Simsbury, CT - BOS - October 13, 2004

The Regular Meeting of the Board of Selectmen for October 13, 2004 was held in the Main Meeting Room of the Simsbury Town Offices. Present were First Selectman, Thomas Vincent, Board Members, Madeleine Gilkey, John Romano, and John Hampton Also present were Brandon Robertson, Assistant to the First Selectman and Bruce Barth, Town Attorney for pension services.

Mr. Vincent introduced Adam Sheriff and Nancy Hendricks who were here to honor Jul Gutman for her years of service. Ms. Hendricks said Ms. Gutman is leaving after many years of service on the Board of Ethics. Mr. Sheriff read a plaque that was being presented to Ms. Gutman.

Ms. Gutman thanked the Board of Ethics and Board of Selectmen for this honor. She said the Board of Ethics was very interesting and worthwhile.

Joan Coe, 26 Whitcomb Drive, said that at the meeting on September 13, she felt the First Selectman was out of order in his directive that she had spoken for three minutes when her stop watch said she only spoke for one minute. She said there is resolution on the conduct of public audience on the wall that must be adhered to. This resolution assures the citizens of the Town the ability to address the Board on issues. Ms. Coe read the resolution, as attached.

Ms. Coe said she continually asks policy questions and never receives any answers. She sees nothing wrong with telling citizens the employee salaries and educations. She feels this is public information and this is not a personal attack or rudeness.

Ms. Coe said there is a new Charter Revision Commission appointed and hopes they will discuss a Town Manager. She asked if having Attorney DeCrescenzo attend meetings is against State Statute Section 22A/42D. She doesn’t know if he meets the mandate.

Ms. Coe said the First Selectman was given a 3.5% increase and the non-union Town employees received no increase. This non-union increase was voted on in the budget workshop.

Ms. Coe said the Town’s website is not up to date and feels that should be corrected. She will post her comments on Simsbury.com forum.

Mr. Calishman, 971 Hopmeadow Street, had a question on agenda item number 5 a and b. He wanted to know if those items would be under Public Hearing. Mr. Vincent said those are not under Public Hearing as the State Grant for the Library is with the Town Clerk and he or the Town Clerk need to sign to try to receive a grant for $7000 from the State.

Mr. Vincent said High School Track has already been approved. The Finance Board just wants the Public Building Committee to run that project through them. Mr. Calishman read Section 503 - g of the Charter and said the project said this was voted on at a Town Meeting. Mr. Vincent said they are just overseeing the project and bidding. There are no changes being made at this time.

Mr. Romano made motion to open a public hearing to consider possible revisions to Chapter 46 of the Town Code of Ordinances entitled “Pensions”. Ms. Gilkey seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.

Mr. Barth said the proposed changes in the Pensions are four-fold. These changes are for unaffiliated employees only. The first change would change the treatment of the employees contributions to the pension plan, which is currently 2% of pay, to make them be paid on a pre-tax basis. This would bring a small increase to employees paychecks.

Mr. Barth said the second change is that the employees would be allowed to buy service credit for service with other governmental services where they worked in the past. There is no cost to the Town for this service.

Mr. Barth said the third and forth change, also at no cost to the Town, would increase the pension formula, which is now 2% of pay times years of service, to 2-1/2% of pay times years of service. The purpose of this change is to bring the Town’s pension formula more in line with those of neighboring Towns. In return for that, the employee contribution for the unaffiliated employees would increase from 2% of pay to 5% of pay. This would offset the cost of the increased benefit.

Mr. Calishman said he felt that to change employees pensions after hiring is bad policy. They take the job in good faith and work hard. Rules shouldn’t be changed. He said the State has a 6% merit increase for non-union employees every year. We should keep merit increases as well.

Ms. Gilkey made motion to open the Public Hearing to consider possible revision to Chapter 13 of the Code of Ordinances entitled “Code of Ethics”. Mr. Hampton seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.

Mr. Vincent said this is to change one word under powers and duties under number 2. The recommended action would be to delete the word “private” from Section 13-2C(2) which if passed will conform to the ordinance with the State Freedom of Information Act.

Ms. Hendricks said this is a very simple change. We are in conflict with the State Statutes right now. The reprimands need to be public not private.

Ms. Gilkey made motion to open the Public Hearing to consider enactment of proposed ordinance entitled “Designation of Simsbury Zoning Commission as Town’s Aquifer Protection Agency. Mr. Hampton seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.

Ms. Coe said she felt the Inland Wetlands Commission should be in charge of the Aquifer. They are more knowledgeable and better trained than Zoning.

Mr. Vincent said the Town Attorney and Mr. Voelker felt that it would be more appropriate to have the Zoning Commission take care of this. Mr. Hampton would like the Town Attorney’s opinion on this item. Mr. Vincent will give the Board and Ms. Coe the Attorney’s opinion.

Mr. Hampton made motion to approve tax refunds in the amount of $6,520.35 for the period of September 22, to October 8, 2004. Ms. Gilkey seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.

Mr. Vincent said the “Gift Policy”, Chapter 100, says the Board of Selectmen has to accept any gift that exceeds $1,500 in value. These funds are deposited to the Simsbury Meadows Band-shell Special Revenue Fund. This was approved by the Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen at previous meetings. The total amount of the gifts is $60,000.00.

Mr. Romano made motion to accept the gifts in the amount of $60,000.00. Ms. Gilkey seconded the motion. After some discussion, Mr. Hampton asked for a copy of Chapter 100. Mr. Robertson will give him a copy. After further discussion, all were in favor and the motion passed.

Mr. Vincent said this is to review and possibly approve a resolution delegating the administration of Homeland Security funds to the Capitol Region Council of Governments. He said Federal funds have become available through the Department of Homeland Security. The total amount of funds allocated to the Town of Simsbury is $126,696.00.

1) That the Town of Simsbury as the recipient of the municipal allocation of the 2004 Homeland Security Grant funds hereby approves of the designates the Capitol Region Council of Governments (“CRCOG”) administrator for all 2004 Homeland Security Grant funds allocated to the Town of Simsbury, and

2) That Thomas Vincent is hereby authorized to execute a Memorandum of Understanding between CRCOG and the Town of Simsbury and any other necessary documents or contracts on behalf of the Town as may be required by the State of Connecticut or the Division of Homeland Security.”

Mr. Vincent said this is to possibly approve a resolution authorizing the First Selectman to request funding and enter into agreement with the State Library for an Historic Document Preservation Grant. He said, “resolved that Thomas E. Vincent, First Selectman or the Town Clerk as his designee is empowered to execute and deliver on behalf of this municipality an application and contract with the State Library for an Historic Document Preservation Grant.”

Ms. Gilkey made motion to approve that resolution. Mr. Romano seconded the motion. Mr. Vincent said the grant would be $7,000. All were in favor and the motion passed.

Mr. Vincent said the next item is to possibly approve a motion delegating oversight of the Simsbury High School Track and Field Project to the Public Building Committee. The following resolution was recommended:

“Resolved that, in accordance with Section 173 of the Simsbury Town Charter and Section 10-291 of the Connecticut General Statutes, as amended, the Board of Selectmen hereby charges the Public Building Committee with the responsibility for carrying out the design and construction oversight for the Track and Field improvements at Simsbury High School.”

Mr. Romano made motion to approve the minutes of September 27, 2004. Ms. Gilkey seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion passed.