2026-10-13 - Town Council

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06:06What?

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12:33>> They weren't done.

12:38>> But I did not shoot.

12:45>> Oh, I would love one. Two. Is that Is

12:48that okay?

12:52>> Okay, everybody. Good evening. Today is

12:55Tuesday, October 13th, 2026. It is 7:00

12:58p.m. We're going to open up tonight with

13:00a uh our scheduled um public hearing. Uh

13:04number one, electric bicycle ordinance.

13:07Um last meeting we had, uh had some

13:10discussion and some debate. We refined

13:12the ordinance language a little bit uh

13:14amongst the council members. uh that was

13:17published uh and tonight we will hear

13:19any feedback on the electric bicycle

13:22ordinance. So if there's anybody who

13:24would like to come out and speak uh in

13:26favor or against or would just like to

13:28make some comments, if you're from the

13:30town of Southernington or you work in

13:31the town of Southernington, you may do

13:32so and come on up to the podium.

13:38Okay, if you could just line up over

13:39here. I know it's really busy. Everybody

13:40wants [laughter]

13:42>> the interesting. All right. Uh again, is

13:45there anybody who would like to speak on

13:46the electric bike ordinance?

13:52Okay. Uh if it pleases the council,

13:54we'll close the public hearing then.

13:56Okay. So, nobody's going to speak. Okay.

13:59We will close the public hearing and we

14:01will move into our uh regular meeting of

14:04the town council here, Tuesday, October

14:0613, 2026, 7:01. Um Madame Clerk, would

14:10you please call the role? Michael Del

14:13Santo

14:13>> present.

14:14>> Christristen Ga

14:15>> present.

14:16>> James Morelli

14:18>> here.

14:18>> Tony Morrison

14:20>> here.

14:21>> Christopher Pal

14:22>> here.

14:23>> Joshua Saraphino

14:24>> here.

14:25>> David Zony

14:26>> here.

14:26>> Jennifer Clark [clears throat]

14:28>> here.

14:28>> Paul Chaplain

14:29>> here. Can everybody please stand for the

14:31prayer and flag salute. [clears throat]

14:37>> Father, help us this night to do the

14:38right thing in all the issues we

14:40consider. Help us to not be persuaded by

14:43popular opinion or political ambition,

14:45but rather to see this office we hold as

14:47a gift from you. Help us walk upright in

14:50this calling. Amen.

14:54>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

14:56United States of America and to the

14:58republic for which it stands, one nation

15:01under God, indivisible, with liberty and

15:04justice for all.

15:08>> [clears throat]

15:13>> Okay, thanks everybody. We're looking

15:14for uh item number two. Um we're looking

15:18for the approval of the minutes of the

15:20town council for September 28th, 2026.

15:23>> Motion to approve the minutes from the

15:24last meeting.

15:25>> Second.

15:26>> We have a motion from Chris and a second

15:27from Mike. Any discussion on the

15:29minutes?

15:30>> Okay, hearing none. All in favor?

15:32>> I

15:33>> I Any opposed? Okay, motion passes uh

15:36unanimously. Item number three, council

15:39person communications.

15:43>> Anybody?

15:46>> Go ahead, Chris.

15:47>> Just a quick thank you to um the

15:49community for a wonderful two weekends.

15:52Sorry we couldn't get that last day in

15:53for the festival, but the support from

15:55the community is outstanding as always.

15:57Our the nonprofits, the residents that

16:00came out and to support everyone. So,

16:02just a thank you from um on behalf of

16:04the Apple Harvest Committee.

16:09Okay. Anybody else?

16:14>> Okay. Hearing none, we'll move on to

16:15item four, report of special committees.

16:17A sewer committee.

16:20Mr. Chairman, there's two items uh from

16:23the sewer committee along with some

16:24regular business. [snorts]

16:26The first was uh the manhole repair. The

16:28annual manhole study was completed

16:30recently and we have a list of 165

16:33manholes that need repair. We do this

16:34every year annually. This will be

16:36carried out over the next few weeks at a

16:38rough cost of $15,000.

16:41Um the next one's a bigger item. Um

16:45there's a development on West Street by

16:48a company called Antony Antony's

16:50Properties has undergone a good deal of

16:53work by both its own engineers in the

16:55town to come up with [snorts] an

16:56approved design for that parcel. It's

16:58essentially uh 230 apartments, market

17:01rate apartments. um marketed to uh young

17:05professionals. It was approved by

17:07planning zoning a while ago. Uh but the

17:10development is in the sewer service

17:12area, but work needs to be done for the

17:14connection. There needs to be a

17:16connection obviously into our sewers.

17:18There's a minor change that needs to be

17:20made to the initial design that was at

17:22planning zoning on service in by our

17:25sewers. I'll explain briefly. Um the

17:28nearest [clears throat] connection point

17:30to our system is on West Street opposite

17:32the Marriott. And this property by the

17:34way is between Curtis Street and um and

17:37down there on West Street. It's uphill

17:40so it cannot be serviced by a gravity

17:42line and will need a pump station on the

17:43pro property on Curtis Street and a

17:46force main which is a pressurized sewer

17:47pipe under Curtis and West Streets to

17:49reach the connection point on West

17:51Street. The original design

17:55um had a pump station on the property

17:58and a force main under Curtis and West

18:00Streets um and it would be built by

18:03Anthony Properties and maintained by

18:05them. Uh the state however is will not

18:08allow a private force main to be under a

18:11state road. So there was another

18:13solution was needed and the simplest one

18:16was uh was laid before the sewer

18:18committee on Thursday at our meeting.

18:21Antony's properties will lay the force

18:24man at their expense and then have our

18:26sewer department maintain it after it's

18:29done. This will have a side benefit of

18:32opening up a part of our sewer service

18:34area uh that does not yet have sewer

18:36access.

18:38Uh the developer needs an assurance from

18:40the town that we approve the plan before

18:43starting to build it. So, as a

18:46committee, we approved a contingent

18:48approach to protect ourselves and voted

18:5150-0 to pass this plan and move it to

18:54town council with the following motion.

18:56And this is the motion we'd like town

18:58council to take on. We recommend the

19:01town would take ownership and maintain

19:04the proposed low pressure sewer main in

19:06the state right away contingent on a

19:09successful feasibility design and

19:11capacity review, planning and zoning

19:13approval if needed and any other

19:15required approvals.

19:17Um, this is our recommendation. I'd like

19:20to add it uh to be voted on tonight by

19:24the council and I'm ready to propose a

19:27motion to this effect. Mr. Shannon,

19:29>> I'll second.

19:31>> So, we have a motion and a second. Uh,

19:33I'd like to have some discussion on

19:34this. I think uh I think that there

19:36needs to be a bigger presentation to the

19:39council uh about this property. This is

19:41a uh almost 300 unit apartment complex

19:44at the corner of Curtis Street and West

19:46Street um which has been batted around

19:49planning and zoning in the town for

19:51several years. Um, when the development

19:54was originally planned, and I see former

19:58uh planning and zoning commissioners

19:59here as well. When the development was

20:01originally planned, it was supposed to

20:02be a mixeduse uh development. It was

20:05supposed to be campus style, uh, some

20:08retail, some commercial, some

20:09residential. And over the years it

20:12devolved into uh apartments, 300

20:16apartments that will add, in my opinion,

20:18significant traffic to a corner of

20:21Curtis Street and uh and West Street,

20:24which will be detrimental in my opinion

20:26to uh to this uh this area. There was a

20:30large opposition to this uh when it came

20:33uh years ago, and I think it was

20:35inconsistent personally with the u with

20:38the West Business Zone. I think voting

20:41uh in haste tonight without seeing the

20:43full picture u is um would be a

20:47disservice to our community. Um if

20:49there's an opportunity for this council

20:51to have an impact on that development uh

20:53and an impact on this level of service

20:55at that traffic light u which we all

20:59travel all the time. Um, I think uh we

21:02should be very cautious about taking

21:04ownership uh taking future maintenance,

21:07taking responsibility of a sewer main

21:09for a developer that's going to develop

21:11something that um is going to add more

21:13residential property to our town um and

21:16is going to be a tax burden. It will of

21:19course generate some tax revenue. Um,

21:21but now we have a second bite at the

21:23apple with this. And um, my

21:26recommendation is to uh is to if we want

21:29to talk about this, I think we should

21:30have a deeper discussion about it. Maybe

21:32have some folks come out and make some

21:34presentations so that the council can

21:36hear this uh in a little bit more detail

21:38than just a sewer recommendation. So,

21:41um, I would I would actually ask the

21:42council to consider moving this to the

21:44next meeting for discussion.

21:47>> Uh, yeah, I'm I'm okay with that. Um uh

21:50except I would say um

21:54this this development isn't as you've

21:56said there's 230 apartments. They're

22:00focused on they're marketing to um uh

22:05essentially young professionals. Uh

22:07they're one or two-bedroom apartments.

22:09Obviously there won't be many children

22:10there. There'll be a net benefit of they

22:12think $2 million tax revenue to the

22:15town. Um the traffic issues were gone

22:18into for over a year with traffic

22:20studies um with with planning and

22:22zoning. Um the property developer uh

22:26even you know gave up part of his his

22:29land to provide you know left turns out

22:32of out of the stuff and and and two

22:34lanes on Curtis Street. Um all this

22:37stuff has been uh to say we're going to

22:40have a second bite at it. I mean, uh,

22:42all this stuff has been gone into in in

22:45great detail. Um, so, you know, I don't

22:49mind obviously, you know, none of us

22:51mind reviewing that, but I I think I

22:55think we should take a slightly

22:56different point of view, which is it's a

22:58it's a minor change to something that's

23:01already been agreed upon by planning and

23:03zoning, has already gone through all the

23:05checks and balances. Um and um you know

23:09I uh it's fine. We'll we'll take it up

23:12uh next meeting. I don't mind um

23:14amending my motion for that. Um but I

23:17just wanted to add a few things uh that

23:20I I think is being overlooked.

23:21>> Thank you. I have a question.

23:22>> Sure. Please. Mike.

23:23>> So Mr. Morrison, can you please or

23:25anyone else from the sewer committee,

23:26can you please just explain um not in

23:30complete detail, but I mean you said

23:32that the town would have to take uh

23:34ownership. Will there be maintenance?

23:36[snorts]

23:37Will there be significant cost to the

23:40town of Sington?

23:42>> There will be.

23:42>> No.

23:43>> Oh, there will not be. Okay. So, yeah, I

23:44was question. That's was my question

23:46because I thought I heard the chair say

23:48that there would be um some costs

23:50>> associated with the the maintenance.

23:52>> No, I'm talking about cost with the

23:54neighborhood with 300 apartments.

23:55There's going to be taxpayer costs,

23:58>> but not for this minor change. No, I

24:00mean we we asked obviously we asked um

24:03um Kiari the the plant manager um what

24:07maintenance is exactly involved in this

24:09>> and [clears throat] he said it's it's

24:10nothing. We have obviously you know a

24:13couple of hundred miles of sewer pipes.

24:15It's just add in another 5,000 ft.

24:17That's it.

24:20>> Excellent. Okay. Any other discussion?

24:25>> We do have a motion and a second on the

24:26table to add it for an agenda. Tony, did

24:28you said you wanted to amend your motion

24:30so that it's for next meeting?

24:31>> I can amend it so it's for next meeting.

24:33>> Okay.

24:33>> Yeah.

24:34>> Okay. Any further discussion? You you'll

24:36second the nomination.

24:37>> Sure.

24:37>> Okay.

24:38>> At this point, we don't need

24:39>> We don't really don't even need a

24:40motion. We'll just Yeah,

24:41>> Mr. Chair. Yeah.

24:42>> Can I just get a little clarification?

24:44Is there anything specific that council

24:46wants to see presented? I know [snorts]

24:47you you discussed some presentation. Is

24:49there certain department or

24:51>> Yeah.

24:52>> staff member? I think personally I would

24:54like to see the original development the

24:55the plan the site plan that was approved

24:57from planning and zoning. Um I'd like to

25:00see the original sewer route that was

25:02approved as part of the site plan. What

25:04was the obligation to the developer and

25:07um what is the proposed

25:10and uh you know what the anticipated

25:12costs are [snorts]

25:14uh to the town for maintenance of 5,000

25:17if it's uh if it's 5,000 whatever the

25:19linear footage is. Um yeah, and uh it'd

25:23be good to get some of the tax revenue

25:24information for the, you know, estimated

25:27uh tax revenue. I believe we're talking

25:29about R12. You know, when I was on

25:30planning and zoning, we always uh we had

25:33a famous study that was done that um

25:35that said R12 zone um and even R 2025

25:40zone has a negative impact uh when it

25:43comes to tax burden on the community.

25:46And so, um, I think this falls into the

25:48R12, uh, category, higher density

25:51apartments. And, um, so, yeah, I'd like

25:54to have an I'd like to see, you know,

25:55what's the trade-off here?

25:56>> Do you want any staff

25:58>> planner engineering? [snorts]

26:00>> Yeah.

26:00>> How about Kari?

26:01>> Would it make sense to have Kiari come

26:03or or someone from his staff to come in

26:05case you have questions with regards?

26:07>> Yeah.

26:07>> Speak to the long-term operations of of

26:09the line.

26:10>> Sure.

26:10>> Okay.

26:12>> And

26:15>> good.

26:15>> Yeah. I think David North should be

26:17there as well, but also um Ron Burgeram

26:20who was um is their consulting engineer

26:23of Anony's properties at least should be

26:26there too.

26:29Excellent. Okay, thanks.

26:34Any other items on the sewer committee,

26:35Tony?

26:36>> That's it. That's it.

26:38>> Okay. Any questions on that for anybody

26:40else?

26:42Okay. Item B, SHS roof committee. Chris,

26:47>> yes, we met on Tuesday, October 6th. Um,

26:51[snorts] the purpose of the meeting, we

26:52had an invoice to approve. So, we

26:54approved an invoice for all electric for

26:57$96,610.91.

27:00Um, the project is now nearing

27:03completion. Um, in fact, they were

27:06starting to remove their materials at

27:07the time of that meeting. Um, so we

27:09we're in pretty good shape. I also uh

27:12Councilman Morrison asked the last

27:14meeting and I didn't have it right

27:15there. So I want to share with everyone

27:18um as of October 6th um the total

27:21referendum for the high school roof

27:23project was $6,920,000.

27:27Um we have only spent $3,721,790

27:33so far. So, the anticipated underbudget

27:36amount is $3,198,210. [snorts]

27:41So, um it's great to know that we've

27:43saved uh we obviously didn't know what

27:46it would cost when we went out to bid at

27:48the time, but it's a significant savings

27:50for the project.

27:51>> That's good news. Wonderful.

27:55>> And you have solar going on there,

27:56right?

27:56>> And we have solar going on. Yeah.

27:57>> Going to generate some revenue.

27:58>> Absolutely.

27:59>> Some off cost offsets at least.

28:01>> Absolutely. If only we did the solar in

28:03the parking lot.

28:06>> It'd be another 300,000 in revenue we

28:08could have had.

28:11>> All right. Thanks, Chris, for the

28:13update. Anybody else have questions on

28:14SHS roof committee?

28:17>> No. Okay. Item C, elementary school roof

28:20committee. Josh,

28:22>> um, so I unfortunately forgot my notes.

28:24U, we met on October 7th and we're

28:26$340,000 under budget for strong.

28:30>> Okay. Is there anybody else here that's

28:31on your committee?

28:32>> Chris wasn't attending.

28:33>> Okay. We were gonna challenge Josh on

28:35his memory.

28:36>> I will uh give [laughter] you an update

28:37next.

28:37>> It was the weather at the time of the

28:39meeting.

28:39>> It was good. It was nice.

28:41>> All right. Any questions or anybody want

28:43anything uh at the next elementary roof

28:45committee update? All good. All right.

28:48Public works D. Mike.

28:51>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. We had our meeting

28:52last Wednesday. Um couple of brief

28:55items. The meeting was brief. A couple

28:57of big um big announcements. Um

29:01[clears throat]

29:02the transfer station is killing it. Uh

29:04September 12th they had 155 vehicles.

29:07The next three weeks they had half of

29:09that amount. So uh spring cleanup is is

29:12happening. Um folks down at the uh

29:14transfer station are working hard. Um

29:18the transfer station is going to be open

29:21uh beginning Friday

29:24uh November 6th from noon to 4. If

29:27everyone can go to the town of

29:28Southernington website, there is a

29:30schedule for the bulky waste transfer

29:31station for Fridays in the fall. It goes

29:34uh just about um uh five f uh Fridays uh

29:39towards the end of the year for brush

29:40for leaves that folks want to take down

29:42there. Um just additional time to so

29:45folks don't have to go and wait um all

29:47[snorts] day on Saturday or in long

29:49lines on Saturday. It may be

29:50advantageous uh to bring brush and

29:53leaves only on those Fridays. But like I

29:55said, those particular dates are on the

29:56Southernington website. Also on the

29:58Southernington website, it is that time

30:00of year. It's leave time. So Monday,

30:03November 2nd will be the first day that

30:05Southernington will be picking up

30:06leaves. They'll be out there the week

30:08before just doing some spot checking and

30:10maybe doing some small collections. But

30:13um as we do every year, uh zone one will

30:16start uh and then uh obviously followed

30:19by zone two, three, and four. And I know

30:22folks that are in zone one typically are

30:25u disappointed because not all of the

30:27leaves are off. Obviously if um the

30:30weather permits they always go back and

30:32do zone one [clears throat] but last

30:35year I believe they did all four zones

30:37twice. So um we just want the public to

30:41be patient. Um let us know if there

30:44[snorts] are issues if there are you

30:46know piles uh that were out there that

30:48were not picked up. We can look into

30:50that for you. But um beginning the 2nd,

30:53excuse [clears throat] me, of November,

30:55uh leaf season, leaf pickup season will

30:57begin and the complete schedule along

30:59with alphabetical list of all streets

31:01are on the town of Southernington

31:03website. So anyone can go on and find

31:04out exactly what zone they're in. And if

31:07they follow along, uh the town website

31:09will have updates at least every couple

31:11of days [snorts] as to when the pickups

31:13are happening.

31:14>> Okay. Did you mention uh drop offs? If

31:17folks want to bring leaves, can they

31:19bring them anywhere?

31:20>> Are you kidding me?

31:21>> No. [laughter]

31:24>> Okay.

31:25>> All right. Snow remov uh removal bids. I

31:28can't believe we're there, but we're

31:29there. Um we're posted online. Uh anyone

31:32could submit [clears throat] a bid

31:35before October 21st.

31:37Um couple of other things uh we have on

31:41our agenda later tonight. Uh bridge

31:43construction. uh Dayton Construction was

31:46identified as the um public works

31:48committee recommendation to the town

31:50council. We'll be voting on that later

31:52today. Other than that, that was it. I'm

31:54not sure if I missed anything. Mr. Zony,

31:56>> you did a wonderful job.

31:57>> Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

31:59>> Any questions?

32:00>> Mr. Morrison, I don't know if I missed

32:02anything.

32:02>> No, that is fine. Absolutely.

32:04>> Like to be complete.

32:05>> What was Mr. Chair?

32:06>> What was the weather the time of year

32:07meeting?

32:08>> It's beautiful.

32:08>> Oh, nice. At least I have my notes.

32:11>> Sounds good. [laughter]

32:13All right. Any other questions on public

32:14works?

32:16>> All right. Hearing none. Item E, open

32:18space committee. Jen, madame vice chair.

32:21>> Yes. Okay. So, I have um two topics. So,

32:26same parcel, separate um initiatives.

32:29First is uh so this parcel is Goat

32:32Island. And just before I go into these

32:35two topics, I want to just um refer

32:38everyone to a documentary that the

32:40outsider um just put out. It was

32:43beautifully done. Uh it it outlines the

32:46Italian heritage of this parcel. Um just

32:49a great great piece of property. And so

32:53um the first thing that's happening is

32:55Unico uh would like to and and we had

32:58touched upon this before. Unico would

33:00like to um work with the town in d

33:04reddrafting a [clears throat] lease. A

33:06previous lease existed um and they would

33:09like to reddraft that lease. And so just

33:11looking for um for council to give town

33:15attorney approval to work with uh Unico,

33:18Mike Vulo, and Bill Devcia to um draft

33:22that lease

33:24>> just like the uh a couple of the other

33:26leases. Is everybody okay with the town

33:28attorney doing that? It'll come back to

33:29the council.

33:30>> Okay.

33:31>> Thank you.

33:32>> Okay. Um, and so that's going to be a a

33:36great project to um resurrect the

33:39communal bread oven. Um, and so we're

33:42really excited about that. The next um

33:46initiative is something that is

33:48completely separate um but it's on the

33:50other piece of the land. So same parcel,

33:54completely different project, not

33:56related and and these aren't gated upon

33:58one one another. Uh so a volunteer came

34:02um to us about a year ago. It was

34:06September 2025 with with a broad scope

34:09of improvements. She wanted to gather

34:10volunteers to clean the area including a

34:13pollinator garden, some birdhouses, a

34:16wood chip trail, and open space was very

34:19supportive um you know because we

34:21welcome volunteers to clean up any of

34:23these areas really. Um and so we moved

34:27forward that she could work with uh Da

34:30Valley to coordinate that effort and it

34:32was to be funded by some fundraising on

34:34her end. Possible resource she cited was

34:37Main Street. So that was wonderful. So

34:40approximately 11 months went by. Um

34:43nothing had happened on the parcel and I

34:45received an email. I want to just give

34:47this to the town um clerk. It was just

34:50an email just like in the effort of

34:52transparency that I I received um that

34:56she was looking into getting a deep

34:58grant to fund the activity on the

35:01parcel. So I had responded in the email

35:03that it kind of seemed to be outside of

35:05the scope. Um there was talk about tree

35:07clearing and and um other things

35:10happening by the um the water. So, we

35:15did have a discussion um at uh our most

35:19recent open space meeting and I

35:21suggested now we have two things

35:23happening on the same piece of land and

35:26my concern is I don't want um there's a

35:30few concerns. Um I we just went through

35:33this with with uh the Pleasant Street

35:35property and having multiple projects on

35:38one parcel needs great organization. And

35:41so I had just responded that I would

35:44like to see a plan drawn up um because

35:46it wasn't clear who was owning what or

35:48who was doing what when. Um and so I in

35:53in an effort to create that

35:55organization, I created um I drafted a

35:58plan, but then I there was so many TBDs

36:02and unknowns of funding and who owns

36:05what and what town resources that that

36:08was not even viable. So, I guess I'm

36:10just looking for um the council's

36:14guidance on on how to proceed because we

36:17want to see the the parcel cleaned up.

36:20Um and actually, I drove down there

36:21yesterday. It looks pretty clean. I I'm

36:24guessing that maybe she was down there

36:26with the I'm not sure. I don't know

36:27what's happening. Um but I also saw

36:29trees tagged and I don't even know what

36:32that means. So, I'm not sure how to

36:35proceed from here because I want to make

36:37sure that whatever happens on that side

36:39of the parcel does not um affect what

36:43UNICO has going on on the other side.

36:45So, [clears throat]

36:46that's a summary of the situation.

36:49>> Any questions?

36:50>> Yeah, Mr. Chair, I've got some

36:52>> Yeah, just Tony.

36:52>> Oh, Michael.

36:54>> No, go ahead.

36:55>> Um,

36:56when's Unico ready to start on their

36:58piece of it?

37:00>> Well, they have to draw the lease first.

37:02to draw the lease. Oh,

37:03>> is that a separate piece of the parcel?

37:06Like we've [clears throat] already

37:06mapped out

37:07>> completely separate.

37:08>> Okay. And has the open space committee

37:10talked about the terms of lease,

37:12duration, things like that or

37:14>> No, not yet.

37:15>> Okay. All right. So, I'll start initial

37:16conversation with them and see what we

37:18can do.

37:19>> I suggest we we proceed with one that

37:22looks like a project

37:24um and leave the other one uh for

37:26afterwards.

37:29>> Anybody else? Dave.

37:30>> Yeah. I just want to say the the Unico

37:33uh project is really going to take up a

37:35very small footprint of what's there.

37:38It's the island's pretty big. Uh but

37:40there used to be a communal oven there

37:43years ago and the Italians from that

37:45neighborhood would come down, bake their

37:47bread in it, etc., etc. And we want to

37:50restore that, but it did take up just a

37:52small space. I think the other project

37:55is looking at it as, you know, a nice

37:58wooded parcel that maybe you could walk

38:01in, walk along the river, the whole

38:03thing, but there are a lot of fallen

38:05trees and debris and needs to be cleaned

38:07up. Chris, ju just to add to that and I

38:11shared at the open space meeting um I

38:14met there with Dave Levali Ann Marie who

38:18is proposing the other project and and

38:21um Mike Vizulo um she's trying to do

38:25what that portion the non-unical portion

38:27is exactly what Dave just described

38:29she's looking like to clear paths to the

38:31stream for possibly fishing and honestly

38:34I actually Jen you started that draft I

38:38thought that was a good working

38:39document. Um I I'd suggest we start with

38:42what we already looked at at open space

38:44and then just expand upon it because I

38:46thought it was a good start. Um so that

38:48may be you're you know you're saying

38:50what what next step should be. I think

38:52that might be a good path forward.

38:54>> I thought it was a good start too and

38:55then as I as I looked at the draft I was

38:59like okay there's tree like tree

39:02clearing who owns this and who's

39:04monitoring it um the area by the river.

39:07So, and then there was talk of the grant

39:10and so it then became just unclear to me

39:13what is happening and how do we proceed

39:16from here so that there's not activity

39:19you know unmonitored activity because

39:21it's a piece of town property if someone

39:23gets hurt doing this that's you know our

39:26liability too so I just want to make

39:27sure all of our bases are covered

39:29because it's a beautiful property that I

39:32want to see like I could see picture in

39:33my mind it's going to be great I just

39:36want to make Sure. We're doing our due

39:38diligence.

39:39>> Uh Chris, do you have any details on the

39:41grant? Do you know what the town's

39:42obligation would be or what the details?

39:44>> What I know is she presented to the

39:45whole open space committee um two

39:47meetings ago.

39:48>> Yeah, there wasn't any details on what

39:50it was.

39:51>> So I don't know anything more than what

39:53was presented to the to the

39:54>> So okay. So we don't have the the

39:57financial obligation understood yet.

39:59>> Go ahead.

40:00>> She did call me yesterday and

40:03>> who is she?

40:03>> Um Mrs. Cony. She advised me that the

40:06grant deadline is the beginning of

40:08December. [snorts] So that's all I know

40:10about the grant. And she does believe

40:12that there could be inind it's a

40:14matching grant in services as a match.

40:16Doesn't have to be a cash grant, but

40:18it's unclear the town applies to the

40:22grant. If I assume the town would have

40:24to apply for the grant um but none of

40:27that paperwork, none of that project has

40:29started yet that I'm aware of.

40:30>> Okay. Go ahead, Mike.

40:31>> Well, that's what I was going to say. I

40:33mean, it sounds like a plan without a

40:34plan. And I think Miss Connie needs to

40:37know that she should not be touching

40:38anything until the grants applied for

40:42and she shouldn't be going out there and

40:43taking down trees and, you know,

40:47you'd let Mr. Gino know that someone's

40:48out there raking uh, you know, paths.

40:52They'll flip. You I mean, you really

40:53shouldn't be touching anything until we

40:56have her course of action in place. This

40:58is not the way we do things.

40:59>> I told her no shoes are coming down. Um,

41:02so I've instructed her no significant,

41:05you know, if she wants to blow some

41:07leaves, etc., but no trees come down,

41:10especially until Mr. Laval, our wetlands

41:12officer,

41:13>> can at least review Yeah.

41:15>> the plan, walks the plan.

41:17>> Yeah.

41:18>> I I mean, I we're talking about a a

41:20piece of town property that's been

41:22gifted to the town. Um, you know, there

41:25was a there was a an acquisition that

41:27was at a really good price from with

41:30there's a really nice plaque down there.

41:32So, I didn't mean to say gifted in in uh

41:34in its entirety, but it's a pretty

41:36precious piece. And I did bump into Mike

41:38Vulo at the uh at an event this weekend.

41:41He also said, you know, he wants to keep

41:43these things separate. He does not want

41:45them mixing up. They've been involved

41:47for quite a long time. UNICO's been

41:49involved for quite a long time. Uh, and

41:51I think we owe it to them to um, if

41:53we're going to do, you know, Tony, one

41:55thing at a time, they've kind of been in

41:57line there for quite some time. And, you

41:59know, hopefully, you know, with the

42:00advent of this, um, this video, we can

42:03also get some additional eyes on this,

42:05maybe some some funding through Unico on

42:07this uh, the bread oven, the building. I

42:11do I do worry about uh, folks, you know,

42:13being down there and getting hurt as

42:14well, you know. Plus, if we're talking

42:16about clearing an area near the river,

42:19you know, that river also has some

42:21historic value to the town of

42:22Southernington. It's also part of um

42:25probably a wetland review, a

42:26conservation review. There's a lot of

42:28things here that would need to be

42:31planned out. I'm afraid a December, you

42:33know, first is honestly just it's tight.

42:37I just don't know how we do that.

42:39So,

42:41you know, Mr. Morrison recommends one

42:43item. I would suggest we focus on the

42:44first item and uh you know as we get to

42:48uh you know the better part of uh the

42:50next year in the spring it gives time

42:52for people to plan talk talk with deep

42:54maybe there's other I mean these grants

42:56come up a lot of these grants come up uh

42:57regularly so

42:59>> okay

43:01any other discussion

43:03>> so just for

43:05>> Chris

43:05>> I I just want to recognize Miss Kennedy

43:08because she truly she came to the open

43:10space committee she's trying to do a

43:13project to benefit the residents of

43:15town. Um, she's trying to get people to

43:18donate services in kind, you know, for

43:21this grant. She's trying to fund it.

43:22She's not coming to us for money. So, I

43:24I just want to acknowledge and thank her

43:26for for all the work she's trying to do.

43:28And, you [snorts] know, we could maybe

43:29at Open Space try to get up with a more

43:33detailed plan, but again, I at least

43:34want to acknowledge what she's doing for

43:36us.

43:37>> Oh, I agree. Absolutely. We

43:40>> welcome any volunteers. Um but I think

43:43yeah when it comes to these parcels and

43:47uh dual projects, it definitely needs to

43:49be organized because we see even with

43:51Pleasant, you know, there has to be

43:54clear very clear lines of ownership

43:56because then the town gets drawn in

43:58constantly and then unknown resources

44:01get allocated and and we can't have

44:02that.

44:04>> Okay, good. Any other questions on Goat

44:06Island? So it if a plan comes up in the

44:09months ahead, Alex, um you know, bring

44:12it back to council for for review.

44:14>> Absolutely.

44:14>> Okay.

44:15>> So is the So I'm going to bring this

44:17back to open space and just is it a

44:19pause until

44:21a formal plan is

44:24developed?

44:25>> Yeah, a formal plan. We have to have uh

44:27you know who who has to review and sign

44:29off. There's got to there's a bunch of

44:30things that have to be looked at. Yep.

44:33>> Okay.

44:35Any other questions on open space?

44:40>> Okay. Item number four, town manager

44:42report and communications. Item A, safer

44:44grant award and notification.

44:47>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As everybody is

44:50aware by now, the town has been awarded

44:53a safer grant from FEMA. Uh the town is

44:56no stranger to safer grants. This is I

44:58believe uh the fourth application, the

45:00third one that [snorts] we've uh that's

45:02in we've taken we've accepted two. This

45:05would if we did accept this would be the

45:06third. It is for a 12 um position grant.

45:11It's spread over several years. In the

45:13packet

45:15there is a breakdown which the board of

45:16finance and also so the board of finance

45:19members requested um and then also some

45:22members of town council requested. there

45:24is a cost share in total cost of the

45:26town over a five-year period. Uh I will

45:29note there so there's the the way that

45:31the finance department broke it down was

45:32two ways. One was the absolute I'll call

45:36it worst case scenario without factoring

45:38any SF fire department projected

45:41overtime savings. So that's the the

45:43topper line. The bottom line is um what

45:46the SFD has projected um oversight

45:49overtime savings are in there. This

45:51document is in the packet which it's

45:53been posted publicly. So, it's it's it's

45:56there for the public to see. I believe

45:57folks have posted on social media. Happy

46:00to go over any questions [clears throat]

46:02um about the numbers, but I know that

46:05the fire commission, the fire department

46:06has presented for, [snorts] you know,

46:09plenty of time on this. So, I don't want

46:10to, you know, beat a dead horse on the

46:12specifics.

46:12>> Okay.

46:14Do we want to give the opportunity for

46:16the chief to chiefs to say uh anything

46:18on it?

46:18>> It's your discretion, Mr. Chair. I see

46:20that we have both chiefs here. Did you

46:22guys want to make any final comments on

46:23this? We won't be taking action on it

46:26now. We'll take action on it after

46:28public communications. Um, but rather

46:30than making a presentation or having uh

46:33comments at that point, it would be good

46:35because I suspect some members of the

46:37public may be here to speak during

46:38public communication. So having you uh

46:41you know present any additional facts or

46:44I know uh chief you gave us um you gave

46:47us like a you know kind of a fact sheet

46:50um on this late last week. So if if you

46:54want to talk through any of that y

46:55>> that would be great.

46:56>> Mr. Santgo, Commissioner Santgo.

46:58>> Yes. So Peter Santego uh representing

47:01fire commission. So um just a couple

47:03things before I let the uh people who

47:06know everything talk behind me. Uh I

47:08wanted to first uh publicly thank uh and

47:12recognize the entire Connecticut

47:14congressional delegation. Uh both

47:16senators as well as uh Congressman

47:19Larson wrote letters in support of the

47:21safer grant as well as every

47:25representative representing Sington both

47:28Democrat and Republican.

47:30Uh I never thought I'd say see the day

47:32when I could say Chris Murphy and Rob

47:34Samson agree on something but we have it

47:37with this. Okay. Uh because I guess when

47:40it comes to saving lives, you know, the

47:41fire department does not ask your polit

47:43political affiliation before they save

47:45you. We don't, right? We don't.

47:49>> Thanks for clarifying.

47:50>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, you got you got to be

47:52sure these days, you know. Um I I did

47:55want to because you have a decision. I

47:57understand that. Uh I was thinking about

48:00when I first started public service.

48:02That was in 1987 when my first election.

48:06Um and in those almost 40 years uh I was

48:10trying to think of the day uh maybe you

48:12all remember it when people were came

48:15rushing to the podium not here because

48:17this was North Center school and

48:19everybody said the conditions are great

48:22and economic conditions are wonderful

48:24and the entire town is aligned and

48:27everything is perfect

48:30and I'm being facitious of course

48:31because that day never came and I think

48:34if we wait another 40 years that they

48:35incoming either, but yet people like

48:39yourselves have the courage to make hard

48:42decisions for the benefit of selling

48:44them. That's what we have before us.

48:47And so we know that there's more work to

48:49do as there is with any grant. We know

48:51that.

48:53But making decisions and working

48:55collaborative is what we got into public

48:57service for. And so we have a very

49:00unified fire commission in support of

49:03our firefighters. We have a fantastic

49:05chief and we have dedicated

49:06firefighters,

49:08all of which are ready to work with you

49:10and any board

49:12with this decision this evening. We

49:14thank you uh for your decision to even

49:18have us apply for this

49:21and after we applied the federal

49:23government agreed. federal government

49:24doesn't have to agree with grants

49:28and yet we were one of the ones that the

49:30federal government agreed with across

49:32the entire c country and said yes

49:34Sington you need help so you know these

49:38nice folks were not making it up we

49:41don't need to rehash that with that I

49:43will give you uh now deputy chief kman

49:47the last time you saw him he was captain

49:49Kleman and so he just earned a very

49:52welldeserved promotion

49:54And uh and with that, let me turn it

49:55over to him.

49:58>> Chief, congratulations on your

49:59promotion. I also see we have uh Mr.

50:01Salai here as well. Congratulations on

50:03your promotion as well, Captain.

50:05>> Uh and we also heard of a lieutenant uh

50:08as well. Correct, Mr. DeFeo. So,

50:10congrats to all three of you. Welld

50:12deserved. Thanks for coming tonight.

50:13>> Yeah, thank you. I just have a quick

50:15statement um on behalf of the fire

50:17department. Um, I stand before you

50:18tonight on behalf of the men and women

50:20of the Sington Fire Department, both

50:21career and volunteer, who have dedicated

50:24themselves to protecting this community.

50:26Tonight's decision is more much more

50:28than accepting $3.03 million in federal

50:32money. It is about the level of fire

50:34protection and emergency services that

50:36we believe every resident of

50:37Southernington deserves. For years, our

50:39department has operated with staffing

50:41limitations that directly impact our

50:43ability to respond to emergencies.

50:45One-third of our community is served by

50:47a fire station that is unstaffed 75% of

50:50the week. That is not our opinion or a

50:53projection. It is the reality of our

50:54current operations. Our firefighters

50:56have continued to deliver exceptional

50:58service despite these challenges.

51:01But dedication, training, and

51:03professionalism cannot replace the

51:04personnel necessary to safely and

51:07effectively respond to all of our

51:08emergencies. This grant represents an

51:11extraordinary opportunity being that

51:13Southernington received the only fiscal

51:15year 2025 safer award in Connecticut and

51:18one of the largest awards in the

51:19country. That level of federal

51:21investment reflects the significance of

51:23the needs that we identified. We

51:25recognize that accepting the grant

51:27carries a huge financial responsibility

51:31both in the short and long term and we

51:34do not take that lightly. However, this

51:36is a singular opportunity to address

51:38decades of operational inefficiencies

51:41and staffing challenges that have

51:43limited our department's ability to

51:44provide consistent emergency services

51:46for the entire town. The opportunity to

51:48make these improvements with more than

51:50$3 million in federal support may never

51:52present itself again. Our firefighters

51:55are asking are not asking for more

51:57personnel to make our jobs easier. We

51:59are asking for the resources to do our

52:01job safely, effectively, and provide the

52:03level of protection that Southernington

52:05deserves. Tonight, we respectfully ask

52:07this council to carefully consider the

52:09information that we presented, recognize

52:11the operational needs of the department,

52:13and vote in favor of accepting this

52:15grant. The community deserves nothing

52:17but the best, and we feel that this

52:20project accomplishes that. Thank you.

52:23>> Thank you, Chief. And uh can we just uh

52:25be sure to the town manager, can we

52:27please get the the document that the

52:29chief uh provided to us as a reading

52:32material into the record as well? And I

52:34just want to remind every well we will

52:36open it up for questions in case folks

52:37want to ask the chiefs any questions. Um

52:40just as a reminder tonight uh is not the

52:43beall endall tonight. If uh when we get

52:46to this later on uh obviously if this

52:49doesn't pass it doesn't pass. If this

52:51passes tonight, this is only the

52:53acceptance of the grant. This would

52:55still need to go through the funding uh

52:57process through the normal budget

52:58process because as we uh talked about

53:01when we applied for the grant, one of

53:02the conditions that we all agreed upon

53:04was that um this would be uh effective

53:07with a hiring date of July 1st, 2027. Um

53:10so any approval here would be step one

53:13uh and then go through the normal

53:15funding process through the budget

53:16through the budget process. So just for

53:18clarity in in how things look. Um any

53:22questions for the chief before we open

53:24to the other chief to the chief chief.

53:28Okay. Thanks.

53:28>> Big kahuna.

53:29>> The big kahuna chief.

53:31>> Um I'll keep it very short because uh

53:34soon to be deputy chief commen knocked

53:36it [clears throat] out of the park as

53:36normal. Um I'm very

53:41very honored that you all allowed us to

53:43apply for this grant. It is a monumental

53:45step for us to try and move forward and

53:47and make it safer for our community. So,

53:49thank you from the bottom of my heart.

53:51It means everything. The people that I

53:53represent and the people I protect mean

53:55the world to me. So, I'll keep it brief.

53:58I don't, as the town manager said, I

53:59don't want to beat a dead horse. So,

54:01thank you again.

54:02>> Thank you. Any questions for the chief?

54:06>> Okay. Hearing none. Is that it on uh

54:09safer grant? Can we move on to item B,

54:13leaf bid results?

54:15>> Much easier decision for the town

54:16council. We had um our annual leaf

54:21proposals come in. We only had one

54:24bidder for um labor and we had one

54:28bidder for equipment. You'll see in your

54:31packet. Shawac has been our our

54:34typically our low [clears throat] bidder

54:35for the last almost decade. They are the

54:38sole bidder this year. Town staff is

54:40asking that um

54:43you award the temporary labor to total

54:46logistics staffing at $37 an hour and

54:49the Shawac um company for the equipment

54:53with labor. I will say every single year

54:56we we do our HR department and our

54:58highway parks department does a

55:00phenomenal job recruiting temporary and

55:02seasonal labor for the the LEAP program

55:05and we're able to usually hire out the

55:08entire program the supplemental labor

55:10well under the uh $37 an hour. So we we

55:14typically are in the 20s um for that

55:16[clears throat] labor. So if you know

55:17anybody, we'll be posting those jobs

55:19very soon. So, if you know anybody, um,

55:22just for a plug, it is a phenomenal way

55:23to get your foot in the door of the

55:24highway department. If you, you know,

55:26show up and you work the work the back

55:29the truck leaves and shows that

55:31dedication and the work ethic when those

55:33jobs opened up that you already have a a

55:35built-in reference when you want to

55:36apply for a full-time position. So, um,

55:39that's all I have on those bids, Mr.

55:40Chair.

55:41>> Thank you. Any questions on the LEAF bid

55:45results?

55:46Okay, hearing none, item C. Uh, just to

55:49clarify, it's total logistics at 37 an

55:52hour.

55:52>> Total logistics staffing at 37 an hour.

55:55Yes,

55:55>> staffing.

55:56>> Thank you, Mr. Town Manager. Item C,

55:58Dayton, construction recommendation for

56:01Marian Avenue bridge replacement, bridge

56:03number 131017.

56:06>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, we did have,

56:09this has been going on for quite some

56:11time. We've had uh five bids for the

56:13actual construction. So, if you may

56:15recall earlier, you awarded a bid for

56:17the design and inspections. This is for

56:20the actual work itself. We had five bids

56:23ranging from uh $1,889,4745

56:28to 2,333,29.

56:32The low bidder uh and staff is

56:33recommending Dayton Construction Company

56:35of Watertown, Connecticut. They have

56:37done several bridges for us over the

56:39past several years. They've done

56:41outstanding work. Town staff has no no

56:44concerns with their ability to get the

56:46project done and they are asking that

56:49you award them that uh this will be

56:51awarded through uh LOIP grant as well.

56:54So a little bit of town match but mostly

56:57uh state money on this project.

57:00>> Is there an amount that needs to be uh

57:01specified?

57:02>> 1,889,745

57:05including all contingency

57:08>> 1 1,889,

57:11>> Yep. $745

57:13>> and that includes contingency.

57:15>> It does.

57:19>> Alex, can I just ask in the memo? It

57:22says from that amount, Paul. Yep.

57:24>> Ranging from 1,800 to2,333,29.

57:30So, do we want that range that's in the

57:32memo?

57:33>> So, that's the range of bids.

57:34>> Range of bids.

57:35>> So, the high bidder was two

57:37>> 23

57:38>> 23. the low biders was 189.

57:41>> But don't we typically take them? I

57:43mean, we obviously always go from the

57:45lowest to the highest, but don't we want

57:48to approve them just in the event that

57:50you need to hire them?

57:52>> This is for uh construction of a of a

57:54bridge. So, it's not like leaf or snow.

57:56It's just a one one uh firm project.

57:59>> Okay.

57:59>> Um if something was to happen, they were

58:01to back out, then we I'd come back and

58:03ask you to approve another one.

58:06So the number is uh still stands.

58:09>> It does.

58:09>> Okay. Any other questions?

58:13>> Please go ahead, Mike.

58:13>> Just to mention, this is the same uh

58:15company that did the other bridge on

58:17Marion Avenue down the street and they

58:19did a fantastic job.

58:20>> Wonderful.

58:21>> Couple of years now.

58:22>> Wow.

58:23>> Yep.

58:26>> Okay. If there's no other questions,

58:28we'll move on to item six, town

58:30attorney's report. Mr. Town attorney?

58:32>> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh

58:33[clears throat] no report tonight. I

58:34just want to thank the ordinance

58:35committee and the public as a whole uh

58:37in getting us to this point on the ebike

58:39ordinance. I know it was a pressing

58:41issue. So hopefully we can get in uh and

58:44see what happens with approving it.

58:46>> Wonderful. Any questions for the town

58:48attorney.

58:52>> Okay.

58:55>> Hearing none. Um we're going to move on

58:57to item seven, public communications. If

59:00there's anybody who would like to speak

59:01during public communications, please

59:03come on up to the podium and state your

59:06name and address for the record. Uh,

59:08this would be limited to Southernington

59:09residents and Southernington employees.

59:11>> And Marie Conny, I wasn't coming, but I

59:14was listening at home. I don't

59:16appreciate being defamed. Uh, Jen Clark

59:19lied about the whole thing with open

59:21space.

59:21>> Okay.

59:22>> And I'm embarrassed to be a Unic member

59:24with you, by the way. That's

59:25[clears throat] go totally.

59:28>> Hold on. Time out. No, no. Time out.

59:30Please stop for one minute. If you're

59:32going to discuss something, please

59:35>> Okay. If we're going to discuss

59:37something, please do it respectfully and

59:38please just stay at the microphone so

59:40it's on recording.

59:40>> Okay. Thanks.

59:41>> 1237 Mount Vernon Road. And Mr. Del

59:44Santo and Marie Conned does know her

59:46parameters. I'm not cutting trees down.

59:49The last open space committee, we put a

59:51committee together for um Goat Island

59:55for me to clean the grounds. Chris

59:57Palmi, Mike Fazulo, Billy Devet, and

1:00:01Dave Laval. I don't go near the the

1:00:04river. Dave Laval is with me at every

1:00:06step. He was down with me today. Any

1:00:09volunteer that goes down there goes

1:00:11inside a liability form at the town hall

1:00:14so that no liability is taken on by the

1:00:17town. I'm not cutting any trees. I'm not

1:00:20bringing any children volunteers in

1:00:22there to take any chance of anything

1:00:24happening to the town. I'm picking up

1:00:27sticks. I'm moving big logs that have

1:00:29fallen. This was the original plan. I

1:00:32didn't work on it for a a year because,

1:00:35as you remember, didn't we have one of

1:00:37the worst winters we had? We couldn't

1:00:39even walk outside. It was all covered

1:00:41with ice.

1:00:44Nobody remembers that. I happened to

1:00:45point that out to her when she

1:00:47mentioned, "You were here a year ago and

1:00:48you didn't do any work on it." It was

1:00:50kind of like a dig to me. And then she

1:00:53was going to put a hold on it at that

1:00:54meeting. She was overruled by the

1:00:56committee and then Chris [clears throat]

1:00:58gracefully came out. I'm the one who

1:01:00said, "I think we need a committee so

1:01:02everybody's working together." It kind

1:01:04of worked out good because I'm a UNICO

1:01:06member, too. So, I said to Mike, when

1:01:09I'm out there cleaning, I'll clean the

1:01:11foundation for you so that when our

1:01:14committee at UNICO, I'm a Unico member,

1:01:16works on that, we're all on the same

1:01:18page. So, that foundation's all been

1:01:21cleaned. They started it in 2011. It sat

1:01:24there. It's all been cleaned since I've

1:01:26been down there. I don't appreciate

1:01:28someone lying about my character. What

1:01:31was said about that cleaning part of it

1:01:34was a total lie. And when I talked about

1:01:36the grant, there's a grant out there

1:01:39that Goat Island specifically

1:01:41um goes for with the state because we're

1:01:45in a certain geographic area and it's to

1:01:49um enhance wildlife, pollinator gardens,

1:01:51and such. They will match dollar for

1:01:54dollar whatever I can get in volunteer

1:01:58uh equipment, people, everything. Any

1:02:01volunteer I get down there, I can charge

1:02:03$33.50

1:02:04an hour for him, be it children or

1:02:06anything. If I get a backhoe down there

1:02:08and they do backho ho work, I can get an

1:02:11invoice from that volunteer that's

1:02:14considered inind. If the plan for the

1:02:17town was to put water in there, it's a

1:02:20five-year plan. And he and Cameron from

1:02:23the state said, "Put together a

1:02:24five-year plan." Our committee met down

1:02:26there. Dave Lau had this. He brought

1:02:29this back to me today. We put together a

1:02:31five-year plan, which also in includes a

1:02:34nature center because you have five

1:02:36years from the date you first get money

1:02:38from the state to finish the plan. So

1:02:41everything that was said in the

1:02:43beginning, maybe she wasn't at the same

1:02:45meeting we were at, but she was

1:02:46overruled at that meeting. She was the

1:02:48only one against put she wanted a halt

1:02:51to the project and everybody else said

1:02:53no. I'm sorry. I think the truth needs

1:02:56to be told and I don't appreciate it

1:02:59making it look like I wasn't following

1:03:01rules. And I've been down there a lot

1:03:03doing a lot of work under the permission

1:03:05I was given. And the reason I was given

1:03:09the goat island project was because I

1:03:12was working on a dog pound project which

1:03:15Pete Pone spent a month with us working

1:03:17on it. But then Mrs. Triano and Sue

1:03:21Zabahhanssky said absolutely not. You

1:03:24cannot work on it and I was told I

1:03:27couldn't work on it. So Alex Rickardone

1:03:29said I'm going to give you a bigger

1:03:31project. You can have Go Island.

1:03:35That's how I got involved in Go Island.

1:03:38>> And I love the outdoors. So, I did

1:03:41nothing on my own here. And I want the

1:03:43public to know and the public knows me.

1:03:46I'm an honest person. My family was

1:03:48honest. I've been honest. I'm I'm not

1:03:51afraid to speak my mind. You don't want

1:03:53me there, I'll get everybody out of

1:03:55there. And what happened in 2011, I can

1:03:58tell you 20 years from now, that land

1:04:00will be sitting there just like it is.

1:04:02the what the the work you saw there, the

1:04:05clearing you saw there, that was all

1:04:07done by me. None of that was done.

1:04:09>> Thank you.

1:04:09>> It was all woods. Thank you very much. I

1:04:12wanted my name cleared up. Don't ever

1:04:14talk badly of me again.

1:04:16>> Thank you, Henry.

1:04:25>> Okay, Sandra, do you have the timer?

1:04:28>> Okay.

1:04:29>> Just please state your name and address

1:04:30for the record.

1:04:31>> Hi. Um it's kind of weird to be on the

1:04:33other side of this and not riding

1:04:34[laughter] in the back. Um Avery Martin,

1:04:3636 Alyssa Court, um with the

1:04:38Southernington Outsider. Um I just

1:04:40wanted to make everyone aware of two

1:04:41events that we have coming up this

1:04:43weekend. Um first, we have a fall nature

1:04:47history hike on October 17th, which is

1:04:49Saturday, at Long View Cider House. So

1:04:52that starts at 11:00 and will be about

1:04:54an hour and a half. And then on Monday

1:04:58the 19th at 5:30, we will have a public

1:05:02presentation about a special oak tree

1:05:06that grows on the green and is related

1:05:09to the charter oak. So the public is

1:05:11invited to these events and they're free

1:05:14um with a suggested donation of 10 bucks

1:05:17so we can keep doing what we do. So,

1:05:19we're a nonprofit, so any support goes

1:05:22directly to supporting local journalism,

1:05:24including yours truly. So, we would

1:05:26appreciate um everyone coming this

1:05:28weekend. Thank you.

1:05:29>> Thank you, Avery.

1:05:35>> Just please state your name and address

1:05:37for the record.

1:05:39>> Hi, Evan I live at 615 Meridan

1:05:42Waterberry Turnpike. Last time I spoke

1:05:44here, I was told that the town council

1:05:46has no say in the flock program as they

1:05:48defer to the authority of the police

1:05:49chief. I believe that was a little

1:05:51disingenuous as the town council

1:05:53approved the budget for flock. Is that

1:05:55correct? It seems this is a convenient

1:05:57way to defer people to the dead end that

1:05:59is talking to the police. Naturally,

1:06:01following that meeting, I began

1:06:03communications with SPD to try to get

1:06:05answers and figure out what needs to

1:06:06happen to get this surveillance network

1:06:08taken down so my family and I can have

1:06:10our privacy back. I need to say on a

1:06:12positive note, Captain Armarmac shocked

1:06:14me with his responsiveness to my emails

1:06:16and making his intentions clear that he

1:06:18was happy to facilitate getting my

1:06:19questions answered. He and the command

1:06:21staff I met with are gentlemen who I

1:06:23think are trying their best to serve the

1:06:25community. So, I must make it clear that

1:06:26I'm not personally attacking anyone, but

1:06:28one particular answer I received that

1:06:30day was deeply unsettling. My question

1:06:32was simple enough. How can you guarantee

1:06:34my privacy and safety in the flock

1:06:36network? I explained how big tech

1:06:38companies abuse data again and again.

1:06:41Examples being Apple just agreed to a

1:06:43$250 million settlement because Siri's

1:06:45been listening to customers on from

1:06:46iPhone 15 and onward. Apple's worth

1:06:49almost $5 trillion, a penalty less than

1:06:52100th of a percent of their company's

1:06:55value. Amazon's under lawsuit now for

1:06:57creating biometric data without consent

1:06:59from Alexa speakers in your house. These

1:07:01companies pay a calculated fee so they

1:07:03can keep existing and profit off their

1:07:05misdeeds. I asked the chief, "So, if

1:07:07Flock had a security breach, would you

1:07:09be willing to reconsider SPD's stance on

1:07:11them?" The most direct answer he would

1:07:13give me was, "If your insurance carrier

1:07:15had a data breach, are you going to stop

1:07:17using their insurance?" Instead of

1:07:19answering the question, his best

1:07:21response was a weak comparison, creating

1:07:23a red herring. If Southernington Police

1:07:25Department is not even willing to

1:07:27consider criteria to terminate the flock

1:07:29contract, regardless of how many

1:07:31lawsuits and data breaches there are,

1:07:33it's a surefire indicator that they do

1:07:35not care about our privacy.

1:07:38It is a constant passing of the buck

1:07:40with flock cameras. Starting with the

1:07:42council to the police, and I was told if

1:07:45the if an officer misuses flock, that's

1:07:47the officer's fault, not the department.

1:07:49If flock misuses your data, that's flock

1:07:51fault, not the department.

1:07:54It would seem all they care about is

1:07:55minimizing public backlash into private

1:07:57meetings because they know that the

1:07:58majority of people do not want these

1:08:00cameras in their society. And many have

1:08:02the audacity, not the police, but many

1:08:04have the audacity to say the reason we

1:08:06don't want the surveillance state is

1:08:07because we aren't smart enough to know

1:08:09what's for our own good. Peter Teal, one

1:08:12of the most evil tech oligarchs and

1:08:14primary financeers of Flock, once said,

1:08:16"This technology offers an incredible

1:08:19alternative to politics because it

1:08:21allows innovators to unilaterally change

1:08:23the world without having to constantly

1:08:25convince and beg people who are never

1:08:27going to agree with you." That is

1:08:29exactly what's happened here. The

1:08:31majority is no longer listened to, so

1:08:32our private data can be sold and passed

1:08:34around behind closed doors. When I told

1:08:37the chief that the majority did not want

1:08:38ALPRs in their community, his response

1:08:40was, "He knows the people of

1:08:42Southernington and what they want." I

1:08:43thought I had a big group of friends. I

1:08:45guess he knows all 44,000 residents of

1:08:47Southernington. There is no security in

1:08:49the flock network. From day one to

1:08:51present, these cameras are a hazard,

1:08:53even when they're used 100% properly by

1:08:56police. Each individual camera holds the

1:08:58encryption keys to unlock the data

1:09:00inside of it. Boston dropped Flock after

1:09:03discovering just three days into their

1:09:05contract, the data was being shared with

1:09:07agencies outside of the agreed terms,

1:09:09the company has actively lied to its

1:09:11clients and the CEO called all Americans

1:09:14that oppose his company terrorists at

1:09:17one time. Imagine you trying to be left

1:09:20alone and have your privacy. You're a

1:09:22terrorist under the flock regime. This

1:09:25company has a past covered in failures

1:09:27to keep its word, a present of lawsuits

1:09:29galore for lack of anti-abuse guardrails

1:09:31in violation of privacy acts and

1:09:33violating fourth amendment, and a future

1:09:35of leaking your data to whoever they

1:09:37want with the full consent of

1:09:39Southernington Town Council and the

1:09:40police department. Our government has

1:09:42failed by first unleashing a monster

1:09:44with no accountability onto the public

1:09:47and secondly worrying about regulating

1:09:49in your rights. My call to action.

1:09:51Listen to your constituents. Follow the

1:09:52lead of other counties and cities across

1:09:54the US and Connecticut. End the flock

1:09:56program and get ALPRs out of our

1:09:58society.

1:10:02Thank you. Would anybody else like to

1:10:05speak?

1:10:13Good evening everyone. Andrew Reny, 144

1:10:16Eden Avenue. um here as a resident and

1:10:21as a member of Southernington Fire

1:10:23Department volunteer company with engine

1:10:25company 1. I wanted to come and stand

1:10:28before you and speak to you why I feel

1:10:31that the safer grant is important and

1:10:34matters

1:10:36for us as a department and for us as a

1:10:38town that relies on the fire department.

1:10:41That is headquarters, career

1:10:43firefighters, volunteers of company 1

1:10:46and company 2,

1:10:49one department with one goal.

1:10:54Our town has been protected by a mix of

1:10:56volunteers and career firefighters for

1:10:59generations.

1:11:01Career members report to work on a

1:11:03schedule while volunteers show up as

1:11:05called unpredicted

1:11:08and therefore not easily

1:11:12scheduled for a response.

1:11:15We leave our dinner tables, our jobs,

1:11:17our beds

1:11:19when that pager goes off.

1:11:22But as discussed with you before, the

1:11:25the demand the the demands of this

1:11:27department have grown. Calls for service

1:11:30are more frequent, training requirements

1:11:33heavier,

1:11:35and it's harder than ever to find people

1:11:38who can give up the time to dedicate as

1:11:42a volunteer.

1:11:45This grant allows us as a town, us as a

1:11:49department to add additional

1:11:51firefighters,

1:11:53[clears throat] more people on duty,

1:11:55ready when the unimaginable and

1:11:57unpredictable happens.

1:12:00In a fire, time and resources decide

1:12:05everything, good and bad.

1:12:09More resources off the rip means faster

1:12:12response, safer safer operations on

1:12:15scene and better odds for the families

1:12:17that we are all sworn to serve.

1:12:21It also protects the people who protect

1:12:23you. A short staffed crew takes more

1:12:27risk.

1:12:29Every additional firefighter on the line

1:12:30means we can work in teams, rotate out

1:12:34when we are exhausted, and bring

1:12:37everyone home after every call.

1:12:40Something that I don't think any of us

1:12:43can argue is important.

1:12:49This doesn't replace our volunteers. It

1:12:53supports us as a part of the solution to

1:12:56a bigger problem nationwide.

1:12:58It gives us a stronger foundation to

1:13:00build on and we'll be standing right

1:13:03beside those new firefighters.

1:13:06As volunteers from many backgrounds and

1:13:08expertise, we bring a wealth of

1:13:10knowledge, experience, and heart that

1:13:14will shape the new members of the

1:13:15department to have the same compassion

1:13:17for this community that motivate us all

1:13:21to dedicate our free time to helping our

1:13:23neighbor in their hardest of times.

1:13:27For a few months, I'm sure many of you

1:13:29saw the sign out in front of fire

1:13:30headquarters that read, "Helping to make

1:13:34bad days better since 1884."

1:13:37This safer grant allows us to follow

1:13:40through with those words. The mission

1:13:42has not changed. However, the demands

1:13:45have. And with that solution

1:13:49and with that, the solution must meet

1:13:51the demands.

1:13:53Our drive will not stop. Our de our

1:13:56dedication will never waver.

1:13:59But clearly the changing demands on the

1:14:02members has been made evident. They have

1:14:06been evaluated and scrutinized by those

1:14:08who have awarded the department and this

1:14:10town the safer grant and those demands

1:14:13exceed the resources we have to mitigate

1:14:16the emergencies we face every day.

1:14:21Southernington has always taken care of

1:14:23its own. This grant is a chance to keep

1:14:28doing that and I urge you to support it.

1:14:32Thank you.

1:14:37>> Thank you, Captain Renie. [snorts]

1:14:40[clears throat]

1:14:41>> Peter Santego, 2011 Old Cider Mill Road.

1:14:44I'm not going to talk about the safer

1:14:45grant because I already did that and I

1:14:47for it was inappropriate for me to talk

1:14:49about this during that time. But the

1:14:52first annual fire department open house

1:14:56will take place on Saturday, October

1:14:5924th

1:15:00uh at Fire Station 3 on Clark Street

1:15:02from 10 to 1. There will be

1:15:04demonstration games, refreshments. It's

1:15:06a great way for the community. Come

1:15:09down, see exactly what firemen do. It

1:15:12would be great for students and kids to

1:15:14come and people who may be considering

1:15:17being a volunteer.

1:15:19Come on over and we'll talk your off and

1:15:22make your part of the fold. But it's a

1:15:24it's it's our first annual one and uh

1:15:27hopefully one uh of many uh great idea

1:15:30by by members of the fire department to

1:15:33go do that. Hope to see all of you there

1:15:35as well. Thank you.

1:15:37>> Thank you, Peter.

1:15:41Is there anybody else who would like to

1:15:42speak during uh public communications?

1:15:52Okay, we will close public

1:15:53communications. Move on to item eight,

1:15:55bold business. Um a action on electric

1:15:59bike ordinance.

1:16:01>> Motion to approve.

1:16:02>> Second.

1:16:03>> Motion from Tony to approve. Second from

1:16:06Mike Delanto. Any discussion on that?

1:16:09>> Go ahead, Chris.

1:16:11at the ordinance committee meeting and

1:16:13at the last council meeting I had

1:16:14requested and I know Lou did that um to

1:16:17get some [clears throat] additional

1:16:18information from the towns that we try

1:16:20to model this after. Could you give just

1:16:22an executive summary? We got the email

1:16:24but at least to the public.

1:16:25>> Yeah, I did make contact with the town

1:16:28attorney for city attorney for the city

1:16:30of New London as well as the town

1:16:32attorney for the town of Guilford and

1:16:34they saw their ordinance more as an ATV

1:16:37ordinance. Um, I think arguably it could

1:16:40apply to ebikes as well. Uh, I think the

1:16:44city of New London talked that they did

1:16:46see a down tick in some of the behavior

1:16:49that they were trying to curb. Uh, he

1:16:52alluded to the fact that they haven't

1:16:53had any hearings yet. So, I think

1:16:55everybody in this situation is kind of

1:16:57dealing with this uh

1:17:00very quickly and trying to see what we

1:17:02can do. I imagine that we're going to

1:17:03see additional guidance and additional

1:17:04decisions come down from other

1:17:07municipalities in the coming future. Um

1:17:09so it is, you know, I did reach out to

1:17:12other municipalities. I didn't hear

1:17:13anything back, unfortunately. Um but I

1:17:15know that Guilford and New London in

1:17:17particular we were looking at and trying

1:17:19to uh see what success they had, if any.

1:17:22Um and in talking to them, it sounded

1:17:24like it was too early to say for the

1:17:26most part.

1:17:29>> Okay. Sounds like we're going to have to

1:17:31if we do go forward, we have to be agile

1:17:34as well and willing to adapt as we go if

1:17:36we uh if we see opportunities to make

1:17:38improvements.

1:17:40>> Yeah, Tony.

1:17:41>> Yeah, we um we did say on the ordinance

1:17:43committee that we would review this in

1:17:45uh say a six-month period after some

1:17:48events, say if the spring has happened

1:17:50or not, we review it again. So,

1:17:53>> awesome.

1:17:53>> We intend to review it every so often.

1:17:55>> Excellent. Thanks.

1:17:57>> Any other comments on the ebike

1:17:58ordinance, Chris? Ju just one other that

1:18:00again we talked about at the ordinance

1:18:02level and I think we talked about it

1:18:04here too um and that's just about the

1:18:07concern of penalizing Southernington

1:18:10residents more so than out of town

1:18:14residents and what I mean by that is um

1:18:17if we do the fine route [clears throat]

1:18:21how is that enforceable so um obviously

1:18:24if they live in town we have control

1:18:27over that but if they live in Cheshire

1:18:29plane Meridan, we we don't really have

1:18:31that much control over that. So, was

1:18:34there any

1:18:36direction in your conversations with the

1:18:38other towns about that piece of it as

1:18:40well?

1:18:41>> Not necessarily. Uh, you know, the

1:18:43overall sentiment from them is that it

1:18:44it was new, but you do bring up a good

1:18:46point. Obviously, enforcement can be

1:18:49difficult. Um, you know, we do have some

1:18:51levers in here that we can try to pull

1:18:53that, you know, in theory, we could put

1:18:55out a warrant for their arrest. which I

1:18:56don't think would ever rise to that, but

1:18:58we would have the ability. Um, the other

1:19:00thing worth noting that uh I noted in

1:19:02the to all of you guys is the fine

1:19:04schedule. Um, so the municipal powers

1:19:07act specifies that we can't go above

1:19:08$250. I think there's a reasonable

1:19:11interpretation with the ebike law that

1:19:14allows us to set appropriate penalties.

1:19:16Um so again one of those things that if

1:19:20we are going to be on the

1:19:23front end of this it may be an issue

1:19:25that we run into in the future that you

1:19:26know we see that other towns are

1:19:28challenged or our town itself is

1:19:31challenged as to whether that ordinance

1:19:33the second violation in particular

1:19:35exceeds our municipal powers. Um so it's

1:19:38hard to say what could happen. Uh, I

1:19:40know that there was a pressing need for

1:19:42it, but you know, I ultimately leave to

1:19:45discretion of the ordinance committee

1:19:47and the town council.

1:19:49>> And just to clarify, I think what you

1:19:50were you were saying, Chris, was if we

1:19:53give uh if we give a um a violation of

1:19:57$250, for example, it can still go to

1:20:00somebody to another town, but if they

1:20:02don't pay it exact,

1:20:03>> that's what

1:20:03>> So, it's not that we're we're

1:20:05necessarily penalizing different. It's

1:20:06that we have different enforcement

1:20:09mechanisms if they live in town for

1:20:10example

1:20:11>> to put a lean on a house or something

1:20:13like that where we can't do that in

1:20:14Cheshure.

1:20:14>> Absolutely.

1:20:15>> Or in Berlin or in Waterberry wherever

1:20:17the person's from.

1:20:18>> Exactly. Okay.

1:20:19>> So at the at the committee level too we

1:20:20talked about the impounding factor which

1:20:23then it does level the playing field

1:20:26because whether you live in Cheshire or

1:20:27Meridan or Waterberry or Southernington

1:20:30if it's impounded you're still paying

1:20:32the same fee. So that that is one way.

1:20:36Um, so I I think it's important to have

1:20:39that piece, too, because that does level

1:20:42the playing field a little bit for

1:20:43everyone.

1:20:44>> Yeah. And I I think it makes sense.

1:20:45Obviously, we'll communicate with the

1:20:47police department to see how

1:20:48enforcement's going. Uh, you know, how

1:20:50many inbounds we have, how many tickets

1:20:52we have, how many tickets are unpaid.

1:20:54Um, and, you know, kind of like Tony

1:20:57said, we'll be agile on it. And, you

1:20:59know, I think the ebikes will hopefully

1:21:02slow down as the colder weather

1:21:04approaches. And you know, this may be

1:21:05something that we'll take a a fresher

1:21:07look at in the spring, but I know that

1:21:09in talking to everybody, not just

1:21:11ordinance committee, the public, but the

1:21:12town council that it was something we

1:21:14wanted to get addressed as soon as

1:21:15possible. And you know, I hope that we

1:21:17can do that.

1:21:18>> Thank you.

1:21:19>> You're welcome, Tony.

1:21:20>> Well, um, we do [clears throat]

1:21:23have the same issue as Middletown. Say

1:21:26Middletown, you get a speeding ticket.

1:21:28They have speeding cameras now for some

1:21:29reason. Um, are you going to pay it?

1:21:32>> [laughter]

1:21:33>> try having Middletown enforce it. So,

1:21:36it's it's a similar thing. We rely on

1:21:38people's honesty to pay our fines if

1:21:40they're outside the town.

1:21:42>> Just to clarify with the town attorney,

1:21:44I thought like a speeding ticket, you go

1:21:46to New Britain, like it's a state court,

1:21:48but an ordinance would be local.

1:21:51[clears throat]

1:21:51>> Yeah. And the the speed camera issue is

1:21:53something that's also kind of being

1:21:55developed as we go. Um, so it it I know

1:21:59there's a lot of challenges to those and

1:22:01there's a lot of municipalities that are

1:22:02enacting them or involving them. Um, so

1:22:05it's hard to say right now what could

1:22:07happen with that, but there is some

1:22:10teeth, like I said, that we have now. I

1:22:12don't know how many times we've ever

1:22:13issued a warrant for an arrest for

1:22:15someone that's

1:22:16>> parked in a handicap zone, for example.

1:22:18Um, but that modality is in other, you

1:22:22know, sections of our charter that deal

1:22:23with, you know, other parking violations

1:22:26or violations similar to it.

1:22:27>> Okay. And Tony, just to be clear, too,

1:22:30I'm not opposed to it. I'm just trying

1:22:32I'm just saying I'm just saying I'm just

1:22:34because I think something needs to be

1:22:35done. I just want to make sure that all

1:22:37the points we made are clear to [snorts]

1:22:39the public

1:22:40to make an educated decision.

1:22:42>> Understood, Chris. Understood.

1:22:44>> Okay. Any other discussion on the

1:22:46ebikes?

1:22:48Any other discussion? I [snorts] just in

1:22:51the future I just want to clarify one

1:22:53comment in case somebody challenges and

1:22:55says attorney Martacio said you said a

1:22:57little bit earlier uh that um that

1:23:01there's that you we that you do believe

1:23:03that there is some room for us to

1:23:06interpret the state legislation that

1:23:08allows us to charge more than 250. But

1:23:11it doesn't mean that somebody wouldn't

1:23:12challenge us on it in the future. It's

1:23:14possible somebody could challenge us.

1:23:15Um, but I want to make sure that

1:23:17somebody doesn't interpret your comments

1:23:18that you said that we were going above

1:23:22that and you know, we didn't have that

1:23:24discretion. So, you do believe that

1:23:25there's some latitude in the

1:23:26interpretation.

1:23:27>> Yeah, I think it's so new that there's

1:23:28not a lot of judicial interpretation

1:23:30regarding it. You know, the statute new

1:23:32ebike statute allows us to set quote

1:23:35appropriate penalties. Um, so I think

1:23:38reading the municipal hour municipal

1:23:40powers act in conjunction with the new

1:23:42ebike statute, I think there is an

1:23:44argument that we have the ability to set

1:23:46what we believe to be appropriate

1:23:48penalties.

1:23:48>> Thank you. Appreciate you clarifying for

1:23:50the record. Yep. Okay.

1:23:53Any other questions? We're going to call

1:23:55the role, Madam Clerk.

1:23:59>> Del Santo,

1:24:00>> yes.

1:24:02>> Ga,

1:24:03>> yes.

1:24:04>> Mr.

1:24:04>> Yes. Morrison,

1:24:06>> yes.

1:24:07>> Homeai,

1:24:08>> yes.

1:24:08>> Saraphino,

1:24:09>> yes.

1:24:10>> Zoning, [clears throat]

1:24:10>> yes.

1:24:11>> Clock,

1:24:12>> yes.

1:24:13>> Chaplinsky,

1:24:14>> yes. The motion passes unanimously. Uh,

1:24:16great job everybody. Thanks for all the

1:24:18hard work on the ebikes. Um, item number

1:24:21B, action on safer grant award.

1:24:24>> Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to approve

1:24:26the acceptance of the safer grant.

1:24:28>> Second.

1:24:29>> Okay. We have a motion to approve from

1:24:30Mr. Delanto and a second from Mr.

1:24:32Saraphino. We'll open the floor for

1:24:34discussion.

1:24:39>> Well, I'll start.

1:24:40>> Sure, Tony. Go ahead.

1:24:40>> I'll start. Mr. Chairman,

1:24:42>> um the this safer grant uh award, now we

1:24:47have the financial analysis. Um, I

1:24:49wanted to start with a comment uh on a

1:24:52letter that our state reps sent uh to

1:24:55us, state senator [clears throat]

1:24:56Samson, state reps Metro Franchesco and

1:24:59VH in their letter to FEMA. They said

1:25:03[clears throat] at the same time because

1:25:05this application contemplates the hiring

1:25:07of 12 additional full-time firefighters,

1:25:10we recognize the town will need to

1:25:12carefully evaluate the long-term fiscal

1:25:14impact. Any decision to proceed should

1:25:17therefore be made transparently with

1:25:19full consideration of service needs,

1:25:21projected overtime savings, long-term

1:25:23labor costs, and the impact on

1:25:25Southernington property taxpayers.

1:25:29So, we got the financial facts from uh

1:25:31the finance department

1:25:33um as much as they known at this point,

1:25:36but what we don't have is a view of how

1:25:38this will affect our budget concerns for

1:25:41the next five years and beyond.

1:25:43um looked at it and I do not see how we

1:25:48can afford this grant for even the first

1:25:51year the next budget we start real work

1:25:53on in January let alone the years beyond

1:25:56that when real costs accumulate. So I'll

1:25:59start with the finance department

1:26:00analysis of the numbers. Now, uh, as you

1:26:03probably most of you are aware, the

1:26:06numbers that, um, uh, the Southernington

1:26:09Fire Department Fire Commission gave us,

1:26:12uh, back in June when this was

1:26:14authorized to go ahead, um, have have

1:26:17changed and they changed quite

1:26:18drastically.

1:26:20And it's nothing to do with the fire

1:26:23department or the fire commission. is to

1:26:25do with [clears throat] the fact that uh

1:26:27FEMA has a cap uh on salary, how much

1:26:30they will [snorts] pay for which is 102

1:26:33roughly $102,000.

1:26:36So as our and we're in Connecticut and

1:26:38as our firefighters earn quite a bit

1:26:41more than that, there's a certain amount

1:26:43of money that is not covered by this

1:26:45grant. So uh give an example what that

1:26:48means. If you look at next in next year,

1:26:51the one we'll be starting to do the

1:26:52budget for in in January onwards, um the

1:26:56SFD proposal was that year one we would

1:26:59have to come up with 419

1:27:02303 uh dollars. Okay. 419,

1:27:06303.

1:27:07Um the actual cost that's going to hit

1:27:11our budget next year is $87,357.

1:27:16Now, uh there's an additional reason for

1:27:19the first year because obviously we have

1:27:22to spend uh not just extra money on

1:27:26salaries. We didn't think we would, but

1:27:28on training, uniforms, you know, the

1:27:30usual, get people in uh and set them up.

1:27:33So, the number is 87,000.

1:27:36In year two, the SFD proposal was

1:27:40542,631.

1:27:43The actual costs are 924,698.

1:27:48In year three, uh the SFD proposal is

1:27:511,311966.

1:27:55The actual costs are 1,731

1:27:58and 9998.

1:28:00In year four,

1:28:03uh again, the SFD proposal, the final

1:28:05year we're doing this is $1,898,991.

1:28:11The actual costs are 200 2,000 sorry 2

1:28:14million 447,659

1:28:19which is you know 550 over. So um not

1:28:23there's there's absolutely nothing wrong

1:28:25with the um fire department's analysis

1:28:28but the new figures are a lot worse for

1:28:31our budget uh than than we know. Okay.

1:28:35Um just additional item on that. Um they

1:28:38have uh a sense of overtime cost savings

1:28:42of 369,66

1:28:45and as far as I can see that number is

1:28:47correct but it applies [clears throat]

1:28:50to the firefighters we're bringing in.

1:28:53We're bringing in 12. 11 are going to

1:28:55staff uh you know station three and one

1:28:59is going to be an overtime an o overtime

1:29:02filler a floater they call it which is

1:29:04you know firefighters police officers

1:29:06they all come with an inherent amount of

1:29:09o of overtime in their salary. you know,

1:29:12vacation, uh, you know, uh, uh, training

1:29:17days, uh, sick time, uh, personal days,

1:29:20etc., etc., and injury, obviously,

1:29:22anything like that. So, what um, if if

1:29:26you look at, you know, 11, uh, the 11

1:29:28firefighters, yeah, uh, that will be the

1:29:31one floater will be a cost saving for

1:29:32those guys. will take care of their

1:29:34overtime. But that will leave the 17

1:29:37firefighters

1:29:38um that you know the fire department

1:29:40showed us uh in in in two stations,

1:29:43their overtime number in the budget

1:29:45right now is $688,000

1:29:49and I don't see that going down, you

1:29:51know. So, it's not going to be I don't

1:29:53think it's going to be um uh a negative

1:29:56number on that. So, we're looking at

1:29:57$87,000 just for the first year. Okay.

1:30:01uh there's other costs but the

1:30:03immaterial promotion costs you know

1:30:05facility cost for station 3 but uh you

1:30:08know they will be taken care of uh it's

1:30:10it's not real impact okay so with that

1:30:13being said

1:30:15uh where we're taking a considerable

1:30:18amount of money every year leading up to

1:30:202.45 four or five million the last year

1:30:23uh which is year four. Um we're a

1:30:27fiscally responsible town and we do very

1:30:30well with our finances. I think we're

1:30:32well managed uh finances. Um but I don't

1:30:37see much fiscal responsibility for this

1:30:40one in a sense that are we managing a

1:30:43proposed large increase in spending. Um

1:30:47this year we had another $2 million

1:30:49project if you like was the the school's

1:30:52construction project which will add $2

1:30:54million for 20 years every year for 20

1:30:57years to our debt service. And this has

1:31:00been in discussion for years. We went

1:31:02over and over it for years to say okay

1:31:05how are we going to do this? And part of

1:31:07it was the financial analysis. The

1:31:09financial analysis was we waited till

1:31:11our debt service was decremented from

1:31:14$13 million a year to $11 million a

1:31:16year. So the 2 million well we notice it

1:31:19but you know it wouldn't be

1:31:22an additional amount. Okay. Um and plus

1:31:26the the bonding amount the overall

1:31:28bonding amount uh which we'll pay 38,000

1:31:3138 million for is is matched by the

1:31:34savings we'll make if we if we go if we

1:31:37don't go ahead with the project because

1:31:39we have so much maintenance to do for

1:31:40the existing school. Okay. So we didn't

1:31:43have any management or discussion and

1:31:47yet we have a much bigger hit to our

1:31:50budget because this goes beyond 20

1:31:52years. you know, we're bringing it in uh

1:31:54for for for as long as we we need folks.

1:31:57And what we've had so far is um and

1:32:01remember this is after the board of

1:32:02finance and council turned down a

1:32:04request for adding three firefighters,

1:32:07you know, back in May. We've had a

1:32:10presentation of two and a half hours

1:32:11from the Southernington Fire Department

1:32:13uh for grant, you know, and then we've

1:32:16had the actual result from the safer com

1:32:18grant committee in front of us now and

1:32:20that's it.

1:32:21So all the discussion we've had so far

1:32:24is how we will fund the grant over the

1:32:27years. We'll just say oh we'll leave

1:32:28that to the future. Okay. Now just to

1:32:31look at one of the years. I won't go

1:32:32into all the years. Um you know we

1:32:34haven't got time but just look at next

1:32:36year.

1:32:38Um the future of this is now. The safer

1:32:41grant was supposed to bring the costs in

1:32:42slowly so municipality could adjust over

1:32:46time. Right. But it hit in year one will

1:32:48be extraordinarily painful.

1:32:51um not just because of the money itself,

1:32:54right? But also we have a a board of ed

1:32:57expense of 833,000 as well that we've

1:33:00got to deal with because they got a

1:33:02special one-year grant from the state

1:33:03and they're using it for operational

1:33:05expenses which will continue into

1:33:07financial year 28. So we therefore start

1:33:10financial year 28 budget discussions

1:33:13with a $ 1.7 billion hole at a time

1:33:18which we discussed this budget this year

1:33:21uh and going into next year was a

1:33:23challenging time for us and projected to

1:33:26last beyond this current year and that's

1:33:29due to like several issues. The first is

1:33:31our ground list growth. ground list

1:33:34hasn't been growing uh from you know

1:33:37from five years up to last year this

1:33:40year sorry property taxes grew 21%.

1:33:43Right? The property taxes that you all

1:33:45pay grew 21%. Fair enough. That's like

1:33:48inflation you know but the grand list

1:33:51only grew 13%. Okay. And the grand list

1:33:54is the biggest uh you know fun of of of

1:33:58our revenues. So, um, the gap between

1:34:01those two we make up every year. Maybe

1:34:04it's increased taxes, efficiencies,

1:34:07cuts, additional revenues from minor

1:34:09town services, but it's by far the

1:34:11biggest funer of our revenue stream.

1:34:15Um, we also have government grants, but

1:34:18you look at the biggest government

1:34:20grants are the state education grants.

1:34:23Uh, it's ECS is the biggest one and some

1:34:25others around it. That was 20.8 8

1:34:28million uh sorry 24.9 million in

1:34:32financial year 22.

1:34:34This year it's 21.7 million because it's

1:34:39gradually gone down every year. Okay.

1:34:41And and we know that I mean we deal with

1:34:43it every year. It's just one of the

1:34:44challenges, right? And other challenges

1:34:48contracted union increases of two or 3%.

1:34:50Uh diesel is going up next year uh from

1:34:53250 a gallon to over $6 because we don't

1:34:56have the hedging anymore.

1:34:58uh we have to deal with a $ 1.7 billion

1:35:01deficit before even beginning to look at

1:35:03budget requests and of course with cuts

1:35:06to requests we may be well looking at

1:35:07cuts to current services and high tax

1:35:09increases or a combination of both. As

1:35:12you all know we kept our spending down

1:35:152.7% this year. An exceptional

1:35:18performance which was not matched by any

1:35:20surrounding towns where 4.6% increases

1:35:23are the norm. is our smallest increase

1:35:25since co 5.05 05 million. And yet we're

1:35:29planning looking at a low increase again

1:35:33this year. And the reason why is is

1:35:36because of a certain sector of our

1:35:38population that the revaluation hit very

1:35:41hard, which is those in in houses that

1:35:44were like 100 200 grand uh couple years

1:35:48ago, they're now three or 400 grand. and

1:35:52the revaluation pushed um the the the uh

1:35:56load of the taxes down to them. So their

1:35:59taxes some went up 40 50%. And those

1:36:02people are we going to do the same thing

1:36:03to them this year if we if we do uh

1:36:06increased uh another increased uh you

1:36:08know taxes more than we we did this

1:36:11year.

1:36:12And finally at one point

1:36:16you know over the years it's the impact

1:36:19on town employees right over the years

1:36:22we've treated departments and services

1:36:24fairly in our budget processes to ensure

1:36:27we are spending correctly across the

1:36:29board and we're seen to do so because

1:36:33every every year town manager gets the

1:36:37department requests in an order gives a

1:36:40board of finance board of finance goes

1:36:41through a long process process where

1:36:42they call in the departments they

1:36:44challenge challenge challenge you know

1:36:46you eventually come up with something

1:36:47that that that you think is acceptable

1:36:50uh the board of ed does the same thing

1:36:53haven't been part of that but I've seen

1:36:55them you know they start at a number

1:36:56they come down they give the number to

1:36:58us and then you know it ends up as our

1:37:02budget but that's a transparent fair and

1:37:04comprehensive process okay where

1:37:06everybody gets a chance right all the

1:37:08departments uh folks accept it but what

1:37:12happens and I'm not having a go at the

1:37:14fire department obviously they're doing

1:37:16what they think is best for their you

1:37:18know their services but when one service

1:37:20gets a 33% increase in their numbers and

1:37:24a 40% increase in spending out of the

1:37:26blue without too much looking at

1:37:30I don't know we've ever done this before

1:37:33and uh I frankly don't think we should

1:37:35do it so we have yet to know the impact

1:37:38of accepting a highly favorable grant to

1:37:40one department and all the others in a

1:37:43heavily unionized municipality. It's

1:37:46only human nature to say other folks got

1:37:48everything they wanted. Why not me?

1:37:50We'll have that discussion to the budget

1:37:52process if we pass this this evening. I

1:37:54I I really believe so with our budget

1:37:57requests for next year. Will it be

1:38:00higher due to staffing? uh especially

1:38:03our four biggest departments not fire

1:38:07department uh but board of ed uh the

1:38:10police department and public works

1:38:12that they're that's 75% right there and

1:38:16we have all this struggle saying look

1:38:19you gave out X to one section we need we

1:38:23need something at least along the same

1:38:25lines guys and then finally what will be

1:38:28the future effect on union negotiations

1:38:31we're undergoing one right Now, you

1:38:33know, what are people going to say to

1:38:34us? So, the reason I'm going into such

1:38:37detail is I would I would suggest that

1:38:42we actually make a clean vote against

1:38:44this tonight because this is happening.

1:38:47If we let it go through the budget

1:38:48process,

1:38:50it's going to it's going to essentially

1:38:52uh mess up everything because people

1:38:54will be dealing with those issues. They

1:38:56won't be dealing with the clean issue we

1:38:58have every year of our budget process.

1:39:01So I would advocate that we all uh vote

1:39:04against it. We cannot afford it and uh

1:39:07and then we leave it there. Okay.

1:39:10>> Thank you Tony.

1:39:12Okay. Any other comments,

1:39:18>> madame vice chair?

1:39:19>> Okay. Um I respectfully disagree. I

1:39:25think the theme of tonight is we are

1:39:28literally playing with fire and it's not

1:39:31if it's when.

1:39:34So I can't look at the spend in a

1:39:36vacuum. I have to take other things into

1:39:39account and this is a difficult position

1:39:41to be in. Um we govern over 45,000

1:39:45residents. I have a serious issue with a

1:39:48third of the town

1:39:51not being serviced equally.

1:39:55House 3 goes dark when the risk is the

1:39:58highest. 49% of of the risk is the

1:40:02highest when we have no coverage in the

1:40:04south side of town. Um, every year we

1:40:07make efforts to ensure that roads are

1:40:10paved in various areas. We make sure

1:40:13that water and sewer are maintained

1:40:14equally amongst towns so everybody

1:40:17receives the same level of service. How

1:40:19is it acceptable to have one part of the

1:40:21town with a hole in critical servicing?

1:40:25So a vote no is are you okay with that

1:40:28service? So that's how I'm approaching

1:40:30this decision. Two, the cliff we're up

1:40:34against isn't financial, it's a staffing

1:40:36cliff. Let's look at the volunteer

1:40:39staffing model. Nationally, volunteerism

1:40:42for firefighters has significantly

1:40:44declined in Connecticut. I can

1:40:46understand why. People have full-time

1:40:48jobs, families, athletics.

1:40:52The model of volunteering to f to fight

1:40:56fires for a simple stipen is not

1:40:59feasible anymore, mainly because of the

1:41:02reasons just cited.

1:41:04[clears throat]

1:41:06Are we really going to rely our staffing

1:41:09model on volunteers for our most

1:41:11critical safety infrastructure? Would we

1:41:12tell the police department, "Hey, we're

1:41:15not going to hire anymore. Actually,

1:41:17backfill your uh police officers with

1:41:20volunteers." No, we wouldn't because

1:41:22it's a terrible idea. So, why are we so

1:41:24willing to accept that in this model?

1:41:28I'm concerned about it's not it's not

1:41:31if, it's when. So when we don't have any

1:41:35volunteers, who is coming to the fire?

1:41:38If we take the opportunity that we have

1:41:40now, with the federal government's help,

1:41:43we can create this the solution for that

1:41:46exact problem now, not later.

1:41:50We make a community investment to to

1:41:56solve these issues now, and we're

1:41:58properly planning for it. And I believe

1:42:00that's our job. I we've also had a

1:42:04study, three fire chiefs, numerous fire

1:42:07professionals,

1:42:09now the federal government, all agreeing

1:42:11this is [snorts] a problem, but we will

1:42:13sit up here and vote no because why?

1:42:15Because we know better.

1:42:17I had the opportunity to actually put on

1:42:20a fire uniform, put on an oxygen tank,

1:42:23and go into a controlled fire with the

1:42:27fire department and learn exactly what

1:42:29what is needed. And that's not even

1:42:31close to what they experienced. It was a

1:42:34little minute hour of time. And I can

1:42:37tell you everything that we've heard is

1:42:39absolutely true. The staffing is

1:42:42necessary.

1:42:44And finally, I would absolutely expect

1:42:47anyone who voted a yes to accept and go

1:42:51for this grant to vote yes tonight.

1:42:53Chris, even you went, you know, pleaded

1:42:56to Larson um for support. Kristen, you

1:42:59made a face beautiful Facebook post in

1:43:01response to Czech and that you supported

1:43:04uh safer grant and and opportunities and

1:43:06so um for all those reasons I'm

1:43:09absolutely in support of this.

1:43:13>> Okay, any other comments

1:43:17before we call the role? Okay.

1:43:20Um,

1:43:22so I agree with everything that Vice

1:43:24Chair Clark said, um, down to every word

1:43:28of that. Um, when company 3 is closed,

1:43:31the entire southside of town goes from a

1:43:364 to 8 minute response time to 11, 12,

1:43:4013, 14 minutes. Um, a $400,000 house on

1:43:43Main Street pays the same taxes that a

1:43:46$400,000 house on Merit Waterberry

1:43:48Turnpike pays. Um and they're getting

1:43:50significantly less service um when

1:43:54company 3 is not staffed, which is 75%

1:43:56of the time, which most of us have heard

1:43:58this.

1:44:00Um this helps solve a problem that has

1:44:04been going on for many years, many years

1:44:06before I was up here and involved um

1:44:10just as a resident. Um and the vast

1:44:14decline of the volunteer fire

1:44:16department. Um, and that's not just a

1:44:19Southernington thing. That is across the

1:44:22state. Um, and I would love to have a

1:44:27solution to that, but we need coverage.

1:44:31We have two major interstates that run

1:44:33through this town, 84 and parts of 691.

1:44:36Um, and numerous medical calls that the

1:44:41fire department also responds to when

1:44:43AMR is delayed or unavailable. Um so

1:44:48while I see the tax burden to this, I

1:44:53think the coverage and the manpower

1:44:55solution

1:44:57um

1:44:59outweighs the tax burden for the

1:45:01equality

1:45:02of all of the taxpayers in town. Um and

1:45:05I will be voting yes on this. Okay.

1:45:08Anybody else?

1:45:11I just wanted to say uh one thing

1:45:13because um uh I think it sort of uh had

1:45:18a go at what I was saying. What I was

1:45:20saying was talking about the financial

1:45:22analysis. Okay. The uh service side of

1:45:26this is is frankly a different question.

1:45:30And the reason that's a different

1:45:31question is because back in the budget

1:45:34we were happy with three firefighters.

1:45:37The fire commission was happy. who we

1:45:38you know um it was considered um a way

1:45:42just like we hired the other ones in the

1:45:44past to move us forward to solve uh some

1:45:47of these issues. That was considered

1:45:48okay. All right. The board of finance

1:45:51threw that out because we didn't have

1:45:52the money. Okay. Um council also did um

1:45:57and you know that's why I think we need

1:45:59to go back. We need to go back and look

1:46:01at what other solutions are such as you

1:46:03know you mentioned the ambulance. Well

1:46:05let's get another ambulance. um you know

1:46:08and uh and and um the uh the I'm sorry

1:46:15um

1:46:18the uh

1:46:22I'm sorry I lost uh I lost my train of

1:46:23thought briefly

1:46:25but let's go back to that let's go back

1:46:28to looking at um you know the shift all

1:46:31the other things we mentioned it's part

1:46:33of this discussion over the last year or

1:46:35so okay Because when we have 12

1:46:38firefighters given to us 3 months after

1:46:42we were looking at three firefighters

1:46:44was going to be a solution that's going

1:46:45to last for a while. I I have a I

1:46:48[clears throat and cough] certainly have

1:46:49a um a problem with that. And also um

1:46:54just to finish with that um I don't

1:46:57think this is a financial issue. I think

1:46:59it's an issue that we can uh work with.

1:47:02uh there's plenty of solutions uh

1:47:04available that that we could discuss

1:47:07without jeopardizing the finances of the

1:47:10town when and and to say you know the

1:47:13people here uh we made a decision uh we

1:47:17would make a decision to stop it when

1:47:19we're not firefighters

1:47:21um is is a bit strange because last when

1:47:25we were here back in May we decided to

1:47:28cut the firefighters overtime by

1:47:30$100,000.

1:47:31We're not firefighters. We didn't sort

1:47:33of um uh are we allowed to say that and

1:47:37not allowed to turn down um a grant. Uh

1:47:40we also cut the assistant chief being

1:47:43being hired again. We cut the

1:47:46administrator. Okay. We we we cut those

1:47:49things, but we're not firefighters. And

1:47:50yet we did it. So I I I really

1:47:53[clears throat] take exception to the

1:47:55view that if you're not a firefighter,

1:47:58you can't make decisions. Okay,

1:48:00>> that's it.

1:48:00>> Thank you. Anybody else?

1:48:02>> Mr. Chair.

1:48:03>> Yes, Mike.

1:48:03>> Just briefly, real quick, um I was

1:48:05looking for an email from the chief with

1:48:08that information that we just received

1:48:11>> and in my email folder for town council,

1:48:15an email came up from 2020

1:48:18and it just, you know, I put fire chief

1:48:20or whatever. I I did a search and the

1:48:23email from 2020 and it was a whole

1:48:25presentation on fire station wants and

1:48:28fire station needs. I'm just trying to

1:48:31illustrate that this is not going away.

1:48:33This is six years in a row now. And I I

1:48:36want to say we've been through four

1:48:37chiefs that have all told us that we are

1:48:39woefully understaffed. Uh in the not if

1:48:43but when um is a real problem for me. So

1:48:46I'll be voting in favor of the safe for

1:48:48grand. And um you know something that uh

1:48:51John Wel used to say uh years ago um God

1:48:55rest his soul but people would come up

1:48:58when I was on planning and zoning and

1:48:59they talk about how are we going to you

1:49:01know these new houses we're going to

1:49:03build are going to you know have all

1:49:04these children and how are we going to

1:49:06educate these children or how are we

1:49:08going to pay for the and John Wel would

1:49:10just say we'll we'll educate them.

1:49:12That's what that's what towns do. Um and

1:49:15you I respect Tony. I know he did a deep

1:49:17dive with the analysis of finances. Um

1:49:21I'm hoping the ground turns around.

1:49:23We'll see what happens, but there are

1:49:25there are other ways that we can try to

1:49:28recoup some of this money. Um overtime

1:49:31has always been an issue um you know

1:49:33with the fire department and I firmly

1:49:36believe that if we get these additional

1:49:38staff I think overtime um will come

1:49:40down. I do. So that's it. Mr. Thank you.

1:49:43>> Anybody else?

1:49:46Chris.

1:49:48>> Uh, first of all, I have to say this has

1:49:50been an extremely difficult decision.

1:49:53Um, Dave, Chris, and I spent a [snorts]

1:49:54lot of time

1:49:56um reviewing all the information and

1:49:58trying to come up with the decision that

1:50:00that is best for the town. Um, so we

1:50:03reviewed the projected costs, considered

1:50:06the benefits of additional staffing, and

1:50:08discussed the long-term financial

1:50:09commitment uh the grant would require.

1:50:12So, first of all, we want to begin by

1:50:14thanking our firefighters for their

1:50:16service and recognizing the work that

1:50:17went into securing the grant. We

1:50:20understand that additional staffing

1:50:21would provide meaningful benefits to our

1:50:23department and the community. We take

1:50:25the concerns about emergency response,

1:50:27firefighter safety, and protecting our

1:50:29residents seriously. [snorts]

1:50:31However, we also share responsibility to

1:50:33ensure that Southernington can sustain

1:50:36the commitments that we make. When we

1:50:39were originally asked to support

1:50:41submitting this application, we

1:50:42requested information about the

1:50:44financial impact on the town. At that

1:50:46time, we were told that because of the

1:50:48application deadline, we needed to act

1:50:50immediately that night. Supporting the

1:50:53application allowed Southernington to

1:50:56pursue the opportunity. But now that

1:50:58we've received it, accepting the award

1:51:00required us to evaluate its actual terms

1:51:04and the financial obligation attached to

1:51:06it.

1:51:09We we saw the statement from the union

1:51:11that the union put out and we agree the

1:51:13decision should be based on documented

1:51:16information, transparency, and

1:51:17accountability.

1:51:19We have carefully reviewed the town's

1:51:21cost analysis, including the fire

1:51:22department's projected overtime savings.

1:51:24Those figures are the basis for our

1:51:26concern. Tony mentioned some of the

1:51:29figures before and I'm looking at the

1:51:32same document, the 87,357

1:51:35in year 1, the 924,698

1:51:38in year 2. However, in fairness, that

1:51:40doesn't take into account the savings

1:51:42that the fire department said would be

1:51:44realized. So, um the actual impact um

1:51:49would be 437,752

1:51:52in year 1,544,04

1:51:56in year 2,1,341,787

1:52:00in year three, and over $2 million in

1:52:03year 4.

1:52:05Those figures are the basis for our

1:52:08concern.

1:52:10The town's analysis projects our share

1:52:12of the cost for these 12 additional

1:52:13firefighters at approximately 87,000

1:52:17fiscal year. I already said that. Um the

1:52:20fire commissioners have explained that

1:52:21the award leaves the town responsible

1:52:23for expenses beyond what they anticipate

1:52:26beyond what they anticipated during the

1:52:27June 8th town council meeting. Tony

1:52:29touched upon that a little bit. That's

1:52:31[snorts] because of the cap of $102,487

1:52:34per firefighter. None of us realized

1:52:36that at the time of the presentation,

1:52:38but that's an additional cost that we

1:52:40did not know. And that was from the June

1:52:438th town council meeting. But even if

1:52:45every dollar of projected overtime

1:52:47saving is realized, however, the town's

1:52:50annual cost would increase from

1:52:51approximately $438,000

1:52:54in the first year to $1.34 million in

1:52:57the third year and more than four and

1:53:00more than $2 million in the fourth year.

1:53:03That is a substantial recurring

1:53:05obligation. We must consider it

1:53:08alongside our responsibility to schools,

1:53:10other public safety services,

1:53:12infrastructure, and the residents who

1:53:14fund all of those services. So, we need

1:53:17a clear understanding of how future

1:53:19budgets would support these positions,

1:53:20including any potential tax increases or

1:53:23trade-offs affecting other essential

1:53:25services. Those figures are also

1:53:28projections that we received, I think,

1:53:29from the town manager, from the finance

1:53:31director. Overtime savings depend on

1:53:34actual staffing and operational needs,

1:53:36and salary increases beyond the current

1:53:38union contract remain estimates. Our

1:53:40equipment of this size requires a

1:53:42credible, sustainable funding plan for

1:53:45the years after the grant expires.

1:53:48Securing a competitive federal award is

1:53:51an accomplishment. The council must also

1:53:53determine though how the town will

1:53:54sustain these positions that award helps

1:53:57us to create. Our firefighters deserve

1:53:59dependable support, but dependable

1:54:02staffing requires dependable funding.

1:54:06We remain committed to working with our

1:54:07fire department, town administration,

1:54:09and our council colleagues on a staffing

1:54:11plan that strengthens public safety and

1:54:13is financially sustainable. We want a

1:54:15plan that gives our firefighters, our

1:54:17residents, and future councils

1:54:19confidence that the positions we

1:54:20authorize today can be be can be

1:54:22supported in the years ahead.

1:54:25[clears throat]

1:54:25>> Thank you, Kristen. Anybody else?

1:54:31>> Kristen, you all set?

1:54:35>> You looked like you wanted to say

1:54:36something.

1:54:41Josh,

1:54:43>> how many more firefighters need to

1:54:45resign?

1:54:47>> That's that's the question I'm asking,

1:54:48Chris, because

1:54:51we've had, I believe, two lieutenants,

1:54:54maybe captains, um, leave within

1:54:58at least the last four months. Um, on

1:55:00top of just regular firefighters, um,

1:55:04the entire state delegation supported

1:55:06this, the federal delegation supported

1:55:08this. Um, and listening to what you just

1:55:12said was I, in my opinion, I think you

1:55:15trying to come up with a scapegoat. Um,

1:55:19and I think it's pretty disingenuous

1:55:20that we supported including you telling

1:55:25the Southern Fire Department to go and

1:55:26apply for this grant. And we'll see

1:55:28where your vote lies shortly.

1:55:31Um, I certainly understand with our cost

1:55:34projection here at year four when we are

1:55:37fully funding it, it's about $2 million.

1:55:40Um, how much money do we give the board

1:55:42of ed every single year

1:55:46on

1:55:47as additional um contractual obligations

1:55:53and I think in the grand scheme of

1:55:54things, the fire department's not asking

1:55:55for that much, right? we have on the

1:55:57referendum this year to go build a new

1:55:59Kelly [clears throat] school and whether

1:56:00that passes or fails. Um if there's an

1:56:03fire at a school, the fire department

1:56:06needs to respond to it. Um our schools

1:56:08are [snorts] big. We have old schools

1:56:10too um that are I would assume up to

1:56:13code, but um certainly pose a hazard and

1:56:18we need the staffing to go and do this.

1:56:20We're not talking about hire getting a

1:56:21new truck, right? We're not talking

1:56:23about funding five new fire trucks.

1:56:26We're talking about getting the manpower

1:56:27to use the equipment that we already

1:56:29have in the fire house that we already

1:56:32have. [clears throat and cough]

1:56:34I think anyone who votes to know on this

1:56:36really needs to go [snorts]

1:56:37look into the mirror um and ask about

1:56:40the safety of the Sington residents.

1:56:44>> Anybody else? Jen?

1:56:46>> Yep. I just I um again I it sounds like

1:56:51you're not supporting the the vote. So I

1:56:54I want to hear from Kristen because this

1:56:56was your quote on Facebook in response

1:56:58to Chuck and Eddies on May 31st. You

1:57:01this was after you denied three

1:57:02firefighters after we proposed putting

1:57:05them back in. You said, "My support was

1:57:07based on pursuing the federal safer

1:57:10grant funding which could provide our

1:57:11department with additional staffing

1:57:13resources." You then went on to say, "I

1:57:15remain fully committed to exploring

1:57:18every opportunity to strength our

1:57:20strengthen our fire service, support the

1:57:23dedicated professionals who serve our

1:57:25community, and ensure that

1:57:26Southernington remains safe and prepared

1:57:29for the future. This is the opportunity.

1:57:32So, if not this, I want to hear your

1:57:34solution now."

1:57:36>> You know, and [clears throat] maybe to

1:57:38give you a couple more minutes to think

1:57:39about that, I'd like to just say a

1:57:40couple things. Um, you know, I I

1:57:44[clears throat] agree that the finances

1:57:45is are difficult. Tony's laid it out

1:57:47pretty well. I think there is a debate

1:57:50about 400,000 there each year. Um, if we

1:57:53take the projections as given to us by

1:57:55the finance department and the and the

1:57:56board and the uh fire department, it's

1:57:58400,000 less each year than what uh Tony

1:58:01had mentioned as Chris articulated. Um,

1:58:04so just assuming that if we if we look

1:58:08at the finances, Dave, you're a finance

1:58:10guy.

1:58:11uh the three-year safer grant. The fact

1:58:13that the three-year safer grant is a

1:58:15little bit different than what was

1:58:16expected and it's out and it's it's it's

1:58:19not because the application said it was

1:58:22different and we missed it. It's not

1:58:23because, you know, we didn't um we

1:58:26didn't apply properly. It's just that

1:58:27the federal the the federal government

1:58:29put this cap on that wasn't there in the

1:58:30past and it was unexpected.

1:58:33But that's one time money. And when I

1:58:35say one time, I mean over three years.

1:58:37If you look at the three-year safer

1:58:39grant, it's we always knew going into

1:58:42this that if we applied for the safer

1:58:44grant in year four, it's going to cost

1:58:45us 2 million or 2.4 million. That's the

1:58:48number that we have to build to. That's

1:58:50the expectation we have to work towards.

1:58:52So, the fact that the grant came in a

1:58:54little bit different than we thought,

1:58:57that is not a reflection of our overall

1:58:59strategic view. You know, we went into

1:59:02this saying, hey, we're willing to

1:59:03invest and go for a safer grant. we're

1:59:05willing to make that 2 to$2.4 million uh

1:59:08investment. Um the fact that it came in

1:59:10a little bit lower just means that we're

1:59:12going to have to work a little bit

1:59:13harder to figure out how to make it work

1:59:15because once we got to year four, we

1:59:17were planning to be in that in that

1:59:19range anyways. We were planning to be

1:59:21around 2 million or 2. So,

1:59:24do I like the the overall number? No. I

1:59:26don't want to pass a $2.4 million

1:59:28increase along to the to the to the

1:59:30residents. But on the other hand, I also

1:59:32don't want to leave a firehouse dark for

1:59:35threearters of the time uh that it

1:59:38should be open. And

1:59:41I sat here in 2019 was the first year

1:59:44that I was a counselor. We sat and we

1:59:47listened to Jimmy Paul. I think it was

1:59:48Jimmy Paul, uh Chief Paul. He gave us

1:59:50the strategic plan. and he told us we

1:59:52needed a ton of firefighters. And we

1:59:54made a commitment at that time that we

1:59:57were going to start to build to staff

1:59:59station 5 and station 3. That was our

2:00:02commitment. We said our town had a

2:00:04footprint big enough that we needed to

2:00:06start to invest to open five and open

2:00:08three 24/7. We got five open 24/7

2:00:11because we've made investments between

2:00:13then and now. And we're continuing the

2:00:17journey to open station 3. I would argue

2:00:21that we do have a difficult job ahead of

2:00:26us to make this work. But I would ask

2:00:29you guys to consider that

2:00:33our job is to do the tough job. We don't

2:00:36have to pass along $2.4 million

2:00:38as it is. We can accept this safer grant

2:00:41today. We have board of finance

2:00:44professionals, you know, like I had

2:00:45mentioned at the beginning of this,

2:00:47their job is to start to look at how can

2:00:49we afford this. Our job is policy.

2:00:52Our job is to determine what does this

2:00:54community need. And there are only a few

2:00:57basic levels of service that

2:01:00municipalities and government should be

2:01:01providing. And safety is one of them.

2:01:03And we have a gaping hole that we've

2:01:05been told time and time and time again

2:01:08by chairpersons of of uh the fire

2:01:10commission, by chiefs, by volunteer

2:01:12captains and people who come out and

2:01:14tell us, "Hey, look, we're not saying we

2:01:17need to get to a standard of 17 people

2:01:20at a fire with the safer grant. We're

2:01:22saying that we only have seven people on

2:01:25staff." Seven people on staff. That's

2:01:27two trucks nights and weekends. And by

2:01:30doing this, it's going to allow us to

2:01:32get to 10, which gets us three trucks.

2:01:34It gives us a backs stop in the event

2:01:36that there's an emergency out there. And

2:01:38we know that emergencies happen. I mean,

2:01:40Kristen is involved in uh her, you know,

2:01:43she's built a career on on emergencies.

2:01:46So,

2:01:48I would ask you to consider

2:01:50that we this decision today isn't over.

2:01:54It's doesn't it's not over. It means we

2:01:56need to get together and work to figure

2:01:58out how do we mitigate some of these

2:02:01costs and we have four years to do it.

2:02:04Year one we can do easily. I guarantee

2:02:06you we can. By the way, it's it's

2:02:08600,000 a year to get to 2.4 million in

2:02:11year four. 600,000 each year to make

2:02:14this cost neutral. I guarantee you that

2:02:17if we sat in this room for a half an

2:02:19hour between now and budget time, we

2:02:21could come up with $600,000. we could

2:02:24find a way to do that easily. Year two,

2:02:27we we talked about implementing uh a

2:02:29revenue stream. We talked about

2:02:31implementing a new ordinance that the

2:02:33ordinance committee could enact to uh to

2:02:35to piggyback on the insurance carriers

2:02:38so that we're not being left in the dark

2:02:39when an insurance claim is filed and our

2:02:41fire department had to go to an

2:02:42automobile accident. The projection on

2:02:45that was 300,000 a year. That's

2:02:46reoccurring money that we can we can

2:02:48capture. So, I mean, just sitting here

2:02:50thinking out loud, there's things that

2:02:52we can do to mitigate this, I believe.

2:02:56And I believe our job is not to just

2:02:58say, "Well, you know, the numbers are a

2:03:01little bit different than than what we

2:03:03were told. So, we're going to we're

2:03:04going to, you know, we're going to use

2:03:05that as an excuse to back out." I would

2:03:07ask you not to do that. I would

2:03:09challenge you because you went into

2:03:11this. You went into this saying, "Yes,

2:03:14apply for the safer grant because it was

2:03:16a need for the safety of our community."

2:03:19And I challenge you to work with us. We

2:03:21worked in a bipartisan way. This caucus

2:03:24right here, we wanted to push that vote.

2:03:26Our caucus wanted to push that vote uh

2:03:29the last budget cycle. We wanted to push

2:03:31the vote on the firefighters. And

2:03:33instead of pushing the vote, we paused.

2:03:36We listened to you and your concerns.

2:03:38And the concern you told us was we don't

2:03:40want it to affect this budget cycle.

2:03:42We'll approve the the application if we

2:03:44can do the stipulation that we'll hire

2:03:46July 1st. We did that. Our caucus worked

2:03:50with your caucus to come to a compromise

2:03:53and delay the hiring.

2:03:56Let's come to a compromise and let's

2:03:58find a way to work together to mitigate

2:04:01these costs and let's work on the

2:04:02concerns that you have. You have my

2:04:04commitment and the commitment of the

2:04:06others here. I know because I've talked

2:04:08to Mike and Jen in the caucus. You have

2:04:10our commitment to find cost savings.

2:04:11Let's not let that get in the way of our

2:04:13decision. Our decision is strategy. And

2:04:17our decision is to make difficult

2:04:19decisions and figure out how to get

2:04:20there. And we can do that by mitigating

2:04:23costs, working with our board of finance

2:04:25and other other departments to figure

2:04:27out how to make it happen. I ask you to

2:04:29consider that. Please,

2:04:33Chris.

2:04:34>> [clears throat]

2:04:34>> So, first of all, I find it

2:04:36disingenuous, Paul, the statement about

2:04:38bipartisanship. So, Tony is on the

2:04:42Republican side, we are on the

2:04:43Democratic side, and we're we're

2:04:45agreeing. So, if if you're saying that

2:04:48only agreeing with you makes it

2:04:49bipartisan, and that's a problem.

2:04:50>> That's not what I'm saying.

2:04:51>> But you just said that your caucus sees

2:04:54it one way, your entire caucus does not

2:04:56see it that way. So, I I think that is a

2:04:58moot point. At the June 8th meeting, um

2:05:01I just want to read from the minutes.

2:05:03Um, it's on page 12. Mr. Pomeary states

2:05:06he doesn't know where they would find

2:05:08the funding after passing the lean

2:05:10budget that they just passed. He asks

2:05:12with the savings in overtime, do they

2:05:14think they could find the funding to

2:05:16cover the cost associated with applying

2:05:18for the grant. Chief Lee states he would

2:05:21have to look at the numbers. He states

2:05:23by staggering the hiring until after

2:05:24February, there is a possibility he

2:05:26could cover it, but he would have to

2:05:27look into it. As I mentioned before, he

2:05:29>> that was for this budget cycle, though,

2:05:31>> and he did give us savings. So again,

2:05:33year [clears throat] 1 he's proposing

2:05:36$369,66.

2:05:38Year two, $380,694.

2:05:42Year three, $390,211,000.

2:05:45Year 43 $399,967.

2:05:50Um, and year five, $49,966.

2:05:54So he did what he was asked to do and he

2:05:56did give us savings, but we talked about

2:05:58that at that meeting. Unfortunately, it

2:06:00isn't the savings that we had hoped for.

2:06:02[clears throat]

2:06:03I then stated that the council doesn't

2:06:06meet again until after the application

2:06:07deadline and suggested a special meeting

2:06:10so we could actually make an informed

2:06:12decision on the facts before we have to

2:06:15vote. Mr. Chaplinsky states that two

2:06:18things need to happen. First, they need

2:06:20permission to apply for the safer grant

2:06:22and then second, the hiring. He states

2:06:24if the council is a amendable, they

2:06:27would be looking for the go-ahhead on

2:06:28submitting the application. He states

2:06:31they can apply but then not hire. So we

2:06:34did exactly what you suggested and now

2:06:36you're accusing us of being not working

2:06:39together. And that's not what I said,

2:06:40Chris.

2:06:41>> You said we're not working together in a

2:06:43bipartisan way when I'm telling you we

2:06:45did exactly what you suggested. I

2:06:48acknowledge that.

2:06:48>> Now we're now we're trying to make a

2:06:51decision

2:06:52>> and and it's very difficult to fund

2:06:53these 12 firefighters.

2:06:55>> I agree. It's I I and Chris, I my

2:06:57comment to you was we worked in a

2:06:59bipartisan way during that budget cycle

2:07:02to come to a compromise and and agree on

2:07:06applying for the safer grant. So I was

2:07:07acknowledging the fact that we worked

2:07:09together to get there. So what I'm

2:07:12saying now is let's keep it going.

2:07:15That's all I'm saying. We we started the

2:07:17we started to work together on this and

2:07:19you know this is not a uh an October

2:07:232026 only decision. It's a living

2:07:26decision that we can work together to

2:07:28figure out as we go.

2:07:31That's what I'm saying.

2:07:36>> Okay.

2:07:37>> Are we allowed to

2:07:38>> Well, I I I I told you had asked Kristen

2:07:41if she wanted to make a comment. I was

2:07:42trying to give her a few extra minutes.

2:07:44Did you want to make a statement,

2:07:45Kristen?

2:07:46>> So, I think it's kind of disingenuous to

2:07:49discount [cough and clears throat] our

2:07:50volunteer firefighters. Um, without

2:07:52them, you know, they make up a good part

2:07:54of our fire department. Uh, 20 years

2:07:57ago, we did have a pretty robust um

2:07:59volunteer fire department. Um, and I

2:08:02think we need to bring that back. If you

2:08:03look across the 169 municipalities in um

2:08:08the town in the in the state

2:08:10[clears throat] of Connecticut, um there

2:08:12are several municipalities that do run

2:08:14solely on volunteer um fire departments.

2:08:18I'm not negating the efforts of our paid

2:08:20uh firefighters. They do an amazing job,

2:08:23but I think to kind of help offset that

2:08:26and augment our services would make us a

2:08:29more um economically [clears throat] uh

2:08:32sound community.

2:08:34>> Thank you. Okay,

2:08:36>> Jen, go ahead.

2:08:38>> Okay, so what I'm hearing is your

2:08:39solution is to rely on the volunteers.

2:08:44>> How does Newington staff their fire

2:08:46department?

2:08:47>> I live in Southernington and I'm

2:08:48concerned about Southernington.

2:08:50>> Okay. And in fact, Newington is smaller

2:08:55than Southernington. And I believe

2:08:57Southernington doesn't even have half

2:09:00the staffing that Newington does, which

2:09:03also leads to the problem at hand. And

2:09:07what if people don't volunteer? I'm not

2:09:09willing I I for me I'm not willing to

2:09:13rely on the volunteer aspect of this

2:09:16because the statistics are showing that

2:09:19the volunteerism is decreasing. That's

2:09:22my main concern. We have enough trouble

2:09:24to get volunteers to to volunteer for

2:09:27committees and for people to show up to

2:09:30make a quorum for a simple committee. So

2:09:32>> you can get people to rake at Gold

2:09:34Island. So, you know, my my main concern

2:09:38is no. I don't think it's acceptable to

2:09:41have a hole in the south side of town

2:09:43and rely on volunteers. And so, if

2:09:45that's the solution, um I'm

2:09:47disappointed.

2:09:48>> Josh, do you think we should

2:09:50>> 20 years ago?

2:09:53>> That was the solution that I heard out

2:09:54of that was 20 years ago, we had a lot

2:09:56of volunteers. Uh well, we don't have

2:09:58that now. Um, and

2:10:02we have 27 volunteers. Okay.

2:10:04>> 28, sir. Sorry.

2:10:05>> 28. Thank you. Sorry. Um,

2:10:08>> my my next comment is going to be the

2:10:09Chuck Netty's fire. That was on a

2:10:11Saturday morning afternoon. Um,

2:10:14where

2:10:17you probably have a I don't know, a

2:10:19large majority of volunteers that are

2:10:20available. Um, correct me if I'm wrong,

2:10:23Chief. Six showed up.

2:10:25>> I believe we end up with nine by the end

2:10:27of the event.

2:10:28>> By the end of the event. And you had

2:10:29multiple, and this isn't a question for

2:10:31him, I can state this, you had another

2:10:33fire call that um mutual aid had to

2:10:36respond to and then a brush fire that

2:10:38also happened that same time from that

2:10:41fire um with two paid fire trucks, two

2:10:45paid trucks out there to fight three

2:10:48different problems that were all

2:10:50happening at the exact same time. Um I

2:10:53don't think the solution is going back

2:10:55in time 20 years. Um, and Newington and

2:11:00Cheshire and other volunteer departments

2:11:03um are failing. Um, I agree with what

2:11:07Jen said. I'm concerned about the

2:11:08residents of Southernington because

2:11:10that's what we were elected to do on

2:11:12this council

2:11:14and

2:11:17Cheshire is dwindling volunteers.

2:11:19Newington is a smaller

2:11:24size as Jen said of um compared to the

2:11:27town of Sington.

2:11:30>> I I just don't get with

2:11:32volunteers are a great

2:11:37augmentation I think is the word I want

2:11:39to go with here. Um it should not be

2:11:43discounted but they are not there for a

2:11:46full shift. They come in when there is a

2:11:48fire and we cannot rely on them for 75%

2:11:51of the time for the whole south side of

2:11:53Southernington.

2:11:54>> Mr. Chair, we respect. Can we move the

2:11:56vote?

2:11:57>> Yes. Uh, one second. Just I wanted to

2:11:58clarify one thing. Um, you know,

2:12:00Newington, everybody points to Newington

2:12:02because they're 100% volunteer.

2:12:04Newington is Southernington is 2.7 times

2:12:06the size of Newington

2:12:08>> footprint-wise and only 33,000

2:12:10residents, but they have 114 volunteers.

2:12:15you know, volunteer the the need for

2:12:17volunteers in Southernington will not

2:12:19diminish. We still need to get back to

2:12:21100 volunteers. The last time we had 100

2:12:23volunteers was 2011.

2:12:26So, um, having 28 now, you know, I I

2:12:29know that the 28 that are there are

2:12:31busting their tails to try to get to as

2:12:33many as they can, and we thank them for

2:12:36that. We need to continue to build the

2:12:38volunteer contingent. This is uh uh this

2:12:40is this you know if there are more uh

2:12:43career I'm hoping there'll be more

2:12:44volunteers uh who are willing to also

2:12:47support the volunteer contingency. Okay,

2:12:49Dave, do you want to say one thing? Go

2:12:50ahead.

2:12:51>> Yes, I do.

2:12:53As Chris articulated, [clears throat] we

2:12:56spent a lot of time talking about this.

2:12:58We're very concerned about this and he

2:13:00articulated our concerns very well.

2:13:03You're looking at us, but I'm not sure

2:13:06you fully understand that we have a

2:13:09charter. And when one party has six

2:13:12votes, it means they can do anything

2:13:14they want.

2:13:15>> Mhm.

2:13:16>> They don't have to look at us.

2:13:19>> You You realize that, right?

2:13:20>> I do.

2:13:21>> Okay.

2:13:21>> Thank you.

2:13:22>> So, why do you keep looking at us?

2:13:24>> Because we're the ones that voted for

2:13:25the safer grant. All of us voted. All

2:13:28the seven of us voted for the safer

2:13:30grant. So the people who asked our staff

2:13:32to spend time and energy to go apply for

2:13:34a grant when we knew it was going to be

2:13:362 million, the seven of us said, "We

2:13:39want that. Go get it." So that's why I'm

2:13:41talking to you because I know that the

2:13:42other two who didn't who didn't ask for

2:13:44the grant aren't going to aren't going

2:13:46to want to accept it anyways.

2:13:47>> And that may be true.

2:13:48>> So that's why I'm looking at you. You

2:13:50asked.

2:13:50>> Uh uh that may be totally true.

2:13:52>> Besides, you're good-looking. [laughter]

2:13:55>> Let's not get crazy.

2:13:57>> Yeah, let's not get crazy.

2:14:00noted.

2:14:02>> Thank you.

2:14:02>> As Chris pointed out, there was a lot of

2:14:04information we didn't have on the night

2:14:07that we had to vote to apply for the

2:14:09grant. We tried to get a a a some space

2:14:13there where, you know, give us a little

2:14:16time to digest what what this means,

2:14:18what the impact of it was. And we it we

2:14:22got shot down. We could have easily had

2:14:24a special meeting. It would have been no

2:14:26problem. It would have given us a week

2:14:28or so. But for some reason, this

2:14:30deadline was cast in stone. I still

2:14:33don't believe it was cast in stone.

2:14:34>> Blame the federal government, I guess.

2:14:36>> Well, [laughter] I I could, but that's

2:14:39where I stand.

2:14:40>> Fair. Good. All right, Madam Clerk, call

2:14:42the role.

2:14:43>> Del Santo,

2:14:44>> yes.

2:14:46>> Gaida,

2:14:47>> no.

2:14:49>> Morelli,

2:14:50>> no.

2:14:53>> Morrison,

2:14:54>> no.

2:14:56>> Paul Mar,

2:14:57>> no.

2:14:59Saraphino,

2:15:00>> yes.

2:15:02>> Zony,

2:15:03>> no.

2:15:05>> Clock for the south side of town and our

2:15:07firefighters. Yes.

2:15:09>> Chiplinsky.

2:15:10>> Yes. The motion fails. Uh 5 to 4.

2:15:15So we will now move on to item number C,

2:15:19old business C, action on leaf bid.

2:15:22We're looking for a motion to award

2:15:24total logistics. Let me just finish with

2:15:26it. Total logist. All right, guys. Let's

2:15:29stop. Total logistics strategy $37 an

2:15:33hour and Shaw Vac LLC, the equipment and

2:15:36labor.

2:15:37>> Motion to approve.

2:15:38>> Second.

2:15:38>> We have a motion from Mike and a second

2:15:40from Tony. Discussion on that.

2:15:42All right. Uh, madame clerk, call the

2:15:44role, please.

2:15:46>> Delanto,

2:15:47>> yes.

2:15:48>> Ga,

2:15:49>> yes.

2:15:50>> Morelli,

2:15:51>> yes.

2:15:52>> Morrison,

2:15:52>> yes.

2:15:53>> Home,

2:15:54>> yes. Saraphino,

2:15:55>> yes.

2:15:56>> Zony,

2:15:56>> yes.

2:15:57>> Quack,

2:15:58>> yes.

2:15:58>> Chiplinsky,

2:15:59>> yes. Motion passes unanimously. Dave,

2:16:00you're right. We did do our homework.

2:16:02>> Uh, item E, action on no parking signs

2:16:05around Southernington High School. This

2:16:06one was really simple, you guys. We

2:16:08brought this up in a meeting. The

2:16:10>> bridge.

2:16:11>> Oh, sorry, the bridge. Uh, action on

2:16:12Dayton Construction recommendation. You

2:16:15know the motion, Mike?

2:16:16>> I do. Motion to approve as as mentioned

2:16:19as for mentioned by the uh

2:16:22>> 1 million

2:16:24>> 889

2:16:26>> to date and construction.

2:16:27>> Yes, date and construction.

2:16:28>> Thanks. And that does [snorts] include

2:16:29contingency.

2:16:30>> Yes,

2:16:31>> we have a second.

2:16:32>> Second from uh Tony. Any discussion on a

2:16:36date and construction recommendation?

2:16:39>> Hearing none. Madam clerk, call the

2:16:40role, please.

2:16:40>> Elsto,

2:16:41>> yes.

2:16:42>> Ga,

2:16:42>> yes.

2:16:43>> Mr.

2:16:44>> Morrison,

2:16:44>> yes. Homeai.

2:16:46>> Yes.

2:16:46>> Saraphino,

2:16:47>> yes.

2:16:47>> Zony,

2:16:48>> yes.

2:16:48>> Clock,

2:16:49>> yes.

2:16:49>> Japlinsky,

2:16:50>> yes. The motion passes unanimously. Now,

2:16:53uh item E, action on no parking signs

2:16:55around the high school. We got this a

2:16:57meeting or two ago. The charter says

2:16:58that the town council may enact uh uh no

2:17:01parking. So, just to consummate it so

2:17:03that in the future if there's any

2:17:04issues, um I'm just looking for a motion

2:17:06to uh approve and enact the no parking

2:17:08around the high school in accordance

2:17:10with the recommendation from the chief

2:17:12that we got.

2:17:12>> Second. motion and a second from Mike

2:17:14and Tony. Any discussion? And we'll put

2:17:16it into the record to to the clerk.

2:17:18Again,

2:17:19>> any discussion?

2:17:20>> Just one quick question. I don't know if

2:17:22the town attorney knows this or not or

2:17:24the town manager. After these signs get

2:17:26put up, will they be ticketing cars?

2:17:29>> Yeah. I mean, I I talked to the chief

2:17:31and he said, "Yeah, this helps them with

2:17:33uh enforcement and they can ticket

2:17:34cars." Yeah, for sure. Will they do it?

2:17:36I think, you know, it's going to be

2:17:38incumbent upon um the chief to maybe

2:17:41patrol the areas at that time or it's

2:17:43going to be incumbent upon somebody to

2:17:45call who's in the area to say, "Hey,

2:17:47people are out here, no parking." And

2:17:48and then the police will respond and and

2:17:50I think after a few of those occur, you

2:17:52know, people will obey.

2:17:54>> I don't know if you know this, but I

2:17:56used to live on anise.

2:17:57>> No, I didn't.

2:17:58>> The third house in

2:17:59>> I'm sitting here today as a result of

2:18:02this issue. [laughter]

2:18:03>> There you go. Before that, I was not

2:18:06involved.

2:18:06>> There you go. All right. Any other

2:18:08discussion?

2:18:10>> All in favor of the no parking around

2:18:12the high school policy.

2:18:13>> I

2:18:13>> I

2:18:14>> Any opposed? Okay. Motion

2:18:17>> So, it's uh 801 abstension. Josh

2:18:20Saraphino is abstaining.

2:18:22>> Uh item number nine, new business tax

2:18:24refunds.

2:18:26>> I'd like to make a motion to approve the

2:18:27tax refunds as presented in our packets.

2:18:30>> Second.

2:18:30>> We have a motion and a second. Any

2:18:32discussion?

2:18:33All in favor on the tax refunds.

2:18:36>> I I Any opposed?

2:18:37>> Awesome.

2:18:38>> Motion to adjurnn.

2:18:39>> Uh we are going into executive session.

2:18:41>> Executive session are in the press and

2:18:43the public.

2:18:44>> Second.

2:18:44>> Including

2:18:45>> town attorney.

2:18:46>> Town attorney, town manager.

2:18:48>> Pending litigation CGS12 1-26B.

2:18:51>> External statute 1-2.

2:18:52>> So Mike made the motion. Who made the

2:18:54second?

2:18:54>> Second.

2:18:55>> Dave made the second. All in favor?

2:18:59>> The town engineer.

2:19:00>> The town engineer as well. And no action

2:19:02will be taken as a result after this.

2:19:04Correct.

2:19:05>> Correct. [clears throat]

2:19:05>> Okay. All in favor?

2:19:07>> I.