
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, second by Councilor Waldron, the Council voted unanimously to reopen the meeting to the public for “Agenda” items only. There was none.
BUS: DEPT HEADS #1180
On a motion by Councilor McKenna, second by Councilor Jerram, the Council voted unanimously to consider business presented by Department Heads.
Mayor Bingham informed the Council that Purchasing Agent Shirley King left her position for personal reasons and Pennie Zucco was asked to be the Acting Purchasing Agent.
Nancy Hodkoski wished everyone well in the forthcoming election and thanked them for their continued support of the Senior Center.
Republican Registrar of Voters Amelia K. Waldron informed the Council that the registrars would like to have a cabinet at each polling place in the future, which would eliminate the cost of transporting the contents of them to each polling place for every election. Dave Bascetta, Head Custodian for the Torrington School System reported that Torringford was the only school to have adequate space to store such a cabinet at this time.
BUS: MAYOR & MEMBERS #1280
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, second by Councilor McKenna, the Council voted unanimously to consider business presented by Mayor Bingham and members of the City Council.
Councilor Dalla Valle said they would schedule an Ordinance Committee meeting to review Mr. Nargi’s request on registering off the road vehicles. They could also look into Mr. Schnyer’s request from several weeks ago concerning an unregistered vehicle on his property which he is restoring, as long as it falls under the purview of the Ordinance Committee and not zoning regulations.
Mayor Bingham noted that the state legislature has attempted to make certain state parks available to quads and dirt bikes and every year it fails for one reason or another. Essentially, the only way one can legally ride a quad is to ride it on their own private property.
Councilor Dalla Valle said it was worth looking into to see if there’s a way to identify these people who are riding illegally.
Mayor Bingham indicated that the first meeting of the Vehicle Replacement Committee will be convening soon since requests from the Fire Department and the Street Department have been made.
ADJOURNMENT #1425
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Slaiby, the Council voted unanimously to adjourn at 7:22 p.m.
ATTEST: JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CMC
CITY CLERK
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