ATTENDANCE: Michael Coffey, Council President; Kelly Straniti, Carvin
Hillard, Douglas Sutton, (8:10 p.m.); Matthew Miklave (8:25 p.m.)

STAFF: Peter Nolin, Corporation Counsel

OTHERS: Mayor Richard Moccia, (8:20 p.m.); Hal Alvord, Director of
Public Works

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Coffey called the meeting to order at 8:05 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Chairman Coffey called roll. Three Committee members, Coffey, Hillard and Straniti were present.
PUBLIC HEARING

a.) Chapter 44, Department of Fleet Services
b.) Chapter 90, Department of Public Works

Chairman Coffey called the hearing on a.) Chapter 44, Department of Fleet Services
and b.) Chapter 90, Department of Public Works to order at 8:05 p.m. He then asked if there was any member of the public present to speak in favor of the two ordinances under consideration. There was no member of the public present to speak in favor of the two ordinances under consideration. Chairman Coffey then asked if there was any member of the public present to speak against the two ordinances under consideration. There was no member of the public present to speak against the two ordinances under consideration.
Chairman Coffey then asked Mr. Alvord to present his views on the two ordinances under consideration to the Committee. Mr. Alvord came forward and briefly reviewed the reasons that he was in favor of having the Department of Fleet Services added into the Department of Public Works. Mr. Alvord also said that this process was started two years earlier.

Chairman Coffey then closed the public hearing on a.) Chapter 44, Department of Fleet Services and b.) Chapter 90, Department of Public Works at 8:06 p.m. He stated that since the Committee did not have a quorum present, he as Council President and Chairman of the Ordinance Committee would forward the proposed ordinance changes to the full Council for approval.

ACCEPTANCE OF OCTOBER 17, 2006 MINUTES

Chairman Coffey announced that since there was not a quorum present, the minutes from the October 17th meeting would be tabled until the next meeting.

OLD BUSINESS
Records Retention Ordinance

Chairman Coffey reminded the Committee that last year, over forty transfile boxes of records had been removed following a change of administration. Although the material was returned at a later date, their removal had raised several problems and questions. Chairman Coffey stated that it was necessary to prevent this from happening again in the future. He said that he had requested the Corporation Counsel to draft a document up to address this issue. Attorney Nolin said that he was planning on having a draft completed for the December meeting. Chairman Coffey said that this would be acceptable and stated that he would like to have a public hearing in January.

Council Member Sutton joined the meeting at 8:10 p.m.

Proposed Ethics Code

Attorney Nolin stated that he had given copies of the proposed Ethics Code to the other members of the Law Department for their comments. Currently, Attorney Nolin is in the process of compiling these comments and will have an incorporated statement in December.

Living Wage

Council Member Hillard gave a brief presentation of this proposed ordinance. He stated that he felt it was important that the City not do business with contractors who paid low wages to their workers. He stated that some of these low wage workers were forced to use City health clinics and other city services because of their low incomes. Council Member Hillard referred to these workers as “the working poor”.

Council Member Hillard also informed the Committee that there were about 80 cities that currently have living wage laws. Among them are Brookline, MA, and Syracuse, NY. Syracuse has a two tiered system where those contractors that provide health insurance are required to pay $10.08 an hour, while those who are not providing health insurance pay their workers $11.98 an hour. In Connecticut, Bridgeport, New Haven and New Britain have living wage ordinances. Council Member Hillard stated that this ordinance would only apply to those contractors who were bidding on jobs over $25,000 or more.
Council Member Hillard stated that it would be necessary to have some kind of enforcement for this.

Council Member Hillard said that there were people who believed that a living wage ordinance drove up the cost of business but that he disagreed. He stated that with higher wages, job turn over decreased. A living wage also prevents contractors from underbidding on projects.

Mayor Moccia arrived at 8:20 p.m.

Chairman Coffey stated that he would look at the project labor rates. He also commented that when questionable contractors were selected, the quality of the work suffered. He also said for the records that he felt this was a moderate proposal and that he would move it forward for a public hearing.

Records Retention Ordinance Cont’d.

Chairman Coffey stated that Mayor Moccia had arrived. Chairman Coffey said that he had asked the Mayor to attend if possible, because Chairman Coffey felt that the Mayor would have some important insights regarding the issue of record retention. Chairman Coffey then asked the Mayor if it would be helpful to institute a records retention policy that covered at least one year. Mayor Moccia replied that it was very important to have the records available and that they did need to be maintained. He also observed that if the records are removed from the location, there were issues regarding those in opposition to an issue having inside information. The Mayor said that it would be important to have codification of the rules to protect this from happening again. Chairman Coffey thanked the Mayor for his comments.

Council Member Miklave arrived at 8:25 p.m.

Living Wage Cont’d.

Council Member Straniti asked if the Committee could return to the issue of the living wage. This was agreeable to all. Council Member Straniti asked what the different was between the terms “living wage” and “prevailing wage”. Chairman Coffey explained that the prevailing wage could be much higher than the living wage since the prevailing wage would be dictated by the market. Council Member Straniti then asked what the cost would be to enforce this. She said that it would be good to have more information on this. Council Member Hillard said that the difference in the cost is made up in employee retention and increased efficiency. Chairman Coffey said that documents on the living wage had been distributed at an earlier time. Attorney Nolin said that he would be happy to provide additional copies of the documents for the Committee members. Council Member Sutton commented that he felt the living wage made common sense because the workers are making enough money to pay their bills will not be involved in crime. Council Member Hillard pointed out that when privatization happens, the low wage workers are the ones who have their pay rates drop.

ADJOURNMENT

** COUNCIL MEMBER STRANITI MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** COUNCIL MEMBER HILLARD SECONDED.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes
Telesco Secretarial Services

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