watertown town council regular meeting · 2009. 7. 28. · watertown town council regular meeting...

MINUTES

WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING

SWIFT MIDDLE SCHOOL

MEDIA CENTER MONDAY, JULY 20, 2009, 7:30 P.M.

PRESENT: Elaine Adams, Chairman Gary Bernier Mr. Demirs Richard DiFederico Richard Fusco Carl Mancini Raymond Primini, Vice Chairman Paul Rinaldi Thomas Winn (arrived at 7:35 p.m.)

ABSENT: None

OTHERS PRESENT: Karen Baldwin, Superintendent of Schools Roy Cavanaugh, Director of Public Works Karen Clancy, Business Manager Jim Collin, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Chuck Frigon, Town Manager Frank Nardelli, Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director

OTHERS ABSENT: Audio Technician

TAPE DID NOT RECORD FOR APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES 1. Call Meeting To Order

Ms. Adams, Chairman, Called the Regular Meeting to Order at 7:30 p.m. Ms. Adams, Chairman, Recessed the Regular Meeting at 7:30 p.m. (due to technical difficulties). Ms. Adams, Chairman, Reconvened the Regular Meeting at 7:38 p.m.

2. Roll Call

Ms. LaForme, Board Clerk, executed the Roll Call.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 3. Pledge of Allegiance Ms. Adams, Chairman, led the Pledge of Allegiance.

4. Public Participation

Ron Russo, 22 Scott Avenue, Watertown, CT 06795 Mr. Russo discussed the geese problem affecting quality of life at all of Watertown’s outdoor

recreational facilities.

Eric Weihrauch, 360 Straits Turnpike, Watertown, CT 06795 Mr. Weihrauch discussed the benefits of delaying revaluation.

Sandra Greenwood, 156 Belden Street, Watertown, CT 06795 Ms. Greenwood discussed her opposition to the Board of Education’s use of children in

trying to get the budget passed.

Joe Seacrist, 401 Nova Scotia Hill Road, Watertown, CT 06795 Mr. Seacrist discussed the Economic Development Commission’s support of renewable

energy legislation.

TAPE BEGAN RECORDING AT THIS TIME

Nick Biello, 335 Buckingham Street, Watertown, CT 06795

Mr. Biello: I’m here to talk about revaluation. About a month ago I received the tax bills in the mail and I couldn’t believe the increase, almost $1,900 for the same property that I made no improvements on compared to what I was paying last year. I talked to some neighbors and friends and they agreed that theirs went up dramatically also. In conversation somebody said well, somebody should start a petition, so I did. In approximately one week I turned in at the Town Hall this afternoon 147 signatures. According to the Town Charter I only needed 50 to get this thing started.

Ms. Adams: Are you talking about the Citizen’s Initiative, in that part of the Charter?

Mr. Biello: No Section 308, Power of Initiation. This thing is snowballing so bad I can’t believe it. People are calling the house to find out where they can get a petition to sign, to circulate. I really wish the Town Council would reconsider on the assessments.

Ms. Adams: Okay so you filed it with the Town Clerk today?

Mr. Biello: Yes.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009

Ms. Adams: Then I guess a process would be started and I guess a lot of questions would then be brought up as time goes on.

Mr. Biello: I was hoping the Town Council could act on it tonight.

Ms. Adams: No way. If you’re looking for the citizen’s initiative, I know the first thing with those would have to be validated and then I think I don’t know if there is, (inaudible) dealing with reval, I mean there are questions here and stuff that would have to be answered and we don’t have those answers tonight.

Mr. Biello: Who can sign this petition? Registered voters or taxpayers?

Ms. Adams: I don’t know. I just heard about it not that long ago and I don’t have any answers. We can get answers, have the Manager look into it to see, but I have no answers tonight.

Mr. Fusco: Is it possible that I can add this again to the Agenda tonight?

Ms. Adams: I think (inaudible) citizen’s initiative we don’t have the answers to this on whether or not if there is a citizen’s initiative to this what would be the requirements? Those are questions that we don’t have any answers to. Gary?

Mr. Bernier: Since we started discussion on this, a few different things. First of all we’ve spent $185,000 for the revaluation that we’ve just gone through. That would be thrown out. It would cost us an additional $200,000 to redo it, estimate, at least $180,000 within the next couple of years. The tax bills have gone out. All of the records that we currently have are based on the new revaluation. To go back would be exorbitant overtime. We are looking at a half million dollars and again I don’t want to get into a large debate here, but as we’re talking about this and looking at this, I believe that what you’ll find is that our grand list, our fees have dropped and that’s the main reason for the increase in taxes. We just don’t have any revenue. People are going out of business, people are struggling, people aren’t building houses, people aren’t (inaudible) houses and that is revenue to this town that we are losing. I don’t want us to get lost in the fact that we are not getting revenue because the economy is in the pit. What we’re looking at is not necessarily revaluation, it is indicative of a very poor economic situation that we have. I’m not saying do it, I’m not saying don’t do it, I’m saying we need to think and understand about $500,000 would be the price tag to even look at this. Beyond that there are only 2 communities that we know of that have gone through postponement of revaluation and it is based on the fact that the people that they have doing it were of question, not a single community have taken the good Governor up on her offer, with the exception of these two communities, and it was not for any other reason that the people that they had there was questions of the integrity of those companies.

Mr. Fusco: Rather than we get into a debate here with this . . . .

Ms. Adams: Well this is the public’s time, yes.


Mr. Fusco: I’d like to put it on the agenda so we can debate it, see what the feeling is. Gary brought up good points, but there are also people out there suffering, they’re here to tell us that they’re suffering.

Jackie O’Brien, 195 Bryant Road, Watertown, CT 06795

Ms. O’Brien: You know I lost my job in February. This is a one income family. I’ve got two kids in college. You increased my taxes about $1,800. My parent’s home, they have a single ranch house, there’s nothing to it, $700 increase. They only have social security coming in. These elderly people they can’t afford anything. I can’t afford, I can’t afford this $1.800. You’re talking about business going, yes, you don’t have the revenue, yes but you know what, we don’t either, and your revenue what you were using that money for was for stupid things. I’m sorry to say that, I am so angry today it’s not even funny. I think you guys are not using your money wisely. You’re doing things and you’re not listening to us. You’re not listening to the community and what we need for this town. It’s gone on too long where you guys just keep, you say yes, yes, we’re listening to you and you just go with what you want, you don’t listen to us and you need to start listening to us, we are at the edge and we are in a really bad, bad, situation right now. Half of these people that I went and got signatures for yesterday, half of them don’t have jobs. They don’t know how they’re going to hold up their homes. I mean you know it’s just crazy. I mean that’s all I have to say. I’m sorry if I lashed out at you but this is just ridiculous.

Ms. Adams: Nick?

Mr. Biello: As far as the money spent on having the revaluation done, the $185,000, that’s money gone, it was spent, it’s over with. The Town has the choice to go back to the old assessment and make every taxpayer happy here. It don’t have to cost the Town anything.

Mr. Bernier: Of course it does.

Mr. Biello: We have the Assessor’s Office, if they start now, they have until next January to implement the old assessments and they can make the adjustments back then. As far as the tax bills that we sent out last month, they have to paid by the end of this month, they’re due. But the adjustment could be made after the new mill rate is set, after the budget passes, and they have from now until January to correct all of this.

Ms. Adams: I think that’s the thing, with the citizen’s initiative with the Charter and everything, we don’t have answers tonight but we can get answers.

Mr. Biello: I read the Town Council minutes when you discussed the revaluation, you voted against it, it seems like a lot of you were confused, it was going to cost the Town more money we have to do it again, you don’t have to do it again for 5 years from the time it was done last.

Ms. Adams: No, that’s not true. My understanding is we would have to redo this entire revaluation in 2011.


Mr. Biello: Right it will take affect when?

Ms. Adams: In 2011, but we would have to start in this budget year coming up, 2009/2010 we’d have to start funding it.

Mr. Biello: Each town has to do it every 5 years, correct? When was the last one done?

Ms. Adams: 2003. That was the bad one, that was the one everybody doubled, there as no way we could even get our money for the houses, it was awful.

Mr. Biello: So this one is implemented this . . . .

Ms. Adams: 2008, 5 years later would be 2008 grand list, right, which is what (inaudible).

Mr. Biello: So 5 years after 2008 is 2011?

Ms. Adams: No, it would be 2013 under the schedule we are on now, but to take advantage of the Governor’s proposal there, we would have to start funding this budget year to redo the reval, we couldn’t take what we already had, we’d need to redo it all and that’s where the dollars come in.

Mr. Biello: But it has to be done all over again anyway.

Ms. Adams: In 2013.

Mr. Biello: By going back to the old assessment you are giving the taxpayers a break. That’s the way I see it.

Ms. Adams: Why don’t we let the public speak, let the members take notes on what they’d like to comment on. I called Nick up because we kind of cut them off. Would you mind if anyone else came up who wants to address the Council?

Dan Everitt, 1 Everitt Lane, Watertown, CT 06795

Mr. Everitt: As far as Mr. Bernier saying that they spent $185,000 for revaluation, you didn’t spend it, the whole community spent it. #2, vision has in whatever, they do not do their job. The reason why I say that is because who could tell me how much money is in this wallet. When they go by my house they do a drive by. They have no idea what my house is worth. So I go for a review, I bring pictures, etc.

Ms. Adams: You mean you appealed your assessment?


Mr. Everitt: Yes, they look at it and say what’s your house about, 35% or 40% completed? I said no, let’s go 50%, so then I get a revised bill. And then I have to go to the Appeals Board and I show the same pictures, same everything all over again, they finally dropped it down to I think $110,000. I spent $300 for a private appraiser which in its condition, where it’s located, utilities which we have, they put it worth $72,000 if I could sell it and that would have to be through a builder. Now these people have no idea (Tape #1, Side A ended – may have missed some) but yet signs her (inaudible) I still got the high tax bill. This drive by, Vision does not know what they’re doing and nobody cares.

Kevin Killeen, 430 Northfield Road, Watertown, CT 06795

Mr. Killeen: I also serve on the Board of Education. I wasn’t going to speak but feel it necessary to say that the Townspeople have made a wonderful commitment to rebuilding 3 schools and the evidence of that is quite clear both in this building and Judson that’s going to be ready on time and work is on-going at the High School. We’re very excited about the commitment that the Town has made in that respect. We would like to continue and make the programmatic improvements that are necessary for the students. As a matter of a Board issue myself, I would not encourage the Superintendent to discourage people from saying vote yes on the corners. I would hope that as the parents were there that they would appropriately supervise their children but if people are interested in Board initiatives, we have a Board meeting next Monday night, same place, the 27th so if your calendar is open for it, we would be welcome to have you and look forward to answering any questions you might have. Thank you very much.

Mark Mirabito, Project Manager, Watertown Renewable Power Project

Mr. Mirabito: I live in Fairfield, CT. It’s good to see you all again, it’s been a little while since I’ve been up here.

Ms. Adams: It’s been a long time we’ve been seeing you I think.

Mr. Mirabito: Yes, both. I just wanted to quickly follow up on what Joe Seacrist said. Later tonight you’ll be considering a resolution of support for the project, specifically it’s support for legislation that’s being considered in Hartford right now that will help renewable energy projects like the one in Watertown get financed and built. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be here, when you get to that item on the agenda, to answer any questions you might have.


Nick Perugini, 22 Kent Terrace, Watertown, CT 06795

Mr. Perugini: I want to go further on a conversation everybody seems to be a little bit upset about on the revaluation. I moved into my current home 2 years ago and the revaluation that was done by Vision gave us a 26.5% increase so I’m feeling a little bit better right now that somebody pointed out 40% or 50% so I’m doing okay. It was discouraging when I talked to a lot of the neighbors to find out that the average increase was roughly 10% and I got to scratch my head and walk away and go look at things and try and understand why it went up 26.5%. The only deduction I could come to was I was the most recent purchaser on the street of a home and it just didn’t add up and my home is nothing special, raised ranch, I’ve got homes on either side of me, across the street from me that are the same in every way, acreage, home size, style and yet my increase was that much more than other folks. Obviously did the appeal, went through that process and the only deduction there was on the appeal was because first off there was an error in how the home was being assessed, so that was fixed, that got me down to 23.5%. Needless to say I’m here and I’m still not happy with where I’m at. I guess what I want to say is I understand we all have an obligation of taxes, I’ve got no problem with that. Alls I have been asking for all along, I went to see Mrs. Nadeau as well and I just want to be in line with the other homes on my street. I’m not comparing with homes across town, I’m looking at folks right on my street, I’m comparing apples to apples, no one has an answer for me. So I’m asking you, folks, please reconsider what everybody is hollering about here. Thank you.

Joseph Perugini, 162 Tarbell Avenue, Oakville, CT 06779

Mr. Perugini: About the assessment, I have two grandfathering lots. They went up 73% on each one. They are grandfathered lots, and I’m sure Paul Rinaldi knows about it. In 2007 the assessor came over my house and I have a house plus a garage and an apartment on top of the garage and the assessor said to me is there an apartment upstairs? I said yes. She said can I take a look? I said go right ahead. She said this is registered as a second floor garage. The place was built in 1955. In 1960 the sewer came by, because the garage and the house are built on one lot, they had to connect, there was only one connection for the sewers so they had to connect both the garage and the house to the sewer so the inspector was here, approved it, and Moriley did the job, they come backfilled, that’s fine. Anyway in 1972 my father retired and the property was under his name, and at the time the town had a policy that you could freeze the taxes if you were a senior.

Ms. Adams: The circuit breaker program, yea.

Mr. Perugini: The Town sent him a letter and said Mr. Perugini you cannot freeze your property because you live over the garage, which was true, so you could not freeze the property. So this was 1970. Now in 2007 she comes and says oh no, this is a regular second floor garage. I said where did you get this second floor garage. Does it look like a second floor garage. Now Mr. Rinaldi, he knows the place, right Paul? Does it look like a second floor garage? I don’t see an elevator to bring the cars up.

Mr. Rinaldi: No, I used to play my accordion up there with your father.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Mr. Perugini: Plus my father had a 1964 Pontiac, you remember that? I kept it and my son

built the house and had a 3 car garage, I wanted to keep the car cause it was my father’s and I wanted to keep it. All of a sudden I bought a 1988 Lincoln Town Car and when I got the taxes, I looked and saw I was paying more for the Pontiac than the Town Car. I went to John, at the time he was the Assessor, and asked what was wrong, I’m paying more for the 1964 Pontiac than the 1988 Lincoln Town Car. He said they had the wrong car, you were paying on the wrong car. I said what are you going to do about? I paid all these years on the wrong car? Well we’ll see, but nothing happened. There is something wrong, plus now about the garage, she took the measurements and at the end she ended up taking the wrong measurements, so finally I got a private assessor, they assessed the place much less than what the Town was and she assessed it way high so there is something wrong with these people, I don’t think some of them know their job. Another thing that I want to stress that a lady here mentioned about the school, where they always blame the children and when the superintendent, what was her name, she left, whatever her name was, I went to the meeting one time because they were voting so everything they started to cut here, cut there, they can’t touch the teachers, whatever, and I look in the paper and she got $12,000 raise that year and she’s talking about the children and I told her, I said listen, somebody that is on social security it takes one year, $1,000 a month, it takes one year to make $12,000. You’re already making $100,000, you got $12,000 raise, if you think about the children, then listen, I don’t want the raise, I want to help the children. So this is where we are. Wake up, Watertown, wake up State of Connecticut, wake up America because they’re eating us alive.

Eric Weihrauch, 360 Straits Turnpike Watertown, CT 06795

Mr. Weihrauch: I listened before to Mr. Bernier’s statement and he mentioned that the Grand List dropped. Perhaps the Town Manager can enlighten you, I hope the rest of the Council people are more informed than Mr. Bernier, nothing personal against you, but you said the Grand List dropped. Perhaps our Town Manager could enlighten this Town Council member, how many hundreds of millions the Grand List has increased. Even with giving the big businesses big breaks.

Ms. Adams: I think what Gary was referring to was revenue has dropped and I think

(inaudible) $900,000 of revenue?

Mr. Nardelli: (Inaudible.)

Ms. Adams: Yea, no, it was the revenue.

Mr. Bernier: I will address that once Public Participation is over. I included that, and this is definitely your time, I included that as part of the revenue, the revenue is significantly less. We can talk about that later. I apologize if I caused confusion.

Mr. Weihrich: At this point I’d like to have our Town Manager enlighten the people here how much and how many hundreds of millions the Grand List has increased for everybody to know how much Vision Appraisal increased our net wroth. I wish I had some of it. Perhaps our Town Manager could speak to that.


Lila Church, 558 Davis Street, Oakville, CT 06779

Ms. Church: I went to a meeting, this place was loaded, the children, I’m always hearing about these children, my father and grandparents moved to Watertown schools, now we were told that in those times, then when my time came, that Watertown was quite high. Everybody thought oh boy, Watertown, I want to go to Watertown schools. Well I hear about all these buildings. The building is not the one that teaches the children and another thing I keep hearing about these books and paper and all this nonsense, and yet the darn teachers, they get raises. Now what the heck? They think so much of the children, that meeting I think I sat about a half an hour to an hour listening to all these children, they don’t belong in the meeting. This is for us. The children don’t have any idea what their parents are paying for and how much they’re paying, so don’t get these kids in here. If you want to teach them anything have the teachers teach them, never mind our time. And I’m sick and tired of hearing the kids always saying oh well, I go to Watertown. Well guess what? Now 60 is passing. What happened to 70, 75. No, no, we’ll knock the thing down so that everybody passes. We don’t have the room we have to pass these kids. Well I remember when I went to school, if you didn’t pass you stayed back and there was loads of them back. I don’t know what the heck happened all of a sudden our schools are coming down to almost Waterbury, I’m sorry to say that but it’s true, compared to when I went to school. A 90, you could depend on it. It was 90, you made it. The teachers weren’t blackballed because they can’t get the kids to get the marks. Don’t tell me they don’t, because these teachers, I believe, that they are forced to make these children look like they are doing well. I heard one on the meeting that couldn’t pass, well he’s told that oh well, he’s passing he made the honor roll. What kind of an honor roll? In those days when I went to school, an honor roll was an honor roll. Now, they have it well this class can’t get anything over a 60, so we have to call that 60 is an honor roll. Now what the heck? These kids are going to find out when they get out there and try to find a job that they are not as smart. Now, I know teachers that are teaching college and they say they don’t even belong in this place, they can’t even read, they don’t even know English. Now what the heck is that? So we passed them all, and their kids don’t know nothing,. What the heck happened to our schools? Did we get so big and powerful that now we have all these beautiful buildings which do not teach children, it’s the teachers that have to teach the children, not the buildings. That’s all I have to say.

Roger Mitchell, 99 Norway Street, Oakville, CT 06779

Mr. Mitchell: I wasn’t planning on talking but a couple of people opened up some stuff so I’m going to go for it. Education I’ve been hearing for 45 years or more that they’ve been screaming we need more money, I’ve been hearing the same threats for the same 50 years. The school is still here, the kids are still here, and like this other lady said, passing grade is a 65 or a 60 now? That’s crazy. Half the kids can’t even speak English, they can’t add, I was on vacation with my granddaughter, she was 9, she went into a store she bought something for $9.50, gave the guy $10.50 and she was looking for $1.00 back - he couldn’t do it, he was a college kid. He said I can’t do that. She walked out and said I know more than he does. That’s a 9 year old kid, now she’s 11, she’s even smarter than he is.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 As far as the valuations, I don’t know how far back it was, but we had another outfit, sounds

like this one, they came through there was one group of houses down off of Straits Turnpike there were 5 houses, same builder, same floor plan, same lot size, everything was identical, there was a $40,000 price difference between them assessment-wise. I went to that meeting for Appeals cause they came and told me I had two building lots. I called the guy a jackass. He got bent out of shape, but hey, you’re a jackass, you can’t read a town deed. They took $75,000 off my assessment. As far as the assessment, I’m paying more now than when I bought my house for a mortgage, and that was interest and taxes, and now it’s all taxes. It’s crazy. As far as assessment, I had an 83 Chevy Pickup Truck, what this other gentleman was saying about his car, I got assessed $7,000 for it. If anybody gave me $7,000 for it, I’ll fill it up, paint it and put tires on it. You’ve seen my truck, Paul. I went and appealed it, they dropped it to $700, which is still kind of high cause it’s all bare steel, there’s no paint on it. And again going back to education, I just get tired of hearing then scream more money, more money. Not to pick on anybody, but we have one superintendent that makes more than the Mayor of Waterbury who is taking care of 130,000 people and we’ve only got about 3,000 kids in our school system. That doesn’t add up. And the superintendent down there doesn’t make as much as ours does. That’s it.

Nonna Lucia, 1133 Main Street, Watertown, CT 06795

Ms. Lucia: We own the building, Nonna Lucia. When I opened our tax bill I didn’t know if I was dreaming or what. I mean it’s unbelievable. How can it go up 50% in one time? We haven’t done anything, no renovations, nothing was added, nothing was taken out of the building and you get the bill and they try to kill you. How are you going to make a living? We talk so much about recession and where are people going to get the money. Restaurants open and they close and the ones that are still there, if we don’t watch we can’t even survive. They keep opening new places and closing without having parking spaces and they use everybody else in town, we paying the taxes, and these are the people that are using our parking spaces for nothing and we’re sick and tired of telling people to remove their cars from our parking and they make a mess in our driveway and we pay taxes. We fix them, we put in a brand new driveway 4 years ago, if you look at it, I have to watch it like a hawk for huge U truck coming through our driveway, around the building, and I don’t have to do that, when these people run their business in our back yard. I don’t think it’s fair. They should not allow any more businesses to open in Watertown unless they have a docking station, parking spaces and enough things to run their business, not on somebody else’s property. And I’m very shocked to open my bill and it went up $4,700 and change which is unbelievable. I don’t know how people are going to survive. These people don’t even go in and check the buildings, they just think that people are made out of money. There is no money to play around. People are sweating blood to keep their property going and paying their bills. So the Town, whoever is in charge, they should do something about it. That’s all I have to say. Thank you.


John McCleary, 895 Park Road, Watertown, CT 06795

Mr. McCleary: First I’d like to talk about the goose problem. We have Deland Field and some of these other fields and first of all you start off by building a fence around them. Now when I was a kid you could go down there and everybody could do whatever you want, etc. Now you want to keep the geese out, so what do you do? You build a fence around an area and then you plant nice green grass, and that’s going to keep the geese out. It just doesn’t make any sense to me, but maybe there’s something I don’t understand. As far as this revaluation and everything else goes, I’m all for it and you know how we pay for it, you people go around to each department head and you say we have to come up with this amount of money to pay for this thing, and each one of you is going to get your percentage cut so we can pay for it. You don’t ask us to pay for it, and the reason you’re getting a cut is because we, meaning you, all of you who work for us, as degrading as that may seem to some of you, are going to have to pay for our mistake and that’s about it. I can go on for a day, but that’s enough.

Nick Perugini, 22 Kent Terrace, Watertown, CT 06795

Mr. Perugini: Just a little further on this revaluation, I neglected to point out before, I mentioned going down to talk to Mrs. Nadeau, and I said pretty much what I said here and she was very polite and said the only thing I could do if I wanted to take it any further was to sue the town. That just didn’t make any sense to me. I stumbled just like I did now. It just didn’t sink in, sue the town, so I said to her I’m going to waste more of my own dollars I’m going to waste more of the town’s dollars to take a lawsuit against the town with no certain outcome when I think it’s a simple matter of a 10 minute discussion. It’s a mistake. I understand taxes go up from time to time and I get that, but times have changed, times are tough right now. A lot of these folks have pointed out, have lost jobs, have taken pay cuts. Fortunately I still have a job, I can pay my taxes. 2 weeks from now who knows? I guess the point I’m getting at is the cost that it might take the Town to go back and look at this and redo the revaluation or at least go back to the old revaluation, is that really going to be more than how many lawsuits are going to be against the Town? What is that going to cost? And ultimately it’s still my buck for the town. That’s it.

Kevin Killeen, 430 Northfield Road, Watertown, CT 06795

Mr. Killeen: I was wondering if I shouldn’t wait until everyone has spoken in case there are any other board issues. I would like to comment on though because I feel as though their place to speak is before the Council and before the Board and the Board’s attempted to be good stewards of what we have been given a charge of. We all would welcome your input at our Board meetings, we would be open to share with you our mandates according to the State. We are mandated by the State to maintain our buildings at a certain status which is not respective of what we do educationally for the children. Minimum passing grade is 70, not a 60 somehow that was a misconception perhaps.

Ms. Adams: I think Waterbury is 60, isn’t it?


Mr. Killeen: Waterbury is 65 and again I can only answer for the High Schools in Waterbury, but then the other thing is the gentleman spoke about superintendents. Superintendent’s compensation packages sometimes, some interesting things, but our superintendent was actually hired less than our previous superintendent and she flat out at the beginning of our talks for the budget, flat out said she would not in any way seek a raise and would encourage her non-affiliated staff to do the same thing so we are taking efforts to be good stewards with leadership of a new superintendent and again we would welcome your attendance at our meetings, and if you have any questions please call the Board of Education because we welcome that kind of input. Thank you.

Ms. Adams, Chairman, called a 10 minute recess at 8:34 p.m. Ms. Adams, Chairman, Reconvened the Regular Meeting at 8:44 p.m.

Stan Everitt, 1 Everitt Lane, Oakville, CT 06779

Mr. Everitt: I’d like to ask the Town Council what we can do to help this Town? I don’t believe a third party is the answer. I’ve worked with Chuck here, I’ve worked with Cavanaugh, the Town Engineer, the Planner, Mr. Fusco and they seem to be all very nice people trying to do an honest job. I tried to stop this electric thing here, in my worst way, because all they do is talk about Route 8 and I’m sure all of their wood chipping is not going to pile up on Route 8, it’s coming down Plymouth Hill, 63 into Watertown, these trucks are coming from everywhere but that’s never discussed. They talked about the citing commission, the head of the citing commission which I looked into the computer and it said a byproduct of this biofuel is a low grade radiation. He asked me where I ever heard such a thing, I told him the computer, and he said don’t believe everything you see on the computer. I tried to stop Heritage Woods through the Police Department cause the intersection is bad, the brook which is Turkey Brook, I asked the Planner I guess which was very helpful to me for a long time, but there was one guy that just come off the Council going for it for one of his friends, and I asked about the hydraulics and I was told it was a done deal forget it, and she kind of gave me the cold shoulder too. So I spoke to Chuck, the Town Engineer and asked what about the hydraulics? You’ve got the culvert on Davis Street which has to be repaired, you’ve got this 500 whatever unit going up in there with all kinds of parking lots, roofs, it’s all going into Turkey Brook, how did you divide lines? And the Town Engineer said he didn’t do it. Why didn’t he do it? Who did it? Why was it done by somebody who wanted this project to go through? Because you know where Turkey Brook comes out? Right here. If we have a problem with a flood this place would be gone in a minute. What is it we need? Who is holding these good people back? I know at least 5 people because every time you open your mouth they’ve got a lawyer after you. Like I told somebody, you need John Cochrane or somebody to defend you because these guys are so tightly knit. What can we do? Is the Town Council better? I know governors have trouble, mayors have trouble, selectmen have trouble. A third party is not, I’m an independent, and the only thing the third party is going to do is spit the whole thing cause there are certain Democrats, I don’t care what, they’re democrats, and the Republicans are the same way so now what do you have? Nothing in the middle. What do we need to help our Town?

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Why can people like D.E.P. say Pennsylvania Company can bring in some dirt, not so dirty

dirt? What is this stuff? Connecticut dump? Why are they bringing it here? Is it dirty dirt in Pennsylvania or wherever it’s coming from and who is going to check this? Nobody. Probably not. I’d really like to know what we can do for the Town. I’m sure you can get together somehow to find out. Thank you.

Roger Mitchell, 99 Norway Street, Oakville, CT 06779

Mr. Mitchell: He brought up a good point, he said what’s a contaminant? I don’t know, I guess it depends on what you want to put in it. As far as the schools, I know there’s a shortage of janitors. How about having some of the kids in Industrial Arts work on some of this stuff? Last time I asked this they said it was a Union problem. Well have some of the janitors supervise them. They can fix some of the ceiling tiles, do some painting, they can have 5 or 6 kids painting and do a wall in less time than a janitor would. Like the lady said there, with taxes and everything. I’m on Social Security now. It wads great before when I was making $4,000 or $5,000 a month, but that’s gone, I don’t see that anymore, thanks to this clown we’ve got in office now that’s going to go down the tubes too. Thank you.

(Tape #1, Side Be ended – may have missed some.)

TAPE DID NOT RECORD

Sandra Greenwood, 156 Belden Street, Watertown, CT 06795 Ms. Greenwood stated the Superintendent of Schools makes less than Dr. Erardi did because

she does not have a doctorate. Mr. Rinaldi stated that in response to Mr. Mitchell’s suggestion that High School students be

utilized for maintenance projects, that it would still be a Union problem. Ms. Adams, Chairman, closed Public Participation at 8:53 p.m.

5. Minutes A. Regular Meeting – June 15, 2009

MOTION: (Mr. Fusco, sec. Mr. Primini) to Approve the Regular Meeting Minutes dated June 15, 2009 as presented.

Discussion: None MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 B. Public Hearing – June 15, 2009

MOTION: (Mr. Fusco, sec. Mr. Primini) to Approve the Public Hearing Minutes dated June 15, 2009 as presented.

Discussion: None MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY C. Special Meeting – June 23, 2009

MOTION: (Mr. Fusco, sec. Mr. Mancini) to Approve the Special Meeting Minutes dated June 23, 2009 as presented.

Discussion: None In Favor: Ms. Adams, Mr. Bernier, Mr. Demirs, Mr. DiFederico, Mr. Fusco,

Mr. Mancini, Mr. Rinaldi, Mr. Winn Opposed: None Abstained: Mr. Primini MOTION CARRIED (8-0-1) D. Special Meeting – June 30, 2009

MOTION: (Mr. Fusco, sec. Mr. Primini) to Approve the Special Meeting Minutes dated June 30, 2009 as presented.

Discussion: None In Favor: Ms. Adams, Mr. Bernier, Mr. Demirs, Mr. Fusco, Mr. Mancini, Mr.

Primini, Mr. Rinaldi, Mr. Winn Opposed: None Abstained: Mr. DiFederico MOTION CARRIED (8-0-1)


6. Chairman’s Report A. Correspondence 1. Letter from Blum Shapiro & Company, PC, Re: Auditing Standards, dated

July 8, 2009 Ms. Adams reported this letter was received. 2. Letter of Resignation from J. Raymond Hebert, Jr. from the Water and Sewer

Authority, effective July 13, 2009.

Ms. Adams: To: Virginia Russo Assistant Town Clerk 37 Deforest Street Watertown, CT 06795 Dear Mrs. Russo: Due to increasing demands on my time, I must resign my position on the

Water & Sewer Authority, effective July 13, 2009. It has been a pleasure to serve the Authority and wish everyone the best of luck in the future.

Sincerely, J. Raymond Hebert, Jr.” 3. Letter from Karen Baldwin, Re: School Construction Projects, dated June 15,

2009

Ms. Adams: “Dear Chairperson Adams and Members of the Watertown Town Council: As the 2008/2009 school year comes to a close and the Three School

Renovation Project continues to function in a coordinated, efficient and fiscally responsible manner, I wanted to take this opportunity to formally recognize the outstanding work of the Public Buildings Committee on the Swift Middle School renovation and construction project that was completed in the Fall of 2008.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 The success of the Swift Middle School Project is defined by the dedication,

hard work and an unremitting devotion of the Public Buildings Committee under the leadership of its Chair, Bob Porter. Today, in this era of hard choices and scarce resources, the community can celebrate the unselfish dedication to the common good that the Swift Middle School renovation represents; this project was completed on time and under budget and provided the community with a refurbished auditorium, twenty new classrooms, up to date science and computer labs, new boiler, cooling and ventilation systems, a new and expanded state of the art library media center, and much more that enables ALL students to attain high levels of achievement in preparation for productive, rewarding lives and responsible citizenship.

As the Board of Education works with the State Department of Education to

formally close out the Swift Middle School Project, we want to recognize the Public Buildings Committee for completing the $33.7 million project on time, and returning approximately $430,000 back to the Town. Additionally, through the Board of Education’s coordinated efforts with the Public Buildings Committee, w returned $40,000 to the Town as part of the Connecticut Light and Power energy rebate program.

On behalf of the Watertown Board of Education, I express my deep

appreciation for the stewardship of the Public Buildings Committee and the support of the Watertown Town Council for school construction projects in the community.

Sincerely, Karen M. Baldwin, Superintendent of Schools” TAPE RESUMED AT THIS POINT

Mr. Nardelli: There’s a balance on the Swift Project of $177,981. I don’t know if they are taking into account all of the encumbrances that are still outstanding or if they are going to cancel some of those. The balance we have is $177,981.

4. Letter from the State Department of Health regarding drinking water violation

standards, dated June 4, 2009.

Ms. Adams: To: Chief Elected Official From: Darrell Smith, Section Chief, Drinking Water Section Date: June 4, 2009 Re: Public Act 09-30

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Public Act 09-30 was signed into law by Governor M. Jodi Rell on May 20,

2009. This Act requires the Department of Public Health Drinking Water Section to notify Chief Elected Official (CEO) when public water systems are in violation of national primary drinking water standards regulated by the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Each CEO will be notified of such a violation if the source of public drinking water is located within or provides drinking water service within their town. Notifications will be sent electronically whenever possible and will include a brief explanation of the violation and its potential impact upon public health. This department already provides notification of violations of regulated public drinking water standards to local health directors and will continue to do so. Noticing CEOs of violation of primary drinking water standards will ensure that town government are made aware of drinking water quality issues that are of a public health concern is their town or city.

A Public Water System is defined as any drinking water system that serves at

least 25 people per day or has at least 15 service connections. This includes community systems which serve residential customers as well as non-community systems which serve professional offices, schools, daycare centers, food services establishments and other non-residential developments.

Additional information about public drinking water systems can be found on

the Drinking Water Section’s webpage: www.ct.gov/dph/publicdrinkingwater. To view a complete listing of public water systems by type within your town go to the Drinking Water Section main page and follow the link for “Public Water Systems Classification and Inventory” under the “Public Water Systems” section . . .

Ms. Adams: If anyone is interested in a copy of this you can get it at the Town Manager’s Office (inaudible) information.

Mr. Fusco: I received a summons from Superior Court, I guess we all did.

Ms. Adams: That’s in the packet for information and has been forwarded to

the Town Attorney.

Mr. Fusco: Do I have to appear there or will we be notified?

Ms. Adams: If we ever needed to appear the Town Attorney would definitely let us know.


7. Subcommittee Reports A. Public Buildings Subcommittee – David Demirs

Mr. Demirs: First of all I’d like to thank Karen Baldwin for her confidence in the Public Buildings Committee. Karen, it’s our pleasure, on behalf of the Public Buildings Committee, to assist the Board in the school renovation. Again I want to thank you and it’s our pleasure to do it.

The other two schools are moving along well. Judson School, we should have it

done by the 14th, we’re hoping anyway. It looks like it should be done. There will be a couple of areas that will probably be delayed about 30 to 60 days, but the school should be ready for opening in September. I have a list of a lot of things that were done there and where they are, and I’m not going to go through everything, but the floors are in, marker boards and tack boards installation is still ongoing. The classrooms are almost complete. All of the outside work, the sidewalks, I’ll just go over that quick, the installation of sidewalks and precast curbing is almost near completion. Asphalt walkway is ongoing on the north end of the school, the binder course complete for all areas. Installation of topsoil and seed and hay is near completion which is the grass in front of the building and around the building. The school is coming out very nice. I urge any of the public to feel free to go up and have a look any time. They did a wonderful job. O & G is a terrific company to deal with and it’s their utmost priority to get that school open by September for us.

On the High School, I don’t know if anybody saw the turf at the High School, the turf

has been installed, we have a couple more weeks on that, maybe less. The bleacher installation is about 90% complete. As of last Wednesday, I’m not sure, it could be complete now. The roofing insulation is complete, except for miscellaneous flashings. Window installation is complete. The sheet rock and taping is complete. Painting is ongoing. Ceiling grid installation is ongoing which is this type of ceiling here. The auditorium and offices and interior painting is ongoing, Sheet rock and taping is complete in the office areas. The rubber roof and insulation is complete. The metal roof and insulation is ongoing. The MEP above the ceiling ruoghins are ongoing, which is the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing. And ceramic tile installation is ongoing. Gym and locker rooms, demolition is complete in the gym and locker rooms, the HVAC sprinkler electrical roughins are ongoing. Gym equipment installation is complete and masonry wall installation is ongoing. The boiler installation has started for the heat. These are all summaries I get from O & G. I’ll inform you again at the next meeting where ewe are at.

Ms. Adams: Just a question, with the turf going in and the bleachers and everything else, are we looking at having football there in the Fall?

Mr. Demirs: I can’t give you an honest answer, but I’m hoping myself. I’ll get that answer for you.


Mr. Rinaldi: What’s the target date for Judson School?

Mr. Demirs: August 14th. So they can start putting furniture in, so in about another

month.

Mr. Rinaldi: So they’ll start classes at Judson this year?

Mr. Demirs: Yes, it should be ready for September. They are working very hard, O

& G. B. Ordinance Subcommittee – Richard DiFederico

Mr. DiFederico: I’ll sit down with Chuck on the Geese Ordinance and everything. The other thing is the Planning and Zoning, I did go up and visit Chuck cause I was on vacation and we were going to get the minutes and get with the people we were talking about at the last Council meeting when it came up. I want to let everybody know this can’t be a rush, rush thing because the next meeting that we do have I will be calling Tom and Dave and Paul Jessell will be at that meeting so within the next couple of weeks gentlemen we can confer on that.

C. Public Works Subcommittee – Raymond Primini

Mr. Primini: June 27th we had an electronic recycling day which turned out to be a success. I think there were over 2 tractor trailer trucks of electronics taken out. Electronics is basically everything with a cord on it, except of things like refrigerators and air conditioners cause they have Freon disconnected. The reason why this is important, a lot of the old computer monitors have about 7 lbs. of lead inside so when those go into the regular trash they cost about $69.00 a ton. As a result our recycling rate has improved. Eight years ago in our area we had the worst recycling rate in the area. We are doing very good now. For the past 2 years we have received money for recycling, we get $10.00 a ton for recycling instead of paying $69.00 for garbage. One of the problems is we are supposed to guarantee CRRA 15,000 tons of garbage for the trash energy, we are 69 tons below that figure, which we don’t think they’re going to touch us for that but that’s good news. I mean our recycling rate has improved dramatically over the past couple of years. We are now working on, we got notes from CRRA about doing a paper shredding day for important documents like your tax bill, I mean . . . . . (inaudible) and we are looking at hooking up with a couple of towns in the area, Thomaston is interested in working with us, they would be charging $450 for a 3 hour day and once again that actually helps us cause it takes trash out in the process. We are looking at hooking up with 2 other towns, maybe Thomaston and Morris, rotating like we do with the hazardous recycling so it would probably be at John Trumbull School. They throw the documents in a big shredder, they’re all shredded in one shot.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 The last thing is the street light program, we are complete right now. Street lights

change we’re at 133, street lights taken over by residents, people who agreed to pay for the lights themselves, that’s 11. And there might be more. We actually added 88 street lights and the reason why is because the only standards we had were D.O.T. standards which require every intersection to be illuminated so that’s why you see some lights that were actually moved, maybe within 50 feet or so, actual street lights removed were 274 and street lights still under protest are 10 right now. Where people are claiming there is a high vandalism rate, we are working with the Police Department. Areas that we left alone were areas with a high rate of senior citizens or handicapped people, we did meet the target goal on that and I’d just like to report on top of this, it goes hand in hand, last Thursday I was at the Economic Development Commission meeting and the new businesses that we took over with the land swap in Waterbury, we’ve added on 15 new businesses. I believe there are 11 in the Pin Shop Building and 4 around the corner on Falls Avenue. That section of town will be known as Watertown Avenue, Oakville, all of our departments have had a hand in this, engineering department, fire and police departments, and pretty much everybody has been involved and we’ve gotten a lot of compliments on it. It will still be known as Watertown Avenue from the Pin Ship to that section on Falls Avenue and they will be keeping their Waterbury phone numbers. I’d also like to mention Joe Seacrist, our Economic Development Coordinator, has been very involved with that, welcoming to the Town. We did get some requests from other businesses in Waterbury wanting to know how they could get next to Watertown cause they found the taxes were about half what they are in Waterbury. Overall Economic Development has been trying to get some new business in town and we didn’t get anymore tax money out of it cause that was part of the land swap with Chase Manufacturing, but it was nice to get new 15 businesses in town and hopefully we can keep them there.

8. Town Manager’s Report Mr. Frigon: Dial-A-Ride Service This is a significant cut to our Town. This service ends July 31, 2009. That was not funded

and this is the GWTD, Greater Waterbury Transit District busses that you’ve seen around town. They’ve provided service to the elderly for rides to the doctor, shopping, etc. It’s not necessarily for the disabled, but it as a service that was taken advantage of by many, many residents and that will end on July 31st unless the State does include funding for it in the new budget. It does not mean that the two other services provided by the GWTD which is the parent transit service for ADA and non-ADA those will continue. I certainly want to thank Yvonne Smith (inaudible). She has done a wonderful job for the town, shell continue to do that and it’s very sad to see this service go cause it meant a lot to a lot of people.


Mr. Fusco: I’d just like to say that Watertown had the largest amount of people using that Dial-A-Ride, we are involved with Wolcott, Southbury, Thomaston, Naugatuck and the surrounding towns, 18 communities and Watertown had the largest amount of people using this service. It’s a shame because these are the people that need it, and they are the people that are being cut out. It’s the State. If there is any letters you want to write or anyone you want to contact, that’s what I think you should do.

Mr. Frigon: I’m very sad to see the service go. A lot of people, as Mr. Fusco pointed out (inaudible).

Guersneytown Road Reconstruction Project I had distributed earlier to all Council members as memo I had provided to both Mr.

Emerick's regarding the Guernseytown Road reconstruction. They had asked specifically of a history of how the Town based the design on a 3,500 car per vehicle per day design and I provided answers to those questions here. If you have any questions, call the office, but the documentation is there. For the record, just so we all understand, Guernseytown Road reconstruction was at one time Guernseytown Road Reconstruction not Phase I, Phase II, the 3,500 car count was all the way down by Route 6 and not specifically in front of the Emerick’s house.

Ms. Adams: Got broken up cause it was so expensive.

Mr. Frigon: It got broken up. Over the years it got very diluted, if you will, however the design itself has been appropriate whether it’s at 3,500 or whatever that number is, the design still is (inaudible) the memo does explain that.

Waterbury/Watertown Property Transfer I’ll just expand on what Ray reported – that is the transfer of properties from Waterbury to

Watertown. Certainly I want to thank all of our departments, as Mr. Primini said they all had a hand in it. It was done very professionally. We have received many comments back from those businesses that are now in the Town of Watertown very appreciative of what was done for them. There was a lot of work involved in this swap. Certainly the addresses and telephone numbers, there was 911, when they dial it what service does it go into, who responds, when, it was somewhat confusing and it was handled very professionally by Town staff. Perhaps even more importantly than that I wanted to comment on the patience of those businesses that are now located in Watertown, I wanted to officially welcome them and I wanted to thank them for their patience. It was a lot of work getting that swapped over but it’s done, it’s finished and I think it all worked out well.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Town Department I just wanted to go over some of the work of our Town departments in the Summer months.

During our budget sessions, a lot of our temporary help has been cut.

• Public Works Department – The Highway Department - not (inaudible temporary help but the curbing, curbing backfilling, all of the curbing that was broken over the Winter. Public Works Department has been extremely busy, they are working on their curbing which is new to their program this last 2 or 3 years. Traditionally curbing, curbing backfilling took place in late Summer or Fall. We are now trying to get that done earlier in late Spring or early Summer so people can plant their lawns right out to the street and have their properties cleaner. We have been working with the Town of Bethlehem regarding shared services. You may have seen our trucks in Bethlehem, we do share, the program works very nicely. We’ve given them 2 days this year of paving and they will be working with our dirt roads. Catch basins as you know we annually repair, replace, construct new. We build 400 to 500 catch basins a year. We’re working on that. You’ve seen us out on Middlebury Road, you’ve seen us in a number of places. Our crews are working on that as well. Our mowers, our sweepers I want to thank you, if it wasn’t for your consideration we wouldn’t have gotten the roads swept as quickly and efficiently as we did. We were able to do that this year, all of the roads were completed by the end of Spring which of course you know saves us an awful lot of money and aggravation with our drainage system and certainly makes the Town look a whole lot better. The mowers are out there, the entire town has been mowed, just one width, the mowers are only so wide so it made one pass. It is now starting again and it’s going to make 2 to 3 passes, but there is improved site lines, interoperation, there is a whole lot of benefit to that they are out there doing that. We worked on our painting, that’s all done in-house, our crosswalk painting, we have 109 crosswalks, 677 stop bars, 50 arrows, 340 to 350 gallons of paint that we use, this is all done in-house. It takes 2 guys about one month to get all of the painting done but again that’s all done in-house. That, along with the storms that we’ve had, we’ve had significant number of washouts from those last 2 more significant storms that we’ve had. We appreciate the patience of the citizens, it’s taken us time to get these washouts corrected, to refill, to clean up and certainly while we’re there we give a lot of consideration to how we can prevent that from happening in the future. All in all Public Works has been a very busy department this Summer.

• Police Department – you’ll recall maybe 2 or 3 months ago we applied for a JAD, a Justice Assistance Grant for $24,000. We did receive that. (Tape #1, Side B ended – may have missed some.) This has been ongoing now for many, many years. We finally signed an application with the State of Connecticut it was approved and we are now legal. You will see those signs, they are older signs that we had and you will see them reappearing on our main streets in the next day or two.

• Parks Department - that’s where we are probably experiencing the most significant struggles because of the weather. Our primary concern is the athletic fields. We were able to keep up with those. We are down, we had cut the department by $6,000 last year, we are down 3 part time summer employees, college kids basically so we’re struggling. We are keeping up with the athletics, we are not doing as well with the town buildings but they look pretty good. And if the weather cooperates they will certainly be looking a little bit better soon.


• Fire Department – I want to acknowledge the efforts of the Fire Departments, they just enlisted 7 new members bringing their roster up to 105 men, which is one of the highest that membership has been in a number of years. They are very successful, they have been, and they are second to none in my book, and I’m sure speaking for all of you, in all our books. They are doing a wonderful job.

Mr. Fusco: I think they did a great job, Chuck. I have point of information, I was in New

Milford, and I don’t know if this will amount to a lot of money, but you were talking about paving, I mean signing the streets, painting. In New Milford they reduced the size an inch or so and they saved thousands of gallons of paint. Do we have a special machine that reduces, so instead of being this wide it can be this wide?

Mr. Frigon: We have templates that we use, they are premanufacturing, they are the big stencils that you put on the ground, but for crosswalks we don’t, it’s just a machine, so it would be changing the nozzle from one width to a smaller width. It’s not a bad idea, it’s actually a great suggestion.

Mr. Mancini: The sign goes so wide, they can be more effective.

Mr. Frigon: Yea, there are some that we can make narrower, there’s no question.

Mr. Fusco: They are doing it in New Milford.

MS. Adams: Just make sure there are no D.O.T. standards and things like that. Look into it.

Mr. Frigon: Roy is available to answer questions regarding the Skilton Road Bridge. MOTION: (Mr. DiFederico, sec. Mr. Bernier) to Add Agenda Item 9F, Consider a Resolution of

Bipartisan support for the renewable energy legislation from the Watertown Town Council.

Discussion: None MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Mr. Fusco: I’d like to add to the Agenda, possibly moving it to 8A, at the beginning of the New Business, to discuss and take maybe possible action on this revaluation. We have people here who are waiting for it and I figure if we have our discussion at the beginning of this we can send them home and . . . .

Ms. Adams: So your motion is Discussion and Possible Action on what?

Mr. Fusco: On revaluation.

Ms. Adams: You have to be a little more specific.


Mr. Fusco: To implement the old revaluation or to refer to the old evaluation.

Ms. LaForme: I need an Agenda number.

Mr. Fusco: 9AA.

Ms. LaForme: AA comes after Z.

Mr. Fusco: I’d like to put it at the beginning of New Business, 8AA, so it would be before New Business.

Ms. LaForme: AA comes after Z.

Mr. Fusco: Okay, then 9A1.

Ms. LaForme: We already have 9A1. Many people talking at once (inaudible).

Mr. Fusco: Then 9A2.

Ms. LaForme: But that’s under appointments you can’t really do that. Many people talking at once (inaudible).

Mr. Frigon: Then let’s make it 9G. Just move appointments to commission to the end.

Mr. Fusco: Okay, let’s move appointments to commissions to the end and then bring that in as discussion and possible action.

Ms. LaForme: First you have to add this one to the agenda before you can move anything. So you have to add this as 9G, that’s the first thing you have to do. MOTION: (Mr. Fusco, sec. Mr. DiFederico) to Add Agenda Item 9G, Discussion and Possible

Action to refer to the old revaluation.

Discussion: Mr. Rinaldi: I don’t have any problem adding it to the Agenda, I don’t think it’s a smart thing to do, but it’s your pleasure.

Mr. Bernier: My discussion was prompted towards just that. We do have a petition that has been turned into Town Hall today. My concern was that so we didn’t get rapped up in this, I think we would be remiss if we didn’t talk about the cost that we’ve already incurred and would incur, but I also do not want to, I’m not talking for or against it, I’m just trying to state facts. My concern is that we allow the petition has it been put forward to the Town, let that run its course, the Townspeople have spoken through the petition, allow that to occur and then pick it up from there.


Mr. Fusco: To add to that thought, can I ask you to put it on the next meeting’s agenda so that we can discuss it, after we get all of this information?

Ms. Adams: There are a couple of things, just for tonight, you need 2/3 to get it on the agenda and by the same thing you need 2/3 to pass it if it’s not noticed. I have a lot of questions about this, the petition, is there a citizen’s initiative, I don’t know. Is it valid? Is it too late? Ray had said something to me that we’re in a new budget year, what’s the cost. The list goes on and on, plus we have all the questions that the public asked. Why don’t we do this, I think there’s a lot to digest and we need the answers first to the petition, if it’s valid. Chuck, talk to the Town Clerk’s office and the Town Attorney, find out if the petition is valid and then let the Council members know just where we are with that, then poll them and see what they want to do. That’s a huge question (inaudible).

Mr. Fusco: I’m willing to withdraw my motion if we put it on next meeting’s agenda.

Ms. Adams: I think part of it is with information . . . .

Mr. Fusco: But as Chairman you could put it on the Agenda and we can discuss it. If nothing happens, fine, but if we have it in stone that we will have a discussion next month, I will withdraw my motion.

Ms. Adams: I would suggest that the Council members get a hold of Chuck and if they want it on the agenda, I have no problem putting it on the agenda, Rich.

Mr. Fusco: Well we could do it here, right now, put it on the agenda so we don’t stall.

Mr. Mancini: Do you have all of the information you need right now?

Ms. Adams: I don’t know Carl, that’s why we need . . . .

Mr. Mancini: You can’t force it.

Mr. Fusco: If it is we’ll have more information s we go along rather than let it die.

Ms. Adams: I think we have to start there, cause everything else may be a moot point. If there is citizen’s initiative then this is valid, under Charter section 308 I believe he said, if this is valid, there is a lot of other things that become a moot point and if this is valid it falls under this and there’s a whole process I’m sure on this. I think that is the next step, to find out what is that process.

Mr. Fusco: By using that rule, we’re talking about the petition alone could; call for a referral to the old assessment.


Ms. Adams: It’s possible, but we don’t know. We need answers definitely because that petition could put it into a totally different process. I don’t know.

Mr. Fusco: So we’ll have it on the next agenda, even for discussion if it’s legal. So I’ll withdraw my motion if we could put it on the next meeting agenda, somewhere in there.

Ms. Adams: Well I think it comes down to, Richie, I think once we get that answer we’re going to be going different ways, and I think once we have that answer, Chuck is going to get to the Council members and say hey look this is what the situation is. I can’t promise you something is going to be on the agenda, what is going to be on the agenda until we have more information. We don’t have that right now.

Mr. Fusco: Well I’m saying if we wanted to carry this discussion on but I’m willing to let it go until the next meeting even if the citizen’s initiative goes forward, I still think we should discuss it. Gary had some good points and I have some counter points, I wanted to see what it is by listening to the people. All we want is it on the agenda, it’s not that big of a deal.

Ms. Adams: I think the Council, you know, Chuck get that information, go to the Council members and let everyone know just where we are at.

Mr. Frigon: I’ll get that answer.

Mr. Fusco: There’s a motion and a second.

Ms. Adams: Do you want to withdraw or do you want to go forward with a vote?

Mr. Fusco: I can see the vote, the vote is not going to go, we had trouble getting a second, why would we go forward with a vote just to satisfy, you know it’s not going to work. My feeling still is if we put this on the next agenda . . . .

Ms. Adams: I’ll take it under advisement.

Mr. Fusco: I will withdraw the motion so we can have it on the next agenda so we can discuss it.

Mr. Fusco Withdrew His Motion. Mr. DiFederico Withdrew His Seconding of the Motion


9. New Business A. Consider Appointments to Boards and Commissions 1. Consider the nomination of Matthew Grabel, 70 Peck Lane, Watertown as a

member of the Water and Sewer Authority to fill the unexpired term of J. Raymond Hebert, Jr. who resigned for a term to expire January 31, 2011.

MOTION: (Mr. DiFederico, sec. Mr. Primini) I move to nominate

Matthew Grabel, 70 Peck Lane, Watertown as a member of the Water and Sewer Authority to fill the unexpired term of J. Raymond Hebert, Jr. who resigned for a term to expire January 31, 2011.

Discussion: Mr. Rinaldi: Peck Lane is not in the Watertown Fire District, correct?

Ms. Adams: No, I checked that out. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY B. Consider An Appropriation in the amount of $20,000 from the General Fund for

emergency Repairs to the Skilton Road Bridge MOTION: (Mr. DiFederico, sec. Mr. Primini) I move to approve an

Appropriation in the amount of $20,000 from the General Fund for emergency Repairs to the Skilton Road Bridge.

Discussion: Ms. Adams: Roy, can you please give us an overview of this? We’ve talked about bridges on the Council, I know Paul, myself and Ray and condition of bridges and this kind of really struck a nerve with me anyway, I think other Council members with this, so if you could give us the status and what’s going on.

Mr. Cavanaugh: For the record, I’m the Director of Public Works. Skilton Road Bridge is one of 5 bridges that is currently being inspected on a biannual basis by the State of Connecticut, Department of Transportation, Bridge Inspection Team. It’s last rating conducted 2 years ago with a Fair Condition which meant that there was some defects to it but nothing that required any immediate repair.


During the inspection that was conducted by the Department of

Transportation at the end of June the field inspectors gave the Department of Public Works a phone call and said come on out here right now, we have discovered that one of the abutments had collapsed and is totally laying in the Nonnewaug River. We went out and took a look at it and determined that during the mid to late 80’s the Skilton Road Bridge was reconstructed such that the stone that was on the exterior (inaudible) of the bridge is primarily a façade, it doesn’t serve any structural purpose. The bridge itself is structurally sound. They removed the entire guts of the bridge back in the 80’s, they put in a precast concrete bridge and then they put in a stone façade around the outside because it is on the National Historic Register of Bridges. So the bridge itself is structurally sound, however one of the abutments is lying in the river. The abutment consists of dry level masonry, in other words one of the bridge’s claim to fame was that there was no mortar used to keep all the stone together and that’s one of the reasons possibly it collapsed. Currently the section that has collapsed is about 4 feet wide by 3 to 4 feet deep and about 12 feet tall. It goes up to just before the arch begins. If you lose one more stone on the bridge than we’ll lose the entire arch of the bridge and the cost will go up dramatically. We received a couple of quotes from contractors to do some emergency stabilization and as of today we sent a bid package to the Purchasing Agent to see if we can get a contractor out there to do some repairs on the abutment. We did contact the Department of Transportation, the Local Bridge Program, but unfortunately the application period expired as of June 15, 2009, however they were willing to accept a delayed application for the rehabilitation of the bridge. The State of Connecticut does not have any funds for this purpose, however the bridge fortunately is qualified for federal funds so we would qualify for 80% reimbursement of those funds expended after the project was approved. That’s the good news. The bad news is any money we spend for emergency repairs or repairs before the project contract documents are signed are not reimbursable from either the State or the Feds. So right now we are kind of in limbo. We don’t expect to get word from the State for several months at the earliest whether or not they will approve our application for more extensive repairs and modifications to the bridge. So the current proposal is to get some funds in place so that if we do get a number that does not exceed the funds for the repair of the abutments we can proceed.

Ms. Adams: So we would be looking at months to know if we get any reimbursement and we’d have to wait basically is what you’re saying?


Mr. Cavanaugh: If we spent any monies on emergency stabilization and repairs at this time is not reimbursable.

Ms. Adams: And basically what we are looking to do tonight is to make it whole or just enough to make it a little better than it is now?

Mr. Cavanaugh: What we are looking to do if possible is put the abutment back and present further deterioration. What I’d like to do down the road, assuming that the Historic Register agrees with it, is to do something like a pressure grout injection in all the voids and in between the stones to try and prevent this from happening again. I know it wouldn’t violate the structural integrity of the bridge, and I’m hoping it would not violate the historic integrity of the bridge being the fact that the stone is just a façade at this point.

Mr. Demirs: This is just a complete safety issue?

Mr. Cavanaugh: It’s not really a safety issue because even if all of the rest of the stone fell, the bridge itself is still structurally sound, however it is one of Watertown’s treasures and it is on the Historic Register so we do have some responsibility to repair and put it back, a moral responsibility of repairing one of our treasures and we do have to get the rock out of the river.

Mr. Fusco: There’s no money available anywhere to restore these treasures that we have?

Mr. Cavanaugh: I did secure information from the Department of Culture and Tourism, they did have a grant program for the restoration of these type of historic structures, but unfortunately the budget has been zeroed out as of this year and I have not been able to locate any other funds. They keep sending me back to the Local Bridge Program.

Mr. Demirs: You won’t get any money from the State, they don’t even have a budget.

Mr. Mancini: I guess the minimum amount that has to be done is going to cost $20,000? That’s not to take care of the whole thing to get it back to where it should be?

Mr. Cavanaugh: No, at this point we’re looking at doing the minimum we can, which is put the abutment back. The more extensive would be, as part of the Local Bridge Program application.

Mr. Mancini: How much is the minimum now?


Mr. Frigon: The $20,000, this is a very fluid repair, the $20,000 was initially presented, was going to be presented to you to shore up the bridge, to send a basket down with a crane and have people with steel weld it in place, just to shore it up. What we want to do now, we’re going to keep that $20,000, we don’t know what it’s going to cost. My hope is that we can instead of shoring it up and putting a temporary brace down there, for what seems like an awful lot of money, $20,000, why can’t we look at or at least explore having the bridge fixed for $20,000 and not shore it up but fix it. So that’s what we are hoping to do. We don’t know, we haven’t gotten prices on it, we haven’t gotten cost estimates on it, we’re going to put it out to bid and see what happens. The $20,000 was to brace it. If it gets any worse, if we experience more bad weather if water washes out some more of the understructure of the bridge, then we have the appropriate amount of money there to brace it. Meanwhile we’re going to put it out to bid and let’s see what happens. We don’t know is your answer, Carl.

Mr. Mancini: I was trying to say, why do we have to spend $20,000 if it’s not needed? See if we can temporarily fix it with a lesser amount of money and then apply to the State.

Mr. Frigon: That’s what we are hoping.

Mr. Mancini: That’s what I’m trying to say, why should we appropriate $20,000 if we’re not going to need $20,000?

Mr. Frigon: We don’t know what we’re going to need, it might be $16,000 or it might be $35,000.

Mr. Mancini: I read in the paper it was $14,000.

Mr. Frigon: No that was for steel “I” beams just to support it, not fix it.

Mr. Mancini: I was shocked to see the $20,000, when I saw the $14,000.

Mr. Frigon: Well that’s why I wanted you to know that next month we may come in with something totally different.

Mr. Demirs: So we are using the $20,000 as a placeholder?


Mr. Frigon: We are using the $20,000 as a placeholder, as an emergency, we have to send somebody down there, put the steel in there, get it fixed. Meanwhile we’re going to put it out to bid and see if we can’t get those stones back in place, and have the pressure injection grouting done for the $20,000. We just don’t know.

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

C. Consider Setting a Special Town Meeting to consider an Appropriation in the amount

of $36,000 from the Sidewalk Fund for the construction of sidewalks from Ice House Road to Adams Road along Echo Lake Road

MOTION: (Mr. DiFederico, sec. Mr. Primini) I move to set a Special Town

Meeting to be held on August 17, 2009 at 7:15 p.m. at Swift Middle School Media Center to consider an appropriation in the amount of $36,000 from the Sidewalk Fund for the construction of sidewalks from Ice House Road to Adams Road along Echo Lake Road.

Discussion: Ms. Adams: Roy, can you please explain this? This goes back a couple of years. Some of us were here when we talked about this to the developer and some of us are new to this with the sidewalk fund and I guess we have property for a walkway around Echo Lake and the parking lot and how this money can only be sued for this purpose.

Mr. Cavanaugh: The issue of the sidewalk fund is such that the Planning and Zoning Commission used to received funds from developers in lieu of installing sidewalks. They used to provide a dollar equivalent for the amount of sidewalks that they weren’t installing on subdivisions or other development in town. The funds broke out to a rather substantial fund balance which is right now sitting accruing interest. The Planning and Zoning Commission has indicated a preference where they would like these funds spent. The Town Council in the past has directed the Department of Public Works to develop plans for the installation of sidewalks along Main Street connecting Watertown and Oakville and the second earmark which is in the process of working its way through the stimulus fund, supplemented with a sidewalk fund. The second project that was earmarked for the sidewalk fund money was the installation of a sidewalk on Echo Lake Road between Adams Road and Ice House Road. The purpose of this was to provide a continuous walkway from Main Street down Echo Lake Road around Ice House Road back to French Street and then back to Main Street. Part of this sidewalk was installed 2 or 3 years ago by Mr. Zappone a developer between French Street and the Echo Lake Park Pavilion. That leaves a big chunk of sidewalk between, going around the lake down Ice House Road and then down Adams Road connecting (inaudible) sidewalk system.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Another developer of Lakeview Estates, Mr. Joe Polletta is part of

this approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission agreed to develop a trail system around Echo Lake at his expense. Part of the tradeoff was that he was not required to install sidewalks along Echo Lake Road in front of his property, he’ll be installing a trail around Echo Lake, so that trail will connect to the end of existing sidewalk by the pavilion at Echo Lake, around the lake and then back to Ice House Road. There will then be a short stretch of roadway that does not have sidewalk or trail with it, primarily because we would be going through wetlands and then the new proposed sidewalk would be extended from Ice House Road down to Adams Road which completes all of the sidewalk for this particular loop. This was discussed and arranged by the Planning and Zoning Commission and I believe the Town Council voted in favor of that an few years ago. It’s coming to fruition. T he $36,000 is for an appropriation out of the Sidewalk Fund for the construction materials, the sidewalk itself will be constructed by the Highway Division of the Department of Public Works later on this year. It is on the work schedule. And the $36,000 is our preliminary estimate of what the material would be for the sidewalks and the form work, the gravel subbase, the topsoil, seeding and repair, etc.

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY D. Consider a Request for Bid Waivers for Technology Purchases for Watertown High

School and Judson Elementary School as follows: Watertown High School 1. Vendor: Connecticut Business Systems Bid: CREC CT Consortium for Cooperative Purchasing 0/10 Amount: $7,345.00 2. Vendor: HP/Digital BackOffice Bid: WSCA Contract #A63309 Amount: $9,057.01 3. Vendor: HP/Digital BackOffice Bid: WSCA Contract #A63309 Amount: $21,261.00 4. Vendor: Apple Bid: Sole Source Provider Amount: $21,734.55

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 5. Vendor: Studica Bid: Sole Source Provider Amount: $16,595.00 6. Vendor: HP/Digital BackOffice Bid: WSCA Contract #A63309 Amount: $4,525.00 7. Vendor: GovConnection Bid: WSCA Contract #A63309 Amount: $124,669.83 Judson Elementary School 8. Vendor: HP/Digital BackOffice Bid: SWCA Contract #A63309 Amount: $9,057.01 9. Vendor: HP/Digital BackOffice Bid: CT Contract #08ITZ0026 Amount: $42,453.00 10. Vendor: GovConnection Bid: WSCA Contract #A63309 Amount: $91,411.09 MOTION: (Mr. DiFederico, sec. Mr. Primini) I move to approve the Board of

Education’s request for bid waivers for Agenda Items 9D1 through 9D10 for technology purchases for Watertown High School and Judson Elementary School with a change to item 9D9, which vendor shall be changed to Advanced Corporate Networking, Contract #09ITZ0016 in the amount of $42,453.00.

Discussion: Mr. Fusco: The new section, the Advanced Corporate Networking, does that involve hiring another person to take care of another system?

Ms. Baldwin: No, it’s just a change in name. Digital BackOffice also goes by advanced Corporate Networking.

Mr. Fusco: It doesn’t need another person, this is all money that’s

already been appropriated through the bond.

Ms. Baldwin: That’s correct.

Mr. Demirs: It’s all part of the school project.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Mr. Fusco: I just didn’t want another person being involved. Thank

you.

Ms. Adams: I think a lot of this also has to do with the fact that there

are sole people that do this type of thing also. It’s not something like you can buy a printer from probably 100 places just in the Greater Waterbury area, but when you get into specifics, hardware, software, anything like that you need . . . .

Ms. Baldwin: That’s correct. On the High School list there are two

sole source providers on that list.

Mr. Mancini: This is FF&E? Jut want to make sure.

Ms. Baldwin: It’s part of the technology budget. I believe we

provided that to you as backup. Just to underscore what Mr. Demirs said earlier for the P.B.C., the Judson Elementary School project is o time, we hope to have our certificate of occupancy for August 14th. The one area of that building that we won’t be in for August 14th is the gymnasium because that’s basically a holding space for all of the contractors materials as we’ve been moving along but we do intend to have that by the end of September. In terms of the High School, if you’ve been up there recently, is moving at a very rapid pace. The turf is in and the good news o that is that the Mills Complex is ahead of schedule. They did not think that they would be able to turn the Mills Complex over to us until the end of September, we are ahead of schedule, we’ve made plans appropriately for our Fall athletics so we’re very excited about that.

Ms. Adams: That’s great news.

Mr. Demirs: Actually we need all of this stuff o hand so when we

are ready to move we have it all. We don’t want to be waiting for something when school starts, so we want this all ahead of time so we can move right on it and now is the time I think to get these bid waivers approved.

Ms. Baldwin: That’s correct, we are on a fast paced here, we will

place the orders starting tomorrow and then being our network installation as soon as that material arrives.

Mr. DiFederico: It’s only for $42,453.00, right?

Ms. Baldwin: No, that’s just that one item.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Mr. DiFederico: Okay, we don’t have a discussion on the $91,000,

you didn’t mention that right?

Ms. Adams: No, it’s all of these here, no, that’s why Karen is here if

we have any questions specifically about this.

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY E. Consider a Resolution authorizing Tax Refunds

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Taxpayers have made application for the property tax refunds in accordance with Section 12-129 Refund of Excess Payment; and WHEREAS, the Tax Collector recommends that the refunds be made in accordance with the provisions of Section 12-129; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Town Council approves the following tax refunds: 2575 Lakeside Estates, LLC Amount of Refund: $527.10

542 Litchfield Road Type R Watertown, CT 06795-5240

Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Assessed Value Decreased

2744 Anderson, Matthew Amount of Refund: $138.27 42 Viola Street Type M Oakville, CT 06779-1824

Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Prorated

2745 Anderson, Ryan A. Amount of Refund: $84.72 42 Viola Street Type M Oakville, CT 06779-1824


2819 LaPorta, Mario J. and Laurie Amount of Refund: $56.49 147 Belden Street Type S Watertown, CT 06795-2801

Reason for Refund: Per Assessor, Assessed Value Decreased

2827 Nissan Infiniti LT Amount of Refund: $448.21 Refund Department Type M P.O. Box 254648 Sacramento, CA 95865-4648



2828 VW Credit Leasing Ltd. Amount of Refund: $171.47 Refund Department Type M 1401 Franklin Boulevard Libertyville, IL 60048-4460


2840 DCFS Trust Amount of Refund: $23.45 2050 Roanoke Road Type M Westlake, TX 76262-9616


2841 VW Credit Leasing Ltd. Amount of Refund: $147.59 1401 Franklin Boulevard Type M Libertyville, IL 60048-4460


Total for All Refunds $1,597.30 Dated at Watertown, CT this 20th day of July, 2009.

_____________________

Elaine H. Adams, Chairman Watertown Town Council

MOTION: (Mr. DiFederico, sec. Mr. Primini) I move to approve a Resolution

authorizing Tax Refunds.

Discussion: None

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY F. Consider a Resolution of Bipartisan Support for Renewable Energy Legislation from

the Watertown Town Council

RESOLUTION OF BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY LEGISLATION

FROM THE WATERTOWN TOWN COUNCIL

WHEREAS, the Town of Watertown has provided strong bipartisan support for the

construction of a renewable energy project in our Town; and WHEREAS, the project, commonly referred to as Watertown Renewable Power, is

substantially permitted to provide 30 megawatts of renewable energy using 100 percent clean wood waste as fuel; and

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 WHEREAS, renewable energy projects of this type will provide hundreds of much

needed jobs during construction and will provide more than one hundred permanent jobs for the collection, transport and processing of clean wood waste, once built; and

WHEREAS, Watertown Renewable Power currently holds a contract with

Connecticut Light & Power which it obtained through the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund’s Project 100/150 Program, which contract has been reviewed and approved by the Connecticut DPUC; and

WHEREAS, due to the downturn in worldwide economic conditions the

requirements for financing projects of this type have become more stringent; and WHEREAS, the Energy & Technology Committee of the State Legislature

recognized the difficulty renewable energy projects are having in obtaining financing; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Town Council of the Town of

Watertown that we urge the Governor, the Speaker of the House and the President Pro-Tempore of the Senate to implement legislative methodologies to assist all renewable energy projects in the State of Connecticut to obtain long-term financing so that our community and State may enjoy the important renewable energy, jobs and tax benefits contemplated by the successful development and construction of these projects.

Dated at Watertown, Connecticut this 20th day of July, 2009. Elaine H. Adams, Chairman Watertown Town Council MOTION: (Mr. DiFederico, sec. Mr. Primini) I move to authorize a resolution of

bipartisan support for Renewable Energy Legislation as endorsed by the Watertown Economic Development Commission.

Discussion: Mr. Mirabito: (Tape #2, Side A ended – may have missed some.) to

get this project built. The contract, our contract, the project currently has simply isn’t financeable in the current economic times. Things changed over the past year as we all know and the contract that was awarded to us through the Project 100 program simply doesn’t die with the lenders so we’ve requested a change, legislation that would allow a change to that contract that would satisfy the lender’s requirements. It’s an ongoing debate in Hartford and a show of support from the Town would certainly go a long way towards helping something like that get done. So the idea would be that if this resolution was adopted, would be to send it to the governor, the president and the speaker of the house as they consider this in the next couple of weeks.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Mr. Mancini: I have a statement and a question because I was a big

supporter of Tamarack cause I think it’s a great project. Ms. Adams: Tax dollars. Mr. Mancini: Tax dollars for the town, but what this legislation

does is increase the cost of electricity, so you’re guaranteed you’re looking for your costs plus or whatever, where before you weren’t going to get that so there’s no way that anybody who invests money into your company could lose with this legislation.

Mr. Mirabito: it’s a cost of service contract. Mr. Mancini: That’s not the way it was supposed to be when it was

first started. Mr. Mirabito: The original contract was a market based contract

where the revenues would e based on the market price of power, market price of power rises and falls with the price of natural gas, so there will be times when the price of natural gas is high, that the project would do well. If the price of natural gas is low there’s a chance that the project could go bankrupt so it’s a much more volatile contract type several years ago the banks were into a more risky type of contract like that but they simply won’t accept that so what the project is looking to do in exchange for a guarantee that all the prudently incurred costs are returned it’s giving up the up side, it’s a guaranteed rate of return. It’s the same way the utilities, the public utilities work, their contracts are cost of service (inaudible) so that is the legislation we’re looking at.

Mr. Mancini: I am on Planning and Zoning and I approved this from

Planning and Zoning and all that, but excuse me ladies, we’re damned if we do and we’re damned if don’t because this is a great project for Watertown but (inaudible).

Ms. Adams: Again this is something we hope to have to alleviate the

tax burden on the residents. Mr. Primini: How much of a percentage are we talking in the whole

wide of thins that you will be providing (inaudible)? Mr. Mirabito: What percentage of electricity in the State? Mr. Primini: That you would be proving.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Mr. Mirabito: It’s 30 megawatts that is proposed, a pretty small

fraction of the total load in State, but it’s a significant portion of the renewable energy generation and that’s the goal, a small goal to start with and that’s hoping that this industry will take off.

Mr. Primini: That’s still not going to affect that natural gas

fluctuation. It might actually bring that cost of natural gas down by having that extra.

Mr. Mirabito: Yea, natural gas pricing is a speculative . . . . Mr. Bernier: Our little 30 isn’t going to make a big difference in

that (inaudible). Mr. Mirabito: No. Mr. Bernier: No matter how much we want to hope it will. Mr. Mirabito: No but there are other benefits to the project, there’s

the renewable energy aspect, the environmental aspect, the construction jobs, tax dollars. As far as what the total cost to the ratepayers will be, I think that’s debatable, it depends on what you think the market price of power is going to be in the future, because if the price of natural gas continues to go up in the future, a project like this would be ., . . .

Mr. Mancini: I have to weigh the pros and cons for the taxpayers in

Watertown and I think even if the rates go up, it doesn’t come to, with this it won’t be sold back to Watertown taxpayers so I think that it does benefit, the project itself does benefit the taxpayers more than (inaudible) increase the rate, lower taxes (inaudible).

Mr. Fusco: My understanding is Tamarack is not in business any

more, they sold out. Mr. Mirabito: Correct. Mr. Fusco: But they sold it to a company who doesn’t have the

money and is looking for money.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Mr. Mirabito: No. I’ve been with the project for over 2 years now,

a former employee of Tamarack. When Tamarack sold this project, which was its primary asset, it went out of business, it ceased operation. I was hired by the new owner to continue in my role which is why you still see me here today. The new owner is a private equity group, they provide construction equity to a project like this, they still need to bring in the debt side of the program, of the construction financing. They’re got a lot of experience building power plants, they know what the requirements are, those requirements are changing that’s why in the Spring they bought this project even though they knew that this legislation had to happen for this project to go forward. They are optimistic that it will go forward. All of the rest of the projects are very sound, all the development has done very well with permitting thanks in large part to the Town being so open and welcoming of the project. But this is the key piece that needs to get down.

Mr. Fusco: It worries me because basically down the street from

where you are they sold a salami warehouse where there was cheese and salami and they went out of business.

Mr. Frigon: Napoli Foods. Mr. Fusco: They sold the warehouse and they went out and now

they’re putting in a recycling plant or something. Mr. Mirabito: No, this is a very large project, they are on their third

private equity fund, it’s over $1,000,000,000 fund. Mr. Bernier: First and foremost, if Napoli is out of business, the

Town of Cheshire is going to be very, very upset. Mr. Rinaldi: I followed this thing like Carl did right from the

beginning. I’m Chairman of Water & Sewer and we had to make some approvals for Tamarack and this thing has changed quite a bit from its inception until now. I understand there is legislation going on in Hartford, correct?

Mr. Mirabito: Yes. Mr. Rinaldi: Has it been approved yet? Mr. Mirabito: No. Mr. Rinaldi: We’re putting the cart before the horse. I want to see

what happens with the legislation before I decide what’s best for the people of Watertown.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Ms. Adams: We just got this tonight and it’s difficult to try and have

something come up like this. Mr. Mirabito: The purpose of the Resolution was to express the

Town’s support for the legislation before it’s even fully considered. It’s in the queue now, there’s a lot going on in Hartford, obviously the budget is their top priority.

Mr. Rinaldi: Support for the resolution in what form? Ms. Adams: As presented. Why don’t I read it out loud. Mr. Rinaldi: No, don’t bother. I thought that this, the resolution

was presented, then it was modified, wasn’t it? Ms. Adams: No, this is this right here we’re talking about, you’re

talking going back they went through a hearing process, they went before P & Z, they had to go to the Citing Council, it was a lengthy whatever, I think you have all of your approvals now?

Mr. Mirabito: Everything else is done. If this legislation was in

place we would be moving forward. Mr. Frigon: Maybe to have a little bit of clarify and this is only as I

understand it, Paul, our state legislature was in favor, unanimously I believe in favor of passing this particular piece of legislation, because it was popular there was another bill added to it. It was the bill that was added to it that was not considered favorably, so because that bill was not looked upon favorably, this one went down with it, so now we need to start all over again, and this bill needs to go back to the State Senate and they will be looking at this bill again and what we want to do is we want to lobby if you will to the State of Connecticut saying that we as a community are in favor of the State Legislature passing this bill for the way the project is financed. It only has to do with the way the project is financed. As Carl pointed out there are some pros and cons but in the end the pros are it’s a great project for the Town of Watertown where the electric costs are going to be spread out amongst the entire State. It’s a tough call, you’re right Carl.

Mr. Bernier: My understanding is that the new rate is comparable to

what all the other utilities are in the State. Did I hear you right? Mr. Mirabito: It would be based on a cost of service, so the capital

costs of the project plus its ongoing operating costs would e recovered by the project company.

Watertown Town Council Regular Meeting July 20, 2009 Mr. Bernier: And that’s how CL&P, Yankee Gas . . . . Mr. Mirabito: Correct, but it’s unique that it would be the first

biomass project. Mr. Bernier: I understand, but I just want to make sure in my mind,

(inaudible) it’s not an excessive rate it is comparable even though it’s biomass, it’s going to be comparable to what all the other utilities are, the method the formula that they use correctly.

Mr. Mirabito: Exactly. Mr. Fusco: When you use the word biomass, prior to this it was

wood chips. So you’re talking wood chips and other stuff to make the mass?

Mr. Mirabito: No, clean wood chips. Mr. Fusco: Just wood chips? Mr. Mirabito: Yes, clean wood chips, from the forest, from clean

chip applets, utility line clearing. Mr. Fusco: Demolition material from houses? Mr. Mirabito: No, no demolition material, just clean, virgin wood.

Chuck did a very good job in summarizing what happened in Hartford over the last couple of months. There was unanimous support from both sides of the aisle on this and it just got caught up in the political wrangling that goes on.

Mr. Bernier: We’re not going to (inaudible) right? Mr. Mirabito: Right. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

10. Public Participation Elaine Ciavarella, 116 French Street, Watertown, CT 06795 Ms. Ciavarella: I understand we’re going to have a project on French Street and I didn’t

know about this and I wanted you to explain to me what’s going to happen. You are rebuilding French Street?


Mr. Frigon: Under the Federal Stimulus monies that are offered to municipalities, under very specific guidelines for roads and bridges, the Town of Watertown applied to have French Street repaved. WE haven’t received approval yet. WE expect to receive approval this week and once we receive approval we then need to go through all of the design criteria by the State of Connecticut. It’s nothing more than a reclamation of what’s existing and repaving.

Ms. Ciavarella: I was there for the first widening and sidewalks and . . . .

Ms. Adams: Are you the lower part by Harper Road, Edward Avenue?

Ms. Ciavarella: Yea, I was there for that and it was not happy.

Mr. Frigon: L=This is not widening, this is not narrowing, not adding sidewalks, just

repaving.

Ms. Ciavarella: Okay, I have a real bad dip in my driveway and part of it has a curbing instead of a driveway. Can I get that fixed? Can I go somewhere and say you need to do this, I’m going to stand out there and last time it was bad.

Mr. Frigon: Yes and no. Usually when you have that lip, that’s so the water doesn’t go into your driveway. When we take out the lip and the water goes in your driveway, then you’ve got a problem. Right now you just have to hang onto your cavities.

Ms. Ciavarella: I broke my tired a few months ago.

Mr. Frigon: What we can do, we’ll ask the engineering department to specifically look at your driveway to see what they an do.

Pamela Ciccio, 357 Georgetown Drive, Watertown, CT 06795 Ms. Ciccio: It’s my understanding and I may be a little late on these meetings, but I’ve

attended several, I was a little late getting here this evening, I’m also the President of the Swift Middle School P.T.O. It was brought to our attention tonight that the Swift sports and the graduation will be removed, and I thought that was a little unclear.

Ms. Adams: Are you talking about has the Board of Education voted on that? That

wouldn’t be anything we would vote on, that’s up to the Board of Education and what they decide to do and I don’t know if they’ve had a meeting since then.

Ms. Ciccio: Well I was with Karen earlier and we thought it was back on the table and I’m not sure that many parents know that it’s off the table. But it was my understanding that the 1% increase included that back on the table. Can somebody enlighten me?


Mr. Bernier: That is the Board of Education, you need to speak to. All we do is given them the dollars. As far as how that money is spent, I fought very vigorously they have tat right, we can’t answer that, the Board of Ed would need to answer that for you.

Mr. Mancini: Gary is right. When we got the 1% back I said I hope out of that money, out of $30,000,000 they can put the $5,000 back for graduation and reinstate the sports. And we made it incumbent on the Board of Education to try and get it for us. I haven’t heard that, that they haven’t put it in and like I said, before shame on them if they couldn’t put it in and I would like to know see the Superintendent of Schools is here and Kevin, you’re here, did you guys take that out? Is it out?

Ms. Adams: No, that’s really we could do after the meeting, but through the Chair the answer Is no.

Mr. Mancini: Well she asked the question, we don’t know the answer.

Ms. Ciccio: I do have other avenues that I will go down, because I support our school.

Ms. Adams: It’s a Board of Education issue, the Council made it perfectly clear that we weren’t happy with that at all but we cannot tell them what to do.

Ms. Ciccio: I totally understand that.

Ms. Adams: And they are in the back if you want to go talk to them.

Ms. Ciccio: No, I already know, and I don’t have a problem with them either, I just want to know if the public knows this, because that would really impend our budget next Tuesday.

Mr. Bernier: We are part of that public and we don’t know. I don’t know if that answers the question, but I made a solemn promise that anything to do with the Board of Education I would defer to the Board of Education, we have no say how they do that, we did voice an opinion, but that is solely the Board of Education’s decision.

Ms. Ciccio: As the P.T.O. President I felt that I just wanted to bring that along cause I

thought it literally was back on the table. Whether the Paper didn’t clarify that enough or not but we do have a lot of upsetting parents, a lot of upsetting parents, so I’ll have to work on that, but I just didn’t know that was something that could be clarified.

Mr. Bernier: Unfortunately we don’t have any information.

Al Mickel, 95 Woodvine Avenue, Watertown, CT 06795

Mr. Micelle: Rick, can you let me know when the Ordinance meeting is?

Mr. DiFederico: Sure.


Stan Everitt, 1 Everitt Lane, Oakville CT 06779

Mr. Everitt: I’d like to ask Mark a few questions I really was into this Tamarack thing.

Ms. Adams: He’s gone. He has been very open with everything, Chuck I believe you have

the contact information for him, call Chuck Frigon tomorrow, get his phone number and then you can ask him what you need to ask him. He’s been very good about responding and answering questions.

Mr. Everitt: I just never get the answers. There were 19 stations where these wood chips were going to be picked up; they never told where they were. (Inaudible) Route 8 but they never told where it was. They’re going to need water and who is going to supply the water, and how much water? And this thing with radiation, is there something really to it, and if there is is that what you want in Watertown, for a lousy few tax bucks. Where are these trucks going to be registered? In Watertown? Are they going to pay taxes to the Watertown for these trucks? There are a whole bunch of questions that I’d like answer to. I spoke to that Citing Commissioner and I don’t think he’s a chemist and I don’t think he knows radiation, he knows the citing thing and that’s all. I spoke to him personally because I knew somebody else. So you want me to get a hold of you, Chuck, so I can talk to hi and maybe get some of these answer? I’d hate to see a couple of tax dollars (inaudible) where are these trucks coming from? Our forest, our water, it’s coming from our water shed.

Mr. Frigon: If you stop by, some of those questions I can answer, some are for Mark.

Mr. Everitt: I know you tried to help me once before. I’ll call you to make an appointment. Ms. Adams, Chairman, Closed Public Participation at 10:11 p.m.

11. Adjournment MOTION: (Mr. Mancini, sec. Mr. Primini) to Adjourn the Regular Meeting at 10:12

p.m. Discussion: None MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY Regular Meeting Adjourned at 10:12 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Elaine H. Adams, Chairman Watertown Town Council

Approved: _______________________________ Lynn M. LaForme, Clerk

watertown town council regular meeting · 2009. 7. 28. · watertown town council regular meeting...

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