MINUTES
WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
POLK SCHOOL LIBRARY
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2002, 8:00 P.M.
PRESENT: Elaine Adams
Lee Archer, Chairman
Raymond Hebert, Jr., Vice Chairman
Robert Kane
Jean King
Raymond Primini
Paul Rinaldi
Paul Valenti
Richard Wick
ABSENT: None
OTHERS PRESENT: Charles Frigon, Interim Town Manager
Frank Nardelli, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director
1. Call Meeting To Order
Mr. Archer, Chairman, Called the Meeting to Order at 8:00 p.m.
2. Roll Call
Ms. LaForme, Board Clerk, executed the Roll Call.
3. Pledge of Allegiance
Mr. Archer, Chairman, led the Pledge of Allegiance.
4. Public Participation
None
Mr. Archer Closed Public Participation at 8:02 p.m.
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Watertown Town Council
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5. Minutes
A. Public Hearing Minutes February 4, 2002 (7:00 p.m.)
MOTION: (Mr. Kane, sec. Ms. Adams) to Approve the Public Hearing Minutes (7:00 p.m.) dated February 4, 2002 as presented.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
B. Public Hearing Minutes February 4, 2002 (7:30 p.m.)
MOTION: (Mr. Kane, sec. Ms. Adams) to Approve the Public Hearing
Minutes (7:30 p.m.) dated February 4, 2002 as amended.
Discussion: Mr. Archer: These Minutes should be at 7:30 p.m., not 7:00 p.m.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
C. Regular Meeting Minutes February 4, 2002
MOTION: (Mr. Kane, sec. Ms. Adams) to Approve the Regular Meeting
Minutes dated February 4, 2002 as presented.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
6. Sub-Committee Reports
A. Public Works Committee (02/07/02 Meeting)
Ms. Adams: I see that Chuck Frigon is going to cover a lot of my report under
the Chairmans Report, through the Chairman, the Turkey Brook Funding
Source Status and the Guernseytown Road Phase I Update. Another thing we
did discuss in great detail was the budget cuts that were made to the Public
Works budget. So I guess were not the only ones that really took a hit from
the Town Manager, but we still have the review process going through the
Town Council, so to be continued.
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Mr. Archer: One Public Works Subcommittee item thats actually under Old
Business is usage of the Sidewalk Fund. Has there been any resolution or
(inaudible)?
Ms. Adams: Not a resolution per say. What we have done, the Subcommittee
went to Planning and Zoning to ask the Town Planners to give a list of what
they felt were the best way to start with this, and what were going to be
working on is, looking at their first recommendation out of several was to
complete the sidewalk from the John Trumbull School all the way up to, I
believe its in front of the first elderly housing project, is to run up some costs
estimates and just see how much this is going to cost before we move on to the
next one, because we dont know. There are some embankments and stuff
that have to be concerned that would be built up so we want to see just what
the costs are going to be for that before we bring it to the full Council.
Mr. Archer: Is the intention of that to connect with the one in front of Mt. Fair
Farm?
Ms. Adams: Oh yea, it would be a huge, a very small piece of sidewalk that
would in turn enable you to go all the way from the center of Oakville, down by
Dunkin Donuts, up Buckingham Street past Polk School, all the way up to
Buckingham and then you would go up farther, past Echo Lake Road, up to Mt.
Fair, and I believe that sidewalk, Mt. Fair goes all the way behind the houses
that back up to Buckingham Street and it would connect all inside Mt. Fair all
the way down to . . . . it would be a big loop that would be completed, with a
very small . . . . not only that with the school being here they felt safety was of
utmost concern for children who possibly who may be walking in the future, or
just people out waking. Theres so much of that going on nowadays, so
youd have that whole area there to be able to walk to the new school or down
to Oakville, whatever they chose, so I think that was one of their reasons was
their first, you know, take a look at that and see what the costs are going to be.
Ms. King: I believe that the Chairman of Planning and Zoning, Im not certain,
had told me awhile back that there was a project approved on Buckingham
Street up there that was going to put that sidewalk in as part of its project
across the street, cause they didnt need sidewalks on the other side and
sometimes they are required to do it, and there was a proposal to put a
restaurant up there.
Ms. Adams: Yea, that was like 4 or 5 years ago.
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Ms. King: As part of that project they were putting in that very sidewalk that
youre talking about using the Sidewalk Fund for, so it would be nice to know
whether, in fact, that project is really going to happen, and then we wouldnt
have to use the Sidewalk Fund for that.
Mr. Archer: I know the restaurant came before P & Z, about a year, maybe a
few months again, and in my time on P & Z it never came back. It was brought
in as sort of a pre-planning, but never moved to approval.
Ms. King: Some member of Planning and Zoning had said this to me that the
sidewalk was going to go over there as part of a . . . .
Mr. Archer: But it would be kind of a good crosscheck to make sure that
theres nothing planned for that.
Ms. Adams: Ill contact Phil and have him contact Mary, or do you want to do
it through Chuck?
Mr. Archer: And then theres an open question as to whether or not some of
that should be used to repair sidewalks in Town. Was there any decision on
that question?
Ms. Adams: Yea, basically in talking with the subcommittee, we felt that it
would be best to use what the funds were intended to, was for new sidewalks,
but then again ultimately that would be up to the Council and whether or not
they wanted to appropriate the money that way.
Mr. Archer: Any questions?
Ms. King: The Sidewalk Fund has like $285,000 in it?
Ms. Adams: $245,000 right?
Ms. King: Okay, more than $200,000. Do we know how much it costs to do a
length of sidewalk? At one point we had asked the Planner and the Director of
Public Works for that information. Im not sure that we ever . . . .
Mr. Archer: The Sidewalk Fund has been collected by assessing a fee thats
equal to $26.00 per linear foot (inaudible).
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Ms. King: So that would be 10,000 linear feet.
Ms. Adams: Well depending on what you have . . . . .
Mr. Archer: (Inaudible) but that is based on flat land that requires little
excavation and (inaudible) and stuff like that, so you know, but thats a base
figure to go on.
Ms. Adams: I was going to say just what you said. It all depends on what you
have too, and where you have to construct this sidewalk on the costs.
7. Chairmans Report
A. Correspondence
1. Memo from Lisa Carew, Re: Griffin School Use
Mr. Archer: This is sort of a reissue of a memo that was written and sent to
former Town Manager Charles OConnor from Lisa on April 10, 2000. Let me
just read the cover sheet on this and the memo thats attached (attached as
Addendums 7A1 and 7A2).
B. Turkey Brook Funding Sources Status
Mr. Frigon: Unfortunately the State Bond Commissions Agenda isnt released
until tomorrow, so I have nothing to report today. Were hopeful that it will make the
February Agenda.
C. Subcommittee Assignments
1. Member of PBC to EBC
Mr. Archer: Theres some confusion as to whether or not someone was
assigned, and there was some attempt to resolve that today but that did not
happen, so were basically skipping over that.
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2. Main Street Committee
Mr. Archer: Basically this is on here as a reminder that we dont have one at
the moment. The Main Street Committee was (inaudible) for awhile. Originally
when the first or second meeting when we assigned subcommittees, Main
Street was on hold because we had invited Patty Reilly to be a part of that
committee. She had done some great work on that and we thought she could
be an asset to it. She asked for some time to think about that, and she declined
for personal reasons, which is fine, and so we do need to get back on this. Im
not prepared to make the appointment at this time.
D. Cost for Town Hall Annex Renovations
Mr. Archer: Mr. LeBlanc brought this up, raised this question at the last Town
Council meeting and Chuck, you did some digging on that.
Mr. Frigon: What you have in front of your is a summary of the expenses (inaudible).
Ms. Adams: Did you forward a copy of this to Mr. LeBlanc?
Mr. Frigon: No, I did not.
Ms. Adams: Maybe we should, since hes not here tonight.
Mr. Frigon: I can do that, if thats your pleasure, sure.
Mr. Archer: That would be great. Thanks. Any questions on it? Any further
discussion?
E. Administrative Responsibilities of the Planning and Zoning Office
Mr. Archer: This is another item that was raised by Mr. LeBlanc and again,
(inaudible) hes not here to hear it, but its been included in everyones packet so
were all clear on that. And if we could just throw that in the envelope too, that
would be great.
Mr. Frigon: Absolutely.
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F. Guernseytown Road Phase I Project Update
Mr. Frigon: At a COG meeting a week ago last Friday a vote was taken to Table our
Guernseytown Phase I until next year at this time. So the monies I believe are going to
go to Waterbury West Main Street. That project has come in over budget, and at the
meeting they voted to take our funding, Watertowns portion of the funding, move it
into the West Main Street project, complete that project and next year fund our
Guernseytown Road.
Mr. Wick: In the memo it indicates the donation of an easement for drainage still
needs to be agreed to by Taft School. I assume that means that if the donation of the
easement does not occur, that the project cannot go forward. Is that correct?
Mr. Frigon: It was correct. The drainage at Taft School is for all practical purposes
resolved. If we were to receive the funding today, it would take approximately a week
to perhaps two to bring that to conclusion. That shouldnt be a roadblock at this
point. The one roadblock that we do have, Mr. Wick, is we did go through the State
D.O.T. review, and in that process the State had asked that we get a Third Party
Review on some of the drainage calculations, so that will hold us up indeed for some
length of time. The Public Works Department will at some future meeting come to this
Council and ask for an appropriation for that review.
Ms. King: How in the C.O.G., is there one town, one vote?
Mr. Frigon: Thats correct. For the record I voted against it.
Ms. King: What bothers me when I read this memo, is it isnt clear to me at all that
well get Guernseytown Road even next year, and there certainly have been a lot of
people from Guernseytown Road into this Council at various times very concerned
about drainage.
Mr. Frigon: Ill make the Minutes available in your next packet, however I was
promised verbally, and Phil Deleppo feels very strongly that we will receive that
funding next year. He doesnt feel that it is jeopardized, and my colleagues at C.O.G.
feel pretty much the same way; it is not jeopardized, we will get it next year. But its
not this year. This still has to go through D.O.T. Waterbury is not ready to go either.
This was C.O.G., this was not D.O.T.
Ms. King: So D.O.T. can change their minds?
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Mr. Frigon: Well no. D.O.T. actually controls, this was their recommendation to
C.O.G. The funding application is through the Council of Governments. D.O.T.
actually has the final say. They are recommending that the funding go to Waterbury,
but Waterbury isn't quite ready yet either, so lets see what happens.
Mr. Archer: The last line in your memo says "its my understanding that if the
Waterbury project is not complete and ready for bid, our project may be restored".
Mr. Frigon: That is correct.
Mr. Archer: Do we have ay idea whether or not?
Mr. Frigon: No.
G. Council of Government FY 2001/2002 Dues
Mr. Archer: It appears theyve set the annual dues at $.40 per capita for each
member town. This is, I guess, the same as the previous?
Mr. Frigon: The per capita cost is the same as the previous year. Our census, if you
look, the 2000 census is down, so were paying slightly lees, but the price per capital
is the same.
Mr. Archer: And that total cost for 2002/2003, $8,676?
Mr. Frigon: Thats correct.
Mr. Archer: Which is a lot of money, so I have to ask, what are we getting
(inaudible)?
Mr. Frigon: C.O.G. provides a great deal of services. Guernseytown Phase I is a bad
example, but thats where the money does come from. Those applications come
through there. Guernseytown Phase II, Hamilton Avenue safety, Middlebury Road
safety. We are provided a great deal of services through them. If we have any
questions regarding legal issues, its a forum for one community to talk to the next
regarding any issue.
H. Greater Waterbury Transit District Membership Dues
Mr. Archer: Its obviously dues (inaudible).
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Watertown Town Council
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Mr. Frigon: Yes, it is.
Mr. Archer: And could you just again, for the record, explain how this works?
Mr. Frigon: The service thats presently provided under the ridership in place is
mandated to cover those A.D.A. qualifying people ¾ of a mile (inaudible). This
extends from the ¾ of a mile throughout the rest of the community. So what theyve
done is taken the calculations of those numbers of riders that Watertown presently
uses this service and they have multiplied it by a fee that they use, and this, as I said,
covers all of those people who would not normally have those services available to
them.
Mr. Archer: What is not on the Chairmans Report List, usually the last item is
"Other". So I had a question on here to ask you about the Griffin School status. We
spoke about that today. Not the status of the school so much as getting materials to
facilities that they had requested, and as I saw you, you dropped them off with Rey,
so thank you very much.
I wanted to, just for the purpose of the publics information, there are a number of
meetings either scheduled or cancelled for this week:
Ordinance Subcommittee, Thursday, 02/21/02, 6:00 p.m., Polk School Library
Economic Development Comm., Cancellation, Thursday 02/21/02, 7:30 p.m. Annex
Public Buildings Comm., Wednesday, 02/20/02, 7:00 p.m., Watertown Fire House
Office Hours, Saturday, 02/23/02, 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., Town Hall Annex
Ms. King: I had a question on one of the information items that was in our packet,
from the Waterbury Region Convention and Visitors Bureau. That memo says that
theyre going to be giving grants to each of the 9 towns, and I wondered who was
putting together a grant and what it was going to be for, and whatever?
Mr. Frigon: We have already established those grants. We have presently 3 military
band concerts being held up at Veterans Park this Summer, and Lisa is trying to keep
the theme this year military, but theyre all going towards concerns.
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8. Action Items
A. Consider Appointments to Boards and Commission
The terms of various boards and commission have expired or are expiring.
Appointments must be made to fill these vacancies.
None
B. Consider Bid Waiver for the Purchase of Golf Course Turf Equipment (attached as
Addendum 8B1)
The Parks Director has requested a bid waiver be considered for the purchase of
equipment to be utilized at the Crestbrook Park Golf Course. The equipment
specified is available to the Town under State of Connecticut contract which was
independently bid by the State and subsequently awarded to Turf Products Corp.
providing the same discount structure as provided to the State. This equipment is
not available through any other source in Connecticut, therefore, if bid, Turf
Products Corp. would be the sole bidder.
MOTION: (Mr. Kane, sec. Ms. Adams) to approve a bid waiver for the purchase of
equipment to be utilized at the Crestbrook Golf Course.
Discussion: Mr. Kane: I guess apparently the equipment is for turf products for a
new greens equipment, and apparently it doesnt make sense to repair
the old unit, and this seems to be the best way to go for this product.
Mr. Archer: The machinery thats broken is not replaceable?
Mr. Frigon: That is correct. Its non-functional at this point. Its also
important for me to point out that this equipment has been bid
independently by the State of Connecticut. Were just utilizing their
bid, which by law we can.
Mr. Archer: So its sort of a coop buy, if you will.
Mr. Frigon: Absolutely.
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Ms. King: And this was in the budget last year, it was budgeted for,
correct?
Mr. Frigon: Yes. One of those pieces of equipment, the more expensive
of the two, was budgeted. We budgeted $32,000; the State price on that
is net at $29,636. The remainder of that money plus some other money is
being, is for you to consider a transfer this evening to buy the second
piece which costs $4,829.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
C. Consider Participation in the Mutual Financing of CCMs Amicus Curiae
Intervention in "Perodeau vs. City of Hartford"
The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, based on careful evaluation, will
occasionally encourage member municipalities to participate in amicus curiae
intervention. In this case CCM is recommending that the Town support these issues.
MOTION: (Ms. Adams, sec. Mr. Hebert) to approve $300.00 from the General Fund
to participate in CCMs Perodeau vs. City of Hartford.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
D. Consider Authorizing the Interim Town Manager to Sign Agreement with DEP
Regarding the Steele Brook Flood Control Project (attached as Addendum 8D1.
This agreement has been funded and was acted upon at the December 17, 2001
Town Council meeting. Due to the most recent changes in administration, the State
of Connecticut has requested an updated agreement reflecting the change in
management be authorized.
MOTION: (Ms. Adams, sec. Mr. Hebert) to approve our Interim Town
Manager, Chuck Frigon, to sign the agreement with D.E.P.
regarding the Steel Brook Flood Control Project.
Discussion: Ms. Adams: I just have clarification on it cause I said it came out
of Public Works, was that when the original contract came down,
it had the former Town Managers name on it, and being such as
our current interim Town Manager was not comfortable signing
that, and D.E.P. did request that we have the appropriate
authority here so this way we could get moving this project.
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Mr. Archer: So Chuck, this is just a State administrative . . . .
they want a signature of the current Town Manager on
(inaudible).
Mr. Frigon: Thats correct.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
E. Consider Amendment to Resolution Regarding the Executive Building Committee
The concern has been raised that voting privileges for members of the Executive
Building Committee should be extended to elected officials only. The Council is
being asked to consider limiting actual voting to elected members of the Town
Council and Board of Education. Non-voting status would be assigned to the two
parent representative, the citizens at large, the Public Buildings Committee
representative the Board of Ed Superintendent and Town Manager. A quorum
would need to reflect a majority of voting members present.
MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to Table 8E.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
F. Consider Appropriation for Third Party Review (attached as Addendum 8F1)
From time to time the Planning and Zoning Office is presented with applications
that are either so complex or time consuming that a third party review of the
application is necessary. In such instances the applicant is required by local
ordinance to participate in the cost of this review. Funds are collected from the
applicant, deposited into the Towns General Fund and subsequently appropriated
into the correct departmental account.
MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to approve the appropriation for a third
party review of Planning and Zoning.
Discussion: Mr. Archer: Chuck, I have a couple of questions for you. It says in the
description that you have here, "in such instances the applicant is
required by local ordinance to participate in the cost of this review".
They have to participate 100%.
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Mr. Frigon: Yes, it is 100% reimbursable.
Mr. Archer My other question is that in the Resolution on the attached memo
it says "whereas the Conservation Commission has requested a third party
review be conducted . . . .". The attached memo requesting this comes from
Mary.
Mr. Frigon: Administratively the Conservation Commission would order Mary
to request a third party review. She receives the quote, she bills the developer
for that amount. When the check clears we then come and have the money
appropriated to her.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
G. Consider Appropriation for Computer Upgrade (Attached as Addendum 8G1.
The Police Department remains very active in seeking available grant monies to
supplement their operating budget. Grant monies awarded to any department are
deposited into the Towns General Fund and then by action of the Town Council
appropriated to the proper department line item. This particular grant was sought
to replace four (4) older Apple Macintosh computers used in various offices within
the Police Department.
MOTION: (Mr. Kane, sec. Ms. Adams) to authorize the appropriation of $6,000
from the General Fund for the upgrade and infrastructure of the
computer system at the Police Department.
Discussion: Ms. Adams: Is this also going to help take care of our Website?
Mr. Frigon: No. It will integrate with the Website eventually, but no, it will not help
us in that area.
Ms. Adams: Because I understand that our Website also needs some updating.
Mr. Frigon: Well visit that during Transfers.
Mr. Archer: How old are their (inaudible)?
Mr. Frigon: I want to say 8 years old.
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Unidentified Person in Audience: (Inaudible). We have money (inaudible).
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
H. Consider Transfers (attached as Addendum 8H1)
The Town Council is being asked to authorize the transfer of departmental funding
between line items.
MOTION: (Ms. Adams, sec. Mr. Hebert) that the Town Council approve the
Transfers as presented.
Discussion: Mr. Archer: You mentioned about the, you were sort of answering
Elaines question about what would help with getting our Website
more current, which I believe is the first one on this list. If you could
elaborate?
Mr. Frigon: Sure. The $4,200 is intended to provide 5 of our buildings
with cable internet service. Presently we dont have any specific
service coming into any building. Most of us, if not all of us, use our
own accounts at work. We share telephone and fax lines. So what we
would like to do is provide the hardware and software and the remaining
3 months of service for 5 of our facilities to have that service. This is
only Step 1 of a 2 Step (Tape #1, Side A ended may have missed
some).
Step 2 would provide email service, or mailboxes for each of our
departments and some of our employees. That would come at a later
date. Presently we have, let me see if I brought it with me tonight, this is
a good example of one, State of Connecticut Department of
Transportation writing to the Town of Watertown, D.O.T. will no longer
be mailing out paper copies of awarded contracts. In the Town Hall we
do all of our motor vehicle accounting through the Internet. In the Town
Hall Annex I do 100% of my purchasing, cooperative purchasing with
the State of Connecticut Municipal-Net and other agencies as well
through the Internet. They're not available hard copy anymore, of fax.
Weather service is no longer faxing as its only available through the
Internet.
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Over in Engineering the plans and specifications that they typically
receive through the Department of Transportation are all coming
through the Internet now. We have increased the size of the Public
Works mailbox. I dont know the exact size, but its incredibly large to
accommodate the maps and drawings, and so forth. The Police
Department uses and relies on the Internet more and more because they
are an information based service.
So with that being said, what this would do is provide for the Town Hall,
the Town Hall Annex, the Police Department, all of the Depot Square
Offices, and Fire Department Company #1, with this high speed Internet.
Mr. Wick: Chuck, you said this was Phase I of a 2 Phase project. Do
you have an estimate of what Phase II will cost?
Mr. Frigon: Yes, I just received it today, at maybe 4:30. About $4,500.
We presently have a server coming into the Town Hall Annex and the
email would be attached to that server.
Ms. King: This is probably not relevant to this particularly, but I know
that this memo says there are no PCs in the Town Clerks Office.
What does the Town Clerks Office use for computers? Are they
accessible to the Towns mainframe?
Mr. Frigon: They are, theyre using emulators, VT100 emulators.
Ms. King: So theres no way to get them email?
Mr. Frigon: Thats correct, until this upcoming budget.
Ms. King: So the next phase might do that?
Mr. Frigon: Yes, the next phase will. We often take our older
computers, computers being replaced, and we try to make one good out
of two or possibly three computers, and that does work. For the short
term we may put something like that into the Town Clerks Office, but at
this point its pretty much useless to them without the related hardware
that goes with the PC. Their emulator works fine for what they do. For
them to move ahead for something other than email would be a large
package. Technologically speaking it would be very costly.
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Ms. Adams: Chuck, when you talked about mailboxes, were you talking
about a mailbox for each department to receive email, or were you talking
about each employee having their own mailbox?
Mr. Frigon: No, I was talking about each department having their own
mailbox, and in some cases, if not most, each department head having a
mailbox. Each employee would not.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
9. Public Participation
None
Mr. Archer, Chairman, Closed Public Participation at 8:36 p.m.
10. Old Business
Mr. Archer: The only one that I had a question on was the Sidewalk Usage which we
covered under a Subcommittee Report earlier.
A. Enforcement of Municipal Ordinances (Tabled 11/20/01)
B. Code of Ethics (referred to Ordinance Subcommittee 12/03/01)
C. Sidewalk Fund Usage (referred to Public Works Subcommittee 01/07/02)
D. Consider Supporting the efforts of the American Cancer Society, Match
Coalition and CCN to repeal CGS language that prohibits municipalities from
regulating smoking in our communities (Tabled 01/07/02)
E. Consider compensation package for Interim Town Manager (Tabled 01/07/02)
11. Executive Session
A. Personnel
B. Pending Litigation
C. Land Acquisition
MOTION (Ms. Adams, sec. Mr. Hebert) to enter into Executive Session at
8:37 p.m. to discuss personnel, pending litigation, and land
acquisition.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
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Present During Executive Session:
Elaine Adams
Lee Archer
Raymond Hebert, Jr.
Robert Kane
Jean King
Raymond Primini
Paul Rinaldi
Paul Valenti
Richard Wick
Charles Frigon, Interim Town Manager
Elisabeth Moore, Trust for Public Land
Frank Nardelli, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director
Ms. Moore left the Executive Session at 9:31 p.m.
Mr. Nardelli left the Executive Session at 9:31 p.m.
Mr. Archer, Chairman, Reconvened the Regular Meeting at 9:54 p.m.
12. Consider Compensation Package for Interim Town Manager
MOTION: (Ms. Adams, sec. Mr. Hebert) to approve the package for the Interim
Town Manager, Charles Frigon, as presented, and this will be part of the
record.
Ms. LaForme (Clerk): I didnt hear the last part of that.
Ms. Adams: As presented . . . .
Mr. Wick: In the stipulation of agreement.
Discussion: Ms. King: I intend to vote against this for reasons which we discussed
for a great deal the last time. I firmly believe in paying people for the
work theyre doing for what the job requires, and I dont think this is
enough money. I think we should be paying what the salary was, was
set for the Town Manager. Its as simple as that. Its for the work
thats being done. Mr. Frigon, at this point, is doing all of the work of
the Town Manager, as well as additional work as the Purchasing
Department.
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Mr. Valenti: Im just going to add to what Jean said. I also am going to vote
no, and not because I dont value the contribution hes making, in fact its
for the opposite. The man is doing the Town Managers position. We have
indicated in the past, at some level we thought that was worth $85,000 ball park
figure a year. I think for the interim, while hes in that position, thats what
hes entitled to, never mind the savings of also attending to his Purchasing
Director. So its not a reflection as to how I perceive Mr. Frigons value.
Its that I dont think that this does him justice, quite honestly. I think we
should pay him what Mr. OConnor was making. I also note that , no Ill
pass. Thank you.
Mr. Wick: On the issue of salary, I just want to make sure in my mind that the
figure that is in the agreement is one that youre comfortable with.
Mr. Frigon: Absolutely.
Mr. Wick: And while I cannot disagree with the philosophy expressed just a
minute ago, if Chuck is comfortable with this, then I think I would be inclined to
vote in favor of the motion.
Mr. Valenti: I said I wasnt going to do this, and Im really not trying to
politicize this issue, I swear to God I am not, however, heres the thing though.
Im viewing it from the mindset of several months ago we had a new Town
Clerk come here, and we said okay, are we going to set the new salary for the
Clerk? And we said well were going to pay her what the current Clerk is
earning, and Mr. Rinaldi made the comment that shes a little below, shes
got a learning curve to come up to, this, that, and the other thing, and we said
that regardless, unanimous as a Council we said, yes, shes new, but shell
get what the Clerk was making. I think its fairly analogous here. I mean, there
may be distinctions, I understand its interim, shes going to be permanent, at
least for the next 4 years, I do see that, but I think its a natural corollary to
what we did at that time. Thats why I think we should do it this time, but . . . . .
Mr. Archer: I can see where you might think that, but there is a clear distinction
between the two. We have chosen to have Chuck act in this role and so we have
authority over that. And while we do have authority over the Town Clerks salary as
well, the Town Clerk was put in place by the voters.
Mr. Valenti: Oh, I agree.
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Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
February 19, 2002
Page 19
Mr. Archer: And the voters decided that this was the person who was best qualified
for that job, regardless of whether we believe that or not. That was something they
agreed to, and that was the salary that that job paid at the time.
Mr. Valenti: I do understand that, Mr. Chairman. And I would just, I guess, further
and finally on the record, I dont want to be taken or characterized as saying that
I dont believe that our current Clerk is capable of doing the job and not entitled to
the salary shes earning. Thats not what Im saying. I just think that its
analogous enough in my mind that we should give Mr. Frigon what the past Town
Manager was making.
Mr. Archer: Anyone else? Any further discussion? Hearing none, move to a vote.
In Favor: Ms. Adams, Mr. Archer, Mr. Hebert, Mr. Kane, Mr. Primini, Mr. Wick
Opposed: Ms. King, Mr. Rinaldi, Mr. Valenti
Abstained: None
MOTION CARRIED (6-3-0)
13. Adjournment
MOTION: (Ms. Adams, sec. Mr. Hebert) to Adjourn the Regular Meeting at 10:00
p.m.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Regular Meeting Adjourned at 10:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lee Archer, Chairman
Watertown Town Council
Approved: _______________________________
Lynn M. LaForme, Clerk |