MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Location: file:///C:/E8E3BD6E/011607TCRMMIN.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" MINUTES

 

MINUTES

 

WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL

REGU= LAR MEETING

 

WATERTOWN HIGH SCHOOL

TECHNOLOGY ROOM

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2007, 7:30 P.M.

 

 

PRESENT:            =             &nb= sp;    Elaine Adams

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Carl Mancini

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Joseph Pawlak, Chairman

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Suzan Plowman

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Raymond Primini

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Paul Rinaldi, Vice Chairman

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Jack Walton

 

ABSENT:             =             &nb= sp;     Antonio Guerrera

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Robert Kane

 

OTHERS PRESENT:            Chuck Frigon, Town Manager

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Dave Minnich, Chairman, Planning and Zoning Commission

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Carolyn Nadeau, Tax Assessor

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Frank Nardelli, Acting Town Manager/Finance Director

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Franklin Pilicy, Town Attorney

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Robert Porter, Chairman, Public Buildings Committee

 

 

1.&nb= sp;        Call Meeting To Order

 

Mr. = Pawlak, Chairman, Called the Meeting to Order at 7:30 p.m.

 

2.&nb= sp;        Roll Call

 

Ms. LaForme, Board Clerk, executed the Roll Call.

 

3.         Pledge of Allegi= ance

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Pawlak, Chairman, led the Pledge of Allegiance.

= Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 2

 

4.&nb= sp;        Public Participation

 

            Coreine Peluso, 365 Buckingham Street, Wate= rtown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

 

      = ;      Ms. Peluso:  I attended a Cable Advisory Board meeting about a week and a half ago.  There was a newspaper article abou= t a citizen in an outrage about the services, about (inaudible) being dropped, about pr= ices going up, whatever.  I expecte= d at that time the Cable is looking for a license to renew their (inaudible) wha= tever it's called.  I expected at th= is meeting that I would find some representation from the Town of Watertown.  Well I didn't.  That surprised me.  I have major seniors calling me up= in the last couple of months complaining and I know we have a Cable Advisory B= oard so I'm very concerned about this.  They had in (inaudible) where and went over to the Secretary of this Board and he said would you tell me where the representatives are from Watertown, being Watertown is the second largest town in I believe in this area the cable covers.  She said we haven't seen represent= atives from Watertown in months.  I went ahhh.  So who do the people have to compl= ain, and what are you people doing (inaudible) people= out there?  She said they're all complaining about cable, how they have dropped stations without asking their constituents, whatever, and she said we're here to listen to all the complaints.  I said okay, I wi= ll sit here and listen and I said nobody informed you.  She said to be very honest with yo= u, I do not know, can't you serve right now?&nb= sp; No, I can't.  So she sa= id well (inaudible) decide whether to, Watertown has no representation.  We're = trying to (inaudible) whether to renew the license.  So I said I'm concerned about this because I know it has a lot (inaudible) I'm very involved with the elderly = and (inaudible) on them.  You know we get aggravated, I'm not saying that we all do this, but I've gotten aggravated = and called corporate headquarters and they didn't even bother returning my call.  I said I have (inaudibl= e) bringing this information (inaudible) because of the seniors who have calle= d me and said some people at least have the opportunity to go to satellite dish.  We can't do anything bu= t try to take their license away, and there was a major petition that people had signed, there had to be I'm guessing 2,000 people.  The only town that was not represe= nted was Watertown, except for me.  I said we can'= t, they had people from the table from the corporation they had there they were answering questions, but they seemed to give no satisfaction.  It's not my job to serve on this B= oard and I would have gladly stayed there and fought with them because I think t= hat their service is not (inaudible).  One man even said you talk about the electrical and oil and gas bills that have gone up, he researched it and said cable has gone up more times in the past, as long as we've had them, 15 years, than any other services.  (Inaudible).  You own your own home but you can = go with another cable, you can go with a satellite dish, but if you live in a = rent or the 3 elderly housing buildings we have, can you put a satellite dish?  So you're stuck with cable, and ex= actly what they did was they literally told, they took away a channel that the seniors watch, they didn't take it away, they just (inaudible) if you don't want to pay $5.00 to $6.00 more every month from your basic, so this would raise their normal bill up, $5.00 to $7.00 to get one channel because they = know this is the channel that the seniors watch and the excuse that they gave wa= s we get no money, there's no advertising, so someone came up and said but what happens to your channels (inaudible) 5 minutes of advertisement and then co= me 11:30, 12:00 until the next morning at 8:00 a.m. all you have is (inaudible) programming.  I believe we hav= e to have some kind of leverage and now is the time t= o hold these people to (inaudible).  = We should be represented, I don't know why we're not.  Thank you.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 3

 

 

            Sam McCleary, 200 Straits Turnpike= , Watertown, CT  06795=

 

      = ;      Mr. McCleary:  In reference to= the sewer project, I have a little bit of difficulty seeing $380,000 being spen= t, most of a lot of which are (inaudible) for 9 houses to put a sewer in, when only 2 people in those 9 houses said they wanted it.  Of those people not 1 said they ac= tually need it.  One said it would en= hance her lifestyle and the other said it would be a good idea.  I think it would be a good idea to= spend the $380,000 to maybe put turf on the Mills Field.

 

            Mark Fusco, 135 Straits Turnpike, = Watertown, CT  06795=

 

      = ;      Mr. Fusco:  I'm here about Ite= m 10B, Straits Turnpike Extension.  A= s you know Sam McCleary was the one who suggested that this project be shortened = to include this portion of Straits Turnpike and exclude his property (inaudible).  I'd just like to= say that keep in mind this project has been approved now 3 times by Water & Sewer.  We've had 3 public hea= rings, we've hired Franklin Pilicy to render a legal opinion on this manner of fun= ding and the proper way to fund the project and different methods of funding that have been used in the past.  W= e paid over $50,000 in engineering design costs, we paid for 2 appraisals and the appraiser's time at 2 out of the 3 public hearings, we've had Bob Smith from the Health Department out there at the request of the Water & Sewer Authority, we've had Moosa Rafey out there at the request of the Water & Sewer Authority, they reported to Water & Sewer they feel this project = is warranted and is a good project.  Yes, there were 2 people for this project at the last public hearing, there were also other people that did not appear and say that they were against it or = for it.  I would assume that if th= ey're not against it, if they were against it, adamantly against it that they wou= ld probably have made some effort to let the Water & Sewer know that.  They were all notified by register= ed letter once and originally when this project was first brought to their attention.  The funding resolu= tion that's been sent to you tonight has been really beaten to death.  I mean (inaudible) hundred differe= nt ways to discuss it in length at several Water & Sewer meetings and feel that this is a very fair and equitable way to distribute the cost of this property among not only the taxpayers that are using water and sewer, but taxpayers who aren't using water and sewer, taxpayers who will never be abl= e to get water and sewer, as well as the sewer extension fund which is basically= set up for this type of project and to the assessments which are from the resid= ents who are directly affected. I would hope that you take all of this into cons= ideration when you decide tonight whether to go forward with the Town Meeting to not = and if you have any questions during the discussion, Id' be happy to answer them because I probably have more knowledge on this particular project than anyo= ne else.  Thank you.

 

            Mr. Pawlak, Chairman, Closed Public Participation at 7:46 p.m.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 4

 

 

5.&nb= sp;        Minutes=

 

        &= nbsp;   A.        Public Hearing Minutes – January 2, 2007

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     MOTION:       (Mr. = Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to Approve the Public Hearing M= inutes dated January 2, 2007 as presented.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Discussion:       None<= /p>

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     In Favor:      &= nbsp;   Ms. Adams, Mr. Mancini, Mr. Pawlak, Ms. Plowman, Mr. Rinaldi, Mr. Walton

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Opposed:         = None

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Abstained:        Mr. Primini

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION CARRIED (6-0-1)

 

        &= nbsp;   B.         = Regular Meeting Minutes – January 2, 2007

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to Approve the Regular Meeting Minutes dated January 2, 2007 as presented.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Discussion:       None<= /p>

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     In Favor:      &= nbsp;   Ms. Adams, Mr. Mancini, Mr. Pawlak, Ms. Plowman, Mr. Rinaldi, Mr. Walton

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Opposed:         = None

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Abstained:        Mr. Primini

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION CARRIED (6-0-1)

 

6.&nb= sp;        Chairman’s Report

 

A.        Correspondence

 

            1.         = Resignation Letter from George Velezis from the Planning and Zoning Commission and Econ= omic Development Commission, December 18, 2006.

            2.         = Letter from Ron Jones, Re:  Intention= not to serve another tem on the Conservation Commission/Inland Wetlands Agency, December 27, 2006.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 5

 

 

            Mr. Pawlak:  I've heard some question in the past regarding the notification with respect to resignations on boards and commi= ssions so I've talked to our Town Manager and we have instituted a formal process which the Town Clerk when she receives letters of resignation, copies will = be forwarded to the respective Chairmen of the Democratic or Republican Town Committees for their replacements.

 

            One Item I would like to mention, and this is basically a correction to an item which appeared in the paper recently regarding the Sealy property which the Town Council has expressed interest in, the article indicated that we were going forward with the $20,000 study to evaluate the property for use as a government center.  In fact we= did approve that expenditure, however because of other circumstances, those funds have = not been released and we have not commissioned anybody to do that, they are on = an indefinite hold until further notice.

 

            I'm obviously pleased that the $600,000 decision was made today and we're going= to go forward with that.

 

            I've got Chuck's calendar in front of me and I know that you've started I believe today budget reviews with various Town departments and you have some schedu= led tomorrow on the 17th and probably again on the 19th, Friday.  I may exercise an option to sit in= .

 

            Mr. Frigon:  That's correct.  Tomorrow's was cancelled, we're going to court instead. Friday is still on.

 

7.         = Town Manager's Report

 

 =            Mr. Frigon:  I've included a copy of the $70,586 check that we received from CL&P, it's a reb= ate that was awarded to us, straight to the General Fund.

 

 =            The Building Official, we have received 3 applicants that are State licensed.  All 3 have been tested and I'm not= sure of the interview dates but that will happen in the very near future.

 

 =            Legisla= tive meeting that I reported on for this coming Thursday, I will not be attending that either.  We have a State = Rep coming to see us.

 

 =            Torring= ton Area Health District, I want to thank Dave Minnich for meeting with us, we = met with Jim Okis just for an update as to the activities of the Health District.  We discussed the pr= esent funding which is about $4.20 per capita and how that is in relation to the = rest of the State.  We also discuss= ed the various endeavors of the Health District and most specifically the laborato= ry that they're running and it's my understanding that that laboratory is being closely evaluated with a determination in May by the Torrington Area Board = as to the future of that laboratory.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 6

 

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Pawlak:  Does that laborat= ory represent the bulk of the costs that we see from the Torrington Area Health District?

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Frigon:  Does the laborato= ry itself represent, does the cost of it represent what we, certainly not the majority.

 

 =            Mr. Pawlak:  In last year's budget their charge = to us went up about 10% and I was just more than a little bit concerned about the= percentage of increase.

 

 =            Mr. Frigon:  I don't believe that’s attri= butable to the laboratory itself.

 

 =            Transfer Station Update, the truck is, we do own our own vehicle now, and our own containers.  They are in opera= tion and I'm told the operation is working very well.

 

 =            Tanks, again they were both cleaned and Frank is presently working on specificatio= ns for the rehabilitation of the one over on Straits.

 

 =            The Bookkeeper I position which is almost the last position there to be filled, has been filled by Terry DiNapoli.

 

 =            Mr. Pawlak:  When were those tanks last cleaned= , do we know?

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Frigon:  We know that the = tag on the Straits Turnpike Tank was back in the 60's, so it's been awhile.

 

 =            Coop Assistance, Roy Cavanaugh has been working with Kaynor Tech as has Harry Wa= rd on the possibility of enlisting a technician, or a co-op student of the sch= ool to work as a mechanic's helper in the Highway Department and the Parks Department.  They're still in negotiations with that and still internally specifically at the highway gar= age trying to configure a way in which this might work.  As you know they're limited in spa= ce but the program itself is very attractive and we are going to continue with tha= t initiative.

 

 =            The Hazard Mitigation Grant, we did apply for a grant through FEMA and that wou= ld be to replace the culvert on Colonial Avenue by Swift Middle School= , so we'll see what the outcome of that is in time.

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Pawlak:  The report that y= ou attached from Roy Cavanaugh for the Highway Department, I didn't see a page= 2, and it looked like it stopped right at the bottom there and once again the solid waste.  Is that just a .= . . . this is the departmental updated dated 12/13.  There was only one page.

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Frigon:  There is a second= page there.

 

 =            Mr. Pawlak:  I don't have it.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 7

 

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Frigon:  Here you go.

 

 =            Mr. Pawlak:  The co-op student, did you say tha= t was going to Park & Rec?

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Frigon:  No, to Parks.

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Pawlak:  That was the one originally for the Highway?

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Frigon:  That's correct.

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Pawlak:  That is in the bu= dget, or are we using that from the salary of the person who transferred out and we're not replacing?

 

        &= nbsp;   Mr. Frigon:  That's correct.

 

8.     &nb= sp;   Departmental Report

 

      = ;      A.        Town Hall Structural Report - Public Bu8ldings Committee

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Porter:  We met with Joseph Calabrese who m= ade a presentation at our December meeting and from that presentation we came up = with 6 recommendations and comments, a couple of footnotes, and I'd like to go o= ver the recommendations as proposed by the Buildings Committee.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   1.         = Replace existing slate roof and metal flashing and install new copper flashing.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   2.         = Repair of the east wall of the building to stop water infiltration and deteriorati= on of the wall.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   3.         = To install (inaudible) in the basement for the deterioration of the piers.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   4.         = New copper gutters and leaders.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   5.         = Remove and replace existing (inaudible) metal ornamentation with lead coated coppe= r.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   6.         = Restore the clock tower to include roof area, metal ornamentation and (inaudible).<= /p>

 

            =             T= his would probably be the least amount of work that should be done at this time.  If the building were to= be renovated totally, then there's a lot of other a= reas that need to be addressed with that structure.  Right now I'll open it up to quest= ions.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 8

 

 

            =             Mr. Pawlak:  The most obvious one, any estimate= with respect to the cost for these 6 items?

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Porter:  Not as of yet, bu= t the roof has been pegged at $500,000 to $600,000 and the roof estimate that Chu= ck got as Purchasing Agent, they vary a lot depending what type of material yo= u're going to use; are you going to use slate to match the existing roof, imitat= ion slate to meet the Historic District's recommendation.  It really needs to go out to bid t= o get exact costs, right now we're just guessing.

 

             = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  Specifying exactl= y what we want.

 

             = ;           Mr. Porter:  Yes.  The metal ornamentation on the roo= f is deteriorating to the point where he doesn't feel it can be rehabbed, so it's not a matter of cleaning, painting and reinstalling.  The Council did get a copy of the = report and if you look in that report where it talks about the valley areas on the roof, they've been repaired so many times, and I hate to say it but some we= re shoddy repairs, that's causing water to enter the building and that's what = is causing the east wall to start to deteriorate.  He did look at all the joists in t= he building, he looked at the roofing members, he gave a very detailed report.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Pawlak:  They looked prett= y good if I remember correctly.

 

            =             Mr. Porter:  They are.  Because of the age of it there wil= l have to be some encapsulation and the load bearing, if we were to bring it up to code, that's what the screw jack in the basement and the reinforcement of c= arrying beams, that's where that will come in.&nbs= p; If you look at the piers in the basement, (inaud= ible) and that's water infiltration.  So I would recommend even though we've made a recommendation to the Council (inaudible) possibly procedure to start with is have Mr. Calabrese = come back and he can come back and address all of the structural questions, and = I would think probably the next step to (inaudible) would be to let's get the roof sealed, let's get it waterproofed, let's get that back wall repaired.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Pawlak:  Do you think thos= e are the most important or the screw jacks in the basement?

 

             = ;           Mr. Porter:  The screw jacks i= n the basement are right up there also, that has to be done.  And if you were to renovate that building and increase the load of it, then we'd need additional braces for = the structure.  And that's covered within the repo= rt.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Pawlak:  I noticed if I'm = not mistaken there were several references with respect to the carrying capacit= y of the various beams and I can't remember if it was the first or second floor,= but they also indicated that they looked like they were under designed when the building was built.  Did I mis= read that?

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 9

 

 

            =             Mr. Porter:  I don't remember that.  I do remember within his report he talked about the rafters and carrying beams were split because of the age o= f it and that's when he was talking about adding the braces.  Getting back to the load, if you w= ere to renovate this building totally and put more people and more functions in th= ere, that's when they have to look at what the load carrying capacity is as well= as meet the current building code.

 

             = ;           Mr. Rinaldi:  I was on the His= toric District Commission and have you talked to them at all or gone to any of th= eir meetings?

 

             = ;           Mr. Porter:  I was invited to = the Preservation Commission, I have not been invited to the Histo= ric (inaudible) talk to them.  Are you address= ing the shingles?

 

             = ;           Mr. Rinaldi:  Yea, the reason = I'm asking is the interior they're not concerned with, but they're concerned wi= th the exterior, especially the side that faces the street and the roof and I = know there are a wide range of prices.  When I was on that Commission we discussed various treatments for th= at roof and what was and wasn't acceptable and I was just curious to know if anyone looked at what they would approve so we know what we're looking for price-wise.

 

            =             Mr. Porter:  Not at this time.  My individual = conversations with some of the people has been the look alike or imitation slate a= pparently would be acceptable to them.

 

            =             Mr. Rinaldi:  I remember the same thing, that's = why I was just curious to know.

 

             = ;           Mr. Porter:  We can do the ori= ginal slate, the original slate is left on the building still has a tremendous li= fe span, but if you went using the existing slate, if you removed it, how much= of it will be salvageable and can you match colors . . . .

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Ms. Adams:  That (inaudible) f= or 100 years.

 

             = ;           Mr. Porter:  A little over (inaudible).

 

             = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  112 years.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Porter:  The other thing w= ith the Historic District is the windows would have to come back as originals.<= /p>

 

            =             Mr. Pawlak:  If we have replaced several of the= m on the first floor I noticed, would those have to be pulled out and historical replacements so to speak put back in?

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Porter:  My understanding = on the District that anything that can be seen from the street, as you pass by, th= at's what they're concerned with.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Ms. Adams:  And it's on the co= rner, so that's 3 sides on the street.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 10

 

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Porter:  Yes.  As you come down the hill, past, a= nd down the hill again.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Ms. Adams:  As you come up the= hill you see the back.

 

            =             Mr. Porter:  (Inaudible) back (inaudible).

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Primini:  So we cant buy pop out windows that are easy to clean.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Porter:  I don't think the= y'll go for vinyl replacement.  Nex= t, as far as the Buildings Committee is concerned, we've brought the report in and made some recommendations (inaudible) how you want to proceed.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Frigon:  Would Calabrese b= e the appropriate concern to help us develop bid specifications for roof replacem= ent and/or shoring up the facility?

 

             = ;           Mr. Porter:  I would have to s= ay yes, that's a service that they would provide.  We need to really talk to Joe.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Frigon:  The Council has a= sked for Joe to attend one of our meetings.

 

            =             Mr. Pawlak:  He is the most closely associated = and intimately aware of what's going on in that building.

 

             = ;           Mr. Porter:  He's done a repor= t in the past about 6 or 7 years ago (Tape #1, Side A= ended - may have missed some).

 

            =             Mr. Primini:  We seriously have to consider beca= use every time we come up with some alternatives for a town hall, it seems like they all fall apart, this keeps getting further and further pushed aside, b= ut I think in reality we have to plan on doing something at least shore up the structure of the building and prevent it from further deterioration, so I applaud the Building Committee's efforts on this cause I know if it's been going around for quite a few years and I think this the farthest along it's really gotten.

 

            B.         = GIS Systems Update

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Frigon:  I'd like to introduce Mr. Blake fr= om Tighe & Bond, they host our web site and help develop our present GIS System.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  I have a PowerPoint slide show, jus= t to give you a brief background on what geographic information systems is, and = I'm going to show the Town's GIS web site.&nbs= p; Real brief description of what GIS is, it= 's a computer based system for displaying, assembling geographically referenced data, information.  So GIS dat= a is electronic or digital mapping.  All of the data is stored in what we call phonetic layers, which means you have= one layer at a time that you can display on the system.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 11

 

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Components of the system, on the left hand side is data, GIS is all about data, on the= top right hand side it's about computers and hardware that is needed to get acc= ess to that data, and then on the bottom right the people who use it in the Town.  This is just an example= of what I mean by mapping layers of data.  What you're looking at here is a ba= se mapping layer called digital ortho photography, it's digital aerial photography that's been geographically referenced.  On top of that you can start overl= aying additional layers of information.  What I just turned on is property ownership of parcel data.  We can start adding other layers l= ike Town roads.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Pawlak:  While you're at i= t, when you mentioned parcels, I assume there's backup with respect to the act= ual ownership identification.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  Absolutely.  The key to GIS is that each one of= these digital mapping layers is tied to a data base, so they're not just dumb graphics.  There is actual intelligence behind each one of these layers.  Such as I just turned on (inaudibl= e) system, you can touch each one of those water mains and determine what size= is that main, when was it put in the ground, what is the pipe material, all of that information is there.  Storm water, wetland information, a lot of this stuff comes direct f= rom the State.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Two key components of the GIS on the left hand side is the digital aerial image= ry and on the right hand side is what we call vetrigeometry which just means y= ou can model things on the ground using points, lines, and polygons.  So a polygon would be a parcel in town.  A point might be a fire hydrant, and a line might be a power line, or a water main.  And the nice thing about GIS is yo= u can tie those two things together because they all have the same geographic coordinates built into them.  = So we use GIS almost every day, you just might not know it.  Mapping data is out there and avai= lable and this technology called GPS, Global Positioning System, is prevalent now.  If you want to know wher= e you are and how to get to where you want to go, GPS is here to tell you.  So if you want to look for the nea= rest Starbucks, you can go on line and find out.  If you want to go on a trip somewh= ere and you're constantly bringing up a web site like Mapquest, or you're bring= ing up something like Googler, these are all utilizing GIS mapping data.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  The system that w= e have here, what's the degree or resolution of accuracy with respect to the actual position of the various components?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  Each mapping layer has its own inherent level of accuracy.  W= hat the Town has recently received is brand new aerial mapping data that was do= ne by AT&AT.  That is horizon= tally accurate to plus/minus 2 feet from the surface of the area.  The aerial imagery that we have fo= r the Town is accurate down to 6 inches.

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        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   This is an example of, when you look outside and we talk about geographic featur= es and attributes, what I just dropped down is a layer of points.  It's kind of hard to see but this = could represent customers, like utility customers in Town, businesses, it could represent anything, and to each one of those is information tied to each on= e of those points.  Same thing for = like water mains, the size, pipe material, where are the hydrants in town, valve= s to isolate portions of the system, and then the incidents that might take plac= e, like a main break, when did this occur.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  Is this system downloadable to, do we have any PC's in our Water & Sewer vehicles that they can access?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Frigon:  No, we don't in the vehicles.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Pawlak:  Not yet.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  All of this inform= ation is readily accessible, it could be done mobile, in the office, over the internet.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Frigon:  To a limited exte= nt you can view it in those locations.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  Yes.  So what is the GIS good for?  And this is actually a picture in = the Water & Sewer vault here in the Town so it's really good for archiving = all of that data, cause there were hundreds and hundreds of plans that existed = in this vault, so we actually went through the process of taking each one of t= hose out of the vault, scanning them into an electronic format, placing them geo= graphically on the map and tracing all the water and sewer features off of them, so we = kind of archived all that information.  And now we've made it accessible.  So when somebody wants to pull up a various section of town, they don’t; have to go into the vault and search for the right plan and wonder if that's the most up to date one.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Frigon:  To what extent have you completed = at Water & Sewer?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  Probably 95% compl= ete and the 5% is really to pick up in the last 2 years the work that's gone on= to expand the system.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Frigon:  Does that include manholes?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  Yes, manholes, water and sewer hyd= rants, manholes, and that also includes the Fire Distri= ct also.  The Fire District actually got this process started first in the Town.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Ms. Adams:  Ca we access this = from the web site?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  Yes, you can.

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        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Pawlak:  A critical component of this is th= at it has to be maintained on a periodic basis.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  That's exactly right.  80% of the towns in Connecticut that have at one time or a= nother created this capability, there's probably only half of them still using it = because it became outdated.  Nobody maintained it, so it became a waste of time.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Before GIS what did we have, a bunch of people sitting around drawing maps, it was= a manual process, very labor intensive, very problematic, so now we're doing = it electronically.  So how do you= build it?  You develop face mapping,= you start converting data like the assessor's tax maps, you tie that to a data = base with information, you go out in the field with hand held GPS equipment and = pick up additional features like the Town has to locate all of its storm water outfalls, according to the E.P.A., that's a requirement, you have to do it.  So you get out there on t= he ground with a handheld GPS unit and you locate them all.  So what GIS is not, it is not just GPS.  GPS is one method of cap= turing data and bringing it in, it's not CAD.&nbs= p; CAD systems are used to design basically systems, but not really to maintain a GIS.  And it is not= just a paper map.  GIS is great bec= ause it can produce paper maps any time you want, at any scale you want, but it = is not just paper maps, and it's not just aerial photos.  Ortho Photography is great for bui= lding all this information but that's not all it is, and it’s not just software.  You do need GIS sof= tware to pull this data up and use it, but there's more to it than that.  &n= bsp;     This just real briefly the software that the Town uses, (inau= dible) is the software.  It's probably 98% of New England's choice for= GIS software.  So how can the Town= use it?  For a= ll of these reasons.  You hav= e a water system, a sewer system, you've got storm water, y= ou've got public works issues and public safety, police, fire.  And of course the Assessor uses it heavily.  Planning and develop= ment, economic development, conservation, (inaudible) all of them can use it.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  How does new data= get into the system?  For example = a new development which is currently under construction, there are no roads there, there's no water, no sewer, no storm water.  How is the system updated?  Is that scanned in from somebody's drawings and located with GPS technology?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake: Yes, it can be.  In a number of different ways you = can input the data to the system.  Where the Town is moving towards is to get surveyors to give this information digitally, because they already do it digitally, it's just that they have to deliver a paper map.  In the p= ast once the paper map was delivered and accepted the electronic digital data w= as done, we don't want that digital data done, we want that digital data.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Pawlak:  Do we know legally if paper maps a= re still required?  Or is this re= liable enough to be accepted?

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        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  Well there are certain statutes th= at you have to have an A2 Final Survey with the Town for like properties, but as f= ar as water and sewer record plans, no, there is no requirement.  So tax mapping, here you are tying features the map to data bases that already exist, like the Assessor has a database that she's been using for years with great information in there, i= t's just never really been tied to a map and we've gone through and done that so when we started this process with the Assessor's tax map we had about 180 individual maps, nobody had ever put them together in one seamless view.  We did that.  We found on the order about 300 ma= pping issues because nobody had ever put these 4 pieces of the map together at th= is corner and found well what is this piece of property or what was this line = that somebody put on the map a few years ago and then we've linked it to the Assessor's database so we have a one to one link between a parcel in the map and a record in the Assessor's data base.&= nbsp; And then you can go on with the water system and get all that information put in.  You can l= ook at this geographic data in 3 dimensions, you can ac= tually look and see how the hydrants extrude from the mains that are under the ground.  You've got a huge sew= er system in town, large amount of pipes.&nbs= p; We've also gone through with the Water & Sewer Department and scanned all of their individual service connection cards.  Those are all on 3 x 5 index cards= .

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Pawlak:  The water and sewer infrastructure= , is that in 3 dimensional perspective also with dime= nsions themselves?  You displayed the= water system, you showed for example the hydrants, the pipes under ground, so you= can look at that hydrant and say okay the pipe should be 6.5 feet under ground?=

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  Yes, in fact every single record plan that we went through in the Water & Sewer, if the information was there, as far as (inaudible) elevation of all the pipes that was put in.  Storm water is on= e of those neglected utility systems that Towns are now havi= ng to do because of the E.P.A. Storm Water Phase II requirements.  That's an on-going process.  That's one area of the Town that we haven't done much with yet, but because all of the record plans for water a= nd sewer were scanned, the source information is there it just hasn't been gone back over and traced all the drainage.  So how can you use this information?  I just want to show you a real bri= ef example  You compile all this good information, how can you use it?  You can use it to analyze this information by interacting these different layers together.  Like we had a singl= e layer showing water main breaks in Town.  So we can look at all the water main breaks, compare that to the typ= e of pipe, how old the pipe is and then we can do a query on all these pipes and find other pipes of that same consistency and then start looking at other environmental characteristics like what type of soil, is that pipe in, what= 's the depth of that pipe and you can start doing analysis so you can smartly = look at your capital improvement program and figure out which pipes do we need to replace first.  you can look at your customers in a number of different ways.  We have a point on the map that re= presents every single water and sewer customer in town Because that information is t= ied to the utility billing data base, now I can color-code all these points by = how much water each customer is consuming or what type of customer they are, residential, commercial, industrial.

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        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   We did this in another town and we were able to easily locate customers that h= ad water leakage problems or broken sprinkler heads.  They just popped right out on the = map because you coded those a certain consumption in red, so they just jumped right out= at you.  This is another project = that we did where we had the road network in town all identified and classified = and linked to a pavement management database that the Town already had.  Now you can start color coding all= the roads in Town by what is the road with the poorest pavement conditions and = the you can start overlaying that where you have accident complaints or road complaints about drainage issues or potholes and you can start looking at t= he correlation between those 2 things and prioritize your pavement system, how you're goin= g to rehab roads according to the where the greatest need is.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Another big user, police, fire, EMS.  When they get a call, how do they = get to where they need to go?  Usuall= y it's from their local knowledge because these guys probably grew up in Town and = they know where everyone lives, but when you have a dynamic population with peop= le that might not know the Town like somebody who grew up there, they might not bet there in the most efficient manner.&nb= sp; We did this project in a Town in Massachusetts where they were looking to reallocate all of their police patrols.  They wanted to do is smartly by wh= ere the greatest need for service was.  <= /span>Where did we get all of our calls for service.  And then based= upon that came up with a sensible beat map for all the police officers.  Then on a daily basis the patrol sergeants can look at and query this data for all the 911 calls and look at patterns, show all the breaking and entering that occurred between 10:00 p.= m. and 4:00 a.m., within certain timeframes, and they highlight it all on the = map.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Pawlak:  Is that included in the system that we're using?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  Right now in Watertown the one = area that we haven't spent much time working with is police and fire.  They know it's here, it's in the software.  The base line data = is there but their needs haven't been specifically addressed and they need to = be.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Pawlak:  My question was can the system tha= t we have handle this feature?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  Absolutely.  Fire Department, how do we get the= re, and not only how do we get there, but for mutual aid, if you've got vehicles responding to another town, those towns probably have GIS also, you can have all that information with you, in the vehicles, on your way to that incident.  In many towns they = don't have a water and sewer system, so they have a series of water supply points, the prop town, where trucks can pull up and fill up to fight fires.  Well where are they all?  We did this in a town, we went out= and took a digital picture of each one of those, used the GPS unit to locate it= and then used the GIS to draw a half mile and a one mile radius around each one= of those sites, and actually used it to show (inaudible) how the Town's fire protection was worthy of a decrease in people's insurance due to the increa= sed protection that they have, because they have this strong network of drafting and dry hydrant sites.

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        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   EMS - where are the landing zones?  What are the hazards or obstructio= ns that they need to know about when a helicopter is coming in to land?  How do we get to a property?  We've got many towns in Connecticut that= 1,000 or 2,000 foot long driveways.  Am I going down the right one to get to that house for a medical emergency that = was called in?  What else can we t= ie into the system?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Floor plans.  You've got a lot of large commercial buildings, you've got a lot of public buildings, we can take all of those floor plans, scan them, link the= m up to the GIS so that when somebody responds to that site, they can pull up the floor plans right there. They don't have to call somebody to get the plans, or yea, the plans are stored in the building, it just happen= s to e that part of the building is on fire right now, so that's a problem.  Planning and development, where ca= n we encourage development in Town?  You can use this to plan and encourage development, economic development and conservation.  Where is all our protected and managed space.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Schools, another big user.  It might not be a big issue in this town, but in other towns that we've dealt with, school bussing was a big problem.  So we actually locat= ed all of the students on the map and shows the most efficient route to get them to the schools that they're assigned to.  And in this particular town we act= ually noticed a decrease between the student and the school that they're assigned= to decreased by 35% and then the students within 1 mile o= f the school increased so those students were walking.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   And then what we're going to show you here today is now that you've done all th= is work, to get all this data in shape for people to use, how do you make it accessible to everyone who needs it.  That has been the problem in the past with GIS; it is no longer the problem just because web based technology has significantly increased.  So web based, all you need on your= desk top is internet explorer and an internet connect= ion, that's all you need to get access to all this information.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   I'm going to stop this right now and I actually have the webs tie running right here on this laptop.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Pawlak:  Safety, security, integrity of the system, hackers?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  You can view all the data, but thr= ough the internet there is no way you can change any of this data.  It is read-only, to a certain extent.  I'm going to show you= one aspect of it that is not.  Wha= t we have for the Town of Watertown is essentially 2 separate web sites, one tha= t is set up to be public access, no password protected, you can get in and view,= you might not have access to all of the individual mapping layers, you might not have access to all the underlying database fields, but generally you have access to all the mapping.  The other site that we have is an actual password protected site that only town staff can access and they have full access to all the data, databases, and = mapping layers and some additional features of the web site.

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January 16, 2007

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        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   So let me just show you here real quick, this web site I can just point and cl= ick and draw on the map and what's actually happening there is through your internet explorer browser it's sending a request to the server to generate a map where all of this data is housed.  So it takes a little bit of time to generate that map, because it's = turning on more and more mapping layers, and now if I want to turn on our brand new digital aerial photography that we just acquired in color it's just a single click.  I can pan it to any ar= ea of town I want and get down to any level of detail that I want, but you are going to start to notice, when you get very close in, you'll start to see the aerial imagery tend to get pixilated.  But you can definitely see who is parked out in your driveway.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Ms. Adams:  This is live?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  This data will be available on the Town's web site, but this is just running off of my local laptop right here.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Ms. Adams:  Yea, but I'm sayin= g is can you see now who . . . .can you see our cars outside?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  Not right now, no.=   This aerial imagery was taken in A= pril of 2006.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Ms. Adams:  Okay, so it's (ina= udible).

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  You mentioned tha= t this is password protected.  Are th= ere built in safeguards in addition to that for example if someone who had a password for whatever reason wanted to go in and change data or destroy dat= a, is there a protection against that?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  Through this inter= face, through Internet Explorer, there is no way anyone can change the data because essentially all the raw data that is on our server that we're hosting for t= he town, what you're seeing here is just a picture representation of that data, not the actual data, the raw data itself.&= nbsp; So how do most town employees use this if you want to find somebody = in town?  We can do the search be= cause this is based on the Assessor's data base.=   We can do anyone, anyone with the name of John and right now I've got like 15 plus pages of potential candidates that met that owner name of John.  So if we go back and fi= nd Main Street= , we can sort by address, we can go down and go to multi pages, let's pick 424 Main Street, Town of Watertown.  The first thing I want to do is cl= ick to view that location so it highlights it on the map, I can actually click the little "I" tool here which actually brings me up a subset of information out of the assessor's data base, who owns it, what's the size of the property, what's it appraised at.  If I wanted to then turn on the aerial photos, it's just a single click.  If I wanted to produce= a list of abutting property owners, I can do that just by clicking here, ente= ring in a distance, telling it to show me all properties within 100 feet, so it highlights those properties in blue shows you the 100 foot radius, and then= you can generate your mailing labels and print.  So if you wanted to, you could put= a little map image at the top of that printout.

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        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   So this process right now was being done manually before and it was kind of ti= me consuming for the Town staff.  Right now somebody could walk in the office, tell them he needs an abutter's list= for this property, and they can walk out the door with a map and a printout in probably 2 minutes.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Primini:  How often would = this be updated?  I saw when you zoomed in the whole picture of the building.  What if a person changed the color= of a house; how often would that, would the picture be changed?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  The digital aerial imagery was supported to be updated every 3 years because the town has been using AT&T by the third of the State every year, but as far as the actu= al property photos, I believe the Assessor has photographs of all the properti= es in town, so she might have a more up to date picture of the house itself.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Primini:  So Carolyn would= n't even have to leave her building, to see that we upgraded our house to get h= igher taxes on the house.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  Yes, she's going t= o be looking to see if you have a permit for that pool and all that.  There is also an interactive mappi= ng tab and what I wanted to show you on this is that we have more information based upon our new aerial flyover that we just obtained town-wide 2 foot elevation contours which is excellent for the Town's maintenance of all of their drai= nage network and a variety of other things.&nbs= p; This is excellent data for the town.  It's been wanted for many years an= d this really wasn't an expensive (Tape #1, Side B ended - may have missed some).<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>  Water & Sewer Authority of the= Town and the Watertown Fire District all split the cost on the flyover.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   The other thing I wanted to show you is we have this nice capability, we wrote a little program in here that gave all of the Town staff the ability to recor= d in the GIS where people call, I call them service requests, some people call t= hem complaints, somebody calls up and says the plow hit my mailbox or there's potholes on the corner, the Town needs to do something about it or drainage issues, so we added a little tab on here, we call it service requests, clic= k to turn this on, any town staff, so this is private, password protected, you h= ave to have a user name and a password to get into it, but it's a 4 step simple process for entering in a service request.=   Now the town has another interface here where they can actually go in and change types of services requests and which departments those types of = requests get assigned to and you can create as many of those as you want.  We just downloaded this because th= e Town has been going in and adding additional types of service requests based upon the type of calls that were coming in, so if you've got flooding or drainage issues, all you have to do is step #1, identify the type of issue, you don't have to put in a description but you could say flooding, step #2 is where i= s it in town, and the easiest way to do that when they take the call is identify= a street, Park Avenue, and then an address on that street.

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        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   And then I say show me that location on the map.  What it's going to do is zoom the = map to that location and it puts a little green push pin on the map once it redraw= s, so it's a little green push pin, I know it's tough to see with all the other mapping layers we have on here.  But if that's not exactly where that flooding issue is you can say I want to ad= just that location and it's actually right out here on the road.  Step #2 is green, that's complete.=   Step #3 is who called it in.  You just have to enter somebody's = name, not full information, but you do have to put something in here.  Now the nice thing about this is y= ou can actually designate if this person wants a contact back when this gets resolved.  They can give you an email address and then once this issue is resolved, the person who goes in = and updates it as being fixed or resolved can automatically generate an email r= esponse to this person saying your request has been taken care of.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  Chuck, is this the system that you referred to about a month or so ago?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Frigon:  Yes.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  The last step, Ste= p #4 is to submit this.  So what ha= ppens when I hit submit #1 it gives a confirmation number down the bottom, so you= can tell somebody here's the confirmation number of the issue that you just inp= ut, and then based upon the type of issue, flooding, drainage issues, is assign= ed to the Highway Department so when that submit happens, an automatic email notification goes out to that department saying you have a new service requ= est that's come in for flooding and here it is.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Frigon:  So any authorized user on the syst= em will put in a complaint that will be directed to the appropriate department= ?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  That is correct.  Anyone can put in a complaint, but= there will be a departmental manager, if you will, that would be the only people = that could go in and input information to resolve that complaint.  So to do that there is a separate = tab here that we just have a request, search, and somebody could go in and say = show me all open service requests that are in the system, but you could put it i= n by type of request, date entered, and it shows where all the open requests are= in town.  I can just simply map o= ver them and see what they are.  S= o it gives you a great way to manage all of this information= , and even once it's resolved it's still stored in the database.  And you have a location, you can actually pull up any one of these, and get more information about it, look = at the history behind it, put in a note when somebody says this person called again, and it gives you one place to track all of this information.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  Does this also in= clude a tickler file so that for example, Mr. Frigon would like to check on the status of service complaints over whatever number are open and how long the= y've been open?

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        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  Yes, that's what t= his request search interface is for.  Right now I said I want to find all open requests, maybe I just want= to find all the ones that were submitted since January 2nd and I want to find = only the ones that dealt with flooding or drainage issues, so it gives you a full ability to query all of your data.  Look we don't have a valid date range cause I have to give an ending date range, let's say by today, and there's only 1 flooding drainage issue = that is still outstanding that has been entered this month.  It also gives some quick ability to generate reports.  Chuck could= say give me a quick report, show me all the drainage issues that are still open.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Primini:  Would this be ab= le to interact with bordering towns at the same time?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  Interactive with o= ther bordering towns?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Primini:  Yes, as an examp= le, for emergency services, if somebody got lost, one of the areas we get is Bl= ack Rock, cause it's on the border of both Thomaston= and Watertown, we use = stuff like this to try and pinpoint through a cell phone where someone was locate= d, so I was wondering if it had that capability?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  All of the data, i= f it's made available, could be made acceptable through this web site, yes.  The problem is with a lot of the t= owns around here, they don't have such a system, so you might have to deal with = just using some State level data which might not be very accurate or maintained = very well, but for towns like Woodbury and Waterbury, yes, there's probably a lot of good data that's accessible.  Thomaston and = Bethlehem, maybe n= ot.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Walton:  What's the date o= f that right there?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  The date of the ma= p?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Walton:  Yes.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  Because there'= s multiple layers here, you're looking at different dates that this informati= on has been updated, but base mapping information is all basically from April, 2006.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Walton:  I'm looking at Echo Lake, and we have a flooding problem on Lisbon Street and I don't see that street on the map.=

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Frigon:  Or the Public Wor= ks Subcommittee, you may have noticed the new camera and projector on the ceil= ing (inaudible) that's one of the reasons why we put it in there, so (inaudible= ) to now view the complaint on the screen and you can actually zoom in on the ac= tual house and necessarily making a (inaudible).

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 21

 

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  The web site is up and running.  We're in the process of continually maintaining the data like the Assessor's maps are being updated right now to get the Town's property information updated as of July 1st to coincide with= the Grand List, so it's a continual process of keeping this information updated= and maintained and the web site for everyone to use.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Frigon:  Do you remember t= he address on Lisbon Street, Jack?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Walton:  No, most of the h= ouses are getting flooded there.  What i= s that green area?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  That actually is a wooded area.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Walton:  Now can you tell a wetland area in that along Lisbon Street and around it?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  You want to see a = flood zone?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Walton:  Yes.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Ms. Adams:  Wetlands, streams, water bodies.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  That green hashed = area is wetlands.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Ms. Adams:  Where is Lisbon?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  Right here.  And what you can also do to the web site, if you wanted to get in and measure distances like how far is it from that intersection down to the lake, 330 feet if you wanted to calculate, we= ll how much area does that encompass and actually draw an area in here and get= an acreage.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Frigon:  An overview with = where the Town is presently with our GIS (inaudible)?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  95%.  I have some slides down the bottom= that gives a brief history.  The in= itiative in town actually started with the Watertown Fire District in December, 2003= so all of this activity has really occurred in 3 years.  Tighe & Bond actually came in = and met with all of the departments and generated a strategic plan that kind of identified all of their requirements.  It began with the Water & Sewer Authority conversion of all the water and sewer systems, then we undertook devel= opment of the tax map, conversion to digital and zoning and created the GIS web site.  Right now we're underwa= y in supporting D.P.W. in storm water mapping, getting the road network tied to pavement management system, we created the service request web application = and we have the new 2006 aerial flyover.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 22

 

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Then what's next?  The town has been talking about additional data layers that they want to capture and convert, like storm water, drainage network, outfall, open space, land use, all of t= hose things, and then data maintenance.  <= /span>Everything that you see here has to be maintained, especially (inaudible) and utility infrastructure.  Now software. There are 3 copies of our (inaudible) desktop software in = Public Works, there's 2 copies of (inaudible) GIS softw= are at Water & Sewer Authority and there's the GIS web site.  All of that software has to be maintained.  And then new applications and users.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Pawlak:  There's nothing in Planning and Zoning.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Blake:  They have hard copy maps and they = are using the web site, but they do not have desktop software.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Frigon:  Same with the Assessor's office, correct?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Blake:  Yes, although Caro= lyn has wanted to get the desktop software so she can use it in her office, but= her staff is using the web site right now.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Frigon:  Can we input under project management system off the web site or do we (inaudible) specific software?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Blake:  The request softwa= re is totally through the web.  But certainly police and fire have expressed interest, there was just never much funding that came their way.  = They were always looking for grant opportunities through homeland security that never seemed to materialize.  = And we've talked with economic development about putting some mapping layers up= that would support economic development and then just continuing on to maintain = this data and look for new opportunities to use it.  It's a wonderful resource.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Pawlak:  Thank you, that's excellent, what a great system.

 

9.&nb= sp;        Subcommittee Reports

 

        &= nbsp;   A.        Public Works Subcommittee

 

            =             Mr. Rinaldi:  We had a meeting last night.  There are a couple of things that = the committee was made aware of, one was a water pro= blem on Gorham Street which is next to Echo Lake.  We decided to have Roy Cavanaugh a= nd Dave Polk from Matty's, they're going to investigate the situation and retu= rn to us with some recommendations.  The other problem area was Falls Terrace which is off of Buckingham Street.  The road is in deplorable conditio= n and we've put this project into the 2007/2008 budget so we can get some relief = for the people down there.  There = have been some minor repairs to solve the problem temporarily anyway.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 23

 

 

            =             A= ll of the major equipment is ready and operational for snow removal.  We talked about the skid steer veh= icle, and the Committee recommended that we put the skid steer in the 2007/2008 budget.  There is also the pro= gram for new street signs and for the 2007/2008 budget we will be doing French Street, Middlebury Road, and Davis Street, those are the new big green stre= et signs.  Lastly we reviewed the 2007/2008 budget and moved it forward to the Town Manager with a couple of recommendations.

 

            =             Ms. Adams:  We were supposed to have 3 contain= ers, but we only have 2.

 

            =             Mr. Pawlak:  Are we talking about the land fill= ?

 

             = ;           Mr. Rinaldi:  Yes.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Pawlak:  They didn't provi= de containers to our specifications?

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Frigon:  No, and we haven'= t paid for them either.

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Pawlak:  Can they add them= ?

 

      = ;            &n= bsp;     Mr. Frigon:  Yes, and they're = going to.

 

             = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  Well I would thin= k if they're under hinged, then there's greater stress on the 2 that are there, right, so they would break?

 

             = ;           Mr. Frigon:  Yea, well it's no= t just the stress, but if one of them were to break on the road, with the one hing= e, it could cause . . . .

 

            =             Mr. Primini:  It's a safety = factor, you need at least 2 hinges.

 

        &= nbsp;   B.         = Business Development Subcommittee

 

             = ;           Mr. Guerrera:  Absent, no repo= rt.

 

        &= nbsp;   C.        Finance Subcommittee

 

             = ;           Mr. Mancini:  We'll be startin= g in March.

 

        &= nbsp;   D.        Ordinance Subcommittee

 

             = ;           Ms. Plowman:  No report.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 24

 

10.&n= bsp;      New Business

 

        &= nbsp;   A.        Consider Appointments to Boards and Commissions

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   1.         = Consider the nomination of Jack Walton, 39 Philips Drive, Oakville, CT as a member of the Police Commiss= ion, to replace Thomas Durso, for a Term to Expire January 31, 2012.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;           &= nbsp;   MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Rinaldi) to nominate Jack Walton, 39 Philips Drive, Oakville<= /st1:City>, CT as a member of the Pol= ice Commission, to replace Thomas Durso, for a Term to Expire January 31, 2012.=

&n= bsp;

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>        &= nbsp;           &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Discussion:       None<= /p>

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   2.         = Consider the nomination of Ronald Russ, 135 Porter Street, Watertown, <= st1:State w:st=3D"on">CT as a regular member of the Planni= ng & Zoning Commission, to replace George Velezis, for a Term to Expire Ja= nuary 31, 2012.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;  MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Rinaldi) to nominate Ronald Russ, 135 Porter Street, Watertow= n, CT as a regular member of= the Planning & Zoning Commission, to replace George Velezis, for a Term to Expire Ja= nuary 31, 2012.

&n= bsp;

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;  Discussion:       None<= /p>

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;  MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

 

        &= nbsp;   B.         = Consider Setting a Special Town Meeting for Funding the Straits Turnpike Sanitary Se= wer Extension from Carvel (Intersection of SR63 & 73) to the vicinity of house #135 Straits Turnpike to be as follows:  $216,000 to be Appropriated from the Water and Sewer Debt Fund; an A= ppropriation in the amount of $80,000 from the Sewer Extension Fund and an appropriation from the General Fund in the amount of $84,000

 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to Set a Special Town Meeting to be held on Monda= y, February 5, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. at the Watertown High School Technology Cente= r to consider funding the Straits Turnpike Sanitary Sewer Extension from Carvel (Intersection of SR63 & 73) to the vicinity of house #135 Straits Turnp= ike to be as follows:  $216,000 to= be appropriated from the Water and Sewer Debt Fund; an appropriation in the am= ount of $80,000 from the Sewer Extension Fund and an appropriation from the Gene= ral Fund in the amount of $84,000.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 25

 

&n= bsp;

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Discussion:       Mr. Mancini:  I believe that the sewer system sh= ould be built like a cog of a wheel that you start out of the center and you work outwards. I know there are other projects on the outskirts of town that we = have to look at, but I believe we have to get the center of town taken care of a= nd I believe that Straits Turnpike is part of that center of town and therefore I feel I am going to support it.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Rinaldi:  I didn't agree w= ith the funding on this right from the beginning.  I still don't personally agree wit= h the funding on this.  There was a = legal opinion that was offered which said extension funds may be used, which I interpret that to mean it's up to the Water & Sewer Authority to decide= if extension funds are going to be used.  This project has come to us 2 or 3 times.  I think at this point I'm going to support this Motion tonight and let the voters decide exactly how they want= the money spent.  The only other t= hing I'd like to add to this, I'm not quite sure, Franklin's opinion said, he recommended 3% to 4% of user or extension fund money can be used.  I'm not used what 3% or 4% is at t= his point, however it seems to me with the amount of money we're using here this is pr= etty much going to take care of our 3% or 4% so if any other projects come up in= the fiscal year, we're stuck.  Bei= ng a water and sewer user I resent the fact that I have to pay twice, through general taxation, through my water bill, but as I said, I will support this motion.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Ms. Adams:  We've had public hearings here, I've sat through public hearings at Water & Sewer and my understanding this is down to, this is the 3rd or 4th revision, it's down to like 10 houses now.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  9 houses.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Ms. Adams:  I sat through a water and sewer he= aring with the appraiser being there.  The appraisals came back, they were quite high, they= were about $25,000 which is quite a jump.  I'm looking at this here, people have already said there that they wanted the project, they were going to contest t= he appraisals.  I heard people wh= o said I cannot afford to do this, I just redid my sept= ic I cannot afford to do this.  I b= elieve should these 9 houses times 25 is what $225,000 to be recovered if the appraisals hold, we are looking at spending from the Town of Watertown's general fund $84,000.  That is= over $9,000 per household.  I do not think that is fiscally responsible to do that for only 9 houses when we do = have issues in other parts of town that people can literally cannot get the sewage out of their basement because their septics ha= ve failed.  I will not be support= ing the motion.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 26

 

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Pawlak:  I'm not particularly in favor of th= is for many of the reasons that have already been stated, but I will also add that there are other projects which demand attention which we are undertaking, <= st1:Street w:st=3D"on">Black Rock Road being one of them, Winnemaug Estates, D.E.P. mandated project which we're g= oing to be facing fairly shortly.  = We have the STEEP Grant for $500,000 between 262 and <= st1:address w:st=3D"on">Echo Lake Road, which is going to r= equire another $190,000.  And then we= also have the project which we're not quite sure when it's going to happen, but that's increasing the size of the infrastructure the water and sewer that's going to have to be sent down to service the D.O.T. facility down in the old drive-in facility and that's going to cost the Town a significant amount of dollars.  That having been sai= d, I believe it deserves to go to a vote to a Town Meeting and I believe we shou= ld send it there and see what the public chooses.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Rinaldi:  I just want to a= dd that all the years that I've been around and the tenure I've served on Water & Sewer, when assessments are challenged, 99.9% of the time they hold because they're done by professionals, there is a certain amount of persona= l judgment involved in assessment and the courts usually hold them up. Just carry that with you, it's very difficult to challenge an assessment.

&n= bsp;

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   In Favor:      &= nbsp;   Mr. Mancini, Mr. Pawlak, Ms. Plowman, Mr. Primini, Mr. Rinaldi, Mr. Walton

&n= bsp;

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Opposed:         = Ms. Adams

&n= bsp;

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Abstained:        None

&n= bsp;

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION CARRIED (6-1-0)

&n= bsp;

        &= nbsp;   C.        Consider A Bid Waiver request for the purchase of remaini= ng voice and data infrastructure of an amount not to exceed $13,100 to be purchased through Tricom Cable, LLC in connection with the Firehouse Compan= y #1 Renovations.  (A bid waiver was previously authorized for a portion of the project)

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to authorize a Bid Waiver request for the purchas= e of remaining voice and data infrastructure of an amount not to exceed $13,100 = to be purchased through Tricom Cable, LLC in connection with the Firehouse Com= pany #1 Renovations.  (A bid waiver= was previously authorized for a portion of the project.)

&n= bsp;

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Discussion: = ;      None

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 27

 

 

        &= nbsp;   D.        Consider Authorizing the Town Manager to apply to Cablevision of Litchfield for live-feed airtime for scheduled Town Council Meetings

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Mancini:  I don't have any problem with a live feed, (inaudible) maybe you can talk about reducing the rates.

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Ms. Adams:  We want royalties.=   Are they willing to do it just for= us, or does the Board have to go along with this too?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Frigon:  The Board is pres= ently considering this and no, we do not have to (inaudible).

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Ms. Adams:  I think in the ear= ly 90's they would come in, wire everything, and do the feed.  We had to provide the camera people, the school is presently wired for (inaudible).=

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Pawlak:  You mean the same camera people we have tonight?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Ms. Adams:  Yea, is this somewhat of a moot point, are we going to have to hire people to do this?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Frigon:  We would have to = hire the same people that are here tonight (inaudible).

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  Is this something= that would be imminent or is there a significant delay in getting this done?

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Frigon:  It may not even h= appen (inaudible).

 

        &= nbsp;    = ;           Mr. Primini:  One of the probl= ems we see tonight happens in the Summer where we don't= have camera people.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Frigon:  You're going to have a blue tube, = is my understanding, the same as you do now when we don't get the tape up to them= .

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Primini:  I'd like to see = some consistency with that if we're going to do that.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Pawlak:  That was the reason I asked about = timing because we're coming up with budget so if we want to do this we have to pro= vide for it.  What do we need to do= on this, just tell you to proceed?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Frigon:  (Inaudible.)

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 28

 

 

        &= nbsp;   E.         = Consider Authorizing the Town Manager to formally request 8-24 approval for leasing = Town property located at Old Ba= ird Road for the purpose of cell tower construction

 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to Authorize the Town Manager to formally request 8-24 approval for leasing Town property located= at Old Baird Road for the purpose of cell tower construction.

&n= bsp;

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Discussion:       None<= /p>

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

 

        &= nbsp;   F.         = Consider Authorizing the Town Manager to forward a letter to Planning and Zoning in support of legislation permitting municipalities to establish sidewalk fund= s

 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to Authorize the Town Manager to forward a letter to Planning and Zoning in support of legislation permitting municipalities to establish sidewalk funds.

&n= bsp;

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Discussion:       Mr. Primini:  Who would maintain this fund?

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Nardelli:  We already have= a sidewalk fund.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Primini:  I don't want to = get into the issue we had several years ago with the issue that came up that Zo= ning wasn't allowed to be doing this, and now we have $200,000 sitting in a fund that we still haven’t used yet.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Frigon:  (Inaudible.)

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Ms. Adams:  They don't do it anymore, but they want to.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;    = ;            &n= bsp;          Mr. Primini:  So is this askin= g to give the responsibility back to Planning and Zoning to maintain that fund?<= /p>

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Frigon:  The purpose of th= is consideration is to support an initiative to establish such an account.  The parameters of the account, who= would manage it, how (inaudible) used for new construction, would be used for maintenance that all still has to be determined.  Maybe that's what you want to dete= rmine (inaudible).  It's just to est= ablish (inaudible).

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Primini:  No, I just didn't want to get into= what the original problem was when we found out Planning and Zoning didn't have = the right to . . . .

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 29

 

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Frigon:  That's exactly wh= at we're trying to avoid.  We're = trying to establish the authority to collect fees in lieu of actual sidewalks.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Primini:  And who would be responsible for releasing . . . . the concern I = keep having is there have been several ideas, even with the cooperation of Plann= ing and Zoning to extend sidewalks in certain areas, adjacent to some developme= nts and it just doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Frigon:  I would defer that question to you= , who exactly would be responsible for how the money (inaudible).  He's had a conversation with Dave = and (inaudible).

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Pawlak:  We have not had a= ny formal discussions. We've exchanged emails, Dave sent me an extensive email outlining various positions and reasons and we have not determined quite frankly who would administer the funds or how, but if I remember correctly Dave, you indicated that recommendations or whatever you will term them wou= ld be forthcoming from P & Z with respect to the use of the funds, or where they would best be put to use, is that correct?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Minnich:  Right, our inten= t is rather simple, was that right now as you know from what was decided in cour= t, that we're no longer able to collect the money, and our intent was that we = see it as a means of (inaudible) require sidewalks in one place and not in another.  At the same dollars = for those sidewalks be put into a fund, the same as open sp= ace, that might be used for new sidewalks.  Who decides what sidewalks to (inaudible) funds is the Town Council's role.  We don't intend to be involved in = that, as we are not involved in the open space, etc.  The ability or the okay to be able= to comment before you finally make a decision, cause we may have a (inaudible)= but the (inaudible) yourselves.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Ms. Adams:  What we've done wh= en we were doing the loop used money was Joe Polletta's piece to be able to compl= ete a huge loop, was that was done kind of like, I was Chairman of the Public W= orks Subcommittee at the time and Planning and Zoning was having a hearing and we went and spoke and it was a consensus I think is probably the better word between the Council and P & Z, that that would be a good use of the sidewalk fund money to be able to complete=   a huge loop, so it was a cooperative effort I would say with input f= rom both sides.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Minnich:  The final decisi= on is yours.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 30

 

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Primini:  But what I don&#= 8217;t understand are we going you go back where you're going to, I don't know how= to put it in the correct way, Planning and Zoning is going to request the money from the developer to go into this fund, similar to open space?

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Minnich:  (Inaudible) ever gets done through= the State, they'll define the rules, and our hope is the rules are defined the = very same as open space, giving the option to the developer as to whether they w= ant to contribute (inaudible) sidewalk fund.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Primini:  Well it would be similar to open space where we can request the money instead of open space land?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Minnich:  Yea, we can requ= est it, but once again (inaudible), but they're the ones, the developer are the ones that actually need to make the offer, we can't demand the money from t= hem, but if they don't (inaudible) open space they then would be able to give the money, the same concept we'd like to do with the sidewalks, but restrict it only to the construction of new sidewalks, not (inaudible).

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

 

        &= nbsp;   G.        Consider A Resolution authorizing the Town Manager to pro= ceed with condemnation proceedings for an easement interest for sanitary sewer m= ain purposes in portions of real properties located at 476 and 555 Davis Street

 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to Authorize the Water= & Sewer Authority, Acting by Town of Watertown, to condemn an easement interest for sanitary sewer main purposes in a porti= on of the real property located at 555 Davis Street, Oakville.  The Authority authorizes payment o= f the appraised value of the easement in the amount of $12,500.

&n= bsp;

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Discussion:       Ms. Adams:  I don't understand, they're saying= no, they will not allow the easements, is that it?

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Frigon:  That's correct.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Ms. Adams:  Why, what are the reasons?

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Atty. Pilicy:  With respect to t= he 555 Davis Street property, there is some indication (inaudible) that the proper= ty owner feels (inaudible) easement interest is insufficient and then there's another little aside about would we allow him to do something with his own property somewhere else.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 31

 

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  With respect to the 476 property, that property to the extent that it's improved= , (inaudible) was really on Straits Turnpike and they have not responded to any offers.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Ms. Adams:  They just ignored you.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Atty. Pilicy:  Well I think that they probably fe= el that they'd like to get more (inaudible) but there's been no response to th= e, the initial offer was about half this, and then it was independently apprai= sed and the offer was increased and there's still no response from the owners.<= /p>

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Pawlak:  That's #476?

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Atty. Pilicy:  Yes.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Ms. Adams:  So basically it's = not a case of where we're basically taking their entire front lawn or anything li= ke that, the issue is money.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Atty. Pilicy:  The issue is money.  The easement interest = that's being taken will not interfere in my opinion with the development potential= for either parcel and one of the parcels is already fully developed pretty much.  The other parcel has so= me additional development potential, but it wouldn't be impacted by this easement.  This easement is literally right along the brook (Tape #2, Side A= ended - may have missed some).

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to authorize the Water & Sewer Authority, act= ing by Town of Watertown, to condemn an easement interest for sanitary sewer main purposes in a porti= on of the real property located at 476 Davis Street, Oakville.  The Authority authorizes payment o= f the appraised value of the easement in the amount of $13,700.

&n= bsp;

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Discussion:       None<= /p>

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 32

 

 

        &= nbsp;   H.        Consider Reclassification of Non-Organized Compensation from Deferred to Inclusive in Wage Rates

 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to reclassify Non-Organized Compensation from Deferred Compensation to be Inclusive in Wage Rates for the following:

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Building Inspector     &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;  Executive Administrative Assistant

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Director of Recreation     =          Director of Public Works

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Fire Chief/Fire Marshall    =         Police Chief

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Fire Chief & Marshall        &= nbsp;      Deputy Police Chief

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Water & Sewer Superintendent

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Director of Parks - exclusive of 7% shall remain in deferred compensation wages.

&n= bsp;

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Discussion:       Mr. Primini:  What we're talking here is just basically what people had in deferred comp, all in one lump sum.  I totally agree with this because = the question keeps coming up, the 5 years that I've been around, what their deferred comp is.  I believe <= span class=3DGramE>it's part of those employee's total compensation.  I think this will probably settle = the issue once and for all.  I kno= w we had an agreement where after I believe 2000, all new department heads aren't going to have deferred comp anyways, but I believe this will settle the iss= ue once and for all.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Ms. Adams:  One question on th= e Motion, did you say Planning and Zoning Enforcement Of= ficer?

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Mancini:  No.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Ms. Adams:  Okay, because I kn= ow there (inaudible), I just wanted to be sure that we didn't give somebody a raise.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  I did receive a spreadsheet from Chuck regarding compensation of like positions in other to= wns in the state and it's compared each of those positions and came up with a difference and a percentage.  = My problem with the concept is that I don't agree with what Ray said, as I said before, I think this is like a 401k in which the Town totally contributes a= nd it's available generally speaking after the employees either retire, or if = they move it's portable.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 33

 

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  What I would propose is that we look at like jobs in similarly sized towns in ou= r geographic area so we're not comparing the Public Works Director in Watertown to the Public Works Director in Branford, Westport, or Greenwich and once we've co= me up with a comparable salary, that we evaluate that with the salary of our i= ncumbents and make the necessary adjustment as opposed to just saying for example if somebody gets a $8,000 a year deferred comp, we just automatically add that= to their salary which will bring their salary up to whatever let's say if they started at $80,000 it would bring it up to $88,000.  My concern is that that would then= mean it's possible that the individual would be getting a salary which is for example higher than anybody else in the area doing a comparable job.  I don't have a problem making an a= djustment, I think we should do that, but I think it should be based on relative and comparable salaries in towns which are similar to Watertown.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Primini:  I didn't like the way this deferre= d comp developed over the years, and Paul has been around a lot longer than I have, but it looks like it was a way of instead of giving the proper cost of livi= ng adjustment for political reasons people would say we can't give them 4% even though the other unions might have gotten 4%, so it would be 3% and then 1% with defer= red comp.  So it was basically ano= ther way of compensating the department heads.&= nbsp; The other issue, I do agree with you as far as how were each departm= ent head is properly compensated and this came up a few years ago and how do we= , we were looking at all the department heads and some we felt were underpaid and some might have been considered overpaid, and I think we all agreed back th= en the only way you can really accomplish that is when those people in those positions leave.  If somebody = was underpaid by $20,000 let's say to a comparable town, I don't think anybody would agree to just give them a $20,000 raise, and it goes the other way too.  That's the way I look at= the way this was done over the years.  I think we've been in agreement with this the past couple of years, I don't a= gree with the way it was done, but that's how it was started, I don't know how m= any years ago, but it was just added on over the years until it got to be I bel= ieve 10% now.  In the past it was 1= % or 2%, didn't look to be that bad, but it just seemed that it just got too far= , I figure by combining the two it would be the fairest way to determine their = actual compensation package cause when we did some talks with department heads, it seems like this deferred comp wasn't considered part of compensation, but y= es, I believe it is, based on what was done over the years, so I think this wou= ld give you a true outlook of what their total compensation package actually i= s.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 34

 

 

        &= nbsp;           &= nbsp;   MOTION:       (Mr. Rinaldi, sec. Ms. Plowman) to Table = this until we get some of the comparables that Joe was talking about from like t= owns before we make any decisions on this, so we'll revisit it.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Discussion:       None<= /p>

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Pawlak:  Mr. Manager you'll come up with comparables for our geography?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Frigon:  I'm going to literally need to mak= e the phone calls.  This is what is availa= ble to us in print.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Pawlak:  Was this from the C.C.M.?

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Frigon:  Yes, from comparable towns from the section of their statistics, 20,000 to 39,900.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Pawlak:  I want to work within the same geo= graphic area, bread basket that our employees are exposed to and as I said similarly sized towns.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Ms. Adams:  We can do like New Milford, Naugatuck . . . .<= /p>

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Pawlak:  Probably Wolcott.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Frigon: They're all there in = that spreadsheet.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Mr. Pawlak:  This could work a= lso, quite frankly, in the opposite direction, because if we have somebody in on= e of these classifications who's salary is significantly lower than all averages around.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Rinaldi:  This has been Tabled.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Ms. Adams:  Yea, but we're tal= king about these sheets.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 35

 

 

11.&n= bsp;      Old Business

 

        &= nbsp;   A.        Consider Resolution Item #6 (Tabled at Town Council Meeting on December 18, 2006) regarding transfer of funds between line items for Snow Removal Division - = Skid Steer for Snow Removal

 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Rinaldi) to approve the transfer of funds between line it= ems for Skid Steer First Payment of a lease option for snow removal as follows:=   $10,000 from line item 010-50120-031-2344 - Secretary to 010-50552-031-1910 - Skid Steer.

&n= bsp;

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Discussion:       Ms. Adams:  I'm voting no.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Rinaldi:  We're all voting= no.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Mancini:  I'm also voting no because at = the last Town Council meeting Roy told us that we can lease it for 3 months for $6,000 or we can buy it for $36,000, all of a sudden we're getting a price = of $47,420.  We went from $36,000= to $47,000 and I want to know why.

 

 = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;         Ms. Adams:  Well part of the r= eason I'm voting no is by the time we got this it would be Sp= ring.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Pawlak:  And your Public W= orks Subcommittee voted to put in the 2007/2008 budget.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Primini:  I believe this should be a budgetar= y item and it has been put in the budget I believe the last 3 years and it has been taken out, so I hope the Finance Committee is generous this year when it co= mes to equipment for Public Works.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:3'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;   = ;           Mr. Mancini:  Well the Finance Committee last year was not led to believe how important an item it was.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:4'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;  Mr. Primini:  I'm not saying that, I'm just sayi= ng it's a budgetary type item and I believe that's the way it should be handled properly.

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   In Favor:      &= nbsp;   None

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Opposed:         = Ms. Adams, Mr. Mancini, Mr. Pawlak, Ms. Plowman, Mr. Primini, Mr. Rinaldi, Mr. Walton

<= o:p> 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Abstained:        None

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION FAILED (0-7-0)

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 36

 

 

12.&n= bsp;      Public Participation

 

            None

 

            Mr. Pawlak, Chairman, Closed Public Participation at 9:20 p.m.

 

13.       Executive Session=

 

      = ;      A.        Property Disposition

      = ;      B.         = Property Acquisition

 

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION:       (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to Enter into Executive Session at 9:20 p.m. for = the purposes of discussing property acquisition and disposition with the follow= ing, Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director, the 7 Members of the Town Council present, and Atty. Franklin Pilicy.

&n= bsp;

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:2'>        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Discussion:       None<= /p>

<= o:p> 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Present During Executive Session:

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Elaine Adams

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Carl Mancini

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Joseph Pawlak

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Suzan Plowman

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Raymond Primini

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Paul Rinaldi

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Jack Walton

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Charles Frigon

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Frank Nardelli

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Franklin Pilicy

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   Mr. Pawlak, Chairman, Reconvened the Regular Meeting at 9:40 p.m.

 

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;   No Motions Were Made; No Votes Were Taken.

Watertown Town Council

Regular Meeting

January 16, 2007

Page 37

 

 

14.       Adjournment

 

      = ;      MOTION:       (Ms. = Adams, sec. Mr. Primini) to Adjourn the Regular Meeting at 9:40 p.m.

 

            <= /span>Discussion:       None<= /p>

 

            <= /span>MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

 

            <= /span>Regular Meeting Adjourned at 9:40 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Joseph Pawlak, Chairman

Watertown Town Cou= ncil

 

Approved:  _______________________________

      Lynn M. LaF= orme, Clerk