City of Torrington MEETING MINUTES
2011 Charter Revision Commission January 4, 2012
Present were Chairwoman Elinor Carbone, Vice-Chairman Vic Muschell, and Commissioners Gerry Zordan, Marie Soliani, Bill Battle, Debra Brown and Jim Thibault. Also present was Corporate Counsel Ernestine Weaver. Commissioners Jim McKenna and Secretary James Steck were absent.
The City of Torrington 2011 Charter Revision Commission (the “Commission”) opened its sixth meeting at 5:00 PM in Room 215 at City Hall, Torrington.
The Agenda for this meeting read as follow:
- Approve minutes of the December 5, 2011 meeting;
- Public Comment and Participation – (3 minutes per speaker);
- Discussion/Review list of Proposed Recommendations;
- Old Business
- New Business
- Adjournment
(Agenda Item #1) Approve Minutes
The minutes were not available at the time of the meeting. A motion to table the approval was made by Gerry Zordan and seconded by Debra Brown.
(Agenda Item #2) Public Comment and Participation
There were no public participants present
(Agenda Item #3) Discussion/Review of Proposed Recommendations
Elinor started the discussion by telling the Commission she had contacted the Stratford Tax Collector for additional insight. She explained the Tax Collector was helpful and that their collection rate of 96.6% included all fees, back taxes and penalties. At that collection rate the potential revenue loss to Torrington would be approximately $3.5 million.
Marie asked if any municipalities had changed from private to public tax collection. Vic responded that he thought Windsor had made that transition. Marie questioned if all revenue potential was being considered.
Gerry asked if, based on these public vs. private economics, the Commission should consider privatization of other public departments as part of the Charter revisions. Vic commented that even putting significant labor issues aside, the Commission had to focus on items specifically represented in the Charter. He is not aware of other public vs. private departments illustrated in the Charter.
Bill Battle expressed concerns over unintended consequences in the pursuit of privatization initiatives.
Jim Thibault asked if the Charter could be worded to allow for the ability of Torrington to collect taxes as a public department operation, while having the existing private arrangement still in place. Vic suggested that arrangement was not likely, possibly due to potential financing problems with the private collector. A determination was made that the issue, as understood by the Commission, is either public or private tax collection. Jim then asked if it was possible to see a copy of the current tax collection contract. Ernestine said she would send everyone a copy.
It was decided that more tax collection data was needed. Elinor and Debra volunteered to gather information from Windsor and Bristol.
Elinor commented that the cost for the last election as of October 2011 was $26, 250. There was confusion about the date and scope of the cost and Elinor offered to get clarification.
Priority #1 (Office Terms) and Priority #4 (Board of Safety) were agreed to be pushed out to February meetings to allow focus on Priority #3 (Tax Collection). Data is still being gathered for Priority #2 (Extraordinary Expenses). Priorities #5 (City Council language clarification) and #6 (Elimination of Selectman from Ballot) are on-hold pending completion of Priorities #1 through #4.
(Agenda Item #4) Old Business
No discussion.
(Agenda Item #5) New Business
No Discussion
(Agenda Item #6) Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 5:50 PM
Respectfully submitted,
James A. Thibault
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