Council meeting 1/13

Council meeting tonight didn't seem to have any fireworks... which was fine with me.

We got the update on the CRRA / Covanta agreement... which basically doesn't impact the Town. The update also touched on when the Town will get it's 12% share of the $44,000,000 kitty that's been accumulated by CRRA over the past 20 years.

The Elderly Tax Freeze passed 8-1 (White opposed). I supported the Senior Tax Credits though, which passed 9-0. The tax credits can be targeted much more easily. And that was even touched on tonight when Tom Ruocco mentioned that several seniors have actually had their taxes decreased with the tax credits. And I think that's appropriate when some seniors make less than $14,900 / yr.

The Senior Center Director, Doreen Pulisciano, spoke on a few grants she was requesting for replacements of new mini-buses (they'll be over 100,000 miles when replaced) and support for a grant for computers. Both passed unanimously.

The schools are getting an additional $60,000 as a result of the legislature's special session on energy last August. Jimmy Sima asked about holding off on spending the money this year, but that's unlikely to happen.

Mixville Pump Station got discussed. The WPCA is looking for guidance on whether to proceed with a $150,000 design phase... even though the voters rejected the whole project last November. Personally, I oppose moving forward at this moment... even though it will eventually need to be replaced. Not all Council members agreed with me. Dill and Ruocco shared my sentiments about taking direction from the voters on this. Altieri, Decaprio, Hall and Slocum felt the project needed to move forward with the design. I believe that neither Ecke nor Sima spoke on the topic. The comments that caught me most offguard were from Matt Altieri. I don't recall exactly what he said though, so I'll wait to upload it to YouTube. Then you can see if you agree / disagree with his comments. Perhaps the one thing I appreciated about the conversation (even though I was in the minority) was getting some recognition that the $150,000 design phase could be further broken down and done in parts. Hopefully the WPCA will act on that.

Fire Chief Jack Casner needed to fix some communication equipment and got unanimous support.

PW Director Joe Michelangelo got support for the next step of the Humiston School PBC project.

Maybe more tomorrow, but for now I'm going to bed!

Tim White