Board of Selectmen's Minutes - December 7, 2006

Presentation of plaque/check from CL&P to the Town of Weston for two energy efficient projects (High School and New Intermediate School) completed this year. –John Ferrantino, Ron Araujo, Joan Geronimo and David McIntosh. Chris Swan from CL&P thanked Mr. Bliss for working closely with them on the transmission project. He said Weston was one of five Towns that they had come to and Weston was the only town that did not have 325 volt lines built on it. He said that Mr. Bliss was instrumental in getting the Siting Council to take a different prospective in proceedings going forward. The lines were energized six weeks ago and is serving the greater Norwalk area which includes Weston.

John Ferrantino said that they were there to recognize the Town of Weston for all the work that they have done implementing energy efficiency measures at both the High School and the Middle School. He presented the Town with a plaque and a check for $211,179 for all the measures that they have implemented.

Discussion/decision regarding a request from Interfaith Housing Association for $14,000.-Peter Powell. Mr. Powell brought a drawing of the Westport Rotary Centennial House. They received a $320,000 check from HUD at the existing house. He said the house is almost invisible and the only time anyone sees it is driving on the train to New York. He said there will be four one bedroom apartments and two two bedroom apartments.

Mr. Powell said that every eight grader in Weston since 1990 has served a meal at the Gillespie Center. What they do is to solve problem of homelessness that occurs in the suburbs. They do not see Norwalk as their solution. He said they always have someone from Weston in the shelter. There is one person who grew up in Weston who has been living for almost 10 years at the Levitt Pavilion and this person in the last month has agreed to take a room. He said they cannot compel anyone to take shelter, they have cloth and fed this person for ten years and Westport police has forced them to take shelter on cold nights.

Mr. Major said that he noticed his original request was for $13,792 and one month later it went up to $14,000 and he was assuming that was tied to the allocation that they made in the budget. He said that he would like to take the letters to the Board of Finance and show them why they should have done what they asked them to do because when they set the allocation of $14,000 that was not intended to be the sum of money that they were to get. That was to be the sum of money that they were to work from.

Accept the resignation of Douglas Stuebe from both the School Building Committee and the Building Committee effective immediately. Mr. Miller made a motion to accept the resignation of Douglas Stuebe from both the School Building Committee and the Building Committee effective immediately. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Discussion/decision regarding proposal to alleviate drainage issues on Eleven O’Clock Road and Valley Forge Road-John Conte. Both Mr. Major and Mr. Miller recused themselves. Mr. Major represents one of the bidders and one of the bidders is currently working for Mr. Miller.

Mr. Conte said that they have responded to two complains of drainage problems of cross culverts on Town roads. One is in the vicinity of 65 Eleven O’Clock Road which is close to the intersection of High Noon and Eleven O’Clock Road and 120 Valley Forge Road. Mr. Conte said we have had some violent rain storms this year and the cross culverts discharge into private properties especially the one on Eleven O’Clock Road which discharges to a retention basin on 65 Eleven O’Clock Road. This is maintained by the owner of that property. During one of the rain storms this summer the retention basin breeched causing all of the drainage to go to a neighbor down slop from them living off of Pheasant Hill Road and their swimming pool accumulated quite a bit of silt from the basin.

Since then the owner of 65 Eleven O’Clock Road has improved and repaired the retention basin on their property which has held up pretty good in some of the other violent rain storms that we have had. To prevent any more damage to the person on Pheasant Hill Road’s swimming pool they are proposing a small drainage improvement adjacent to Eleven O’Clock Road. He said basically what it is is a 4’ x 4’ concrete leaching chambers that would be placed along side the road. That will take in some of the surge during violent rain storms, store it and some of it leach out into the ground and then once those drainage structures fill up the water will pass through as it normally does to move the culvert into the detention basin.

Mr. Conte said 120 Valley Forge Road is accepting the flow from a cross culvert also and there has been some development upstream of that culvert which has increased the flow to the culvert and during some of the violent rain storms the resident has been getting flooding from the culvert. He said the same types of structures are designed for that location. Both projects are designed the same way to try to alleviate some of the problems.

Mr. Bliss made a motion, pending the Board of Finance approval, with a recommendation that A.J. Penna & Son do the work on Eleven O’Clock Road and Woodland Construction do the work on 120 Valley Forge Road. Mr. Bliss voted yes.

Discussion/decision regarding Weston Cares request for $2,500 for Social Services Fund administrative cost.- Clem Malin. Mr. Bliss recused himself because he is a member of Weston Cares. Clem Malin, chairman of Weston Cares said Weston Cares is a community organization dedicated to encouraging and promoting activities that support Weston as a concerned and caring community. The organization is comprised of a small Executive Group and a twenty member Steering Committee of volunteers recruited from many organizations in Weston. They have no budget.

Weston Cares is planning a fund raising project for the Weston Social Services Fund. The Fund, administered by the Office of Social Services, provides much needed support to some Weston residents confronting financial challenges and obligations beyond their means to honor. Funds have been supplied by individual donors, community groups, organizations and through special appeals by the Director of Social Services. No funding is provided through the Town Budget beyond salary and administrative cost of the Office of Social services.

The fund raising drive by Weston Cares will begin with appropriate publicity in January 2007 followed by the drive itself targeted to peak on Valentines Day. The theme will be WESTON CARES – HAVE A HEART. The money raised by membership fees of $10.00 per person, will be given directly to the Social Services Fund.

To launch the fund raising effort, Weston Cares needs an estimated $2,500 to cover printing, postage and the heart emblems. They ask the Board of Selectmen to consider approving $2,500 to be withdrawn from the Town of Weston’s Reserve Fund to launch the Weston Cares fund raising drive for the Social Services Fund.

Mr. Miller made a motion to approve the request of $2,500 form Weston Cares for the Social Services Fund administrative cost. Mr. Major seconded. Mr. Major said he thought it was a wonderful project. He has an inherent concern which is that their group is not incorporated, it is not a 501 C3, it is a group of people that have gotten together to do something extremely worth while. He said what is going to distinguish them form the next group that comes with a very valid proposal. He did not feel that was the roll of the Selectmen and it is not the Town’s responsibility to fund them.

Mr. Major said what might elevate his concerns is if Social Services were requesting a allocation of $2,500 to do what it is that they proposing to do and it is Weston Cares that is going to be the vehicle that the department choices to expedite the process. That is very different than the Town allocating $2,500 to Weston Cares. If they could do the request coming through the Town’s department that would be a very different request.

Mr. Malin deferred to Charlene Hillman, Human Services Director to make the request. Mr. Major said they could vote to amend the agenda to add a proposal from Human Services Department to allocate $2,500 towards the project.

Mr. Miller withdrew his motion. The request from Weston Cares was tabled. Mr. Major made a motion to add to the agenda to consider an allocation to the department of Human Services for $2,500 for purposes of a mailing and related expenses. Mr. Miller seconded and motion passed Mr. Miller, Mr. Major yes, Mr. Bliss recused.

Mrs. Hillman asked the Selectmen to approve $2,500 to be withdrawn from the Town of Weston’s reserve fund to launch the fund raiser drive for the Social services fund sponsored by Weston Cares. We believe that the community will respond positively and she believes in Weston Cares and Weston residence have a heart. Motion moved by Mr. Miller and seconded by Mr. Major. The motion passed Mr. Miller, Mr. Major yes, Mr. Bliss recused.

Discussion/decision regarding accepting Twin Oaks Lane as a Town Road. Mr. Bliss said the road meets all the requirements for acceptance. Mr. Major made a motion that the Town of Weston accept Twin Oaks Lane as a Town Road. Mr. Miller seconded and motion passed unanimously.

Discussion/decision regarding establishing target fund balance. Mr. Landry said that we have been so successful in building up the Town’s fund balance over the last five years. He said that in both he and Rick Darling, Finance Director’s estimation that the fund balance is higher than necessary. He said we need to talk about divesting ourselves of that fund balance. They have suggested a policy to the Selectmen which would direct what those amounts would be and how we would spend them down.

He said five years ago we had a fund balance of 7.5% of our operating budget. This June Mr. Darling estimates that we will have a fund balance of 15.4%. He said Moody’s looked at the 12 Towns with AAA ratings and found an acceptable range was between 8% and 12%. Mr. Landry said you would think that our range needs to be between 8% and 10%, but he would argue that we need to be a little higher than that for one reason. The ratio to the total budget that was debt service and they averaged out at 8.2% and we are at 12% so we are 50% more than they are on average. We have to ask ourselves how we are going to counter balance that. He said they are suggesting a range of a fund balance of 11% to 13% to the Board of Selectmen. He said when the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance go through that process of how to spend that money down that it be spent on one time capital items or be put into accounts to meet other Town or school liabilities.

Mr. Landry said one reason that the fund balance had been spent down to the extent that it was was because the fund balance was at 28% and they starting spending down. They were spending about $600,000 a year on general operating expenses. That probably went one year more than it should have and brought that fund balance down to an area where it was problematic for our bond rating. He suggested that as a policy they do not do that.

Mr. Landry said unfunded liabilities for Town and School retirees will be an issue in the budget process. He said several years ago the Governmental Accounting Standards Board said you are going to have to do what private enterprises does which is you are going to have to identify the amount of your unfunded liabilities for retiree benefits. They have hired someone to do that and they will meet with them next week. He would expect this number to be in the millions of dollars. Once we have identified the number we need to start addressing it and come up with a plan as to how many years will we use as a goal to try and fully fun as of today that unfunded liability.

Mr. Major said that he felt that this discussion should be with the Board of Finance. He said he did not feel that he had enough expertise. He felt the appropriate thing is it should be done with as a join conversation with the Board of Finance. Mr. Landry said that that was fine with him. Mr. Major asked if this was a just a policy and if we decide not to do it would that be okay.

Mr. Miller said this money should not be available for the operating budget. Mr. Major said he thought that there were some very appropriate limitations that are being proposed. He said he was surprised at the 11% to 13% because that seemed to be an absorbingly high number from historically what he understood where we needed to be to maintain a AAA rating. He said his theory is the higher the fund balance means that we have over taxed the Town by whatever that number is. He asked where we were year after year when we were getting out AAA ratings. Mr. Landry said that first year we were at 71/2%.

Mr. Major said that he felt there were a lot of pieces that go into this and it would be great to have a nice reserve but he did not want to have a reserve excess of what we need in order to maintain our AAA rating. He said we have had a AAA rating at a number below 13%. Mr. Landry said you could do a reserve of 7% or 8% and not loss your AAA rating but then you do not have any thing to spend.

Mr. Miller said we have some heavy expenditures, the auditorium, the roof and some other expenditures. He had said we should use some of the money in the reserve fund for a new roof. Mr. Major said with this proposal that they tie their hands.

Mr. Major said he would like to see what our fund balance was and our debt was from the last 10 years. In the years where we had bond ratings highlight those so that we know when Moody’s looked at us and rated us. Mr. Landry in the mid 90’s it was up in the 20% clearly too much and then got down a little lower than it should and started building back up. Mr. Major said that he felt that they put way too much emphasis on the AAA rating.

Mr. Miller said he would like to know the hard cost of building the new auditorium, the roof and what we intend to fund by bonding and what the difference is we can pay out of our reserve fund. Mr. Landry said that is the backwards way of doing it. We do not set the amount we want based on how much we want to spend today. We set the reserve amount based on what we think is a good financial reserve amount. Mr. Miller said that he felt Mr. Major was right that we should have a meeting with the Board of Finance and get their input and have a consensus between the two boards as to what should be the projected amount. Mr. Landry said that they were already scheduled to meet next Thursday night.

Discussion/decision regarding increasing the First Selectman’s salary to $55,000 effective November 2007. Mr. Miller said that the Selectman’s salary should also signify that it is an honor to serve as First Selectman of this Town but at the same time he should be paid a reasonable amount of money. He said that in November 1999 the salary was increased from $17,000 to $27,500 and that is what the current Selectman receives. The First Selectman in Weston is a part time job. It is not a full time job and it should reflect a part time Selectman who is doing it because he wants to serve the Town. He said that he is suggesting that the salary be doubled to be $55,000. He said he also receives health insurance benefit of $15,000 which would bring it to $70,000 which is more than sufficient.

Mr. Miller made a motion to raise the Selectman’s salary effective November 2007 from $27,500 to $55,000. Mr. Major seconded and there was discussion. Mr. Major said one of the reasons we have the Town Administrator is because we do not have a full time Selectman. He said if we are moving toward having a full time Selectman then the discussion should not be salary first but rather it should be having a full time Selectman then you work the salary from there. He said when you start paying somebody $55,000 and then providing them with health care, he knows a lot of people that would deem that to be a full time position. He said that he thought Mr. Miller’s philosophy was correct but his number was excessive to achieve what it is that he is trying to achieve.

He said if you did 3 1/2% from the time the $27,500 was approved that would put the number somewhere around $36,000 to $37,000 in current numbers. Additionally if you take the current salary and what you proposed and divide it in half, which is how Hal and Chris previous selectmen got to their number, it worked out to $36,250.

Mr. Major said in light of the discussion that we are having with the Town Hall employees to raise the First Selectman’s salary that large a percentage sends the wrong message. Mr. Miller said his opinion is that the First Selectman of Weston works part time where he has to be the caliber of person that in the market place would earn $150,000.

Mr. Shupak said he thought that they were looking at it in the wrong way. He said the demand for the job is far more than part time. If you are paying him as a part time First Selectman then pay him half of what the other Selectmen in the Towns are getting. He said it is wrong and insulting. Mr. Miller asked him what he suggested. Mr. Shupak said he would suggest somewhere around $70,000. He said that they have had trouble on both sides of the parties getting people to run for the office.

Mr. Major said that nobody ran against Judge O’Grady which pays more than sufficient money, and to categorize the fact that there have not been opponents purely because of a dollar amount. Mr. Major said if we are going to talk about the roll of the Selectman then the conversation needs to be the roll of the Selectman before you talk about his salary.

After some more discussion Mr. Miller amended his motion and suggested that the salary for the First Selectmen be raise from $27,500 to $45,000 effective November 2007. Mr. Major seconded and the vote was Mr. Miller, Mr. Major yes, Mr. Bliss abstain.

Discussion/decision regarding the schedule for the Board of Selectmen’s meetings for 2007. Mr. Major made a motion to approve the Selectman’s schedule for 2007 to have the meetings held at 7:30pm in the Town Hall Meeting Room as proposed with the adjustments of the April 19^th meeting will be moved to April 26^th and July 5^th and 19^th will be combined to one meeting on July 12^th. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Discussion/decision regarding Weston’s legislative priorities for the 2007 Connecticut Legislative Session. Mr. Bliss said he wanted to change his priorities as listed in the minutes of the November 16^th meeting. He wanted to move item 4 to number 2 and move the others down. Mr. Miller said he was concerned with Special Ed and it is his opinion that Special Ed should be taken over by the State of Connecticut. They should not only be responsible for funding it but they should also be responsible for administering it. He said he felt that cities like Bridgeport and similar to Bridgeport are being short changed and should get the proper help. Mr. Bliss said with regard to the funding he will support total State funding for Special Ed but with regard to administering he said that he felt that belonged in the district because there is a whole range of Special Ed needs.

Mr. Miller said he would also like to come involved with the administration of the actual teaching and aid to the children that need Special Ed. Mr. Major said that that becomes very impractical because it is so individualized depending on the child. If the individual district is not setting up the program, the State agency would have to be so massive in order to properly identify the individual needs of each and every Special Ed student.

Mr. Bliss said that we should stay on the funding side. He said currently you get excess funding 4:50% and he would support lower that further. He said he would put that up as the third priority if that was acceptable to Mr. Miller. Mr. Major said that he did not think that the list has to be in some order. He had gotten a phone call from John Stripp offering for him, John McKinney and Judy Friedman to meet with the Selectmen to discuss the legislative agenda.

Discussion/approval of the Board of Selectmen’s minutes of November 16, 2006. Mr. Major made a motion to approve the minutes of the Board of Selectmen’s meeting dated November 16, 2006 as submitted. Mr. Bliss seconded and the motion passed and the vote was Mr. Major, Mr. Bliss yes and Mr. Miller abstained since he did not attend the meeting.

ATTENDANCE: The meeting was convened at 9:28pm in the First Selectman’s office by Chairman Bliss with Selectman Mr. Miller and Mr. Major present. Town Counsel Bernhard and Town Administrator Landry were also present.

DISCUSSION: Counsel briefed the Board on the status of a proposed negotiated settlement in the Nunziata case, and reviewed possible recovery options regarding the construction of Revson Field. Mr. Bernhard left the meeting at 10:02 pm.

Randi Frank of Randi Frank Consulting, Inc. entered the meeting at 10:03 pm to present and explain the draft Pay and Classification plan she has developed for the Town’s non union department heads. The discussion was not completed, and the Board agreed to meet again on December 14 at 7:30 pm to continue the discussion.

NUNZIATA LAWSUIT: The following motion (Mr. Major, Mr. Miller second) passed by unanimous vote: That the Board authorizes the First Selectman to enter into a settlement agreement and release between the Town of Weston and W. Nunziata as negotiated and presented. Mr. Bliss reported that both Public Works Director Lametta, and Town Engineer Conte reviewed the work that the Town has committed to complete as part of the agreement and feel that it is both appropriate and within the Town’s capacity to complete. NOTE: The agreement as negotiated, requires the individual release of Mr. Bliss, Mr. Lametta, and Mr. Conte, as well as the sign off of the Board. Town Counsel has spoken with the individuals to discuss their sign off, and all have indicated this is acceptable to them. Plaintiff’s Counsel has insisted on individual releases, because he named all three in the suit individually, in addition to the Town of Weston. Counsel worked with the Plaintiff’s attorney to make several changes to the release, and he deems the final version of the document acceptable.