Board of Selecmen Minutes

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.

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

Discussion/decision regarding the appointment of Lynn Pokorny to fill the vacancy (Ted Wilkes) as the Infectious Disease Control Officer for the Weston Volunteer Fire Department. Mr. Major made a motion to appoint Lynn Pokorny to fill the vacancy of Ted Wilkes as the Infectious Disease Control Officer for the Weston Volunteer Fire Department. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Discussion/decision regarding the appointment of Sgt. Michael Ferullo as Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security for a term to expire December 31, 2007. Mr. Miller made a motion to appoint Sgt. Michael Ferullo as Director of Emergency Management and Homeland Security for a term to expire December 31, 2007. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Mr. Miller said that the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on May 4^th 2006, Chief Land recommended that they appoint Pat Daubert as a replacement for Michael Ferullo and it was understood that when Mike returned he would be reinstated.

Information regarding the preliminary design for the Valley Forge Bridge Replacement. - Kyle Turschmann: Kyle Turschmann representing the McGuire Group gave a presentation of the preliminary design of the Valley Forge Bridge. The proposed structure is a 90 foot concrete arch. Due to the steepness of the banks and proposed realignment of the road the new bridge will be 90 feet as opposed to the 50 feet of the existing bridge.

The existing pavement along Valley Forge Road is about 22 feet and it opens up to about 28 feet at the bridge. The proposed road will be 28 feet and will be 33 feet at the bridge to include a 5 foot sidewalk on one side.

During construction the river will flow freely. During construction it is proposed that they implement a local street detour around the site to allow the contractor complete and total access to the bridge while he is installing the proposed bridge and taking out the old bridge. The proposed schedule is an April 2008 start and the construction cost estimate is about 1.3 million and 80% of the funds are coming from the Federal Local Bridge Program.

Mr. Turschmann said flood plain management is a requirement of the project and we need to submit that to the DEP and that is the lengthy part of the project. They have been taking upwards of a year.

Mr. Bliss does not want the Valley Forge construction project to start and be closed to traffic until we have resolved the Cartbridge bridge repairs. Mr. Major said from a safety prospective, if something happened on Davis Hill Road, if both Cartbridge and Valley Forge were out you would have no way to get to the other side.

Rabih Barakat from ConnDOT oversees the process for funding of the engineering and the construction of the bridge. The process that they have to go through as far as certifying the Federal Government that we are obtaining every permit necessary to do the project with federal funds is a lengthy one. They do the public information at 30% design, then they have a shut down period for about 30 to 60 days to get the design approval and give the authorization to the Town and the McGuire group. The final design is done to get everything necessary to submit the permit. He said the DEP process is out of their hands.

Discussion/decision regarding proposed salary for acting chief- Rick Phillips: Rick Phillips, Chairman of the Police Commission said at their meeting on May 8^th, the Board of Police Commission unanimously appointed Sgt. John Troxell as the acting chief of police for the department, contingent upon him signing an agreement of acting chief. Since Sgt. Troxell will not be a part of the union, he will not be eligible for overtime. They do have an agreement signed by Sgt. Troxell and the union said that they will not contest it and will sign it. The commission unanimously recommends that he be given a salary based on the Town’s wage compensation plan. The Chief of Police salary is a grade 16 and they recommend that acting chief Troxell come in on grade 16 step one which is a salary of $86,275. Currently his salary is $78,682 and that is set to raise $81,631 in the 2007-2008 year.

Mr. Major asked what happens to the sergeant’s position. They will go back to having two sergeants. Mike Ferullo is back. Terry Mooney will probably step down June 30^th. There will be some savings there.

Mr. Major asked if they really needed the Board of Selectmen to approve the salary. Mr. Bliss said the Board of Selectmen and only the Board of Selectmen can hire and set salaries. Mr. Phillips said by charter the Police Commission do the hiring and firing and the Selectmen set the salary.

Mr. Major made a motion that they approve the salary for Acting Police Chief John Troxell’s salary at an annual amount of $86,275.52 for fiscal year 2006-2007 and an increase in that annual amount at the 3 1/2% for 2007-2008. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Discussion/decision regarding Weston becoming a sister city with Trancoso Portugal.- Graves Kiely; David Wilk; Emanuel Pimenta : David Wilk gave some background on how they got to this point. Emanuel is a friend of Graves and him. Emanuel is an artist, an architect and a composer. He invited them at different times to go to Trancoso arts and science meetings that are sponsored by a foundation.

Trancoso is a small Town and has almost the same population as Weston. Weston is different, because we are rural and have a small center of town. Trancoso is traditionally European wall town which were built in 1280. They grow olives, make olive oil and also make wine.

He had a conversation with the mayor’s cultural person and then the mayor got the idea of linking in some way and the idea of being a sister city between Weston and Trancoso seemed really interesting. He said he has children in the Weston School System and he knows how important it is to have exchange cultural ideas and experiences for our children. He and Graves talked about this and came and talked to Mr. Bliss and proposed this idea. They talked to Dr. Pierson who loves the idea. She could not be here tonight but she authorized Mr. Wilk to say that she supports the idea. They have tried to make this a community interest and not a personal one and have had a lot of interest and support.

Emanuel Pimenta did a presentation to the Board of Selectmen showing Trancoso. After the presentation Mr. Major asked what they were looking for the Town to do other than establish Trancoso as a sister city. Emanuel Pimenta said that education was very important to them. They are very interested to make contact with the schools, the teachers so that the students of Trancoso could learn more about Weston. After the contact is made many other things will evolve.

Discussion/approval of the Board of Selectmen’s minutes for the January 4, January 18, February 7, February 14, and May 8, 2007 meetings. January 4^th 2007, minutes, page 4, 5^th paragraph down fix spelling in the word correctly. Last page 1^st paragraph change wording to say attorney Bernhard had vested the authority to grant the easement with the Selectman. Mr. Miller made a motion to approve the minutes of the January 4^th meeting as amended. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

January 18^th 2007, page 5, 1^st paragraph should say there will be painted sketches which will probably sell for $100. Page 3 we need to advertise the position for the Health District. Page 4, 4^th paragraph need to attach the memorandum to the minutes. Page 5, paragraph 6, change the last line to getting funding from private groups in Town such as Kiwanis. Attached the email from Ken Bernhard regarding that Mr. Gary did not have to be an elector to serve on an appointed committee. Mr. Miller made a motion to approve the minutes of January 18^th as amended. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

February 7^th 2007, Mr. Major made a motion to approve the minutes of the February 7, 2007 minutes. Mr. Bliss seconded and the motion passed. Mr. Major, Mr. Bliss yes, Mr. Miller abstained.

Mr. Major made a motion to add The Committee on Global Warming, the Community Conversation on Tax Relief and an update on Solid Waste to the May 17^th agenda. Mr. Miller seconded and motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Bliss said that he had reviewed the documents with regard to the selection of a provider and he has concluded that the better deal for the Town is Sterling. As long as you stay in the program they give $15 a year rebate.

Mr. Bliss asked Mr. Strasmore to get his request to be put on the Selectmen’s agenda by noon on Tuesday before the meeting. Also their minutes need to be brought to the Town Clerks office. Mr. Major said that he had issue with them having everyone be a committee member. Mr. Bliss went through the process as to how the committee is structured. He said they like to have odd numbers on committees, because if you have a close vote, it is not a tie vote.

Elizabeth Menke said she moved to Weston with her family three years ago from the city. Both she and her husband were in investment banking and since moving here have both quit their jobs. She is a stay-at-home mom and her husband writes fiction. They have two children a three year old and a four month old. She is very interested in this topic especially having young children and think it is important not only now but for future generations.

Mr. Miller made a motion to appoint Elizabeth Menke to the Select Committee on Global Warming for a term to expire June 30, 2008. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Discussion/decision regarding Community Conversation on Tax Relief: After a brief discussion it was decided the meeting would be held on Wednesday, May 30, 2007, at 7:30pm in the Town Hall Meeting Room.

Discussion regarding Solid Waste: Mr. Bliss said that our waste disposal contract expires December 31, 2008. We are in a cooperative arrangement with surrounding towns to use the Bridgeport facility. At the time the contract expires the Wheel Abrator Frye Company gets possession of the plant for $1.00.

There are two different groups going. Mayor Moccia in Norwalk has started a group with 6 of the 8 towns in SWRPA that are interested in participating and we have approved money for that.

The CFO of CRRA was at the selectmen luncheon to talk about what they are doing. There is a US Supreme Court decision of 6 to 3 about two weeks ago that really gives us a lot of leverage. It has to do with flow control. It is legal for a town or county or state to pass legislation that requires all private and public collection to come through a public collection facility in the town. He said that we can require all of the private services here to use our transfer station and not go find their own deal.

He said independent of that negotiated contract is another contract to be signed for the handling of recyclables. It appears that we will now get paid for fiber and containers that we recycle.

ATTENDANCE: The meeting was convened at 9:07 pm in the First Selectman’s office by Chairman Bliss to hear a report on the status of labor negotiations with the Dispatch, Highway, and Town Hall units from Town Administrator Tom Landry. In attendance were Selectmen Mr. Major and Mr. Miller. No votes were taken.