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ENFIELD TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING
MARCH 30, 2000
A Special Meeting of the Enfield Town Council was called to order by Deputy Mayor Peter Falk in the Council Chambers of the Enfield Town Hall, 820 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut on Thursday, March 30, 2000 at 7:02 p.m.
ROLL-CALL - Present were Councilors Dodd, Falk, Fiore, Hall, Mangini, McGuire and Vayda. Councilor Egan entered the meeting at 7:10 p.m. Chairwoman Strom and Councilors Kaupin and Surapine were absent. Also present were Town Manager, Scott Shanley; Town Clerk, Suzanne F. Olechnicki; Director of Planning and Community Development, Jose Giner; Director of Information Systems, Charlene Bond
Present from the Enfield Planning & Zoning Commission were Elizabeth Ballard, Francis Costanzo, Frank Dentamaro, Charles Duren, Nicles Lefakis, and John McGuire. Anthony Crane entered at 7:04 p.m.
Town Manager, Scott Shanley, informed Planning and Zoning of potential Capital Budget items that may be included in the Managers budget that would need to be referred to Planning and Zoning pursuant to Connecticut Statute 8-24 for comment when implemented. He reviewed those items as follows:
1. Town Hall Site Improvements - theres a serious problem for people who are infirmed gaining access to this building - the plan is to replace doors in the lower level in the back of Town Hall so that they can be pushed automatically. Sidewalks and parking would need to be redesigned as well.
2. Vault space is extremely limited and not designed in an appropriate way for storage of records, i.e., no humidity control. More appropriate storage space is needed for Town records.
Councilor McGuire questioned whether this relates to records that have to be easily accessible. Mr. Shanley noted some records would have to be on file in the Town Clerks Office and accessible on a daily basis, however, there are other records that need to be in the facility, but not necessarily readily available as those in the Town Clerks Office.
Discussion followed regarding electronic record storage. Town Clerk, Suzanne Olechnicki, pointed out the State is the authority as to how the Town handles records.
Mr. Costanzo questioned whether a new records facility requires a new building. Mr. Shanley stated that is not known as yet. He noted they did have an architect do preliminary drawings. He stated they looked at attic space, basement space, use of the Higgins building, and an addition off the back of Town Hall.
Mr. Costanzo questioned whether consideration was given to renting storage space, and Mr. Shanley responded yes. He pointed out this would to be a function of customer service, whereby they would be able to supply materials to customers.
3. The Town has applied for a $450,000 grant to the Small Cities Program to rehabilitate and restore Freshwater Pond and create a filtration system to keep silt from accumulating in the pond. The engineering work will be done in May. Mr. Shanley stated as of July, they would like to have $10,000 available in the capital budget to be able to engineer and design a walkway around the pond.
Councilor Fiore questioned if the Town has any indication when they will hear something about this grant. Mr. Shanley responded no.
4. Mr. Shanley stated his hope this will be an annual appropriation from the Capital Budget into the Open Space Acquisition Fund. He noted this is an opportunity and attempt to build that fund to a point where this joint body has the opportunity to determine if they would like to select open space and purchase it. He noted they currently have $441,000 in that fund.
Councilor Egan questioned if the reason for building this fund has to do with the state requiring matching funds, and Mr. Shanley responded yes.
Councilor Fiore questioned whether the $441,000 will show up in the budget, and Mr. Shanley noted this is in the audit as a designated fund because it is solely and specifically for the acquisition of open space.
5. The Town Council was asked for a Hazardville Streetscape plan, and this will allow for money for that plan. Mr. Shanley added there is also something similar for the Northgate Streetscape. He noted this will allow for a significant amount of work.
Councilor Fiore questioned whether the funding of Northgate will be the same, and Mr. Shanley stated theyll know that shortly. Councilor Fiore requested Northgate information be provided to the Town Council, and Mr. Shanley indicated that can be done.
Councilor Falk stated the question will come up as to how much money was spent on the Thompsonville Streetscape. Mr. Shanley noted about $300,000 has been spent on the Thompsonville Streetscape gateway. He noted most of that was federal money.
6. Modular classrooms at JFK - this was requested by the School Board. Mr. Shanley noted at this time, he has no other information on this. He added if this were approved by the Town Council, it would have to go before the Planning & Zoning Commission.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION #4526 by Councilor Dodd, seconded by Councilor Hall to adjourn.
Upon a SHOW-OF-HANDS vote being taken, the Chair declared MOTION #4526 adopted 8-0-0, and the meeting stood adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeannette Lamontagne
Secretary to the Council
By Suzanne F. Olechnicki
Suzanne F. Olechnicki
Town Clerk
Clerk of the Council
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