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Board of Selectmen Minutes 07/20/2015
BOARD OF SELECTMEN

Meeting Minutes                                                                            July 20, 2015
Common Conference Room                                                          6:30 P.M.

*Minutes are not official until approved at the next regular meeting

First Selectman Mailhos called the meeting to order at 6:31 P.M. with the following in attendance:  Selectmen Kowalyshyn & Blessington, Senator Tony Guglielmo and residents.  First Selectman Mailhos led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Approval of Minutes:

Selectman  Kowalyshyn moved to approve the minutes of  July 6, 2015 as written with the following edits:   last page (Good & Welfare 2nd paragraph) change speed “plaques” to speed “limit signs.”
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
Vote:  3 Yes (Mailhos, Kowalyshyn & Blessington) 0 No.

Present to Speak:  Steph Summers stated that she is in total support of having a referendum to appropriate the $100,000 as recommended by the BOF, and she knows there is a lot of work to do.

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 report:

*Senior Housing – Hasn’t heard anything on their funding issues.

*Turnpike Road-Phase 3 / 4 – The milling/repaving for the first two sections will start on August 10th.

*Daleville School Bridge-Going out to bid soon as the funds were appropriated at the last Town Meeting.

*Tree Removal – Hasn’t heard anything on the tree removal on Michalec Road lately and will talk to Derek about it.

*Village Hill Road Drainage – The funds for this were appropriated at the last Town Meeting so they can get started on it.  Karl Acimovic will be picking up on it from where it was left 15 years ago.

*Public Works Garage Improvements – The funds were appropriated at the last Town meeting and a contractor has been appointed and they will begin work shortly.

*Old Town Hall Painting – The funds were appropriated at the last Town Meeting.  One bid was received, and that should be awarded tonight so they can get started on that.  

*Town Office Building Roof and Gutters – The funds were appropriated at the last Town Meeting and Derek has a contractor ready to go with that.

*Lease New Backhoe & Lease New Holder Mower – Those will be two separate hearing items on the Town Meeting we will be calling tonight.  Donna is putting together financing options and Derek has found two vehicles he would like to purchase so the information should be there for that meeting.

*Transfer Station Crack Sealing – Those funds were appropriated at the last Town meeting and Derek is going off the state bid for the contractor for that and it will be done this summer.

*Needs Assessment on the Town Office Building – Have the structural assessment and their going back to give us estimates on all the different things we can fix around the building.

*Renaming the Road of the Senior Center – Stuart Cobb is trying to figure out what needs to be done to make it official and what the numbering system will be once the final complex is built.  That is a question for emergency services.

*EDC Study – The paperwork has been signed and the consultant has begun work on the study.

*VCI – They had a series of meetings the week before last and they have also made some progress.

Public Works:

Derek reported that the crew has been busy with the following:

  • Roadside mowing
  • Repair roadside washouts
  • Mowing of Public Works, Dog Pound, Transfer Station
  • Spread playground mulch at Hall School
  • Equipment repair
Mill a portion of Senior Center parking lot: (to direct water into storm drain)
  • Patching of potholes
  • Replace rotted storm grates in various locations
  • Mowing of Halls Pond and detention basin below Willington Woods septic system
  • Mill a portion of dumpster staging area at the Transfer Station for paving
  • Burn Transfer Station brush Pile
Also the catch basin cleaning has now been completed for this year.

A resignation letter was received from Joe Csiki IV who is moving on to another job and we wish him well.   Andy Hart, who is the Assistant Transfer Station Operator, will move up to the Transfer Station Operator position.  A help wanted ad has already gone out for the Assistant Transfer Station Operator position, which is a Saturday and Sunday position, and they will accept applications for two weeks.


New Business

  • Appointment
a.      Debra Lewis – BOF secretary
First Selectman Mailhos moved to appoint Debra Lewis as the Board of Finance Secretary effective July 6, 2015; expiring June 30, 2016.
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
Vote:  3 Yes (Mailhos, Kowalyshyn & Blessington) 0 No.


B.      Award Winter Sand Contract

Three bids were received:  DeSiato Sand and Gravel for $18.50 per ton, Becker Construction for $12.10 per ton and Hain Materials Corp for $12.00 per ton.  A discussion was had on whether they need to take the lowest bid.  
Selectman Kowalyshyn moved to accept Becker Construction’s bid at $12.10
First Selectman Mailhos seconded the motion.
Vote: 2 Yes (Mailhos & Kowalyshyn), 0 No, 1 Abstain (Blessington).
                   
C.      Discussion – Insurance Broker

Superintendent Harding has been looking into other insurance brokers and has already spoken to the BOE about it. First Selectman Mailhos said she would inform the other Selectmen about it.  

D.      Call Town Meeting

First Selectman Mailhos read the call of the Town Meeting:  
TOWN OF WILLINGTON
NOTICE AND WARNING
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING

    The electors of the Town of Willington and all persons who are entitled to vote in Town Meeting on the matters mentioned in the following warning are hereby warned and notified to meet in Town Meeting at the Hall Memorial School Gymnasium; 111 River Road, Willington, at 7:00 P.M. Tuesday, August 4, 2015 for the following purpose:

ITEM I
To see if the townspeople, based on the request from the Board of Selectmen and the recommendation of the Board of Finance, will appropriate $100,000 from the General Fund Balance to 0503 Capital Projects for the purpose of hiring legal and environmental professionals to assist the Town of Willington to evaluate the State Police Firearms Training Facility Relocation project in Willington, Connecticut.


ITEM II   (Public Hearing Item)
A presentation and discussion of a 7 year Lease/Purchase Agreement for new 2015 John Deere 410L Backhoe Loader for the Willington Public Works Department as per the approved 2016-2017 CIP Plan.   No vote on this item


ITEM III   (Public Hearing Item)
A Discussion of a 3 year Lease for a used piece of mowing equipment for the Public Works Department as per the approved 2016-2017 CIP Plan.   No vote on this item


Dated at Willington,
This 20th day of July, 2015

Willington Board of Selectmen:

First Selectman Mailhos moved to approve the Town Meeting
Selectman Blessington seconded the motion.
First Selectman Mailhos noted that because they expected a lot of people to attend this meeting, she has secured the Hall Memorial School Gymnasium for it.  She noted that the way Item 1 is worded is based off of the motion made by the Board of Finance on Thursday night.  First Selectman Mailhos mentioned that the Board of Finance as well as others believes this should be a referendum item.  They spent a lot of time Friday and today figuring out how that would work.  She explained that if the Board of Selectman were to call a referendum, they would need 45 days to do it, and the referendum could not be held less than 60 days from an election and we have an election coming up in November.  The only day that the referendum could possibly be held would be Friday, September 4, 2015 which is the Friday before Labor Day weekend.  She feels this would not be an ideal day for the people that run the referendum or the general public.  The other option would be to call a Town Meeting and if the public were so inclined to pass a petition to have a referendum, then that would happen, and that could be done as soon as no less than 7 days or more than 14 days after the Town Meeting.  If a petition were to be passed to force this, First Selectman Mailhos would recommend August 18, 2015 as the date of the referendum, which is 14 days after the Town meeting, and works best with vacation schedules of the Clerks and Registrars.  The petition would have to be presented 24 hours before the Town Meeting and then Item 1 would only be discussed at the Town Meeting, then the meeting adjourned to referendum.  The Selectmen would have to meet the day after the Town meeting to set the time, date and location of the referendum.  Selectman Blessington believes a referendum is the way to go to vote on this item as it would be the vote of the townspeople and not just a vote at a Town Meeting where it could be packed either way and people might be afraid to speak their opinion or vote if they are in the minority.  He still feels it would pass in a referendum and it would legitimize the issue.  A discussion was then had on the pros and cons of having the referendum by both the Selectmen and the residents in attendance.
Vote: 3 Yes (Mailhos, Kowalyshyn & Blessington)  0 No.

First Selectman Mailhos then explained the petition process:  The Town Clerk has the forms, each page has room for approximately 20 names on it, several people can circulate pages to get names and then it is put together as a packet, it is given to the Town Clerk and the Registrars go through to make sure all signatures are registered voters or property owners (at least $1,000).  200 signatures are necessary to move the question from the Town Meeting to a referendum.  Several residents in attendance indicated that they would be doing this.

At this time Senator Guglielmo spoke regarding the gun range.  He believes that we are in for a real fight and if the state really wants this they can get it.  He feels although the deck is stacked in the State’s favor, he still thinks the Town can win this or at least shame them into doing the right thing.  The State said in the beginning that they wouldn’t go into a town where they weren’t wanted and clearly they aren’t wanted here.  He says there are so many other options for the State to choose from.  There are eight sites that the State either owns or operates and have shooting ranges.  He believes that the State Police want their own facility and that is the problem with a lot of the agencies within the state, they don’t want to share with another agency or worth together.  He then spoke regarding the problems how the state works.  He would like to see other towns get involved and see it less as a Willington problem and more as a taxpayer problem.  There is a town that has expressed interest in having the gun range, but he isn’t at liberty to say what town yet.  He’s hopeful with all the other options available that the state will move on to one of those.

E.      Old Town Hall

First Selectman Mailhos stated that only one bid was received which was from L. A. Converse, Inc.  She then read the proposal which included: exterior of tower, main building and addition attachments, siding, trim, sash and wooden storm windows.  The project does not include sash enclosed by storm windows or the new handicap access ramp.  They will replace any rotted wood, test for lead paint remnants, scrape the exterior of the building to remove all loose paint, collect and dispose of all paint chips/waste, power wash using mildewcide, scrape off loose paint caused by power washing, prime bare wood, spot paint primed areas, glaze windows, caulk cracks and fill holes, paint exterior and the price of the man lift is included.  The price is $39,900.00.  They also included references and pictures of completed projects.  They have recently painted the Glazer Tavern and The Federated Church in town.  Mr. Converse has experience with older buildings and particularly older buildings in Willington. Bob Shabot spoke in favor of this company.  He said that the last two times the Old Town Hall was painted, there were issues with paint coming off and he had mentioned that the issue was with the building not having a concrete floor, but now that the renovations that were done including a concrete basement and letting it dry out for a year will help with the paint staying on longer.  That has worked with other old buildings in town.
  
First Selectman Mailhos moved to award the painting contract to L.A. Converse, Inc. for $39,900.00.
Selectman Kowalyshyn seconded the motion.

Vote:  3 yes (Mailhos, Kowalyshyn & Blessington)  0 No.

Old Business

  • Rehab Lien – Request for Forgiveness
This was tabled from last meeting as there were some items that needed to be researched.  Owner Diane Olsen was present.  Selectman Kowalyshyn has looked through the paperwork and everything seems to be in order.  Selectman Kowalyshyn spoke with Bev from the town of Tolland about their rehab loans, and Bev said that the only time that they forgive them is foreclosure or short sale but not for any other reason because it is town money.  Although the Selectmen understand her need, if they forgive this loan that would set a precedent to forgive other loans.  First Selectman Mailhos stated that people have asked for forgiveness in the past for various reasons i.e. came down with cancer, gone bankrupt, etc. and they have always been denied.  It is money that is supposed to be paid back and is an interest free loan.  Ms. Olsen understands all of that, but her property has lost value, and if you don’t ask, you don’t know.  Ms. Olsen stated that she has also researched other towns and there have been cases of extreme hardship and they have forgiven the loans.  She stated that her son had a student loan and she explained to the people that held that loan that her son was dying of a brain tumor and did they still want her to pay the loan, and after some thought she received a letter from them that his loan had been completely exonerated.  She stated you can always do something if you set your mind to it and it’s the only reason she is asking.  She just wanted to secure her son’s future and she understands everything the Selectmen are saying.  She then thanked them for their consideration.
First Selectman Mailhos moved to deny the request for forgiveness.
Selectman Kowalyshyn seconded the motion.
Vote:  3 yes (Mailhos, Kowalyshyn & Blessington)  0 No.

  • Proposed State Police Firearms Training Facility Discussion
First Selectman Mailhos stated that this item will be kept on the agenda as “Old Business” until there is no longer anything to talk about.  She then asked if anyone wished to speak.  
Steph Summers stated that tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. on the ECSU radio WECS 90.1 on FM to hear people speaking (First Selectman Mailhos is one) about the proposed facility, and also on Charter Cable access channel 192 they will be taping tomorrow regarding the facility, but she isn’t sure when it will be run on the channel.  

First Selectman Mailhos mentioned that at the last Board of Finance meeting she talked about creating a board that would be a steering committee for the State Police Firearms Training Facility whether they get the $100,000.00 or not there are still a lot of decisions to be made and things to think about and it would be good to have a board of people who are versed on it.   She is recommending that it be a five member board consisting of: one member from the Board of Selectman, one member from the Conservation Commission, one member from the Board of Finance, one member from the Planning and Zoning Commission and one member from the public-at-large.  It would be a group that would meet as regularly as needed.  Selectman Blessington suggested that this idea be tabled until the next meeting (August 3rd) so people know about it as one member will be from the public-at-large.  Steph Summers wanted to clarify if that steering committee was an advisory committee for the Board of Selectman and First Selectman Mailhos said yes.

Good & Welfare

First Selectman Mailhos mentioned that they received many DMV posters to hang up around the Town Office Building about their new website where you will be able to do more things online instead of going to a DMV office.

First Selectman Mailhos mentioned that it was in the paper that the Mansfield Town Council has been talking about the gun range making people aware of what is going on in their neighboring town, and she was copied on an email that Mike Zambo from Ashford wrote today that went to Gov. Malloy, Nancy Wyman and others stating the Town of Ashford’s opposition to the gun range.  She stated that our neighbors are starting to come through for us.

Selectman Blessington moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:12 P.M.
Selectman  Kowalyshyn seconded the motion.
Vote:  3 Yes (Mailhos, Kowalyshyn & Blessington)  0 No.

Respectfully submitted,
Eileen Smith
Recording Secretary