BOARD OF SELECTMEN
Meeting Minutes
Regular Meeting February 22, 2011
Town Office Building – Common Room (upper level) 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 a resident. First Selectman Mailhos led the Pledge of Allegiance.
*Meeting was moved to Selectmen’s Conference Room (due to size of attendance and to save on heat).
Approval of Minutes:
Selectman Blessington motioned to approve the minutes of February 7, 2011 as written.
Selectman Millix seconded the motion.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Millix & Blessington) 0 No.
Selectman Millix motioned to approve the minutes of February 18, 2011 as written.
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Millix & Blessington) 0 No.
First Selectman Mailhos motioned to approve the minutes of February 11, 2011 as written.
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Millix & Blessington) 0 No.
Present to Speak:
No one.
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:
*Center School Water Project – Everything is all set to go. The final hook up is planned for next weekend (March 5-6).
*River Road Complex – The pavilion roof will be installed this week. The walking path, volleyball court and basketball hoops will begin once the snow melts. A ribbon cutting is planned for May 15th with an athletic invitational event. Details will follow at a later date.
*Low income home improvement grants – of the 11 applications, 3 have been declined; 2 are almost complete and 2 are in progress. The remainder will be underway soon. We will then assess the amount encumbered.
*EECBG Grant – The project is out to bid and bids are expected back on March 2. The mandatory pre-bid walk through is tomorrow.
*Knowlton Property – The closing documents were signed last week. We are waiting for the easement documents and property title to be returned from DEP.
*Turnpike Road Extension – The Town Engineer has completed his plans and will submit plans to IWWC for their March meeting. The plans will then go to Planning & Zoning.
*Town Office Building Roof RFP – The Town Engineer is working to draft an RFP for work to be done on the roofs at the Town Office Building.
*Performance Contracting – To determine possible energy savings projects at municipal buildings – The EAC has just received a draft RFP and will present at a future BOS meeting.
*Road/Roof conditions – Weekly updates regarding road and roof conditions and snow removal plans have been occurring. The Roofs are in good shape unless we get more snow; we will continue to monitor drainage and the dirt roads with melting. The meetings have changed from weekly to “an as needed basis”. No future meetings are scheduled at this point.
*Storm water Pollution Plan – Per conversations with the CIP Committee, we are putting this off until absolutely necessary.
*Building Inspector Job Opening – We need to find a new Building Inspector before the end of March. The job will be posted. We will also work with neighboring towns to possibly find a regional solution.
*MIRMA Assessment – The new assessment figure is 10% lower, we received a reimbursement check for $564.00. MIRMA also has some new board members who will manage the run-off and will keep us updated on board decisions.
*Equipment Purchases – We have closed on the lease agreement and the equipment purchases.
First Selectman Mailhos moved to add item E on the agenda: Discuss Status of Equipment Purchases
Selectman Millix seconded the motion.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Millix & Blessington) 0 No.
Public Works:
Lynn said the crew worked yesterday, but was happy that it was a smaller storm. The crews are currently working on drainage around Town and working on improving dirt roads. The melting is improving sight lines daily. Frost heaves and potholes are now beginning to surface. Sweeping is slated to begin the week of March 15th, depending on the weather, and as long as there is no snow on the roads. Selectman Millix then asked Lynn what she would do in the event if someone’s stone wall was damaged from pushing back the snow. Lynn said she will have to look at it. She also said that she knows there will be a lot of issues once the snow melts. If it is within the Town boundary (which is 25 feet from the center of the road; the Town owns), the Town is not responsible to fix it. She also
cautioned the legitimate repairs may take time, as sweeping will be a priority to stay on schedule.
First Selectman Mailhos suggested if residents have problems they should send the request in to the Selectmen’s office in writing and send in pictures if possible. We will deal with them when we can.
New Business:
First Selectman Mailhos moved to adopt the following proclamation:
Girl Scout Week Proclamation
WHEREAS, March 12, marks the 99th anniversary of Girl Scouts of the USA, founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia; and,
WHEREAS, throughout its distinguished history, Girl Scouting has inspired millions of girls and women with the highest ideals of courage, confidence, and character; and,
WHEREAS, through the Girl Scout leadership experience girls develop the skills and lessons that will serve them a lifetime so that they may contribute to their communities; and,
WHEREAS, Girl Scouting takes an active role in increasing girls’ awareness of the opportunities available to them today in math, science, sports, technology and other fields that can expand their horizons; and,
WHEREAS, more than 3 million current Girl Scout members nationwide will be celebrating 99 years of this American tradition, with nearly 50 million women who are former Girl Scouts and living proof of the impact of this amazing Movement;
NOW, THEREFORE, I Christina B. Mailhos by virtue of the authority vested in me as First Selectman of the Town of Willington, do hereby applaud the commitment Girl Scouting has made to support the leadership development of America’s girls and proudly proclaim the week of March 6, 2011, as Girl Scout Week.
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
First Selectman Mailhos moved to appoint Jackie Silverstein as a regular member of the Willington Economic Development Committee, effective immediately, expiring January 1, 2015.
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Millix & Blessington) 0 No.
First Selectman Mailhos moved to appoint Abby Kelly as an alternate member of the Willington Inland Wetlands Commission. Effective immediately, expiring May 16, 2013.
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
Selectman Blessington stated that this appointment may cause a bit of controversy. Abby has become more involved in Town and has requested to be appointed to the vacant position on the IWWC. The position has been vacant since May or June. In the past, she would have been invited to the Board of Selectmen meeting to discuss the position as well as meet with the Chairman of the IWWC. However, the Zoning Agent cautioned the person holding the position would need to take some classes to understand the laws and regulations as it is not a political position. Selectman Blessington said there are no other people volunteering for this position, and nobody came to oppose it. His other concern was he was told that the commission members are the ones who apply the regulations, the way he reads it is they tell what the regulations
are and you will agree with them or you are not able to serve on that board. Selectman Millix said the request for volunteers to serve on the Boards/Commissions has been on the status report since we have begun our term; if someone is willing to donate their time to be on the Commission it would be pretty stupid to deny them. The appointment clearly lies with us [Board of Selectmen]; there is no minority representation, and is great she is willing to do it. First Selectman Mailhos said she will talk to the Zoning Agent to make sure she is aware of the appointment. Selectman Blessington said he would like to go back to the tradition of when a member is appointed to invite them to the BOS meeting first with the Chairman of that Commission to discuss the position prior to the appointment.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Millix & Blessington) 0 No.
- Town Services Survey Report
Selectman Blessington said it was done well; there is a lot of data to read and input. First Selectman Mailhos would like to have the other Selectmen review the data before we produce the final document and disburse it. Selectman Millix suggested having the Town Attorney weigh in on whether some content should be redacted. Selectman Blessington would like to review and discuss at the next regular meeting after having time to review and digest. The Board will discuss further at the next meeting. First Selectman Mailhos wanted to bring the Board’s attention that Road maintenance was listed as the highest request to increase and that was a line item that the Board has cut in the budget. She also said one of the comments was to stop wasting money on doing surveys. She wanted to
have it on record that the survey cost approximately $40.00 (Survey Monkey - $20 per month) as opposed to hiring a survey company to compile information that would cost thousands of dollars. She would not consider something like that.
- Governor’s Budget Discussion
First Selectman Mailhos attended the Governor’s Budget Proposal last week. Although it has not been approved, the proposed budget maintains municipal aid funding as well as ECS, LOCIP and TAR grants. STEAP grants however will no longer available. Selectman Millix said this will heavily rely on givebacks from the State Employees, and that will be the biggest factor. Now that we have a better understanding on the State and things are not as bad as we thought; Region 19 on the other hand is proposing a 3.2% increase ($400,000). The Board was adamant that they wanted to see what 0% would look like, and that would be a cut of $575,000. They indicated they would actively work to bring the budget down. We had originally planned on a 0% budget ($284,000), so now we can expect to pay somewhere
between $284,000 and $400,000 and is thinking it will end up somewhere around $325,000. Selectman Blessington said now that they are aware the Towns are fully funded, they won’t be under any compulsion to cut anything and we should expect to pay the higher end, because that is what they do. We are also anticipating Columbia’s decision to enroll students. They had 25 students tour the school and will make a decision by March 1. That could potentially leverage our assessment. Lastly, First Selectman Mailhos has gotten an email from a Board of Finance member. They have reviewed the BOS preliminary budget, and have not seen any -7% ideas from any of the other boards that have presented so far. They would like to see some ideas of how to get to -7% if we have to. She said we have talked about a lot of things, but haven’t actually said what we would do if we had to. She would rather get a realistic number from them and then
figure it out from there. A decrease of 7% would total $183,048, or an additional $121,227 from what has already been decreased. Selectman Millix said the only way to decrease 7% is labor equaling 2 or 3 positions; no other way around it. He is not comfortable with reducing any other service. Selectman Blessington would like to see the outcome from the Union meeting and is hoping to get some concessions, rather than cutting jobs. We need to keep in mind when the budget referendum comes around, we might be looking at an increase in taxes and that will be a test. We may have to do something drastic at that point.
- Discuss Status of Equipment Purchases
Donna explained why the interest rate is higher than anticipated and took the Board through the various steps taken in the past month. The new rate is 3.035%.
Good & Welfare:
First Selectman Mailhos thanked the Girl Scouts for raising over $600 at their Spaghetti supper a few weeks ago. They also donated 5 boxes of food to the Willington Food Bank.
She also thanked Bill Bilyak for coordinating the Judicial Work Group to come to Town. They shoveled out the dry hydrants around Town as well as the deck at the Senior Center. Also thank you to Tom Smith, who supervised and guided the workers around Town to find the hydrants. Because of his extensive marathon training, he knew exactly where all of the hydrants were.
First Selectman Mailhos thanked Tara Martin and the Town Employees. Tara coordinated a beef stew dinner to be served to the two Fire Departments. The Town employees donated the various ingredients to make the stew. Mary Bowen also came in today to cook. The stew was later brought to the two Fire Departments.
Robin Campbell thanked Ralph Tulis for putting the specs together for the EECBG grant, which has officially gone out to bid.
Lastly, First Selectman Mailhos congratulated the Hall School Girls basketball team for winning the Regional Championship game. They went into overtime to win 51-50. It was a very exciting game and she was glad to see such a display of school spirit and community support.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:03 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Robin Campbell
Robin H. Campbell
Administrative Assistant
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