Town of Willington
BOARD OF SELECTMEN • 40 OLD FARMS ROAD • WILLINGTON, CONNECTICUT 06279 • (860) 487-3100 • FAX (860) 487-3103
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
Meeting Minutes
Regular Meeting May 17, 2010
Town Office Building – Lower Level Conference Room 6:30 P.M.
First Selectman Mailhos called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M. with the following in attendance: Selectmen Millix & Blessington, Lynn Nicholls and residents. First Selectman Mailhos led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Approval of Minutes:
Selectman Blessington motioned to approve the special minutes of May 3, 2010 as written.
Selectman Millix seconded the motion.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Millix & Blessington) 0 No.
Present to Speak:
Jim Poole complimented the Board of Selectmen and Public Works for finding a workable solution to put the road sweepings on Town property rather than spending potentially over $13,000 for rental space. He said he is disappointed that they hadn’t come up with that solution in the previous 10 years. He would like to see a comprehensive review of the cost associated with the screening and by-product. He said we could perhaps save as much as 50% of the sand, which would offset the cost of screening. First Selectman Mailhos said according to the general industry average we can only expect to recover around 20-30%. However, because we started so late, we may only recover on the lower end, and much of the sand could get screened out. We are also not sure if screening will work, as there are a
lot of pine needles and debris that could clog the equipment. We will give it a try to see how it goes. Mr. Poole also asked about the plan for the chip sealing dregs. First Selectman Mailhos said we are going to try to put as much material at the Public Works garage as we can prior to having to move to our rental space.
Mr. Poole then asked about the lighting around the flag at the green. It hasn’t been lit for almost 2 years. Lynn said she needs to contact an electrician. Selectman Millix asked to make sure if it isn’t a dead bulb. He said they can have the ladder truck up there first thing tomorrow to check it out.
Correspondence:
A list of correspondence was available at the meeting and in the Selectman’s office.
First Selectman Status Report
First Selectman Mailhos went over the updated report:
*Fire Department / Ambulance Service – First Selectman Mailhos emailed Attorney Harrington a few weeks ago to see if he is still interested in completing this task. She thought he was, but hasn’t heard back from him as of yet. She will contact him again. If he is not interested, she will then contact the new attorney and get him on board.
* Possible Logging Project – Dan Donahue has submitted a proposal, which First Selectman Mailhos will forward to the other Selectmen for review. The Board will discuss at a future meeting.
* Transfer Station Policy Review – The bulky waste policy inserts are being printed for the tax mailing as well as the dated bulky waste punch cards.
*Center School Water Project – The design phase is complete. Planning and Zoning and IWWC has issued permits. At this point the committee is ready to go out to bid for the public water main. The next step is to be determined.
Mike Makuch was present to bring the Board up to date on the Feasibility Study. A 179 page draft report has been produced by Kaestle Boos, and has been reviewed by both Fire Departments as well as the Senior Center. The Senior Center has their final sets of drawings with suggestions to solve the problems there. The Fire Departments are a bit behind. WHFD will be meeting on Tuesday for a final review and submittal of feedback to Kaestle Boos. He reiterated that the plans are for the best options to handle the problems they have presented. Also Kaestle Boos consulted with programmatic needs with what the Fire Departments might need in the future on the physical plans of the buildings.
First Selectman Mailhos thanked Chief Makuch for the update and asked where the Fire Department stands with the Fire Truck bids. Chief Makuch said that WHFD sent out an informal short spec of what type of truck they are looking for to multiple manufacturers, and they have received submissions back from 4 of the manufacturers so far. They are looking at rough pricing and the specs. Once they get the specs from the feasibility study, they plan to go out to bid, but it looks like it will be more into the new fiscal year. They plan to work with Donna and will not go out to bid without keeping the Town in the loop.
Chief Makuch also said that this will be his last Selectmen meeting as Chief of WHFD. Tom Snyder is now running for chief. He is leaving for multiple reasons; time commitments and his work schedule but he plans to finish the Feasibility study. First Selectman Mailhos thanked him for his 4+ years as Chief.
Public Works:
Lynn said they are focusing on sweeping. They dodged a few wind storms. She also thanked Stafford for cleaning up one of their trees on Blair Road during the wind storm last Saturday. Selectman Blessington said at the last meeting he mentioned that Mason Road was in horrible shape. It is now in good shape, and thanked her and the crew.
Old business
A. MIRMA update
First Selectman Mailhos said that she and Selectman Blessington had the pleasure of going to Westbrook last week. There were around 30 members of other Towns who also received MIRMA assessments at the meeting. The general consensus of the room was not many of the people (Towns) are planning to pay by the end of this year. There will be a follow up meeting on May 27th where an attorney who specializes in insurance law will be at that meeting to advise the Towns with options. They will also look to see if someone could be liable for the decisions that were made along the way. There was talk of hiring a Forensic Accountant to give a second opinion on the assessments. Selectman Millix asked what the other Towns who were not at the meeting doing? First Selectman Mailhos said they weren’t sure, but
all Towns will be formally invited to the next meeting to be held on the 27th, the location is to be determined.
B. Center School Water project update
First Selectman Mailhos said that CT Water still doesn’t have news that the chemicals injector has fixed the water as of yet. We may not have results until sometime in June. They said they might need to keep tweaking the system before it becomes stabilized. Selectman Millix suggests that we demand a drop dead date to get the report from them. Mr. Poole suggested having HUD send a letter to CT Water to move them along quicker. Also, Stavens Brothers has not been to Center School as of yet to test the abandoned well, which is slated to be Plan B. They expect to test by the end of this week. Lastly, Mr. Poole ran a 5 year projection on the water project. He compiled data from the Finance office with a list of piping, maintenance, depreciation and all items involved with cost of ownership. First Selectman Mailhos plans to share this with the Board of Education and the Water Committee. The Board of Education has not budgeted for the long term costs of having the water on the
public line. Right now the ASHOW board (through their HUD money) pays for the operation of the system. Once the Board of Education hooks to it, they will need to pay 43% of their share. Mr. Palmer asked if the fire suppression system was added into the analysis. He said the Town pays for operation and maintenance of the fire suppression system. The only customer for that system is Willington Woods. ASHOW should be picking up the cost for the system. First Selectman Mailhos thinks that the Board of Education should be aware of the treatments and what is coming down the road. Mr. Palmer said that there is already a $3,000 savings at Hall School. Testing is a majority of the cost. With not having to test as often will save money in the end, and it will probably be a wash. First Selectman Mailhos will send a letter to see if that we could still use the grant money to go forward with Plan B, rather than the public water system and recoup and
costs associated with the design phase. She will request to get confirmation in writing. Selectman Blessington said that we still don’t have an answer on the well; he also said to keep in mind that the Town Office and WHFD could be mandated in the future to go on a public water system, and end up having to do the project anyway. He would hate to see us not do it now and end up having the Town foot the bill as an unfunded mandate. Mr. Palmer suggested that First Selectman Mailhos contact Ashford what their requirements and costs were. Mr. Poole said according to Anchor, the 4 inch main will only service the school; based on 2,600 – 3,000 gallons max per day. Dave Charette agreed with Mr. Poole. They based the sizing only to get to the school. If adding the other buildings were to be the case, we would end up digging it up again for a bigger line anyway. First Selectman Mailhos will confirm this with Matt Brown from
Anchor.
C: Old Town Pit progress / update
First Selectman Mailhos said that Karl and Lynn have been working with environmentalists and surveyors, performing water tests and are preparing a presentation for the IWWC and P&Z to change the zone to be what is considered a reserve zone. Once we have a good draft, we will review at the next BOS meeting. It will then go before the Inland Wetland Watercourse Commission.
Mark Palmer asked if Karl looked at the staging area behind MIDNEROC? First Selectman Mailhos said that he was not thrilled with that area. It is sloped and it goes right to the water. Jim Poole asked if Karl has documented why it is not a suitable space. Mr. Palmer said that stumps and clean material has been dumped there before. There is old piping as well as clean fill. It may be a possibility for sweepings to be dumped in that area. Lynn said seven years ago, Public Works was asked to start clearing that area to prepare to put a 50 x 100 storage shed. Since then, trees have grown; environmentally it has changed and we would do more harm than good, as well as add expense to clear that area again. Mr. Poole’s argument is that this issue has never been documented, and Karl gets
paid to have these conversations again and again. Having it documented on paper will save time and money.
Selectman Millix said that it is an unfair statement about Karl. If someone from the administration calls him on the same subject 50 times, we should expect to be billed 50 times. First Selectman Mailhos also said a lot of ideas get tossed around and many different ideas can be thrown at Karl. It is hard to document every thought. Lynn said that Karl is good at keeping notes, and usually cross references her on them. Mr. Poole said 7 years ago, a conversation was probably held about that area, and if it were documented, we would be able to read why it wasn’t a good idea back then, rather than revisiting it again.
New Business:
A. Personnel Policy
First Selectman Mailhos said when the Union contract was approved and signed last year, the Personnel Policy was supposed to be reviewed and matched up with it, but was not. Donna had suggested some changes to be made in the policy and bring it up to date. First Selectman Mailhos suggested since the Appendix A needed to be updated, we might as well review the entire policy and update and edit it if need be. Selectman Millix said that the labor contract and Personnel policy seem to be co-mingled. We should have a set of personnel rules and policy that apply to every Town employee, a labor contract as well as an explanation of non-union employees that spells out benefits. What we have here now is confusing.
Mr. Palmer said that the contract is signed, but the policy should not be a signed contract. The contract is to reference when there are problems, or there is a falling out. The Union Contract keeps referring back to the Personnel Policy. Selectman Blessington said that the verbage about insurance says how much the Town should provide and percentage the employee must pay should be changed immediately, as it ended in 2008.
First Selectman Mailhos will set up a special meeting workshop to review the Personnel Policy with the Board and the Town Attorney and invite our Business Manager and Union Representatives.
B. Review progress of BOS goals – 6 month update
First Selectman Mailhos said it has been 6 months since the Board has been in office, and would like to review:
She read the list of goals that were presented at the January 19th meeting:
- Projects: do not start new projects - focus on finishing projects that are already started including:
- River Road Recreation Complex - done.
- Senior Cottages – in progress.
- Water filtration at Senior Center – in progress.
- Windows at the Town Office Building – This has been changed. A Town Meeting will be held tomorrow evening to appropriate the funds to move forward with the recommendations made by the Energy Advisory Committee.
- Center School Water – we are making progress on this task, and have 2 plans for this.
- Review and update personnel and administrative policy – The board has begun review.
- Review contracts from oil to legal to look for cost savings and efficiency – The Business Manager is putting together a list for the contracts that are over $5,000 that will need to put out to bid and get contracts for these services.
- Put together a maintenance plan for the municipal buildings – There is no committee on this as of yet. We need to find some people to join.
- Increase public awareness that Willington supports business development and growth by working together with PZC, EDC, residents and business - A joint meeting is scheduled for June 15th
First Selectman Mailhos motioned to add “Appointment” on the Agenda.
Selectman Blessington motioned to appoint Tyler Millix as an alternate member of the Economic Development Commission. Effective immediately, expiring December 31, 2014.
First Selectman Mailhos seconded the motion.
Vote: 2 Yes (Mailhos & Blessington) 0 No. 1 Abstain (Millix)
Good & Welfare:
First Selectman Mailhos thanked everyone for coming out to vote on May 4th. All 3 items – General Government, K-8 Education and Region 19 Education on the Referendum passed.
She reminded everyone that there is a Town Meeting tomorrow night to appropriate the funds for the Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant (EECBG).
Also, the FOI Commission rendered their final decision on the complaint filed last summer against the previous Board of Selectmen. The ruling was revised from their initial finding. It was changed to find that the Freedom of Information Act was violated; however no penalties have been imposed and for this we are thankful.
Willington Day is coming up on May 29th! We have at least 10 vendors/ booths that have not done Willington Day in the past. Willington FD#1 will have a contest as well as display a truck; Kid’s Kingdom will have 2 booths, a baby changing station, and a race car. Public Works and Love’s Veterinary Center will also be there, as well as the Journal Inquirer, who will give out samples and will be doing a story about Willington day. They see there is a need to expand into Willington. If they get more people to subscribe, they will be more apt to come out and cover more stories.
Tish Ignatowicz has updated our website, and has a link about the Census and Willington Day. She also added a link of commonly used terms and acronyms. Thanks to Tish for a job well done.
First Selectman Mailhos motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8:14P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Robin H. Campbell
Robin H. Campbell
Administrative Assistant
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