MINUTES
WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
POLK SCHOOL LIBRARY
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 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 8:01 p.m.
2. Roll Call
Ms. LaForme, Board Clerk, executed the Roll Call.
3. Pledge of Allegiance
Mr. Archer: Usually at this time I lead the Pledge of Allegiance, but tonight we have a treat, we have about 7 members of Cub Scout Pack 76, the Shark Patrol, and they will lead us in the Pledge.
Cub Scout Pack 76 lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
4. Public Participation
Leo Buonocore, Capewell Avenue, Oakville, CT 06779
Mr. Buonocore: I wasn't going to come to the meeting tonight but I had to come to tell the Town Council they're doing a terrific job.
Mr. Archer: Thank you.
Mr. Buonocore: You're getting into areas that other councils ignored for years. Take the issue of the committee being formed to bring new business into Town. I think it's a good idea; let's not forget the old businesses like Copes and the Cercemaggiore Club which pays the Town big taxes. I think they're good for the Town, the two companies. Don't stop at Planning and Zoning, this committee. Look into other commissions in this Town. See if there are commissions that are do nothing commissions that can be eliminated.
For you, Mr. Archer, I attended a meeting about a month ago which you read letters to the editor from the Town Council. I would like to see that a permanent thing on the Council.
Mr. Archer: It has been.
Mr. Buonocore: I remember going back years ago, if I recall, there was a Mayor in New York who used to read the comics to his people on Sunday morning, so I say again, thank you for doing a great job. I think the people should go 100% for you people.
Lynn Marshall, Watertown, CT 06795
Ms. Marshall: I'm here as the Regent of the Trumbull Porter Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution and I'd like to address something that's on our Agenda tonight here. The Trumbull Porter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution Old Town Burying Ground Committee this year has one goal and that is to light up the flag. As many of you know it's the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset unless it's properly illuminated. The United States Federal Flag Code as a matter of fact uses exactly that term. When a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness, and we, of course, desire a patriotic effect. We're also very perturbed at the rise in vandalism in cemeteries all across the country really, and one of the things we'd like to see is this light would help significantly by illuminating the front of the cemetery up by Main Street. We met with Mr. Hickey of Connecticut Light & Power and he proposed a flood light that would cost $17.89 a month with a 14 year rental lease. The light would only shine on the flag and the front part of the cemetery. It would not impact any of the neighbors, it would not be a problem with oncoming traffic or anything along those lines. It would provide security, deter vandalism, and really make the most of our beautiful cemetery.
We're a non profile organization, we have no permanent address, and we're asking for your help in this matter. Our Chapter has a lot of things planned for this cemetery. We've been around for almost 100 years now and the cemetery, the old Town burying ground, has been our bailiwick since we were formed, and we'd like to replace the iron fence, or replace it with a stone wall, we'd like to eventually bring water into the cemetery. We had a lot of help from the Watertown Foundation, the Woodward Fund, the Thomaston Savings Bank, individual people who have left us very small endowments, past residents. We've been able to remove trees and stumps and repair the stone wall, repair headstones, provide general maintenance, but in this matter we really need your help. I thank you for your time.
Mr. Buonocore: I'm also in favor of the lights for the cemetery.
Mr. Archer, Chairman, Closed Public Participation at about 8:09 p.m.
5. Minutes
A. Regular Meeting Minutes – October 21, 2002
MOTION: (Ms. Adams, sec. Mr. Kane) to Approve the Regular Meeting Minutes dated October 21, 2002 as amended.
Discussion: Ms. Adams: Page 32, the fifth paragraph should be Ms. King, not Ms. Adams.
MOTION PASSED UNANINOUSLY
6. Sub-Committee Reports
Mr. Archer: They're actually not listed here but we have two, one is - I will give a report on the Manager's Search Subcommittee, and Ray, you guys had a Facilities Committee and Public Buildings Committee joint meeting.
Ms. Adams: We also had a Public Works Subcommittee meeting.
A. Town Manager Search Committee
Mr. Archer: We are all set for interviews next weekend. We have 6 candidates who've been already bedded through the consultant that we hired and we're bringing them into Town on Friday. Each one is going to be given, I guess, a driving tour of the Town by some good citizens who volunteered to do that. Each one of them is going to take exactly the same route and see the same thing so everyone comes away with the exact same impression hopefully.
Then Saturday we will interview each of those 6; it's a day long process. On Sunday we'll conduct second interviews with a smaller group and then shortly after that we'll decide who our next Town Manager is going to be.
B. Ordinance Subcommittee
Mr. Wick: We will try and schedule a meeting for some time next week, depending on the schedule of the members of the Subcommittee. The main item will be to begin the process of reviewing the codification book that we just received, and I brought it just to prove we actually got it, after 3 years in the making, and our challenge here is to make sure that it says what we intend, and then it will become the bible so to speak for all of the ordinances in Town. We'll also address a couple of the other projects that we've been assigned at the same meeting.
Ms. King: Is that going to be on computer, on line, on the web site eventually?
Mr. Frigon: Yes.
Ms. King: Did the consultant give it to us that way?
Mr. Frigon: No, this is a proof at this point.
Ms. King: But they will give it to us?
Mr. Frigon: They will give it to us, yes, that's part of our contract.
C. Business Development Subcommittee
Mr. Kane: Mr. Buonocore, thank you for the positive remark. It is partly for business recruitment, however it is very much so for business retention so in no way we will forget the existing businesses that support Watertown. We did have our first meeting tonight and it was actually very good, very productive, because the members as well as the Town Manager threw out some ideas on what our goals and objectives will be. We have plans to meet with the Economic Development Commission as well as the Planning and Zoning and some other boards and commissions to begin our process and our mission in where we want to go. It was a very productive meeting and I look forward to working with the members and the business community at large.
D. Facilities Subcommittee
Mr. Primini: We met last Wednesday, October 30th, along with the Public Buildings Committee along with the Fire Department Building Committee to discuss the possible additions to the two firehouses. I think what we're going to be looking forward to eventually along with the issues that we had previously with Baldwin and Griffin School, some of the things that we've got to approach the Town Council as far as having a Town, public meeting on this so the public can see exactly what we're doing, where we're going. One of our key things is we're trying to prioritize what we're going to do with these buildings, and what's the top priority and work down. It eventually will come to a Town vote as to what we're going to be doing with these buildings.
Mr. Archer: Do you have any sense of a timeframe, when you're going to make some recommendations to us or no?
Mr. Primini: We should be making them pretty shortly now that everything is in the planning stages. We have all the planning books available for both Baldwin, Griffin, and the Fire Department formally presented their proposals last week so we're making some big headway now. Slow, but I guess that's Town government.
7. Chairman's Report
A. Correspondence
Mr. Archer: It's from the Office of Policy & Management, State of Connecticut:
"On behalf of Governor Rowland I'm happy to inform you the Town of Watertown has been awarded a $500,000 grant through the Small Town Economic Assistance Program for the expansion and reconstruction project of the track at Watertown High School."
Mr. Archer: It goes on to say more stuff, and is signed by Mark Ryan, the Secretary of that Department.
B. Facts and Fallacies
Mr. Archer: This is where I sort of address some of the letters in the paper, and not only most of the ones that I've read it's usually because I have some, kind of take issue with something that was said or need to clarify of correct something that's been said. In this case I guess this would come under the part where it says Facts. The writer here says "the Town Council has formed a new committee to scrutinize the decisions of the Zoning Commission to see if" actually this letter is both fact and fallacy, I'll split them out. "The Town Council has formed a new committee to scrutinize the decisions of the Zoning Commission to see if it and Town officials are working towards the same end. In the vernacular of the street, what a crock." So thank you to either the writer or the editor of the paper for shortening that expression. It's a little bit of a fallacy because that is not the sole purpose of the commission. As Mr. Kane, who is Chairman of that commission can tell you, the ideas is to get all of the departments to be working in sync a little more and to make sure, you know, there is a perception out there that P & Z is sort of anti business, and whether or not that's true or it's simply anecdotal information that's something that we need to find out, because that is the information that is out there in the business community, not only in the Town but outside of the Town, and that prevents people from coming into Town with their businesses. It says "The Town and Town Council have no authority over the Zoning Board and the Zoning Enforcement Officer. According to a court decision involving the City of Monroe and State Statutes the Zoning Commission's dealings are sacrosanct. In other words the Zoning Commission has total autonomy if they so desire." That unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, is pretty much true.
Here's the interesting part, though. It says "the Town Council should enforce the Town Charter, Section 707 concerning expenditures by commissions, departments, and boards. That is if the Council has one iota of intestinal fortitude". I can only imagine that the writer is talking about some expenditures on legal fees that appear to have been created by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the question of who authorized those was somewhat a point of debate over the past couple of meetings. And what he goes on to say is the Town Charter basically says that no Commission, Officer, or Board can involve the Town in any obligation to spend money for any purpose unless it has been approved and voted on by the Council, and there is some question as to whether or not that was done. And that section of the Charter further goes on to say that every payment made in violation of the provision of this Charter shall be deemed illegal and every official authorizing or making such payment shall be jointly and severally liable to the Town for the full amount. It's basically saying that if they authorize the purchase that the Council did not authorize, then they're liable to pay that themselves. We don't have an obligation as a Town to pay that bill.
So the question was whether or not we had the intestinal fortitude, so I had Mr. Frigon pull any bills that were sort of part of that disputed expenditure and the only one we came up with was one, we've only received one bill. In fact the disputed meetings we have received no bills for, so as much as I think we have the intestinal fortitude to look into those expenditures if they ever show up, and those invoices if they ever show up, they have not at this point, so we can sort of move on from there. But it's always good when a citizen points out something we may have missed. I think we've all read the Charter, but very few of us have memorized it or have the time to pour over it on a regular basis, so I think any citizen who brings something forward that we may have missed on or may have erred on is important and a good thing, so kudos to that writer.
C. Other
Mr. Archer: It is Election Eve so everyone please get out there and exercise what I feel is an obligation to vote. Vote however you want, pull whatever levers you feel you need to, that's fine with me. I'd rather you pull certain ones, but please go out there and exercise your right to vote. Thank you.
8. Action Items
A. Consider Appointments to Boards and Commission
The terms of various boards and commissions have expired or are expiring. Appointments must be made to fill these vacancies.
None
B. Discussion Regarding Open Space Grant Application (Tabled)
The State of Connecticut DEP has formally announced the Fall, 2002 Open Space and Land Acquisition Grant Program which is available to Connecticut municipalities and political subdivision. The Council will discuss the direction of the grant and possible appropriate sites to pursue.
MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to Remove from the Table discussion regarding the Open Space Grant Application.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANINOUSLY
Mr. Frigon: Several questions were asked at the last Town Council meeting, the first being how much money was allocated to the Open Space Grant this year. The answer to that is $13,000,000; $6,500,000 is available on November 14th, that's the deadline application. The rest of the funding will be made available to the communities in approximately the end of February, beginning of March of next year, so this is half now and half later for this fiscal year.
Secondly it was asked that if Land Trusts have ever worked successfully with municipalities, and the answer according to the DEP is yes. It's quite often done, and it's more often than not very successful. The Land Trusts do indeed submit the application. They do file the deed eventually, the deed is filed in their name. What has been most successful is the Town afterwards, for their financial participation in the beginning and for their cooperation in maintenance and keeping the property open and maintained, they are listed as a 50% deed holder after the deed is filed, so that has been somewhat successful. At this point to file for November 14th, neither the Land Trust, I'm told, and you do have a letter in front you, nor the Town of Watertown, neither of us are in a position to file an application at this point, but we certainly can be and will be at your direction for the February/March application.
Legal research on whether the Town's Open Space Fund can contributed towards the purchase of land, that hasn't been given to me yet. Randy is researching that and he is hopeful to have it by the next meeting.
The Land Trust in the letter that they have provided to the Town Council is in short requesting at some future meeting, hopefully sooner than later, an opportunity to discuss with the Town Council the prospect of the Town supporting their application and would be very happy to get into some very specific details as to the exact property they're looking at, what it's going to cost, what our reimbursement would be, what their timetables are, how much research they have done on the application, and they would like to share all of that with you to hopefully bring this request to a decision.
Ms. King: Are these 50/50 grants?
Mr. Frigon: Yes.
Ms. King: So whatever one would ask the State for they would, 50% of the cost would come from the State, I mean 50% to the State, 50% local. Is there a cap on the size of these grants that's given out by the State?
Mr. Frigon: No, there is not.
Mr. Archer: Do we have to indicate to the State our intention to appropriate the additional 50% of whatever it is we're asking for?
Mr. Frigon: No, it is the Land Trust that is looking for your support at this point, in both their fund-raising, but more importantly at this point, the whole concept of the Land Trust actually being the applicant as opposed to the Town. It's that concept that they're anxious to discuss.
Mr. Kane: In the letter from the Watertown Land Trust it mentions that the money in the Open Space Fund is contributed by developers in lieu of making a donation of land from their subdivision. Is that typical and appropriate?
Mr. Frigon: Yes, absolutely. The question arises in the legal opinion has been asked can we actually use that money contributing to a Land Trust purchase.
Ms. King: One or the other has to be the applicant. The Land Trust and Watertown together couldn't jointly apply for this?
Mr. Frigon: That has been done, but according to Dave Steiger of DEP, not very successfully. It muddies the water if you will.
Ms. King: But it might clear the waters on our using the Town's Open Space money as a match. That was my thought, if our name was on it.
Mr. Right: Right and that would be done by Resolution in giving them the money, a Resolution would accompany that donation saying that if the land is acquired then would the Town be a shareholder on that deed.
Ms. King: Rather than having us both apply?
Mr. Frigon: Exactly.
Mr. Archer: So I might be a little slow, or maybe I just don't remember the Motion for the last meeting, but I'm not sure exactly what we're voting . . . . .
Mr. Frigon: It's discussion only. What I'm looking for this evening, to specifically, the Land Trust is looking for an invitation to hopefully the next Town Council meeting to discuss this in greater detail.
Mr. Archer: I thought we did that last time.
Mr. Frigon: Well they would like to do it with you and they would like to have an open discussion rather than just Public Participation (inaudible). They want to share the property they're looking at, the cost of the property, why they want it.
Ms. Adams: That sounds like Executive Session.
Mr. Frigon: It would be an Executive Session and then whatever vote came from it would come after Executive Session.
Ms. Adams: Could we do something like that before our next meeting?
Mr. Archer: Yes. That makes a lot of sense.
Mr. Frigon: I can set up something at your direction, just tell me what night.
Mr. Archer: Are they going to be ready in 2 weeks?
Mr. Frigon: Oh yes.
Mr. Archer: Why don't we do it at the next Town Council meeting up front, instead of at 11:00 p.m. and we're a little more coherent.
Mr. Frigon: We do have a Special Town Meeting later on this Agenda that will be set for 7:30, so this should be at 7:00.
Mr. Archer: Just continue to be Tabled, cause there's no resolution here?
Mr. Frigon: Exactly, it's not even Tabled. We have the discussion, it's the end of discussion, or you can Table it.
Mr. Archer: So we can just move on, correct?
C. Consider an Appropriation from the General Fund for the Purchase of Computer Equipment
The Police Department was successful in obtaining a $4,000 grant. Accounting procedures mandate that all deposits go directly into the General Fund. The Town Council is asked to appropriate this deposit into a Police Department line item.
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the Watertown Police Department's application from the State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management has received $4,000 for a Block Grant for the purchase computer equipment.
WHEREAS, grant monies have been received and deposited into the General Fund.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Watertown Town Council hereby authorizes the appropriation of $4,000 from the General Fund to line item 010-50561-019-1301.
Dated at Watertown, Connecticut this 4th day of November, 2002.
Lee Archer, Chairman
Watertown town Council
MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Ms. Adams) to approve a Resolution outlining an appropriation from the General Fund for the purchase of computer equipment be approved.
Discussion: Mr. Archer: I know I want to make clear here for those of you who are watching on TV and don't have an Agenda in front of you, it says here that the Police Department was successful in obtaining a $4,000 grant. Accounting procedures mandate that all deposits go directly in the General Fund. The Town Council is being asked to appropriate this deposit into a Police Department line item so they can spend the grant that they applied for and received. The important thing to note there is that this is not simply yanking money out of the General Fund to buy computer equipment for the Police. This is an accounting procedure; money in, money back out.
MOTION PASSED UNANINOUSLY
D. Consider Authorization for Funding for the Rental of a Floodlight
The DAR, custodians of the Old Main Street Cemetery, are requesting Town Council consideration for the Town to rent from CL&P a utility pole mounted floodlight to illuminate the burial ground flag.
MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to authorize the funding for the rental of a floodlight located at the old cemetery on Main Street as requested.
Discussion: Mr. Wick: I'm all in favor of having the flag lit during the hours of darkness so that it can be up 24 hours a day, but I am concerned about the type of lighting that's being proposed. I'd appreciate it if we could put it in perspective, and the only way I can think of doing that is to reflect on the lighting that's on the flag on the Town Green, and if the wattage that's being proposed is the same as the wattage on the Town Green, which I think looks fine. Does anybody know?
Mr. Frigon: I can tell you that initially in our discussions with CL&P what was taken into consideration was the distance from the pole to the flag, the amount of illumination required for security, and the amount of illumination required to enhance at night the burial grounds. This is what CL&P had suggested be the best fixture. As you can see in your packet there are a number of fixtures available to us. I can, at your direction, and certainly will, have additional discussion with CL&P to make sure that it is not more offensive, that it is not more costly than need be to achieve those goals.
Mr. Wick: That would be helpful, I think.
Mr. Frigon: It may be a good idea to ask them to put something up so that we know that we like it, not in that we won't have anything but we'll try one or the other.
Mr. Wick: There are 2 other issues. One is whether this is down lighting, which is becoming more and more popular to keep from lighting up the sky at night, and the other question is whether there's any need to discuss any regulations that the Fire District might have with respect to (Tape #1, Side A ended – may have missed some).
Mr. Frigon: No, I didn't even think about contacting the Fire District, but I'll do that as well. You should also note that prior to going to CL&P we had an electrician in to look at the possibility of bringing our own service in and it was extremely expensive, not to say anything of being able to dig in that area, so this seemed to be our only alternative, but I will certainly do that. It's a good point.
Mr. Rinaldi: I think that all we're doing is passing the dollar amount and I think if there are any other concerns, and you brought up some good ones, I think that that is up to the Fire District to deal with on a separate basis. I don't think it's our concern here.
Ms. Adams: I agree. I would like to see us proceed forward if we're going to do it and have Chuck work out the details just to make sure that all of the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed. Maybe even get it less expensive than (inaudible).
Mr. Kane: Has there been vandalism at the cemetery?
Mr. Frigon: Oh absolutely, yes, quite a bit. Thanks to the Boy Scouts, and I encourage you guys to continue to do it, have been very, very active over the last 14 years now in cleaning that cemetery. There was one point from Depot Street you couldn't see into it. At that point there was a great deal of vandalism. The Boy Scouts came in once a year for maybe the past 11 or 12 years and have donated a day or two a year and have made a significant impact on making the cemetery more visible to the public at night and has greatly reduced the amount of vandalism. So thank you, guys, and I hope you keep it up as a future, it's a good project.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
E. Consider Setting Town Meeting Date, Time, and Place for the Appropriation of Funds for a Water Main to be Installed on Winthrop Street
The Water and Sewer Authority has approved an agreement for the participation in the funding of water service to a lot on Winthrop Street. Appropriations over $25,000 require Special Town Meeting approval. A date will be set for the meeting.
MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Ms. Adams) to approve a Special Meeting be held on November 18, 2002 at 7:30 p.m. at the Polk School Library to consider an appropriation for a water main to be installed on Winthrop Street for the amount of $25,000.
Discussion: Ms. King: Is there a benefit to this beyond the two people for whom it's being constructed?
Mr. Frigon: Frank will attend the Public Hearing and explain the exact details of who's benefiting and why the vote was affirmative (inaudible).
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
F. Consider Authorization for the Purchase of a Maintenance Agreement for the SCADA System utilized by the Water and Sewer Department
Town Council approval is requested for authorizing the Water and Sewer Authority to purchase an annual maintenance/service agreement for the SCADA computer system which is in excess of $4,000.
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Town Council approval is required for awarding service contracts in excess of $4,000.
WHEREAS, Town Council Authorization is required for any purchase exceeding $4,000 that has not been independently bid by the Town's Purchasing Agent; and
WHEREAS, the Water and Sewer Department purchased a Bristol Babcock Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system that was installed in 1999 to control the water and sewer pump stations and other facilities; and
WHEREAS the Bristol Babcock equipment is proprietary in nature and requires routine maintenance to continue to operate reliably. It is vital for public safety and protection to have this equipment functional and repaired as soon as outages occur; and
WHEREAS, Bristol Babcock, a Watertown company, quoted a maintenance contract for one year at $5,208.00; and
WHEREAS, the Water and Sewer Authority voted and approved at a meeting held on October 15, 2002 a request that the Town Council authorize the purchase of the proprietary maintenance agreement and equipment engineered and supplied by a Watertown company.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Watertown Town Council hereby approves the purchase of a maintenance contract for one year from Bristol Babcock for the Water and Sewer Authority's SCADA System.
Dated in Watertown, Connecticut this 4th day of November, 2002.
Lee Archer, Chairman
Watertown Town Council
MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to approve the Resolution authorizing the purchase of a maintenance agreement for the SCADA system utilized by the Water and Sewer Department be approved.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
G. Consider Tax Refunds
The Town Council is being asked to approve the refunding of the overpayment of property taxes.
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Taxpayers have made application for the property Tax Refunds in accordance with Section 12-129 Refund of Excess Payment; and
WHEREAS, the Tax Collector recommends that the Refunds be made in accordance with the provisions of Section 12-129;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Council approves the following Tax Refunds:
948 Washington Mutual Amount of Refund: $ 60.51
Attn: Kevin Todd Type R
2210 Enterprise Drive
P.O. Box 100563
Florence, SC 29501-0000
Reason for Refund: Duplicate Payment
952 Washington Mutual Amount of Refund: $ 89.18
Attn: Kevin Todd Type R
2210 Enterprise Drive
P.O. Box 100563
Florence, SC 29501-0000
Reason for Refund: Duplicate Payment
1180 Oakledge Farm Amount of Refund: $252.57
388 Hamilton Avenue Type R
Watertown, CT 06795-0000
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Deleted
1193 Gallucci, Mark, A. Amount of Refund: $ 4.01
494 Woodbury Road Type M
Watertown, CT 06795-5172
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Prorated
1194 Yurchyk, William Amount of Refund: $ 18.61
23 Buckingham Court Type M
Oakville, CT 06779-9173
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Prorated
1195 Bancamerica Auto Finance Amount of Refund: $240.76
P.O. Box 2269 Type M
Brea, CA 92822-2269
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Prorated
1196 BTRAC Leasing Corp. Amount of Refund: $172.83
P.O. Box 2240 Type M
Brea, CA 92822-2240
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Prorated
1197 Curulla, Frank Amount of Refund: $ 4.99
33 Lancaster Street Type M
Oakville, CT 06779-9201
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Assessed Value Decreased
1201 Nationsbanc Auto Leasing, Inc. Amount of Refund: $ 51.34
10401 Deerwood Park Boulevard Type M
Jacksonville, FL 32256-0505
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Assessed Value Decreased
1203 Nissan Motor Acceptance Amount of Refund: $121.42
990 West 190th Street Type M
Torrance, CA 90502-1014
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Prorated
1204 Nissan Motor Acceptance Amount of Refund: $147.36
990 West 190th Street Type M
Torrance, CA 90502-1014
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Prorated
1206 UB Vehicle Leasing, Inc. Agent Amount of Refund: $135.62
125 Summer Street Type M
Boston, MA 02110-1616
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Prorated
1207 UB Vehicle Leasing, Inc. Agent Amount of Refund: $ 91.02
125 Summer Street Type M
Boston, MA 02110-1616
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Prorated
1208 UB Vehicle Leasing, Inc. Agent Amount of Refund: $100.33
125 Summer Street Type M
Boston, MA 02110-1616
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Prorated
1209 Albert, Donald, S. Sr. Amount of Refund: $ 12.46
46 Neill Drive Type M
Watertown, CT 06795-5170
Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Account Deleted
Total for All Refunds $1,503.01
Dated at Watertown, CT this 31st day of October, 2002.
_________________________
Lee Archer, Chairman
Watertown Town Council
MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) that the Tax Refunds be approved as presented.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
9. Old Business
Ms. King: We had in our packet a letter to us personally from Emergency Medical Services, or was I the only one that had it?
Ms. Archer: I don't have that.
Ms. King: I'm the only one. It's to me personally from the Medical Directors of Northwest Connecticut EMS about some legislation and they want to meet with us. Perhaps I can pass it on to you and you can determine . . . . .
Mr. Frigon: What legislation are they talking about?
Ms. King: Something about EMS services in Town.
Mr. Frigon: That's a real contentious item right now.
Ms. King: Something that's happened where they've passed something.
Mr., Frigon: Yes, they did.
Ms. King: They want to meet with somebody in the Town about it.
Mr. Frigon: If it's the item that I'm thinking about I would encourage that you do (inaudible).
Mr. Hebert: It sounds like a EMD, Emergency Dispatching.
Ms. King: There was something in there about requiring a lot of reporting and accounting of things. I thought we all got it, I'm sorry.
A. Code of Ethics (referred to Ordinance Subcommittee)
B. Consider the Appointment of One or More Ordinance Enforcement Hearing Officers Pursuant to Ordinance #04-15-02-248
C. Noise Ordinance
D. Fishing and Boating Ordinance
E. Local Preference Ordinance
F. Codification
Mr. Archer: Under Old Business, I don't think there's anything here specifically we need to revisit.
MOTION: (Ms. Adams, sec. Mr. Hebert) to Add Agenda Item 9G, Public Participation.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
G. Public Participation
Mr. Archer: Normally there is listed a second period of Public Participation which was inadvertently left off the Agenda this week, so we just added it to the Agenda.
Leo Buonocore, Capewell Avenue, Oakville, CT 06779
Mr. Buonocore: I have a little information on flagpoles. I do a littler work at Old Farms in Watertown and they just installed a flagpole. We added light underneath it, 5,000 watt. It's a light that just hits the top of the flagpole, and it seems to work beautifully. I'm just giving you some information.
Mr. Frigon: (Inaudible) that's not possible. We would like that, but that's not possible.
Mr. Buonocore: On the cemetery again, I wish the Council would look into the landlord next to the cemetery. He has dumpsters on the back side lined up against the rear side of the cemetery and the dumpsters go overboard quite often, and the wind blows a lot of that debris into the corner of the cemetery. I'm going from the floodlight to this problem but this should be looked into too. We're trying to get that place cleaned up and the landlord next door is not helping.
Mr. Archer: Is that on the Depot Street side, or the Main Street side?
Mr. Buonocore: Depot. You go by there you'll see 2 or 3 dumpsters, and they overflow on the weekends. You can look into that when you're looking into the flag lighting. I'm all for improving that corner too. I think it's an historical cemetery and it should be treated that way. Thank you.
Mr. Archer: It may just be a point of having a larger dumpster so it doesn't overflow, and they need a larger one, so we'll look into that.
Dorothy Fairchild, Winthrop Street, Watertown, CT 06795
Ms. Fairchild: My son-in-law and daughter-in-law own the property on Winthrop Street that's on the Agenda. They couldn't make it tonight, but I am the person who is going to build a residence on that lot that has no sewer or water. I thought I heard the date November 18th for the vote, is that right?
Mr. Hebert: That's for the Public Hearing at 7:30 here.
Mr. Frigon: That's for the vote also.
Ms. Fairchild: And who will vote? The people who attend the meeting?
Mr. Nardelli: Yes, that's correct.
Ms. Fairchild: Since I'll be responsible to pay the cost up front for the project and then be reimbursed before we build, I was just wondering if you had any timeframe for repayment?
Mr. Frigon: Until it goes to the public we don't even have the monies allocated, so to speak of repayment at this time is a little premature, but we're generally pretty responsible when it comes to those obligations.
Mr. Rinaldi: I might be able to shed a little light on that. I don't know how they do it now, but the (inaudible) we did in the past is they would take that amount of money, see what it would cost for the Town to borrow that money at a lower interest rate, and then give you the benefits of that payment plan, so they try to make it as easy and as least expensive as they can for you. (Inaudible).
Ms. Fairchild: That's better than I expected.
Mr. Rinaldi: (Inaudible).
Ms. Fairchild: Earlier you spoke about bringing businesses in; it's sort of a similar thing to bring people in to build homes and pay taxes here. Right? Okay, thank you.
James Wynn
Mr. Wynn: This is a tax issue. Recently I was in a position where I needed to have a motor vehicle registered and I was notified that I had a past due tax bill here in Watertown. The bill goes back to 1995. I am not in a position to dispute the tax bill because I had been incarcerated from early 1998 until this past year, but I'm asking for leniency in the form of some form of refund on some of the interest on this tax bill.
Mr. Archer: Can you say that again?
Mr. Wynn: I said I'm not in a position to dispute the tax bill . . . .
Mr. Archer: Right, I got that part.
Mr. Wynn: Okay, but I am asking for some form of leniency, in maybe a partial refund for some of the interest on this tax bill, cause the total of the tax bill, basically half of it is interest. Now I had been under the impression that I had cleared up these bills before I had been incarcerated. I had renewed registrations since I moved from the address that these bills were incurred from. I understand I am responsible for all my bills and I never have had a problem with that, but this bill had not been brought to my attention and usually Motor Vehicle is pretty prompt in letting you know if you have anything outstanding, they'll let you know. I'm having a rough time just getting back on my feet again, that's all, you know?
Mr. Archer: Chuck, I don't know if we've ever done anything like that. Can you check into whether or not we've done that?
Mr. Rinaldi: Yes once or twice since I've been on this Council we have excused people form the interest they owed, not the tax, but we have excused them from the interest when there's an undue hardship. We had a woman who had some real problems, with medical expenses several years ago, and her child, and it went on an on, I don't remember all the details, but again we excused, to help her get back on her feet, we excused her from he interest. That the Council can do, not the tax itself, right, so I think we do have a little bit of leeway, and that's up to the Council. I'm not saying we should or shouldn't, I'm saying yes, we have that right, and it's usually based on, like I said, hardship, which in this case he has.
Mr. Archer: If you could work with Chuck Frigon, our Interim Town Manager, to get him all the details and information, you know background information on this, and I think it's an item we can, assuming you get all of that and it all makes sense, Chuck, (inaudible) next meeting.
Mr. Frigon: For the next Agenda.
Mr. Archer: Yes.
Lynn Marshall, Watertown, CT 06795
Ms. Marshall: I just wanted to say thank you while I'm here. Thank you very much.
Mr. Archer, Chairman, Closed Public Participation at 8:48 p.m.
Mr. Archer: I forgot one thing that I wanted to bring up under the Chairman's Report, just a News Release from the Connecticut Department of Transportation. They have announced that there will be a Public Information Meeting held on Thursday November 7, 2002 concerning the proposed replacement of a culvert that carries Route 63 over a stream, just south of Edgewood Avenue, right near the Chubba's Plaza. It comes out right where Neil's Auto Body on the other side of the street. If you have any interest in that, or you want to come by, the State D.O.T. will be here to give everyone information on that project.
11. Executive Session
A. Legal Matters
MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to enter into Executive Session at 8:50 p.m. for the purpose of legal matters with the 9 Town Council Members and the Interim Town Manager.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
The following people attended the Executive Session:
Elaine Adams
Lee Archer
Raymond Hebert
Robert Kane
Jean King
Raymond Primini
Paul Rinaldi
Paul Valenti
Richard Wick
Charles Frigon
Mr. Archer, Chairman, Reconvened the Regular Meeting at 9:07 p.m.
No Motions Were Made; No Votes Were Taken.
12. Adjournment
MOTION: (Mr. Kane, sec. Ms. Adams) to Adjourn the Regular Meeting at 9:08 p.m.
Discussion: None
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Regular Meeting Adjourned at 9:08 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lee Archer, Chairman
Watertown Town Council
Approved: _______________________________
Lynn M. LaForme, Clerk |