BOARD OF SELECTMEN
Meeting Minutes
Regular Meeting March 18, 2013
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 Littell & Blessington, Lynn Nicholls and residents. First Selectman Mailhos led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Approval of Minutes:
Selectman Littell moved to approve the minutes of March 4, with the following correction: page 2 (under Status Report: fire department consolidation- last sentence should read: which is an open meeting at the end of the month (remove that).
First Selectman Mailhos added clarification regarding the Town Wide Clean Up Day – there is no prize for the most trash collected (as there is no budget for it); Also, the event is co sponsored by WYFSS as well as Parks and Recreation. WYFSS has received a grant to sponsor the event.
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
Vote: 3 (Mailhos, Littell & 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:
*Senior Housing Phase III – Senior Housing Cottages – the Housing Authority continues to seek funding and they are considering doing the preliminary infrastructure using the funds that are remaining. They are also in the process of finalizing the lease and tax agreements. First Selectman Mailhos plans to attend their next meeting.
*TOB Roof RFP – the bids are in and Karl has made a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen. We will seek approval from the BOF and call a Town Meeting to appropriate funds.
*Performance Contracting – The working group met last week. They are holding another meeting and the plan will be finalized. A public hearing will then be held to determine of the Board of Selectmen should move forward. First Selectman Mailhos said that discussions were held at the last meeting to upgrade one of the boilers at Hall School. The parts from that boiler can then be used for salvage parts to keep the boiler going at Center School. The upgrade investment for all the items discussed is approximately $1 million, and the new boiler is approximately $400,000 (included in the total). The proposed project will be discussed at a public hearing.
*Recording Secretary Job Description / Pay Rate – The draft has been developed; the BOS will consider further at a future meeting. First Selectman Mailhos will attend the various meetings to see what the boards are in favor of.
Public Works:
Lynn reported that the crews are preparing for another storm which is coming in tonight. They are hoping to start sweeping in the next few weeks. In the meantime, they are brush cutting, picking up curbing and filling potholes.
Old Business
- CCM Discount Prescription Drug Program
Gina Calabro, Director of Member Services and Marketing for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which Willington is a member. The program is a discount prescription card that can be used at any major pharmacy. The program has been set up for residents who are un-insured or under insured. It can also be used on prescriptions that are not covered by insurance for those who do have insurance. Any drug is covered by the discount; 10% -40% on a brand name drugs or 20 %– 70% on generic drugs.
Once an agreement is signed by the Town, the company will put together a packet that will be sent out to each household in Town. One card is good for each family. The cards are tracked by an anonymous group number. CCM then sends quarterly reports to each Town to see how much they have saved. For example, Coventry has recently signed up for the program and their residents have saved approximately $32,000 in savings.
Ms. Calabro added that there is no administration fee to the Town. The card can be used for pet prescriptions (for human based drugs), offers vision discounts (exam, lenses and frames) and hearing aids as well. Selectman Blessington asked who absorbs the savings. Ms. Calabro said the stores have accepted the fee that has been set by the program and said it is the same idea of using a percentage or dollar off coupon at a retail store. Once the agreement has been signed, it takes six to seven weeks to implement. The Board of Selectmen approves everything before it goes out to the public.
Selectman Littell moved to authorize First Selectman Mailhos to sign the agreement with CCM.
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
Selectman Blessington stated not having any reason not to; he will give it a shot, with having skepticism.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Littell & Blessington) 0 No.
- Registrar of Voters – Emergency Management Plan for Election; Primary or Referendum
Christine Psathas, Democratic Registrar of Voters has presented the plan. The request to have the plan put in place has come from the Secretary of the State. The plan consists of certain areas that must be covered per the State, and they have done so. Ms. Psathas stated that this plan will also be incorporated in the training session for poll workers as well. The plan covers events of ballot shortages, loss of power, fire, as well as many other events that might cause an emergency situation.
First Selectman Mailhos moved to approve the Emergency Contingency Plan for Election, Primary or Referendum as submitted by the Registrar of Voters.
Selectman Littell seconded the motion
Selectman Blessington said he has a concern of security in the case of a fire alarm but not strong enough to vote no.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Littell & Blessington) 0 No.
*A copy of the plan is located in the Town Clerk’s Office, will be sent to the Secretary of State and is attached to the minutes.
First Selectman Mailhos stated that has been attending the Board of Finance meetings, and they have received all of the budget presentations and began discussions at last week’s meeting. She added it seems as though the BOF is targeting a .5 mil increase, and are currently at a .67 mil increase with all of the requests so far. They will likely be cutting to get to that.
One of the discussions was the chip seal budget; BOF Chairman Schoppmann suggested we should rather do more miles of roads (on the better conditioned roads) than spend more on the deteriorating ones; and put those on the CIP plan as repair projects. The vacant Planning and Zoning position was also discussed, the consensus was that they would not be supporting that request. They asked about catch basin cleaning and tree removal budgets as well. The library bond was discussed.
Lynn stated it is tough to get the things done that are needed to because BOF takes it out and tells us to put it in CIP. CIP then cuts it and tells us to take it out of our operating budget. She added it is especially hard because of the storms we have been experiencing lately. Lastly, as far as the trees go, many of the trees have been stressed by the storms.
First Selectman Mailhos said they talked about transferring money from the fund balance, but there is fear in doing so because we wouldn’t be able to make such a transfer again the following year, creating structural problems, and a bigger deficit. The numbers from Region 19 are also unknown.
CIP was also discussed at the BOF meeting. The plan calls for transferring $100,000 into the reserve to start building it back up. Someone suggested that we don’t have to do that this year if we feel we can’t. She added she hopes they do not cut it, as the consensus was to build it back up, otherwise we won’t progress.
Christine Psathas asked where it seems the cuts will come from. She then asked why they wouldn’t just consider leaving it at a .6 increase. Selectman Littell suggested leaving it up to the voters. Selectman Blessington said he would rather have them nitpick rather than say spend it all. Lynn clarified that we turn money back every year, and every dollar is accounted for. First Selectman Mailhos stated our CIP request list keeps getting bigger and we keep putting stuff off. Ms. Psathas stated because we are not funding things as well as we need to – this town has always been concerned about raising taxes and not making people spend more than they need to. First Selectman Mailhos said we have grown in the past ten years; we now have a library, senior center as well as
subdivisions that need to be maintained; and we haven’t added staff, or equipment. Selectman Blessington clarified that we also haven’t grown our population. First Selectman Mailhos encourages everyone to attend Thursday’s BOF meeting.
C Fire Department Consolidation
First Selectman Mailhos said she has not received any official correspondence or the surveys from Willington Hill F.D. She will send an email to both departments to reach out to them. She added that BOF Chairman Schoppmann had also made a request to each of the departments at a recent budget meeting. The request asks for feedback to see what they would need (manpower and equipment) if they were the only department to cover the town.
New Business
- Discuss and award Town Office building Roof Repair Project
First Selectman Mailhos stated that the money has not been appropriated for this project, so we cannot award it yet. Our Town Engineer, Karl and Lynn have reviewed all the bids that came in and Karl is recommending that we go with the lowest bidder. Karl also warned that we should add a little extra funding to cover the repairs to the damaged areas, suggesting requesting a total of $70,000. First Selectman Mailhos stated that she had already mentioned to the BOF that the lowest bid had come in higher than we had originally budgeted for and they seemed amenable to that. She will go before BOF on Thursday evening to make the request. If approved, we will then go to Town Meeting.
Selectman Blessington stated that we have an estimate of what needs to be done, but now again, we are going to ask for more and that money will be spent. He added it is almost the same numbers as the school project last year. First Selectman Mailhos said it wasn’t quite like that. First Selectman Mailhos clarified that the project Selectman Blessington is referring to was a Board of Education project and added that we have come in under budget with most of our projects and we have returned the money; we don’ t have a track record of overspending. Stuart Cobb asked what will happen if they open up the roof to find many problems and we don’t have enough money to fix it? It is better to have the money appropriated than to have the roof sit open for a few weeks to appropriate more
money. Robert Shabot asked what the contingency is? First Selectman Mailhos said there isn’t one.
Selectman Littell said that the issue with the BOE project was the lack of communication and the information that was available at the town meeting; where no one from BOE was present to explain the project. He added that we have learned from that and we would be educating the public with the details of the project. He then suggested to ask the BOF what they would do. First Selectman Mailhos said it seemed as if they were in favor of the project. She added that we will be at the meeting to explain the process.
Selectman Blessington stated he will be at the Town meeting to express his misgivings on this.
- Discussion – Proposed Cell Tower on Route 74
First Selectman Mailhos stated that we haven’t been told that the site on Route 74 has been approved. Robert Shabot, President of the Historical Society stated that the Historical Society has received a letter from the corporation that will be installing the pole, requesting for comments or requests from the Historical Society. He added that the approval has been listed on the Siting Council’s website as well. President Shabot stated that the Historical Society would like to have the Board of Selectmen draft a letter to request a camouflage type of pole to be erected to support the request of the Historical Society. Discussion was held on types of towers that are camouflaged as evergreen trees and how that would fit in the area of the proposed site. President Shabot stated that he has
also spoken with the contact person at All Points Technology (the corporation who will be installing the tower) and he suggested to have the Historical Society draft a letter to state that it would be in the best interest of the Historic District to eliminate the visual impact as much as possible. President Shabot then read a draft of a letter that will be sent on behalf of the Historical Society.
First Selectman Mailhos stated that she will send a letter on behalf of the Board of Selectmen, which will request for the pole to have a minimal impact on the Historic District and will also reiterate her initial request, a restriction of 160 feet as requested by the Conservation Commission.
- Willington Day Writing Contest
First Selectman Mailhos stated the Willington Day Committee met last week. One of the ideas was brought up to hold a writing contest where people can submit entries of what Willington means to me (in 50 words or less). There will be 5 age group categories: 10 and under; 11 -14; 15 – 20; 21-64 and 65 and older. Winners of each category will win a Willington T-shirt. There are two ways to submit entries: by mail or electronic (by email). It was decided at the meeting that the entries will be judged and someone suggested having former Board of Selectmen members sit on a panel to score the entries. First Selectman Mailhos said it might be fun. Selectman Blessington suggested asking retired teachers judge as well. First Selectman Mailhos added that we could invite some of the
current teachers. She clarified that the entries will be anonymous when being judged.
First Selectman Mailhos will draft the invitations to former BOS members. A special meeting will be held on Monday, April 29th for the judging. The recommendations for winners will be presented to the BOS for the May 6th BOS meeting.
Good & Welfare
First Selectman Mailhos stated that both Solid Waste Advisory Commission and the Economic Development Commission have vacancies. If you are interested in serving on either of these boards, please contact the Selectmen’s office.
First Selectman Mailhos attended a meeting with CL&P Officials today. CL&P has been working along route 74 and 320 on a major upgrade, which will be switching the lines from a 4800 volt primary to a 23,000 volt primary wire. They have been working on this for the past few weeks, switching out poles etc. The new power will be switched over on April 23rd, with a rain date of April 24th. CL&P will have approximately 30 trucks line up along Route 74, which means the traffic will be limited to one lane on that date. Power will also be shut off for a period of 6 hours (or more). We will send out a public notice to inform residents of the outage.
First Selectman Mailhos reminded the other Selectmen that they will need to finalize the language that will be presented on the referendum. She added that the BOF has requested that the language include what the tax increase would equate to for the residents. (an example – anticipated would be approximately $110,000 equating to so many dollars of $100,000 assessed value).
Selectman Blessington moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:20 p.m.
Selectman Littell seconded the motion.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Littell & Blessington) 0 No.
Respectfully submitted,
Robin Campbell
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