MINUTES
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2007, 6:30 P.=
M.
PRESENT: &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; 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: &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Antonio
Guerrera
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Robert Kane
OTHERS PRESENT: Chuck Frigon, Town Manager
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Carolyn Nadeau, Tax Assessor
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Frank Nardelli, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Franklin Pilicy, Town Attorney
1.&nb=
sp; Convene
Mr.
Pawlak, Chairman, Called the
MOTION: &nbs= p; (Mr. Pilicy, sec. Mr. Rinaldi) to nominate Joseph Pawlak for Moderator of the Special Town Meeting.
Discussion: = Mr. Pawlak: Are there any other nominations?
= ; &n= bsp; MOTION: (Mr. Mancini, sec. Ms. Plowman) to Close Nominations.
= ; &n= bsp; Discussion: None<= /p>
= ; &n= bsp; MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
2
MOTION: &nbs= p; (Mr. Rinaldi, sec. Mr. Mancini) to nominate Lynn LaForme for Secretary of the Special Town Meeting.
Discussion: = Mr. Pawlak: Are there any other nominations?
= ; &n= bsp; MOTION: (Ms. = Adams, sec. Ms. Plowman) to Close Nominations.
= ; &n= bsp; Discussion: None<= /p>
= ; &n= bsp; MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Mr. Pawlak, Moderator, read aloud the Call of the Meeting as follows:
WARNING AND NOTICE
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING
January 16, 2007
The legal voters = of the Town of Watertown and those entitled to vote in Town Meetings are hereby WA= RNED AND NOTIFIED of a Special Town Meeting to be held on Tuesday, January 16, 2= 007 at 6:30 p.m. at the Watertown High School Technology Room, 324 French Street, = Watertown, CT to consider an appropriation to the Swift Middle School Capital Project = Fund in the amount of $600,000 from proceeds of grant monies for the Swift athle= tic fields.
Dated in
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp;
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Charles A. Frigon
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Town Manager
RETURN OF
WARNING AND NOTICE
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING
January 16, 2007
I hereby certify that on January 3, 2007, I left a duplicate copy of the atta= ched WARNING AND NOTICE of a Special Town Meeting of the Town of Watertown, Connecticut, to be held on January 16, 2007 with Virginia Russo, Assistant = Town Clerk.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
3
I further certify that on January 3, 2007, I caused a copy of said Warning and Notice to be published in the REPUBLICAN AMERICAN Newspaper, which has a su= bstantial circulation in said Town.
I further certify that on January 3, 2007, I caused to be set upon the signpo= st nearest the office of the Town Clerk and all other places with signposts designated by the Town, a written copy of said Warning and Notice signed by= me as Town Manager.
I further certify that all the above acts were done at least five (5) days be= fore the holding of the Special Town Meeting on January 16, 2007.
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp;
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Charles A. Frigon, Town Manager
TOWN CLERK’S CERTIFICATION
AS TO WARNING AND RETURN OF WARNING
I hereby certify that the attached WARNING AND NOTICE of the foregoing RETURN= OF WARNING are duly recorded in the records of the Town of Watertown, Connecti= cut and that Charles A. Frigon was the Town Manager of the Town of Watertown on= the date the WARNING and RETURN OF WARNING were signed.
Dated at
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; =
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp;
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; = Virginia Russo, Assistant Town Clerk
MOTION: &nbs=
p; (Mr.
Mancini, sec. Mr. Walton) to appr=
opriate
$600,000 for the renovation of the
Discussion: =
Enrico Rinaldi,
=
; &n=
bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: They just did the work at
Swift. Now we took the money =
from
one place to fix another. I t=
hought
they were going to do the fields at the high school, now all of the sudden
you're in
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: The discussion all along, there have been several options discussed. One of them we= re to rip up the grass field here at Mills Complex and put in the artificial turf. There were questions regarding the warranty on the track and the concern, at least personally, w= ith respect to the fact that in doing so we could afford access for some sports, football, lacrosse, soccer.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
4
=
; &n=
bsp; In
going to Swift and pursuing that option, there was another concern also, an=
d I
know myself I shared it, and that is we just spent about $875,000 about 2 y=
ears
ago to install that field and personally I was not in favor of saying well
that's all well and good, so let's rip it up and start all over again. So the option was developed with r=
espect
to Swift and the feeling was that by putting it in at Swift we could improve
that field tremendously and include not only participation for football,
soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey, but we could also include provisions for
both softball and baseball which would open up the field's use to many more
kids in town. In addition to =
that
we could, at the same time, install the infrastructure for lighting in the
future if in fact the Town decided that it did want to include lights or add
lights to the field. And that=
(inaudible)
many of us felt was a better option and the best way to spend the money.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: My question was first I though= t we were going to do the high school, now Swift, we have no lights there for ni= ght games. Are they going to put = lights down there?
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: That's an option.= The infrastructure, the conduit an= d the piers are going to be included in the construction so that at a later point= in time, if the Town decides to purchase the stanchions and the lights and pay= for the electrical installation, we have that option to do it, we don't have to= dig up any fields, they'll all be in place and available to be mounted.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: In other words we have to wait= .
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Right.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: They'll vote on it, yes or no = or whatever. You said before any= body could vote on this. I'm sorry= to say this, I'm not an American citizen. I was tol= d one time that I was not allowed to vote on anything, but I'm a taxpayer. I should be allowed to vote on som= e of these issues. I vote for elec= tions for politics, but as a taxpayer I should be able to vote on some of these issues. I'm not a lawyer, I wish I wash (inaudible).
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
5
=
; =
; Mr.
Pawlak:
= ; &n= bsp; Atty. Pilicy: He can vote.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: How come last time there was something going on about taxes, and they told me I was not eligible to vote. As long as I'm a taxpay= er (inaudible) I should be allowed to vote on these issues.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: You can.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: Last time they told me I couldn't. Now who is right or wrong?
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: You can vote.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: That's my issue, can I vote on= this tax proposal?
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Yes.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: Next time (inaudible).
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: You had the same = memory lapse that I do.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: So I'm allowed to vote on these issues as long as I'm a taxpayer. Next time we'll have a . . . . . that's why I want to (inaudible) th= at I vote on some of these issues. As long as I'm a taxpayer.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Yes.
=
; &n=
bsp; Mary Ann Rosa,
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Ms. Rosa: I read in the paper= and paid close attention to what's been happening with the $600,000 because obviously I've spent a lot of time and effort over the years on behalf of t= he School Department and the Town so certainly the outcome of how that money is going to be spent is something I care a great deal about. I have to tell you that I wholehea= rtedly support the decision you've made. I think it's probably the best (inaudible) available to us. I think (inaudibl= e) if you could have bought property and had a new athletic complex that would have been some way to start it off, but that's not a realistic thing that we could have accomplished and putting it into Swift is a dynamite idea and I applaud you for your efforts in staying with that and why it's not wise to = rip up the field at the High School that we fought to get refurbished as it is. Thank= you very much for your time and your effort and (inaudible).
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
6
=
; &n=
bsp; Stan Everett
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Mr.
Everett: I'd like to know=
a few
things about this $600,000, it's for artificial =
turf
at
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: My understanding = is that there will be a fence around it and that is primarily to protect the f= ield from vandal's assault. If we = were going to put it some place else we would have the same condition to prevent vandals from getting on there either with ATV's or cars and destroying it, = but that would be the only purpose. I don't know that we've gotten that far along as to whether or not it would be locked.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Everett: If you had a group of kids who= anted to get together on a Sunday during the Summer th= ey cannot go into Deland Field. = There's no way.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Deland Field is n= ot, it's open.
= ; &n= bsp; Ms. Adams: No, I think he means it's just booked.
= ; = ; Mr. Everett: (Inaudible) I've= been told the kids cannot use it.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Not that I'm awar= e of.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Everett: It's not like Veteran's Field = which I think is great (inaudible).
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: All of Veteran's Field is also booked also.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Everett: It's a place for kids to go, I= 'd hate to see $600,000 put in artificial turf that kids cannot use for a stat= us symbol to show Middlebury or Woodbury that we got artificial turf.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: My understanding = is the reason for the fence is for protection against vandalism. The field would still have to be scheduled much the same as Deland Field is scheduled or the High School fie= ld or even Veteran's Field. I do= n't know the particulars as to whether or not the field would be locked so that nobody could get onto it let's say in the off times. Rich Mazzamauro, from the Board of = Ed is here, do you have any input on that?
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Mazzamauro: I'm not sure at this time.
= ; = ; Ms. Dzioba: I don't think the= re's anything (inaudible) yet.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
7
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: I don't think we'= re that far along, but I would guess quite frankly that and this is just my supposition, that any fencing there would be of a nature would be narrow en= ough to prevent vehicles from getting in there, but certainly wide enough for ea= sy access and egress on the part of pedestrians.
= ; &n= bsp; Ms. Adams: That's what they have up here = at the High School Field, when the field isn't in use, but to allow participation, people walking the track, running, there is an opening that a vehicle cannot fit through but a pedestrian can.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Everett: There should be no stopping of= anybody. Cause like us, we wanted to play (= inaudible).
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: As long as it's n= ot booked, it should be available.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Everett: How will we get permission to = go?
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: I don't think you= 'll need permission, I don't know.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: (Inaudible.)
= ; = ; Ms. Dzioba: The (inaudible) j= ust confirmed that there is an opening in the fence that will allow people acce= ss.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: My guess would be= that as long as the field is not booked by a sports organization, that it should= be available for use by anybody. However if a group of people got on the field for a pickup game and some other teams came that were scheduled, then they would have to relinquish the field.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Everett: I can understand that, if that= 's the way it works.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Much the same way= as the high school field right now. As I've said we have an opening here and I've left meetings here at night and = I've seen people walking the track and there's very little lighting, but they're= out there at 9:00 p.m. so I suspect the same thing would hold true here at Swif= t.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Everett: Thank you.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
8
=
; &n=
bsp; Sean Stango,
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Stango: I was up here a few years ago in my senior year fighting for a football field (inaudible) and many mistakes were made (inaudible) many people. I have all the articles. The tu= rf field should be at the high school, not only just for the purpose of older = kids using it but (inaudible) under the assumption that we had Friday night foot= ball and soccer games and you charge a commission to get in, that goes into the General Fund. (Inaudible) yea= rs ago there was an NVL football game held this past year with Holy cross and Anso= nia, at Wolcott field. There was a= n estimated 5,500 people at $7.00 a person, now that's extra money that the Town could = use probably considering how we're debating on that extra money to put right now. Just to make sure, just = to hear (inaudible) that's what it's going to look like at Swift?
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Yes.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Stango: And the baseball and softball = field is going to be turf?
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Yes.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Stango: Have you ever played on that?<= /p>
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: No, I was around = before, I was playing before turf was here.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Stango: Has anyone had a grandchild or anything playing on a turf baseball or softball field?
=
; =
; Mr.
Pawlak: I don't know. This is not the original generatio=
n
=
; &n=
bsp; Mr. Stango: That's why I'm helping you guys
out. It's extremely hard to p=
lay
on. If you look up an injury =
report
on more people using turf for baseball, maybe we're not pros, but little
Freshman, they're a lot more accident prone than pros but I think the field=
up
here should be turfed, and I don't see why 7th and 8th graders and people in
Town might need turf. Granted=
it's
great that we're getting turf in
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
9
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: The total cost if= we were to do this if we're successful with this recommendation at Swift would= be $790,000.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Stango: Well that's a lot cheaper than $1,200,000 which Wolcott just spent to renovate their field. And they were able to do it toward= s the end of July and it was ready for football season, because I've gone out the= re and played pick up games at that high school. I think it would be much better, profit-wise better for the Town and the Board of Education to make more mon= ey off it to move it up here, hosting games, cause we now have a new track, so= we can host the track events more, just makes more sense to move it up there.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> And before you make a final decisi= on I'd like someone to go down and check out the fields that play softball and baseball on turf. That's abou= t it.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: A lot of the things you talked= about have been discussed here for quite some time. I just want to give you some input, and I respect your opinion. <= /span>The Swift field first and foremost is doable because there's enough money in the contingency fund to get the job done and get the posts in for the lighting. The high school wou= ld be a different story; we'd have to go out and get a lot more funds. The $600,000 is not going to do it= .
= ; = ; Mr. Stango: That is a lot big= ger than a football field.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: Yea, but what we're saying is = the money down there is available, the excess money that we need to complete wh= at we want to do down there. I d= on't know, you'd have to ask someone from the Board of Ed, when the Swift field = is turfed and completed, that's available for the high school sports also, correct? <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Yea, it's not just for Swift. Probably not f= or football but at least soccer and lacrosse.
= ; = ; Mr. Stango: What brings the m= ost money into the General Fund? = The taxpayers or football games?
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: Taxpayers.
= ; = ; Mr. Stango: Okay, it's footba= ll, right?
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: No.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Stango: I apologize for that.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: The high school, if I read in = the paper correctly, is looking at some expansion down the road and I know they= 've talked about the field.
= ; = ; Mr. Stango: That's 2 or 3 yea= rs, I'm sorry.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
10
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: I don't know, until I saw the = plans about what they wanted to do I'd be a little hesitant about doing too much around the high school because I don't know what will or will not be disturbed. We just don't know= at this point. I'm not sure (ina= udible) what will be impacted or not. The other important thing that we considered here, I did anyway, if you read the paper last week, turfing John Mills is not out of the question. We're hoping to get that done in t= he next couple of years with the proposal of NEASC and all that, turfing John Mills is part of that program.
= ; = ; Mr. Stango: Can you guarantee= it?
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: I can't guarantee anything.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: We guarantee deat= h and taxes.
=
; &n=
bsp; Mr. Stango: Well I've sat here many times =
which
(inaudible) 7 seniors that graduated from the football team in 2005, we cam=
e to
these meetings many times and the Board of Ed meetings, trying to get it
changed, and I'm sure you remember by you shaking your head, we tried many
times to put the turf there (inaudible).&n=
bsp;
If you have the money right now and I don’t see why waste it n=
ow
and put it there. Swift was b=
ussed
up here to play soccer games last year so they can still be bussed up here =
as
well. You're not going to go =
bus down
a football team to play on turf. I
don't see any reason why a football team or a soccer team or a lacrosse team
has to go down to Swift to use their facility when Swift can (inaudible).
=
; &n=
bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: The Board of Ed, the Athletic =
Director
is in charge of booking the sports on the fields. I don't think any field,
exclusive of the one school should be used by whoever needs it. That's the way it should work. =
; =
; Mr.
Stango: That's the way it
should work, but (inaudible) how it does work. That's just my feeling and I'm sure
everyone else's feeling here that you're looking at right now. =
; &n=
bsp; Richard Mazzamauro, =
; =
; Mr.
Mazzamauro: I just want t=
o clarify, I heard it a couple of times, the example used
about the playoff game up in Wolcott.
There was a ton of people there, but the way I understand an NVL eve=
nt,
the school doesn't get the gate receipts, the NVL does. =
; =
; Mr.
Pawlak: And it's distribu=
ted
out? Spec=
ial Town
Meeting Janu=
ary 16,
2007 Page=
11 =
; &n=
bsp; Mr. Mazzamauro: Through all he schools, it's n=
ot the
one school. I'm on the Board =
of
Education, we have several members here tonight, and there's a lot of time
involved into what could be done with this money and we looked at, as well =
as
the Town Council, the Mills Complex.
When the Swift subject came up it seemed like a great idea (inaudibl=
e). We're not looking at either/or tur=
f,
whether it's Swift or the High School.&nbs=
p;
There is actually a plan and it was published last week, and turf is=
one
of the proposed improvements to the High School when the improvements are
approved by the Town, and I think having 2 turfed fields, I don't know anyt=
hing
better for the kids in this Town rather than one. If we were to put that $600,000 at=
the
High school right now it would be a done deal, we'd have one turfed field in
Town (inaudible) taxpayers decide they might want to spend money on turfing
other fields. With the grant =
money
we have now we can do Swift, and in the future we have the opportunity to do
the high school. That gives u=
s 2
turfed fields, one of them being a multiple purpose field which encompasses
also (inaudible) so I do favor it and I do (inaudible) at Swift. Thanks. =
; &n=
bsp; Ed Lopes, &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Mr.
Lopes: I support turf.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Sure, why not?
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Lopes: Through the Chair, to the Boar= d of Ed, WAYS, Swift obviously, high school teams, Po= p Warner, will they all play on those fields?
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Sure. Pop Warner right now uses Mills, t= here's no reason why they . . . .
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Lopes: I don't see goal posts.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: They are removabl= e.
= ; &n= bsp; Ms. Dzioba: The (inaudible) using the fiel= d will be the high school athletic department of the school (inaudible) schedules. The Board of Educa= tion teams will have first choice for scheduling, then other groups I guess the way they apply will be able to use the fields, as = long as any of the Board of Ed teams don't need it at that time.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
12
= ; = ; Mr. Lopes: Is there any Town ordinance that says Sunday mornings, afternoon, loud speakers at Swift (Tape #1, Side A ended - may have missed some) cheerle= aders and the like. These are thing= s they do here at Mills already, and if they're not allowed down there it will take away from Pop Warner. If you = go to a Pop Warner game where there's no PA system, no announcers, it's just blah. I mean part of the inte= rest of a Pop Warner game is hearing your kid's name on the PA. The parents (i= naudible) so I don't know if there are ordinances down there.
=
; &n=
bsp; Mr. Pawlak: I'm not aware of any ordinance=
that
would prohibit that from happening, but I do know that
= ; = ; Atty. Pilicy: There is a noise ordinance but I don't believe it would be appropriate for use with respect = to a Town system that's used as an accessory to a sporting event. There are noise provisions in the zoning ordinances but again it would probably not be applicable to an existing use that's already established. However I am aware of at least one= other town where this is a hot issue right now.
=
; &n=
bsp; Mr. Lopes: The town of
= ; = ; Atty. Pilicy: There is a similar situation going on in Woodbury right now with Pop Warner.
=
; &n=
bsp; Mr. Lopes: This is for the kids. I'm not going to play on that fiel=
d, it's
for the kids, and quite frankly I'd love to hear my kid's name on the PA
system, but if it's not available, I mean it kind of takes away from the dr=
aw
of the PA, and having Pop Warner playing 5 games a weekend up there
anyway. I totally support the=
Town
getting a facility with turf. This
turf that they're putting on here is phenomenal stuff. I've seen many schools,
= ; = ; Ms. Adams: They pay a rental = fee.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
13
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Lopes: It's late in the process and a= ll, if you go to DanburyHighSchoolStadium.com, I believe that's it, actually has i= t, and they actually hired a part time person, a teacher, just to schedule the events there and that's constantly booked. What happens to Unico Field? WAYS uses it now.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: They're still goi= ng to use it. This doesn't preclude anybody from using anything, it just shows another facility.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Lopes: (Inaudible.)
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: That's correct.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Lopes: Thank you very much.
=
; =
; Mary
Dzioba,
= ; &n= bsp; Ms. Dzioba: I just want to give some backg= round and my own personal opinions about what the Board went through when we pass= ed the proposal for turf at the middle school.
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: Mary is the Chair= man of the Board of Education.
= ; &n= bsp; Ms. Dzioba: One of the concerns we had wit= h the $600,000 was to tear up an award winning field that was just used for the f= irst time this year. We weren't su= re the $600,000 would cover replacing the field we have now with artificial turf a= nd still have it be the award winning, beautiful fa= cility that it is now. To add turf to Swift is going to cost $790,000 which is more than the $600,000 allotted in= the grant, but it (inaudible) renovation program we have the extra money in the construction funds that we have. Again people have said that we have= got this project for 3 years, in 3 years renovating the high school which inclu= des putting in a beautiful turf surface at the Mills Complex, so the thought is with this $600,000 and the on-going current construction that’s going= on at Swift, we can put the turf in there now, not have to go to the Town for any more money for this facility and then in a couple of years we will again ha= ve another beautiful turfed field at our Mills Complex that will be (inaudible= ) any division, league, tournament, program.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
14
=
; &n=
bsp; This
proposal that we're going to vote on tonight is the best of both worlds.
=
; &n=
bsp; Brian Stanley,
= ; = ; Mr. Stanley: First of all I a= pplaud everyone's effort in making this decision whether everyone agrees or not, w= ith it or without it, I know everyone worked so hard on this, and for people to give (inaudible) and hear criticism, I really object to that, but my questi= on is, growing up in Watertown I've heard a lot of promises, a lot of plans th= at have never come true. So not = really coming into this meeting deciding what the right thing was to do, my biggest thing in the back of my head is I keep hearing a remodeled high school, new turf at the Mills Complex, but I've heard this before, and then when it com= es last minute everything gets shot down.&nbs= p; Judging on a decision like that happening, my problem with this turf field that is here now, I know you're including the possibility of lights t= here, but that's not happening yet and who knows if that's ever going to happen.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> So figuring quickly, you have Swift Soccer, Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer, Lacrosse, Field Hockey, only one game ca= n be played on that field at a time, so when is the high school coming to have t= ime to play on that field because there are only certain hours of daytime in th= e Fall, and then when they do have time to play on the field, where does Swift practice? That's my biggest <= span class=3DGramE>concern, I just see a big fiasco happening down there, especially without lights. If= you told me today that you were putting lights there, I'd be the first one to s= ay yes, but that's my concern right now. (Inaudible) with a lot of promises and not all these promises happen= ing all the time, living in this Town, is a big concern for me. I just see a big fiasco. There won't be time for everyone t= o play on it.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
15
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: This proposal in = no way is directed quite frankly at high school athletics. It's principally Swift and the oth= er sports organizations within the Town. It was never our intent to have the High School use this facility as= its primary source. #2 you mentio= ned the fact that in the past promises have been made and many times not kept.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> It's interesting because in all of= the discussion we're talking about it's all centered around Swift and the Town a little over a year or a year and a half ago stepped up and approved an incr= ease in the Swift project from I believe it was $27,000,000 to $33,000,000. And that project, I mean that was = a significant 20% increase roughly, thereabouts and yet the Townspeople went to referendum and they approved it, and what we're going to end up with at Swift is a significantly improved state of the art facility with respect to the buildi= ngs itself and the mechanicals and all of the various support systems within the school and I think we have the opportunity here to include in that signific= ant upgrade the installation of a turf field.&= nbsp; It's not going to be the end all and be all, but I think it would significantly increase the amount of playing time, it may not have lights in the beginning but as I indicated earlier and I have some remarks that I'm g= oing to speak about later, it will include the installation of all the infrastructure which would be required for lights at a later point in time,= and whether we use any available left over contingency fund for those lights or= we ask for other sources of revenue, not necessarily the Town to raise the mon= ey for those lights, which would be my preference, at least we would have had = the foresight to make allowances for that infrastructure which will then make t= he installation hopefully of lights at some point in time a lot less expensive= .
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Stanley: Again we're down to ifs. My concerns is= . . . .
= ; = ; Mr. Pawlak: That's right; the= re are no guarantees.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Stanley: Absolutely and that's my point, again I appreciate what you're saying and you guys probably know more than = me but the common sense thing on my part is nothing is guaranteed as far as I'm concerned after we act the other way and did something you didn't guarantee= and if Mills is turfed that's a guarantee where it makes more sense, you have lights, you have more playing time on the field, these are just some of my issues, and if anybody else has any comments or ideas for my concerns then welcome to it. Again I don't = mean to criticize anybody. I absol= utely love this Town, I applaud everyone who volunteers for this Town, and it's t= ough for me to get up here and come up with my point of views when I haven't attended every single meeting, so you can take it for what it's worth.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
16
=
; &n=
bsp; Paul Hoffman,
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Hoffman: My biggest concern, I think the tur= f is great, but a couple of years down the road putting in the lights; some of y= ou know my situation. I'm the cl= osest house property to the field, and a couple of years ago when the addition wa= s being proposed I asked about a barrier between my property and the school property which was there about 10 feet of woods, trees, it was great. There is nothing there now. It is totally wide open. I don't know if something is going= to go up there or not, but it concerns me that in about 2 or 3 years, 9:00 p.m., = my house, my yard is going to be fully lit and people going all over the place= , so what really concerns me is more the future rather than so much the turf, bu= t I want to make that point now so that if it does come up, that's important to me. My pr= ivacy. I don't know if you talked to= other abutting neighbors, how they feel, maybe I should have come earlier to say = this is a problem for me. I just w= ant to say I'm opposed to the lights in the future, and I'm hearing microphones and also the sound system. Thank = you.
=
; &n=
bsp; Sam McCleary, 200 Straits Turnpike=
,
= ; = ; Mr. McCleary: I just want to = say that I support the project that you are proposing. I think the Town needs to do somet= hing with the $600,000 before somebody in the State says y= ou guys don't have a plan, we're taking the money back; sooner or later I think that would happen. You've got to do something at Swift, right now there's nothing but dirt, so it makes sense f= rom an economic standpoint for me anyway. It also makes sense to get a few more years out of the existing fiel= d at Mills, and then I would like to see that turf with the proposed high school reconstruction project.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Primini: First of all I never thought w= e would have a problem spending $600,000 when I came n the Council 6 years ago. I think we are all in agreement wi= th that. It's ironic that the $6= 00,000 figures comes up. Dick Wick warned me 5 years ago, MaryAnn Rosa too, never use that "s" word when it comes to getting money like that, so that's one thing we're not going to say, but this has been studied quite a bit by vari= ous groups. Rich has been involve= d a lot with the Public Buildings Committee.&n= bsp; There was another committee that was formed with several people on i= t, I believe Chuck you were on that committee, and I never thought about the Swi= ft project until that committee got together, and if anybody ever had a chance= to see the graph they came up with, they had every possible project that could= be used and why it couldn't be used, and how it came out to Swift that was nev= er really thought of originally, but when we look at, that football field originally we looked at that back 5 years ago when we got the original $500= ,000 grant we wanted to put turf on that back then and it was another $800,000 a= nd everybody agreed, they didn't think that would ever pass at referendum in t= his Town and the referendum as it was only passed by 110 votes.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
17
= ; &n= bsp; I personally got an education from several people here and a couple of guys aren't even here, Steve Marino, Bob Guerrera, Brian, yourself, and Warren F= ord, and if you talk to several people on the Town Council a lot of people were swaying back and forth and it was very frustrating. On the other hand we've gotten qui= te a few people who've come up to us and said you guys just put that field down = and now you're going to rip it up already, and there were various concerns about warranties on the track and I don't know how many people we've talked to, previous engineers, Kaestle Boos our Town engineers, our Public Buildings Committee, and it was one of the things that was recommended doing so there= was a lot of thought in this, and personally after the Torrington/Watertown gam= e on Thanksgiving when I saw what happened to the field up in Torrington I was g= lad the game wasn't in Watertown. I never thought about the difference between football fields and baseball fields. I think all of us cou= ld say we got an education on fields up here.&nbs= p; I never realized the difference between WAYS and mounds and everythi= ng but there was a lot of thought put into this and it's getting down to the w= ire and the $600,000 and when we look at the Swift field, it looks like the bes= t thing overall. Yes, we would like to clean up the field, but the plans are in place, hopefully we'll get the bes= t of both worlds by having two fields and a lot of it has to do with people comi= ng to these Town Council meetings to present it to us and I'd like to thank all those people who have come to us and brought all that to our attention.
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Enrico Rinaldi,
= ; = ; Mr. Rinaldi: The ordinance in= the Town, if kids wants to play football, popcorn, t= hey want to have microphones to announce like 10:00 a.m. I think that's great, let them have it. (Inaudible) ordinance, I = live on the street up there, 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. you hear dogs there and they kill you, from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and these people can (inaudible) kids with microphones at 10:00 a.m. I t= hink they should give them the popcorn kids, they should have my son played (ina= udible) tackle, they should allow to give him that, so why (inaudible). If you don't l= ike (inaudible). Take a ride, go some place, have b= reakfast, and let these kids plays ball. When they play games I can hear the announcements at my house. I don't complain about that. I complained one time about the do= gs, they said (inaudible) they could have all they want, but (inaudible) worse = than the microphones. Thank you ve= ry much.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
18
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Pawlak: I've got several reasons why I beli= eve we should approve this proposal, most have been mentioned already. As we said the estimate for the Sw= ift turfing is $790,000. $600,000= would come from the State Grant plus $190,000 from the contingency fund for the S= wift renovation. This would give u= s a multiuse sports field with no contention issues with the high school. Even standing on its own I believe= this makes sense. This field would= be available for use for football, soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, plus softba= ll and baseball. Something that = would not be available at Mills, and that is the softb= all and baseball. This allows us a facility which will serve many more kids in the community. It also allows us with this money = to install the infrastructure requirements for lighting if at some point in the future the Town chooses to install lighting there. This new facility study that was j= ust released for the High School, Polk, and Judson included the upgrade of the Mills Com= plex with respect to installation of turf. So if we use the, I think the latest estimate that we have for turfi= ng Mills was about $570,000 and we weren't sure that was absolutely a rock sol= id number, but I'm just going to use that, and we add in 10% construction inflation for the next 2 years, assuming that the Mills project, the high school infrastructure improvement project would commence around 2 years, th= at would bring the project cost for Mills to around $690,000. I believe we are estimating that t= he Town's portion of that cost would be about 42%, the bal= ance would come from the State. Th= is means that the Town would have to come up with $290,000 to turf the facilit= y. If we add this to the $190,000 that= we plan on using from the contingency fund for Swift, this means that we would= end up with not one, but two turfed facilities in Town, for a total cost of $480,000 which is about $90,000 less than the best lowest estimate it would cost us for one facility at Mills. <= /span>As importantly, with 2 facilities, not only would the stress and also the contention for the facilities be greatly reduced on each of those, but it w= ould also reduce the stress and contention on all the other athletic fields in T= own. At this point, as I think has been mentioned earlier, most of us on the Cou= ncil weren't even considering turf as an option, we were always fixated on real estate, where could we get it, how much would it cost, what do we do with i= t, and I would personally like to thank Bob Guerrera and his people for bringi= ng this option to our attention because I think it makes sense, and I think Ray said we were torn between this one until we got to the Swift idea and I thi= nk it makes a lot of sense and I think it's the best possible use for this mon= ey for this Town at this time. F= or all of those reasons I would ask all of you to support this proposal.
Spec=
ial Town
Meeting
Janu=
ary 16,
2007
Page=
19
In Favor: &= nbsp; 22 People (by show of hands)
Opposed: = 9 People (by show of hands)
Abstained: None
MOTION CARRIED BY HAND VOTE (22-9-0)
Mr.
Pawlak, Moderator, Closed the
Respectfully submitted,
Joseph Pawlak, Moderator
Approve= d: ______________________________
&= nbsp; Lynn LaForme, Clerk