Rochman To Propose New Council Committees

By Steve Bigham

Four new committees are expected to be formed at the Legislative Council’s April 5 meeting. The committees, proposed by council chairman Pierre Rochman, are the Fairfield Hills ad hoc committee, the Charter Revision ad hoc committee, the Rule Committee, and the Capital Projects committee.

All committees will be made up of Legislative Council members only.

The Fairfield Hills ad hoc committee will be charged with studying the recently released recommendations from the Fairfield Hills advisory committee for the re-use of the 185-acre property. This board will likely make a recommendation of its own to the full council as to whether or not the town should go forward with the purchase of the campus.

The subcommittee will also take a closer look at the by-laws for a Fairfield Hills Development Authority proposed by Town Attorney David Grogins.

The Charter Revision committee will be charged with finding a better way to present the council’s recommendations for charter revisions to the Charter Revision Commission. Mr Rochman plans to have a new Charter Revision Commission in place by the summer.

“I’ve been very disappointed in the last two charter revisions. We need to do it in a different way,” Mr Rochman said. “What I’m really hoping is this group will give us a better process for coming up with proposed revisions. In the past, everyone threw his or her suggestions into a hat. It was a smorgasbord of ideas. When you do that, you don’t focus on the most important ones to the council and the town government.”

Mr Rochman said the Rules Committee will study how the Legislative Council currently approaches the budget and what changes need to be made. Mr Rochman has been vocal about his displeasure with the way the current budget process works.

Mr Rochman will also recommend the formation of an ad hoc Capital Projects Committee.

“I feel the council needs a better handle on the financial implications of major capital projects. I want to find a mechanism where we can have a better accountability of the finances of major cap projects,” Mr Rochman said.