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

 

 

Mr. Bliss called the meeting to order at 7:31pm.

 

Pledge of Allegiance: Betsy Peyreigne led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Accept the resignation of Jennifer Gremmel Hunt, Esq. from the Zoning Board of Appeals effective immediately. Mr. Miller made a motion to accept the resignation of Jennifer Gremmel Hunt from the Zoning Board of Appeals effective immediately. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Discussion/decision regarding the reappointment of Rev. Bernard Wilson, Rev. David Feyrer, Teri Gaberman, Betsy Peyreigne, Bert Rosendahl,  to the Veterans Affairs Committee for a term to expire December 31, 2008. Mr. Miller made a motion to reappoint Rev. Bernard Wilson, Rev. David Feyrer, Teri Gaberman, Betsy Peyreigne, Bert Rosendahl, to the Veterans Affairs Committee for a term to expire December 31, 2008. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Discussion/decision regarding the reappointment of Carlton J. Anderson, Rev. David Feyrer, Tom Landry, Dr. Jay Lewis Meizish, Helene Weatherill and Dr. Joseph Pachman to the Ivy Moore Cottage Administration Committee for a term to expire December 31, 2011. Mr. Miller made a motion to reappoint Carlton J. Anderson, Rev. David Feyrer, Tom Landry, Dr. Jay Lewis Meizish, Helene Weatherill and Dr. Joseph Pachman to the Ivy Moore Cottage Administration Committee for a term to expire December 31, 2011. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Discussion/decision regarding transmitting the Board of Selectmen’s Budget to the Board of Finance. Mr. Bliss said he felt the Kids in Crisis is an important program that we need here in Weston. He probably moved to fast on the program and he proposed that we pull it out of the 2008-2009 budget cycle and deal with it after the Annual Town Budget Meeting. Mr. Ferguson, Director of Kids in Crisis had said if we made a decision in the late May to early June time frame that he could have the program up and running in September 2007. We would have it as an agenda item after the Annual Town Meeting, have a Public Hearing to get input and if that is favorable, we consider it with a supplemental appropriation.

 

Line Item 113-Arts Commission- Mr. Major said that he did not feel that the $250 for scholarship was an appropriate use for Town money. Mr. Miller suggested that they approve the $8,991 instead of having $500 for scholarships you have $5,500 for programs.

 

Line Item 114,117 and 118: Mr. Bliss said that he felt that if we take those line items out that we should put a line item in of roughly that amount of money. He said we could put $30,000 in a fund that the Board of Selectmen would approve and get Board of Finance approval if it is over $5,000. Mr. Miller agreed. Mr. Major said that if Board of Finance did not want to give us the funds then it will have to be done by supplemental appropriations.

 

Mr. Major said he had a problem with $30,000 since the total was less. He felt if we had that amount, we would spend that amount.

 

Mr. Major made a motion to appropriate the sum of $27,150 to the Board of Selectmen to be used for 501c3 entities that come before the Board through the course of the fiscal year 2007-2008. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Line Item 115: Mr. Miller made a motion to increase the request from 7,800 to $9,300, of which $1,500 will be used for Color Guard Equipment. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Mr. Miller said the budget forecast for 2007-08 from last year was $10,348,901 and the proposed budget came in less than what was forecast. The proposed budget is $10,228,322 and coming down. Mr. Landry said the projection was for a 5% increase the budget as presented to you is 4.5% and with Kids in Crisis removed it should be under 4%.

 

Mr. Major made a motion that line item 116, Kids in Crisis, be removed from the Selectman’s budget. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Account Number 263 SW Conn. Emergency Medical Services: Mr. Major said he wanted to understand what the budget is and he wants to understand what our $1,300 contribution to that budget would mean. He wanted to know how the other Towns contribute. Mike Lieberman said he did not have figures for the other Towns and he would get that answer.

 

Mr. Bliss suggested that we approve it and Mr. Lieberman will get back to us at the Selectmen’s meeting next week.

 

Capital Budget: Mr. Landry said the Capital Advisory Committee did vote to recommend the Capital Budget as it was presented to you initially. Mr. Miller asked if we received any estimates for the Town Hall Roof. Mr. Landry said the Building Committee did last summer. They decided to leave it for now. The estimate he believed was about $133,000 if we replaced the slate with real slate and about $20,000 or $30,000 less than that if we replaced the slate with fake slate which they did not support.

 

Mr. Miller asked about the front doors. Mr. Landry said we had three prices to fix the door and it ended up being $14,000. A few years ago we did a patch door fix and it was $2,400 which did work.

 

Mr. Major asked about the supplemental appropriations. He said in 2006-07 we gave $5,000 to the Saugatuck River Watershed as a supplemental appropriation and in 2005-06 we gave $5,000 as a supplemental appropriation, but in this budget we have put it in line item 206 subscriptions/membership. Mr. Major said that The Norwalk River Watershed and the Saugatuck River Watershed should not be part of our budget. He said those are clearly discretionary items that we should be consciously making a choice to fund. He said if that means we need to raise the amount in the fund with the $27,150 that he was more comfortable doing that.

 

Mr. Major amended the motion that was made earlier that he would like to remove from the budget $33,150 from account 101 from line 114,117,118 and $6,000 from 206 and create a new line item of $33,150 for Board of Selectmen  to be used for 501c3 and other related organizations. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Mr. Landry said the changes that were done would net the budget down $69,158. The general administration total which is $3,148,291 will be reduced by $63,500 which will be a new total of $3,084,701. The bottom appropriation $10,228,322 is now a new number $10,159,164. That would make the increase from last year $367,473 which means this years recommended budget is an increase of 3.75%

 

Mr. Major made a motion to forward the budget as amended to the Board of Finance showing a total recommended fiscal year 2007-2008 budget for the Town of $10,159,164. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Mr. Major made a motion to approve the budget as proposed on January 17^th 2007 for Municipal Debt Interest account number 930 in the amount of $2,986,543 and to forward that request to the Board of Finance. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Mr. Major made a motion to approve the Municipal Debt Principal as set forth on January 31, 2007 for account number 950, the total amount of $4,405,000 to be forwarded to the Board of Finance. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

 

Discussion/decision regarding transmitting the Board of Education Budget to the Board of Finance. This item was tabled to a meeting that will be scheduled for Wednesday February 7, 2007.

 

Discussion/decision regarding conveying the Town and School Capital Budget to the Board of Finance. Mr. Major made a motion for the Town and School Capital Budget that was proposed on January 24, 2007, account number 970, in the amount of $1,320,000 forward that to the Board of Finance. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

 

Mr. Major made a motion to authorize the First Selectman to refund the sum of $29,208.35 as property tax refunds as set forth in the agenda. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Cell Tower Construction- The building is there. We have received approval from the FCC for our equipment frequency. CL&P has accepted the easement that Town Meeting voted. The conduit is done but the wire has not been run. The schedule was March 1^st, 2007 but we will probably be up by April 1^st. Sprint and T-Mobile are on the tower. Mr. Landry said Michael Lieberman and Sgt. Patrick Daubert have both worked very hard on this with him.

 

Community Center Trust- Mr. Bliss said that that was dormant. Mr. Major said that there is a new movement to do some sort of a community center. Mr. Bliss said he would take that off the list.

 

Lachat Property Development – Mr. Major said that they proposed renovating what was already existing and not building any new structures. Mr. Miller asked who was responsible for the construction. Mr. Major said under the old agreement we would be responsible for half and his expectation is the old agreement would remain in place. Mr. Bliss said under the agreement our responsibility is for maintenance and the Nature Conservancy responsibility is operations. Mr. Major said the renovations are to modify the purpose of the structure.

 

Final School Bond Issue: Mr. Landry said that this item would be sent to a Town Meeting for the reallocation of the Middle School Auditorium to the High School Auditorium and Roof. Mr. Major asked about a date for the Town Meeting. Mr. Landry said there is a target date of March 22^nd. Mr. Major asked when the public hearing would be. He said he is uncomfortable with the speed at which this was happening.

 

Middle School Auditorium Funds Reallocation: This will be addressed at the Town meeting to be schedule around March 22^nd. Mr. Bliss said he had a conversation with WestonArts and they have indicated that they are not sure that they can raise the other $300,000 that had been talked about.

 

Morehouse Water Quality Study: Mr. Landry said that was a requirement that we had with the Department of Public Health to do this study. The Committee have had their public hearings and they have done a draft report. The Department of Public Health staff was to read through it and make recommendations. To date we have met our obligations. One of the obligations was to have a final approved by Department of Public Health of our report. We are not there yet, but we are ahead of schedule.

 

Wetlands Mitigation, School Campus: Mr. Landry said part of the requirement for the construction project was they fill wetlands so we had to create wetlands somewhere else. After that was done we hired Triton Environmental to come in and verify that the work was done. They had a problem and said they did not like the grades as compared to the plans. They are not sure about the plants, and the soil quality looks marginal. We went back to the contractors who tested the soils and said they were okay. They looked at the grading plan and they went out with their GPS and said they were spot on and the plants that were put in match to the specs.

 

 Mr. Landry said the contractor was given a grading plan which was different from the grading plan which was approved by the Army Corp. of Engineers. The grading is either to hold water there longer, and the plants they put in were plants that like it dryer or they put a grade to shed the water and then put in plants that like it wetter. The engineer said that either plan will work but they approved one plan and put in the other. They are now trying to figure out who is responsible. We have approximately one month to respond to the Army Corp.

 

Mr. Major asked whose responsibility it was. Mr. Landry said it was O&G’s responsibility.

 

Heady House Repairs: Mr. Landry said the repairs that were contracted for were done. The committee had wanted some security lights but we have to get power there. Mr. Major asked about the curb cut. Mr. Landry said the post is up but the chain has not been put up.

 

Town Hall Roof Replacement: This is in the Capital Budget for next year.

 

Cemetery Development at Fromson: Mr. Major said they are in the process of trying to figure out what they are doing.

 

Pay & Classification Plan, Non Union Employees: Done

 

Aquifer Protection Agency: Done

 

Disaster Mitigation Plan: SWRPA is developing.

 

 

Discussion/approval of the Board of Selectmen’s minutes for the December 7, 2006, January 4, 2007 and January 18, 2007. This item was tabled to the next Selectmen’s meeting.

 

Any other business to come properly before the meeting- None

 

At 9:19pm Mr. Major made a motion to enter into executive session. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

 

ATTENDANCE:  The meeting was convened at 9:21pm in the First Selectman’s office by Chairman Bliss to provide a status report to the Selectmen regarding a police matter affecting public safety which could not be discussed publicly. Additionally, Mr. Landry briefed the Board on the status of three concurrent labor contract mediation efforts (Highway, Dispatch, and Town Hall). In attendance were Selectmen Miller and Major. No votes were taken.

 

 

ADJOURN: At 9:53 pm a motion (Mr. Miller, Mr. Major second) to adjourn executive session and reenter open session passed by unanimous vote. At 9:54 pm a motion (Mr. Major, Mr. Miller second) to adjourn the meeting passed by unanimous vote.

 

Respectfully submitted

Judy M. DeVito

Administrative Assistant

Approved 9/06/07