Town Council Approves New Town Engineer Job Description

Town council held a relatively brief meeting on Tuesday night and approved changes to the , and also approved a part-time engineer assistant position to be funded equally by the Tolland Water Commission and WPCA.

Town Manager Steven Werbner said that the changes to the town engineer description, now known as a utility manager/town engineer, will better reflect the true responsibilities of the job, which includes substantial work with the utilities. The engineer will receive a salary of $72,100 to $86,700, according to the description in the council agenda.

The part-time position, however, is intended to relieve some of that excess pressure from the town engineer. From the , it is clear that the volunteer-run utilties need more professional assistance, according to Werbner.

"There's really a need of moving forward as soon as possible," he said.

Some council members, however, were reluctant to approve the 24-hour-a-week position which they said could become absorbed into the town's staff and payroll in the future.

"You're going to put another burden on the town," council member Sam Belsito said.

The approved positions will now be advertised.

Werbner also informed the council that the council will need to transfer funds in the near future to cover the costs of the recent snow storm, which are estimated to amount to $536,000. Werbner said that FEMA assistance could cover 75 percent of those costs, but that the town must prepare to pay the amount in the lag time between reporting damages to FEMA and receiving the federal funds. No official action was taken.

In other news, the council appointed liaisons for other boards in town. The following council members were appointed:

Board of Education: Jan Rubino

Economic Development Commission: Sam Belsito

P&ZC: Josh Freeman

WPCA: Benjamin Stanford

Tolland Water Commission: Mark Gill

The council also decided to hold its discussion on long term goals at a workshop at 7:30 p.m. on December 6 in council chambers. The council approved Richard Conti to serve as the town attorney until November 2013, as well.

The town council will meet next at a special town council workshop on December 1, at 6 p.m. in the council chambers of the Hicks Memorial Municipal Building, according to the posted calendar.