Board of Selectmen's Minutes

Board of Selectmen's Minutes - October 5, 2006

Board of Selectmen’s Meeting
October 5, 2006

Present: First Selectman Woody Bliss; Selectman W. Glenn Major; Selectman Richard Miller; Town Administrator Tom Landry; Administrative Assistant Judy DeVito; Martin Strasmore; Steve Shaw; residents and member of the press.

This meeting was recorded and video taped and the tapes are available in the Selectmen’s office and the Building Department, respectively, for further reference.

Mr. Bliss called the meeting to order at 7:50pm.

Request for driveway variance Sunil & Uma Ippagunta Martin Road. This item was tabled to the next Selectmen’s meeting because there had been no legal notice published in the paper. It will be on the October 19th 2006 agenda.

Discussion/decision regarding Middle School Auditorium and alternate suggestions. Mr. Bliss this would be a working session for the Board of Selectmen and they will take comments from the public.

Mr. Bliss said we have an issue with the High School roof as well. There have been estimates which were high. The School Building Committee has requested another proposal that will come in shortly. He said we need to balance the use of the funds and it was not up to the Selectmen to decide. It comes to the Selectmen, then goes to the Board of Finance, and ultimately a Town Meeting to defer the Middle School Auditorium and redirect that money to other purposes.

Mr. Miller suggested that 1. we have a firm bid for the roof that is acceptable and 2. we have to have plans and firm bids for the alteration for the High School Auditorium that is acceptable, and then we know what monies we are talking about. He suggested that it would exceed 2.8 million which is currently left on the $3.1 million bond issue. He said we have to know the numbers before we make a decision and we must address the two items.

Mr. Major concurred. He said the Board of Education has reevaluated its need and decided not to go forward with the auditorium. The funds are available and, in light of the need for the roof and work on the High School Auditorium, it seems that it would be appropriate areas to look to use these funds. He said he agreed with Mr. Miller that at this point it was a dream until we know what the actual cost of the two projects.

Kathy Meighan asked if it was the Board of Education and the Superintendent who need to find the architects and start getting bids or is it the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Bliss said it was neither. The Board of Education would come up with education specifications and the School Building Committee would then go out and hire an architect to do that work. Mr. Major said it has to come initially from the Board of Education.

Mrs. Meighan said she thought that the Board of Education had recommended that most of the funds from the Middle School Auditorium go to the High School Auditorium. Mr. Major said there would be a two fold vote. The Town first has to vote to not expend the sums on the Middle School Auditorium. Then they have to vote to expend the funds on whatever it is that is going to get done.

Mrs. Meighan asked about the state and the money that they had agreed on. She asked if it would be a difficult process to get the state to allocate the funds for a different project. Mr. Bliss said no. He said there have been phone calls made to find out where that sits. The rate of return on renovation is different and lower than the rate reimbursement that we would get on new construction. There might be some reimbursement but not at the level it would have been had we built the Middle School Auditorium.

Mr. Miller said in the event the cost for both items exceeded the $2.8 million it would be up to the Town to decide whether or not they want to bond the difference.

Joanna Pfund asked if the vote to defer and the vote on the redirection of funds would be in the same Town Meeting. Mr. Bliss said yes, that it could even be combined into a single vote.

Mr. Miller said there was a bond coming due in February and you would want to bond all of the items at the same time, because you do not want to spend the approximately $100,000 bond processing fees twice.

Mr. Landry said to do the $3.3 million borrowing no Town meeting is needed that has already been approved and authorized. Mr. Landry said the question is in January do we borrow that amount or that amount plus or redirected $2.8 million or some portion thereof. He said if we are not going to borrow those two amounts then we need to know if we going to try and do another borrowing at a later date. He said if we are going to ask Town Meeting to reappropriate the $2.8 million that is left, we really need to come to that decision by the middle of November. If we do not, then he will borrow the $3 million in January and the other borrowing will happens when it happens. He said it cost between $75,000 and $100,000 to do a bond issue regardless of the amount.

Mr. Major said since there are no education specs yet that you could not possible expect the School Building Committee have a plan. Mr. Bliss said he has been trying to create a sense of urgency about this for months and is very frustrated that it had been sitting there.

Margaret Wirtenberg said she goes to the School Building Committee meetings with some regularity and they are working on it. It is one of those things that state bureaucracy is dragging out. She said everyone is working with purpose. It is just a matter of the process.

Discussion regarding the Cemetery Committee. Mr. Major said it was his recollection that Pam Huang went off the committee and that was when Betsy Peyreigne went on the committee. Mr. Bliss said the committee ended in June 2006. Mr. Bliss asked if we want to reconstruct another committee. We have three letters from people who are interested on being on the committee.

Mr. Major said he had spoken to Pamela Bochinski and she said that the Cemetery Committee had gotten to the point that they were ready to go Planning and Zoning with an 8-24 to get preliminary approval before the Town started expending their dollars using the Fromson/Strassler property as the cemetery site. He said he has gotten chastised after his comments were in the paper, because Pam felt that he was suggesting that it was the Cemetery Committee who had dropped the ball, whereas they felt that it was incumbent upon the Selectmen to make the 8-24 application. He said assuming that we proceed with the Fromson/Strassler property we are well on our way being able to make an application to Planning and Zoning.

Mr. Bliss said that his concern was that we need a driving force for the Cemetery Committee. He said that the Board of Selectmen cannot be running all the Committees. Mr. Major said the concern was using that property. Before we start expending funds we must go to Planning and Zoning and make sure that Planning and Zoning through an 8-24 application felt that that was an appropriate use for a portion of that property. The Cemetery Committee had been willing to do that, they just need some direction from us.

Mr. Bliss asked Mr. Landry if he had enough information to write an 8-24 application. Mr. Landry said he could give them a first pass. Mr. Miller said that even though it was not required that the neighbors of the property be given notification of the hearing and they should be given more time than 35 days if necessary. Mr. Major said he felt that on this go around it was more of a preliminary where they do not object to it necessarily being there. He said a second go around would be one where it would be much more specific.

Mr. Landry said there was one thing he would have to check on both Fromson/Strassler and at the Moore Estate. He said they were undesignated, but there was some discussion about leaving them undeveloped for a period of time. He could not remember if that was in the vote. Mr. Bliss said it was not in the vote.

Mr. Major said we should invite the three people who are interested on being the Cemetery Committee back to our next meeting. Mrs. DeVito said she would check with the members and then invite the three interest people to the next Board of Selectmen’s meeting. Mr. Bliss said they were going to do an 8-24 and concurrently they were going to repopulate the Committee.

Discussion/decision regarding potential Global Warming Committee. Martin Strasmore said we definitely use more than our share of energy and create more CO2 emissions than most towns our size on the planet. He said he would like to put together a team of people interested in trying to influence people in the Town and supporting some of the activities that the Board has already done to reduce our impact and perhaps be an example to other small towns. He said the charter of the team would be to increase awareness of our impact on global warming and how each of us can make a difference. To encourage the community to establish reduction goals and then personally find ways to conserve energy and reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, and to support Town initiatives to reduce the Town’s energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

He said he was thinking of a broad spectrum of people, possibly an architect or a builder with expertise in heating systems. He would like people from the education system, a student in particular. He would like to see us have an impact on the student community. Mr. Miller suggested that we get in touch with Dr. Lynne Pierson and Mrs. Cipriano with regard to student participation.

Mr. Major made a motion that the Board of Selectman establish a Select Committee on global warming with the specific purposes of raising awareness, of researching the various areas where the Town can have an impact and of developing a set of goals and action plan for the Town and our citizens. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Steven Shaw a new resident, asked if the purpose of the Committee was to influence the behavior of others, he was wondering if it was appropriate for governmental body to be doing that, or if this was something that should just be held privately. He wanted to understand the rational.

Mr. Bliss said it was a very appropriate thing. The Town is a member of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiative (ICLEI). This is a program for towns, cities and counties to put focus on exactly these kinds of issues. Mr. Major said an element of this would be to look at it from the Town prospective as what we as a Town could do. We are not looking to require the individual citizens to do or not to do anything but he said as a Town the way the town buildings are operated, our bus program and things of that nature. He said that was certainly an appropriate thing for a governmental agency to be looking at.

Mrs. DeVito will put a notice in the paper.

Request for property tax refunds;
Daimler Chrysler Financial Services $704.94
Chase Auto Finance $353.43
Toyota Financial Services $297.54
Volvo Finance NA Inc. $274.36
VW Credit Leasing LTD $212.60
VW Credit Leasing $83.40
Howard Warman $58.24
Lary Rosenblatt $40.23
Total $2,024.74

Mr. Major made a motion to approve the tax refunds in a total amount of $2, 024.74 as set fort on our revised agenda for tonight’s meeting. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Discussion/approval of the Board of Selectmen’s minutes of September 21, 2006 and the Public Hearing of September 21, 2006. Mr. Miller made a motion to approve the minutes of the Public Hearing from September 21, 2006. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The minutes for September 21, 2006 Board of Selectmen’s meeting will be on the October 19, agenda.

Any other business to come properly before the meeting: None

Executive Session-Litigation Nunziata and Fletcher Thompson: At 8:30pm Mr. Miller made a motion to enter into executive session. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

ATTENDANCE: The meeting was convened at 8:32pm in the First Selectman’s office by Chairman Bliss to provide a status report regarding the Nunziata case, as well as the status of dispute resolution negotiations with Fletcher Thompson. In attendance were Selectman Mr. Miller and Mr. Major, and Town Administrator Landry. No votes were taken.

ADJOURN: At 8:54 pm a motion (Mr. Miller, Mr. Major second) to adjourn executive session and reenter open session passed by unanimous vote. At 8:55 pm a motion (Mr. Major, Mr. Miller second) to adjourn the meeting passed by unanimous vote.

Respectfully submitted
Judy M. DeVito
Administrative Assistant
Approved 10/19/06