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Board of Selectmen Minutes 05/16/2016
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
Meeting Minutes                                                                         May 16, 2016
Lower Level 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 6:30 P.M. with the following in attendance:  Selectmen Kowalyshyn and residents.  Selectman Blessington was absent.  

First Selectman Mailhos led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Approval of Minutes:

Selectman  Kowalyshyn  moved to approve the minutes of May 2, 2016 with the following edits:
Page 2 (Zoning Assistant Postion): 4th paragraph; last sentence should read:  helpful when the next budget request comes in.
Under Discussion Christmas tree on Town Green: 4th paragraph second sentence; remove “hat”; and 5th paragraph; replace so with “to”.
Page 6- Discussion Department Head Reports: first paragraph first sentence after discuss add “what their department is doing”
First Selectman Mailhos seconded the motion.
Vote:  2 Yes (Mailhos & Kowalyshyn) 0 No.

Present to Speak:

No one was present to speak.

Correspondence:

A list of correspondence was available at the meeting and in the Selectman’s office.  

First Selectman Status Report

*Senior Housing – Construction is moving along. The Building Inspector has been over to the property a few times already.   The Housing Authority will announce a ground breaking ceremony in the near future.  

*Old Town Hall Electrical and Restoration –We are still working on getting estimates.  

*Turnpike Road – we have received the approvals from DEEP and the ACOE.  The bids will be sent to the DOT once IWWC has finalized their approval.

*Repairs to Daleville School Bridge – The application is being sent into DEEP prior to having the bid docs going out.

*Village Hill Road Drainage Engineering –the Town Engineer is still working on the documents.

*Selectmen Wing Renovations – The scope of work is going to change from the original plans.  A  meeting will be held soon to review the layout.  

*Willington Day 2016-  preparations are underway.  

*RRAC Fitness Station – the project is in the planning stages.

*Senior Center Septic  re-permitting process – Per State requirements, the permitting must be updated. We will go out to bid for the engineering portion of the project.  

*MS4 Permitting –  First Selectman Mailhos has inquired through CRCOG to see how other towns are working through the permitting process as it is new to us.

*ACO New Pick up truck – the ACO and Public Works Director have been looking at the state bid for a vehicle.

*TOB Masonry & Door Replacement – The front of the building and ramp are in need of repair.  We will seek bids.

*POCD – Per Statute, the POCD needs to be updated.   We will go out to bid for a consultant.

*Crumbling Foundations – we will continue to work with State Officials to be a partner in a solution to help homeowners.

*Nutmeg Network – the project is slowly moving along, as we are waiting for the telephone company to sign the agreements.

Public Works:

Derek reported that the crew has been busy with the following:
  • Grade gravel roads
  • Remove landscape timbers and swing sets from Halls School
  • Sweeping of roads (This years roadway sweeping was completed on 5/12)
  • Grade Halls Pond beach, trim hazardous branches finish spring cleaning
  • Equipment repairs
  • Mow old Landfill
  • Check catch basin tops for replacement on this year’s paving route
  • Move furniture in Tax Office for painting
New Busines

  • Department Update – Parks & Recreation
Maureen Parsell was present.~ She stated that Parks and Recreation is in charge of all of the Town-owned fields, including Center & Hall Schools, the Town Office Building and the River Road Athletic Complex.~ We contract the mowing to a landscaping company, who does an excellent job.~ In addition, she works closely with Public Works on miscellaneous issues, such as repairs to the fencing, maintaining the beach at Hall’s Pond, etc.
Ms. Parsell added that the Parks & Recreation Commission is looking into adding 4 new fitness stations along the running trail at the River Road Athletic Complex.~ The stations were approved and part of this year’s CIP Plan.~

The River Road Athletic Complex is always very busy with activity from soccer clubs, Little League, kids playing on the playscapes and older kids playing basketball on the court.~

The Little League score board was recently installed as well as a new concession shed with lighting at the complex, which will help the Little League make money to help offset their programs.

In addition to the fields, she offers many bus trips in conjunction with neighboring towns (Ashford, Tolland, Mansfield, Ellington and Coventry); the next trip will go to Boston to see a Red Sox game.~ She is also planning a teen-trip over the summer, as done in year’s past.

Ms. Parsell added that the Recreation Commission has had a very successful basketball program over the years.~ They have 9 youth teams (ranging from grades 3rd through 8th) as well as an instructional program and a High School league.~~ The kids seem to want to play basketball all season long – so she is looking into programs that can be held throughout the year.~ In addition to basketball, they offer volleyball & fencing programs as well as golf lessons through the Skungamaug Golf Club.~

Lastly, the Recreation Department has 5 kayaks and several sets of snow-shoes that can be borrowed free of charge to Willington residents.

Selectman Kowalyshyn asked if they were going to have swimming lessons this year.  Ms. Parsell stated that she did not think so for this year, but would look into it for the future.  She added that she believes that there are a lot of residents who do not know about Hall’s Pond and she would like to promote awareness of the area on the Department’s Facebook page and website page.

Ms. Parsell stated that she is looking into a summer concert series in the near future.~ In closing she added that several parents have approached her asking if her department will ever have summer camp again and she said that it is too late to look into for this year, but will definitely look into for next year working closely with Youth Family & Social Services.

  • Department Update – WYFSS
Jennie Arpin, who was present stated that the WYFSS Department hosted April camp during school break, and it was very successful – she had 14 children that week – they played games, made crafts, ran with the Parks & Recreation Director and all seemed to enjoy themselves.  During the regular school year, her department offers a pre-school program two days per week and a caterpillar club play- group once per week at the library.  

Ms. Arpin plans to have “crafts in the park” again in July.  She debuted the program last year and it was very successful – inexpensive and a lot of fun.  She met a lot of new families in town last year.  

In March, she held a diaper drive (looking for diapers & wipes) as those items are not covered by food stamps or WIC.  She is looking to improve the back-to school program that currently offers a gift card to payless shoes and a back pack and would like to implement pencils, pens and other items as required by the teachers throughout the school year.  She will hold a drive during the summer to seek more donations to serve those in need.

Ms. Aprin implemented a “Sharing of information” agreement with the schools.  If a family signs up (and is eligible) for low cost or free lunch, they are also offered to receive information regarding  services offered by the WYFSS Department.    The Department now has a campership fund, thanks to the generosity of the Mansfield Lyons Club.  This fund will help send children to local camps (recreational activities)  and offset the costs to families who otherwise may not be able to afford it.
The Department also offers an annual holiday program – providing food and gifts to families in need.  Over 50 families received services last year.   The food pantry is open year round and offers dry goods, eggs and produce in the summer.  Families are allowed to visit the pantry once per month.  In conjunction with the food pantry, the community closet was added last year, where gently used clothing (coats and shoes) is available to those in need.  As an experiment, the food pantry is open on Fridays for the month to see if there is more traffic.  Ms. Arpin said that she is working in conjunction with Safe-Net Ministries in Stafford to help accommodate clients who have specific dietary needs that cannot be accommodated by our pantry.  In addition, she runs the fuel bank as a one time benefit to assist residents in need to help afford heat in the winter. She also assists with SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid, energy assistance and renter’s rebates.  

In addition to youth & social services, she also offers services to Seniors and the elderly, such as a program called Friendly Visitors and is a certified Choices Counselor for Medicare and Eldercare.  In many cases, she frequents the Senior Housing complex, so the residents do not have to travel.  

WYFSS offers transportation for those in need.  Ms. Arpin has been looking into alternative transportation options for the elderly; canvassing neighboring towns to see what they are doing, as the current vendor is becoming more costly.

Sometimes, Ms. Arpin said clients come in with an issue that is not covered under her job description.  She said she does her very best to assist them with information and resources.  

First Selectman Mailhos asked Ms. Arpin and Ms. Parsell if the move of the Recreation Department to share space downstairs is working out for both of them.  They both responded yes.   They have found that there a lot of things they can do together.  

Peter Tanaka asked if the departments would be able to link to the town’s facebook pages to promote their departments.  First Selectman Mailhos said she would look into it.

  • Crumbling Foundation meeting debrief
First Selectman Mailhos said that a joint meeting was held at E.O. Smith High School sponsored by the towns of Willington, Mansfield, Coventry and Tolland.  Town leaders and State officials (Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman & the Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection, Johnathan Harris were also in attendance).  First Selectman Mailhos noted that the meeting was well attended.  

At the meeting, residents heard what is going on with the investigation and how the state is hoping to help residents moving forward.  There were also several questions and comments at the end.  In addition, several news stations were there to cover the meeting.

The following day, the town leaders (including First Selectman Mailhos) had been discussing the topics that came up at that meeting.  First Selectman Mailhos said she suspects up to 20 towns could be affected and even a few in Massachusetts as well.

First Selectman Mailhos said that residents are coming into the Town Office Building looking for help, and we really have no resources for them at this time.   In addition, we cannot even refer anyone to any type of professional, as there is no list of qualified vendors at this time as it is a very specialized situation.  

The State recently passed a bill to help residents.  Parts of the bill require building officials to record the source of origin of the concrete and list the vendor; however the provisions are not clear on what the town officials are supposed to document.   In addition residents are able to get their assessments reduced (for a limited time); but the guidelines are unclear as to how to remedy the formula in which the assessment is made.  

First Selectman Mailhos cautioned that it is scary when you look at the numbers – Willington has 625 homes built after 1983 out of 1,100 total homes (37%).  Even if half of those houses are affected, and took $100,000 off of their assessments, we could lose over $1Million in revenue.  She cautioned that it can be a big revenue problem in town as well as a real estate issue and we are just in the beginning stages.  

First Selectman Mailhos stated that she is working with other Town Officials to make a resolution for the next Board meeting and in the meantime, discuss this with our Assessor and Building Inspector to see if they think anything should be added.  It will hopefully be finalized so it can be adopted at the next meeting.  She added that she may have to seek input from our Zoning office as well.

  • Discussion - Region 19 New High School
First Selectman Mailhos stated that Region 19  Board had discussed making repairs at the current high school (E.O. Smith) and hired an architect to research repairs in the art wing of the school.  They found it was going to be very costly, and then figured it may be less expensive to just build a new school instead.    The school then started talking with UCONN and discussions were held into swapping the land (between E.O. and the Mansfield campus on Route 44.)

The Committee then announced that they would seek input from the community, but because the project is in the very early stages, it is believed that they do not have all the details as of yet.  Rather than holding public hearings in each of the towns (which was heard to be the original plan and was to be done in April); they will hold  a public hearing at E.O. Smith on June 9th ; where public input will be sought.   First Selectman Mailhos said she is going to reserve judgment on the idea until she knows all the information and hears what the implications are going to be.  She added that she also heard the Building Committee’s goal is to get this on the election ballot in November and she does not believe it is enough time for them to get all of the information to the residents.  Peter Tanaka agreed and said it is not a good idea to put that on the ballot in November that is overwhelmed by the national elections.  He added you are going to get a lot of uninformed voters, not to mention we will have a lot of UCONN students voting to spend Willington money, when they don’t have any skin in the game.  

First Selectman Mailhos added that even if it were a year from now and we knew we would have opportunities to submit input, November still wouldn’t be the right time to do that.  It is very important and deserves to be alone on it’s own ballot.    It is too soon and too much all at once.

Barry Wallett asked if the State is going to have money to do this?  First Selectman Mailhos said that is a good question – she said she believes a lot of the assumption is that UCONN is going to have money to make the deal happen and the state is going to have the money to reimburse for the construction, but those are big assumptions.

First Selectman Mailhos said she would like to write a letter to the Region 19 Board of Education to express the concerns about the date of the voting event and ask them to slow the process down a little bit.  Selectman Kowalyshyn agreed.  She added that Selectman Blessington is not here, but hopes that he would agree on this as well.   

E. Discussion – Regional Efficiency Cooperative Agreement w/Mansfield regarding K-8      
      Education (and Appointment of First Selectman Christina Mailhos)

Superintendent Harding was in attendance.  He said that the Board of Education has been looking at sustainability in the school system over the past two years and have taken the declining enrollment into consideration in the discussions.  One of the options discussed was to tuition students to either Ashford or Mansfield.      Two years ago, it did not seem to be an option, until Mansfield recently hired a new Superintendent, had a feasibility study done;  and found that they, too have declining enrollment; which may lead to having to close one of their three elementary schools.  Superintendent Harding stated that he began the discussions again about combining with them to see if we could save money.    He was then asked to make a formal request to Mansfield to see if they would be interested.

Superintendent Harding added that our current education budget is a little over $8 million, and if this were done correctly, we could end up saving $1 or $2 million and we would be able to maintain or enhance our programming.  He added that he understands this could add emotional stress, but also clarified that his task as Superintendent is to save money and maintain programming.  

Because this is in the very early stages,  a preliminary meeting has been scheduled for June 6, 2016, and members of each town will be in attendance.  Members at the meeting will be represented by the Selectmen, Board of Finance, both Superintendents and members of the Board of Education.  The meeting will be facilitated by the state.  

Superintendent Harding cautioned that there are several facets involved, and it could take 4-5 years or we could find it would be better to build a new school in the future.  He added that we need to take the two schools and their age into consideration.  Lastly, he said we may find it won’t work after all and we should stay as is, but it is at least worth having the discussion.  

First Selectman Mailhos warned that the regular BOS Meeting is slated for June 6, 2016, but may be able to hold it earlier to accommodate both meetings.   She added that she knows the BOE has been talking about what to do – and we aren’t the only town dealing with declining enrollment.  We are going to hit a point where there is no where to go and we need to look at different options.  

Both Selectmen, Mailhos & Kowalyshyn stated that they will attend the June 6th meeting.

  • Tax Refunds
First Selectman Mailhos moved to refund $9.90 to Evan Tindell; Willington for an exess payment.
Selectman Kowalyshyn seconded the motion.
Vote:  2 Yes (Mailhos & Kowalyshyn) 0 No.

First Selectman Mailhos moved to refund $28.62 to Scott Cohen; Willington, CT for a credit of a sold vehicle.
Selectman Kowalyshyn seconded the motion.
Vote:  2 Yes (Mailhos & Kowalyshyn) 0 No.

First Selectman Mailhos moved to refund $252.22 to VW Credit Leasing: Libertyville IL for a credit of a sold vehicle.
Selectman Kowalyshyn seconded the motion.
Vote:  2 Yes (Mailhos & Kowalyshyn) 0 No.

First Selectman Mailhos moved to refund $247.70 to Nissan Infinity for a sold vehicle.
Selectman Kowalyshyn seconded the motion.
Vote:  2 Yes (Mailhos & Kowalyshyn)  0 No.

First Selectman Mailhos moved to refund $359.36 to Gelco Corp. for a sold vehicle.
Selectman Kowalyshyn seconded the motion.
Vote:  2 Yes (Mailhos & Kowalyshyn) 0 No.



Good & Welfare

First Selectman Mailhos stated that we have a new liaison with Troop C, Lieutenant Alexander Rios.  Lt. Rios came in last week for an informal meeting to discuss the various issues that are happening around town, such as the UCONN partying, the quads/dirt bikes driving  up and down the roads and speeding.   The meeting was positive. Lt. Rios explained that Willington does not have an assigned officer, but rather one officer that patrols through several towns.  At the meeting, she explained that there are several roads that experience speeding – and the ATV /dirtbike traffic.  Lt. Rios said that it is difficult for the troopers to catch the speeding, especially if they are not idle in one area in town.  The suggestion was to call Troop C if you see them travelling on the roads.

First Selectman Mailhos stated that a list of delinquent tax payers has been placed outside of the tax office.  Despite the list, we are currently at a rate of 99.47% .  Our new Tax Collector, Lisa Madden has reached out to those who have fallen behind to set them up on payment plans and work with them to bring them up to date.  So far it has been positive and a few of the names have been removed (because they are now up to date).   First Selectman Mailhos said Lisa is doing a great job.

The budget to fight the gun range is at $52,444 and we are expecting one last bill to come in (after Attorney Hamel attends the last Steering Committee meeting on May 26th).   At the final Steering Committee meeting, we will receive all of the reports from the studies done on the property.  The reports, which are property of the Town, will be turned over to the Planning & Zoning Commission.  As a side note:  the appraisal had not been done, as the attorney had canceled it once he found out the State withdrew us from consideration; saving $4,000.

First Selectman Mailhos presented the Willington Day map, which shows there will be a lot of vendors participating this year.  Be sure to mark your calendars for May 28th.

First Selectman Mailhos noted a picture of last Friday’s Journal Inquirer, which shows State Senator Tony Guglielmo who was working on the state budget.  She added that there was a week between when it was proposed and it passed – where the towns did not know what the actual numbers were. In the end, it does not impact Willington much – as we had originally not planned on the revenues we were supposed to receive.  She added that she was disappointed in the way the State process went this year.    

This year’s Memorial Day Parade will be held on Monday, May 30th at 8:30 on the Town Green.  We are honored to have Congressman Joe Courtney as our keynote speaker.

Selectman Blessington, who was absent, sent in a statement to be read under Good & Welfare:  The Board of Selectmen has been experimenting with videotaping our meetings.  We will be discussing the experiment and formulating a recommendation as to whether to make it a permanent program at our next meeting.  In the meantime, our last three meetings are available for viewing on YouTube.  Type into the YouTube search engine:  willingtontownmeetings and this will bring them up.  Type it exactly this way as a plural without spaces or you will get something else.

The Selectmen thanked Stefan Schumer for video-taping the past several meetings.

Selectman Kowalyshyn moved to adjourn at 7:50 P.M.
First Selectman   Mailhos seconded the motion.
Vote:  2 Yes (Mailhos & Kowalyshyn)  0 No.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Campbell
Administrative Assistant


Board of Selectmen
860-487-3100

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