New Council video hasn't been accessible on the Town website for a few months. Chalk it up to some technical difficulties. But the past few months have now been added. You can see the Town Council videos here.
Tim White
Anne is well-spoken and comes prepared. You can't see it well on the video, but Anne's sign had two comments. One comment read "pool spending." This was on the top half, when the sign was partly "in the red." And I forget what the bottom half read... though she describes it in the video. Regardless, she made a great presentation. I'm expecting the same valuable thoughts and comments to continue when she joins the Council in December.
Also, if you watch the five minute video you'll hear her mention her bicycle. That reminded me of a comment made to me by my mom recently. My mom said that when she first met Anne, thirty years ago, Anne used to ride her bike from her home (next to Boulder Knoll) to Mixville everyday to act as a camp councilor. My point? She doesn't just talk about protecting the environment and living healthy and all these other good causes... her life has been a model for them.
And on a somewhat related note... Anne's brother-in-law, John Ashcroft, will be the honored guest at an evening event in Cheshire on September 17. If you'd like more details, please contact RTC Chair Marilyn Bartoli.
Tim White
The June 9 Council meeting is available on the town website. Thank you Sheldon for caring about transparency and good government!
Tim White
Here's the video of the Town Council meetings for both May 12 and May 27.
Click here for most of the agenda of the May 12 meeting.
Click here for the agenda of the May 27 meeting.
Tim White
The April 14 Town Council meeting video is now online. I thank Sheldon Dill for making the service happen.
Tim White
For the past year or two I've been trying to explain that - until there was a change in "Council composition" - many good ideas would continue to fail due to institutional opposition and the heavy Rubber Stamp.
Thankfully though... the Council composition has changed!
Thanks to the leadership of Councilman Sheldon Dill, you no longer need to visit TWL. You can go directly to the the Town website.
Now that is change I can believe in!
Tim White
p.s. No word yet on whether he faced charges of micromanaging.
The Energy Commission met tonight. More on it later, but in the meantime... check out Peter Takizawa's new CEC website.
On Thursday, there's going to be another energy forum at 7pm in Town Hall. The topic will be saving money on your home energy bills.
Next Tuesday Feb 3, the newly composed Ordinance Review Committee is tentatively scheduled to meet. Videostreaming of Council meetings will likely be on the agenda. I intend to be there.
And on Wednesday Feb 4, the Pension Board will be meeting.
Tim White
Following the Town Manager's presentation, residents spoke for about nine minutes:Then the Council opined for just over a half hour:
Tim White
Tuesday's discussion included an additional $100,000 in spending on the Lilac Drive Pump Station. Here is the 25 minute clip from the December 16 Council meeting:
I was a bit surprised to see how Councilman Ecke voted.
Tim White
An unedited guest post by Sue Zentek:
When you pick up a newspaper you hope you’re reading accurate, fair and balanced information. Such was not the case when I read the Herald’s own editorial, entitled “Please, Just Do Your Job,” which commented on the November 12th town council meeting.
It’s one thing to give their opinion, but at least they should present both sides of what they called an “argument” at the meeting. As I understand it, after this “argument” there were apologies given to the councilor and they shook hands.
What was most disturbing at the meeting was the totally inappropriate remark that came from the council chair. The Herald seemed to totally ignore this in their reporting. It is the council chairman that should be apologizing publicly. Rather than repeat his remark, I would say that anyone interested in this meeting should request a copy of it or view it in part at Tim White’s blog. I would also add that since I can’t rely on complete information in the paper, I recommend the blog to anyone interesting in getting a more accurate review of town issues. It was unfair of the Herald to criticize this councilor for his efforts in getting information to the taxpayers.
I expect that as the economic situation worsens and the budget season begins, we will see many heated discussions at council meetings. If discussions bring about positive changes then that could be a good thing. I will likely be supporting the councilors who, as they did at the Nov. 12 meeting, continue to keep the best interests of the taxpayers in mind as they attempt to reduce spending. To them, I say thank you. To the Herald, I say please, just do your job and report the news accurately. To the council chair, I say take a breath, take a deep, long breath and apologize for your remarks.
Sue Zentek
This video:has generated quite a few comments. And though I mentioned this before, I want to mention it again... as I was sitting there I didn't get the sense that the Superintendent was suggesting that I (or anyone else in Council Chambers) was a crook selling "interest only mortgages," etc. And he did apologize to Councilman Ruocco after the camera was turned away. So he was very much a gentleman. However, I can see why Councilman Ruocco inferred that, even though I didn't take it that way.
And not to defend Chairman Hall's choice of words, but one thing that is somewhat lost in the video is the crack of the gavel. I recall it being louder than what is captured in the video. I guess my point is that the atmosphere of the meeting isn't really captured in the video. It definitely felt much more tense while I was sitting there, than it is watching it online from the comfort of home.
Tim White
Here is the video from the forum last Thursday on "Energy and Sustainability."Another thanks again to the speakers:
Paul Nonnenmacher of the quasi-governmental CRRA
Sue Merrow of the not-for-profit 1,000 Friends of CT
Dr. Bob Giddings a member of the not-for-profit Friends of Boulder Knoll
Tim White
In laying out the timeline of the delay in the CHS air conditioning installation and heating retrofit...
Here is a two minute video from August 28, 2007:And here is the 40 minutes of discussion from March 11, 2008: IMO, Council members made several interesting comments on performance contracting on March 11.
Tim White
About a month ago, I briefly mentioned the July 8 Council visit by CRRA. But if you'd like greater detail, here is the 44 minutes of the CRRA discussion:
IMO, it's a pretty big issue for the town. So if you don't know much about it, you may be interested... even if it sounds pretty boring.
Tim White
Here's the last few minutes of the turf discussion:
Catching my attention were the following words:
"It was people grandstanding... 15 minutes to tell the Board of Ed 'it's ok for you to study whether or not we're gonna have astroturf or not.' That's it. That's what it should have taken."
FACT: there was no need for the turf to be on the agenda.
The reality is that the Council majority chose to use the bully pulpit and show their support for the turf. And as far as I'm concerned, that's fine. Council Chairman Matt Hall sets the agenda. He can put anything on it that he wants. And if I recall the meeting correctly, to his credit... and to the credit of Elizabeth Esty... they had the candor and integrity to comment that this discussion was a show of support for the turf supporters.
But the comments from elsewhere actually sadden me.
To suggest that this discussion:
1) was needed for the BOE to move forward and
2) should have taken 15 minutes
was an act of intellectual dishonesty. And it was perpetrated on the public. The reality is that this discussion should have taken zero minutes. And every member of the Council knew there was no need for the turf to be on the agenda... except for a show of moral support. And again... I'm 100% fine with the use of the bully pulpit. I think many elected officials should speak up more. But I really was saddened by this display.
To use the Council Chambers for such words was, in my opinion, intellectually dishonest and merits an apology to the public. Perhaps this would be a good place to begin with improving Council decorum?
Tim White
Here is the continuation of the July 8 discussion on artificial turf: Tim White
Here is the first of three installments of the entire video on the Ecke/Altieri Artificial Indignation Turf. Btw, "the embarrassing speech" is in part 3. And I'm still not sure at what Councilman Ecke's speech was directed. Too bad the Council Chairman didn't ask him to explain further.
Regardless of whether you're a D or R (or anything else), I think anyone making "the embarrassing speech" should have been told to give explicit details... or should have left the Council Chambers. But hey... is "decorum" the issue? Or is it really an issue similar to the fund balance policy... an issue which was voted upon right after the majority stated (paraphrasing)... "we won the election. we'll rubber stamp do as we please!" Tim White
p.s. Some Council members were bellyaching about how late the Turf discussion went. Keep in mind though that the turf discussion followed discussions on both the trash facility and the pavement management system.
At the July 8 Council meeting, we were introduced to a Pavement Management Software:
My initial reaction is that it's unnecessary spending. Based on the information provided (seemed to be primarily photos) that would be entered to the software, I don't see how this system is that much better than simply asking the DPW crews to stay aware of the conditions of the roads and report back deterioration.
Furthermore, we spent a bunch of money on our GIS system and we don't use it. So why should I have faith that if we buy this software it will:
1) be implemented on time and on budget?
2) be used?
Finally, I don't think we need to be spending heaps of money right now.
Tim White
I'm guessing that this brief exchange at the July 8 Council meeting went largely unnoticed. But I also feel that it absolutely merits further discussion.And since we all know the town's various software systems can easily cost in the tens of thousands of dollars (if not hundreds of thousands of dollars)... I can't help but wonder... how many of the town's software packages are currently unused... or significantly underused (in relation to their intended purpose)?
Tim White
p.s. for those of you who pay close attention to this stuff, if you recall my comment thanking the Finance Director for coming forward and acknowledging problems with the financial software... ummm... yeeaahh... there was a reason why I thanked her for her candor. But as you could probably guess, these aren't the droids we're looking for. Move along.
