Council agenda 12/12

Sorry for not getting this posted yesterday. I just didn't have much time to logon this weekend.

As usual, the first item on the agenda that requires a vote will be the consent calendar. I'm not sure if there will be any discussion on this. However, we do have seven items on it with an aggregate "grant amount" of about $70,000... this may get some discussion.

Then we'll move onto new business:

1) Legislative package - this will probably take the most time. I'm sure Mary Fritz and David Schrumm will have an enjoyable discussion. Dave will tell our legislators to reform binding arbitration and they will tell him he's wrong. I completely agree with Schrumm on this, but I'm not quite sure of the benefit of even addressing this with our legislators. During the past election, I think all five of those who were elected to represent Cheshire were clear of their support of the system.

2) West Main Streetscape committee appointments - dunno if this'll cause a stir. But I looked at the names and they seem fine to me. (They're people chosen from other boards & commissions.)

3) Traveling Vietnam War Memorial - authorization for BOE to use Bartlem Park. This is a great idea. I'll see if I can get my dad to come speak in support of this.

4) Interchange zone development - If the proposed lifestyle center is to happen in the northend, it's got to go thru the Council before it goes thru PZC. Specifically, the Council needs to change the Plan of Conservation and Development. There's no scheduled vote for this for Tuesday. I guess that might happen in January.

5) Acceptance of a town road - I think this is a new development in town... the one up on Summit Road.

6) Waiver of competitive selection process - Norton School got $500k in energy improvements approved at referendum on Nov. 7. Basically, the $500k breaks down into two parts: $100k for boilers and $400k for windows. The Public Buildings Comm wants to skip the paperwork on this and use the same people they used for their other recent projects (Humiston boiler, 2004 & CHS Windows, 2006). While "bid waivers" of any sort are pretty ugly nowadays in CT, I don't have a big problem with this. My main concern here is to have the town and schools come up with a master plan for any energy improvements that they want done. We need to establish a "to do" list with a "return on investment" analysis. That way we can get the most bang for our buck.

7) Disclosure of interest by Town Manager - The town occasionally buys sandwiches (for nighttime meetings) from Bagelicious. Michael Milone's son just got a job at Bagelicious. I hope no one makes a stink over this.

That's it. I'm guessing that the only two items that will generate discussion will be the legislative package and the interchange zone.

Tim White
Town Council, 4th District