MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL & WPC AUTHORITY
March 21, 2011
A REGULAR MEETING of the City Council & WPC Authority was held in the City Hall Auditorium on Monday, March 21, 2011.
Those in attendance included Mayor Ryan Bingham, Corporation Counsel Ernestine Yuille Weaver, City Councilors Drake Waldron, Elinor Carbone, Paul Samele, Gerald Zordan, Marie Soliani and Gregg Cogswell, Deputy Fire Chief Gary Brunoli, Purchasing Agent Pennie Zucco, City Clerk Joseph Quartiero and WPC Administrator Ray Drew.
Mayor Bingham called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
MINUTES
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Samele, the Council voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the special meeting held February 28, 2011.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Cogswell, the Council voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public.
Chris Wiley said he was shocked when his mortgage went up $100 per month due to taxes, and is surprised that Torrington citizens aren’t attending meetings to say something for themselves. He said he is frustrated that Torrington can’t attract companies to come here and a high tax rate may prevent new companies. He said he was pleased the Mayor replied to his email within half an hour, and thanked both the Fire and Police Chiefs for their response. He said he found the Board of Education budget online to be 130 pages of misleading graphs, charts and insanity, whereas the entire City budget is only 50 pages. He posed a challenge to the Council to bring in a 200-employee company to grow the community. He recommended Carbon Motors of Indiana for the next police vehicles as they are purpose-built and more
efficient. He said the statistics show that a student costs $12,833 to be sent through the system for one year, whereas St. Peter/St. Francis tuition was $4000 per student. He said he was happy to see the Police Dept average cost per call go down from $163 in 2008 to $119 in 2010 and the Fire Dept. average cost per call go down from $2515 to $2392. He asked the Council to keep the City going as a vibrant group that drives the City forward.
Mayor Bingham welcomed Mr. Wiley to address City Council, invited him to budget meetings, and stated that Crown Victoria police cars are on their way out and what future police vehicles will be has not been determined. He told Mr. Wiley to not hesitate to go to Board of Education meetings or email the Superintendent of Schools.
He encouraged him to get involved and offer positive suggestions.
SMALL CITIES PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Zordan, the Council voted unanimously to award the Small Cities Community Development Program Administrator RFP #SCA-011-021811 to L. Wagner & Assocs. Inc. of Waterbury, CT. Councilor Waldron asked if there were any other companies; Mayor Bingham replied there’s one but they can’t compare to L. Wagner.
ANALYZER EQUIPMENT AGREEMENT
On a motion by Councilor Carbone, seconded by Councilor Cogswell, the Council herein acting as the Water Pollution Control Authority voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the WPCA Administrator to approve the Application and Agreement with CTDEP for the purchase of “Analyzer Equipment for the Optimization of the Denitrification Process at the Wastewater Treatment Facility”. Mr. Drew said the DEP notified wastewater treatment plants across the state that there was about a $2,000,000 surplus in the nitrogen trading program. They offered to sell analyzer equipment along with installation and programming, with a 75% reimbursement. He said this is equipment that they had planned to purchase at some point to optimize our process.
ANALYZER EQUIPMENT PURCHASE
On a motion by Councilor Soliani, seconded by Councilor Waldron, City Council herein acting as the Water Pollution Control Authority voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the WPCA Administrator and the Purchasing Agent to sole source the purchase “Analyzer Equipment for the Optimization of the Denitrification Process at the Wastewater Treatment Facility” from Hach in the amount of $34,210.14.
ELECTRICAL SERVICES CONTRACT
On a motion by Councilor Cogswell, seconded by Councilor Waldron, the Council voted unanimously to extend the current bid contract for FY 11/12 for the Electrical Contract for the City of Torrington to Connole’s Electric LLC of Torrington at the current rate of $44.50/hour with the same terms and conditions as are currently in effect.
MUNICIPAL RENOVATIONS
On a motion by Councilor Carbone, seconded by Councilor Zordan, the Council voted unanimously to approve payment of $2,500.00 from Municipal Renovations Fund #316 to Horizon Engineering for Professional Services rendered between January 29, 2011 and February 25, 2011.
SMALL CITIES
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Soliani, the Council voted unanimously to approve the following payments:
Fund # |
Fund Name |
Vendor |
Amount |
Description |
274 |
Micro Fund |
CT Secretary of State |
$50.00 |
Release of UCC-1, Salon Q |
259 |
Riverside School Acquis. Prog. |
Torrington Chapter FISH Inc. |
$5093.50 |
Offset cost increases under 24CFRPat 570.201(c) |
250 |
Small Cities |
City of Torrington |
$1195.38 |
Reimbursement NCDA’11 Policy Meeting |
Councilor Waldron questioned the Riverside School payment. Mayor Bingham explained there are some programs on our books from years ago, and it was decided to help FISH, Inc. out by closing some of these accounts and not put them in the General Fund as there are more needy individuals than that.
BUILDING DEPT. REPORT
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Carbone, the Council voted unanimously to approve the Building Department report for February 2011. Mayor Bingham answered Councilor Zordan’s previous question about the lack of some particular permit fees on the last report as having been a Fire Dept. project.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, AGENDA ITEMS ONLY
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Cogswell, the Council voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public on "agenda items" only.
Mr. Wiley questioned the electrician’s hourly rate. Mayor Bingham explained this would be similar to an on-call service, and this vendor was the low bidder.
BUSINESS BY DEPT HEADS
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Zordan, the Council voted unanimously to consider business presented by Department Heads.
Deputy Chief Brunoli said the Building Project is moving along fine, the block is going up and the steel should be up the first of April.
BUSINESS BY MAYOR AND COUNCIL
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Carbone, the Council voted unanimously to consider business presented by the Mayor and members of the City Council.
ayor Bingham said they had their first meeting with R. Thomas Crovo, he’s been amenable to most suggestions and there’s some contract language he’d like changed. Mayor Bingham expects a final draft in a few weeks. He thanked Councilor Soliani for her suggestions saying they were positive and well-received.
ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Councilor Soliani, seconded by Councilor Cogswell, the Council voted unanimously to adjourn at 6:55 .pm.
ATTEST: JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CMC
CITY CLERK
Respectfully Submitted,
Carol L. Anderson, CCTC
Asst. City Clerk
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