Council Starts New Year With A $150k School Capital Request

By John Voket

During a relatively brief, 40-minute meeting and a series of mini-sessions, the Legislative Council nonetheless covered a lot of ground Wednesday, January 4. The first gathering of the New Year brought news that the school district will be making a $150,000 request to cover the cost of several repair and maintenance projects.

The funds, if eventually approved through a charter-mandated process for such requests, would come from the town’s Capital Nonrecurring Fund, according to council Chairman Jeff Capeci.

Those projects include door replacement at Hawley School, budgeted for $20,000; a carpeting/floor replacement program at Sandy Hook and Middle Gate Schools, each budgeted at $20,000; a similar program at the middle school, budgeted at $30,000, along with a project to strip and refinish a gym floor. There is also a request for $35,000 to replace flooring in the high school lobby, and a $10,000 request to install gates at the high school stairwells.

The initial source for the requested funds was from a Board of Education remaining year-end balance of $155,762 that was remaining on June 30, 2010.

Noting that the review of the request will begin with the finance board, Mr Capeci moved on to announce that on Wednesday, January 11, there would be a special meeting of the council with Newtown’s four legislative representatives. Senator John McKinney, as well as Representatives Chris Lyddy, DebraLee Hovey, and Dan Carter have all committed to attend.

Rep Carter is the town’s newest lawmaker, whose recently reorganized district now encompasses several neighborhoods in the Dodgingtown area.

Mr Capeci said the open forum would provide an opportunity for the council to hear about legislation that is anticipated to come before the lawmakers in their upcoming session that may be pertinent to Newtown and the region.

“I am hopeful that by sharing in a dialog, not only will you gain a better understanding of Newtown’s concerns but we will also hear about the issues being addressed at the state level,” Mr Capeci wrote in invitations to each lawmaker.

The council also discussed, but postponed action on, what the agenda referred to as a series of “goals,” but the title of the initiative was changed when Vice Chair Mary Ann Jacob pointed out that some of the points outlined in the document were not all measurable. That prompted a quick change of the document to “guiding principles.”

Those principles incorporate the council’s role in initiating or approving capital expenditures, budgeting, economic development, and charter review.

During discussions, it was determined that the principles should be further modified to show how the council might achieve the actions proposed in the document. First Selectman Pat Llodra, who was in attendance, suggested that the document could better define the roles council committees may play in the process of achieving the principles outlined.

Vice Chair Mary Ann Jacob said, “I like where these are going. If you can’t put a measurable task, you could put in a few action items and things we can do.”

Councilman George Ferguson added that some of the terminology in the principles should have greater definition.

Council member Kathryn Fetchick also requested the document include the charter-mandated review of purchasing regulations.

In a series of mini meetings that began about 9 pm, Mr Capeci said the council’s four subcommittees met in turn and chose their respective leaders. The makeup of those committees are as follows:

Finance/Administration: Chairman George Ferguson, Vice Chair Kathryn Fetchick, Mary Ann Jacob, Dan Wiedemann, Dan Amaral, and  Mitchell Bolinsky

Ordinance: Chairman Mary Ann Jacob, Vice Chair Mitchell Bolinsky, Joe Girgasky, Robert Merola, Daniel Honan, and Jeffrey Capeci 

Education: Chairman Kathryn Fetchick, Vice Chair Dan Wiedemann, George Ferguson, Paul Lundquist, Jeffrey Capeci, and Philip Carroll

Municipal Operations: Chairman Robert Merola, Vice Chair Daniel Amaral, Joe Girgasky, Daniel Honan, and Paul Lundquist

During the first selectman’s report, Mrs Llodra also reported that the town’s final costs for the August tropical storm cleanup was $145,000, and the current tally following the October snowstorm was $375,000. Under questioning by Councilman Amaral about the source of the reimbursement, Mrs Llodra reminded him that the town has qualified not only for the 75 percent reimbursement of those costs from the federal government, but also the 25 percent balance that would normally be covered by the town.

That is because the town provided its own equipment to aid state crews and contract workers to help clear some of the lengths of state roads in town.

“We got a bump in that reimbursement for using local equipment,” Mrs Llodra said. “The combination [of authorized and extra reimbursements] will make us whole.”