Minutes

Connecticut River Valley Council of Elected Officials

July 22, 2009

 

Attendance:  Please see attached list

 

           

1. Call to Order:

            The CRVCEO meeting was called to order by Chairman Marsh at 12:15 p.m. at Fiore’s Restaurant in Old Saybrook CT.

           

2. Approval of June Minutes: 

             Motion to approve the Minutes of June was made by Rich Cabral. Motion was seconded by Noel Bishop with revision by Jeff O’Keefe so noted. All were in favor.

 

3. Business:    

            A. Speaker: Representative Brian O’Connor was introduced by the Chairman.  Representative O’Connor addressed the conflicts in scheduling issues.  He discussed how difficult it was to attend meetings when, he believed, for the most part 90% of the meetings were discussions on what the selectmen did.  He did state that he reads the minutes of the meetings.  He suggested several breakfast meetings be scheduled at times coinciding with the legislative session.  He agreed that communications between municipalities and the State were not good. However, he said he felt he had a good working relationship with everyone at the table.

            Mike Pace said that the representatives must pay more attention to the selectmen and less interest to the special interest groups, which is presently happening.  Mike said that “we are the people,” and the needs of the people are not being addressed.

            The problem isn’t with the towns; the problem is with the State.  People who are retiring from state positions are retiring with full benefit packages.  The State then rehires these individuals.  Mike reiterated that there is a breakdown and that the selectmen are not complaining unnecessarily.

            The budget is not approved and there are huge differences between the Governor, the house and the senate. Brian briefly discussed some of these issues. The Governor will be issuing a continuing budget order for the month of August.  There will be ramifications attached to this order. The towns’ budgets are now set and the future fiscal impact on the towns will go well into 2011.

            Rich Cabral noted that a general rule is that if you are in debt, you don’t spend. This is the only way to get out of debt.  What doesn’t the State realize about this premise?

B. Legislative Forum:

            Senator Andrea Stillman said she appreciated being at the meeting. She represents 7 towns from Old Saybrook to New London, and said how difficult it is to go to all the meetings. Her district is very diverse.  She said she is a business owner and knows the issues of running a business as well as running a town.

            She noted most of the State representatives are in a” blackout” regarding dissemination of information on how that State budget problems are being resolved, if at all.  She is hopeful that by August there might be a breakthrough.  It’s frustrating and she is trying to deal with it.  There is, she believes, a $1-1/2billion spread right now.  However, she felt compromises are being made.

            Linda asked if the CRVCEO were to meet on a different day/time would that be more amenable to the Senator’s schedule. Tom said he was emailing the members and legislators a list of possible dates for the 2009-2010 schedules.  He asked for an early response so that a new schedule can be presented at the next meeting.

            Representative Giuliano said she agreed with Rich’s analogy that the State government shouldn’t spend what it doesn’t have.  She reaffirmed that there is a blackout regarding negotiations and no one is talking. We are running out of money.

c.         Governor Rell’s Representative:  Jeff Nelson said he is not privy to negotiations. He did say the more legislators talk with one another, the better it is.

            Jeff said tax revenues are down 11% for the first quarter. Fiscal conditions are worse than the national average.  Regarding the veto session, 15 out of 20 sustained, and 13 were overturned resulting in putting more pressure on the budget.  The Governor is looking for cash from saleable assets.

             He said the retirement incentive program has been hugely successful.  Just fewer than 4,000 State employees have taken advantage of it.  Controlling the rehires is a key issue right now.

d.         David LeVasseur of OPM is the Economic Stimulus Ombudsman to municipalities and  Regional Planning Organizations. David discussed potential municipal funding opportunities through the ARRA.  He reviewed the types of grants and eligibility requirements.

             Twenty-six communities are getting a direct payment from the Feds, and 90% is an award.  He noted that the deadline for the 90% is October 15, and for the regional awards it is November 15th.  David Kalafa is the contact for these awards and his email is david.kalafa@ct.gov.  JAG grants deadline is August 16th and the contact for these grants is brian.austin@ct.gov. He urged selectmen to make certain their grant process start sooner than later and suggested they go to the ARRA website for definitive grant information. The JAG grants’ emphasis is on expenditures for equipment.

            Dave distributed a list of potential funding opportunities through ARRA and said he would be updating the list as necessary.

            Phil Miller asked about the parameters for filing for the ARRA energy money.  Dave suggested Phil contact Mr. Kalafa for any information on the filing.  He also noted that 13 activities are eligible, 7 of which do not require NEPA.  He urged the selectmen to stay away from NEPA filings.

            Linda said that CONNDOT called the CRERPA office yesterday stating that they had received only one request for projects and that one request was from Westbrook. If the $1million is not used, the money will be given to other towns.  She urged the towns to contact CONNDOT immediately to identify their funding projects. Tom Borden is the contact at DOT.

            Many of the selectmen said they had submitted their proposals and there is confusion concerning the requirements and regulations of the projects.  Linda said “the boat is sailing” and urged the selectmen not to let the money sail into other towns.

            Mike noted that the only solvency in the next two years will be at the local government level.  Dave made comment that the Government will be broke by 2023, and this will have a devastating effect on everyone. The question was asked: Will the State do what California is proposing to do and use town money to solve State budget problems?      

 

4. Other Business:

            A. Probate Court Update:  Marilyn Giuliano has been appointed to the Redistricting Commission. The selectmen want to appeal the current proposal which places Clinton with Guilford and Madison.  The selectmen previously expressed their wishes to have Clinton included with the Estuary towns. Neither Madison nor Guilford is in the Middlesex County area, Clinton is in the Middlesex area.  It doesn’t make sense to separate Clinton.

            Selectman Fritz of Clinton has written a letter to the Commission requesting Clinton remain with the Estuary towns.  A copy of this letter was emailed to the selectmen.

            Marilyn said she would be happy to work with the selectmen on the issues and urged them to attend all the probate redistricting meetings.   

            Willie reported that the first State meeting to study Regional Health Districts took place on Thursday.  There was no talk about the make up of the regions.  The criteria are 3 towns or 50,000 populations.

            Dave then introduced Sandy Huber, Planning Specialist, Intergovernmental Policy Division, to the selectmen. Sandy is a planning specialist who has worked primarily on the Local Capital Improvement Grant Program (LoCIP) as well as the Regional Performance Incentive Program (RPIP) Sandy has served on the board of the Regional Planning Agency in the past and is familiar with Regional Planning Organizations.  She will be the rep for the CT River Estuary, Midstate, South Central and Southeast planning regions.  Her email is sandra.huber@ct.gov. 

            Tom distributed a paper regarding reval and mil rate for the towns asking that each selectman fill in the figures for his town.  Tom will email the accumulated information to the selectmen.

            Tom asked the selectmen to email Pat (pat@crerpa.org) with their suggestions for future topics at the meetings.  Pat will then send the completed list to the selectmen for review.

            Lt. Governor Federle will be attending the August 26th CRVCEO meeting to be held at the Aqua Restaurant. 

 

5. Adjournment:

            Motion to adjourn was made by Rich Cabral, seconded by Ralph Eno at 2:45.  All were in favor.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Pat Anthony, Clerk