Harbor Management Commission

HARBOR MANAGEMENT COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, August 25, 2015 5:00 PM Room 219, City Hall MEMBERS PRESENT Gerald Martin H. Tucker Braddock Jr. Alderman William Eyberse JP Mereen OTHERS PRESENT Geoffrey Steadman-Consultant Rotary Community Core Members Sgt. Peter Camp MEMBERS ABSENT Acting City Manager John Bilda Alderman Pete Desaulniers Richard Benoit 1. Call to Order-Chairman JP Mereen called the meeting to order at 5:02PM 2. Determination of Quorum: It was determined a quorum was present. 3. Approval of Minutes, July 28, 2015- Motion to accept as submitted, T. Braddock, 2nd J. Martin, motion carried unanimously. 4. Correspondence- a. July Budget report-Motion to approve, T. Braddock, 2nd B. Eyberse, motion carried unanimously. b. Chairman Mereen read correspondence from Regan Miner regarding the Heritage Group Committee and asking for an HMC member to volunteer. J. Martin will be the HMC representative with T. Braddock being the alternate. Jill will email Regan with their contact info. (Done) 5. Harbor Master Report-M. Valentine reported that he is going to contact the Police to see if their boat could patrol more frequently to enforce the no wake zone regulations. 6. New Business-none a. Rotary Community Core-Harbor Fire members of the RCC would like to begin an annual event in the harbor beginning in 2016. They distributed information on the Harbor Fire. These would not be permanent structures, but removed after the season August-September. Chairman Mereen feels that this type of activity fits in with exactly the mission of the HMC and recommended that the Commission support this effort. Sgt. Camp suggested that the RCC contact Sgt. Ley as he is in charge of the boat patrol. Jill will send J. Martin’s permitting procedure info and DEEP contact info to Sheila. (Done) HMC Minutes 08/25/15 Page 2 b. Yantic River Dredging Mike LaLima from NPU discussed the DEEP permitting process that has taken nearly 2 years and that NPU is near receiving approval for the sewer plant upgrades. HMC members asked about the possibility of expanding the permit to include placing dredged material on Hollyhock Island. Mike feels that the dredging project would have to be a separate application to DEEP. The next step would be to obtain funding to test the material to be dredged and go from there. There is a potential that the dredged material may be able to be used as the cap material that NPU needs thereby reducing the overall cost of the upgrade project. Further discussion needs to be had on this, but Chairman Mereen feels that if there is a way for both projects to work in conjunction to save money it would make sense to explore. 7. Old Business a. Harbor cam-JP has spoken to Mr. Capano and he is more than willing to work with the HMC when they are ready. b. Downtown policing-JP Mereen has received calls from people upset about no wake zones not being enforced. Sgt. Camp reported that they do the best they can with their current budget as they are restricted to the amount of time and personnel they can assign. People can report offending boats to the Police and they will investigate. The caves at Putts Up Dock are scheduled to be removed over the next couple of months. Sgt. Camp would like to see the overgrowth cleared that blocks the view of the harbor. T. Braddock believes that Public Works was out cutting that today. c. CT Port Authority – Geoff Steadman reported that members of the Harbor Management Assoc. met to discuss the Port Authority situation. They believe that a couple members have been appointed. d. Kayak trail map sign installation- Nothing new to report. JP will try to follow up Jason and Barry. e. No wake buoy move-J. Martin reported that he has nothing new to report from Taftville regarding the buoy move. There has been no response. JP Mereen f. September Fishing Derby-This item will be removed from future agendas. 8. Citizen Comment-Sheila Hayes suggested that the First Fridays need to make sure to include the harbor in the activities. The First Friday coordinators could maybe be included in HMC meetings to make sure all activities are coordinated. 9. Other-JP Mereen reported that Melinda Wilson will be the new recording secretary and future meetings will be held in Room 210. 10. Adjournment-Motion to adjourn, T. Braddock, 2nd J. Martin, meeting adjourned at 6:12PM.