|
|
|
| Public Works
Committee Actions |
CITY OF NORWALK
PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE
PUBLIC HEARING & REGULAR MEETING
APRIL 3, 2007
ATTENDANCE: Kevin Poruban, Acting Chair; Douglas Hempstead, Kelly
Straniti
STAFF: Hal Alvord, Department of Public Works Director; Paul
Sotnik, Asst. Civil Engineer
OTHERS: Tim Monroe, D. Arnone, Ted Coppola, Nicole Tobin
James Tobin, Donna Rastocky, Laurel Lindstrom, Lisa
Rivieccio, Diane Cece, Larry Ruttenberg, Jerry Curti,
Margaret Peterson, Diane Lauricella, Maulik Thakker,
Karen Rondmer, John Romano
PUBLIC HEARING
Mr. Poruban opened the public hearing on renumbering a portion of East Rocks Road in the vicinity of 179 East Rocks Road at 7:35 p.m.
Let it be noted that the following comments and remarks by all speakers have been summarized and are not necessarily verbatim.
Mr. Romano, who has resided at 179 East Rocks Road for twenty four years, greeted the Committee and stated that the four houses that share the common driveway at 179 East Rocks Road have very little problem with the address. He said that the four residents share an informal association and have the driveway plowed and cooperate with the garbage pickups. He stated that he has been notified by Public Works about this numbering problem some fifteen months ago. He stated that this was not a uncommon subdivision and that the residents have no problem with take out food deliveries and other services. Mr. Romano said that changing all the address would disrupt the continuity that exists.
Mr. Tobin, another resident at 179 East Rocks Road said that he would prefer the “A”, “B”, “C” and “D” designations rather than changing the number to 177 1/2, which is the number proposed for his residence.
Mr. Romano pointed out that the houses were built in the 60’s and renumbering them would cause difficulties. Mr. Romano pointed out that new cuts in the curb were not being created, these are pre-existing buildings with a common drive. He asked if the driveway would be labeled as a street and whether the mailboxes would have to be relocated and relabeled.
Mr. Poruban asked if there were any additional comments from the pubic on this matter. Hearing none, he closed the Public Hearing on the matter of on renumbering a portion of East Rocks Road in the vicinity of 179 East Rocks Road at 7:40 p.m.
PUBLIC INPUT
Mr. Poruban then moved to the public input section for any residents who wished to speak.
Ms. Cece, who resides at 37 Olmstead Place, greeted the Committee and stated that she had number of issues to speak to the Committee about. She stated that on April 5th, she and many others would be speaking to the Joint Committee of the Planning and the Finance, who are about to make recommendations to the Common Council on the Capital Budget. The Capital Budget is critical to the funding and repair of the flooding problem. She stated that the group would be asking for a significant amount of money, as much as 15 million dollars, at that meeting to have the flooding problem fixed. Ms. Cece stated that the group was requesting that the flooding problem not be fixed first, but fixed now. She pointed out that what has been done so far does not help the residents who experience flooding in the short term or for a long time.
Ms. Cece said that if things that were deemed not have anything to do with public health, safety and welfare or true quality of life issues, that there would be upwards of 8 million dollars from the 12 million dollars requested, which could be shifted to flooding. Ms. Cece stated that others had publicly stated that there were unspent Capital dollars in the 2006-2007 budget as of April 4th of 2007. She said that this was between 50 million to 100 million dollars. Ms. Cece said that others have alluded to 19 million dollars that was currently unspent in the DPW budget. She then requested an explanation of these funds and also asked how much of this unspent capital could be allocated to flooding.
Ms. Lauricella, who lives at 9 Outer Road in Village Creek, then greeted the Committee. She said that she supported what Ms. Cece had said and encouraged the Committee members to reallocated funds to the flooding problem.
Ms. Lauricella stated that she was present to represent the League of Women Voters and that the League would like to see the Council review the leaf pick up and transport. Ms. Lauricella said that the City does not benefit from this because the leaves are transported to other parts of the state. She referred to a study done in the late 80’s on leaf compositing and the benefits. Ms. Lauricella pointed out that composting the leaves would free up around $300,000 because the City would no longer be transporting leaves.
This needs to be revisited. She suggested a leaf compositing site and said
it would significantly reduce the Operating Budget expenditures and also help
the Capital Budget.
There needs to be a regional approach because it is costing the City over a
quarter of a million dollars.
Ms. Peterson, of 6 Gwendolyn Street, asked about addressing an issue concerning the WPCA. Mr. Alvord explained that the WPCA has its own budget, separate from DPW. Mr. Poruban then said that Ms. Peterson could explain the situation to the Committee.
Ms. Peterson said that in the Capital budget that there were pump station upgrades and some rehabilitation have been fully funded and she asked if this was for the Westport Avenue pump station. This project has a two year time frame and affects a radius of seven miles. Her home is located within that area and is flooded constantly. Ms. Peterson asked why she would have to wait two years to have the sewer line fixed, while she would have to deal with being flooded during that time. She also said that after that was done, she would have to wait for a storm water flow study to determine why her yard is getting flooded when it rains. She asked why this was taking so long and why the project was not being worked on now.
Mr. Poruban then asked if anyone else would like to comment. Hearing none, he closed the Public Input portion of the regular meeting at 7:50 p.m. He stated that the Committee did not have a quorum present and therefore could not act on any items.
Mr. Alvord pointed out that there were a number of things that could be done if the Chair was so inclined. One would be to respond to the questions that were asked, secondly, discussion could be held on the items, and thirdly, the Chair could forward the business items on to the Council.
APPROVAL/AUTHORIZATIONS
1. Approval of the Minutes from Public Works Committee meeting of Tuesday, March 6, 2007.
2. Approval of the Minutes from the Special Public Works Committee meeting of Tuesday, March 13, 2007
3. Approve the renumbering of a portion of East Rocks Road in the vicinity of 179 East Rocks Road as follows:
Field Address Tax Lot Proposed Revised Address
179 East Rocks Rd. 5-23-353-0 175 1/2 East Rocks Road
179 East Rocks Rd. 5-23-352-0 177 East Rocks Road
179 East Rocks Rd. 5-23-349-0 177 1/2 East Rocks Road
Mr. Poruban stated that the approval of the minutes would be postponed until the next meeting, along with Agenda Item 3. He said that he would like to have the minutes regarding what was said this evening available and in addition, he would like to know if there was a problem with renumbering 179 East Rocks Road with “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”.
Mr. Alvord said that his department tends to avoid using alphabetically labeling because it becomes confusing over time. He reminded everyone that this issue had arisen several years ago and a solution was proposed. Since then there has been a public safety incident at one of the four residents when the Fire Department responded to a call in the middle of the night at 179 East Rocks Road. The lack of clear numbering caused a delay in the firefighters locating the site of the fire. Mr. Alvord said that he believes it might be irresponsible for the City to leave the houses all numbered as 179. For consistency purposes, the City has always gone with numbers rather than letters.
Regarding the mailboxes, Mr. Alvord said that the simple solution would be to add the numbers to the front flaps on the mailboxes. It would also help if the residents would mark the entrance to their properties off the common driveways.
Ms. Straniti said that she agreed with Mr. Poruban about having the renumbering done alphabetically rather than numerically. She said she believed that the Fire Department would find that sufficient.
Mr. Hempstead stated regardless of how the issue is settled regarding alphabetical or numerical renumbering, there has to be an agreement among the residents to have their driveway entrances clearly marked. He also suggested that the order of the drives be marked at the entrance.
4. Authorize the Mayor, Richard A. Moccia, to execute an amendment to the Agreement with City Carting & Recycling, Inc. for Curbside Recycling Collection Services for an amount not to exceed $934,560 (849,600 plus 10% performance measurement incentive of $84,960) beginning July 1, 2007 for Fiscal Year 2007-08. Account 0140 43 5298
Mr. Poruban asked if this item could be tabled for the next agenda. Mr. Alvord said that DPW was very pleased with City Carting and would like to renew their contact. Mr. Poruban then decided this would be tabled to the next agenda because there was still time to consider it at the next meeting.
5. Authorize the Mayor, Richard A. Moccia, to execute an Amendment to the Agreement
with Milone and MacBroom, Inc. to provide additional survey for the flood abatement
study of Keller Brook Watershed, for a sum not to exceed $4,500.
Account No. 0907 4027 CO395.
Mr. Poruban then decided that this agenda item would be forwarded to the Council for their consideration.
DISCUSSION
Mr. Poruban then asked Mr. Alvord to respond to the issues that had been brought up during the public input session.
Mr. Alvord said that he would like to respond to Ms. Peterson’s comments first. Regarding the Westport Avenue project, which is to eliminate the inflow and infiltration that Ms. Peterson mentioned, is currently out to bid. All the bids should be in during the next few weeks. Although the project shows a two year planning window, this was done to be safe. If responsible bids come in, a contract could be executed fairly quickly. Mr. Alvord felt that the sanitary project could be completed this year.
Mr. Alvord went on to say that the pumping station is not necessarily the Westport service area pumping station, it is all 22 stations in the City. There is a storm water component that is being worked on to add additional piping and catch basins onto Catalpa. Hydraulic studies have been done to insure that the water flow would be captured by these catch basins. When both systems become surcharged due to the inflow and infiltration filling up quickly, the Westport pump station becomes overwhelmed. This pumping station is at capacity in dry weather. Overflow results in escaped sewage, which then mixes with the storm water and ends up on Ms. Peterson’s property. Mr. Alvord said that the design is almost complete and as soon as the in house staff knows that the design can handle the flow, the project will be started.
Mr. Alvord then addressed Ms. Lauricella’s concerns about yard debris. He agreed that the City was spending too much money on the leaf pickup. However, the City’s yard debris site is totally inadequate for the City. Because of this, compositing and chipping can’t be done at the Public Works Center. This is why the City must ship the material elsewhere. If the City stops picking up yard debris, the residents will simply dump the material on the street.
Mr. Alvord said that there had been a meeting with the Town of Fairfield and a visit to their site. Fairfield put out an RFP for a private contractor to operate their facility. This contractor brought in a large drum chipper and chips everything that comes in. The wood chips are sold to companies that make particle board. This does not cost the Town anything. Composting is also done there. Until the City locates a piece of property large enough, the City can’t do this.
Mr. Poruban commented that there was also the odor of the composting that needs to be considered. He recounted an incident about a person who purchased a ranch next to a horse farm and ended up suing the horse farm owner because of the smell of manure.
Mr. Hempstead mentioned that there was one piece of property that the State had been willing to give the City a lease for recycling. He then suggested that the other Committee members visit the Fairfield site. Mr. Hempstead went on to say that he agreed with Ms. Lauricella and pointed out that the City was not getting the compost back to use.
Mr. Alvord then moved to the question of unspent funds. Regarding the Operating Budget, Mr. Alvord reminded everyone that each department has unspent funds in their Operating Budget simply because the year is only three quarters gone. Those funds will remain until June. He then gave a quick overview of the various accounts and their status.
According to MUNIS, which is the City’s financial management system, there are currently 99 million dollars in unspent Capital funds. Of those 99, 36 are encumbered, which means that contracts have been executed and purchase orders issued for projects, equipment or vehicles. These funds are legally committed to pay for the bills or equipment. Another 50 million is in school renovation accounts, 30 million have been allocated to accounts managed by departments other than DPW and 19 million is in DPW accounts.
Mr. Alvord said that he could not speak to the 80 million allocated elsewhere, but could review the 19 million allocated to DPW. He then gave some representative examples such as 2.3 unspent million for a recent contract with Deering for repaving 28 streets in the City. Bridges have 1.5 million with 80-100% matching funds from the State or the Federal government. Last year, the Broad Street bridge was totally funded with 80% Federal and 20% State funds. The current bridge projects that are either under design or out to contract have 80% matching funds. He then reviewed the current status of the bridge projects and stated that the Mayor has signed the contracts for these projects.
Another 800 thousand dollars has been allocated for fleet replacement. Two snowplows and a vacuum truck are on order. The 330,000 dollars for the storm drainage project, which has been discussed elsewhere, has been specifically approved on Water Street by the Council. The plan was to install voritech chambers to remove silt and hydrocarbons. After doing some research, DPW was able to convince the State that the catch basin filters that are currently being tested would be more economical. If the program is successful, the money must be used to expand the program to the other drainage basins in the City. If the filters are found not to be efficient on June 30th, then the City is obligated to build the voritech chambers.
Another $640,000 in matching funds has been set aside for reconstruction of Fairfield Avenue, Scribner Avenue, East Avenue, and Williams Street.
Mr. Alvord then explained that although the WPCA and the Parking Authority accounts are listed in the DPW funds, they are not controlled by DPW.
Mr. Poruban stated that he felt that the comment made at the meeting about the 19 million in unspent DPW funds was irresponsible. He stated that the speaker, who was a former Council member and the Chairman of the BET, should be well aware that when Capital funds are appropriate for projects, the funds remain in the accounts until the projects are completed.
Mr. Alvord then commented on the Operating Budget. He said that there were comments about scrubbing accounts and old accounts. Monthly reviews are done on the operating budget. Since DPW is fairly certain there will not be additional snow this year, a request for fund transfers from the snow materials to the storm water system map and GIS layer has been sent to BET.
Mr. Hempstead also commented that the WPCA account is actually self-funded.
They are bonded based on the amount of money they can repay from their income.
Mr. Hempstead also stated that the departments can not spend more than they
are allocated. Additional Capital expenditures that were done in the City has
caused an additional 2.7 million in operational funds to pay for the debt service.
Mr. Hempstead added that next year, it will increase to almost 3 million dollars
and that last year it increased 3.2 million.
He then pointed out that even if the Council said to take 20 million of Capital
funds to fix the problem, the reality is that the City does not have those funds
to spend. Mr. Hempstead then outlined the process for transferring funds from
other departmental accounts to the flooding projects. He stated that the political
reality was that the department heads control these funds and would be most
likely to transfer funds from one project to another within their own departments
rather than transfer them out to another department. Mr. Hempstead then complimented
Mr. Alvord on his presentation to the BET about the DPW’s allocation of funds
and status of the projects.
Mr. Curti, who resides at 37 Olmstead Place commented that at the BET meeting the Mayor had requested the department heads provide both verbal and written feedback regarding the funds available that could be transferred from their departments to the flooding project. Mr. Poruban explained that Capital Budget transfers require the Council to vote on the transfer.
Ms. Cece noted that there was no quorum and that Mr. Poruban could suspend the rules to allow full discussion. She then went on to say that the statement regarding the 19 million in unspent funds was intended to be inflammatory and that it had served the purpose. She said that the statement had raised the issue of where all the money was going and whether it should be reallocated. She said that every Capital request was important, but given the disaster that flooding has been, perhaps projects could wait another year for things that were truly discretionary. Ms. Cece pointed out that if the residents don’t ask, then they won’t get the help they need.
Ms. Cece said that she felt the guarding of the Triple A rating was ridiculous because the City could not draw from the rainy day fund to deal with this problem. In her opinion, the City could draw that fund down significantly with no impact on the Triple A rating. She also commented that Ms. Briggs and others had commented that when the infrastructure is in severe disrepair, it could impact the rating.
Mr. Hempstead pointed out that the reason the bond rating is so guarded is that most cities do not have such a high rating and that it allows the City the cheapest means of borrowing money, which saves operating money. Mr. Hempstead explained that the City had withdrawn over a million from the fund balance for the revaluation. He then reviewed some of the details involved in this issue. Mr. Alvord pointed out that the City had pulled out 1.5 million from the fund balance to balance the budget and finish out the year. Mr. Hempstead commented that there was some anticipation that the tax rolls would grow more this year and that didn’t happen.
A lengthy discussion then followed about the fund balance and the allocation of the funds. When asked about matching funds for storm drainage programs, Mr. Alvord said that he regularly reviews the listings of grants and matching fund programs, but has not found any that would apply to storm water drainage. He also pointed out that the Grants coordinator has also reviewed the list repeatedly looking for grants and funds with no success.
Mr. Curti pointed out that with the current timetable that has been proposed for repairing the flooding problem would involved two to five years before the problem is fixed. This means that those who are currently flooding will have to deal with the flooding issue for the next few years over and over again. Mr. Poruban commented that the Finance Committee is struggling with the issue of raising the taxes on all the residents of Norwalk to fix this problem. Ms. Cece said that she and the other residents that live in the areas prone to flooding contend that the money is already available. She then stated that this issue had been going on for the last four years, but not one penny has been allocated towards the flooding problem.
Mr. Romano, who lives on Olmstead Place, asked whether the 28 streets that were
listed for repaving were bad enough to give them more priority over the flooding
issue. Mr. Hempstead gave a brief overview of his time on the Council where
the number of roads that require paving has been twice the number of roads that
actually were repaved. This has a cumulative effect, which results in if the
City skips a year, the roads will deteriorate even further. He also pointed
out that Olmstead and Buckingham Lockwood projects are fully funded for this
coming budget. Mr. Alvord explained that the 07-08 funding is for permitting
and engineering. This is required before the bid package goes out for construction.
The construction phase will be funded in next year’s budget.
There was a discussion about the upcoming joint Finance and Planning Committee public hearing on the Capital Budget scheduled for April 4th.
Another discussion ensued about the impact of flooding on the various residents. Mr. Poruban reiterated that there were no programs for funding available for flooding. Mr. Alvord pointed out that requests for earmarked funds have been submitted to Senator Lieberman and Representative Shays. He also informed everyone that requests for FEMA funds for the March 2nd storm was submitted, but the cut off line is 4 million dollars. Norwalk did not have that much damage, however if the State can then reach that level, the funds might become available. Mr. Alvord then informed the Committee that he had recently spoken with the State coordinator for this and that the requests were unlikely to reach the threshold of four million.
Ms. Cece commented that people were lobbying at the State level for funding for storm water run off management because it was becoming an issue in many communities. State Representative Perrone’s currently proposed bill would allow Norwalk’s DPW to set up a Storm Water Authority. Ms. Randmer, who lives on 34 Buckingham Place, asked what she could do to help the City get help elsewhere. Mr. Alvord said that contacting the State Representatives in Hartford would help, as would contacting Norwalk’s representatives in Washington.
Ms. Cece pointed out that the reason that the sponge filters were put into the catch basins was because the water that was flowing into the basins was termed by Terry Backer as a “toxic soup” and a “poisonous concoction”. She then went on to say that it is the same storm water that floods their homes. $400,000 was allocated to protect the fish, but not to stop the flooding. Mr. Poruban then reiterated that the residents need to contact Senator Lieberman and others.
Mr. Romano said that the City has income via property taxes. As someone on a fixed income, his expenses increase by putting off this project. Mr. Romano then asked about the four million dollar threshold for FEMA. Mr. Alvord then reviewed the information that was submitted to the Region 1 coordinator. He then reiterated that the Region 1 coordinator did not believe that the State would meet the 4 million dollar cut off. Mr. Alvord then reviewed some of the types of claims that could be included in the request with the group. A discussion about the situations under which the various properties flood followed.
Mr. Curti pointed out that he had meetings with Bill Grumman, Peter Romano, Dick Leonards and with Mr. Alvord. He then recounted that he had been told by Mayor Knopp and Atty. Sparh that they were not going to handle the problem and that Mr. Curti should sue the city. Mr. Hempstead repeated that the project was fully funded for this budget and that he did not believe those funds would be cut. Mr. Curti said that he felt Mr. Alvord should have requested the full amount for the entire project and let the Council or BET reduce it. Mr. Poruban pointed out that with all due respect, DPW can only do so much. When asked why the funds for repaving weren’t being transferred, Mr. Hempstead replied that road paving was a need versus a want. Mr. Hempstead also pointed out that unfortunately there was no guarantee that two years from now, the elected Council members would have the same interest in flooding. Mr. Curti said that there were health and safety issues in some of the flooded homes now. This will not get better until the problem is fixed.
Mr. Thakker, who resides at 32 Buckingham Place, pointed out that when hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast, the storm comes up the coast and also hits Norwalk. He said that he did not understand why DPW did not watch the weather reports and prepare for it. This needs to be tracked and pointed out to both the State and Federal governments. Mr. Poruban reiterated that the residents need to speak with their local representatives about this problem. Mr. Alvord said that he could call the Region 1 coordinator and find out how many municipalities filed with the State for FEMA funds. Mr. Hempstead reminded everyone that FEMA funds are not available unless the Governor of the State requests the President for the funds. The State has set a limit of four million dollars damage statewide in order to have the Governor ask for FEMA funds.
Ms. Lauricella said that the current Congress has reinstituted funds in Water Quality programs that had been previously cut. She said that she did not know how long this would take or how much would be allocated to Connecticut, but Ms. Lauricella said that this would be worth looking into for possible funds. She then asked if the grants for Water Quality and Health and Safety issues were being explored. Ms. Lauricella said that Mr. McQuaid had asked the Health Department to do some additional work in this area and that there had been resistance. She also mentioned polluted run off grants, which was put on the Federal shelf during the 1970’s, but are being reactivated now. Ms. Lauricella said that she disagreed with having the sponges, and felt that the pollutants should be removed at the source, which are the parking lots and sites, along with doing public education. The run off in the drains is the most concentrated.
Mr. Alvord reiterated that he had checked the entire federal and state grant rosters just two weeks earlier with no success. There are grants for all kinds of projects from turning sludge waste into fuel pellets to research into fuel cells, but there are no grants for paving roads or storm water drainage systems. He also pointed out that the earmarked funds program has been slashed. Ms. Cece asked about unfunded mandates. Mr. Alvord said that with the fats, oils and grease program has been sent to the cities and that he believes Norwalk may be the only city in the State that is actually implementing it.
Ms. Lauricella said that she believed that having the issue framed as a health problem would raise the priority level. Mr. Hempstead said that the matter needs to be handled carefully to prevent people from finding an eviction notice on their front doors. Mr. Thakker asked about using pumps to remove the water from the area. Mr. Alvord said that he had requested mobile pumps, but that would not be the solution because one the home is flooded, it would just be taking the water from basement and putting it in someone else’s basement. Mr. Thakker pointed out that the two hills on the streets form barriers that prevent the water from running off onto East Avenue. Mr. Alvord said that the type of pump that would be needed for this situation had actually been requested from Homeland Security, but it did not make the approval list. Ms. Cece said that there was a great snow management policy in the City. However, she asked why there was not a flood management policy. Mr. Alvord explained that pumping only works for fairly localized areas. He gave two examples of when the pump would work, which would not be likely to occur. The cost of a pump that would handle this type of work would be $75,000. Ms. Cece commented that the new drainage pipe would be 84”. Mr. Alvord said that the current pipe was 36” inches and the new drainage pipe would be 72” inches.
Mr. Coppola of 35 Olmstead Place, commented that when Olmstead Place floods, DPW staff check the pond, but it is the flooding on Fitch Street that creates the problem and back up into the homes. Mr. Alvord said that this was one of the sites for the pipe clearing contract. The problem appears to be the culvert under Metro North, which was believed to be a 2’x4’ culver. In actuality, it is a 5’ x8’ culvert that has become sedimented in over time. The Fitch Street pipe needs to be cleaned out also. Mr. Alvord said there were discussions going on with Metro North about having the City clear out this culvert. The pipe clearing contract bids for the Fitch Street pipes should be in within two weeks, which means the contract can be done fairly quickly. Mr. Alvord said he believes that this would take place in May. The Metro North culvert will be a separate job. Mr. Alvord also said that photographs of truck tires wedged into the Metro North culvert at Bouton Street had been taken yesterday. The City does not have equipment that can reach into the culvert and extract the tires, but Metro North does.
Mr. Romano stated that he remembered extensive work being done approximately fifteen years ago at Winfield and Vanderbilt Streets. Following that, there was a long period when there was no flooding. It was suggested that people contact their representatives to talk to Metro North about this issue. Mr. Alvord said that $250,000 was set aside for clearing the existing pipes and there was some concern that the bids would come in with figures that were over that.
Mr. Poruban thanked everyone for their input.
DISCUSSION
Engineering Division Report
Projects
Mr. Alvord explained to the Committee there were numerous projects, such as locating the 200 manholes that have been buried and need ring risers had been cut from the budget. Until those manholes are located and uncovered, DPW will not know the full extent of the storm water drainage system or the sanitary system. Mr. Alvord said that they were only given fifty ring risers. He then pointed out in the BET review that it would take four years to uncover the entire system. Mr. Alvord said that he believes that people think because the Olmstead retention pond and the Buckingham Lockwood engineering and permitting have made it through the process that DPW is addressing flooding city wide. Without uncovering the buried manholes, DPW can not maintain the storm water drainage system.
Mr. Alvord then asked if anyone had any additional questions on the project report sheet. Mr. Hempstead asked about the Stony Brook project and what funding had been requested. Mr. Alvord explained that he had asked for $500,000 for contract funds in the operating budget. He then gave his rational for the number as half going to clear obstructions from storm drainage pipes and the other half for dredging water courses that are integral parts of the storm drainage system. Only $250,000 was approved. Mr. Hempstead asked what DPW would do with the allocated money. Mr. Alvord said that the money would go towards clearing obstructed storm drainage pipes. The dredging will have to wait. Mr. Alvord also indicated that there was a retention pond just east of the Westport line which needs to be dredged out and then the dredging would need to be worked back upstream.
Other
GIS Storm Water Development
There were no comments about this project.
Operations Division Report
Personnel
a. Superintendent of Operations
Mr. Alvord reported that Chris Oakafer will start as Superintendent on April 9th.
b. Fleet Service Manager
Mr. Joel Grant will start as Fleet Manager on April 9th. Joel has been a Highway foreman and for the last six months has been the acting assistant superintendent of Highways and done a fantastic job.
c. Hiring Freeze impacts
There is a mechanic vacancy, but this was posted in the union before the hiring freeze was in place. No one in the bargaining unit was qualified, so DPW will be allowed to advertise to fill that position. The only positions that will be impacted by the hiring freeze until it is lifted are three laborers and the foreman position that will become vacant when Mr. Grant moves to Fleet Manager. A selection process was done for a back up foreman and someone was selected as permanent back up foreman for each of the sections of the City. This has worked out extremely well, although there are some union problems.
Other
1. Update on Solid Waste efforts
Mr. Alvord said that the City still does not know what the CRE tipping fee will be on the first of July. The Governor sent out a press release announcing the Shelton landfill issue was going to be on the bond commission agenda on April 6th. Mr. Alvord said he checked the bond issue agenda this morning and the item was not listed. DPW is proceeding with their efforts for this. A presentation was scheduled for this evening, but knowing that a quorum would not be present, the presentation was rescheduled for the May meeting. Hopefully, the full presentation to the Council will also be scheduled for May. Five communities are already working with Norwalk, with the possibility of two or three more signing on during the next few weeks. This could result in somewhere in the vicinity of 300,000 tons of garbage per year and close to $200,000 in financial contributions from the other communities participating in the study with Norwalk.
OTHER
Status of public power consultancy
Mr. Alvord stated that $50,000 would not be sufficient for the project. Mr. Alvord said that he reviewed the previous study that was done in 1996. He felt that doing a new study would not tell the City anything that they do not currently already know regarding the creation of a public power authority. Former Mayor Collins requested funds to do a study to prove that Norwalk was serious about this idea. Mr. Poruban said that if the City forms a Power Authority that manages resale, it would be a first step. Mr. Alvord gave a quick overview of the situation and stated that a consultant would be needed to help clarify the direction. Mr. Alvord said that if the project goes forward, he will need to ask for someone else to provide the staff support because of the other major projects underway. There was a detailed discussion about this project.
Mr. Alvord pointed out that facilitating this project would be an eight to ten year process. Former Mayor Collins also had stated that it would be possible to use utility bonds to fund this project. Mr. Alvord explained that it is only possible to use utility bonds once a municipality has acquired the resource and were planning on improving or expanding the utility. NRG and CL&P both have stated they are not interested in selling their assets. Mr. Alvord pointed out that the City receives millions of dollars in tax revenue from NRG and CL&P resources. Those revenues will increase with the new transmission lines that are being run through the city.
Mr. Hempstead commented that he was not sure if the City needed another Commission for managing storm water run off. Mr. Alvord said that he had just received a copy of the legislation from Mr. Perrone, which is enabling legislation. A Storm Water Authority would be set up like the WPCA. Once a watershed area is set up, the property owners in that area are charged for the drainage of the storm water in that area.
Action on any item discussed herein
There was no further discussion on any of the agenda items.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Poruban adjourned the meeting at 9:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted
Sharon L. Soltes
Telesco Secretarial Services
 |
 |