Town Council Schedules Public Hearing, Approves Contracts

The Town Council met until well after 10 p.m. on Tuesday to vote on an action-packed agenda. Several of the resolutions are required to go to a public hearing, which the council will host on June 28, 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Hicks Memorial Municipal Building. A summary of the council’s approved resolutions is listed below:

Public Hearing Items

The following resolutions will be open for discussion at the June 28 public hearing. For most resolutions, the hearing is called because the council has surpassed the $40,000 cumulative threshold for special appropriations for this fiscal year.

• The council approved the appropriation of $69,845.04 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover expenses incurred during the blizzard on January 11, 2011. For overtime costs, the Highway Department would receive $10,459.26, Parks and Facilities would receive $5,817.04 and Fire Suppression & Ambulance would get $3,160.58. Another $36,294.80 would cover snow removal equipment operating costs and $8,757.61 would pay for contractor hiring.  Fire Suppression machinery expenses were $3,173.69 and the final $2,182.06 would cover Board of Education overtime and supplies.

• The council approved splitting the $26,497 received from the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency between the town and the Board of Education. The Board of Education would receive $14,436 and use $8,047 to cover a shortfall in the high school project. The board would place the remaining $6,389 in the Capital Improvement Board of Education District Wide Fund. The town would spend its $12,061 share on the demolition of town property on Cider Mill Road.

• The council approved the sale of property at 227 Hartford Turnpike for $109,500.

• The council approved the transfer of $52,000 from the Tolland Intermediate School HVAC Roof Top Unit Project to install fiber-optic cabling at Birch Grove Primary and Tolland Intermediate School. The schools are currently connected to the Internet via copper wiring that creates a bottleneck in online access, severely slowing down service, according to Tolland High School Technology Director Roger Leege. Superintendent William Guzman cited the urgent need for such an upgrade, since the state now mandates that CMT testing be done online. Testing this year took an entire day instead of the scheduled few hours, due to slow Internet service. To offset the costs, the HVAC unit above the TIS lecture hall will be the only unit replaced.

• The council approved the appropriation of $13,000 to be deposited in the Capital Improvements Board of Education District Wide Fund. The funds would be available for the Board of Education to use in future instances of unforeseen expenses, such as the fiber-optic, Internet-access crisis that occurred this year.

Town Council Action

The following resolutions were approved without calling for a public hearing.

• The concerning Fields and Ground Maintenance and the Recreation & Adult Education Department’s use of Parker Memorial School were both approved. The Field and Ground Maintenance agreement is a renewal between the town and Board of Education concerning the upkeep of school grounds and playgrounds.

• The will allow the Recreation & Adult Education Department to use the 1992 addition of the school, which is owned by the Board of Education. Vice Chairperson MaryAnn Delaney Tuttle suggested that the Recreation & Adult Education Department put up signs directing program participants to use the second driveway at the facility, to prevent traffic flow issues with the intermediate school.

• The council approved the application for a Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant to fund the at Cross Farms Recreation Area. According to Town Manager Steven Werbner, the organization has a history of favoring recreation projects. “If last year translated to this year, there’s a very high chance of approval,” he said. The grant would provide anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000 in funds.

• The town waived building permit fees for the installation of heat pumps in Old Post Village. While the fee was waived in this particular instance, council member Dale M. Clayton felt the council has been inconsistent in fee waivers. The council therefore determined to develop a fee waiver policy to be approved on a future agenda.