Public Works & Facilities Commission

PUBLIC WORKS & FACILITIES COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 12, 2018 TIME: 7:00 P.M. MUNICIPAL BUILDING ROOM 208 MIDDLETOWN CONNECTICUT Members Present: Councilman Carl. R. Chisem Councilman Sebastian Giuliano Councilman Gene Nocera Councilman Philip Pessina Absent: Councilman Thomas Serra Staff Present: ​ William Russo, Director of Public Works Christopher M. Holden, P.E., Deputy Director of Public Works Kori Wisneski, Deputy General Counsel Brian Young, Superintendent of Parks Others: Chair Chisem opened the Public Works & Facilities Commission meeting at 7:10 P.M. Chair Chisem requested a motion to approve the minutes dated November14, 2018. Motion to approve the minutes was seconded and approved unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS: None. CORRESPONDENCE: None NEW BUSINESS: a. 2018-2019 Meeting Dates and Times - A motion was made to change meeting times of upcoming committee meetings from 7pm to 6:30pm commencing on 2/2019. Motion was seconded and approved unanimously. Beginning February 2019 the Public Works and Facilities Commission will meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30pm. b. Field User Agreement: Director Russo paid compliments to Deputy General Counsel, Kori Wisneski, on the work done to get to this point with the Field User Agreement. The objective of this was to take the parks study to recognize the multiple youth teams utilize city fields. Middletown mirrored other municipalities’ user agreements paying particular attention to Rocky Hill’s user agreement. Deputy General Counsel Wisneski reviewed documents section by section. The document was shared. Proposals for replacements are included in this document. There are some provisions which are completely taken out and some are revisions that are incorporated. The Field Users agreement was drafted with input from teams who use the fields day in and day out. This helped define who would be considered first priority users. First priority users are specifically mention by name which teams are first priority users. Second priority teams include nonprofits and are comprised of 67% Middletown participants and 3rd priority users are nonprofits not comprised of 67% Middletown residents and out of town teams. This determines who gets first use of fields and what the fee structure will be. Director William Russo is going to put through in resolution that the fee structure should be outside the ordinance. First priority users and nonprofits organizations will be exempt from fees mentioned in section one with the exception of Palmer Field. Language has been included to We reserve the right to set up an account in the general fund for any donations made for field usage by 1st priority usage. A general fund will be set up for such donations. The 2nd page of the Field User Agreement reviews closed and restricted areas. Guidelines for cancelling activities as well as closures and what conditions constitute closures were discussed. Teams that don’t follow the policy will be subject to revocation. There is a right to decline usage at the discretion of the Public work directors Alternate sites can be appointed at the discretion of the Superintendent of Parks or the Designee Prohibitive acts, who can reserve parks, closing times of parks, no practices or scrimmages at Palmer field and curfews stating no games after 10 with the exception of games at Palmer Field were discussed as well. Insurance requirements were reviewed by Nancy. Cancellation policy/refunds were reviewed. The pesticide usage on page 5 has the same language as current ordinance. The city reserves the right to request additional supervision including police depending on crowd size or activity Given that this is an emotional issue for some groups the question was posed to hypothesize what are some concerns that can arise based on what is being proposed. The biggest objection will be around 1st priority users. People will claim they are not being treated fairly. The decision for 1st priority users was based on existing teams at the time of the analyses. The second concern is fee structure. The objection will be why aren’t we following what is already in place. There has been a push by former common councils that we support these groups who currently utilize the fields because the fees can be exorbitant. What is drafted is what we are currently following and what is on the books. The current fee structure just doesn’t make sense. The fee structure between 2nd and 3rd priority users is the same so why have 2nd and 3rd priority tiers. When there is a conflict it will be determined by priority. Director Russo stated that the purpose of the work done on the Field Usage Agreements was to recognize the institutions that have been playing in Middletown for years. The goal of Public Works is not to lock out any Middletown children. This includes soccer, Little League, Legion, Ahern/ Whelan. In determining field usage, attention needs to be paid to field maintenance. Because Middletown has grass field versus turf times will need to be set aside to complete field maintenance to preserve the fields. There needs to be consistency with what 2nd and 3rd tier teams will be allowed field usage. The message needs to be that the amount of time given to 2nd and 3rd priority groups will be limited. 2nd and 3rd priority users can utilize fields that are not scheduled. Public Works is not saying that teams cannot use the field we are saying that there is a priority structure set in place. Once we open it up to one we need to open it up to everyone. If there is a field available it can be used. This language needs to be included. The language regarding fee structures needs simplified in a way that it can be more consistent. Director Russo shared the old fee structures which need to be rewritten. Presently what we have does not make sense. It is recommended to start over with a fee structure. Variables such as maintenance need to be included. Fee structure can be discussed next month. It was asked that the committee be cognizant of the fact that times are tough and to keep fees realistic. A motion was made to move the priority structure as stated in the Field User Agreement through to General Counsel. This motion was seconded and was passed unanimously. The fee structure will not be ready to move forward and will discussed at a later date. c. Motion to move LED streetlight conversion to January as Michael Harris could not be present. Motion seconded and passed unanimously. d. Items for appropriations were discussed. The list of needed equipment was distributed and discussed. The first 3 items can be funded through a bond ordinance. Items 4-9 should be put forth to appropriations through this commission in January. The trucks will be needed for next year. Appropriation requests will be on the agenda next month. A special community meeting will be held on the 14th to discuss the bond. e. Storm Water Inspection class. This is a required class. The cost is $800. The council decided unanimously to send Mr. Bob Demanche to the class. OLD BUSINESS: a. November 2018 Public Works Overtime Report – The Commission reviewed their October 2018 Public Works overtime reports. b. November 2018 Building Permits – The Commission reviewed their October 2018 Building Permits. OTHER: Director Russo discussed plans to bring Cardinal engineering in to discuss multi use trail in February was proposed. Someone such as Marco Gaylord from schools should be there to discuss and concerns with the trails as trail will go from Tuttle Place parallel to Newfield connected to Lawrence School, across Mile lane to Keigwin, Middletown High School, and Spencer. Discussion was held regarding a building committee being established down the road. The Pat Kidney committee is being disbanded. If 21st Century Committee is being dissolved therefore another committee need to be established. Smaller projects can go through public works committee. The multi- use trail may need a building committee however this is for future discussion. Additional building projects were discussed: Joe Samolis - CBDG money can be used as designated to areas to improve the boardwalk at Harbor Park. This area needs attention. The playscape for Pat Kidney field was approved and is now in the planning process. April 1st is better target date to start work. Discussion on bicycle paths. Goal is to incorporate bike paths on new roads. The bikeway will go from Eli Cannon’s, up through Millbrook Rd. eventually leading to Higganum. Dog waste bags have been added to walking trails. Leaf pick up is wrapping up. a. November 2018 Monthly Report – Highway Division – The Public Works & Facilities Commission reviewed their October 2018 monthly reports for the Highway Division. Director Russo stated that there is nothing out of the ordinary. b. November 2018 Overtime Report – Parks Division – At this time, there was no Overtime Report for the month of November 2018 available to review for the Parks Division. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS: As there was no further discussion, a motion was made to end the meeting. Motion was seconded and approved unanimously. The Public Works & Facilities Commission meeting adjourned at 8:50 P.M.