For minutes of meetings not listed below please contact Alan Lo
at 203-854-6790 or email at alo@norwalkct.org

CITY OF NORWALK
LAND USE AND BUILDING MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
MAY 17, 2007

ATTENDANCE: Douglas Sutton, Chair; Gwen Briggs;
Douglas Hempstead (8:00 p.m.)

STAFF: Alan Lo, Building and Facilities Manager

CALL TO ORDER

Mr. Sutton called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. He called the Roll and noted that they did not have a quorum and therefore no votes could be taken.

MINUTES

There was no action taken on the minutes.

OLD BUSINESS (NONE)

NEW BUSINESS

** MS. BRIGGS MOVED THE FOLLOWING ITEM

Assistant Fire Chief, Riley said that this is a request to spend money to make interim repairs to keep the buildings in operation. He provided details of what repairs needed to be done.

FIRE DEPARTMENT

Review request from the Fire department to utilize available funds in the Volk Fire Station and Fire Support Services Facility Capital Budget building renovation account to implement various capital repairs. Refer the following to the Common council for approval:

The following has been approved by the Land Use and building Management Committee and is hereby referred to the Council for Informational Purposes Only: Request from Norwalk Fire Department to expend approximately $90,000 from the Central Fire Headquarters/Fire Services Support Facilities renovation account (acct. #09063110 5777 C0343 with current free balance of $173,386) to implement repair work necessary for continue operation at both locations

This item will be placed on Tuesday’s Common Council agenda.

** MR. SUTTON MOVED THE FOLLOWING ITEM

Mr. Koserowitz explained that there is no air lock when you walk into the building causing the first floor to be cold in the winter and hot in the summer. All of the funding is in place for the project.

The Board of Estimate and Taxation has approved a special appropriation for this project.

NORWALK PUBLIC LIBRARY

Review bid recommendation for the Belden Library main entrance improvement project and refer the following to the Common Council for action:

A. AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR, RICHARD A. MOCCIA TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT WITH RAY WEINER LLC, D/B/A ALL PHASE CONSTRUCTION FOR THE RENOVATION OF THE BELDEN LIBRARY MAIN ENTRANCE FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $166,360.00. ACCT#09076210 5777 C0400

B. TO AUTHORIZE THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR TO ISSUE CHANGE ORDERS ON CONTRACT FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $16,636.00

This item will be placed on Tuesday’s Common Council agenda.

PROPERTY REQUEST

Review request from Mr. Pasquale Caporrino, property owner of D5-B1-L269 to transfer the traffic triangle to the City of Norwalk. In the event that the Land Use and Building Management Committee is receptive to this request, the Committee shall schedule a public hearing, forward this request to the Planning Commission for a Section 8-24 Review and to the Common Council for final approval.

Mr. Lo explained that the property owner wants to transfer this property to the City. He said that he talked to DPW and they said verbally that they do not have a problem with this request.

Mr. Lo will send a formal letter to the appropriate department heads and will schedule a public hearing.

The Committee agreed to move forward with this request.

MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION ITEMS

A. Discussion with Historical Commission on matters relating to the Norwalk Museum

Mr. Sutton thanked the Commission members for bringing this matter before this Committee. He explained that this Committee was responsible for the structures.

Mr. Hempstead arrived at 8:00 p.m.

Ms. Gail Wall, Vice Chair of the Historical Commission said that the Norwalk Museum has been functioning without a staff person, because they have been on leave since December 2006. The staff person is responsible for having a first responder plan for the Museum and currently there is no one to act as the first responder. She said that this is a serious situation and they are not sure how to protect the collection.

Ms. Wall said that the City owns the collection and self insures the collection, which is a typical procedure.

Ms. Deborah Mathies, Historical Commission member, said the Friends of the Norwalk Museum have taken over the care of the Museum since December. They have done an outstanding job of keeping the Museum organized, cleaned and open. The inventory has not been done properly since Mr. Bloom retired. Ms. Mathies said that she has heard that the Friends want to run the Museum. Ms. Wall said that they can’t discuss that topic because there is already a City employee in place.

Mr. Hempstead noted that the staff person legitimately asked for an amount of leave that is permitted by State law, and believes that the leave will be up at the end of the week.

Mr. Scott Gibson, President of the Friends of the Norwalk Museum said that there is an organizational malfunction that recently came to light. He said that the Friends would like to codify the relationship that has existed since 1972 and worked until Mr. Bloom retired. The Commission has suffered terribly because they do not have a staff person to work with. The Commission was never designed to run the Museum on a daily basis; they are volunteers and do a tremendous job, but have other responsibilities.

Mr. Joseph Robideaux, former President of the Friends of the Norwalk Museum said that his wife worked for 9 years to create the historical library and not it is in shambles.

Mr. Todd Bryant, Norwalk Preservation Trust said that he did a lot of research in the historical library as a grad student and it is chaos; things are being lost.

Mr. Gibson said that he would like to see an agreement where a Board runs the Museum. They would report to the Commission in the same way that Mill Hill and Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum report to the Historical Commission.

Mr. Sutton asked the Friends to submit a draft of what they are asking for.

Mr. Hempstead asked if the Commissioners objected to anything recommended in the 2003 report. Ms. Carol Ann Falasca, a member of the Friends said that they objected to the composition of a separate board since they already had a board.

Mr. Gibson said that he will work with the Commission to create a draft document. Mr. Hempstead said that he wants to be sure that this is done properly and they need to determine if it would be better if the Museum were run by a 501-c-3. Mr. Gibson said that he will look at the leases for Mill Hill and Lockwood Mathews Mansion and create a clear document.

Mr. Hempstead said that the Museum needs to be functional and the Commission deserves to have a staff person.

Ms. Wall explained that this Commission is different from the other commissions in the City. They are responsible for City property, but have no funds for repairs. This is a very early colonial city and it is a sad state of affairs what happens. This City could be a tourist mecca, being 45 minutes outside of NYC.

Ms. Falasca said that a lot of the Commissioner’s time was spent doing staff work. Ms. Mathies said that according to the task force, the recommendation was to de-fund the curator position and split the position in two to make the Museum run smoothly. Ms. Briggs said that it would make sense to submit the proposal to the Personnel Committee.

Mr. Hempstead said that there should be a City Hall employee assigned to the Commission. They need a stipend to hire an architect for repairs to the historical buildings. Ms. Wall said that there is no end in sight for the repairs. Mr. Robideaux said that until the City give moral and financial support the buildings are going to deteriorate.

Ms. Marija Bryant, former member of the Historical Commission said that she supported the Friends running the Museum. She said that building maintenance is a separate job and requires a certain skill set.

B. Update on Fodor Farm

Mr. Todd Bryant said that the State Historical Office suggested re-submitting the report which will start the process all over. The report is identical to the original except for the date.

The report was forwarded to the Planning and Zoning Commission for comments. He said that once the public hearings are held they will be at the same point they were in January.

Mr. Sutton said that he would like to take this up at the second Council meeting in June. He asked all Committee members to pull out all of the information they have and determine the pros and cons of each plan. A special meeting will be held on May 31st. to review those pros and cons.

Mr. Lo said that an environmental company went to the property and found 7 tanks, although they believe there are 8 on there. Of the 7 that were tested, 2 have leaks. He said that he has started the proposal process to remove the tanks.

BUILDING MANAGEMENT

Review bid results for the Ben Franklin Center exterior lead based pain abatement project and refer the following to the Common Council for approval:

Mr. Lo explained what needed to be done. He said that the Health Department has been reasonable, but this has to be addressed. The problem is that NEON runs programs throughout the year and it is a problem for them to vacate the building. This year space will be available at Nathaniel Ely.

Mr. Lo said that he got 3-4 bids, but you can never estimate the actual cost. The low bid of $132,000 was based on scraping the loose paint and using encapsulating paint.

The Mayor and Finance Department support this project.

A. AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR, RICHARD A. MOCCIA, TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT WITH BAKO CONSTRUCTION AND RESTORATION INC. FOR THE EXTERIOR LEAD BASED PAINT ABATEMENT PROJECT AT BEN FRANKLIN CENTER FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $132,000. SUBJECT TO APPROVAL OF SPECIAL APPROPRIATION REQUEST, FUNDS WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM VARIOUS CAPITAL BUDGET ACCOUNTS AND CDBG FUNDS.

B. AUTHORIZE THE OFFICE OF BUILDING MANAGEMENT TO ISSUE CHANGE ORDER ON CONTRACT FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $19,800.00

The Committee members agreed to move forward with this request and Mr. Sutton will bring this item to the Common Council on Tuesday.

MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION ITEMS (continued)

C. Review information regarding Building Engineering staff changes and minor cost reallocation within Guardian’s building management contract

Mr. Lo said that they are not entirely satisfied with the company that is doing the janitorial services. The repairs are not being handled properly. Changing the position will incur additional costs, but he said that they can use the early payment discount to cover the additional cost.

There was no further business and the meeting was adjourned at 9:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Rosemarie Lombardi
Telesco Secretarial Services

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