Common Council

COMMON COUNCIL MIDDLETOWN CONNECTICUT SPECIAL MEETING QUESTIONS TO DIRECTORS MONDAY, JANUARY 6, 2025 MINUTES A Special Meeting of the Common Council of the City of Middletown, Questions to Directors Workshop, was held on Monday, January 6, 2025, beginning at 6:00 PM. This meeting was a hybrid meeting with in-person participation in the Common Council Chamber and remote access via WebEx. The meeting was also live streamed on Facebook and the City webpage and was broadcast on local cable access television. Present: Councilwoman Jeanette Blackwell Councilman Anthony Mangiafico Councilman Grady Faulkner, Jr. Councilman Eugene Nocera, President Councilman Anthony Gennaro, Sr. Councilman Jonathan Pulino (arrived 6:05 PM) Councilman Steven Kovach Councilwoman Linda Salafia Councilman Vincent Loffredo Councilwoman Leslie Spatola Councilwoman Kelly Sweeney Absent; Councilman Darnell Ford Also Present: Sergeant-at-Arms: Middletown Police Officer DiMassa Linda Reed, Clerk of the Common Council City Staff: Central Communication – Robert Grauer, Deputy Director Economic & Community Development – Christine Marques, Director Equal Opportunity & Diversity Management – Faith Jackson, Director Finance & Revenue Services – Carl Erlacher, CPA, Director Fire – David Albert, Chief General Counsel – Kori Wisneski, Deputy General Counsel Human Resources Division – Justin Richardson, Division Director Land Use -- Marek Kozikowski, AICP, Director Library – Ramona Burkey, Director Police -- Erik Costa, Chief Public Works – Howard Weissberg, Acting Director Recreation – Cathy Lechowicz, Director Technology Services – Brianna Skowera, Director Water & Sewer – Joseph Fazzino, Director, Theresa Spalletta Absent: Hon. Benjamin Florsheim, Mayor Assessor -- Damon Braasch, CCMA II City & Town Clerk – Ashley Flynn-Natale Youth Services – Justin Carbonella, Manager Public: Chamber: approximately 1 WebEx: 7 Facebook: unknown 1. Call to Order Councilman Eugene Nocera is designated as Chair for this meeting. The Chair calls the meeting to order at 6:05 PM. He welcomes everyone to the Common Council’s Special Meeting, the Questions to Directors Workshop. A. Pledge of Allegiance B. Council Clerk Reads the Call of the Meeting and Mayor declares call a legal call and meeting a legal meeting The Clerk of the Common Council reads the Call of the Meeting and the Chair declares the call a legal call and the meeting a legal meeting.  January 6, 2025 COMMON COUNCIL – SPECIAL MEETING Page 2 QUESTIONS TO DIRECTORS 2. Questions to Directors Workshop Opens The Chair opens the Questions to Directors Workshop session at 6:08 PM. Councilwoman Jeanette Blackwell: Thank you. Attorney Wisneski, I have questions regarding the classification and compensation study. The classification and compensation study, I believe less than two (2) months ago, (Human Resources Division) Director Richardson had indicated that he was finalizing his last interviews with department heads. Can you provide to us this evening a status update, please? Attorney Wisneski: Sure. My understanding is that Justin (Richardson) completed his interviews and meetings with all the department heads where he went through the job descriptions and he has since forwarded on those job descriptions to the respective unions, either local 466 or UPSEU. I know that they had a meeting to go over kind of where they were in the process and how he came to what he came to for each job description. My understanding is that those job descriptions are with the unions currently. Councilwoman Blackwell: Can you just clarify? Do you have the timeframe of the meeting? Do you know when that meeting occurred with the unions? Attorney Wisneski: I do not. That would be a question for Justin (Richardson). I'm not in those meetings. Councilwoman Blackwell: Yes, and I did. Attorney Wisneski: He's on. He's just not present. Councilwoman Blackwell: If he's on, I'd rather direct my question to (Human Resources Division) Director Richardson. Is he on line? The Chair asks the Council Clerk to bring Human Resources Division Director Justin Richardson up to the panel. Councilwoman Blackwell: Hello, Director Richardson. Happy New Year. Director Richardson, I was just asking the question of Attorney Wisneski. I am looking for a status update of the classification and compensation study. Can you please provide the Council with that update? Human Resources Division Director Richardson: Yes, I can. I met with the unions on December 12th. That is, they were given -- excuse me, I want to make sure I have that deadline -- yes, December 12th is when they were all sat down with me and we went over the various things that I had provided them. So they were given that a little bit -- like maybe a week prior to -- and then I asked them, if they wanted to come and meet with me, which they did. I met with both unions simultaneously to answer questions on process and what they were looking at as far as job content and makeup. The meeting went very well. They understand that I'm available nearly 24/7, if they have any questions or need to get any information especially related to any of the job PAQs or job descriptions that may need. As of right now, I've been answering their questions that they come up, a few here and there, but nothing too alarming. I'm actually hoping to reach out with them in the coming week to find out if we can get an end of the month deadline for discussions on next steps for those job descriptions, meaning that they have reviewed them and if they have any comments for us to meet that next step where we will meet to impact bargain. Councilwoman Blackwell: Director Richardson, can you just clarify which unions did you meet with? Division Director Richardson: UPSEU and Local 466, the two that are involved in that. Councilwoman Blackwell: Okay. I just wanted to make sure we had that for the record. So you had your meeting with UPSEU and 466 on December 12th. Division Director Richardson: Yes, ma'am. Councilwoman Blackwell: On December 12th and you are planning to schedule a subsequent meeting? Division Director Richardson: Yes, actually what I'm planning to do is send out notice and say that we would hope that the City would like a response back by the end of the month on their status. If they need more time or for that they wanted to start impact bargaining on the various jobs is over a 140 of them that they have to go through. I anticipate that 466 may need some time because they had broken down theirs into various divisions because of their scope. They covered a vast degree of expertise and trades. I'm going to reach out to them, see how their progress is, and then hope to get an answer by the end of the month as far as next steps. Councilwoman Blackwell: So by the end of the month is your target date. Division Director Richardson: Yes, ma'am. Councilwoman Blackwell: To hear back from them. And both UPSEU and 466, their contracts expires this year, correct? Division Director Richardson: Yes. January 6, 2025 COMMON COUNCIL – SPECIAL MEETING Page 3 QUESTIONS TO DIRECTORS Councilwoman Blackwell: How do you envision this process impacting that process? Division Director Richardson: Hopefully, it will go seamlessly, kind of parallel in process where we'll have the classification plan and revisions going forward. And then, if we can impact bargain, because we're going to need to at the end anyway, if we can wrap that into negotiations, all the better to have it all at once. If we can't, then it's something that we have to do outside. We can't force them into that, but it is something that we can discuss with the Mayor as far as the topic of discussion for impact bargaining. Councilwoman Blackwell: Thank you. One more question. So there are 140 positions. Division Director Richardson: Roughly. I'm (inaudible). There's about probably over a 147, if I had a guess. Councilwoman Blackwell: And that's combined with both unions? Division Director Richardson: Correct. Councilwoman Blackwell: Thank you, Director Richardson. The Chair/ Councilman Nocera: Are there any more questions for Justin Richardson? Councilman Loffredo. Councilman Vincent Loffredo: Thank you. So the discussions you're having with the unions, what are you discussing with them? Division Director Richardson: If there's any missing documents or documents that they thought that were missing such as the employee PAQs, which are Position Acquisition Questionnaires. So, if an employee said they had submitted it, do we have a copy of it or do they have a copy of the supervisor’s one? You know, was there one that was missing? Was there the one that was not things like that? Or if there was a job description that was missing from the file that they need to make sure that it is there, things of that sort. Councilman Loffredo: So to what degree does the work done by Baker Tilly have to do with what you're engaging with the unions about? Division Director Richardson: Baker Tilly has no input at this point. They will have input once we're done. Every revision that we make in these jobs that is agreed upon will have a subsequent impact in the rubric scale that Baker Tilly has devised. So they'll have a team of experts. We've asked them this question: what is the next step once we have all these red lines? They'll have a team of a couple experts going through each job making sure that the rubric that we work off of, the new information is inputted in and calculated. So if there was an increase in education or increase in experience or supervision, those are things that might have an impact on a job's overall outcome in that in their in their classification plan. Councilman Loffredo: So the job descriptions of the City of Middletown do require councilmatic approval, do they not? Division Director Richardson: For ultimate approval, yes. Councilman Loffredo: So if these jobs -- 147 or a substantial number of them, any or all of them -- would have to come to the City Council prior to them moving forward in some sort of reclassification, or we would have to agree that we're agreeing to agree to those changes in jobs that have been substantiated and the likes. So where do we fit in? I've been quite concerned since, for months that this has been going on. So where do you know . . . normally, that's how jobs get modified: at some point, they do require us to properly review and either accept or deny the job description in terms of the changes. Division Director Richardson: So at the very end of this process, we should be given a package of what are the new job descriptions from the old one. We'll be given a new pay plan and will be given information related to our pay scales and where they fall for each position. It'll be up to the Council to either accept that or deny it. Councilman Loffredo: So the... Division Director Richardson: Hopefully, at that point in time, we've already had impact bargain and negotiated the various steps and stages with the unions. Councilman Loffredo: So Baker Tilly, have they completed their initial study of what the current jobs are in the City of Middletown? Division Director Richardson: You have to be a little bit more clear. What do you mean by that? Councilman Loffredo: Did Baker Tilly for $150K, was going to take a look at our current classification system and make recommendations. Based on that -- those recommendations -- potentially, we would adopt a new classification study or new job description and the like going forward. To date, we -- at least I'll speak for myself -- I'm not aware that the Council, myself or we, as a whole, have ever received anything formally – a January 6, 2025 COMMON COUNCIL – SPECIAL MEETING Page 4 QUESTIONS TO DIRECTORS report -- lately. We had one brief meeting with them maybe months, maybe four or five months ago, but nothing has come forward to us subsequently. Division Director Richardson: Yep. Is there a question? Councilman Loffredo: Yes. The question is, do you have any report from them when they did their analysis? Did they do this analysis or did they not? What did we spend $150,000 on? Division Director Richardson: So part of their portion is to do the initial step of the analysis, which is that PAQ: take all that data and put it in, and make the new job descriptions. The second part would be the market study, which is maybe what you're thinking of: the comparison. They have that data. They're waiting for it to come from us. They're waiting for our end on the job descriptions to provide us the market data. They can't provide us the market data without having the job descriptions because the job descriptions will dictate where the salary grades go. Do you understand how each piece kind of fits into each other? Councilman Loffredo: The concern I have is they were supposed to initially look at the current jobs and do this analysis step by step as you've outlined, not based on a new set of job descriptions, which the City has not even approved and has not been properly reviewed by the City, not meaning the elected body that is responsible for that, and the body that authorized by Charter, this classification review. Looking at our current setup, and if then, if changes are justified going forward, that is something that, but we have never received a report based on: we pay our 147 individuals that are employed with the various unions based upon a job description and based upon the classification and so forth. That was supposed to be part of the review, which I assume they did. Did they not? Division Director Richardson: Would you say that question again? Couniclman Loffredo: Did they, or did they not, review the current classification system of the City of Middletown, including these 147 jobs that you've been looking at? I gather some folks are considering to modify them. Did they do an appropriate stand-alone review of how those jobs and how they're evaluated in the system by which they were evaluated? Any review of that nature that was the understanding in terms of that? Division Director Richardson: Well, that review will happen, Councilman. They probably have some sort of an initial review of where our positions in current grades and salaries stand compared to other comparables, but what they will do with a comparison is when we are done redoing our job descriptions by the . . . don't forget, you've got the experts of the Department heads weighing and the Supervisors, and then you've got the Union weighing in. So you've got a full circle of experts that'll. Councilman Loffredo: There's a problem. Division Director Richardson: A job description that way. Councilman Loffredo: You're having these reviews and so forth taking place on job descriptions that have not been reviewed and acted upon by the body that has the responsibility to accept or reject new job descriptions. You are in the process of doing all that without us involved at all. Division Director Richardson: Correct, it's the Council's job to be at the end of that when they the jobs are being presented to you. In no way, shape, or form does the Council get involved in the creation of a job description or the makeup of it. That would be, you know, something of the Executive branch and with the union. Councilman Loffredo: Yes, I understand that, but at the end of the day, they do come here, there is a fiscal responsibility that's involved in all of this from day one. At this point, the preliminary reports have been lacking substantially where things are. We have not been properly apprised -- brought up to date. A lot of things are happening without our involvement at all, presuming that, at the end of the day, these would all be acceptable. I'll leave it at that, your Honor. The Chair/Councilman Nocera: Councilwoman Blackwell, do you have a follow-up? Councilwoman Jeanette Blackwell: I did, but I actually want to switch gears and ask Director Richardson, since we're talking about Human Resources, how many vacant positions do we have in the City currently? Division Director Richardson: I forgot what the report that I just provided you . . . upwards about like 25 or 30. Councilwoman Blackwell: So, if I counted correctly this evening, I counted 42 vacant positions, which is seven (7) more positions than reported by the Mayor about two (2) months ago. There are several positions on the list in the “Status” column that states “waiting for requisitions to backfill,” and you had indicated that means you're waiting to hear back from the Director of that particular department. Division Director Richardson: That is true. Yes. If the Department does not need to backfill it just yet, the position will remain vacant. Councilwoman Blackwell: Okay, I just wanted to make the point that we've gone from 35 vacant positions to 42. Thank you. January 6, 2025 COMMON COUNCIL – SPECIAL MEETING Page 5 QUESTIONS TO DIRECTORS The Chair/Councilman Nocera: Any other questions for Division Director Richardson? For any other directors? I have some, but will save them for the end. Councilwoman Blackwell. Councilwoman Blackwell: I think my colleague had the light on first. Councilman Loffredo. The Chair/ Councilman Nocera: Councilman Loffredo. Councilman Vincent Loffredo: Thank you. Finance Director Carl Erlacher, please. The question I have is on the agenda, of course, is a bond ordinance for $2,550,000. Normally, when we deal with bonds of this amount, we would go to have a referendum. Director Erlacher: Correct. Councilman Loffredo: And so what we have before is not standard procedure. This is a unique procedure, Director Erlacher: Not really unique. We've done it. Councilman Loffredo: But it's unique rather recently, I mean we haven't done this lately. Director Erlacher: Well, the reason we haven't is the 2% loans that we're going to get with part of it being a grant, our GO interest rate was a lot cheaper, so we would borrow with that. It is a state law. Councilman Loffredo: Okay, so would just explain how this one is appropriate before us this evening versus not going out to referendum. Director Erlacher: Sure. We used to do it a lot probably 10 to 15 years ago when Seb Giuliano was Mayor all the time because the 2% interest rate for 20-year period was a lot less than the interest rates that we could borrow for. If there's a $3 million threshold. Then it has to be under $3 million. We did most of our bonding with sewer projects, but it does apply to water projects also. We did we confirmed that with bond council and it is State law. Councilman Loffredo: Okay, so this is the unique situation, and it happens to be the interest rates are very, very good. So we've been assured already that what we're proposing, we've already been in touch with State officials regarding and . . . Director Erlacher: I believe half of it's going to be reimbursed for a grant purpose, correct, Joe (Water & Sewer Director Joseph Fazzino)? So we're only going to have to pay 50% of that back. Councilman Loffredo: Fifty percent. So it's $1.2M. Director Erlacher: Yeah. Over 20 years. Councilman Loffredo: Over 20 years. That's the other unique thing. We normally we don't bond for 20 years. Director Erlacher: I would say 95% of our debt is 10-years, unless we come up with this interest rate that's a lot lower than we could go out for it. We take advantage of it. Councilman Loffredo: The question I have is, “Are all the taxpayers in the City of Middletown responsible for the City’s half?” Director Erlacher: Just the taxpayers that have water. Councilman Loffredo: Okay, so if you don't have water, you're not going to pay for this. Director Erlacher: Correct. Councilman Loffredo: Thank you. The Chair/ Councilman Nocera: Councilwoman Blackwell. Councilwoman Jeanette Blackwell: Thank you, your Honor. I was going to ask a very similar question that was posed by Councilman Loffredo. I just want to note for the record, the law that you're referring to is Connecticut General Statutes, Section 7-263a. Thank you. The Chair/ Councilman Nocera: I should add that this was vetted with the Water & Sewer Commission extensively. I thank our Director for his hard work in bringing this forward because of the work is on emergency basis. We need to get this work done. Thank you, Director Erlacher. Any other questions? Councilman Loffredo. Councilman Vincent Loffredo: The Director of Water and Sewer, Joseph Fazzino. Good evening. This is dealing with, specifically, a particular pump station for a particular portion of the City. January 6, 2025 COMMON COUNCIL – SPECIAL MEETING Page 6 QUESTIONS TO DIRECTORS Director Fazzino: Correct. Councilman Loffredo: The costs will be born though by everyone, in terms of this is part of the overall system, not just the individuals that are serviced in that area by this pump station. Director Fazzino: It'll be covered by the water rates, the people who are connected to water, as Director Erlacher had mentioned. Councilman Loffredo: Okay, so the water rates . . . so this is a capital expense. Correct. I'm paying for my water based on my usage. So how does this roll into the rate of expense for the water that I'm using. Is this an additional amount that's going to be based on the bill to cover that additional $1M plus? Director Fazzino: Correct, basically every year when I do my budget, I get numbers from the Finance Department for principal and interest on the bonds for the Water Department. I also get principal and interest for the bonds on the Sewer Department. So that incremental increase for the principal and interest for water will get included in the overall calculation for the water rates. Because it is 20 years, there is less of an impact. Councilman Loffredo: Do you have any estimate at this point when paying off these bonds, the principal and interest? Director Fazzino: Not at this time. When I do the budget, I'll have better information and, when we start paying it back, probably won't be for a year or two down the road. Other bonds that we have in Water will be dropping off, so it may be no increase. Councilman Nocera: So the anticipation, as we look forward to adopting this year's budget -- the budget for next year -- I should say in our budget deliberations, you don't anticipate that this would not be ready to be included. Director Fazzino: Not for 2026, probably in 2027. Councilman Loffredo: Okay, very good. Thank you very much. The Chair/ Councilman Nocera: Councilwoman Blackwell Councilwoman Jeanette Blackwell: When you come back before us regarding the budget, if you can also expand on the $19.9M, that bond. Director Fazzino: Correct. Councilwoman Blackwell: That bond and sort of where you are with the work. I know that you and I spoke about it and it's in phases at this point, but it would be helpful to know where we are with the work for that. Director Fazzino: Sure. You may have noticed we have been doing some water work on High Street, Court, Street, and in the Westfield area, so as those projects get completed and get closed out, those will start becoming part of the principal and interest that I'll have to pay back. The Chair/ Councilman Nocera: Other questions for Director Fazzino? I should note that also that this we did have a public hearing on Bartholomew Road. We had, we had residents that were very helpful in our planning. Any other, questions for it? Okay, questions for any other directors. I have one question, myself. Director Fazzino covered my second question. I understand that Marek Kozikowski, our land Use Director is on WebEx. Land Use Director Marek Kozikowski: Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Councilman Nocera: Thank you, Director Kozikowski. We had a conversation a few days ago. I indicated that the Council, through caucus discussions, thought it would be important in the future to have an update on our land use -- the priority items each month -- as you do with our business leaders at the at the Chamber of Commerce once a month. It's very helpful and you do an excellent job. Can you provide the Council with a brief update of the most important issues that the City is working on right now? Thank you. Director Kozikowski: I'd be happy to. This coming Wednesday, the Planning & Zoning Commission is going to be holding a public hearing. It's actually a continuation of a public hearing for a project on Randolph Road, the former Eversource property. The property was purchased by Zach Eddinger, who is the principal of Vale Sports Club. They're looking to relocate their indoor/outdoor soccer facility to that location. Actually, they obtained special exception approval in April. They're coming back to modify their site plan to move their proposed indoor facility to another location on site and add some uses to the existing building on site. Their plan is in two (2) parts. First is to do kind of commercial marketplace area, similar to kind of the layout of Main Street Market that we have in our Downtown. They also are looking to add a brewery to that building. As I understand it, it's the same Eli Cannons is looking to expand their stakeholder in Middletown into this location. So that public hearing will be on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.  January 6, 2025 COMMON COUNCIL – SPECIAL MEETING Page 7 QUESTIONS TO DIRECTORS Also coming down the pike, it will go to Inland Wetlands Commission (IWWA) next week, and, if it's successful, the Planning & Zoning Commission the following week. We're having a, a proposal for a new 54,000 sq. ft. industrial building with a manufacturing warehouse office uses on the last vacant on Philmack Drive, and extending onto a property that's fronting the Middle Street, but all the access to that property -- that building -- will be off the Philmack Drive. That's coming up later this month. Also coming up in February, the Planning & Zoning Commissions will be holding a public hearing on a proposal for a new used car dealership on Newfield Street. That is at the location of the former Wild Bill’s site. So that's what's coming down the line. A little update on the larger projects that were recently had gone through the Commission approval, including the Community Health Center had a proposal to do a new greenhouse structure on Main Street on their the corner of Main Street and Grand. Also last November, the Planning & Zoning Commission approved an application from by the St. Vincent de Paul for a new facility, a 4-story building with a new warming center, soup kitchen, eight (8) supportive housing units, and offices for their operations. Those already have their approvals. They hope to break ground soon. So that's what's going on, right now pending in our office. I'm happy to provide these reports. I'll also encourage Councilmembers and the public, anybody that's listening. We do have all our pending applications available, linked on our website. So if you go to the Middletown.CT website and go to the Land Use Department page, on the left hand column, there's a link to pending applications. Through there you can see all pending applications and recently approved applications for the Planning & Zoning Commission, Inland Wetlands Commission, and the Zoning Board of Appeals. So, and with that, with that information you it has what, what's pending and it also provides a link to all the digit to the digital file for that file. So every which is updated you know in real time as we download that link is updated. So that that information is always available with a couple of clicks of the buttons. So, that's the report. I'd be happy to address any questions. The Chair/Councilman Nocera: Thank you, Director Kozikowski. That's an excellent summary of some very important projects. My only question – then I'll open it up to the rest of the Council -- is the St. Vincent de Paul – I have been involved in so many different levels -- is that, a large portion of that? Was that out of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) money? Director Kozikowski: That is not my wheelhouse. I don't know the answer to that question. I don't know. The Chair/ Councilman Nocera: That is something I have to check on my own, but I'm glad to see that these projects are moving forward. Thank you. Are there any other questions for Director Kozikowski? I don't see any lights, so thank you Marek. Are there questions for any other directors? Alright, I think any online don't think so. 3. Questions to Directors Workshop Closes There being no further questions, The Chair closes the Questions to Directors session at 6:41 PM. 4. Meeting adjourned There being no further business, Councilwoman Jeanette Blackwell moves to adjourn. Councilman Vincent Loffredo seconds the motion. There being no discussion, the Chair calls for a voice vote. The motion is unanimously approved by a vote of 11 to 0. (AYE: Councilmembers Blackwell, Faulkner, Gennaro, Kovach, Loffredo, Mangiafico, Nocera, Pulino, Salafia, Spatola, and Sweeney; ABSENT: Councilman Ford). The meeting is adjourned at 6:43 PM. ATTEST: LINDA S.K. REED, COMMON COUNCIL CLERK K: review/ minutes/ 202Jan 06 – Ques to Directors - 6 Jan 2025