Video index

1. Call Meeting to Order

8. Adjournment

701

2. Roll Call

Roll call (10 Present, 0 Absent, 0 Excused)

3. Public Participation [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed thirty (30) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of the majority of the Town Council.]

Anna Mae Davis, two items - please have two drains fixed on Ridge Road. Budget - went by 35.05 that is being considered and our assessment did come down quite a bit. Our budget increrase is 400.00 increase per year and I don't see any thing that we are getting from it. I am opposed to the BOE budget.

Don Gonsalves, 40 Bayberry Trail, average tax incease will be 9% - what you might have is something from the Assesor and I resent spending and revaluation. spending up 4.8% and the reval 4.2 - Council has been using wrong figure. average house is going up 9%. Think the Council has been talking numbers that are half of that. Important to know that the public knows the average is 9%. My house went down 8%. Council is doing a disservice to the public. would like to confirm that. The other issue is Water Pollution Control - do not get good financial information regarding this issue. the reserve status we can never get anything regarding that. We are not getting good information from them. The sewer fees should go down because they have spent a lot. The Town is picking up the first payment - why shoudl they have a reserve that they do not need.

4. Communications

Yagaloff - Want to address issue about the Water Pollution Control - members of the public like to come in and critize the Council as a whole. I have been discussing WPCA and have critized them. I have been raising reserve issues every single year. Give credit where credit is due. When issues come up residents should come in and discuss this. There comes point when the residents should not critize the council as a whole when council members have been raising these issues. On the issue of the drains on Ridge Road - council has promised them they would get done right a way. What is going on with the drains? Galligan - you have not appropriated money. 100,000 to get the drains done. Trying to figure out what to eliminate to get it done. Yagaloff - can we get a copy of the proposal. Galligan - we have eight projects. have to know what the priorities are. Yagaloff - council shoudl not be promising things and should look to see if this is a priority. the flooding issues has been very significant. Anna Mae Davis - Mike Gantick did come back up to the house. with the bad storm we had - sump pumps were not working. For years water on Buckland Road when development happened that is when we get flooded. We spent 3,000 last year to put drains in our yard. The Town never has enough money. we have 30 inches down we have water. soem thing has to be done. the two storm drains need to be fixed. I am begging for the money. This needs to be addressed. Delnicki - when we put the refrerendum out this past year, one of the reasons I support additional money is for issues like this. Has that list been prepared Galligan - will get that for the Counicl. Delnicki - would like ot include in cycle. McCann - I do want to correct a statement made earlier this evening. Revaluation does not increase taxes. What revaluation does is redistribute taxes. Some properties go up and some go down. This results in the mill rate having to go up. Just to maintain the level of spending. We are not looking at a 9% increase, that is not true. Delnicki - Wpca issue - one of the reasons I requested the WPCA committee was to come up with way to create way to make it fair for everyone. we need a report on that committee. If you could request those questions to be answered. Galligna - we have been trying to come up with a fair billing cycle. Delnicki - the Town of SW when it comes to utilitiy patching for roads, want to make sure they are back to where they were when the were dug up. I want the TM to review this issue. want the roads protected. Galligan - sent a memo to council about best practices. that could be discussed at another work session. we have tried to work with utility companies. Delnicki - attended Eagle scout court of hoor -Nicolas Bonzani, Matthew Edson, Michael Edson. Tremendous job.

5. Town Manager's Report [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed ten (10) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of the majority of the Council.]

Parking lot at Fire Headquarters - Dave Panico reviewed both referendums - can't use. There is agreement regarding 85 Nutmeg Road. This is something that needs to be discussed. May 8th Capital Projects meeting - Council has been invited Budget items you have before you tonight. come off in taxes and debt. there was also memorandum given to council about additional requests. reduce fund balance, putting more money in pension and came up with calculations. .

6. Items for Discussion

A. Information Technology Services Regional Opportunity with the Town of Tolland

Galligan - have been working with Coventry for a long time with information technologies. we have achieved on getting grants - The Town of Tolland has been looking to expand their technology. It would be revenue neutral. Basically there would be additional revenues that come to us and this will open up the ability to get more grants. Tolland would like an answer. Scott Roberts - could either hire new employee or contract the service. At this time Matt really summed it up nicely. Tolland would like someone to come in and do the information technologies. Galligan - some of the benefits of this to is - some of these regional things we do have a positive outlook by State agencies. We are trying to get into the Connecticut Network for fiber optics which could open up some doors. Anwar - regionalism is going to become the future thing to do. Each Town is going to have their expertise. This is the way to go and will support. It is financially good for us and we know that Coventry has been a good endeavor. This is nhow many things in the Town will hav eto be looked at in the future. will support. McCann - benefits provided, Management benefits. We are going to add an employee and pay all these charges. Yagaloff - for the reasons Dr. Anwar stated I will support this. It is unfortuante that the health insurance costs are so high and is impacting. that is just an issue we have with overhead. it pays for itself and will be paid for by the contract. it is another job that gets created and essentially will not cost the town anything. it is a way to expand our expertise and it is thinking outside the box. you get all of these hours per week, 13.5 hours - for the town of South WIndsor for free. Scott - we can look at the route of hiring contractor and not giving benefits. it would be tougher but can do it that way. Yagaloff - this is the way businesses operate. it is good for the economy Scott - we went in with the Board of Ed - on our purchase power we received 10 extra compters then we would have gotten if Coventry was not with us. we can also use the purchasing power with Tolland to get a better deal. Prague - The deal you made with Coventry was for an employee of the Town to do the service for Tolland. This deal is with a new employee. This could cost the Town a lot in medical coverage if anything happens. I can't see risking 150,000 plus - when this person is sick or on vacation, the remaining staff has to cover this persons hours. If it were a larger profit then 6,000 Scott - that is why I offered a second idea of contracted services. Prague - I would support that. Scott - it will be tougher to keep people. Prague - why isn't Tolland say they will drop the hours if the person is sick or on vacation. I do not think this is a good deal. The resolution is generic, I do not want any risk. Scott - what we are looking for is to have the manager go forward with the negotiations of the contract, that can come back to town council. we have to let Tolland know. Galligna - you talk about risk - highering public work sor police officers is more of a risk. we take tht risk every day with our employees. We are trying ot have a regional approach here - I do understand your concern. Havens - this is really an easy decision. it gives the Town of South Windsor a reason to call for services. We get a reputation of being coooperative and regionalization. people talk about that and we are doing it. They may have services in their communities that we may want that we could use a minimum cost. Lets copy some of them. I will support this. Delnicki - I personally favor the contractor concept at the beginning to see how it is going to work. We will reduce our risk. AT the end of the day if it does not work out well then there would be no problems with having to fire someone. The animal shelter has reflected very well on the Town but still like the contrctor way to go. Yagaloff - contractor versus the permanent employees would be good to see how the process works. on the other hand they will get all of our information and then go to another job. I am not sure there will be benefit from teh town. I want to distance myself from risk about sick people and pregnant people. I think that it gives the impression that the Town is against women or people that are sick. There are people that have disabilities and will need to use sick time and th eTolwn needs to be cognitive that some times people need to have health problem and employers need to be able to deal with that and need to hire people even with disabiities. I don't think I would support the contractor because we are getting benefits from hiring a new employee. if the funding is not avaible from Tolland and Coventry then the position ends. contingent upon funidng source. Snyder - could this be started as a contractor and then hire someone. what do you feel Scott - the long term stability and integration would like to hire someone - from a profit standpoint it would be contractor. McCann - no one is talking about discriminating against anyone. we are talking about risk management. will support contractor and not direct employee of the town. run the same risk of having someone leave the town even when they are hired. will support contrctor not new hire. Anwar - in the curent environment it would be better to hire an employee. we need to make it happen - will support contractor but feel bette rto hve employee. Delnicki - the conditional employee - what is our risk - unemployment, you have that risk at all times. there is not way to get around that. Delnicki - that is written int to the job. Galligtan - if contract with Tolland goes away, that employee goes away. Dlenicki - no problem to bring contract back to the Counicl? Galligan - shoudl be able to do that.

B. General Government Budget

7. Executive Session

A. Potential Claims and Litigation

Galligan - Can have open discussion instead. Adjourn, Anwar, Yagaloff 7:59 p.m.

May 06, 2013 Town Council work session

Full agenda
Share this video

1. Call Meeting to Order

8. Adjournment

701

2. Roll Call

Roll call (10 Present, 0 Absent, 0 Excused)

3. Public Participation [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed thirty (30) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of the majority of the Town Council.]

Anna Mae Davis, two items - please have two drains fixed on Ridge Road. Budget - went by 35.05 that is being considered and our assessment did come down quite a bit. Our budget increrase is 400.00 increase per year and I don't see any thing that we are getting from it. I am opposed to the BOE budget.

Don Gonsalves, 40 Bayberry Trail, average tax incease will be 9% - what you might have is something from the Assesor and I resent spending and revaluation. spending up 4.8% and the reval 4.2 - Council has been using wrong figure. average house is going up 9%. Think the Council has been talking numbers that are half of that. Important to know that the public knows the average is 9%. My house went down 8%. Council is doing a disservice to the public. would like to confirm that. The other issue is Water Pollution Control - do not get good financial information regarding this issue. the reserve status we can never get anything regarding that. We are not getting good information from them. The sewer fees should go down because they have spent a lot. The Town is picking up the first payment - why shoudl they have a reserve that they do not need.

4. Communications

Yagaloff - Want to address issue about the Water Pollution Control - members of the public like to come in and critize the Council as a whole. I have been discussing WPCA and have critized them. I have been raising reserve issues every single year. Give credit where credit is due. When issues come up residents should come in and discuss this. There comes point when the residents should not critize the council as a whole when council members have been raising these issues. On the issue of the drains on Ridge Road - council has promised them they would get done right a way. What is going on with the drains? Galligan - you have not appropriated money. 100,000 to get the drains done. Trying to figure out what to eliminate to get it done. Yagaloff - can we get a copy of the proposal. Galligan - we have eight projects. have to know what the priorities are. Yagaloff - council shoudl not be promising things and should look to see if this is a priority. the flooding issues has been very significant. Anna Mae Davis - Mike Gantick did come back up to the house. with the bad storm we had - sump pumps were not working. For years water on Buckland Road when development happened that is when we get flooded. We spent 3,000 last year to put drains in our yard. The Town never has enough money. we have 30 inches down we have water. soem thing has to be done. the two storm drains need to be fixed. I am begging for the money. This needs to be addressed. Delnicki - when we put the refrerendum out this past year, one of the reasons I support additional money is for issues like this. Has that list been prepared Galligan - will get that for the Counicl. Delnicki - would like ot include in cycle. McCann - I do want to correct a statement made earlier this evening. Revaluation does not increase taxes. What revaluation does is redistribute taxes. Some properties go up and some go down. This results in the mill rate having to go up. Just to maintain the level of spending. We are not looking at a 9% increase, that is not true. Delnicki - Wpca issue - one of the reasons I requested the WPCA committee was to come up with way to create way to make it fair for everyone. we need a report on that committee. If you could request those questions to be answered. Galligna - we have been trying to come up with a fair billing cycle. Delnicki - the Town of SW when it comes to utilitiy patching for roads, want to make sure they are back to where they were when the were dug up. I want the TM to review this issue. want the roads protected. Galligan - sent a memo to council about best practices. that could be discussed at another work session. we have tried to work with utility companies. Delnicki - attended Eagle scout court of hoor -Nicolas Bonzani, Matthew Edson, Michael Edson. Tremendous job.

5. Town Manager's Report [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed ten (10) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of the majority of the Council.]

Parking lot at Fire Headquarters - Dave Panico reviewed both referendums - can't use. There is agreement regarding 85 Nutmeg Road. This is something that needs to be discussed. May 8th Capital Projects meeting - Council has been invited Budget items you have before you tonight. come off in taxes and debt. there was also memorandum given to council about additional requests. reduce fund balance, putting more money in pension and came up with calculations. .

6. Items for Discussion

A. Information Technology Services Regional Opportunity with the Town of Tolland

Galligan - have been working with Coventry for a long time with information technologies. we have achieved on getting grants - The Town of Tolland has been looking to expand their technology. It would be revenue neutral. Basically there would be additional revenues that come to us and this will open up the ability to get more grants. Tolland would like an answer. Scott Roberts - could either hire new employee or contract the service. At this time Matt really summed it up nicely. Tolland would like someone to come in and do the information technologies. Galligan - some of the benefits of this to is - some of these regional things we do have a positive outlook by State agencies. We are trying to get into the Connecticut Network for fiber optics which could open up some doors. Anwar - regionalism is going to become the future thing to do. Each Town is going to have their expertise. This is the way to go and will support. It is financially good for us and we know that Coventry has been a good endeavor. This is nhow many things in the Town will hav eto be looked at in the future. will support. McCann - benefits provided, Management benefits. We are going to add an employee and pay all these charges. Yagaloff - for the reasons Dr. Anwar stated I will support this. It is unfortuante that the health insurance costs are so high and is impacting. that is just an issue we have with overhead. it pays for itself and will be paid for by the contract. it is another job that gets created and essentially will not cost the town anything. it is a way to expand our expertise and it is thinking outside the box. you get all of these hours per week, 13.5 hours - for the town of South WIndsor for free. Scott - we can look at the route of hiring contractor and not giving benefits. it would be tougher but can do it that way. Yagaloff - this is the way businesses operate. it is good for the economy Scott - we went in with the Board of Ed - on our purchase power we received 10 extra compters then we would have gotten if Coventry was not with us. we can also use the purchasing power with Tolland to get a better deal. Prague - The deal you made with Coventry was for an employee of the Town to do the service for Tolland. This deal is with a new employee. This could cost the Town a lot in medical coverage if anything happens. I can't see risking 150,000 plus - when this person is sick or on vacation, the remaining staff has to cover this persons hours. If it were a larger profit then 6,000 Scott - that is why I offered a second idea of contracted services. Prague - I would support that. Scott - it will be tougher to keep people. Prague - why isn't Tolland say they will drop the hours if the person is sick or on vacation. I do not think this is a good deal. The resolution is generic, I do not want any risk. Scott - what we are looking for is to have the manager go forward with the negotiations of the contract, that can come back to town council. we have to let Tolland know. Galligna - you talk about risk - highering public work sor police officers is more of a risk. we take tht risk every day with our employees. We are trying ot have a regional approach here - I do understand your concern. Havens - this is really an easy decision. it gives the Town of South Windsor a reason to call for services. We get a reputation of being coooperative and regionalization. people talk about that and we are doing it. They may have services in their communities that we may want that we could use a minimum cost. Lets copy some of them. I will support this. Delnicki - I personally favor the contractor concept at the beginning to see how it is going to work. We will reduce our risk. AT the end of the day if it does not work out well then there would be no problems with having to fire someone. The animal shelter has reflected very well on the Town but still like the contrctor way to go. Yagaloff - contractor versus the permanent employees would be good to see how the process works. on the other hand they will get all of our information and then go to another job. I am not sure there will be benefit from teh town. I want to distance myself from risk about sick people and pregnant people. I think that it gives the impression that the Town is against women or people that are sick. There are people that have disabilities and will need to use sick time and th eTolwn needs to be cognitive that some times people need to have health problem and employers need to be able to deal with that and need to hire people even with disabiities. I don't think I would support the contractor because we are getting benefits from hiring a new employee. if the funding is not avaible from Tolland and Coventry then the position ends. contingent upon funidng source. Snyder - could this be started as a contractor and then hire someone. what do you feel Scott - the long term stability and integration would like to hire someone - from a profit standpoint it would be contractor. McCann - no one is talking about discriminating against anyone. we are talking about risk management. will support contractor and not direct employee of the town. run the same risk of having someone leave the town even when they are hired. will support contrctor not new hire. Anwar - in the curent environment it would be better to hire an employee. we need to make it happen - will support contractor but feel bette rto hve employee. Delnicki - the conditional employee - what is our risk - unemployment, you have that risk at all times. there is not way to get around that. Delnicki - that is written int to the job. Galligtan - if contract with Tolland goes away, that employee goes away. Dlenicki - no problem to bring contract back to the Counicl? Galligan - shoudl be able to do that.

B. General Government Budget

7. Executive Session

A. Potential Claims and Litigation

Galligan - Can have open discussion instead. Adjourn, Anwar, Yagaloff 7:59 p.m.

© 2003-2025 Swagit Productions, LLC