Public Works & Facilities Commission

PUBLIC WORKS & FACILITIES COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES Thursday, June 20, 2024 TIME: 6:30 P.M. Via WebEX.com MIDDLETOWN CONNECTICUT Members Present: Councilman Gene Nocera Councilman Tony Gennaro Councilwoman Leslie Spatola Councilman Grady Faulkner Staff Present: Howard Weissberg, P.E., Acting Director of Public Works Public: Kate Miller, John Mills, Debby Shapiro, Jennifer Schwares, Kristen Rzasa, Tyler Eckstrom The meeting was called to order by Councilman Nocera at 6:32 p.m. Councilman Gennaro moved to accept the minutes from May 8, 2024 meeting, Councilwoman Spatola seconded. Minutes approved unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS: Kristen Rzasa-Spoke regarding item k, Dog Park, and expressed concerns regarding the amount of time and effort that has been put in to creating a dog park, and the current status. Ms. Rzasa explained that the dog park has a lot of community support, as well as several possible funding sources. Jennifer Schwares of 45 Jack English Drive-Spoke regarding paving and street lights on Jack English Drive, as well as request for mowing of Jack English Drive and the part of the drive that goes down to Randolph Road. Director Weissberg explained that the City has requested information from the Developer and they are supposed to provide As Built’s by Wednesday, June 25. The mowing request has gone out to Public Works staff. Kate Miller-Spoke on behalf of the Pameacha Pond Group regarding three questions about the pond and the dam, including: 1. Overgrown vegetation impacting the integrity of the dam in the past, and who will be monitoring and maintaining that. 2. What is the public process regarding reports from consultants regarding the cost estimates for various scenarios of what to do with the dam? 3. At this time is the City looking only at the repair, or is the potential for increased public access and improvement for the quality of the water body? Debby Shapiro-Spoke regarding the honorary naming of Rapallo Avenue after Prince Mortimer and reviewed the process according to the ordinance. CORRESPONDENCE: Honorary and Historic Street Naming Nomination, submitted by John Mills, Acting Director spoke regarding process of approval. Councilman Faulkner made a motion to move the application forward to the next Public Works and Facilities Commission Meeting agenda, Councilwoman Spatola seconded. Motion passes unanimously. NEW BUSINESS: a. Request for $85.00 for Recycling Coordinator to attend the CT Recycler’s Coalition Annual Conference-June 6th in Hartford-Councilman Faulkner moved to approve request, Councilwoman Spatola seconded, motion passed unanimously. b. Noise Ordinance-Acting Director Weissberg spoke regarding the City’s Noise Ordinance, and the modification to include an exemption for noise created by refuse, recycling and other waste collection. The City Sanitation Department starts at 4am, so the exemption for all haulers will begin at 4am. The Noise Ordinance is enforced by the Police Department. Councilman Nocera added that the General Council Commission amended the noise ordinance for the new music venue as well. Councilman Gennaro moved to support the 4am exemption, Councilwoman Spatola seconded, the motion passed unanimously. c. Bulky Waste-FY 25 Resolution-Acting Director Weissberg explained the resolution and the goal to be cost neutral. Motion to move the Resolution forward to Finance and Government made by Councilman Faulkner, Councilman Gennaro seconded, motion passed unanimously. OLD BUSINESS: Councilman Faulkner motioned to move the dog park up on the agenda, Councilwoman Spatola seconded, motion passed unanimously. Dog Park-Acting Director Weissberg discussed possible locations for the dog park including the Long Hill Road Soccer Complex, and Zoar’s Pond Area. Councilman Nocera stated that he would like to look at the Riverfront as a potential site since it is an area that will soon start to take shape. Councilwoman Spatola expressed concerns regarding maintenance, liability and other priorities. Acting Director Weissberg recommended the Dog Park Power Point be presented to the new committee. Councilman Gennaro spoke regarding his concerns and stated that he is against it, but he is not opposed to hearing more about it. Councilman Faulkner informed the committee that he received a complaint from the Deliverance Haven Church that people are defecating on their property. Councilman Gennaro stated that he is familiar with this issue and recommended contacting the Chief of Police, and the Public Safety Committee will be looking into it as well. Councilman Nocera requested a google map presentation of the two proposed sites as well as River Road. a. Smith Park Playground –Acting Director Weissberg stated that Smith Park is moving forward, the last email that was received was that they are waiting for the bonding agent, the City has the executed contract and the Certificate of Insurance. Equipment has been ordered and is on hold awaiting a shipping date which will be released once a PO is in place. Councilwoman Spatola made a motion to move Pameacha Pond to the next item on the agenda, Councilman Faulkner seconded, motion passed unanimously. Pameacha Pond-Acting Director Weissberg addressed questions from Kate Miller and stated that the City will continue to monitor vegetation around the dam. The City has reached back out  to DL Companies for a full blown cost analysis for all viable options for the dam to determine the best way to move forward, after which, the recommendation from the findings would go back to the Public Works Commission, where there would be discussion and then the Commission would decide whether to do before Finance and Government or get bonded out, and then it would have to go to the Common Council. Acting Director Weissberg stated that he is happy to work with the Save Pameacha Plan group and invited them to email him, he also stated that he wants to be 100% transparent and hopes to have Pameacha Pond documents uploaded to the City website. b. Westfield Safety Concerns- Acting Director Weissberg reported that the road has been posted to no through trucks on both the Meriden and Middletown sides. There have been a couple of instances of dumping which the police have been notified of. Once the sign crews are back on board they will be working on additional signage for Country Club road intersection warning signs. The white edge lines appear to be working very well, and reflectors will be put along the center line as an enhancement. c. Chamberlain Hill Rd Update- Acting Director Weissberg informed the Commission that this is a multi-phase project and drainage is the first step. The City’s Chief Engineer has designed a drainage project to replace several hundred feet of blocked storm pipe. 15” concrete storm pipe will be replaced with 24” plastic pipe which should greatly increase the flow. The swale on Lyceum was opened up to help drainage flow there as well, and PW is working with Eversource to create a drainage swale at the very top of Chamberlain Hill. Once the road is sufficiently dried a skim patch overlay will be placed and a curb will be put along some of the waterfall areas. d. Saybrook Road Update-Acting Director Weissberg informed the Commission that a skim patch was done. The consultant is finishing up their plans and will be working with a third party engineering firm to guide the project through to completion. There will need to be a public information meeting held, and there will have to be some easements that have to be obtained. e. 455/465 Middlefield Street Concerns-Acting Director Weissberg updated the committee that there were concerns about contamination amongst others. Acting Director Weissberg will be working with Deputy General Council Christopher Forte and would like to form some sort of a task force to address all of these concerns and possibly do it through a code enforcement team. Councilman Gennaro suggested including a Police Department representative as well. f. Sanitation Update- Acting Director Weissberg updated the Commission that in November the 1 year trial of the Save As You Throw (SAYT) program expires and there is internal analysis happening now. There was a meeting with the Citizen’s Advisory Board that was attended by about 10 people, the feedback was fairly positive and there were a number of suggestions on how to continue the program. There has been a 30% trash reduction with the program, which will go before the next Sanitation Committee Meeting, then it will go to Public Works, then Finance and Government, and then the Common Council. Councilman Gennaro shared that he has received several complaints, primarily from North End property owners. Discussion around price point for the bags in order to be sure that it does not negatively impact people, but it is still high enough so that they value the bags. g. Paving List 2024-Acting Director Weissberg reported that he received a full paving inventory from the consultants and they have rated every single road in the city and gave repair categories. The paving in the city is not stellar, and is indicative of a place that does not utilize  preservation and they have come up with strategies that will allow that to get better over time. The paving list can be released with the minutes. h. Paving Inventory-Paving inventory was touched upon with Paving List 2024. Acting Director Weissberg discussed the difficulties in preservation with the way road bonds are currently structured because ideally roads would be addressed before they are bad enough to be included on a road bond. Councilman Gennaro asked for clarification of the longevity of roads and maintenance. i. Route 9 Update-Discussion about council’s resolution and intent behind that, Acting Director Weissberg mentioned that as part of their process DOT has to do a massive amount of environmental review and is still in assessment mode, Councilman Gennaro mentioned that former Councilman McKeon came and gave a presentation and mentioned that although there may be nothing enforceable to stop them, but to put them on notice that the public is keeping an eye on everything. Acting Director Weissberg stated that it is in everyone’s best interest to ensure that Middletown benefits from this project. OTHER: Reported on by Howard Weissberg-There are currently 6 Vacancies in the PW Department. a. May 2024 Monthly Report Highway – distributed with agenda b. May 2024 Monthly Report Parks – distributed with agenda c. May 2024 Public Works Overtime Report- distributed with agenda d. May 2024 Building Permits – distributed with agenda Adjourn – Motion to adjourn by Councilman Faulkner, seconded by Councilwoman Spatola. Meeting adjourned at 8:08pm.