Common Council

SPECIAL MEETING OF THE COMMON COUNCIL MIDDLETOWN CONNECTICUT APRIL 3, 2017 The Special meeting Questions to Directors of the Common Council of the City of Middletown was held in the Council Chamber of the Municipal Building on Monday, April 3, 2017 at 6 p.m. Present: Deputy Mayor Robert P. Santangelo, Councilman Gene Nocera, Councilman Thomas J. Serra, Councilman Carl R. Chisem, Councilman Robert Blanchard, Councilman Sebastian N. Giuliano, Councilman Philip J. Pessina, Councilwoman Deborah Kleckowski, Councilwoman Linda Salafia Absent: Mayor Daniel T. Drew, Councilwoman Mary A. Bartolotta, Councilman Gerald E. Daley, Councilman Grady L. Faulkner, Jr., and Corporation Counsel Daniel B. Ryan Also Present Public Works Director William Russo, Finance Director Carl Erlacher, IT Director Brian Skowera, Water and Sewer Acting Director Robert Young, Parking Director Geen Thazhampallath, City Attorney Brig Smith, Chief of Police William McKenna, Acting Parks and Recreation Acting Director Deb Stanley, Tax Assessor Damon Braasch, Fire Chief Robert Kronenberger, Director of Communications Wayne Bartolotta, Acting Planning, Conservation and Development Director Joe Samolis, Director of Human Relations Faith Jackson Arts Coordinator Stephan Allison, City and Town Clerk Linda Bettencourt, , Youth Services Coordinator Justin Carbonella, and five members of the public. 1. Mayor calls meeting to order. Deputy Mayor Santangelo opens the meeting at 6:03 p.m. and leads the public in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Clerk reads the call of the meeting; Acting Chair Santangelo declares the call a legal call and the meeting a legal meeting. 2. Questions to Directors Opens The Acting Chair opens Questions to Directors at 6:05 p.m. Councilman Serra calls Deb Stanley, Acting Director of Recreation and Community Services forward regarding the $2,035.50 and thanks Councilwoman Kleckowski for her work on this. Relative to the city and the meals of our residents going to other places and others coming into Middletown, can you explain how that works. Deb Stanley states the program and to question someone at our center is a resident and then if a Middletown resident goes to Cromwell for a meal and gets turned away, that would not be good. We know who comes into our building, but I don't know what happens at other centers. Councilman Serra asks for the City attorney; General Counsel Smith states he sees no problem. There is no problem with that relative to Middletown. There is no legal issue; there are policy issues. It is a permissible public purpose. Councilman Giuliano is recognized but for a different issue. Councilman Daley states people who come for the meals do they need to be registered at the Senior Center. Ms Stanley responds they don't have to register for the Senior Center, but for CRT. Councilman Daley asks if the paperwork certifies they are a Middletown resident. Ms Stanley states no they do not. Councilwoman Kleckowski asks her to clarify for the Council, the attorney said it is an allowable use and it is because it is not a Middletown food program but a senior nutrition program housed within the State and the programs could be held anywhere. Ms Stanley responds that is correct. Councilwoman Kleckowski states there is some confusion because it is not just a Middletown program; the vendor is CRT and we are making up deficits because they have them to see if all the seniors are fed. Ms Stanley states there are only 1 or 2 a day that are nonresidents. Councilwoman Kleckowski thanks her for what you have done to ensure this program has gone forward. Councilman Nocera thanks Councilwoman Kleckowski for your efforts to help our Seniors and commends Deb Stanley for working on the internal fund raiser for this program. It has been behind the scenes and has been appreciated. Councilman Pessina states the last meeting of the Rec commission we were appreciative of the staff and what you have done. It was a problem that could not be predicted but you went right to work on this with help from Deb Kleckowski. Congratulations on a job well done. APRIL 3, 2017 SPECIAL COMMON COUNCIL MEETING PAGE 2 Councilman Serra asks this is just one month. Do you have the numbers for the fiscal year. Ms Stanley states it is a work in progress to see who comes but she anticipates it will be an estimated $2,035 per month. Councilman Serra states the fiscal year ends Oct. 1Ms Stanley responds yes; Councilman Serra states we will fund for the five months. Councilman Giuliano asks for City Attorney; he calls him up on personnel matters and we have a job description on the agenda tonight and there has been a lot of discussion on it. As to the AICP Certification. It is the American Institute of City Planning and it is a private entity and certifications does not confer a legal status. General Counsel Smith replies that is correct. Councilman Giuliano states to be a member of the AICP you don't have to hold a license. General Counsel Smith states no; the research is the AICP and is an arm of the American Planning Association and you become eligible for AICP and it requires taking and passing an examination and it will be part of the job description and it is a pledge to maintain your ethical development. Councilman Giuliano states the threshold requirement is you are a member to AIC. Mr. Samolis could join tomorrow. General Counsel Smith states he can apply for certification tomorrow. Councilman Giuliano states he can apply to the parent association. General Counsel Smith replies I believe so. Councilman Giuliano states it is unlike the ABA; it is not a prerequisite to practice law but to be a member you have to be a lawyer, but I don't see that for AIC. General Counsel Smith there is nothing to show you have a license; to join ABA, you have to have a license as an attorney. Councilman Giuliano states the definition of City planner he hasn't found anything that says they need licensure or certification, but to be a lawyer we have to meet certain qualifications and pass the bar. Apparently there is no such standard for the State of CT to be a City Planner. General Counsel Smith responds if I remember correctly, Michel Wackers had AICP, but he did not have a degree in planning. There are other towns that do not have Planners and as the head of Planning. Councilman Giuliano states what yardstick would we use other than assessing our own needs for this position. General Counsel Smith states yes it would be our own needs; he has worked with Joe Samolis for the last 5 months and Mr. Samolis' knowledge skills and abilities exceed what is needed to be a planning director. Councilman Giuliano states the current job description, is it the same as what Mr. Warner worked under. General Counsel Smith replies no; the job description he retired under is the one that Mr. Wackers served under and that we are amending. Councilman Giuliano states Mr. Warner was the director when I came into office 11 years ago. I think things have changed in that time. General Counsel Smith states he will point to the communication from Mr. Warner. He states AICP and Planning degree are not required; what is required is strategic vision and a tool box to put that vision in place. Councilman Giuliano states we are looking to fill a position of director that is more than city planning. General Counsel Smith replies correct. Councilman Giuliano states focusing on one thing would only be a small part of what is expected from this position and seems tilted to me. How much town planning do we expect the director to do. General Counsel Smith replies not that much; we have a plan of conservation and development amended in 2010 and the next will be due in 2020; the question is how the plan meets the city's current needs. Councilman Giuliano states the plan will not change radically. General Counsel Smith states when you have been around since 1651, you have had a plan of development. Councilman Giuliano asks if the substituted job description is more rigorous. General Counsel Smith responds yes; it conveys what the position actually does which is less tactical and more strategic. Councilman Giuliano states we have had for many years, Bill Warner as Director and Michael Wackers as Deputy. Michel did the day to day stuff but Bill coordinated everything, all aspects of a project and when he left, Michael moved up, but he approached it with the technocrat perspective and we did not have the overarching person and not to cast aspersions on what Michael did. General Counsel Smith states it is a fair characterization; you need someone with vision. Councilwoman Kleckowski states this discussion is not personal to the position, but the process. I do have a question; can you explain, you used several times that the changes reflect what the person is supposed to do; she asks when Michel left, why didn't the changes come forward then if this is what the person is supposed to do. The optics are poor about a job description attached to a recommendation; I disagree with the process and not the job. Why wasn't this done when we learned Michel was resigning and moving on. General Counsel Smith states he served on the panel that interviewed the candidates and it wasn't until we went through the process that we understood it and what we were looking for. It was a national search with 18 candidates and 14 were qualified and 11 interviewed and what you got was candidates who were good with vision or good with technique but not necessarily with both. It was what we put out there. What you see in the job description is what we need and you don’t see that until you go through the process. He uses his past experience looking for a new City Attorney for Lansing. He states that is what happened with Mr. Samolis and we didn't realize how good he was until we saw what was out there. Councilwoman Kleckowski states if this goes through, we are now in the position that the department needs a planner. General Counsel Smith states the request is in to have a planner. It doesn't make sense to have the director be the planner. Councilwoman Kleckowski states we are looking at the budget and the planner position, we don't have a job description for and there is a director and this holds us hostage as the budget process is occurring. She finds it disconcerting. I would have preferred if there had been thoughtfulness to the reorganization. While we are considering this job, we should consider the reorganization as opposed to bringing a director and a budget that is super tight without knowing what the State budget will be. If you need a planner, that is some of the concern out there. I am suggesting that we do it in a different order so we can be thoughtful. We gave this only one look over. It is not as deliberate as it should be. General Counsel Smith responds it works better with a planner, but doesn't mean you need it. You shouldn't put the planner in place first; you want the director to pick the team. APRIL 3, 2017 SPECIAL COMMON COUNCIL MEETING PAGE 3 Councilman Serra asks for the Police Chief. William McKenna comes forward. Councilman Serra states this is a request regarding the Overtime. He would like him to tweak coverage. Chief McKenna states he is doing it. Councilman Serra this is what you need for the rest of the year. Chief McKenna yes. Councilman Serra asks for Public Works Director; the Finance Committee endorsed it with the caveat that this is it. What are we getting for $300,000 more. Mr. Holden, Deputy Director states it will get us a certificate of occupancy building. It will be sheet rocks wall. The display cases, etc. will be the responsibility of the Museum committee. Councilman Serra states this will be a move in building. Mr. Holden yes. Councilman Serra states you won't come back to the Council. Mr. Holden responds it will be the responsibility of the Military Museum committee. 3. Questions to Directors Closes. Acting Chair closes Questions to Directors workshop and asks for a motion to adjourn. 4. Meeting adjourned. Councilman Serra moves to adjourn and his motion is seconded by Councilman Giuliano. The Acting Chair calls for the vote and it is unanimous. He declares the meeting adjourned at 6:35 p.m. ATTEST: MARIE O. NORWOOD COMMON COUNCIL CLERK