MINUTES
WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL
REGULAR MEETING
MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 2003, 8:00 P.M.
PRESENT: = &nb= sp; Elaine Adams
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Lee Archer, Chairman
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Raymond Hebert, Jr., Vice Chairman
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Robert Kane
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Jean King
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Raymond Primini
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Paul Rinaldi
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Paul Valenti
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Richard Wick
ABSENT: &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; None
OTHERS PRESENT: &=
nbsp; Roy
Cavanaugh, Interim Public Works Director
=
; &n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; Carolyn Nadeau, Tax Assessor
=
; &n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; Frank Nardelli, Assistant Town
Manager/Finance Director
=
; &n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; Meredith Robson, Town Manager
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Steven
Sasala, Regional Economic Development Alliance
1.&nb= sp; Call Meeting To Order
Mr. = Archer, Chairman, Called the Meeting to Order at 8:00 p.m.
2.&nb= sp; Roll Call
Ms. LaForme, Board Clerk, executed the Roll Call.
&= nbsp; Mr. Archer, Chairman, led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 2
4.&nb=
sp; Public
Participation
&=
nbsp; Robert
LeBlanc, 78 Highland Avenue, Watertown, CT=
06795
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Do we have an ordinance about tax sales, Mr. Wick? I don’t remember, Mr. Chairman?
&= nbsp; Mr. Wick: I’m told that= there is a provision that allows for 2 a year, but I can’t quote the specif= ic ordinance.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: I appreciate your response. I have a question regarding the parking lot across from Griffin School. Has it been cleared whether we can= sell that or not with the parcel that’s being offered for sale, because ab= out 4 or 5 years ago we had a research done by an attorney and there was a codi= cil that says you could not use that parking lot for anything but Town function= s or it would revert to the Pin Shop. Has that been cleared up?
&= nbsp; Mr. Archer: That’s my understanding that we can’t sell it.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: The reason I ask= is because when the bid went out it said the parking lot could be purchased an= d I just question . . . .
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: With conditions, = that it not interfere with the Little League and the, I forget what the other pi= ece was but there were conditions in there.
&= nbsp; Ms. King: You mean can it be = used as opposed to purchased?
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: Well this is the = first I heard that it can’t be sold.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Well there is a codicil in the deed, and the attorney researched it and we were told it cou= ld not be used for anything but Town facilities or Town purposes and every tim= e we try to attempt to sell that or use it for something they said it was stuck = in that deed restriction. Thank = you.
&= nbsp; There were a couple of questions I had asked about Polk School, the $500,000 we l= ost from the State and I never did get a clear cut answer on just what, how the loss affects us and if anything was being done about that loss, about what = they disallowed on their bonding? = That was done December 5th of this past year. We discussed it once and Meredith = was supposed to get the information to Meredith and the next meeting I went and said there was a miscommunication between us and I’d like to know if it’s possible to learn what is the effect or what’s going to . = . . . . ?
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 3
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: I think what I sa= id to you the last time was that whatever was not reimbursed and was incurred wou= ld be paid for by the Town.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: That’s abo= ut a half a mill that we will (inaudible).
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: I don’t rec= all the numbers off the top of my head.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: We have to incur= that period, there’s nothing we can do about it.
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: The Superintenden= t went down to the State and had a meeting within the last couple of months, I don’t remember the exact date, to try and iron that all out and they = did come up with a final number. = Do you remember what the number was, Frank?
&= nbsp; Mr. Nardelli: No, I don’= ;t have the final number.
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: If you call us du= ring the day we’ll have the information handy.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Are we losing, i= s that part of the 60% that (inaudible) reimbursed? I don’t understand how that works. They were reimbursing = 57%.
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: We would have to = sit down with you and go through it. I don’t remember.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Thank you. Did we find out anything about the monies that was left over from Trumbull School? Will we be able to use that $750,0= 00 or has it been used yet? Are we = having problems using that?
&= nbsp; Mr. Archer: I don’t thi= nk we’ve gotten that far.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: The legal acts t= hat are being taken against the architect and the builders of Trumbull School, = are they including in that the repairs that were done to the school by the Town= or is it just the stuff that’s broke?&n= bsp; Cause we did a lot of repairs up there that was incurred by the Town, the Board of Education I think incurred it cause they had the C.O. at the t= ime, are they going to include that in the charges?
&= nbsp; Mr. Archer: I would imagine t= hey would, but to my knowledge . . . .
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: First of all ther= e is no suit against the . . . .
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Legal action.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 4
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: There is no legal action at this point against them. We’ve been in discussions to try and clarify everything. The items we are talking about are= a combination of everything, things that we’ve had to do as well as thi= ngs that are not yet done.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Now I want to go= about the, we have general improvement bonding you’re attempting to do, you want to put into effect. Some= of the items that are putting in this bonding were taken out of the budget and= now you want to bond them, is that right?
&= nbsp; Mr. Archer: That’s the = idea.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: I’m coming= up with about $30,000,000 and the problem I have with that is that to pay that bonding off I would imagine would be about, just figuring here, about $1,50= 0,000 a year plus $1,200,000 in interest, that’s about 2.5 mills added to o= ur budget, of course that interest rate goes down as the bond ages, but the fi= rst year would be $2,700,000, now that’s 2.5 mills to our budget and I th= ink that’s a sneaky raising of our budget. Secondly this added to Polk School= and Trumbull bonding, that’s $3,000,000, that totals 5.5. mills added to = our budget, and I think the next time we go out to a budget you’re going = to say to the people we have contracts we have to fulfill, we have this bondin= g, well that’s 5.5 mills right off the bat and I personally think we sho= uld spend the money that we have and hold upon anything else. I appreciate your . . . .
&= nbsp; Mr. Archer: Well it would be a sneaky trick if we were actually going to go out and propose bonding $30,000,000 but we’re not doing that.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: Well can you tel= l me what the total of all these expenditures that they’re going to do, you have $15,000,000 here, $25,000,000 here, $5,000,000 here.
&=
nbsp; Ms.
Robson: We don’t qu=
ite have
final numbers yet for a number of those things. If I could just clarify one thing,=
the
only portion of those things that you’re mentioning that was taken ou=
t of
the budget were the Public Works improvements, and not even all of them.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: What is that, ab= out $1,500,000?
&= nbsp; Ms. Adams: No, the 3 Public W= orks drainage improvement projects, I think that came to about 60.
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: 62, I think.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: 72 what, thousan= d, million?
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 5
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: $72,000.
&= nbsp; Ms. Adams: Taken out of that,= but the rest of it we do, well hopefully after tonight’s meeting we still have projects in there. But o= ne of then thoughts behind it was drainage projects are going to outlast the life= of the bond, and we have people who have been on our capital improvement proje= ct list for years and things are not getting any better so the hope is to be a= ble to, especially with the cost of money has come down, to be able to give the people relief, versus trying to budget for something like this every year because a drainage improvement will outlast the life of then bond. I wouldn’t see bonding things that would only last a couple of years, b= ut these are long term improvements.
&= nbsp; Mr. LeBlanc: We did that with= the schools, we bonded the computers, but we won’t get into that. I thank you for your information.<= /p>
&=
nbsp; Joseph
Pawlack, 173 Middlebury Road, Watertown, CT 06795
&= nbsp; Mr. Pawlack: Most of what I h= ave to say tonight, I guess just about all of it concerns the budget, which we’re all very much aware. These are observations, suggestions, ideas, opinions, whatever, howe= ver you want to classify them. I’ve been following the budget discussion debates, writing whatever presentations since I guess it was first presented and after everything that’s happened and the two defeats, some of the things th= at continue to bother me which in my opinion have not really been addressed by= the Board of Education or the Town Council I think need to be addressed. I speak as an individual, but I can’t help but feel there are probably a lot of people in Town who sh= are the same concerns and frustrations that I do.
&= nbsp; The biggest single problem that I have with the budget n front of us is the 17.= 4% increase which was granted to the teachers in their latest 3 year contract. Now I understand th= at the Town really has no control over that and that’s another problem becau= se in my opinion as others feel I’m sure, it basically boils down to taxation without representation. (Inaudible) arbitrator who decides what we’re going to have to= pay and it’s a basic objection of mine.&= nbsp; The only thing that I can tell you that approaches that kind of a percentage quite frankly was the number of people that were laid off in my company in May. We lost 15% o= f our workforce, and it’s in Watertown and one of the biggest employers in Watertown. Tied in with that,= the employees in my company, most of them, were privileged to get a 1% increase= in 18 months. So when I tell you= that 17.4% for 3 years is a little outrageous, it’s more than a little outrageous and it really bothers me, and I think it probably bothers most p= eople.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 6
&=
nbsp; Coupled
with that is the healthcare issue, and prior to the first budget referendum
there were I think two series of meetings at the local libraries, one of wh=
ich
I attended at the Main Branch on Main Street. I asked the Town Manager and the
Superintendent of Schools what the cost of health insurance was for Town
employees. I’m talking =
about
the Town’s cost, and I (inaudible) consulted a little bit and we sort=
of
agreed that the cost of health insurance or medical benefits to the Town per
employee was in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $11,000 a year, so then I as=
ked
what is the amount that each employee has to pay to which they responded
approximately 10%. That’=
;s
about $1,000. $1,100 give or take however you want to. At that time I mentioned that the =
cost
of health insurance for my wife and me, my wife is retired and all of our k=
ids
are grown up and moved out was $4,600 a year. Last week she received a letter fr=
om the
Naugatuck Board of Education where she worked for 34 years, informing her t=
hat
her healthcare premium was going up starting this month, to $395 a month.
&= nbsp; In all the discussions, I know there have been some questions raised, some suggestions, but in all of the official comments that I’ve read in the paper, I’ve never seen to this point one really concerted effort to approach the employees in this Town for givebacks, particularly the Board of Education since that probably chews up somewhere in the neighborhood of 60%= to 65% of the Town budget and probably 80% goes to salaries. They’ve talked about it, but= they haven’t, as far as I know, really gone the full measure in trying to = get the unions to give back some of those increases that they got. And I think quite frankly unless a= nd until something is done in that respect this budget is going to be a long on-going process much like it is down in Woodbridge, Orange, Bethany.
&= nbsp; Some other suggestions and that really falls in the area of a suggestion, tough = negotiations with the Town employees for givebacks, whether it’s in the form of givebacks against their current salaries or givebacks in the form of the he= alth insurance that they have and what they pay for those health insurance benef= its, but other issues that I thought of in approaching this was I’d like to know, in our company very month we have to develop what we call headcount, = and anybody who’s in business is probably familiar with it. You have to know how many people y= ou have on the payroll every single month.&nb= sp; I’d like to know if the Board if Education and the Town Manager’s Office has that number every single month? Do we know what our headcount is?<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> And #2, what was our headcount last year? Where was it 10 years ago? Where are we going? I spoke in front of a, I’m n= ot sure if it was a Board or a Town Council meeting, but I believe it was May,= and I pointed out that the cost of government, state, local and federal in the = past 20 years has risen from 15% of GDP to 15%.= I’m not sure what else is rising that quickly and chewing up m= ore of our income, but certainly government is doing that.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 7
&= nbsp; Another issue I thought about, and I raised this about 2 or 3 years ago and I belie= ve my neighbor Mr. LeBlanc raised it within the last year and probably 6 or 8 months ago was Town vehicles. How many vehicles do we have? Who= has them? How do they use them? A= re they 24/7 vehicles? Are there= any limitations on how many miles they can put on those vehicles? Are there any policy with respect = to what they have to reimburse the Town for personal mileage? I don’t know that there is a policy. When I asked the ques= tion I never got an answer; I’m not sure if Bob got an answer. Here’s another area of expen= se and I don’t know what kind of a handle we have whether it’s on the Town’s side, the police, roads, board of education, I don’t know. I suspect that probably= the Town can develop the number, I’d be surprised if anybody had it like = that but there’s an opportunity to find out what we’re spending and = is there a way to reduce those costs?
&= nbsp; I want to talk about when it came to education, and I’m just going to (inaudible) and it’s probably going to be subject to a lot of ridicule and criticism but I really think that the way the contracts are, let me bac= k up and start again, the way the contracts have been awarded, what the teachers have asked for and received I think is really a travesty to the Town becaus= e as I said before we have no way of really controlling that because it’s = in the hands of supposedly an independent group of third party arbitrators and whenever you raise the issue about cutting funds from either the Board of Education or the Town, but principally the Board of Education the first thi= ng they start talking about is they raise the hot bottom issues, well we’= ;re going to have to cut classes, teachers, increase class size, etc. it’s the mom, apple pie, and the flag argument and I’m sorry, I don’t buy it for one minute. As far= as I’m concerned it has nothing to do with education. It has everything to do with greed= and money on the part of the educational establishment in this Town. Period, if they don’t like it it’s too bad, I live at 173 Middlebury Road, they can come and see me anytime. Thank you.
&=
nbsp; Rico
Ceniccola, 150 Pullen Avenue, Oakville, CT=
06779
&=
nbsp; Mr.
Ceniccola: Speaking on be=
half
of my mother. Well I’m =
back
and the Overlook controversy is over and the road has indeed been paved.
&= nbsp; Regarding the vote on 7/21 however there are some things that need to be said. Firstly I know the residents aren’t as important or convincing as the Honorable Mayor and his bull= ies, but we spoke the truth and put a lot of effort into this because it was the right thing to do for the Town and the neighborhood. I believe the residents were badly mistreated when Council reversed its decision. I also think it was wrong for the = Mayor to have ambushed our chambers with his dream team, and it was definitely wr= ong for Council to vote on this great controversial issue that evening.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 8
&=
nbsp; I
just want to step back and give you some background on this ill considered
paving project. As you may re=
call
from the very beginning the proper procedures weren’t followed. They tried to skirt the A24 requir=
ements
and this was wrong. Despite a=
ll
this and despite the will of the residents, paving still went forward. This was wrong. It’s ridiculous projects lik=
e this
that squeeze more money out of the taxpayers and reduce services and progra=
ms
even further. The vote on 7/2=
1 ran
directly in the faces of the residents and Planning and Zoning. This was wrong. I was really disheartened when I h=
eard
the rationale for that motion, particularly after all the effort and time t=
hat
we put into this. I made it c=
rystal
clear that most of that road was located in Watertown. Again I know the residents are not=
as
important as the Honorable Mayor of Waterbury but it was really wrong to put
him on the Agenda when the Agenda was indeed closed to us. I had called Lisa a week prior to =
the
meeting and asked to be put on the Agenda and I was denied, I was told there
wee too many things on the Agenda.
It was also wrong not to advertise that the Honorable Mayor would be=
at
our meeting and I’m not buying that he just showed up. That was very, very suspicious.
&= nbsp; Now before the Honorable Mayor disrupted everything, before all the excitement,= the next normal step was to approve the abandonment of overlook which Planning = and Zoning already did. At this p= oint I would be shocked if Council approved our petition, but if you don’t we still have to deal with a parking problem up there. The street is too narrow for the residents to legally park there and they have no place to park. Abandoning the street would resolv= e that problem if Council would like to discuss that, and if they would like to di= scuss the vote on 7/21 in general. = By the way I personally spoke to the Honorable Mayor regarding just this issue and some other issues that didn’t come out at the meeting. He said he’d look into it but technically since the problem isn’t in Waterbury, it’s not real= ly their problem anymore, is it, however something has to be done. Thank you.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 9
&=
nbsp; George
Valaitis, 647 Linkfield Road, Watertown, CT 06795
&= nbsp; Mr. Valaitis: I’m going= to start from a happy note and maybe I’ll finish it on a sad note, so I’m going to flip pages what I have upside down and start from the bottom. This afternoon was qu= ite a productive day as far as I could see. First thing I want to compliment one individual in Town, an employee, and I have the note and they usually use is diplomatic efficiency. That’s Lisa in the Town Manager’s office. What prompted that is the sale that was advertised in the Town newspaper on Artillery Road. On Monday whi= ch was around the 20th I think, that’s a couple of weeks ago, I w= ent in person and I asked for a map, a blueprint and description and the backgr= ound on the property. I was given a blueprint but nothing really that should have been there in the Town Planner’s office available if it was presented completed to Council a= nd the Planning and Zoning Board about that particular area, not that particul= ar lot specifically but in general area let’s say 1,000 foot radius. I waited for an answer; I didnR= 17;t get it. I followed and made a= call on Thursday and they said they didn’t have it, maybe Monday. So I waited and went Monday again = and they said they didn’t have more than that whatever they had that was = it. I didn’t back down, so on Wednesday I put FOI, of course I got quite a few sheets copied and anther c= opy of a blueprint and I paid the $20.50 which I didn’t mind, I think it’s actually kind of a low rate considering what they have to copy a= nd man hours put in on that and if you take the amount of pages involved which= I figure shouldn’t have been, but that’s okay because it was a qu= ite open request but it did not cover what it should have covered, and I’m going to submit a blueprint because I’m going to go down and explaini= ng what’s . . . . . .I’m going to refer to this area.
&= nbsp; As you see on that left hand side of the blueprint there is an area that’= ;s designated, a wetland area that is donated to the Town. On the right hand side that is whe= re the same would begin. I have also marked off 50 feet from the pond, how much would occupy if they would be building a lot because the Town Planner said they’re going to take th= at one and put a home in there. Whatever the buyer does that’s their business. From what it looks on there, that blueprint shows that everything is almost flat, but when you look at the co= pies from what transpired during the hearings, it says the hills and ledges and everything else. My question = and concern was how that parcel was given or turned over to Town and when it we= nt originally what is known Indian Hill up on top of the blueprint, all that development, how it was originally split up, they didn’t have anythin= g, couldn’t find anything, and I went to the Town Hall and they said if I could be more specific and if I knew if it was before or after 85 we can go down the basement and it would take them probably 2 or 3 days to find what I wanted. I said (Tape #1, Side= A ended – may have missed some.)
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 10
&= nbsp; Going to be on vacation this week and next week.= Bingo. At the Planning= and Zoning office I spent 10 minutes and I covered a big cash. The original project was applicati= on #80, #70, where it describes plus material pertaining to Lake Winnemaug whe= re every year 700 lbs. of copper sulphate is put on one side to kill the bacte= ria. So knowing from Wetlands that that’s what happened this year also, and it had to be approved by the State and the jobber was from Massachusetts which does not come cheap and t= his is now the 3rd or 4th year in a row that they’ve been doing that for that lake, to keep that lake alive. And coming through the folder on A= pp. #80, I couldn’t make out the initials of the engineer that did the calculations of what was for the leach beds why that lake went down. But I said well those calculations= look pretty good and accurate and I said the contractor didn’t follow that= one would hurt the lake and first of all I said that’s the name of the contractor, the developer to myself and when I was reading later on, sure enough it was the same one. I won’t mention the name, you can find it on the public record, but that created a problem for the lake. As a matter of fact the calculations were done so much that they said 4.4 weeks the leach bed the liquid from it, nitrogen that discharged will leach the l= ake, the water in the lake. That&#= 8217;s how accurate the calculations were done and that was dated 1985. And that’s off the lots that is on Indian Hill on this development that’s going in there, and I’m looking in the middle of the pon= d.
&= nbsp; My question that I’m really concerned about, land trust, why isn’t= the land trust office first shot. Let them refuse it. Well they sai= d the money will be put in the land trust. Right? How much money = do we have because every time they sell land trust, land trust, but is there any = money in there?
&= nbsp; Mr. Nardelli: You’re as= king me about the land trust?
&= nbsp; Mr. Valaitis: Yes.
&= nbsp; Mr. Nardelli: We don’t = handle the land trust.
&= nbsp; Mr. Valaitis: They should be offered in there because there’s a pond, there’s a smaller pond= on the opposite side from the road you have the wetlands that the Town was granted, and this parcel over there is 10 acres in there with the private property that’s there. = Maybe it’s time you looked into it. I’m going to change gears about the financial situation in this Town.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 11
&=
nbsp; If
you look in the Planning and Zoning Manual there is a section where the
contractors could be assessed fee per lot based on certain formulas that you
come up on it, never been done.
Fees that they gain, could be charged off like schools or the other
areas. It’s not done, it
hasn’t been done. You s=
ee
this financial thing it didn’t happen overnight. Getting back to that gentlemanR=
17;s
comment, let’s look you might say that I’m going to be fictitio=
us,
but I’m not, I’m really trying to be honest with you people.
&=
nbsp; Dave
Petroccia, Watertown, CT 06795
&=
nbsp; Mr.
Petroccia: To speak on th=
is
Artillery Road piece that’s been abandoned and for sale and so
forth. I’m the surveyor=
that
did the survey on this piece and this thing actually has been floating arou=
nd
for quite awhile. This road f=
rom
the records that I found in the Engineering Department actually had been do=
ne
in 1986, the realignment of it. It
was done after the Artillery Hill Condominiums were built and they started =
the
road from Middlebury Road in. They
used the original layout from the Condo Association and then they veered off
and made a nice smooth transition with the curves, etc., as you can see.
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: I have the larger= map.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 12
&= nbsp; Mr. Petroccia: Well this is actually the current map. Thi= s map pertain to my client, Don and (inaudible) Fournier because it’s the f= ront of their property so this is why (inaudible). I was hired by them to do a survey= on their property but they’re just interested in building one house out there and (inaudible) I realize that I was nowhere near (inaudible) road alignment. When I started plo= tting my position I was 100 (inaudible). There as no record of this at the Town Clerk’s office, this realignment was done by the Town (inaudible). Very nice people, they thought abo= ut it and they said there was something done in 1986. They gave me what they had, they h= ad two plan and profile sheets (inaudible) showing the realignment of the road in elevation view and also in plan view. This kind of opened up a can of worms because this has been sitting = here since 1986. This should have = been gone through their whole parameter, this should have been laid out legally,= it should have been described, the takings should be done because there’s more than my client’s property involved in this. This starts at Middlebury Road, an= d goes all the way to where the pavement starts at Flint Rock Road where it comes in. Once again I got involved= in doing this realignment (inaudible) computed all the parcel areas and so for= th because they wanted to get one house in there. So I kind of got contracted to do = more than I originally started out to do, but I was obviously happy to do the wo= rk, it was work for me and they are very good clients of mine as I took what the Engineering Department had, I laid the rest of it down, I computed it all.<= /p>
&=
nbsp; As
far as the wetland area on their piece has absolutely nothing at all to do =
with
this. This is simply the road
alignment and the abandonment of the old road and the piece of property that
has to be transferred so wetlands has nothing to do with this whatsoever.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 13
&=
nbsp; Don
Fournier, 65 Cables Avenue, Waterbury, CT&=
nbsp;
06710
&= nbsp; Mr. Fournier: The old road ha= s been abandoned to us. The only thi= ng we’re discussing is the triangular piece. It’s really rocky, it’= s of no value to us, we just want it as a little extra buffer, nothing more, not= hing less. It’s unbuildable = to anybody else. It has no value= to anybody except us. We started= this in 2001 and it’s been a long process and it gets more expensive all t= he time. We’ve done all the surveying for the Town, we had it pinned out on property we don’t even own. We’d just want to = build one house and one little bar for us on all the acreage. Any questions?
&= nbsp; Mr. Archer: No, all set. Thanks.
&= nbsp; Mr. Archer, Chairman, Closed Public Participation (no time given).
5.&nb=
sp; Minutes
&= nbsp; A. Regular Meeting Minutes - July 21, 2003
= ; &n= bsp; MOTION: (Mr. = Kane, sec. Ms. Adams) to approve the Regular Meeting Minutes dated July 21, 2003 = as amended.
= ; &n= bsp; Discussion: Ms. King: On Page 27, it says= that the Council went into Executive Session with 9 Town Council Members, but I = was absent so there were only 8 members.
= ; &n= bsp; In Favor: &= nbsp; Ms. Adams, Mr. Archer, Mr. Hebert, Jr. Kane, Mr. Primini, Mr. Rinaldi, Mr. Vale= nti, Mr. Wick
= ; &n= bsp; Opposed: = None
= ; &n= bsp; Abstained: Ms. King (due to absence)
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; MOTION CARRIED (8-0-1)
6.&nb=
sp; Sub-Committee
Reports
A. &nbs= p; Public Works Subcommittee
Ms. = Adams: We are meeting a week from tomorro= w.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 14
B. &nbs= p; Finance Subcommittee
&nb= sp; Mr. Kane: We met earlier this evening. As you know we met p= rior to the last Council meeting and based on the two previous referendums that failed, we make $924,000 in cuts, bringing the possible mill rate increase = from 177 mills to 1 mill and this is what we recommended tonight and you’ll see it on the Agenda later.
B. &nbs= p; Ordinance Subcommittee
= Mr. Wick: We’ll be sche= duling a meeting later in August to review two ordinances that we’ve been as= ked to review. We also have on sc= hedule the public hearing for the code of ethics ordinance coming up before the ne= xt Council meeting on September 2, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. at the John Trumbull Prim= ary School Media Center.
= Ms. King: Do we have copies o= f the proposed code of ethics ordinance?
= Mr. Archer: I believe the were distributed in last meeting’s packet.
7.&nb= sp; Chairman’s Report
= ; A. Correspondence
= ; &n= bsp; 1. = Letter from Mr. and Mrs. Gary Stewart, Re: Donation of Hand Held Radios, dated July 23, 2003.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Archer: Dear Mr. Chairman= and Honorable Council Members: My husband and I have 3 Motorola HT 1000 hand held radios which are just 3 yea= rs old which we would like to donate to the Town of Watertown. I have spoken to Dave Hardt at the Watertown Fire Department who has indicated that the Fire Department could = put these radios to use for fire ground operations. It is my understanding that the ra= dios can be programmed for either wide or narrow band use which makes them very usable for the Town. I am told that the current value of the radios is betw= een $1,000 and $1,400 each for a total value of this proposed gift of between $3,000 and $4,200. If you req= uire additional information or which to see the radio equipment please let me kn= ow otherwise I will await your response. Sincerely, Virginia Stewart.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Adams: If we are in favor= of accepting it, maybe we should put it on the next Agenda.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 15
= ; &n= bsp; 2. = Acknowledgement of Siemon Company Computer Donation
=
; &n=
bsp; =
; Mr.
Archer: Addressed to Denn=
is
Strozzi, Treasurer/Controller of the Siemon Company. Dear Dennis: Thanks again for all your yelp.
= ; B. = Facts and Fallacies
= ; &n= bsp; None
= ; C. Other
= ; &= nbsp; Mr. Archer: Meredith, a coupl= e of meetings ago you had distributed a list of towns, let me give some history first. The Council had approv= ed the drafting of a letter objecting to the binding arbitration rules, which specifically came about because of the Teacher’s contract and it was = forwarded to our State Rep and our State Senator up at the Assembly and then we had cc’d all of the other town managers and selectman in the State and a number of them had responded and sort of given their support for that action and I wondered if there had been any update on that?
= ; &n= bsp; Ms. Robson: Well we havenR= 17;t gotten any formal resolutions in from anybody in addition to the ones that I mentioned, but in speaking with other representatives of different towns, s= ome have acknowledged that they were going to wait until the next session and address it at that point so I think there is still interest out there, but nothing has changed since the last updated that I gave you.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 16
8.&nb=
sp; Action
Items
= ; A. Consider Appointments to Boards and Commissions
&n=
bsp; =
; The
terms of various Boards and Commissions have expired or are expiring. Appointments must be made to fill =
these
vacancies.
= ; &n= bsp; Ms. King: The Historic Distri= ct Commission needs a new member, and it’s your appointment, so it would= be nice to have that one made.
= ; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to add the following items:
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Item 8H, Consideration of Tax Refunds.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Item 8I, Donation of Radios
= ; Discussion: None<= /p>
= ; MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
=
; B. =
Consider
Request from Cocchiola Paving for Commercial Vehicle Tax Exemption Pursuant=
to
Connecticut General Statutes 12-8(k)
= ; &n= bsp; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to Deny the request from Coachella Paving for a commercial exemption due to late filing.
= ; &n= bsp; Discussion: Ms. A= dams: I don’t believe you can make= a negative Motion. You have to = make the Motion to approve and then you vote no for it not to carry.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Ms. King: We can approve the recommendation from the Assessor which was to deny it.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to Amend the Motion to Approve the Request from Coachella Paving for a Commercial Exemption due to late filing.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 17
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Discussion: Mr. Wick: As I was reading th= rough the language that was provided us on the Senate bill it indicates that the = Town has the right to do what we’ve been asked to do according to criteria established by the municipality. That’s us. So I = asked myself do we have any criteria for such a consideration and I assume we don’t, and if we don’t, then I think that to avoid this kind of complication in the future, we do some work to come up with some criteria s= o we won’t get ourselves possibly in a difficult position in the future by doing something for which we have no criteria, which would be technically w= rong. Beyond that I support the defeat o= f the Motion.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Ms. Nadeau: Probably the only criteria that you would need to establish would be some sort of hardship to= be demonstrated. Beyond that the= re is nothing; the deadline should be the deadline, other than a substantial hard= ship documented.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; In Favor: &= nbsp; None
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Opposed: = Ms. Adams, Mr. Archer, Mr. Hebert, Mr. Kane, Ms. King, Mr. Primini, Mr. Rinaldi, Mr. Valenti, Mr. Wick
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Abstained: None
= ; &n= bsp; = ; MOTION FAILED UNANIMOUSLY
= ; C. Consider Fiscal Year 2003-2004 Fiscal Year Budget
= ; &n= bsp; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to approve the following budgets to be sent to referendum:
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 18
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Town
General Fund &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; $18,813,694
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; School
General Fund &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; $28,538,=
181
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Town
Road Aid =
; &n=
bsp; =
; $ 74,6=
70
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Water
Operations &nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; $ 1,270,507
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Water
Capital =
&nb=
sp; =
$ 224,000
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Water
Extension &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; $ 101,500
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Sewer
Operations &nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; $ 2,114,239
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Sewer
Capital =
&nb=
sp; =
$ 67,3=
00
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Sewer
Extension &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; $ 164,500
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Water
and Sewer Debt =
; &n=
bsp; $ 141,450
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Crestbrook
Golf Operations &nbs=
p; $ 883,003
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Crestbrook
Improvement Trust &n=
bsp; $ 68,7=
90
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Local
Capital Improvement =
&nb=
sp; $ 161,071
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Discussion: Mr. Kane: The Finance Committee a=
ll
along has been talking about the fact that we have lost $1,200,000 million
dollars in State aid and revenue that we obviously would need in order to
perform our local government. We do
not have that ability to have that income and hence this is where we are to=
day
with a budge scenario we are proposing.&nb=
sp;
We feel this is a fair budget, this is the proper way to put this ou=
t in
September and we look forward to everyone coming out and voting in favor of
this budget come the next referendum.
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Ms. Adams: Just some clarificatio=
n, if
we can go over the actual dollars that we cut for both sides so the public =
is
clear on exactly what we are doing.
=
; &n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; Mr.
Kane: At our last meeting we had the
difficulty of cutting $924,000 which was based on both sides of the ledger,
Board and Town side and we decreased the potential mill rate of 1.77 mills =
to 1
mill so it was .77 mill that we were able to deduct or make cuts so we̵=
7;re
confident that this is the fair and equitable way to proceed.
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Ms. Adams: And that was 2/3 Board,=
1/3
Town?
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Mr. Kane: Yes, 60% on the Board’s side and 40% on the Town’s side.<= o:p>
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Mr. Archer: Also this included $12=
4,000
taken from the General Fund as well.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 19
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Mr. Kane: Actually $176,000.
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Mr. Nardelli: We had taken the $52,0=
00 hoping
our bond refinancing would go through but unfortunately the interest rates =
went
up so we weren’t able to do that, so we took $52,000 plus the $124,00=
0,
totaling $176,000.
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Mr. Hebert: A lot of things got cut=
out
of this budget that this Town needs, some new positions that are needed to =
help
service the general public and make things more efficient. It is my opinion that with all the=
se
cuts, a mill increase, that these included in this we still have to pursue
concessions from our employees.
That hasn’t been officially discussed. Questions have been asked, answers=
have
been given, but nothing official. I
think we should try and gain concessions from our employees for a year and =
use
the money to offset some of these cuts.&nb=
sp;
To ask all departments and residents to pay higher taxes and cuts in
services, etc., for one time to ask our employees to give something back du=
e to
the nature of the economy is not unreasonable, that includes the school boa=
rd,
that includes all Town employees. I
just think that should be pursued.
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; In
Favor: &=
nbsp; Ms.
Adams, Mr. Archer, Mr. Hebert, Mr. Kane, Ms. King, Mr. Primini, Mr. Wick
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Opposed: =
Mr.
Rinaldi, Mr. Valenti
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Abstained: None
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; MOTION
CARRIED (7-2-0)
=
; D. Consider
Setting Date, Time and Place for Machine Vote on 2003-2004 Budget
= ; &n= bsp; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Ms. Adams) to approve the referendum Notice for the machine vo= te on the 2003/2004 budgets as follows:
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; A referendum of electors and citizens qualified to vote in Town Meetings of t= he Town of Watertown will be held on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 between the h= ours of 12:00 Noon to 8:00 p.m. to vote for the approval or disapproval of fiscal year 2003/2004 budgets. Votin= g will be at the following polling places:
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 20
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Hemingway Park School, Hemingway Park Road, Watertown, CT
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Judson School, Hamilton Lane, Watertown, CT
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Swift Junior High School, Colonial Street, Oakville, CT
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Polk School, Buckingham Street, Oakville, CT
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Persons qualified to vote in Town Meetings who are not electors shall vote at any of the above mentioned polling places.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Absentee ballots may be obtained at the Town Clerk’s Office.
= ; &n= bsp; Discussion: Ms. Adams: That said Noon to = 8:00?
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Mr. Archer: Yes, it has been suggested by the registrars that we shorten the hours. They’re having difficulty ge= tting people to work the polls 14 hours a day.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &= nbsp; Ms. Adams: I can understand t= hat, having worked at the polls myself, but giving over a month’s notice t= o do this, they have take out ads in the paper, do something, I just don’t like the idea of noon to 8:00. I think we have to go the full route so nobody thinks we’re trying to p= ull a fast one, and I won’t support the Motion unless it says 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Ms. King: I would just agree = with Elaine. I just don’t th= ink you can do that on this kind of notice, particularly to people that (inaudi= ble) year’s notice, but I think we have a lot of people who vote before th= ey leave for work in the morning. And the registrars I know it’s more difficult for them because they try to get people to work 14 hour days but they could get 2 people to work a 7 hour day. I know that’s hard= , and that option has not always been explored.&= nbsp; There won’t be that many people. I don’t know whether we have= fewer machines for this kind of thing, I don’t know how those decisions are made, but I agree with Elaine that we need a full day’s voting.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 21
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Mr. Rinaldi: We have always, = over the years and I think even this Council has stressed that we want a larger turn= out for the budget, and that’s important. I think the more people that vote = the better. I think in order to d= o that you have to give them the maximum amount of options. I know a lot of people that vote i= n the morning, and I think you have to give them that opportunity. I’m one of them. I go to work at 6:30 in the mornin= g and I stop at the polls first cause I have a long day after that and I don̵= 7;t really know where I’m headed after that. I just think it’s something = you ought to reconsider very seriously before you make it noon to 8:00. There are no advantages that I can= see, and you’ll open yourselves up to a lot of criticism.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Mr. Kane: I’m in agreement. I too vote in the morning prior to going to work and being in retail I have a long workday as well so I would like to see us go back to our regularly scheduled time, whi= ch is 6:00 a.m.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; MOTION: (Ms. = Adams, sec. Mr. Kane) to Amend the Motion that the polling hours will be 6:00 a.m.= to 8:00 p.m.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Discussion: None<= /p>
= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
=
; E. =
Consider
Setting Ballot for Machine Vote on 2003-2004 Budget
MOTION: &nbs= p; (Mr. Hebert, sec. Ms. Adams) to Approve the budget question to be placed on the voting machine as follows:
1. &nbs= p; Shall the fiscal year 2003/2004 school general fund budget be approved in the amo= unt of $28,538,181?
2. &nbs= p; Shall the fiscal year 2003/2004 town general budget be approved in the amount of $18,813,694?
and sha= ll the following fiscal year 2003/2004 budgets be approved in the amounts of:
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 22
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Town
Road Aid =
; &n=
bsp; =
; $ 74,6=
70
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Water
Operations &nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; $ 1,270,507
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Water
Capital =
&nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; $ 224,000
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Water
Extension &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; $ 101,500
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Sewer
Operations &nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; $ 2,114,239
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Sewer
Capital =
&nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; $ 67,3=
00
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Sewer
Extension &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; $ 164,500
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Water
and Sewer Debt =
; &n=
bsp; =
; $ 141,450
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Crestbrook
Golf Operations &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; $ 883,003
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Crestbrook
Improvement Trust &n=
bsp; =
; $ 68,7=
90
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Local
Capital Improvement =
&nb=
sp; $ 161,071
Voters approving each question will vote “Yes” and those opposing each question will vote “no”.
=
; Discussion: Mr.
Rinaldi: The first opinio=
n that
we got from the Attorney was we could only have one question. Then we had a public hearing at Sw=
ift
and I gave you free my opinion.
Then I get a letter form the attorney a week later that says the exa=
ct
same thing I did, now we can have two questions, from the same attorney.
= ; &n= bsp; &= nbsp; Mr. Archer: He was actually a= sked two distinctly different questions, but . . . .
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Ms. Adams: The questions were= not the same.
MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
=
; F. =
Consider
Transfers – Fiscal Year 2002/2003
=
; Town
Council authorization is required for the transfer of departmental funding
between line items.
RESOLUTION
&n= bsp; WHEREAS, expenses in the 2002-03 Fiscal Year require the Transfer of Funds:
&n= bsp; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by vote of the Watertown Town Council, that the following actions are taken relative to the Transfer of Funds:
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 23
&n= bsp; GENERAL FUND
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; 010-50327-010-0000 – Elections, Postage
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50327-006-= 0000 – Tax Collector, Postage
&n=
bsp; REASON:
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; 010-50336-013-0000 – Cons. Comm. Advertising
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50336-011-= 0000 – P & Z, Advertising
&n=
bsp; REASON:
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; $2,300, 010-50310-036-1767 – Parks, Echo/Sylvan Lake treatment
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; $1,498, 010-50155-020-0000 – Police, Holiday Pay
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50322-014-= 0000 – Public Buildings, Rentals
&n=
bsp; REASON:
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; $12,685, 010-50690-046-0000 – Contingencies
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; $14,869, 010-50110-031-0046 – Highway, Personnel
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50360-033-= 0000 – Solid Waste, CRRA Fees
&n=
bsp; REASON:
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; $2,279, 010-50342-040-0000 – Misc. Central, Claims & Settlements
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; $3,009, 010-50720-043-2035 – Misc./Non-Town, Bldg Imps Fee Ram
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50327-040-= 0000 – Misc. Central, Postage
&n=
bsp; REASON:
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; 010-50319-040-0000 – Misc. Central, Vehicle Maintenance
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50336-040-= 0000 – Misc. Central, Advertising
&n=
bsp; REASON:
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; 010-50210-042-0000 – Imp. Ben. Social Security
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50232-042-= 0000 – Imp. Ben. Life Insurance
&n=
bsp; REASON:
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 24
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; $2,773, 010-50210-042-0000 – Imp. Ben., Social Security
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; $2,565, 010-50210-042-0270 – Imp. Ben., Medicare
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50243-042-= 0000 – Imp. Ben., Disability
&n=
bsp; REASON:
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; 010-50220-042-0000 – Imp. Ben., Imp. Retirement
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50242-042-= 0000 – Imp. Ben., Unemployment Comp.
&n=
bsp; REASON:
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; 010-50720-043-1994 – Misc./Non-Town, Bldg. Insp. Fee Remit
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50720-043-= 1596 – Misc./Non-Town, DEP Environ Fee
&n=
bsp; REASON:
&n=
bsp; AMOUNT:
&n= bsp; FROM: &= nbsp; 010-50110-031-0046 – Highway, Personnel
&n= bsp; TO: &= nbsp; 010-50720-043-= 0535 – Misc./Non-Town, Town Clerk to State
&n=
bsp; REASON:
&n= bsp; Dated at Watertown, Connecticut this 4th day of August, 2003.
&n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; =
; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p;
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; Lee Archer, Chairman
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; Watertown Town Council
&= nbsp; MOTION:<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to approve the Resolution authorizing the transfer of departmental funding between line items.
&n= bsp; Discussio= n: None<= /p>
&n= bsp; MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
G. = ; Consider Bid Waiver for Dumpster Covers
RESOLUTION
&n= bsp; WHEREAS, Town Council approval is required for waiving the bid process and awarding a contract to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder; and
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 25
&n= bsp; WHEREAS, Town Council authorization is required for any purchase exceeding $4,000 th= at has not been independently bid by the Town’s Purchasing Agent; and
&n= bsp; WHEREAS, the Public Works Department (Department) is required by the Department of Environmental Protection to cover the dumpsters at the Transfer Station whi= ch contain general municipal solid waste;
&n= bsp; WHEREAS, the Department ordered one dumpster cover from Power Covers a small local f= irm as a test; and
&n= bsp; WHEREAS, the Department deemed the cover to be suitable and ordered another cover.
&n= bsp; WHEREAS, the total cost of the covers is $3,000 each or $6,000.
&n= bsp; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVEED, that the Watertown Town Council hereby approved a bid waiver for the purchase of dumpster covers from Power Covers for the dumpsters at the Watertown Transfer Station on Old Baird Road.
&n= bsp; Dated at Watertown, Connecticut this 4th day of August, 2003.
&n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; =
; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p;
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; Lee Archer, Chairman
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; Watertown Town Council
= ; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to approve the Resolution authorizing the bid waiver= for dumpster covers.
= ; Discussion: Mr. Cavanaugh: We have to cov= er these every night. The land w= here we operate our land fill we have to provide daily covered dirt over whatever you bury. The dumpsters have = to be covered on a nightly basis. (Inaudible) municipal waste, we get rid of the solid waste, there can’t be any liquids in it, that’s a violation of the permit so= you have to keep the storm water out of it.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Adams: According to D.E.P= .
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Archer Right, so this is a mechanical cover?
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 26
= ; &n= bsp; &= nbsp; Mr. Cavanaugh: It’s a mechanical (inaudible), it’s going to boom out when you pull the boom out, you pull the cover out over the dumpster and it’s set up for one person to operate it safely, and the next day you pull the cover back, you = pull the boom back.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Archer: It just amazes me= the things were made to do.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Hebert: And they’ve= been up there how long with nothing?
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Cavanaugh: (Inaudible) re= cords we’ve been violating the operating permit (inaudible).
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Archer: Don’t do that. Just wanted to clarify, that’s all. Thanks.
= ; MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
H. = ; Consider Tax Refunds
RESOLUTION
&n= bsp; WHEREAS, Taxpayers have made application for the Property Tax Refunds in accordance = with Section 12-129 Refund of Excess Payment; and
&n= bsp; WHREAS, the Tax Collector recommends that the Refunds be made in accordance with the provisions of Section 12-129;
&n= bsp; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Council approves the following Tax Refunds:
=
1,325
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Terrazzo Limousine &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Type: M
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 37 Oak leaf Drive
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Waterbury, CT 06708-3632
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Deleted
=
1,326
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Terrazzo Limousine &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Type: M
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 37 Oak leaf Drive
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Waterbury, CT 06708-3632
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Deleted
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 27
=
1,327
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Terrazzo Limousine &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Type: M
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 37 Oak leaf Drive
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Waterbury, CT 06708-3632
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Deleted
=
1,328
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Terrazzo Limousine &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Type: M
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 37 Oak leaf Drive
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Waterbury, CT 06708-3632
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Deleted
=
1,332
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Terrazzo Limousine &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Type: S
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 37 Oak leaf Drive
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Waterbury, CT 06708-3632
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Deleted
=
1,333
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Terrazzo Limousine &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Type: M
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 37 Oak leaf Drive
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Waterbury, CT 06708-3632
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Deleted
=
1,334
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Terrazzo Limousine &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Type: M
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 37 Oak leaf Drive
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Waterbury, CT 06708-3632
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Deleted
=
1,420
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 470 Hill Street &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Type: M
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Waterbury, CT 06704-0000
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Deleted
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
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=
1,423
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 475 Thomaston Road = ; &n= bsp; Type: R
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Watertown, CT 06795-5200
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Ass= essed Value Decreased
=
1,424
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 475 Thomaston Road = ; &n= bsp; Type: R
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Watertown, CT 06795-5200
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Ass= essed Value Decreased
=
1,425
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 475 Thomaston Road = ; &n= bsp; Type: R
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Watertown, CT 06795-5200
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Ass= essed Value Decreased
=
1,426
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; P.O. Box 270 = &nb= sp; = Type: R
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Hartford, CT 06141-0000
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Court Stipula= tion
=
1,427
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; 546 Washington Avenue, 3rd Floor&nbs= p; Type: M
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Waterbury, CT 06708-5200
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Deleted
=
1,428
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; P.O. Box 660368 &nb= sp; = Type: M
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Dallas, TX 75266-0368
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Prorated
=
1,429
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; P.O. Box 310 = &nb= sp; = Type: M
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Barrington, IL 60011-9970
&= nbsp; &nbs= p; Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Acc= ount Prorated
TOTAL FOR ALL REFUNDS: &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; $7,980.90
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&n= bsp; Dated at Watertown, Connecticut this 30TH day of July, 2003.
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp;
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Lee Archer, Chairman
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Watertown Town Council
= ; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to approve the Tax Refunds as presented.
= ; Discussion: N= one
= ; MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
I. = ; Consider Donation of Hand Held Computers
= ; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to approve the donation of the Motorola Hand Held Ra= dios with gratitude and request that the Town Manager send a letter of acknowledgement to the Stewart’s.
= ; Discussion: Mr. Primini: The use of the radios, should that be part of the Motion? We’re going to accept them, = but what are they going to be used for? Are they going to the Fire Department?
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Archer: Yes, it appears t= hey were donating them for that use.
= ; MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
9. =
Discussion
Items
A. &nbs= p; Discussion and Possible Action on a Resolution regarding the Regional Economic Development Alliance – Stephen Sasala, President and Chief Executive Officer, Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce
RESOLUTION
&nb= sp; WHEREAS, the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce has requested input from all communities in the region regarding economic development activities and nee= ds; and
= WHEREAS, these communities have responded and have agreed on the need for some type = of coordinated and cooperative effort to improve economic development potentia= l in the region; and
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= WHEREAS, the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce has taken the lead in establishin= g a Regional Economic Development Alliance to support these efforts.
= NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Council of the Town of Watertown do= es hereby declare its full support of the Regional Economic Development Allian= ce and requests that its Town Manager work closely with the Alliance in promot= ing economic development activities for the Town and region.
= Dated at Watertown, Connecticut this 4th day of August, 2003.
=
&nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; =
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp;
= &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = &= nbsp; &nbs= p; Lee Archer, Chairman
= &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = &nb= sp; = Watertown Town Council
= ; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to approve the Resolution supporting the Regional Economic Development Alliance.
Discussion: Mr. Sasala: We’ve actua= lly been working on this, it’s preceded me, I’ve been working on it since January. The concept wo= uld be to do something similar to what they’re doing in the regions of Hartf= ord and New Haven. That would be = to minimally create some kind of regional identity. The thought would be we would be a= ble to better market yourself as a region, that we would get more attention from t= he State if we were a region rather than going forth and trying to deal with t= he State on a town by town basis. Obviously at some point in time that needs to continue, but the thou= ght would be that if we could create that kind of regional identity we would be= in a better position to attract new development throughout the region whether = it be in Watertown, Middlebury, Prospect, etc. That’s really why I’m = here tonight. Do you want me to ge= t into more details about how it would work?
= <= b>Ms. King: What are the towns = in the region? Is there a potential = for funding for this regional entity because we are a regional entity?
= <= b>Mr. Sasala: The answer to the= first question is there are 13 towns in the region. Actually on May 15th we= had a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce and we invited all of the towns that mak= e up the Greater Waterbury region which happens to be the same geographical jurisdictions, if you will, as the Council of Governments, Beacon Falls, Bethlehem, Cheshire, Naugatuck, Middlebury, Southbury, Watertown, Wolcott, Waterbury, Woodbury, Prospect, and Thomaston.
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= A= ctually part of the reason that I asked Meredith to do this is I’m in the pro= cess of trying to raise private money. I’ve been fairly successful so far with some of the corporatio= ns in the region, but I’m actually trying to go to the foundations becau= se there is significantly more money if you go to the foundations, so the thou= ght would be to try and amass a small war chest to actually study this more, do surveys, see what the issues are that people feel there is a common bond around. I don’t need to= tell anybody that this could be a very slippery slope, cause what we don’t want to do is pitting one town versus another with regard to doing economic development. I’m very sensitive having been in government for 25 years. The first rule as far as I’m concerned is to honor everybody’s geo-political boundaries, but beyond that I think there is tremendous opportunity to really create whatever we c= all it, the Central Naugatuck Valley Region, the West Central Connecticut Regio= n, whatever it might be.
= F= or those of you who might be concerned about it, Waterbury clearly will be the symbolic center of the region, but this is not going to be the Waterbury Regional Alliance. I’m = very sensitive to that sort of stuff. I work there every day, I happen to live in Woodbury myself so as you would be I’m sensitive to the fact that we need to make sure that we have 13 t= owns involved in this initiative, that we basically have to keep 13 towns happy.=
= <= b>Mr. Rinaldi: When I was on the Economic Development probably 11 or 12 years ago, there was a Naugatuck Val= ley Industrial Organization formed, I don’t know the name of it. Is this still a structured organiz= ation that we’re talking about here?
=
<=
b>Mr.
Sasala: I’m not a b=
ig fan
of creating new organizations. I
would rather at least initially run this out of the Chamber of Commerce.
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= <= b>Mr. Rinaldi: Let me fine tune= my question. At that point in ti= me when the State was divvying up funds for various industrial development, th= ere was several organizations in the State.&nb= sp; The one we dealt with was the Naugatuck Valley. And what they did was each Town ha= d a vote, according to their population, so of course Waterbury had many more v= otes than any of the other small towns. So we found that every time we tried to go in and get some of these funds, we were outvoted. Wate= rtown had 1 or 2 votes, Waterbury had 10 or 12 votes, so that was the end of the = deal right there, so we felt that we weren’t being fairly represented. I think if anything should happen = it should be one vote per town, period.
= <= b>Mr. Sasala: I have no preconc= eived notions about how this works. I think you raised an excellent point. I’m sure if I talked to the = Mayor of Waterbury he might give me a different perspective on the matter, but we’re looking to try and figure out how to do this. I understand this is a very, very slippery slope here. Having l= ived in this State for many years, I know we are very proud of our towns and our= (inaudible) here and I have no interest in trying to disrupt that, but I do believe, and we’re going to have to deal with those kinds of issues, how the voting structure works, etc, but I do think it’s important and I will illust= rate this for you very clearly. No= ne of us know what is going to happen with this transportation strategy board, what’s been recommended to the Legislature for funding transportation projects, but I can reasonably assure you that the Waterbury region is not going to get much money, if any. The reason that’s the case is because it really goes back to a report that was done back in the late 1990’s, which in my opinion, it’s still relevant obviously in places like Fairfield County because nobody would argue the congestion problems thee, but the truth of the matte= r is things changed dramatically after September 11, 2001 and I think we feel it here, we feel it in other parts of the region, we’re seeing developme= nt come up here, people are buying more property, etc. Obviously we have to quantify that= but let me make my point.
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= T= he work that was done by the transportation strategy board was based on that report that was done back in the late 1990’s; it was called the Galli= s report. It literally mentions the Waterbur= y and the Danbury region twice. The= fact is if you take a look at where they were making the recommendations, it mir= rors very clearly where the transportation strategy board made their recommendations. Part of the reason, not totally, is because New Haven and Hartford both have very strong regional organizations that basically made their points very clearly and ve= ry loud. First of all I absolute= ly believe the 84 corridor of which we are sitting in the middle of, is clearly and without a doubt the next growth area in this State, but rather than rea= ct to it, should be in a position where we are being proactive. I believe that this regional economic alliance is a way to do that. We will have disagreements but it’s better to put that kind of infrastructure in place than not have= it at all and then have everybody just getting picked off as things progress.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Additionally if we can successfully create this regional alliance, I believe if and when money ever comes back = into vogue, we’ll have an opportunity to really start making our case to w= hy we should start seeing improvements in our region.
= <= b>Ms. King: The one regional ap= proach that we get a little bit, cause people come in and ask us to sign off again= is the Labor Department Program, (inaudible) regionalized. Now their regionalized through a separate, through the Workforce Development Board?
= <= b>Mr. Sasala: Correct. Yes the Northwest Regional Workfor= ce Investment Board.
= <= b>Ms. King: Is that still get o= ver there on that side and not get brought into this?
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= M= r. Sasala: If for example the decision of the Alliance once it’s configured decides that Workforce = is an important issue, I would think that we would want to have a collaboration with the folks who run the Workforce Investment Board. Similarly as we all appreciate, th= ere is a discussion going on right now which isn’t going to play itself out probably for the next, of the number of tourism districts which is going to= be rather than 11, now there will be 5, is it in Litchfield, Danbury, Waterbur= y, so another issue obviously which has regional implications is tourism and h= ow does that work. Now I wouldn&= #8217;t see this organization taking that over, but I would see a collaborative relationship. Again the real purpose of the alliance is to be able to get some seed funds to understand = what makes sense for us to look, and if you will attack regionally, whether it&#= 8217;s brown fields or creating a regional image.
= H= artford is a good example of it. Ther= e is the Metro Hartford Alliance which is a fancy name for their Chamber of Commerce, but they are doing a very aggressive campaign and really turning around the image of what’s happening in Hartford. I think we’re a lot further = along the road in terms of what we have in terms of raw material, we just donR= 17;t have the resources right now to say what’s going on in this region, s= o I think that’s what we’re really trying to get to because percept= ion is reality. We have a good st= ory to tell.
= <= b>Mr. Kane: Just a comment. I wholeheartedly agree and we̵= 7;ve seen this in the creation of our Business Development Subcommittee here in Watertown and I agree with what you’re saying as far as Fairfield Cou= nty, Hartford County and the like and this region needs to pull together in orde= r to grow for all the towns that your recommend, so I’m definitely in favo= r of this Motion and feel we should pass it.
In favor: &= nbsp; Ms. Adams, Mr. Archer, Mr. Hebert, Mr. Kane, Ms. King, Mr. Primini, Mr. Valenti, Mr. Wick
Opposed: = Mr. Rinaldi
Abstained: None
MOTION ARRIED (8-1-= 0)
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August 4, 2003
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B. &nbs=
p; Discussion
and Possible Action on Watertown High School Track Renovation Financ=
ing
= Ms. Robson: As you now the To= wn received a $500,000 grant for the high school track renovation and the work that the architects have done in submitting their proposals to the Public Buildings Committee, they have suggested that the project would be in exces= s of that, and the numbers we would be looking at to put out to referendum for additional funds would be roughly about $225,000 more for the construction itself, approximately, these are round numbers, and about $50,000 for archi= tect fees, anywhere from $1,000 to $6,000 for survey fees, although depending on= the workload we may be able to have our in-house staff take care of the majorit= y of that to lower that price, and then approximately another $5,000 for boring,= so in total we might be looking at something like $286,000 in addition to the $500,000 plus the 10% contingency amount for the project. I think in your packet you should = have full information on what was included in the project scope.
&nb= sp; Mr. Archer: If I recall that = was through the STEEP Grant Program?
= Ms. Robson: Yes.
= Mr. Archer: And $500,000 was = the maximum amount you could get in a particular calendar year?
= Ms. Robson: Yes.
&nb= sp; Ms. King: We have attached the proposal dated may 27th with 4 options. Has the Public Buildings Committee picked one of those 4 options.
= Ms. Robson: Yes, and thatR= 17;s what amounts to the additional funding.
&nb= sp; Ms. King: It’s option #4? Am I missing seeing that = in writing somewhere? Does it say somewhere that we recommend Option #4?
= Ms. Robson: No, I didn’t include that. The total there= is $750,000, which is about $500,000 plus $225,000.
= Ms. Adams: That would be opti= on #3 then.
&nb= sp; Mr. Hebert: But they’re= not going with artificial turf. It’s a mix of options I think.
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= Ms. Robson: In a Public Build= ings Committee discussion they did try to see where they felt the project could = be scaled back and I think it was their consensus to go forward with a more involved project than the $500,000 would permit.
= Mr. Wick: The question of artificial turf concerns me. They’re not going to be going with that?
= Ms. Robson: I’m not pos= itive; I’ll have to double check.
= Mr. Wick: I would use caution there, cause unless artificial turf has changed in 20 years, a lot of coach= es in some colleges wouldn’t permit their teams to play on fields that w= ere covered with artificial turf because when players fall down they get cut ve= ry badly.
= Mr. Hebert: I don’t thi= nk artificial turf was part of what they wanted to do. They included field re-grading, tr= ack drainage, and additional lanes.
= Mr. Wick: Okay, so then it wo= uld not be Option #4.
&nb= sp; Mr. Archer Can we get a list = of exactly what specifications the P.B.C. decided, cause if this was a mix of options we don’t have that information. We don’t need to take action= on this tonight, do we?
= Ms. Robson: Well it is includ= ed in Item 9D, just to authorize us to start work with the bond counsel on that.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> I don’t think it would impac= t us greatly if we go ahead and at least have the authorization to do that, but I’ll get you information on the project scope before the next meeting= .
= Ms. King: I really would like someone to talk to us about how it got from $600,000, when we put this in we thought maybe it would be a $100,000 requirement to the Town and now we’re talking $300,000. I get concerned that we leap into these, I understand how important people feel t= he track is, but when I put things in priority and if there was potential of spending $300,000 for this Town I’m not sure that I would have put th= at in there and I feel as though we’re being backed into a choice that we’re not making in relationship to other things.
= Mr. Archer: Well yea, that= 217;s why I’d like to know exactly what is in here, what are we paying for.=
= Ms. King: And whether still p= eople are saying well because we’re going to do it we ought to do this, this and that and whether in fact you could still do it for less money. I don’t know, maybe you can’t.
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August 4, 2003
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= Mr. Archer: I know the number= of lanes has to do with whether or not you can host certain events. And you have to weigh some of that against how important is that to the Town, school, students, but I’d = just like to know what the specifics are and what the reasoning is behind choosi= ng those specific items to combine in the first place.
= Ms. King: If we don’t h= ave enough teachers in our schools, I’m not sure that we need an 8 lane track. I realize that they don’t always measure across, but it’s pretty hard for me to cut teachers from the school budget and then spend $300,000 for a track for a t= rack team which is certainly not for the entire school.
= Mr. Archer: At the risk of be= ing bashed, I have to agree with you and have always thought that there is way = too much emphasis placed on sports in schools today.
= Ms. King: I didn’t say = that; you said that.
= Mr. Valenti: Once this projec= t is done, and whatever configuration it ends up being, do we know what it would cost to maintain it over time? We’re here today because of lack of maintenance, time, and poor design.
= Mr. Hebert: I attended most o= f the meetings on this project and the surface would be rubberized, it would have= to be checked and done either 7 or 10 years, I’m not sure, but there is a timeframe where the surface itself has to be redone. To keep that surface in tact, as l= ong as the base and everything else is done the way it’s supposed to be, to = keep the surface repair and stuff you won’t have any problems.
= Mr. Valenti: Did we get a bal= lpark approximation as to the annual figure that would cost?
= Mr. Hebert: I believe that was mentioned and I don’t remember.
= Mr. Valenti: Well we can get = that information.
=
Mr.
Hebert: For the track.
= Mr. Rinaldi: I said this seve= ral years ago, but since this discussion keeps coming back about the track, the last time I knew they rubberized the top as Ray said and I go walking up th= ere, I used to, and I noticed after they rubberized the track that the was a lot= of stuff that was dug up and they were spikes that they wore on the track so I asked the Town Council why they were using cleats on a brand new rubberized track and the answer I got was it was a lousy job so we’re going to t= ear it up anyway. You can go back= and check the Minutes on that one, and that really disappointed me.
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&nb= sp; Mr. Hebert: That was our firs= t time on the Council, and it was a repair job because there was cracks and everyt= hing else. I heard that comment ab= out the cleats.
&nb= sp; Mr. Rinaldi: I just don’= ;t want to see us get into that scenario again.
= Mr. Hebert: No, it has to be,= one thing they said was that this surface has to be maintained. If you maintain the surface, then everything will be fine.
&nb= sp; Mr. Rinaldi: What bothered me= the most, and I’m not going to be judgmental about the coach, but that’s tax dollars that we’re talking about. That’s the sort of thing that grinds people. You pay taxes = to get things done and you go up to the track and see it all torn up because someb= ody worse cleats on it, that’s pretty sad. We have to control that, do some d= amage control because it could really come back and bite us if we don’t wat= ch it. (Tape #2, Side A ended &#= 8211; may have missed some.) (Tape #2, Side B – not used – go to Tape #3.)
= Mr. Primini: Since we’ve gotten the Public Buildings involved in all these projects, I don’t t= hink we’ve had any problems, since we’ve got people who have the backgrounds in this. I person= ally would rather spend the extra money, maybe see what we can’t do with o= ur Town departments, between custodians and the highway department to bring the cost down, but it would be a crime to spend $500,000 and then try to cut ba= ck on $200,000 to save some money and then the track not done right and then we’re going to be right back here in a couple of years talking about = what we did wrong. I think if anyt= hing we should be going by the recommendations of the Public Buildings Committee because that’s what their job function is. I’d much rather pay the extra money to have it done right instead of coming back here and then we said we= ll we voted no because we didn’t want to spend any more money, and that’s what gets us into a lot of trouble in this Town. We vote no not to spend money and = it ends up costing more in the long run and I’m getting a little tired of that. If you look at the cond= ition of our buildings right now, and I do agree I’d rather see it spent on some of the buildings, but if we’re going to undertake a project and we’re going to throw away $500,000 and not get that $500,000 I’d rather spend the extra $200,000 and have the job done right.
= Mr. Hebert: I agree with Mr. Primini. It was discussed gre= atly at the Committee meetings that the one thing that came out was everybody wa= nted the job done right. If we start down the path doing things the first time a= nd I think this should continue. I don’t like, it’s a lot of money, = but if we’re going to get a facility that is going to last and be a nice facility, then we should do that. Whether the voters agree or not, we don’t know, but that’= ;s my opinion.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 39
= Mr. Rinaldi: If I’m hea= ring everything right, I think I agree with Lee too, that energy. I think what we need to do at this= point is get some more particulars on this. We need to know what is going on.&n= bsp; To me this is very vague, what’s in front of us. We have 4 options here. Is the Public Buildings Committee = the one that dealt with this?
= Mr. Archer: Yes.
= Mr. Rinaldi: Yea, I have a lo= t of respect for them. If one of t= hem could possibly come here and explain this to us and give us all the details maybe it won’t look as spooky.
= Ms. King: The point is, and I don’t disagree with what Ray is saying either, but we are the last pl= ace here, we are the people who make the decisions among a number of different projects. Everybody has an ag= enda, rightfully so. People from the school system and the folks who want a new track their agenda is to get the best one and it’s their job to present it that way, but it’s our job to make choices upon how we spend a limited amount of money. I feel sometimes when we get backe= d into one thing and then someone is going to say well now we can’t spend mo= ney on something else because we just spent it on this, so we need to set those priorities.
= Mr. Rinaldi: We can’t s= et any priorities unless we know all the details.= We have to have the whole story and then we can set priorities. I’m not disagreeing with you= .
= Mr. Wick: We’re not rea= lly setting priorities because we do not have a list of things and we’re = not choosing either or, so while I agree in concept that it’s important to set priorities we’re not doing that in this case and I don’t th= ink that we should kid ourselves. The other question I think we need to think about, not only in this situation b= ut in many others, is would we want to recommend the project to the people in = Town if we had to pay 100% of the cost? There’s a fiction called free money, and it’s a fiction. We now have $500,000= of so called free money. The realit= y is it’s not free, it comes form other people within the State, including= us, and while we’re sitting here grabbing a bunch of free money there are people in our position in other towns doing exactly the same thing, and so = as long as we treat free money cavalierly, we’re going to continue to ha= ve problems. I think we really h= ave to think about this as to whether we would truly want to do the project if we = had to pay the whole freight.
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August 4, 2003
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= Mr. Archer: In order for this= to be part of 9D, do we have to at least in principal approve authorizing you to = add this, well we can do that as part of D right? We don’t have to make a Moti= on.
= Everybody talking at once (inaudible).
= Mr. Archer: Yea we don’= t need to make a Motion on this because it’s already in there. So you don’t need us to do anything under this particular Agenda Item because it’s part of D any= way.
= Ms. Robson: Right.
C. &nbs= p; Discussion and Possible Action on Sale of Town Owned Property – Artillery Road, Parcel E
= ; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to accept the offer of $1,200 from Don and Joann Fournier for the sale of Town owned property, Artillery Road, Parcel E.
= ; Discussion: Mr. W= ick: According to the information that = we were provided, this issue is over a year old in terms of information that’s been presented to the Town.&n= bsp; There’s a memo dated April 11, 2002 which looks like it contai= ns a lot of the same information that we have in the memo dated August 1, 2003, = so my question is what happened as a result of that communication that was prepared back in April of 2002? Did the issue just lay dormant?
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Robson: I can only answer= that in part. Part of the issue wa= s, I believe was changing in staff, and part was it seemed to be a complicated transaction because of the entire project, not just this one piece, but all= in all it probably did take much longer than it should have. The other particulars I’m ju= st not able to expand on those.
= MOTION PASSED UNANINOUSLY
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Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
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D. &nbs=
p; Discussion
and Possible Action on Authorizing the Town Manager to Advise Bond Counsel =
to
prepare Bonding Document Ordinance for the following projects:
= 1. = Swift Middle School
= 2. = Watertown High School Track Renovation
= 3. = Turkey Brook Drainage Improvements
= 4. = Public Works Road and Drainage Improvements
= 5. = Fire Department Company No. 1 Renovations
= 6. = Open Space Acquisition
= ; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Mr. Kane) to authorize the Town Manager to request the bond counsel to begin the preparation of bonding documents for the following projects:
= 1. = Swift Middle School
= 2. = Watertown High School Track Renovation
= 3. = Turkey Brook Drainage Improvements
= 4. = Public Works Road and Drainage Improvements
= 5. = Fire Department Company No. 1 Renovations
= 6. = Open Space Acquisition
=
; Discussion: Ms. K=
ing: I regret that even though I read t=
he
Minutes from the last meeting it’s not clear what we’re being a=
sked
to do here now which is to agree right now that all of these things would go
forward to be put out to a vote as a group with an up and down at some point
for people in a bonding package. I
don’t feel that we’ve ever, maybe you did this at the last meet=
ing,
discuss, are these the 6 things that we wanted to have in there, or do we o=
nly
want 5 or 4, or are we just putting absolutely everything into something?
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Adams: All we’re do= ing tonight is to authorize the Town Manager to start the process rolling. We’re not saying that weR= 17;re putting all 6 of these up to a referendum.= We’re just trying to get the ball rolling. We’re not saying we’re putting 6 up in October or anything else.&= nbsp; Is that correct?
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August 4, 2003
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= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Robson: Yes, but I think Jean’s right as well. We haven’t, these are all things that have been discussed and that’= ;s why I put them down here in an effort to put them forward, but you really haven’t had a more detailed discussion about each piece and whether o= r not you wanted to follow through. Tonight would just be authorizing me to be able to go ahead and start the work with the bond counsel, you still will then have a decision to make= on the bond documents themselves, and each item will be separated out by costs, full cost, so all of the soft costs as well as the hard costs would be list= ed in those bond documents, but you do still have that decision to make as to whether or not you even want to go out.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Adams: Well certain ones = we already approved, Turkey Brook, Fire Department, the Public Works Drainage projects.
= ; &n= bsp; &= nbsp; Ms. King: No, we didn’t= .
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Adams: We already voted on those.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Archer: I don’t thi= nk we did. We kind of danced around= it a lot at the last meeting but we didn’t actually vote on it.
= ; &n= bsp; &= nbsp; Ms. Adams: A couple of times = ago, the Fire Department.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. King: No, we didn’t= . All we did was accept the report, = but we never voted that we want that project to go forward.
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Mr. Hebert: Part of the discu= ssion at the last meeting was to try and get projects that were ready to go and g= roup them together so we’re not going out every other week with a referend= um on this, that, and the other thing. We’re trying to basically put projects together that are going= to be completed about the same time, so instead of going out and voting on 2 questions, you might have 4 or 6 and try and help save us a little bit of m= oney in putting on referendums.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Valenti: This question is= for the Town Manager. By putting = the 6 of these forward this evening, is there like a substantial marginal cost for each additional item that bond counsel works on, cause I think that’s= the key criterion that I would look at, is if there is for each additional one = that we’re considering if they’re going to work on it, does it add a= big chunk per item?
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August 4, 2003
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= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Robson: Frank, can you an= swer that?
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Mr. Nardelli: Each item that = they have to do a separate bond ordinance on obviously there is a cost associated with that. (Inaudible) go for bonding and we lump them all together, so there is a cost associated with e= ach bond ordinance for each project.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Valenti: Is it a big cost= ?
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Nardelli: I would have to= get a quote form the bonding attorney.
= <= b>Mr. Wick: At one time, Frank,= you told us that the average cost for bonding is about $50,000 every time we go= out for one.
= ; &n= bsp; Mr. Nardelli: That’s co= rrect.
= <= b>Mr. Wick: We have 6 items her= e, so that doesn’t mean it’s $50,000 x 6?
= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: If we did 6 ite= ms on all one referendum it would be about, and then they get approved and then w= e go for bonding, it’s $50,000, so each time we go into the bond market we have do official statements, ratings, financial advisor fees, so if all 6 i= tems went to referendum at once and they were all approved, then I would bond all those at once and the cost is $50,000.&nbs= p; If I bond Swift Middle School at one point and then the track at ano= ther point, each time I go to the bond market there is a cost associated with it= .
= <= b>Mr. Wick: Then the scenario w= ould be to ask you to possibly start the ball rolling getting organized for the = next bond without committing to any or all of the 6 that are listed here. It’s just a way of getting a= jump on the calendar.
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August 4, 2003
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= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: I think Meredit= h is looking for direction as to go to bond counsel so we can start getting a bo= nd ordinance together on the items you people want to move forward with. So if there is an item on here tha= t you don’t want to move forward with there’s no sense in spending mo= ney to go to bond counsel to have them put a bond ordinance together because to have her bring it back here and then you say we don’t want to do that= project anyway, so we just spent that money with bond counsel to put an ordinance together. But if you want to = move forward with these projects and Meredith then wants to go to bond counsel a= nd say put a bond ordinance together on this particular project so we can brin= g it back to Council and let them move forward with it.
= <= b>Ms. Robson: Let me clarify to= o how they all came to be grouped together. We had talked about each of these at various times, and when we started to look at the schedule of how they fit = and when they would be ready to go out to referendum, if that’s what you chose, they all seemed, some are ready now and some would be ready soon eno= ugh in terms of our schedule for getting the bond documents together that we co= uld put them all together, so you could decide to take them out and discuss the= m at length at some other point, it’s simply whether or not you want to do= the project or put the project out to referendum first and then when would you = want to do it. So you would still = do them even if you don’t do this tonight.
= <= b>Mr. Valenti: I guess the answ= er then to my other question, I didn’t formulate it in a coherent manner, there are real costs associated with going forward with all 6 of these opti= ons now but then later not going forward on all 6? We will pay real costs now and . .= . .
= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: If you say go f= orward to get a bond ordinance on all 6 of these items, there is a cost associated= for each bond ordinance for each (inaudible).
= <= b>Mr. Valenti: And then if we l= ater not actually put to referendum all 6, we would have spent money for nothing. Not for nothing but = . . . .
= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: Yes, there is a= cost involved for going for a bond ordinance.
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= <= b>Mr. Kane: So then the recomme= ndation here is to begin the bonding documentation prior to the referendum? Do we not want to put these types = of things out to referendum for the people to decide which projects we want to= do and which ones we don’t want to do?
=
<=
b>Ms.
Robson: Can we do that?
&= nbsp; Mr. Nardelli: You mean the qu= estion out to the pubic? No, you nee= d a bond ordinance, you have to have a public hearing on that bond ordinance and then after that hearing the Council has to adopt the bond ordinance and then you have to publish the bond ordinance and then there’s a 30 day wait= ing period after that publication so . . . .
= <= b>Ms. Robson: So there is no mechanism just to get some general public feedback?
= E= veryone talking at once (inaudible).
= <= b>Ms. Robson: A non-binding referendum?
= <= b>Ms. King: Well if you did tha= t, let’s take these 6 and say to people, then the question would be “Shall the Town move forward with a bonding ordinance for any one of these and let people choose”. Then you still have to go back to the people again with each bonding ordinance thus bringing the question up again for a vote to the public, so whether you call it binding or non-binding it wouldn’t make any difference cause it can’t bind us in terms of a bonding referendum.
= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: We also need Se= ction A24 approval from Planning and Zoning into this whole mix also.
= <= b>Mr. Hebert: To start the ball rolling now, for this, up until our next meeting, would that make a differe= nce?
= M= s. Robson; Would they still = have time to prepare the bond documents if we discuss this again on September 2<= sup>nd?
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August 4, 2003
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&= nbsp; Mr. Hebert: No, what I’m saying is if we approve this tonight, we’ll be spending money, correct? I wanted to start th= e ball rolling and then possibly discuss it more at our next meeting and if we wan= ted to pull for the sake of discussion (inaudible) I’ll take the (inaudib= le) we go forward with bond counsel, we discuss it September 2nd, we= ll we don’t want Swift in the package, we would have spent money already= on the Swift bonding proposal?
= <= b>Ms. King: And do we not have = to have the Board of Ed come to us and ask us to bond the Swift project which = they have not yet done for the school? If the Board of Ed is not coming and asking us for this, we should n= ot be going forward with that.
= <= b>Ms. Adams: (Inaudible) assump= tions?
&= nbsp; Ms. King: Absolutely.
= <= b>Mr. Primini: We don’t e= ven know if they’re ready yet.
= <= b>Ms. King: Ready is a separate issue, wanting is a separate issue.
= <= b>Mr. Archer: Frankly I hope th= ey never do come to us.
= <= b>Ms. Robson: Well I have autho= rized the renovation as new (inaudible) for the design for the architect.
= <= b>Ms. King: I think there’= ;s a process where they come to us and they say the Board of Ed has voted that we want you to go to bonding of this and then we vote on it with a school project. We can’t decid= e to build a new school if the Board of Ed doesn’t tell us they want to, whether it’s a new or renovation.
= <= b>Ms. Adams: When I was on the = Board we never voted to actually do anything with it. Back then in the past 1 to 2 years= they have done nothing to bring it to us. She raises a very valid point.
= M= s. Robson: Let me talk about= the track project, the Public Buildings Committee met with the School Facilities Committee and they did ask that we put this on the Agenda for tonight so for that piece of this they did make that request, at least the school faciliti= es committee.
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&= nbsp; Ms. King: When we first start= ed talking about this it certainly made sense of us to put some things togethe= r in a package for bonding and look at a couple, but I do not think it is realis= tic in the community in which we are living to consider putting out everything, because I just don’t, and I think at some point we should look at this list of 6 and pick 3. I mean I could pick 3 right now, but that’s not the answer, but I don’t think we should put everything out because it’s there and it’s ready without really some considered discussion among us about what are the things that we really think are more important priorities, and nowhere on t= his list is repairing the old Town Hall building which is going to fall down wh= ile we do some of these other things which I would want to have it as a discuss= ion item just for example. I̵= 7;m just not comfortable with this list at all, period, (inaudible).
= <= b>Ms. Robson: Let me just sugge= st the last issue that you raised which is a great one because we are working on t= he 10 Year Capital Plan and I have forwarded a draft to the Superintendent of Schools who now has some staff working on that so that we will have a full picture, and as some of you have mentioned tonight, you’re a little f= rustrated at different things coming at different times, that 10 year plan will lay t= he groundwork for where you all decide you want the Town to move and then obviously it will have to be backed up by funding by the voters, but these things are on because they’re ready to go and that’s really the crux of it.
&= nbsp; Mr. Wick: Meredith, I gather = from what you and Frank have been saying is that we cannot have a referendum unt= il after we prepare the bond documents, is that correct?
= M= s. Robson: Yes.
= <= b>Mr. Wick: That seems to me to= be backwards. We should get the Townspeople to agree to a particular amount of money for a project and then= go handle the financing details.
= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: There is a cost associated with moving forward to getting to a referendum and I think that’s what everybody has been asking. If we go to bond counsel and ask t= hem to put a bond ordinance together there is a cost associated with that.
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&= nbsp; Mr. Wick: I understand, but w= hat I’m asking is why we can’t we do the referendum first and get t= he approval to spend the money for the project form the voters, and then spend them money for the financing?
= M= s. King: You’d then ha= ve to go to vote again.
= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: Well as you kno= w you have to do a bond ordinance, it has to go to Public Hearing, and then you h= ave a 30 day waiting period and then you go to referendum. Once the people approve that at referendum, then I go for bonding. And obviously because we need the money. When I go into the bond market, that’s when I have to get Moody’s involved, so I don’t re= ally understand what your question is.
= <= b>Mr. Valenti: I think Dick is = asking why, by what authority is that the process? Is that State Law that mandates th= at process?
= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: Yes.
= <= b>Mr. Valenti: Is it Charter?
= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: It’s Stat= e law.
= <= b>Ms. King: So the wording has = to be that we’re asking the people to approve the issuance of bonds. We can’t just ay to people p= lease approve our spending $500,000 for the track renovation. We have to say please approve our bonding of a certain amount of money and all that wording has to be done by bond counsel.
= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: If you ever saw= the bonding documents I get; I literally get a book this thick with all the fil= ings I have to do with the State, the IRS, to make sure we’re in compliance with tax exempt stuff.
= <= b>Ms. King: If we were spending= our own money and not bonding then we could go to referendum, that’s the difference. If we were just a= sking people can we spend “x” amount of dollars from money that we ha= ve, then we could just do that.
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= M= r. Nardelli: That’s right. We’d have a spec= ial meeting and just do it, and we wouldn’t have to get involved with borrowing in the open market = The minute we go into the open market and start bonding, there are all types of legal requirements that have to be met.
= <= b>Mr. Wick: So what you’re telling me is like what I used to tell my kids, you don’t have to like it, you just have to do it.
= <= b>Ms. Robson: The only two proj= ects on here that are, and I say this (inaudible;) and there may certainly be ma= ny who disagree, but the two time sensitive projects, and I heard what you said before about the school requesting it, would be Swift Middle School and the High School track, only because of the timing of the school year and the tr= ack seasons and that sort of thing, so those would be time sensitive. The others can be done when the money is available.
= <= b>Mr. Archer: Right. I don’t know that going out = with 6 is the best idea either. Jean= , I think the idea of putting the 6 down here was to prompt a discussion of whi= ch ones of these do we actually want to go out with. I don’t think that ultimately putting all 6 of these out is abdicating any responsibility. I think it’s up to the voter= s to decide and that’s why you go to referendum with these things, but I g= et your point about is it more important to go out to referendum for fire department company #1 or open space. Clearly if each of us was to separately put these things in priority order, we’d probably all come up with something completely different<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We’d have 9 different lists,= and there’s only 6. But I don’t know how you go about marrying up those lists and coming up with the 4 or 3 that seem most appropriate, cause the question is most appropria= te to whom, that’s the question we can’t answer which is why we wa= nt to put these things out together.
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= <= b>Ms. King: But then it becomes= which constituency in Town, I mean we’re supposed to be the Council for the whole Town. There is a consti= tuency for the schools, and there is certainly one for the fire department, and someone else for open space. = And we’re just saying, if we put everything out there, we’re just saying you folks fight it out, we’re not going to tell you. We look at the budget all the time= , we look at things that are going on in this Town, I think that’s why we’re elected, to make some of the choices. I would say you put a few out, but= I think if you put them all out, you will have battles among people and maybe= , of course now I’m saying what I think is important, but I just think you= run the risk of not having anything get passed because people will just say loo= k at them, they’re just irresponsible, they want us to spend if all of the= se passed, there was a number that Mr. LeBlanc mentioned this evening of an am= ount of money which is on the street as we say, that will terrify people in this Town, even if you explain to them that one doesn’t plan to do it all = at once and you will do it in order, and I just don’t think, if there ar= e a couple of things that we really want done, we should tell people what we th= ink are the most important to have done, and maybe there are 3. I can understand packaging them together, but I don’t think, if you do it this way, then nothing happ= ens.
= <= b>Ms. Robson: You could wait un= til a more full discussion on the entire capital plan, but unfortunately that will take some time, and again there are a couple of items here and even Turkey Brook, you know the bids are due in in a couple of weeks so that bid price = will be good for “x” amount of time, so that’s the problem with these compared to the many other items that we have on the Capital Plan and Public Works projects. I mean= now the drainage projects have been waiting for many years. I suppose they can continue to wai= t or we can actually try and get them approved.
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= <= b>Ms. Adams: Just if my memory = serves me correctly, I’m going to start with #1, Jean is right, the Board has never asked us to put this to referendum.&= nbsp; #2, about a year ago the Council sat down and we voted unanimously f= or this STEEP grant for the $500,000 for the high school track. I think to back peddle at this poi= nt will be that we just don’t know what we’re doing. Turkey Brook drainage improvements, we’re trying to pick up something that’s been going on for over= 10 years. The money, the bids di= d not suffice with the bond referendum that was there. It’s not happening. Right now we’re currently in= the process, 24 packets have gone out and 20 of them are serious bidders, but t= he other one is being different companies that promote these type of things, m= ake aware other companies that these projects are out there.
= P= ublic Works Drainage Improvement Projects – these have been around, Meredith said at least 10, 15 years, some of them longer, and it’s not only flooding, it’s also icing in the Winter.
= F= ire Department Company #1 Renovations – Not this Council, the one before = us voted, I believe $20,000 for them to proceed with looking at their needs and what they could possibly have to need.&nbs= p; The Volunteer Fire Department has been around for 50 years, if they promised not to ask for anything for another 50 years, I’d be very ha= ppy.
= O= pen Space Acquisition – we did try this once right now, we’ve tossed around a few ideas, but I think at this point, until we have something very concrete, that would be one that I would pull out and go with the other 4 f= or those reasons, and believe me I am all in favor of open space, but I think until we get more concrete on that, I would pull it.
= <= b>Mr. Hebert: As far as I know I agree with everybody else, Swift has never been official. The rest of these, different segme= nts of the population have come up and said this is what we want. By putting this together and putti= ng them out officially as a package, that’s what we do, that’s what we’re supposed to do. T= he voters ultimately make the decision. I agree with Jean that the Town hall has to be addressed, it should = have been addressed a long time ago. We don’t have numbers on the Town Hall.= We don’t have numbers on fixing it correctly. The ones we have are a couple of y= ears old that I know of. As far as= these 5 or 6, I’d go out with 5 of them, take Swift out, go out with 5.
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= <= b>Ms. King: The Fire Department= , we voted, I was on that Council, to appropriate $20,000 so the Fire Department could do a study of what the alternatives were and what they could do and o= ne of the questions was whether the Fire Department should be located there or not, whether they should be some other place, and then they came back and t= hey did this study, but we never said (Tape #3, Side A ended – may have missed some) for this amount so that the numbers that we’re coming up with there, it is our job to look at numbers and question them, and we have= n’t done the questioning on that and we haven’t done the questioning on o= ther things. That’s the same= thing that came up with the track. = People have come forward and said here’s the numbers. Well our job is not to say okay, w= e like those numbers, sure put them out. Our job is to question them, and I don’t feel we ever had a discussion on= the Fire Department about do we really need to do this, this, this, and this, or maybe we can only afford to do this. We just said okay, that’s nice, you got those numbers, and now= we’re going to say okay we’ll go to bonding for that. I don’t think that’s t= he responsible way to do it.
&= nbsp; Ms. Adams: I am in no way, sh= ape, or form qualified to judge what the Fire Department needs or doesn’t need, whether it should be wider, taller, shorter, whatever. I depend on the experts that we hi= re, we employ, to come back and say this is what we need for the future. I am not qualified to do that. I depen= d on them.
Mr. Archer, Chairman= , called a Recess at 10:10 p.m.
Mr. Archer, Chairman= , Reconvened the Regular Meeting at 10:20 p.m.
&= nbsp; Mr. Archer: Meredith or Frank= , do we have any idea what kind of figure it is to go forward with this, even if= we were to then set some of them aside later.= Do we know much money we would be killing?
= <= b>Mr. Nardelli: I don’t k= now how much they charge to prepare a bond ordinance, I’d have to check w= ith them.
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&= nbsp; Mr. Archer: Dick just had an interesting idea. The idea of bundling some of these things together makes sense, but perhaps they should= be bundled by how they’re related to each other, for example the Turkey Brook/Public Works Drainage Improvements are sort of one thought that people can get their heads around. T= he Track Renovation and Swift is sort of one thing. It’s school type related things. Sort of on the idea t= hat if you throw too many unrelated things at people they just will vote no. Regarding the open space acquisiti= on, is that something that we’re able to hold on?
= <= b>Ms. Robson: You can hold on t= hat.
= <= b>Mr. Archer: There is no dange= r of losing that?
&= nbsp; Ms. Robson: I supposed there = is always that, but I’m not aware of any imminent danger.
= <= b>Mr. Kane: Well then I agree w= ith Elaine’s recommendation as well.
&nb= sp; = MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Ms. Adams) to amend the Motion to remove Item #1, Swift Middle School and Item #6 Open Space Acquisition and go with items #2 through #5, = the Watertown High School Track Renovation, Turkey Brook Drainage Improvements, Pubic Works Road and Drainage Improvements, and Fire Company #1 Renovations= .
&nb= sp; = Discussion: None<= /p>
&nb= sp; = MOTIONPASSED UNANINOOUSLY
= <= b>Mr. Valenti: I think some vot= ed on the premise that Swift was never officially requested of us. Do we leave that open if they shou= ld formally request it of us?
= <= b>Mr. Hebert: It’s not pa= rt of the package right now.
= <= b>Mr. Valenti: So it’s of= f the Table then?
= <= b>Mr. Hebert: It’s not pa= rt of this package.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 54
= <= b>Mr. Valenti: Right, but we st= ill preserve at a later date if we’re formally requested . . . .
= <= b>Mr. Archer: Yes, we’re = not saying (inaudible).
= MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
E. &nbs= p; Discussion and Clarification on the Policy of Assessing Fees for Commission Members for Copies of Items Not Related to Their Own Commission Work
= Ms. Robson: It’s come u= p a number of times since I’ve been here that whether or not we should be charging, and I think it’s happened both ways, whether or not we shou= ld be charging commission members for information requests that don’t pertain to the actual work that they do.&n= bsp; For instance if it’s the Planning and Zoning Commission, and t= hey ask for something related to the Public Buildings Committee, do we charge t= hose members for that information and vice versa? I believe that it has been, that it should have been charged, unless obviously the information is relative to t= heir particular commission work. B= ut there has been some discussion, and I think there may be some confusion on = the staff level as to whether or not they are supposed to be charging for that = so I wanted to get clarification from all of you regarding that sort of policy.<= /p>
&nb= sp; Ms. Adams: You’re talki= ng as individual commission members, not as the entire Commission?
= Ms. Robson: Yes. No, individuals.
&nb= sp; Ms. Adams: Might I make a suggestion – I know our Council Minutes are on line. Do we have the rest of the Boards = and Commission minutes on line, and if not, can we do that?
= Ms. Robson: We’re tryin= g to work on that. Unfortunately we haven’t been terribly successful with that, but it’s not just Minutes that are asked for.
= Ms. Adams: Oh, they want maps, stuff like that?
= Ms. Robson: All sorts of other backup that wouldn’t be on there.
= Ms. King: Are our fees reason= able?
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 55
= Ms. Cattaneo: We go by State = Law, $.50 a page. It depends on wh= at it is, and we’re able to charge a reasonable fee. If it’s something like a com= puter diskette we can charge according to what we think it is, we can change for that, but it’s $.50 a page, but the problem is the time that we put i= nto it, sometimes to locate it.
= Mr. Wick: Is there a lot of t= his happening?
= Ms. Robson: I think thereR= 17;s a fair amount, at least relatively recently that’s been occurring. But since I’ve been here in January I have had a number of questions raised about it, but I think it is happening more.
= Ms. King: Unless we charge ot= her people in the Town that come in off the street, then just because you’= ;re on another commission doesn’t mean you should get it free.
&nb= sp; Mr. Archer: I agree.
= Mr. Kane: I agree.
= Mr. Wick: Can there be some k= ind of limit, if someone goes beyond a certain number of requests or number of pag= es, then you charge them.
&nb= sp; Ms. Robson: That may be diffi= cult to keep track of and they may ask it from several departments.
&nb= sp; Mr. Wick: One concern I’= ;ve got is knowing how difficult it is to get qualified people to serve, is thi= s in any way going to affect the future recruiting requirements we’re goin= g to have?
&nb= sp; Ms. Robson: In my personal op= inion I don’t think it would. In my experience with the requests that have come in, it’s really more for personal use than for Town use.
= Ms. Adams: And this doesnR= 17;t apply to Council members?
&nb= sp; Ms. Robson: No, all of the wo= rk is your (inaudible). If I unders= tand you correctly . . . .
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 56
F. &nbs= p; Discussion and Possible Action on Resolution Regarding a Petition for Abandonme= nt of a portion of Overlook Avenue
= ; MOTION: (Mr. = Hebert, sec. Ms. Adams) to approve the Petition Giocondina Ceniccola of 150 Pullen Avenue request for the abandonment of a portion of Overlook Avenue, Oakvill= e, CT.
= ; Discussion: Ms. K= ing: I’m assuming that this is th= e same as that other Motion?
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Archer: Yes.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Valenti: What is the Moti= on?
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Hebert: To approve abando= nment of Overlook.
= ; &n= bsp; &= nbsp; Mr. Archer: Cause the Motion = has to be made in the affirmative.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Valenti: So by voting no we’re not going o approve it.
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Mr. Hebert: Correct.
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Mr. Valenti: I’m going = to vote no cause at this point it’s a moot point.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Rinaldi: If we vote yes w= hat does that mean?
= ; &n= bsp; &= nbsp; Ms. King: It doesn’t ma= ke any difference. We can’t ab= andon a road that’s already . . . . .
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Adams: Been paved.
= ; &n= bsp; &= nbsp; Mr. Rinaldi: You want to bet?= Watch me go. If you vote yes that means . . . .= .
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Hebert: You’re appr= oving the abandonment if you vote yes.
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Mr. Wick: What are the conseq= uences of voting yes?
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Robson: If you abandon th= e road we will absolutely have issues with maintenance of the utilities that are in that roadway.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 57
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Mr. Wick: Would we be in effe= ct violating our contract with Waterbury?
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Ms. Robson: I believe so, I&#= 8217;m not your legal advisor, but I believe so.
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Mr. Archer: If it’s aba= ndoned they can’t even plow it, or we can’t even plow it.
&n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; Ms. Adams: Let alone dig if w= e need to.
&n=
bsp; =
; &n=
bsp; Mr.
Rinaldi: I know for a fac=
t from
sitting on the Water & Sewer Commission that we have main transmission
lines, we have sewer lines and a lot of other things in this Town that run
through, run along rivers, run across rivers, run through woods, and run
through God knows where. As a
matter of fact outside of my factory there are some main hole covers spaced
every so far in swampland, and they get maintained when they have to. I don’t buy that argument.
= ; In Favor: &= nbsp; Ms. Adams, Mr. Archer, Mr. Hebert, Mr. Kane, Ms. King, Mr. Primini, Mr. Valenti, Mr. Wick
= ; Opposed: = Mr. Rinaldi
= ; Abstained: None
= ; MOTION FAILED (1-8-0)
G. &nb= sp; Discussion Regarding Capital Budgets
= Ms. Robson: Well we did touch= on it but I wanted to sort of keep this fresh so that you know that we’re continuing to do the work on the 10 year plan a and the items before were w= hat would be a piece of that plan. As I said earlier, the school has that, they have begun work on their part of it. I hope to have this to you probably within 2 months or so, so that you can actually see a draft of an entire 10 Year Capital Plan that will include all of the Town projects and needs.
Watertown Town Council
Regular Meeting
August 4, 2003
Page 58
H. &nbs= p; Discussion an Possible Action Regarding Employee Bonds
= ; MOTION: (Mr. Hebert, sec. Ms. Adams) to accept the recommendation of the Town’s Insurance Carrier, H.D. Segur, which include requiring bonds for all the following employees only, and have the blanket bond cover all remaining employees: The employees requ= iring bonds are:
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Tax Collector
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Assistant Tax Collector
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Treasurer
= ; &n= bsp; = ; Finance Director
= ; Discussion: None<= /p>
= ; MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
10. &n=
bsp; Public
Participation
&=
nbsp; Al
Mickel. 173 DiNunzio Road, Oakville, CT&nb=
sp;
06779
&= nbsp; Mr. Mickel: I looked for the = Plan of Development, it cost $25.00; if that was on line that would be helpful.<= /p>