MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2008, 7:30 P.M=
.
PRESENT: = &nb= sp; Robert LeBlanc
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Patricia Kropp, Secretary
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Judy Sprano, Chairman
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Jack
Walton
ABSENT: &nb= sp; = Mark Tedesco
OTHERS PRESENT: Roy Cavanaugh, Director of Public Works
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Robert Desena, Deputy Police Chief
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; John Gavallas, Police Chief
1.&nb= sp; Convene Regular Meeting - 7:30 P.M.
Ms. Sprano, Chairman, Called the Meeting to Order at 7:30 p.m.
2.&nb= sp; Roll Call
Ms. Sprano, Chairman, executed the Roll Call.
3.&nb=
sp; Public
Participation
&=
nbsp; Dave LeBlanc,
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Has any written documentation been= sent from this Commission to any Town official in regards to the minutes not bei= ng ready for the past 6 months?
&=
nbsp; Ms.
Sprano: No, but I have ha=
d some
discussion with
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: You’re aware t= hat this has been going on for (inaudible)?
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: Oh yea, well I mean this is the fi= rst time I’ve been in a position to really speak with her, but they are t= rying to do their best to get the minutes caught up.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: And that was a phone call you made= ?
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 2
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: No, I stopped in to see her on occ= asion.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Were emails sent from this Commiss= ion?
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: No, I have not se= nt an email.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Any emails sent from your own pers= onal residence on Police Commission business?
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: Never. Actually I take that back, I have = sent motion sheets myself by email to Lynn LaForme, but I’ve also faxed th= em.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Can you tell me = where in the minutes, the motion sheet, or the meeting tape of the March 12t= h meeting, where it states that you were elected as Chairman?
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: I haven’t read the minutes yet. Actually it’s a co= rrection that has to be made to the minutes, but it was a taped meeting and obviously Lynn LaForme didn’t put it in the minutes correctly.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Did you listen t= o the tapes?
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: No, I did not listen to the tape.<= /p>
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Did anybody else= on this Commission listen to the tape?
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: Generally I mean unless requested = we do not listen to the tape, they go to Lynn LaForme and she types the minutes a= nd then we receive them and then have to review them and approve them for the meeting.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Well it’s = not in the minutes or the motion sheet.
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: Well it wouldn’t be on the m= otion sheet, Dave, it was not a motion that was made, it was a nomination, so it wouldn’t be listed on the motion sheet, which is a sheet that I prepa= re for just the motions that are made during the meeting.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Okay, so a nomin= ation is not a motion you’re saying?
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: Well as far as listing it on the m= otion sheet . . . .
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: (Inaudible.)
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: Right, it’s shown in the min= utes.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: So you’re = saying nominations do not have to go on a motion sheet?
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: That’s correct, that’s= what I have been told.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 3
&=
nbsp; Mr.
LeBlanc: Okay. Last week I was informed, shortly =
after
I wrote a Letter to the Editor and I (inaudible) that you are currently mar=
ried
to a gentleman who is a full time police officer in the Town of
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: That’s correct.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: I’m all se= t.
&=
nbsp; Bob Colonair,
&= nbsp; Mr. Colonair: About 3 weeks ago there was a very = severe accident in front of our . . . . .
&= nbsp; Many people talking at once (inaudible).
&= nbsp; Unidentified Person: Did you receive a letter from Joe?<= /p>
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: I did not receive a letter from Jo= e.
&= nbsp; Mr. Colonair: (Inaudible) abo= ut 3 weeks ago there was a very severe accident in front of our road, as a matte= r of fact the cars were there so long I probably I guess everyone thought it may= be a fatality. The problem with Bellemeadow Drive as you come up Bunker Hill towards Woodbury, as you make = the left into Bunker Hill into Bellemeadow, there is no line of site for the vehicles coming in the other direction.&nb= sp; There’s one incline coming up from Woodbury and if there is a vehicle positioned somewhere on that incline, I’m not really sure whe= re it is, but there’s a 2 or 3 second lapse where you just cannot see th= at vehicle. I think what happene= d that Saturday somebody turned into Bellemeadow because they don’t know that they have to wait, and the people were coming up, I believe, very fast, and some poor lady that was just waiting for that person to turn into Bellemead= ow, I think she’s the one who really got seriously hurt. I know she probably got more hurt because of the speed of the car that hit her, but we tell all our, and I’m sure everyone here can attest to that, we tell all our friends, neighbors, kids, when you’re making that left into Bellemeadow, just stop, wait on the hill, and just wait and see and make that left. The same problem is when you come = out of Bellemeadow and making a right going down towards Barnes Road, you put your life in your hands making that left because you can’t see that line of site either, so I believe and then coming out of Barnes Road going onto Bun= ker Hill, whether you make a left or a right you’re putting your life in = your hands too cause you cannot see. We came here tonight because we are all concerned, we’ve talked about it between all of the neighbors but we really truly feel that that is a major problem and there probably will be a fatality there if we don’t fix t= he line of site because it’s really, really, if you go up there, I happe= n to have an Expedition and I can somewhat see at least when I get to Bellemeado= w, but if you have a regular vehicle . . . . .
&= nbsp; Unidentified Person: (Inaudible.)
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 4
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: I do have to ask you, we can only = have one person speak at a time, because it is a taped meeting, you can continue= , but if you do want to speak afterwards, you certainly have your . . . .
&= nbsp; Mr. Colonair: So what we trie= d to do as a group is to come here and I’m really not sure how the procedu= re works because I’ve never been here before and I’m probably sure= a lot of these people haven’t either, but it is a big problem. You just decide to take a ride out= to Bunker Hill and try it yourself and turn into Bellemeadow, and if you do do that, please wait before you make the left because it’s just a proble= m, it’s a line of site problem and I don’t know what to do other t= han to present our feelings to you because we have our children and some of our neighbors have children that drive, it’s going to be a problem. I don’t know if you have any questions for us.
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: Why don’t we let, if anybody= else did want to speak, we’ll let you go first and then we’ll talk a= bout it a little bit. Did you want= to speak?
&=
nbsp; Anna Fenwick,
&= nbsp; Ms. Fenwick: I do agree with = what he’s saying because when I pull in I try to stop, like we are all tra= ined to do and watch, but there are cars flying up Bunker Hill that are not happy with us and if I’m driving my van, I can see good, but if I’m driving my father’s little Mazda 626, you’re chancing it, no ma= tter how slow you wait or stop or turn in, you are chancing your life. It’s not developed properly = right there in the road.
&=
nbsp; David Fenwick,
&=
nbsp; Mr. Fenwick: I think one of the contributing fa=
ctors
is the speed of our neighbors in Woodbury.=
I’m not singling out Woodbury, but folks going home to Woodbury
that pile up behind us and also coming out of Woodbury when we can’t =
see
turning into our road, they are barreling up awfully quick and when this re=
cent
accident happened, the way the Police explained it to my brother-in-law, Ca=
rl
Mancini, was that when the car coming from Woodbury was driving too fast, as
I’m told, as it was coming up from Woodbury because it saw the car co=
ming
from Watertown turning into Bellemeadow, rather than stopping, it decided t=
o go
around into the in (inaudible) lane, plow into the car coming towards Woodb=
ury. Now here’s an individual on =
their
way to Woodbury, and this is why I’m not singling out Woodbury, here =
is
someone coming home or whatever the case may be, they weren’t a
contributing factor but rather a victim because they were hit by someone sp=
eeding
that sought to go around rather than wait, so I think another contributing
factor is the excessive speed, and it’s not just Woodbury. There are a significant amount of =
people
that drive fast on
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 5
&=
nbsp; When
my wife and I lived on 984, which is on the corner of Colony Road, there was
someone coming from Woodbury, they were driving about 55 mph, I was working=
in
my living room, there was a little boy outside that was crying for his dog =
in
my yard from down the street, his dog was across the street, the little boy=
was
going to go into the road, so I yelled out the window stop, please don̵=
7;t
go into the road, so he kept yelling at the dog to come, and I told him to
stop, the dog came into the road and got hit by a car and knocked the dog o=
nto
the property across the street from me.&nb=
sp;
Now if I wasn’t there, that little boy could have gone into the
road, but the individual that was driving too fast came out and criticized =
my
wife and I for allowing our children to play in front when this child had c=
ome
from down the road, but this individual the root cause is that they were
driving too fast, the root cause of the accident most recently was excessive
speed, and it’s not just Woodbury residents, it’s also Bunker H=
ill
residents. I’d like tha=
t the
Town acknowledges putting a sign on the main drag where
&=
nbsp; Jim DeFilippis,
&= nbsp; Mr. DeFilippis: The fact is that also there is ano= ther problem with the whole situation. If you’re heading west on Bunker Hill Road, when you come to Bellemeadow you’re going to make a left, the people in the know, we stop and that becomes a problem because now you have to look in your rear view mirror, I’ve already had people come right behind me, laying on the horn cause they’re flying and they don’t know why you’re stopping, c= ause there’s no stop sign. B= ut you know if you don’t stop and wait and see to make that left onto Bellemeadow, you can be a victim. Second, if you’re in a car, now I have an SUV and a work truck, so we’r= e a little bit higher, but the lower you are the worse the situation becomes an= d as a matter of act, my friend Sal Terenzo is standing there, he came home, he = was with us Saturday night and he got to see it firsthand, it was at night, and (inaudible) and he knows all that, and he got to see all of a sudden out of nowhere the light just came off that hill and you get startled and after th= at blind second, 2 to 3 blind seconds, you’re done and someone is defini= tely going to get killed. It’= ;s the second accident that I know of there, I don’t know if there has been = any more, but when I was building the houses on Bellemeadow I saw one when we w= ere working but I don’t know if there have been any more, but just a few = more mitigating factors on the whole situation.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 6
&=
nbsp; Tracy Colonair,
&=
nbsp; Ms.
Colonair: I think that we=
know
to stop and turn, but I think what the problem is anyone coming, we tell all
our visitors when we give them directions, you know you have to stop but pe=
ople
forget and I think that it doesn’t look like it’s a blind, it
doesn’t appear to anyone else to be a blind spot, unless you’ve
been in a situation where you’ve gone to cross and a car has appeared,
you wouldn’t know there is a blind spot. You can see the other knoll, you c=
an see
where the cars come down, as they’re coming back up the hill, if a ca=
r is
already in that knoll, and you come up in your car, you absolutely cannot s=
ee
that car and it’s a terrible thing that somebody got very badly hurt,=
who
is to blame? I had a conversa=
tion
with Herm on the phone about this, the car making the left hand turn, yea y=
ou
had to yield the right of way but if you don’t see are you to fault?<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The car coming up would be active,=
would
the accident still have happened? I
believe it would have even in a 25 mph speed but I think the severity was m=
uch
worse because of the speed. I=
think
the neighborhood is just concerned that we don’t want those two items=
to
be the cause of the accident and then nobody really looks at what the real
issue is because I stop and count and they can lay on their horn and they c=
an
do whatever they want behind me, but I’m not going to get myself in a
situation where I’m head on, or I cause an accident like that, so I s=
top
and I count to like 7 before I make that turn. But I have gone to make that turn =
after
stopping and counting and still been surprised by a car coming, and then you
just have to hit your gas once you went, I mean you stopped, you waited, and
you really didn’t do anything wrong and then you still get
surprised. If a car is going =
slow
enough there, in that incline, I mean that really needs to come down, I
don’t really know what the answer is there. To put stop signs, I don’t t=
hink
that’s really going to help, but it’s a bad situation there and=
I
worry. I have young kids, they
don’t drive yet, but my neighbor has a young lady that drives and just
friends coming and stuff, it’s a very, very bad situation. And
&=
nbsp; Sal Terenzo,
&=
nbsp; Mr. Terenzo: I also have another concern but the
concern of these individuals right here is a very bad one. I never knew about it until Saturd=
ay
night, we were coming back from dinner, going up Bunker Hill Road, going sl=
ow,
my high beams are on, there is no way in God’s creation that you could
ever see a car coming up there, not even their headlights, even on the incl=
ine,
when the person is at the top of the knoll, you cannot see the lights coming
over. I’ve been with the
Department of Transportation for 30 years working on traffic, I know there =
is
no way you can do that. The o=
nly
thing I think you can do up there is make it a mandatory stop before making=
a
left hand turn, or fill in a portion of the gap in the knoll thee so you se=
e. There
is plenty of room over there where you can do that, you can fill that in.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 7
&=
nbsp; I
go back and forth to New Milford that way every day and when I’m comi=
ng
up with my truck, and I’m high in my (inaudible) I still can’t =
see
over the knoll over there, nothing, so I think the only thing you’ll =
be
able to do is a stop sign coming up from Bunker Hill so the people on the h=
ill
won’t have to stop during Winter or fill that knoll. You don’t have to fill a lot=
in
there but you can certainly do something with that part over there and that
might help the people seeing the lights coming up, that’s the only way
you’re going to be able to do that over there. But I saw that the other night, an=
d if I
didn’t come to a stop, well Jimmy, you were going to get hit, not me,=
it
was on that side. I mean it&#=
8217;s
very dangerous over there. I =
never
saw a thing like that in all my years working on the job but I can talk to =
you
later on about my problem on
&=
nbsp; Ms. Sprano: Does anyone else wish to speak abo=
ut
this? No? First of all we appreciate when
neighbors come out and fill us in if there is a problem with the site line
issue.
&=
nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: Both the Police Department and Pub=
lic
Works are aware of the situation both at
&= nbsp; The second issue with regard to Bellemeadow, I’m glad to report that great minds do think alike. We are looking at the possibility of raising that hollow down there. There is a program called the Local Hazardous Accident Reduction Program; at this time we are planning on submitting, and what happens is we develop conceptually a project, a feasibility, a scope, and a preliminary budget, we submit it to the Reginald Council of Governments, if the Council of Governments feel it’s appropriate they submit tit to he D.O.T. and we’re allowed to submit 2 projects per year per region. A lot of times they don’t have enough projects to meet that quota. D.O.T. reviews it and should they approve the project conceptually price-wise they will fund the project unde= r a fast track approach. The Loca= l Hazardous Reduction Program has a limited budget, it’s not one of the big Guern= seytown total reconstruction, it’s more or less spot repairs, similar to what= we are looking at here.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 8
&=
nbsp; The
only real issue I saw as you’re going out to
&= nbsp; Ms. Kropp: You think putting = this paperwork into the Council of Governments is going to be fast? I need to know about that Summer t= hing not working in the plan, I don’t understand that.
&=
nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: No, it doesn’t work in the W=
inter. The first question’s answer =
is
yes, because there is submission deadline to make this year’s grant
cycle, so it has to be conceptually priced and submitted within a month.
&= nbsp; Unidentified Person: Who at the Depart= ment of Transportation do you submit these to?
&= nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh We don’t, we submit them to C.O.G., who submits them to, and when we submit them, we have to submit the plans, the cost estimate to make sure it falls within their cost guidelines, but most importantly what we would have to submit is the accident records.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Unfortunately the more accident sa= nd the more severe injury the higher on the priority it goes. I can tell you that = as of now Bellemeadow is not on our annual report of high accident locations probably because that report covers 2003-2005 at this point, that’s a= ll they statistically put together. I talked to Herm and John and we’d like to, before it gets to the point where it gets o the list, we’d like to address it and that’s wh= ere we are at right now.
&= nbsp; Ms. Colonair: Now raising the= dip versus lowering the hill, to me I just think if we lowered the end of Bellemeadow that would correct the problem. Our road is actually right on a hump (inaudible).
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 9
&=
nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: Actually when they constructed Bel=
lemeadow
they did take out a hump on
&=
nbsp; Kathy DeFilippis,
&= nbsp; Ms. DeFilippis: I still feel = that if you do that, it’s not going to stop people from speeding and I liv= e on the corner house and the cars fly by. I think you need a stop sign and an aware a stop ahead to let you kn= ow there is a stop ahead to slow down, because people fly up and down that roa= d.
&= nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: You’re absolutely right = in that this will do nothing to slow people down, in fact it may encourage the= m to go a little faster because they won’t have quite the roller coaster effect, but we’ve got two separate issues. The site line issue is separate fro= m the speeding issue. The speeding = issue may not be addressed by stop signs because stop signs by State regulation a= re not allowed to regulate speed control, they don’t work. And it would be inappropriate, ineffective to put a stop sign there because all you’d be doing is en= couraging people to run it. Stop signs don’t work for speed control. Studies show that they slow people down for approximately 400 feet a= nd we have studies here in Town and situations here in Town over the last few years that demonstrate that fact.
&= nbsp; Mr. Colonair: Would there be any type of, becaus= e I do agree with that, that the speed is important, but even if they’re goi= ng 100 mph, if you see them, at least you got a shot. If they’re going 25 mph and = you don’t see them, that’s a problem, but is there any other type of device, and I don’t know that would help with speeding? I know stop signs, I know you can’t do that, I remember that incident on Middlebury Road and the st= op sign issue and all, but can you put a traffic light up, I mean I know that sounds crazy, but I don’t know what to do, I don’t know how to = do the speeding, I think the speeding is very important but not as important as the line of site. If I had to= pick one to be fixed, I think I’d pick the line of sight. I’d have a shot at seeing th= em, but it would be nice to get them both fixed at the same time if we could, caused they’re both an issue.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 10
&= nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: In an effort to reduce speeding, we called it the three E’s, there is the engineering component which we = are trying to address now with the site line issue, there is the enforcement component which is a Cop sitting out there with a radar gun handing out tickets, and then the third one is education, because speeding is a problem throughout Town. It is a post= ed 25 mph speed limit, when we design things we do it for the 85th percentile which out in your neck of the woods happens to be 47 mph so you = know 85% of the people are already exceeding the speed limit. If you do the math, 1 in 7 is going beyond the 85th percentile, in this case they could be going 50 = 60, 70 mph and it’s neither feasible nor economical to try and address th= ose issues because you’ve always got the (inaudible) percentage which is going to go so fast, so as far as the engineering issues, we can improve th= e site lines and that’s what we are anticipating doing. A stop light in and of itself won’t meet the warrant, just put that to bed because all stop lights = in the State of Connecticut regardless of where they are, are regulated by the State Traffic Commission under a very strict list of conditions and I can t= ell you that that intersection doesn’t even come close to meeting those conditions. It doesn’t = meet the conditions, there is also what they call a warrant for stop sign placem= ents that also does not meet the placement of a stop sign there so there is a ve= ry limited number of tools that we have to address it. We try the education, we’re = going to do the engineering, the Police Department does a great job with limited resources on enforcement but it is an on-going issue and I wish there was an easy answer that we can give you. Not to be disrespectful but under this format all questions have to = be addressed through the Chair, I’m not allowed to engage in a dialogue = with you.
&= nbsp; Unidentified Person: I did start at the bottom of Bunker Hill, where Middlebury Road meets Bunker Hill, where that yellow bed and breakfast used to be and I went up to Bellemeadow at 25 mph with my Expedit= ion and I had people behind me, I thought they were going to hit me, I had peop= le pass me, I had people wave to me in not such a nice manner, and (Tape #1, S= ide A ended – may have missed some) and I do respect that and I understand the traffic as you explained it and now that I think about it logically I understand why they wouldn’t have a need for a traffic light or a stop sign, it would be great if, and I don’t know what it is, if I did I w= ould tell you, but it would be great if we could do something there. I think I speak for all of my neig= hbors, we’re here because we know this is not a simple problem for the Town = or the Commission, we know everybody is trying and we’re just respectful= ly trying to put our thoughts out as people that are just not as well informed= as a lot of you technically, we don’t do what you do.
&= nbsp; Mr. Fenwick: I just wanted to mention that in t= erms of failure mode analysis which is what I do, it’s the type of work I = do, it looks like you have two different modes, it’s detection and prevention. Well prevention would be what’s most important is the site lines, detection would be how to slow down the speed. I know that realistically not ever= yone is going to conform to 25 mph but we’ve all traveled and we’ve = all been in different states and the like, but in Virginia, there are speeders there but some towns are very good at it, I know there are certain costs involved that have to measured but that’s part of the failure mode analysis and I know you folks do that and I respect that, but I would ask t= hat you look outside the box, and consider that with those two modes, they would compliment each other quite nicely and reduce the speed and accidents significantly. I think itR= 17;s a two pronged approach but most importantly the site lines because then we wi= ll be able to prevent and detect. Thank you.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 11
&=
nbsp; Ms. Kropp: Maybe we could ask the Chief to ex=
plain
to this group of neighbors that tri-town initiative that just started in
&=
nbsp; Chief Gavallas: The accident investigation? We have a regional approach to tra=
ffic
accident investigation and enforcement.&nb=
sp;
This particular accident that you described tonight, and you describ=
ed
it quite well, I haven’t seen the final reports yet but I understand =
that
the way you described it, the vehicle coming up Bunker Hill traveling east =
left
the east bound lane, into the west bound lane, struck the car going west
(inaudible) turn south onto Bellemeadow.&n=
bsp;
The accident reconstruction team is reconstructing that accident so
I’ll be able to provide the Commission with a very detailed report us=
ing very
technical software determining exactly what happened. We also have a regional approach to
traffic enforcement, both Middlebury,
&=
nbsp; Mr. Terenzo: Mr. Cavanaugh, (inaudible) our Sta=
te
roads we cannot use speed bumps, but when I was in charge of the
&= nbsp; Mr. DeFilippis: With regards to the stop sign, you= said it doesn’t qualify. Why= not?
&= nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: Stop signs may not be used for spe= ed control, period, and the warrants for a stop sign are primarily traffic cou= nts, you have to meet a certain volume or restrictions.
&= nbsp; Mr. DeFilippis: Although it would slow people down= if you have to stop, my intention is that that stop gives everyone that chance= to see rather than just going by like that so again, thinking out of the box, = all right, we’re not using it for speeding, we’re making people stop, so w= hy couldn’t it be approached that way?
&=
nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: We have a manual of uniform traffic
control devices. When I speak=
of a
warrant to install a light or a sign or whatever they tell us, there are
certain conditions under which they are an appropriate measure to be implem=
ented. In my opinion the intersection of
Bellemeadow and
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 12
&= nbsp; Mr. DeFilippis: I agree 100% and (inaudible) my fe= ar is listening to you describe the procedure, the typical bureaucratic nightmare= in getting that done and what time span does it get done? What year? Will we be on social security befo= re it gets done? It takes so long t= o do all this stuff.
&= nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: You’re absolutely right and that’s why the D.O.T. came up with a Local Hazardous Accident Reducti= on Program was to streamline all of that. If we can get it accepted in the program, it’s a fast track.
&= nbsp; Mr. DeFilippis: What does fast track mean roughly?=
&= nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: Before you and I collect social security.
&= nbsp; Mr. DeFilippis: It’s our fear that it’= s just a matter of time before it’s the next catastrophe, this one came clos= e to someone getting killed, it’s going to happen, that’s the fear.<= /p>
&= nbsp; Ms. Colonair: Regarding the stop signs, but it w= ould still not meet the criteria to put one in the westbound direction to force people turning there to stop? So the people behind us know that we have to stop.
&= nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: You would need a left hand turn la= ne then. You can’t tell on= ly the people turning left to stop there and everybody else go through because eve= rybody would have to stop there, and part of the problem is if you’re forcing people to stop in a sense for them to stop at a regular basis, after awhile they just blow through it and ignore it.&n= bsp; That’s the reality of people’s psychology so there would= have to be a major reconstruction and a turn only lane there.
&= nbsp; Unidentified Person: That’s not possible.
&= nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: Anything is possible if you have e= nough money, but we feel we have a better solution.
&= nbsp; Mr. Terenzo: I’ve been in that developmen= t now for about 6 years and we are missing stop signs. Right now the Town’s records= from what Mr. Cavanaugh (inaudible) I don’t think that’s a town road, Mr. Lovley still owns the road but if there is any way that we could get so= me stop signs at the corner of Lovley and Kimberly cause I’m seeing peop= le go up and down all the time, school busses going by, there’s no stop signs. Some lady came right b= y and missed me by an inch the other day, that’s when I felt I had to come = here and say something. There are = 2 stops sign, there is one at Kimberly and Pond View but your stop bars are already there on the Kimberly side, there’s none on the Pond View side so there’s no stop sign down there, I guess they have an emergency exit = you can go through private property down there, where they put a gate up over t= here or something, but Lovley and Kimberly no stop signs at all. I spoke to Mr. Lovley a couple of = weeks ago and he said he wasn’t a happy camper and I told him I’m not= a happy camper, there’s no lights, nothing over there, there’s a = lot of children over there playing.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 13
&= nbsp; If anybody can take a look at that and do something, let a study go down there= and see the traffic value, cause a lot of people are coming up from Middlebury using that as a cross cut over to Route 63 and they don’t know the ru= les, they don’t know there are kids over there, I hope something can be do= ne over there. I mean I’ll get you the stop signs, I’ll get you the posts, if you give me permission I’ll put the posts and the stop signs up. That has to be addressed.=
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano, Chairman, Closed Public Participation at this time.
4. =
Minutes
A. Regular Meeting – March 12, 2008
= &nb= sp; Ms. Sprano: We know some changes have to be ma= de to thee Minutes. If you guys wan= t to take a minute and read through any other changes I will put this on the, I should make a motion to put it on the next agenda.
= &nb= sp; Ms. Kropp: Why don’t we Table these.
= M= OTION: (Ms. = Kropp, sec. Mr. Walton) to Table the Regular Meeting Minutes of March 12, 2008.
= D= iscussion: None<= /p>
= In Favor: &= nbsp; Ms. Kropp, Ms. Sprano, Mr. Walton
= O= pposed: = Mr. LeBlanc
= A= bstained: None
= M= OTION CARRIED (3-1-0)
5. =
Correspondence
&= nbsp; Ms. Sprano: I have one letter from Mr. LeBlanc:=
&= nbsp; “A= pril 7, 2008
&= nbsp; Freedom of Information Commission
&=
nbsp; State
of
&=
nbsp;
&=
nbsp;
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 14
&= nbsp; Dear Commissioners:
1. = I believe the Chairman of the Police Commission Judy Pilicy-Sprano and the Po= lice Commission are in violation of the State Statutes Section 1-225 and that th= e Motion Sheet of the Commission meeting on March 12, 2008 did not reflect all motio= ns and votes of the Commission members.
2. = I also believe the Chairman of the Police Commission Judy Pilicy-Sprano and t= he Police Commission are in violation of State Statutes Section 1-225 in that = the minutes of the Commission meeting on March 12 2008 did not reflect the vote= s of the Commission members nor the results of the nomination for Chairman.
The recourse I am seeking is:
1. = All motions and votes of members be recorded in the motion sheet and minutes of March 12, 2008 meeting.
2. = Because of the fact numerous F.O.I. adjudicated cases on the same subject were ruled against the Police Commission I feel sanctions should be taken against the Chairman of the Police Commission and the Police Commission.
Sincerely,
Robert LeBlanc
cc =
Judy Sprano, Chairman, Police Commission,
=
J=
ohn
Gavallas, Police Chief,
6. =
New
Business
None
7. =
Old
Business
A.&n=
bsp; =
;
Ms. Kropp: Didn’t we vote on this?
Ms. Sprano: We did.
Ms. Kropp: Didn’t we vote not to make i= t one way?
Ms. Sprano: So I don’t understand what t= his is?
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 15
Chief Gavallas: She asked me to put it on the Agen= da.
Ms. Pilicy: Right, because we are still speaki= ng about how we’re going to deal with the issue of calming the traffic d= own and making it less of a hazard until the school completes its project, that’s why it is still on the agenda. Does anyone have anything they wis= h to say about it.
Chief Gavallas: You asked to have
Ms. Sprano: This is a big problem= . Roy, we had talked about, we voted= not to make it a one way on Hamilton Lane, but the problem still exists with the parents being out of control and parking everywhere and a threat to the saf= ety of the children and we’re looking to see what our options are to help improve that situation until the school makes its changes cause we’ve recommended to the school that where they are going to have their turnaroun= d, they make that a 1 way and a right turn only onto Hamilton Lane to Hamilton Aven= ue rather than having them turn going out to Route 6.
Ms. Kropp: The parent turnaround (inaudible) = new project.
Ms. Sprano: The parent turnaround would be a r= ight hand turn only.
Ms. Kropp: Out of the current. Should we stand around your?
Mr. Cavanaugh: No, I’m going to (inaudible)
tripod and then put this on the chair for your review. This is what is currently proposed=
by
Kaestle Boos, the architect, I know it’s very subdued, very small.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 16
Going into the school itself the first two entrances right here will be for the b= usses, the far entrance will be for the parents drop off, (inaudible) loop right h= ere, theoretically they’ll come in and drop their kids off and we have requested, we being the Town Planning and Zoning Commission and they’= re having a hearing on it right now, they have requested that these two entran= ces right here be narrowed up. We= felt there was no reason to have a double entrance here and a double exit here, we can have one in and one out and radically reduce the curb cut area.
Md. Sprano: But a lot of that is once they start working on the project; our concern is now.
Mr. Cavanaugh: I’m not aware of any, and fi= nally the last proposal is shortening it up right here. As of this afternoon (inaudible) I= had with them, I’m not aware of any plans on their part to make that a ri= ght turn only coming out of . . . .
Ms. Kropp: The parent turnaround? That was 3 months ago. All the school people were at that= meeting. Chuck Berger was here.
Mr. Cavanaugh: At this point I’m not seeing= it on the drawings. If we have anot= her shot at it I’ll bring it up again.
Ms. Kropp: That’s what we recommended to= Zoning.
Mr. Cavanaugh: What you can, I’m trying to = figure out how that will work, a right turn only coming out of there only for pare= nts?
Ms. Kropp: No, they’re not cutting acros=
s the
oncoming traffic to go out to
Mr. Cavanaugh: How are you going to differentiate between parents and delivery trucks and . . . . .
Ms. Kropp: They won’t all be there at 8:= 00 a.m. Well then the delivery t= rucks will have to go out and go around the block too, but we felt it will create= a better traffic pattern.
Ms. Sprano: They’d have to do it if it w= as a one way anyway. That’s = why we figured this would be a good way to resolve it and leave it a 2 way situation. At least right now= I was looking at is there someway that that middle island that people park on, is directly across from that area are the houses that are having a real problem with the morning parent disaster.
Mr. Cavanaugh: I met some of the neighbors out th= ere and got an earful.
Ms. Sprano: What about putting some kind of fen= ce along there so that parents cannot park there.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 17
Ms. Kropp: Boulders are free.
Mr. Walton: I don’t think the parents park there, it’s the staff that parks there.
Ms. Sprano: They turn onto it and back out.
Ms. Kropp: It’s not parking, it’s dropping these children off while the wheels are still rolling on these car= s so they’re not late for work.
Mr. Walton: When I go by there at 12:00 p.m. it’s full of cars.
Ms. Kropp: This is 8:00 a.m. when mommy is dro= pping off.
Mr. Walton: Yea, but the staff uses it later o= n so you want to block the staff from using it.
Ms. Kropp: Well is there alternate parking out= in the back, is there staff?
Mr. Walton: No, not at the present time.
Mr. LeBlanc: Cutting the trees down, will that c= ome from the new budget, the Town budget, where does the money come from?
Mr. Walton: The tree warden has already said t= hat it has to be shifted to the school department to do that. Have you told Todd LoFrese about t= hat?
Mr. LeBlanc: No, I mean the new project, where we’re rebuilding the school, is that going to be part of that project= ?
Mr. Cavanaugh: It will be part of that project bu= t this would be a non-reimbursable expense.
Mr. Walton: So it’s up to Todd LoFrese to= cut the trees down.
Mr. Cavanaugh: Or get it done and widen it out, b= ut it won’t be part of the reimbursement, it will be part of the Town’= ;s portion of the finding and the State would not reimburse us for this work because it’s not directly related to the school.
Ms. Kropp: Who is the tree warden? All of the times that I’ve b= een to meetings I’ve sat through I’ve never heard of the tree warden.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Are you the tree warden?
Mr. Walton: He’s the tree warden, right = there.
Ms. Kropp: Are you the tree warden?
Mr. Cavanaugh: Yes.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 18
Ms. Kropp: I didn’t know we had an offic= ial tree warden.
Mr. Cavanaugh: All of the 169 towns in the State =
of
Ms. Sprano: So if were to contact the school a= nd find out if those are not teachers that are really parking there, they are mostly parents or whoever, would that be advisable to put something there to stop parents from using it as a turnaround right now? Is that something that could be do= ne?
Mr. Cavanaugh: I tend to agree with Mr. Walton, e= very time you go by there and it seems to be staff, and from what I’ve see= n of the parents, they’re doing the speed drop by right there, the kids are doing drop and roll out the side door. I haven’t seen anybody up here dropping kids off and dropping off but I haven’t been there all that = many times.
Ms. Sprano: Wasn’t that one of her concerns? Weren’t they = making u-turns in front of her house and backing into her driveway?
Deputy Gavallas: Yea, a lot of the parents are drop=
ping
the kids off at Judson and racing to
Mr. Cavanaugh: Yea, they come in here, stop and d= rop, backing up and going out, so blocking off this won’t stop that.
Mr. Walton: No, the reason they do that is the = busses are discharging children and they can’t go by the busses, otherwise t= hey would go out the exit.
Ms. Sprano: We are really limited as to what w= e can do with that road right now until the school actually starts working on the project.
Mr. Cavanaugh: It’s only going to get worse= , I think it’s something that we’re going to have to live with. I mean if you go there at night if= there is a basketball game or something, again there is parking all through there= , up on there.
Ms. Kropp: Voting day too, any time the polls = are open.
Ms. Sprano: Thank you.
Mr. Cavanaugh: I will bring up the right hand tur= n only at the Planning and Zoning meeting when I get there.
Ms. Sprano: They got the actual motion indicati= ng that was what we had requested.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 19
8. =
Chairman's
Report
&= nbsp; A.= Civilian Complaints
= Ms. Sprano: I did contact Atty. Jessell, the To= wn Attorney, because a legal opinion was requested by him going back 1 or 2 months ago.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He is working on it, he did have a parent that died during the month of March so he is behind schedule, but he will try to get that done for us for the next meeting.
&= nbsp; B.= = Tamarack Energy, Inc.
= Ms. Sprano: We will be having a special me= eting on Tamarack Energy next week on Wednesday at which time we’ve asked f= or the Public Works Department and the Zoning Department to be here so we can discuss site line issues. I d= o ask members of the Commission if they have the opportunity and they are going t= o be at that meeting, that they do drive that road so that they are familiar with the location of Tamarack and what we will be dealing with.
Mr. LeBlanc: Is that a committee project or is i= t just an independent project for each person?
Ms. Sprano: No, if you want to.
Mr. LeBlanc: Because last week you gave somebody permission to do a site walk.
Ms. Sprano: I gave somebody permission to do a= site walk?
Mr. LeBlanc: That’s right. If you read the minutes of the mee= ting, a gentleman was here and he said he didn’t know whether to recuse him= self and then all of a sudden he’s not going to recuse himself, he was goi= ng to ask questions, and then he asked permission from you to do a site walk a= nd I want to know why we weren’t invited on that site walk?
Ms. Sprano: We didn’t do a site walk, he actually brought it up to do a site walk if we wanted to do that or if we w= ere going to look at it individually.
Mr. LeBlanc: I stand corrected until I read the minutes.
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 20
Ms. Kropp: Can I double back into Old Busines=
s, we
kind of dipped into the Chairman’s Report before I had a chance to as=
k,
there was information given at the last Police Commission meeting by Mr. Wa=
lton
that Mr. Minnich, Chairman of the Zoning Commission, had said that the High
School project couldn’t be stared until the traffic light was
installed. Needless to say I =
called
Mr. Minnich the next day and you even specifically said to me it was your M=
r.
Minnich that said that. So I =
called
David Minnich the next morning and I said how come I didn’t know that=
the
traffic light had to be installed on
Mr. Walton: Well the construction will be under= way a long time before this, because the State Traffic has to study that and they= haven’t done that yet. I don’t = know where I said that.
Ms. Kropp: At the last meeting, you kept poin= ting at me and saying it was your David Minnich that said this.
Mr. Walton: No, Dave didn’t say that at a= ll.
Ms. Kropp: I know, that’s why I want to correct whatever is in the minutes.
Mr. Walton: I have no idea where that came from,
it’s not on my recording.
Somehow that got tangled up maybe in conversation, but the State Tra=
ffic
has to study that and the construction will be underway way before. No, I think I made the same comment
there as I did on
Mr. Cavanaugh: In regard to Tamarack I wanted to = give you some information.
Ms. Sprano: Thank you. Can I send one to Mark Tedesco?
Mr. Cavanaugh: Sure.
Mr. LeBlanc: Is this for some kind of a vote or = just a review?
Ms. Sprano:
Mr. Cavanaugh: This is part of what the engineer = is going to be discussing. Tamar= ack property, one of the things that we anticipate addressing next week is that property has a site line (inaudible) to the let coming out with the State property right there. (Inaudi= ble) enough we were also reviewing at the very same time another property on the other = side of the State property which is the Brownfield’s remediation. (Tape #1, Side B ended – may= have missed some.)
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 21
Looking
at the site plan which is the first map shown in the packet I handed out to
you, there is a site line issue to the left, that’s the Fusco propert=
y,
that’s the one acre of trees that they’re looking at clearing.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Looking to the right, that’s=
the
State property which would be the rock excavation we were talking about.
Ms. Sprano: That would be great.
Ms. Kropp: Yea, it sounds good.
Mr. Walton: And this would put the building on =
Tamarack,
not
Mr. Cavanaugh: We’re hoping to hook Tamarac= k with the other company on the other side and let them split the costs. We’re loosing at 6,000 yards= of rock to be removed, which is quite a hefty sum, but if two split it, then .= . . .
Mr. Walton: I understand the State has agreed to that, the removal of the rock.
Mr. Cavanaugh: That’s not my understanding.= No, I think you’re referring= to the right of way letter from the transmission lines.
Mr. Walton: Along the road where that road goes= up into that acreage, that is the rock that has to be removed, and that has not been okayed yet?
Mr. Cavanaugh: No, the letter we got was in regar= ds to the transmission lines, they haven’t addressed the site line for the = rock yet to the best of my knowledge.
Mr. Walton: You’ve talked to them?
Mr. Cavanaugh: No, I talked to Chuck today and I =
read
that letter. He originally th=
ought
it was for this issue, but after re-reading it he found it was the transmis=
sion
lines. We are looking to put =
the
two together and hopefully not incur any costs to the Town of
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 22
9. =
Chief's
Report
&= nbsp; A.= March, 2008 - Police Department Activity
= ; &n= bsp; Chief Gavallas: In regards to personnel, Officer Jeffrey McKirryher recently completed his field officer training and he’s on his own now and (inaudible) training after he ca= me out of the academy. He’= s on a normal shift and answering calls by himself. We still have two most recent hire= s in the police academy who should be graduating in early June. Tom Kolatski, one of our detective= s, will be retiring the 29th of this month, he finished with just u= nder 30 years. We still have an ac= tive list so we’ll be looking to do more interviews to replace an officer = with his retirement and will be moving a patrolman up to detective to take that vacant detective position.
&n= bsp; The litigation issue has changed since this afternoon. I received a call about 6:30 p.m. = from the attorney representing us and he informed me that the plaintiff has withdrawn his suit. A jury was picked this week, the trial was scheduled to begin on the 17th a= nd he was as shocked as I am, but as I said the insurance company was quite ad= amant the Town had down nothing wrong and they were not prepared to settle with t= he plaintiff (inaudible) so I guess the plaintiff must have figured it was a lose/lose because they are withdrawing the suit tomorrow morning, as far as= we I know.
&n= bsp; Mar= ch was a very active month. It b= egan with (inaudible) apprehension out at Valenti Auto Sales, Sergeant Mike Mark= owitz apprehended a guy who had been stealing expensive parts off Audi vehicles a= nd then selling them on eBay. As= a result of his apprehension we obtained some search warrants and ultimately recovered about $30,000 in stolen parts, which Valenti Motors (inaudible).<= /p>
&n=
bsp; On
March 30th there was a high speed chase involving the State Poli=
ce,
&n=
bsp; A
couple of days later we had an attempted robbery at the Naugatuck Savings B=
ank
and a couple of alert citizens called us when they saw a suspect walking
towards the bank that appeared to be up to no good. We had some cars right in the area=
. He escaped but we were successful =
in
apprehending the getaway driver, one of our officers, Dave Bromley apprehen=
ded
him. At the time we called for
assistance from
Regular Meeting
April 9, 2008
Page 23
Ms. Kropp: Now was it this young Jeffery McKir= ryher?
= ; &n= bsp; Chief Gavallas: McKirryher chas= ed him through the woods.
Ms. Kropp: Cause they said he’d only bee= n on the job 1 week.
Chef Gavallas: Yea, unfortunately he did lose him= but he gave it a good try. WeR= 17;ve been working very well with multiple jurisdictions, the State, Feds, other local departments. We really = have a great relationship with these other agencies, and as you can see it’s very productive and we’ve been able to accomplish a lot.
On
April 2nd we got a call from Parole who had just issued a warrant
for a sexual predator that was living in
Deputy Chief Desena: Mentoring bracelet, he had two.
Chief Gavallas: Well he cut them loose, and when h=
e did
immediately Parole picked this up on their computer, notified us to pick hi=
m up
and we put a bulletin out, and the Deputy Chief, coming down Watertown Aven=
ue a
half hour later, spots this guy with a suitcase about to get on the bus.
10. Adjou=
rnment
= MOTION:= (Mr. = LeBlanc, sec. Ms. Kropp) to Adjourn the Regular Meeting at 8:45 p.m.
= D= iscussion: None<= /p>
= M= OTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
= R= egular Meeting Adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Sprano, Chairman
=
= Approved: _________________= ______________
= Lynn M. LaForme, Clerk