Torrington Blue Ribbon Commission
Minutes of Meeting
Tuesday September 13, 2011
Torrington City Hall, 5 PM Office of the Mayor
Members Present: Elinor Carbone, Lorel Purcell, Mike Clark, and Ken Traub; also present: advisor Mayoral Aide Stephen Nocera.
1) The meeting was opened at 5:00 PM on a motion by Ms. Purcell, seconded by Ms. Carbone
2) Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of 08.16.11 was made on a motion by Ms. Carbone, seconded by Ms. Purcell, and unanimously approved by the commission, with an abstention by Mr. Traub due to his absence from that meeting.
3) Ms. Purcell reviewed/ updated the BRC task list and schedule:
Regarding the MSW Program under Review by the BRC, Mr. Clark provided the following information:
• Mr. Clark stated that a telephone conference was held with City Officials, BRC task Group and Bob Fiore of Worcester. Mr. Fiore has supervised the Worcester PAYT program since its inception in 1993. Worcester was selected as a model to review given the similarities to Torrington’s demographic profile e.g. large rental population; although their overall population is greater than Torrington’s. Mr. Fiore offered advice on organizing a program; phased implementation and ongoing operation of the program. In summary: he is completely satisfied with Worcester’s financial savings through PAYT and the ease of operation and control as the program has progressed. The task group is analyzing Worcester’s program with respect to the differences in their version of PAYT versus the
format under consideration for Torrington.
• The BRC task group will travel to Hartford later this month to attend a meeting between the State Solid Waste Advisory Committee to discuss a PAYT program with DEEP that would specifically address Torrington’s consideration of a PAYT program.
• Mr. Clark stated that he and Ms. Carbone had been notified by State DEP representative Robin Bennett that there are new grant announcements forthcoming regarding making funds available for environmental issues education. He asked Mr. Nocera for assistance in submitting a request for grant monies for Torrington. Mr. Nocera agreed to do so and was provided contact information.
Regarding Bid/Purchasing Consolidation, Ms. Purcell stated
• Although Bid/Purchasing lists from the BOE have been completed and costed, the City Purchasing agent had yet to furnish the same data due to fiscal year end work. Ms. Purcell stated that she was exploring a different approach to obtaining the requested information and would have an update at the 9/27/11 BRC meeting.
Regarding Shared Facilities manager and resources:
• Mr. Traub stated that he was at a standstill with this task due to the lack of response for information and meeting availability from key managers. Ms. Carbone stated that being at a “standstill” due to lack of management support for requests which could potentially save large sums of money was irresponsible and that she was not willing to accept that outcome. Mr. Nocera stated that he would schedule a session with the Mayor and the managers involved, and Mr. Traub. Ms. Carbone asked why, if there could not be pooling resources between the City and BOE, could there not be sharing of resources among the schools, rather than taxpayers supporting a redundancy of manpower and equipment to perform same and similar functions among BOE properties. Mr. Traub stated that contractural
agreements in place would have to be reworked to provide the way forward towards that end. Mr. Nocera stated that in his experience with union leaders he had found City unions willing to work with him and suggested that City and BOE union leaders be included in future meetings on this topic. Mr. Nocera stated that a meeting would be set up for early October in accordance with the Mayor’s schedule.
Regarding Landlord Licensing/Fees:
• Ms Carbone stated that she was continuing with research on LL Fees/Licensing, and was currently working with the City Building Official in researching plans under review for a new blight ordinance for the City. Mr. Nocera stated that he would arrange for the Building Official to attend a BRC meeting to explain the changes under consideration.
Regarding combined purchasing among the volunteer and paid fire departments:
• Mr. Traub stated that the exploratory field trip to Wallingford is on schedule for September 22nd, and that he will report the results to the BRC in October.
Regarding the citywide energy audit:
• Ms Purcell stated that she and Mr. O’Connell were attempting to contact the auditor employed by the BOE. Mr. Traub stated that the BOE energy audit conducted had been accomplished through energy resource invoices showing wattage used, and some of the recommendations were not allowable under state BOE regulations.
4. Other Business:
Mr. Clark reminded commission members of the purpose of task groups and the conditions under which a task group information gathering session would be required to be open to the public. He further explained that task groups report to the full BRC or a quorum thereof, and that those sessions are to be accomplished during regular, public, BRC meetings. He read the following statement from his notes during the open meeting:
• The purpose of a BRC task group is to assemble information for presentation to the full BRC commission in open session at a publicized date, time and place open to the public. These presentations will be made at regularly scheduled BRC meetings.
• BRC task group meetings of any kind e.g. including conference calls, are not open to the public, nor is there a requirement for them to be, and there is no requirement for task group minutes to be recorded.
• A task group can not be comprised of more than two BRC commission members; however, they may meet with as many non-commission members as they deem appropriate to achieve their task.
• A task group is not a subcommittee and has no authority to vote on a particular action or program.
• A task group is/will be formed to allow task group volunteers flexibility in scheduling etc. in order to gather information for presentation to the BRC commission.
5. The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 PM on a motion by Ms. Carbone, seconded by Mr. Traub, and approved by the commission.
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