MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL AND WPC AUTHORITY
APRIL 20, 2011
A SPECIAL MEETING of the City Council & WPC Authority was held in the Auditorium on Wednesday, April 20, 2011.
Present were Mayor Ryan Bingham, City Councilors Gregg Cogswell, Elinor Carbone, Marie Soliani, Drake Waldron, Gerald Zordan and Paul Samele, and Parks & Recreation Commission Chairperson Patricia Fairchild.
Mayor Bingham called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Mayor Bingham said this budget of $68,826 represents a decrease of 13%. On a motion by Councilor Carbone, seconded
by Councilor Cogswell, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the Economic Development budget.
RECREATION
Mayor Bingham noted some recommended changes including a reduction in hours from 37.5 to 35 hours per week, an effort to keep the PAL program custodian, and the removal of all stipends. Councilor Carbone said she finds it hard to believe there isn’t some level of need for the stipends. Mrs. Fairchild said none of the groups have complained, and a lot of them have quite a bit of money in the bank. On a motion by Councilor Zordan, seconded by Councilor Carbone, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the Recreation budget of $381,947.
COE PARK FUND
Mayor Bingham said the bank’s information shows there should be some heightened interest in the allocation from principle
and income that needs to be adjusted. Based on projected revenue, it’s likely that the fund itself will fall short of about $13,600, he said. Mayor Bingham suggested they meet with Probate Court to request a change in the allocation rate to make up for it. He added that this year will likely be the last year that the reserve fund exists. Councilor Carbone recommended they wait six months before revisiting the principle and interest adjustments. Mayor Bingham assured Councilor Cogswell that there will be an opportunity to make up the $13,600 without taking it from the city budget, but a plan does have to be put in place. On a motion by Councilor Carbone, seconded by Councilor Soliani, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the Coe Park Fund budget of $164,712.
BOARD OF ASSESSMENT APPEALS
Mayor Bingham said this budget of $5,350 is a 2% decrease, and he’s heard they are doing a very good job. On a motion by Councilor Carbone, seconded by Councilor Samele, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the Board of Assessment Appeals budget.
BOARDS AND AGENCIES
Mayor Bingham said he will review this in the next three weeks to reduce some of the line items.
COUNCIL
On a motion by Councilor Cogswell, seconded by Councilor Carbone, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the Council budget of $0.
Mayor Bingham thanked the Council for their service for free, saying they are true public servants, working very hard and caring about what they do.
INSURANCE
Mayor Bingham said the workman’s compensation and general insurance premium renewals haven’t been finalized yet, and there is a potential for the budget to decrease. On a motion by Councilor Carbone, seconded by Councilor Samele, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the Insurance budget.
PENSION & BENEFITS
Mayor Bingham said this is the most accurate piece of the budget, but changes could occur from Anthem’s administrative costs and if employees are switched to Health Savings Accounts.
On a motion by Councilor Carbone, seconded by Councilor Cogswell, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the Pension & Benefits budget.
TAX COLLECTOR
Mayor Bingham said the contract has been reduced by $100,000, and the budget reduced by 21%. Ms. Proulx explained to Councilor Soliani that the additions and deletions are for certificates of correction for taxes that would have not have been modified prior to the Grand List or the bills going out. If the tax collector has already paid us, we have to give him back that money. On a motion by Councilor Zordan, seconded by Councilor Carbone, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the Tax Collector budget of $369,250.
CONTINGENCY
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Cogswell, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the Contingency budget of $200,000.
MAYOR
Mayor Bingham said 20% was reduced out of the general expense line, with a revenue offset as employees now pay for coffee. On a motion by Councilor Carbone, seconded by Councilor Zordan, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the Mayor’s budget.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Mayor Bingham recommended the following reductions: computer by $8,700, contract services by $5,000, education and schools by $1,500, office supplies by $1,000, software by $1,888, and communications-other by $1,308. He said he’s still working on a combined I.T. Department with the Board of Education, so the budget figure may change. On a motion by Councilor Carbone, seconded by Councilor Samele, the Council voted unanimously to tentatively approve the budget of $458,649, a reduction of 2.21%.
ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Councilor Cogswell, seconded by Councilor Waldron and unanimously approved, the meeting was adjourned at 6:35 p.m.
ATTEST: JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CMC
CITY CLERK
Respectfully Submitted, Carol L. Anderson, CCTC
Asst. City Clerk
MINUTES
CITY COUNCIL AND WPC AUTHORITY
APRIL 20, 2011
A PUBLIC HEARING was held in the Auditorium on Wednesday, April 20, 2011, by the City Council & WPC Authority to solicit citizen input and discuss potential 2011 Small Cities projects that the City intends to apply for. The proposed projects are: 1) City-Wide Housing Rehabilitation and 2) Multi-Jurisdictional Senior Center Renovations. The City’s Program Income Reuse Plan and current CDBG projects will also be discussed.
Present were Mayor Ryan Bingham, City Councilors Gregg Cogswell, Elinor Carbone, Marie Soliani, Drake Waldron Gerald Zordan and Paul Samele and Larry Wagner of L. Wagner & Assocs. LLC.
Mayor Bingham called the Public Hearing to order at 7:00 p.m.
City Clerk Joseph Quartiero read the Legal Notice for the City-Wide Housing Rehabilitation, and the Legal Notice for the Multi-Jurisdictional Senior Center Renovations.
Mr. Wagner reviewed the City’s long history with the Community Development Block Grant program going back to 1978 where the first project was the construction of the Senior Center. Recently the State provided almost a million dollars for ADA renovations to City Hall, and prior to that, renovations to Willow Gardens’ roofs and major sitework. Both of these grants are now closed out and complete. Last year the City received a 300,000 grant under the Housing Rehabilitation category to recapitalized its housing rehabilitation program. This program has been going on since the early 1980’s but the City has not applied for new money since 1997 because enough money was built up from loan repayments. That program operates under a programmer use plan. The Senior Center grant will not generate income to
the City as it’s not a loan but the Housing Rehabilitation funds go out to an eligible owner, if that house is mortgaged or sold, the funds come back to us to be reused again.
Mr. Wagner said the application the City itself is submitting is a continuation of a housing rehabilitation program. The Senior Center submission is multi jurisdictional and the City will have to act as the lead agency for a consortium of towns in the region who will all pass resolutions supporting this and become part of a consortium.
He said that under the senior center category, which is a community facility, communities are eligible to apply for up to 750,000. The Senior Center is looking at a variety of activities including a dining room addition, ADA improvements to the bathrooms, improvements to the entrance, energy improvements to make the facility more useable, practical, larger, and more ADA accessible for its constituency. The Senior Center has 5000 people who use it, he said, and they run many regional programs out of that facility.
Mayor Bingham submitted two letters into the record that are in favor of the project, one from Nancy Hodkoski, Director of Elderly Services, and one from Maureen Matava, a member of the Services for the Elderly Commission.
There was no one from the public who wished to speak.
Mr. Wagner reviewed the second project where the City of Torrington is reapplying to recapitalize in the amount of $300,000 a continuous revolving loan fund for housing rehabilitation. When we did the application in 2010, almost 40 applications were received. Only 40 or 50% of those will be able to be accepted and we still have people on waiting list. It is unlikely we would get to them because repayments have slowed over the years because of the economy and lack of sales. He said there is a tremendous amount of money out there that’s going to come back if the market ever picks up. This is a way to meet the need and still recapitalize the fund.
There was no one from the public who wished to speak.
Mayor Bingham closed the public hearing at 7:11 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Councilor Waldron, seconded by Councilor Soliani, the Council voted unanimously to adjourn at 7:11 p.m.
ATTEST: JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CMC
CITY CLERK
Respectfully Submitted, Carol L. Anderson, CCTC
Asst. City Clerk
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