MINUTES

WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL

SPECIAL TOWN MEETING

JOHN TRUMBULL PRIMARY SCHOOL

MEDIA CENTER

MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 2006, 7:00 P.M.=

PRESENT: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Elaine Adams

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Antonio Guerrera

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Robert Kane (arrived at 7:23 p.m.)

&= 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; None

OTHERS PRESENT: Thomas Hansen, Engineer, Tata & Howard

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Frank Jodaitis, Water & Sewer Superintendent

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

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

1.&nb= sp; Convene Special <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">Town Meeting

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Mr. Pawlak, Chairman, Called the Special Town Meeting to Ord= er at 7:07 p.m.

MOTION: &nbs= p; (Mr. Pilicy, sec. Mr. Mancini) to nominate Joseph Pawlak for Moderator of the Special Town Meeting.

Discussion: = Mr. Pawlak: Are there any other nominations?

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

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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?

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Mr. Pawlak, Moderator, read aloud the Call of the Meeting as follows:

WARNING AND NOTICE

TOWN OF WATERTOWN, CONNECTICU= T

SPECIAL TOWN MEETING

August 21, 2006

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 August 21, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. at the John Trumbull Primary School Library, 779 Buckingham Street, Oa= kville, CT to consider an appropriation in the amount of $79,400 from the General F= und, $45,000 from the Sewer Extension Fund, and $172,030 from the Water and Sewer Debt Fund, for a total appropriation of $296,430 to fund the Thomaston Road Sanitary Sewer and Pumping Station Project.

Dated in Waterto= wn, Connecticut this 15th day o= f August, 2006.

&= 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; Frank J. Nardelli, Jr.

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Acting Town Manager

RETURN OF

WARNING AND NOTICE

TOWN OF WATERTOWN, CONNECTICU= T

SPECIAL TOWN MEETING

August 21, 2006

I hereby certify that on August 15, 2006, 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 August 21, 2006 with Virginia Russo, Assistant T= own Clerk.

I further certify that on August 15, 2006, I caused a copy of said Warning and Notice to be published in the REPUBLICAN AMERICAN Newspaper, which has a substantial circulation in said Town.

I further certify that on August 15, 2006, 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 Acting Town Manager.

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

July= 17, 2006

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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 August 21, 2006.

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&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Frank J. Nardelli, Jr.

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Acting 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 Frank J. Nardelli, Jr. was the Acting Town Manager of the Town of Watertown on the date the WARNING and RETURN OF WARNING were signed.

Dated at Waterto= wn, Connecticut this 15th day o= f August, 2006.

&= 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

Mr. Pawlak: The meeting is open for discussion= . I would just advise everybody that everybody here who is a citizen of Watertown, a voter, a taxpayer in the Town of Watertown, the limit is $1,000 of assessed property, is eligible to vote when the ques= tion is put to a vote. I would also ask that anybody who seeks to speak (inaudib= le) good language and would be respectful of everybody else here.

Jim Petroccia, 22 Highmeadow R= oad, Watertown, CT 06795=

Mr. Petroccia: I think I'm clear on this but I jus= t want to ask a question or clarification. The issue of voting yes or no for the appropriation is up to the gathering here, not the Town?

Mr. Pawl= ak: Correct.

Mr. Petroccia: On a personal note, I am retired an= d I'm a professional engineer. At t= he time of my retirement in 1986 I worked for the Water & Sewer Authority = for 30 years as the Superintendent Engineer, so I am here (inaudible) neighbors tonight to oppose the construction of the planned sanitary sewer system alo= ng Route 6 for the following reasons. <= /span>I live in an area called Fern Woods. The sewage outlet for that subdivision (inaudible) pump station on= Fern Hill Road near the corner of Northfield R= oad. The pump station was built about 35 years ago by the developer, Ray Garrassino, and served our area only (inaudible). We paid heavily = for it when we purchased our house lots. This pump station has been plagued with problems since the beginning because it's such a radical design. We have to pump sewage uphill for about a quarter of a mile at a hei= ght elevation of 150 feet. Wherea= s a normal sewer pump station pumps probably a couple hundred fee tat a height = of about 75 or 50 feet. But this= pump station has served us in spite of the problems.

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

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Now the Water & Sewer Authority, by a slim vote margin, 3-2, the Chairman a= nd the Vice Chairman were against it, has approved to go for funding to constr= uct a new pump station to serve Route 6 properties, and I would assume the pump station is around where the old video store was. There's no doubt that the area nee= ds a sewer service, I don't question that for a moment, but the method of provid= ing it at the expense and added problems to our system is bad engineering. They propose to hook up Route 6 to another pump station and force it into the existing force main that was bui= lt for our use only. This puts an extra burden on our system and may cause it to (inaudible). I actually suggested at a previous meeting that the new system should discharge uphill at the corner of Nova Scotia Hill Road and Buckingham Street into a (inaudible) outlet where our system now discharges, not into the for= ce main at the corner of Fern Hill and Route 6 just to save the contractor some money. (I= naudible) system to tie into a force main, because everything has to work just right.= If, for example, there's a problem= with the check valves or siphoning at the pump (inaudible) sewage can back into houses or fill the street with raw sewage.= Just picture raw sewage on the street or in some= body's house. It's a slimy, s= lick substance, and if it's on the road, cars would certainly slip on it and (in= audible) could be up to $15,000 or $20,000 (inaudible) so let's prevent this problem from happening. We vote no fo= r the money tonight (inaudible) that the system should empty into a gravity manho= le (inaudible) force main that was built for our use only.

Now interestingly the Town has 5 pump stations now and they all empty into a gravity outlet. Recently I was talking to the former City Engineer for the = City of Waterbury about this and Waterbury has dozens of pump stations, they've been in this business for about 200 years and have always rejected = this kind of design because they felt it was risky and unreliable, so why take t= his chance? Let's vote no and do = the ting right at the end. Thank = you.

Al Bernardi, 755 Thomaston Ro= ad, Watertown, CT 06795=

Mr. Bernardi: I own the property at 755 Thomaston Road in Watertown. I've been working on this project = along with the Town for almost going on 3 years.= A couple of little things that I don't understand with this pump sta= tion, Bob Smith from the Health District said we are in desperate need of this pu= mp station along Route 6, which I gave you his letter which he wrote to the Committee stating this fact. = Also we're having the problem, Mr. Petroccia is sayin= g that adding this pump station is going to cause a problem. They already added 2 pump stations= . When I first was going to put in my line, it was going to be a 2 inch line coming down tying into this 6 inch f= orce line, that was approved, but we decided it wasn't good enough for the Town = because then somebody else would want to do it, and then somebody else would want t= o do it, so we're going to have about nine 2 inch lines going down to this (inau= dible) and (inaudible) force lines. = Okay that was a bad idea. I wasn't= allowed to do that, we were going to do it the property way with a gravity fed line, put a pump station down there, this is the right way to go, 2 other enginee= rs, I mean this was all designed, everything, all the homework was done on this project, but before that the Town allowed 2 other gentlemen to do what I wa= nted to do, to put in a pump and go into this 6 inch force line which they did.<= /p>

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

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Now where, I don't know, where was he when they were= doing this? I don't want to sound r= ude or mean, but we're trying to do something, I'm going along with engineers and going along doing everything the right way, and here's some people putting these little pumps into the 6 inch force line, which we were first going to= do when we first did the design, and they said no, that's not going to work, b= ut they allowed 2 other people to do this.&nb= sp; You see there's something wrong here? That's what I feel. We're in desperate need of this se= wer line. We have 2 other enginee= rs. I mean the Town Engineer which you people hired, which I mean, the Committee, somebody had to hire the Town Engineer, I mean he does have degrees also which he states that this is the= way to go and this is going to work, and there won't be no problems, and then I hired the third engineer who is here also, so I mean I just don't know why,= if this was going, I just don't know why these other people were allowed to do this, and I couldn't, and now I'm trying to do it the right way, the way th= at I'm told by the Town's engineers, by another engineer I hired, by other people = in the Town, and I just want the best for the Town. We're all in trouble up there. Like I said, Bob Smith from the He= alth District wrote this letter saying how much trouble we're in up there, so I = mean we're here for your help. Tha= nk you.

Eric Palladino, 459 Woodbury Ro= ad, Watertown, CT 06795=

Mr. Palladino: I'd just like to introduce from Tata & Howard, Thomas G. Hansen who is the engineer who I believe designed t= his system and I believe it supports, even though reasonable minds certainly may differ, that the people in this meeting hear all of the different opinions = of the experts.

Thomas Hansen, Engineer, Tata & Howard

Mr. Hansen: I was hired originally by Mr. Berna= rdi to work on this project and this has become more of a Town project and that's = why this meeting was called tonight. The comments that Mr. Petroccia brings up are valid comments and concerns with any project (inaudible) pumping sewage to a force main. Interconnecting force mains, altho= ugh it's not commonly done, it's done when the need arises. In this particular case, both Frank Jodaitis and I have looked at the issues in that regard and concluded that perhaps it would be better to utilize, what I’m trying= to say is there are already 3 force mains in this road, one is from Fern Hill, which is the main force main and we were planning to tie into that. The other force mains are smaller = and they service some individual grinder pumps, or individual pumps that goes, stored down at the intersection and pumped up to Fern Hill and goes to that= so we're thinking of, well we asked ourselves what would be the impact of pump= ing into the force mains or pumping up to Fern Hill and dumping it into the Fern Hill station and letting the Fern Hill Pump Station take it and we decided = that the latter case would probably be best, err on the side of caution, if you will.

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

Page= 6

The pump station at Fern Hill runs about an hour a day now, in dry weather, (in= audible) hours a day in wet weather and that's where the estimates that Mr. Petrocci= a, that 15,000 to 20,000 gallons per day comes from. The new station proposed for Thomaston Road is going to handle about 2,000 gallons per day flow rate, on an average daily = flow rate, which would translate to about a 15 minute per day increase in operat= ion at Fern Hill. And it would al= low Fern Hill to continue to operate in exactly the same pressure range that it= 's currently operating. The thing about pump stations is that they are on or they're off. When they're on they pump a certai= n rate of flow, when they're off they can't ump anything, so it's just a matter of= the length of time that the station runs in order to move a given amount of sew= age, the amount of sewage that we would be pumping up to Fern Hill would increase the pump duration from about 1 hour a day to about 1 hour and 15 minutes or= an hour and a half per day, still pretty low given it's a 50 horsepower motor = and it's designed to run quite a bit longer than that if it has to, so and that= 's about a, it's like a 25% increase and it corresponds to (inaudible) so (inaudible) about pumping into the force main I believe was addressed with = the Town and with Mr. Jodaitis (inaudible) and we're going to pump up to the station (inaudible).

John O'Brien, 1475 Buckingham S= treet, Oakville, CT 06779=

Mr. O'Brien: I'm one of the (inaudible) proposed sewer extension. (Inaudible) mentioned that my house is the only one in this project = that's located on Buckingham Stre= et. All of the ones that are experienc= ing problems are on Route 6. I'm = the last house on Buckingham S= treet, it was built in 1986. The sew= er line already runs down Buc= kingham Street crossing over on Fern Hill Road where a (inaudible) = pump station is located on Fern Hill. During my house construction the Town informed my contractor that connections could not be made to the sewer system because it was up the hill, pump. I attended every Water & Sewer meeting since being notified of this project, about May 29, 2006. The only one I missed was on July = 12th due to rotator cuff surgery and I delivered a letter to the Water & Sew= er Department indicating my opposition against my property being considered for this project. There are older= homes on Buckingham Street near my location that have older septic system that require upgrading before mine. Maybe at that time, dow= n the road, you'll have a system, gravity feeding down Buckingham Street that I might be interested in at that time. R= ight now if I were to go to the proposed system, I would have to have about 130 = feet of line from my house out to the road, whereas if the property, if you had a line going down Buckingham Street it would be 76 feet. Again right now the rear of my pro= perty is where my pipe connections are made.&nbs= p; Another thing that's been getting my attention since I've been atten= ding the meetings, is Mr. Bernardi stated that he, al= ong with other business owners have paid the Town over $18,000 and have a signed agreement with the Town already. I just don't understand it could pass Town Meetings or he could have done thi= s, that's a question I have. (In= audible) meetings, I was informed Mr. Nocera a Town (inaudible) spoke about the meth= od of assessment for this project and if we use his method, my proposed cost w= ould be higher than those paying the $18,000 already.

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Augu= st 21, 2006

Page= 7

I already had an engineering system which included trucking in a crude materi= al for the leach fields and it's in excellent shape and I also have a reserve = area for later use, so right now I do not see a problem for the next 20, 30, 40 years. My house right now is occupied by just my wife and myself. The house presently is 20 years old. I feel I will need a new furnace a= nd roof before that, that's why I would like to see my expenses not a new sewer assessment. My question is ca= n't the Town require commercial property owners construct new leach fields as we are supposed to set aside when we had our houses built. At that time I spent in excess of $10,000 and at that time I believed I wouldn’t be incurring future expenses. Now it looks like I= 'm going back to step 1, when I'd like to start thinking about retirement down= the road. If the Town also puts t= he proposed gravity feed down Buckingham Street which is in front of my property I then= may be able to make this connection, it would be a shorter connection as I alre= ady stated. And lastly I found th= e Town of Watertown has allowed 2 newer homes on my street, Buckingham Street, have connected to the sewer lines by means of a force feed system. I think if I had a problem, which I don't, I should be allowed to go by a force fed connection also. So in closing again, I'm against t= his project being considered. I presently have an engineered septic system that the Town required me to hav= e in order to receive a zoning permit to construct my house back then. It has been maintained and inspect= ed and is in excellent working order. It (inaudible) my wife and myself, I have a reserve area set aside for a future leach field, again required by the Town, and the Town has allowed 2 newer h= ome son Buckingham Street, like I said, to connect to the present sewer system = by means of a force main system, and lastly I believe some other homes on Buckingham Street and White Street will experience septic problems much bef= ore me which I believe will require use of a gravity feed going down Buckingham Street. Thank you.

Doug Ouellette, 173 Inverary Dr= ive, Watertown, CT 06795

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Mr. Ouellette: I just want to say that this is th= e best option for all those on Route 6 with septic systems. There r= eally is no alternative as far as the leach field goes, replacing it, you've seen the letter from Bob Smith. Althou= gh a gravity line all the way down Route 6 would be a great idea, but we are many years away from that and also the cost to do such a project is phenomenal so (inaudible) in probably 15 to 20 years and we just loosened out the system = that we had designed has been looked at, will have the minimal impact on this partial pump so I see no reason why it shouldn't be installed. Thank you.

John Vitone, 34 Fairview Avenue, Oakvill= e, CT&nbs= p; 06779

Mr. Vitone: I rise to speak in opposition, not= to the project, but it's the method of the financing. Many years ago when this project w= as put in, it was put in as a project development system by the Garrassino Constru= ction Company. At the time he was proposing the project, with a sewer flowing in the wrong direction, so the engineers developed a plan to flow down the gravity and then put a force ma= in to go up the other way to the middle of Buckingham Street until we found a = point of gravity going down the hill. This was fine, he was going to pay for the whole thing, and at the time we though there's going to be future developme= nt here, so should we increase the capacity of this line.

Watertown= Town Council

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Augu= st 21, 2006

Page= 8

We thought it was a good idea, but who was going to finance it and pay for it. We couldn't find the fina= ncing for it and this was a benefit to nobody at the time except to Garrassino an= d he said that's all; I'm going to pay for and so this was adequate for the development that he put up and was installed and we went along with that. As we anticipated at the time, wha= t we foresaw is exactly happening, ore people want to= hook onto this line but the system. The size of the main going down, the force main going up and the size of the pu= mps are not adequate for the load that it's going to carry. I'm not against expansion. I'm not one of those persons who f= igures once I move into the Town, find out I want open spaces, I don’t want = the trees destroyed, I want to keep listening to the birds, so on and so forth,= let the development come, but let the people who are going to benefit from these mains pay for it, and this is the thing that I'm opposed to. It now seems that we have to spend= an additional $28,000 in order to improve the capacity of this line so it can adequately service the new properties that are coming in, but this is not a general benefit to the people at large.&nb= sp; It is a direct benefit to the people who are going to have to use th= is line and that is the way our system works, on the Sewer & Water Authority. Things are either = a general benefit or a direct benefit and there is no other method of financing. I spent 16 years on the old Oakvil= le Fire District and then I served another 9 years and through the transition = period through the (inaudible) Water & Sewer Authority of Watertown, and I remember this very, very clearly, I remember the arguments that were made, = the same ones that are being made tonight, if you want to improve the system and attach to it, let the $28,000 be assessed to the people who are actually go= ing to benefit from it the way it was done originally, don’t send that bi= ll to me. It is not a direct ben= efit or a benefit of any kind to myself or the other = people of Watertown. It is a benefit directly to the pe= ople who are going to benefit from it, who is the developer and the people he is= selling the properties to. That's the= only thing I'm opposed to, and I implore all of you to consider this very, very carefully. I think you all ve= ry much for your kind attention. To those of you who disagree with me, I thank you for your forbearance and let= 's make the right decision.

Jim Trout, 219 Old Farms Road, Watertown, CT <= st1:PostalCode w:st=3D"on">06795

Mr. Trout: There are some of our neighbors he= re tonight opposed to this project. Jim Petroccia who lives on Highmeadow spoke against it, I think a lot of you kn= ow that Jim was with the Town, the Water & Sewer Authority particularly fo= r a lot of years. I think no one = as an engineer knows more about the current system and (inaudible) than he does and it bot= hers me to hear that the Water & Sewer Authority voted a mere 3-2 to go forw= ard with this project. And since there's disagreement among reasonable engineers on this project, I think the logical thing is to take a conservative view, a conservative approach as somebody said before, and that would be the alternative, as Jim said, to construct a force main from the cover of Fern Hill and Route 6 up to where = it can go gravity to Nova Scotia and Buckingham. If that were done it would ta= ke the risk away, of putting stress on the current system and the neighbors wo= uld favor that. And again let me say, m= o one in our neighborhood I don't believe, wishes to deny sewer service to the in= dividuals on Route 6. There's currently= a need and that's fine, but I think a little bit more money has to be spent, = either by them or from the funds you're already appropriating for to make that hap= pen. I think that's the reasonable= solution, to spend a little more money and pursue the other alternatives. Thank you.

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

Page= 9

Carolyn Dumont, 131 Bryant Road, Watertown<= /st1:City>, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Ms. Dumont: First off I'd like to correct = the gentleman who wasn't actually opposing it. This is not new construction. This is not a developer doing it.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> These are people who have lived in= this area and lived on Route 6 and in surrounding areas for a long, long time. Now first off I'd just like to ask= them one question please, put yourself in these people's places who have no means for an extra leach field or whatever to hook up to another means. They have sewers, please think of = your neighbors, and allow them the same opportunity.

Mike Posa, 57 Cutler Street, Watertown= , CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. Posa: I'm also a veteran of Post 5157 on= Route 6, and I think we deserve the right to hook up to a sewage system, we do ha= ve a problem, and I speak for about 215 people. Thank you.

Mr. Pawlak, Chairman, called a Recess at 7:35 p.m. (in order to start the Town Council meeting that was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., then Recess that meeting, and come back to this meeting).

Mr. Pawlak, chairman, Reconvened the Special Town Me= eting at 7:37 p.m.

Ryan = Fahey, 107 Highmeadow Road, Watertown, CT 06795=

Mr. Fahey: This woman over here got up and sp= oke a minute ago about how everyone should have a right to tie into water and sew= er, etc. As a resident of Highmea= dow Road, the Fern Wood Subdivision which is potentially going to be affected by this, as Mr. Petroccia stated, I would admit to you that yes, everyone does have the right to tie into the water and sewer, but it should be done appropriately and correctly as Mr. Petroccia has described and you shouldn't take a quick fix mentality towards the situation and just get a quick remedy. I understand there are problems there but I don't, what you said about there not being any new dev= elopment, Mr. Bernardi is trying to develop the property so that's not exactly true, = at least the property behind me anyway. So as far as tying into the water and sewer, there's no question that everyone has that right if it's there, but it seems clear to me that once M= r. Garrassino put this in, it was not his intent to have anyone else hook into= it and I don’t think that that should change. And I don't think the residents of = the Fern Hill Subdivision should be put under any additional liability for this just so that someone can save money or do whatever else they're gong to do = with it as far as developing property or not.&n= bsp; So as far as tying into the water and sewer, I don't know if anybody= is really against that per say, it's just the entire method that's proposed to= be done to it. Thank you.

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

Page= 10

Paul Garceau, 696 Hamilton Avenue, Watert= own, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. Garceau: Also a member of Post 5157 on Rout= e 6. The problem we have up there is qui= te a serous problem, that's why we're looking to get into that hookup if we could. Now we're willing to s= pend our money to put in a septic system if we have to, whether it would be $30,= 000 or $40,000 (inaudible). And y= ou can't put it there, and you can't put it there, but we have no (inaudible) = what are we supposed to do if we can't get into a hookup, and we can't put in a septic system, what do we do? Do we just dissolve and go away? Th= at's why we're looking fro a little consideration. I know it's a big step, no question about it, but we would be willing to give our money to the Town, if it would help put the sewer line up there, we have to spend it somewhere, we'd rather give it to the Town. So this is the problem we have and= I think it's a very serious problem, so maybe somebody in the Town can help us out,= and I hope you can. Thank you very much.

Bill Donston, 105 Dunrobin Lane, Watertow= n, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. Donston: I was in the last group that had s= ewer and water hooked up in my neighborhood in the Dunrobin, Platt Road, Sto= ngehenge section of Town. And one thin= g I'm not opposed or against, everyone has their reasons for it. My ideas are the contractors; buye= rs beware. We went well past and= well over the budget for that project because of the contractor that was hired.. I ask= ed for bonding at that time which didn't happen.&= nbsp; (Inaudible) can tell you the many stories of emergency vehicles not being able to get up and down the road because the contractor had both ends= of my street cut off. Go down Platt Road = now, hopefully not to the cemetery, just out for a country ride and see the way = that road is torn up. Who is going to pay for that now? Everybody in this room is going to= pay for it down the line to have Platt Road refinished because the contractor did substandard work. Where's the contractor? He's out of business. I sat there many a Saturday morning with my son and watched the contractor load equipment up on flatbeds and take them away because they had another site that they were sharing with another contractor, the rent ran out and they had to get the machine back so they could lease from another company. That project went almost 9 months = beyond what it was supposed to, so I just want everybody to be aware of the contra= ctor if this goes through, because it can add a lot of expense and aggravation to the people that want it, to the people who don't want it, to everybody in T= own, cause Route 6 is a major thoroughfare between us and the north. Beware of the contractor if we do = go with this. Thank you.

Michael DiBonis, 99 Highmeadow Road, Waterto= wn, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. DiBonis: It seems to me that everybody says= as we need a new system, the question is what system? Do we want the one at Highmeadow, = or do we want the one up the hill? = The question is the best thing is going up the hill, why ar= en't ewe going there? With = the Legion, they're willing to foot some of the bill. The question is cost. Cost to whom? We know who the cost is. We know, this isn't a one thing, l= ike we have to go there, we don’t have to go there or Highmeadow, down at Fe= rn Hill.

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

Page= 11

There's another way to go and I think it could be better, cause= if we're going to build more, then we need a bigger system. We're here to serve the public and= the future of Watertown, and the future of Watertown is going to grow, so inste= ad of being shortsighted and going with a 15 motor over here, why don't we do = it right? The question is, on to= p of the hill it's going to cost more, but more for whom? For the people= of Watertown?<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The question is they're willing to= do it, they have a problem and they need to get it fixed. He has a problem and he needs to g= et it fixed. A 15 engine motor isn'= t going to do it because down the road 20 years from now there will be more on Rout= e 6 and we'll be doing it again. = We need to look at the logical way to do this. You are elected officials, are the= re to look for not just for the present time, but for the future. You're there to do a job. Your job is to look after everybod= y and I think that the question is, it isn't just one place where there's going t= o be a line, a pump station. There's two places.&n= bsp; Why are we going to the smaller one, instead of doing it the right w= ay up the hill.&nb= sp; There is one reason, it's the cost, but t= he cost to whom? (Inaudible) wor= ried about the cost are the people of Watertown 20 years from now? No. Just keep our eye on the target. Just keep focused on what we're he= re to do. We're here to help the pe= ople of Watertown, that's our job, that's what we want you to do, and we want everybody here to think that way. This isn't ab= out size, it's about what's best for Watertown 20 years from now when there's a new Council here and when there's more nei= ghbors. That's our job, that's how we have= to look at it. There's not just = one place, there's two, so let's do it the right way. And if we're not ready to do it, I don’t know, I don't know how to do it, but the bottom line is is the cost, let's keep our eye on that, that's why we're not saying go up the hil= l, we're going to go over here, with the 50 engine deal we know it's going to = get bigger. Thank you.

Al Bernardi, 755 Thomaston Road, Waterto= wn, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. Bernardi: I own the property at 755 Thomaston Road. I've been repeating myself a lot, = when this project first was taking off, I was going to spend, the cost myself, I hired my own engineer, my own contractor to go down the road, and I asked t= o do the same, before the other parties did it on Buckingham Street, that's what= I was going to do. It was going= to be my own expense. I was going t= o put out my own money. I was told = it was better for me to take my money and put it to the best interest to the Town,= don't' just, well who's going to benefit by him going down with a 2 inch line and putting in pumps and throwing into the 6 inch forced line? Mr. Bernardi. Nobody else is going to benefit by that. Okay, I'm for the Town. I'm a resident of this Town. I wa= nt to see what's good for the Town too, but I also need to use the bathroom too.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The thing is, I was going to go do= wn with my 2 inch line, I was going to pay for it myself, I had the contractors give me the estimate on what they were going to charge me to put it down, I= had an engineer design the system. No, Mr. Bernardi, let's put the money the right way, which is okay, hey, we'll = take mine, what it was going to cost me, and I'll put that whole package, what it was going to cost me, towards the Town, and that's what I did. It was going to cost me $18,000, n= ot counting what I put out for the engineer already. The first engineer that I had, I p= aid him, that is not included in the money. He designed the system, we were going to go that way.

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

Page= 12

The contractor was going to charge me $18,000 to run the lines down, we said no, that's when we came up with the figure with the $18,000 to put it to the To= wn, to put it to the Town, let's put it the right way, let's use the money the right way and I said yes, let's do that, that makes sense to me, so that's where that $18,000 figure came, and then everybody else decided that signed= on that contract, yes, let's put the money the right way, and that's what we a= ll believed it was the right way. We had 2 engineers, I went through this already, but that's where the money ca= me from because believe me, I would have went down with $18,000, had my store line = in 3 years ago, and not been here today, but afterwards 2 other parties did it, = and that's what I’m saying. 2 other parties did this, what I wanted to do.

Michael Posa, 57 Cutler Street, Watertown= , CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. Posa: I've been listening to everybo= dy and they're saying a whole new establishment wants to come in and hook up. Excuse me one second, the V.F.W. has been there for 42 years and that's why we want to get hooked up plus the problem, so it's not just a new thing.

Frank Jodaitis, Superintendent, Wa= ter & Sewer Authority

Mr. Jodaitis: Basically this is a public hea= lth issue. Mr. Bernardi has been hauling sewage now for 3 years, so there was always (inaudible) and there a= re a number of other establishments that are down the hill that have similar sep= tic issues. When we made the agre= ement with Mr. Bernardi, which was approved by the Town Council, there was a clau= se in there that limited the amount of money, of what his exposure was. There were a number of other estab= lishments that have put in their own little grinder pumps and have paid assessments to the Town. The first one was t= he Westbury Store, and you could see why if you just go behind the store becau= se it's built on solid ledge. The Westbury Room connected and then the (inaudible) building connected. Through all those procedures they = made their own agreements with Mr. Burns who owns the Westbury Store and they al= so paid assessments to the Town of Watertown, so all of those folks have paid into, owns part of the money that started t= his project off.

As far as capacity goes in the existing Fern Hill Station, which was built by a developer and dedicated to the Town Of Watertown, as were the sewers and wa= ter mains in that development, just like any other development that gets built,= so it may be in the prices of these people's homes, but at the time that the subdivision was accepted, all the responsibility for operation, maintenance, and replacement was handed over to the Town and I don't believe anybody, at least in my time I know for sure, was ever billed any differently because t= hey lived on Highmeadow and whatever the cost of that sewage pumping station wa= s, so they are just like any other customers to the Water & Sewer Authorit= y.

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

Page= 13

When I got here we did have problems with Fern Hill. We made a connection and a sewer (inaudible) was built for Mt. Fair Farm, which reduced the length of the fo= rce main from about 7,000 feet to 6,000 feet and it reduced the pressure on the pumps by close to 40 feet which is a substantial change, so as far as capac= ity goes or stress on those pumps, when we reduced the length of that force mai= n, that reduced the pressures on the pumps and the operating problems with the pumps. The last time I had a meeting here, I understood Mr. Petroccia to sa= y it would be better to connect the pump station to the terminal manhole on Fern Hill. There are existing plas= tic pipe lines that go up to that Fern Hill manhole that are being used by the Westbury Store and we can connect that pump station the proposed pump stati= on to those force mains. We had = wanted to abandon those, we only had one force main in (inaudible). (Inaudible) we could do that, Mr. = Hansen talked about, and that would eliminate the problem that Mr. Petroccia is concerned about, there's interaction with pumps so the other matter is the = pump station is a very big pump station, it has a lot of capacity, but the reason why the pumps are so large is not because of the flow coming into the stati= on, it's because the height that the water has to, the distance that the water = has to be pushed, and those pumps only run about 1 or 2 hours a day, depending = on the rainfall, and they could run another 22 hours and pump, in fact most of= the pre-existing facilities that are already connected through grinder pumps to that system are already being pumped. There's not going to be an overload on the Fern Hill Pump Station by making a connection to the existing plastic force mains that were put in by= Mr. Burns. If you go up the hill = to a place where we cut off the force main, Nova Scotia and Buckingham Street, w= e'll have to another 1,700 feet of force main parallel to the existing one, whic= h is a lot of cost that doesn't make sense to me. From the V.F.W. all the way do= wn to Fern Hill, there are people who have septic problems, it's flowing in the street, and it's been going on for years, so even if there was an occasional problem with the pump station or the sanitary sewer, like we have sanitary sewers in this Town that at times tend to overflow, that impact would not be what it is the present impact with all the septic flowing down cross people= 's property. I think this projec= t has been well thought out, we've spent many, many public hearings, many Water &= amp; Sewer Authority meetings, I don’t believe we have, are going to use people's facilities that they paid for than any other development and it's a public health issue and I believe it should be dealt with and I trust that = it will pass tonight. Thank you.=

John O'Brien, 1475 Buckingham Street, Wat= ertown, CT&nbs= p; 06795

Mr. O'Brien: My only question to Frank is I've = been to all of these meetings sine being notified, and I understand there's a problem out there, but why is my house&nbs= p; picked out and included in this deal when I'm not part of the proble= m? That's all I want, is my name remo= ved from this project. And I've a= sked him, and I've had no problems. When the Torrington Health District took the survey, I wanted him to come to my property to verify that there was no problem. If he said there was, no problem, I would be interested. I know a= s a fact I do not have a problem. That's all I'm voicing. Thank you.

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

Page= 14

Jim Petroccia, 22 Highmeadow R= oad, Watertown, CT 06795=

Mr. Petroccia: A couple of clarifications. One, the Westbury Room, the video = store, and the (inaudible) building, they are connected to, not into the pressure sewer, they are connected to the sewer that has their own station, that flo= ws into a gravity manhole. That's what, I was the Clerk at the time, I was in charge, that's the way it was d= one, and that's the way it should be done. We know people needs sewers over there, t= hey definitely need sewers, and they should have them. Let's do it the way it should be done. Now with all due respec= t, Mr. Jodaitis (inaudible) when the sewer backs up on Fern Hill Road, when things go bad,= he's not going to worry about (inaudible) street, the back of his house (inaudib= le). The list of doing it, that things = have to be just right, the check valves have to stay open at all times and close when they have to, the siphoning has to be right, and if it doesn't, it bac= ks up into somebody's house or onto the street. There's no question about that, th= at's what will happen, and therefore we should not propose it the way they're pr= oposing. Let's do it the right way, go up t= he hill, to a (inaudible) manhole. Thank you.

Mr. Pawlak: Anyone else wishing to speak? Okay. We're going to close discussion. We are going to vote. We are going to do this by hand. Everybody here is eligible to vote= if you are a= voter in the Town of Watertown or a taxpayer of $1,000 assessed property, and if you are not a voter, do n= ot vote. So it's an up or down v= ote.

Ms. LaForme and Mr. Pilicy are being appointed Moderators to count the hand vot= es.

MOTION: &nbs= p; (Mr. Pilicy, sec. Mr. Rinaldi) to approve the project as proposed.

Discussion: = None

In Favor: &= nbsp; 67 People (by show of hands)

Opposed: = 25 People (by show of hands)

Abstained: None

MOTION CARRIED BY HAND VOTE (67-25-0)

2.&nb= sp; Adjournment=

MOTION: (Ms. Adams, sec. Mr. Rinaldi= ) to Adjourn the Special Town Meeting at 7:2= 5 p.m.

Discussion: None<= /p>

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Watertown= Town Council

Spec= ial Town Meeting

Augu= st 21, 2006

Page= 15

Special Town Meeting Adjourned at 7:25 p.m= .

Respectfully submitted,

Joseph Pawlak, Moderator

&n= bsp;

Approve= d: ______________________________

&= nbsp; Lynn LaForme, Clerk