Nothing new about parking plan - Simpson scheme has been around more than decade

As published in the Record Journal on Friday August 12, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — The recently approved project to rebuild the parking lot behind Simpson Court businesses has a history that stretches back more than 10 years, and the cost of renovations has nearly doubled since officials first looked at designs.

The Town Council approved an agreement with four property owners Tuesday night, giving the town the authority to make $500,000 in improvements to the lot while extending public use for the next 30 years. Under the agreement, the town will also provide maintenance, including snow plowing.

The intent is to create a safer, more attractive parking lot that will continue to provide an alternative to the often crowded parking area in front of the Simpson Court businesses.

Not everyone is happy about the deal, however. Two town councilors voted against it, and Robert Gross, a local Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for the council, started a petition Wednesday to get the issue sent to referendum to overturn the council’s decision.

Gross and councilors Craig Fishbein and Nicholas Economopoulos said they oppose the project because they feel it’s inappropriate for the town to spend money to improve private property. But Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said the project is nothing new, having been discussed for more than a decade, and that the lot has long been dedicated to public use, which will continue over the 30-year life of the agreement.

“We’re getting back the value we’re putting into it,” Dickinson said. “How is that not a significant benefit to the public?”

The town budgeted $250,000 for the project in 2006, according to Record-Journal archives, but had to put it aside after negotiations fell through with businesses, some unable to decide whether they wanted to enter into a long-term agreement.

“Those are original estimates, and it was certainly an old number,” Dickinson said. “Once we had designs everyone agreed to, then a new estimate was put together.”

Town Engineer John Thompson confirmed the original $250,000 figure, which he said had doubled over a decade because the cost of materials and labor has continued to climb, and the Department of Public Works will no longer be doing the paving work.

“We felt that because the owners were imposing conditions about maintaining portions of the lot for use during construction, public works would not be able to phase the work like that,” he said. “This has more to do with the allocation of manpower. The project is essentially the same as it was.”

The project will be paid for out of the town’s capital nonrecurring fund, which consists of revenue from the municipal Electric Division.

For several years, a fifth business on North Main Street, the Wachovia Bank at 86 N. Main St., expressed interest in being included in the project, but it officially pulled out in 2009, causing Thompson to have to redraft the plans.

Jack McGuire, CEO of local insurance company Ferguson and McGuire, owns two of the four properties through a limited liability company, one at 2 N. Main St. and another at 26 N. Main St. He was not available for comment.

Masonic Temple Corp. of Wallingford owns 48 N. Main St., home to the Half Moon Cafe. Ernest Frattini, a principal of the corporation and president of Masonic Compass Lodge No. 9, did not return calls.

The building housing Gaetano’s Tavern at 36 N. Main St. is owned by Gail Debaise, Mary Lee Pimentel and Barbara Farrell. Farrell is of no relation to Town Councilor Jerry Farrell Jr., he said. Pimentel said the arrangement has been talked about for many years and stems from easements on the lot the town has held for 40 years.

“We are paid no rent, so the only thing we are getting out of this is maintaining what’s there,” Pimentel said. “I really saw this as a benefit to the town as well as the property owners.”

Tracking the rail project in Wallingford

As published in the Record Journal, Monday August 8, 2011

By Mary Ellen Godin
Record-Journal staff
mgodin@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2255

WALLINGFORD — Travel speeds, downtown traffic, land acquisition and changes in the Judd Square area are some of the concerns being raised by the public over plans for commuter rail service from New Haven to Springfield, Mass.

Plans call for upgrading signals along the 62-mile stretch, which could begin as early as next spring. But locally, the public voiced concerns at a meeting last week over a proposal to move the train stop to Judd Square, with an elevated platform and parking for 200 cars.

The state Department of Transportation held the first of many informational sessions last Thursday with residents and town officials over where and how to lay out the new station. The rail line will increase commuter and inter-city service while also providing high-speed Acela transit along the corridor.

Springfield will become a central connector with service to Boston, Vermont and finally to Montreal. The project consists of double tracking 62 miles of track, upgrading the signals, building new stations in North Haven, Newington and Enfield, relocating Wallingford’s station and building new elevated platforms, walkways and parking garages in each town.

“Nothing has been set in stone,” said DOT Project Manager John Bernick.
He asked town officials to create a panel to act as an advisory board throughout the project.

Wallingford has the most crossings of any municipality along the corridor — 10, eight with signals and two unsignaled gates. The most heavily trafficked areas are Parker, Hall, Ward and Quinnipiac streets. The town now has five or six trains passing through per day. The rail project calls for 25.

Public officials have said they are concerned that more trains, which can go as fast as 110 mph, would pose a safety threat to residents and disrupt nearby businesses.

City Councilor Jerry Farrell opposed Amtrak’s taking any land from Most Holy Trinity Church. Bernick assured him that wouldn’t happen.

Farrell also he had concerns about 25 trains roaring through a very densely populated section of town every day. The crossings are at grade. He was assured that just because the trains had the potential to reach 110 mph didn’t mean they would travel that fast through Wallingford or other high density areas. “No matter where you place it or combine it, grade crossings are going to be a problem,” Bernick said.

A traffic study conducted by Wilbur Smith & Associates reviewed the traffic signals at Parker, Hall, Ward and Quinnipiac streets and gave several of them failing grades should the anticipated commuter and intercity service start with no changes in existing traffic routes. Solutions include some road widening in certain areas, signal changes and right-turn-only lanes.

Residents of Judd Square and the nearby area expressed concerns that their parking, already in short supply, would be impacted. Bernick said no parking would be taken away and Amtrak plans to use land now housing a warehouse for that purpose.

There were only rough schematics of the site, parking garage and walk-up from Route 5 because project leaders hope to gather more public input on the location of the new train platform and design specifications. Judd Square is not a definitive site — moving the stop several blocks to the north has also been discussed — but is the best for the project, Bernick said.

Councilor Craig Fishbein questioned the cost of the project and the amount Amtrak receives annually in subsidies to support its operation. He said that without an obvious demand by people working in other towns, he didn’t see how the operation could sustain itself. The cost of the project is set at $647 million, and a $110 million shortfall is expected for the Hartford-to-Springfield leg, which planners expect will come from the federal government.

“You would be better off giving the money to the people,” Fishbein said.

Bernick replied that demand has already been proven and the project will offer significant economic development opportunities to communities with train stations. He also said increased usage of Metro-North has made it the most profitable service in the U.S.

Other benefits are that the ability to travel to Boston and New York in one to two hours could make office space in Meriden or Wallingford more attractive. Shuttle buses to and from industrial parks are also a possibility and the station will connect with the public service bus lines.

The public meetings in the cities and towns along the rail line will become part of the environmental impact study expected this fall. Upgrades to the signals could begin as early as next spring, Bernick said.

Gail DeLucia, president of the Judd Square Homeowners Association, got on board with the project after she learned the residents would not lose any parking. She was careful to say she was speaking as an individual and not for the group. But the sluggish economy and job market offer more reasons to invite commerce and create jobs.

“We have to look to the future,” DeLucia said, “or we don’t get any solution.”

Muscular Dystrophy Fundraiser - No more Jerry, but Jim Zandri is still raising funds for MDA

As Published in the Record Journal, Tuesday August 9, 2011

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD — Jim Zandri said it was Jerry Lewis who inspired him to start his own muscular dystrophy fundraiser, which continues for its 15th year next month.

“His involvement inspired me to do what I did,” Zandri said.

Lewis, who has been the face of the Muscular Dystrophy Association for nearly 60 years. won’t be hosting this year’s national telethon for the first time since 1966, but Zandri said he doesn’t think the departure will hurt fundraising efforts.

“The cause is still there, this is still needed,” Zandri said.

Before last week, when Lewis’ departure was announced, the MDA had already prepared changes to this year’s telethon. The event, which used to last 21 hours, will shift to prime time, from 6 p.m. to midnight on the Sunday before Labor Day. Traditionally, the telethon began Sunday night and continued into Monday.

Steve Fredrickson, executive director of the MDA’s New Haven district, said the changes were adopted for a number of reasons.
“We wanted to bring it into prime time,” Fredrickson said. “It’s the 21st century; we’re trying to capitalize more on Internet donations.”

Fredrickson has been with the MDA since January. He said he joined because he believed in the organization’s mission.

“Sunday I had my first chance to go to an MDA summer camp, and really see our funds at work,” Fredrickson said.

Zandri said that Lewis’ departure didn’t change too much in the planning of the event, and that he’d expected Lewis, 85, to step down from the association in the next few years.

“At some point it had to continue on without him,” Zandri said.

In a statement, R. Rodney Howell, MDA chairman of the board, said, “Jerry Lewis is a world-class humanitarian and we’re forever grateful to him for his more than half century of generous service to MDA. We will not be replacing him as MDA national chairman, and he will not be appearing on the telethon.”

The MDA has become synonymous with Lewis, Zandri said, but it was important that the organization create its own identity. It’s been a slow transition, but Zandri said that he thinks people are aware of the MDA for reasons other than Lewis.

“There’s a need for a transition,” he said. “It’s a new generation. My kids don’t know who Jerry Lewis is.”

Zandri expects turnout for the event to be the same as in years past.

“Most people come regardless,” he said. “I don’t expect anybody to abandon the cause because Jerry Lewis is gone. People support the cause because they’re affected personally by it.”

Fredrickson said that the MDA is expecting viewership of the telethon to be up this year because of the primetime hours.

Zandri’s telethon party will be hosted at Zandri’s Stillwood Inn, 1074 S. Colony Road, from 5:30 p.m. to midnight on Sept. 4. For a $50 donation to the MDA, guests have access to a buffet, an open bar, dancing and a silent auction. Zandri said that in 14 years, the local event has raised more than $300,000.

“There’s no gimmick,” Zandri said. “It’s just a donation, and it’s a good time.”

Lemonade? Don’t try it!

This op-ed piece was written by Rich Lowry who is the editor of The National Review. It was published in the Record Journal on Sunday August 7, 2011

There’s no more poignant symbol of American childhood than the lemonade stand, evocative of long, lazy summer days and pie-in-the-sky entrepreneurial dreams.

It inevitably was a subject for a Norman Rockwell print, with a brassy kid confidently hawking cups for 5 cents each. If Rockwell were to update the image today, he might have to include an officer of the law nosing around the stand to ensure its compliance with all relevant ordinances.

In various localities around the country this summer, cops have raided and shut down lemonade stands. The incidents get — and deserve — national attention as telling collisions between classic Americana and the senseless pettifogging that is increasingly the American Way.

There should be an easy rule of thumb for when enforcement of a regulation has gone too far: When it makes kids cry.

Setting up a lemonade stand has always been the occasion for early lessons about the importance of hustle and perseverance, and some business basics — like location, location, location. It shouldn’t be the occasion for dealing with the unreasoning dictates of The Man.

Police in Coralville, Iowa, a few weeks ago conducted a sweep and shut down three lemonade stands, some within minutes of their opening. The offenders had started their renegade operations the weekend of an annual bike ride across the state. The town requires vendors to have a permit during the days of the event. None of the perps did, including one 4-year-old girl who shamelessly made $4 before police intervened.

One mother said she could only laugh when the police told her the cost of a permit was $400. Uncomprehending, her kids cried. They figured only the inadequacy of their handmade signs could have made the city’s law enforcement want to put them out of business.

A Coralville civic eminence subsequently explained that the ordinance was in place to protect the health of the bike riders, who are apparently robust enough to bike 472 miles but might be felled by 6 ounces of lemonade.

In McAllen, Texas, two kids were shut down and their grandmother threatened with a fine on similar grounds. Audaciously, the youngsters started selling lemonade for 50 cents a cup in a park without a health permit or licensed food handlers to prepare or serve their lemony libation. Hoping only to fund the upkeep of their two hermit crabs, these two children had stumbled into a murky world way over their heads.

In Midway, Ga., three girls were told they needed a business license, peddler’s permit and food permit to set up a lemonade stand on their front lawn. It might have taken all summer just to navigate the bureaucracy necessary to begin selling the lemonade. The chief of police explained why she had to act to protect the public from the unauthorized sale of the unknown substance purporting to be “lemonade”: “We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, of what the lemonade was made with.”

Chances are that it was made of the usual dangerous cocktail of lemon juice, sugar and water. If children — or their parents — aren’t to be trusted to prepare lemonade, presumably people lured by the prospect of a cool drink on a hot day can calculate the risks on their own and take their pocket change elsewhere if they feel safe only with professional-quality product. Invariably, the parents of illicit lemonade stand vendors protest to the authorities, “but they’re just kids.” That should be a clinching, self-evident argument. But not when an unbending legalism is ascendant, and there’s a law for everything. It’s in this spirit that we pat down children in the security lines of airports.

People in authority are afraid ever to be caught rendering common-sense judgments.

For now, the lemonade-stand crackdowns are a bridge too far. They usually bring cries of public outrage and embarrassed backpedaling from officials. So belly up to the lemonade stand — while you still can.

Some object to Simpson parking deal - Petition campaign seeks to force referendum

As published in the Record Journal, Thursday August 11, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — A group of residents is trying to collect thousands of signatures to fight the town’s half-million dollar investment to improve an uptown parking lot during a 30-year use agreement.

The Town Council approved the agreement with four property owners Tuesday night. It gives the town the authority to make improvements worth $500,000 to the lot and make it available for public use, but it also requires the town to provide maintenance for 30 years. Robert Gross, who has run unsuccessfully for the council as a Democrat, began a petition drive Wednesday to overturn the council’s decision under the referendum provision of the Town Charter. He has until Sept. 8 to collect signatures from 2,491 voters — 10 percent of the registered voters in town. If he meets his goal, the council has 30 days to rescind the vote or else the matter will go to a town wide referendum.

“I don’t care who owns the property — I don’t feel that the town should pay to pave and maintain a privately owned parking lot,” Gross said. “It’s up to the people to decide whether this is a reasonable issue or not. This is just democracy at work.”

But there’s more at stake than the town simply sprucing up the 130-space parking area behind four businesses on Simpson Court, off North Main Street, said William Comerford, who keeps close watch on town government and is a member of the group Concerned Citizens of Wallingford.

Comerford claims the business relation­ship between a town councilor and one of the property owners involved in the agreement represents a conflict of interest.

“We feel the people need to know what’s going on,” he said. Town Council Vice Chairman Jerry Farrell Jr. recently opened a law business on the second floor over TD Bank North, 2 North Main Street, adjacent to the parking lot. The building is owned by a limited liability company that owns a portion of the lot and lists John McGuire as its principal. McGuire is also listed as principal of the company that owns a neighboring building, home to Body & Soul Day Spa, 26 N. Main Street, according to state records.

Farrell denied any conflict, saying he doesn’t pay rent on the business space he has been using for the past two months for his legal consulting firm.

“I’m not Jack McGuire’s tenant, I’m there as a guest,” Farrell said. “I don’t pay him any money, so I don’t see any particular gain or advantage for me to voting on it.”

Town Engineer John Thompson said Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. told him to hold off on any improvements to the lot until the matter of a potential referendum is cleared up, but to continue preliminary work. The council approved the project with a bid waiver, allowing the town to get started right away without a competitive bidding process, Thompson said.

The first step in repairs will be to fix a long section of concrete wall that supports the lot and has been damaged by freezing and water. Work will also include paving, grading and drainage improvements.

“If the wall failed for some reason, it would compromise our whole investment,” Thompson said.

Dickinson said the project is being paid for by revenue from the Wallingford Electric Division, and the town pays nothing to use the space. The town has traditionally plowed and maintained the lot, along with three others it leases, he said.

Republican Councilor Craig Fishbein voted against the lease agreement, and said it was unwise to invest town money in a privately owned property.

“In this economy, $500,000 is a lot of money, and I think it could’ve been spent better elsewhere,” he said. “It’s a tough decision because you’re trying to portray a safe, well maintained downtown area, but the long-term outlay is bad. On top of the outlay, we have the ongoing cost of maintenance.”

Democrat Nicholas Economopoulos was the only other councilor to vote against the lease.

“I don’t think we’re in a position to improve private owners’ property; they’re some of the more affluent people in town,” he said. “There is not one item of proof, one report, that those improvements will help the town or increase people shopping in that part of town.”

But Mario DiNatale supports the agreement. The local businessman owns East Side Market on East Center Street and the former Town Hall at 350 Center St., now occupied by offices.

“The lot is used by everybody, so maybe it’s not so bad,” he said. “They’re not paying anything, so if the town’s going to use it, they should fix it.”

Parking is already available in the lot behind Simpson Court, but the area is in poor condition and not well lighted. Still, Don Blynn wonders why the project is necessary, since the lot is already getting a lot of use.

“I’m going to vote no on the half-million dollars,” said Blynn, who was having dinner with his wife Ginny Wednesday at Half Moon Cafe on Simpson Court. “The parking lot fills every night anyways.”

Ginny Blynn also thinks “the money could be spent better somewhere else,” she said, “like paying for sports or schools.”

FROM WALLINGFORD - Truth overtakes rail project

This week’s FROM WALLINGFORD was written by Stephen Knight

As published in the Record Journal, Sunday August 7, 2011

I have been a student of the railroad industry for my entire adult life; as a student in graduate school, as a keenly interested observer, and as a professional transportation consultant. So I write this column with considerable angst, because it is my conclusion that the proposed New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail project that will run through Wallingford is a boondoggle of fantastic proportions. My inherent predisposition to support this project is overwhelmed when confronted with the 1) downright mythical speed and service projections, 2) wildly optimistic ridership projections and 3) blindly underestimated capital and operating expenses.

Speed and service projections: In a May 9 press release, Gov. Malloy stated that these trains would reach “speeds up to 110 miles per hour.” I say: only if you catapult the trains from every station like they do jet fighters off an aircraft carrier. Why? First of all, there will eventually be 11 stops in the 62 miles between New Haven and Springfield. That’s an average of less than six miles between stops. So where exactly will these trains do 110 mph? And — are you ready for this? — the service will commence with hand-me-down equipment from Shoreline East. According to their latest schedule, those trains, making all the stops, move between New Haven and New London averaging less than 50 mph, and do so on the most advanced, best maintained railroad track in America. Secondly, this speed in a corridor with thirty-eight grade crossings? Really? So calling the NHHS project high speed rail is utterly fictitious.

Ridership projections built on the sentiment “Build it and they will come”: in calculating potential ridership, the numbers presented assume a) many more daily Amtrak trains running on the line; b) enormous numbers of passengers feeding the line from the so-called “Knowledge Corridor” line in central Massachusetts which has yet to be rebuilt; and c) thousands upon thousands of people willing to live in this corridor and work 2 ½ hours away in New York City. In other words, the number of commuters between New Haven and Springfield that is supposedly the driving force behind this project could never, ever justify the price tag, so numbers assuming a complete northeastern United States rail system build out are used to puff up the stats.

Capital and operating expenses: The price tag for rail line and station construction alone is $647 million, and the project is counting on huge support from the feds. Here is the latest fed response: State of Connecticut request — $227 million. Fed grant: $30 million. Result: the project has already contracted to providing trains only during peak commuter times. And how much money is allocated to purchase rolling stock — the stuff you ride on? Zero. As mentioned above, the plan is to use the existing Shore Line East equipment until, well, who knows?

As for operating expenses, somehow the project is making revenue estimates, but they haven’t even set the fare schedule. How do you do that? But even assuming (do you see that word a lot here?) their revenue and ridership projections are accurate, there is an inherent, unavoidable, inevitable huge annual cash subsidy. This is not unusual. This is the norm, but could someone in Hartford admit that?

So here’s the rub. Even more than I love railroads, I love the truth. The unvarnished, straight up, tell-it-like-it-is, we can take it truth. And we aren’t getting it. We are being fed pretty pictures, fantastic blue-sky fuzzy numbers and gauzy descriptions of an idyllic life in a future northeastern U.S. economy that seems farther from reality every single day.

If these words seem harsh, they spring from disappointment.

Disappointment that this project is not a practical, financially sensible fit for the market in which it is to operate, and disappointed that you and I are, yet again, being treated like proverbial mushrooms: kept in the dark and covered with . . . well, you know what I’m saying.

School website gets smarter - New Wallingford site more compatible with smartphones

As published in the Record Journal Thursday August 4, 2011

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff

WALLINGFORD — As more parents turn to the Internet for information, the Wallingford school district is overhauling its website to make it more user friendly and accessible for parents.

School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said the new site, which launched Aug. 1, offers a cleaner, professional look, in addition to a mobile-friendly version.

“We’re excited,” Menzo said. “This gives parents the opportunity to stay connected. The first place people often turn to for information is the website.”

Randall Backus, director of Information Technology Services, worked with Menzo and a consultant from finalsite — a private web development firm — to overhaul the website. Backus said the project started last fall and cost a few thousand dollars.

“People are relying more and more on the website,” Backus said. “They check there first for information about delays and cancellations. We get calls if we don’t have that information up by 5:30 in the morning.”

Menzo said the new website focuses on a number of target audiences, including parents, members of the public and employees. The student section includes information such as summer reading book lists, the parent section has bus routes and registration information and the public section is geared toward Board of Education and budget information.

The mobile site is formatted for iPhone, Android and Blackberry users. The mobile-friendly website loads more quickly and is easier to use on mobile devices, Menzo said. Buttons direct users to the most-requested information, including school lunch menus, bus routes, calendars, delays and closings and a staff directory.

The district has also implemented a QR code for the website. QR codes are barcodes that, when scanned with a smartphone, direct the user to a specific website. Menzo said he hopes to have the QR code on all documents and letters sent home to parents to give them easy access to the website. In the future, it’s possible each school could have its own QR code to attach to school-specific documents, Menzo said.

Backus said the website gets a lot of hits not just locally, but from across the country. Menzo said that when many people are considering moving to a town, one of the first things they check is the school district’s website.

“You only get one chance to make a first impression,” Menzo said.

The old website faced complaints that it was cluttered and inconsistent. Backus said different school pages used different font sizes and colors, taking away from any sense of uniformity. The new website uses the same template across all pages. Backus said the layout of the site hadn’t been changed since it was first launched 10 to 15 years ago. The conformity will allow for more “branding” of the schools. Menzo said that he plans to bring back the Wallingford Public Schools seal on the website and use it in all official school communication.

Other changes include a reduction in the number of pages.

“When websites first launched, people wanted to put everything out there online,” Menzo said. “But we’ve learned less is more.”

Menzo said improving the website was part of the district’s five-year strategic plan in the areas of technology and communication.

“A district our size should have a vibrant website to celebrate the successes of our students,” he said.

Visit the Wallingford Public Schools website at
http://www.walling ford.k12.ct.us/, or scan the QR code in this story with your smartphone to be taken to the website.

Scan this QR code with your iPhone, Android or Blackberry to get easier access to the Wallingford public school system’s website, www.wallingford.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=10859.

AGENDA - SPECIAL TOWN COUNCIL MEETING

TOWN OF WALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT

SPECIAL TOWN COUNCIL MEETING

Town Council Chambers

TUESDAY

AUGUST 9, 2011

6:30 P.M

AGENDA

Opening Prayer – Reverend Dean Warburton, First Congregational Church of Wallingford

1. Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call

2. Correspondence

3. Consent Agenda

3a. Note for the Record – Mayoral Transfers FY 2010-2011

3b. Note for the record – Anniversary Increases FY 2010-2011

3c. Consider and Approve Tax Refunds (#20 - #75) totaling $10,085.99 Acct. # 001-1000-010-1170 - Tax Collector

3d. Consider and Approve Use of the Parade Grounds by the First Congregational Church for the Annual Catch the Spirit Sunday on Sunday, September 11, 2011 from approximately 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. – Chairman Robert F. Parisi

3e. Consider and Approve Rescheduling the November 2011 Town Council Meetings to November 15, 2011 and November 29, 2011 – Chairman Robert F. Parisi

3f. Consider and Approve an Appropriation in the Amount of $528 to Council on Substance Abuse to Expenditures Acct # 23240150-58830 and to Revenue Acct # 2324002-49000 FY 2011-2012 – Youth and Social Services

3g. Consider and Approve an Appropriation in the Amount of $210 to Youth and Social Services Special Fund Operation Fuel to Donations Acct # 2324002-47010 and to Expenditures Acct # 23240100-58830 FY 2011-2012 – Youth and Social Services

3h. Acceptance of Donation from Wallingford Foundation and Appropriation in the Amount of $1,500 to YSS Science and Technology After School Club (formerly Young Astronaut Club) to Donations Acct # 2264002-47010 and to Expenditures Acct # 22640150-58830 FY 2011-2012– Youth and Social Services

3i. Consider and Approve a Transfer in the Amount of $350 FY 2010-2011 to Telephone Acct # 001-5015-201-2000 from Utilities Acct # 001-5015-201-2010 – Public Works

3j. Consider and Approve a Transfer in the Amount of $5,579 FY 2010-2011 to Town Clerk-Wages $3,616 Acct # 001-6030-101-1000 and to PUC-Wages $1,963 Acct # 001-7045-101-1000 from Health Insurance Acct # 001-1602-800-8300 - Comptroller

3k. Consider and Approve a Transfer in the Amount of $540 FY 2010-2011 to Regular Wages & Salaries Acct # 2030-101-1000 from Replacement Pay Acct # 2030-101-1500 - Fire Chief

3l. Consider and Approve a Transfer in the Amount of $875 FY 2010-2011 to Professional Services-Ambulance Revenue Recovery Acct # 2030-901-9035 from Utilities Acct # 2030-201-2010 – Fire Chief

3m. Set a Public Hearing for September 13, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. to consider Repeal of existing Ordinance and enactment of revised Ordinance regarding Open Burning, Chapter 93 of the Code of the Town of Wallingford - Co-Chairmen Cervoni and Farrell, Ordinance Committee

3n. Set a Public Hearing for September 13, 2011 at 7:15 p.m. for Repeal of Ordinance #513 dated 2003 leaving in its place the new Private Sewage Disposal Systems Ordinance #566 adopted on September 28, 2010 – Town Attorney

3o. Consider and Approve a Budget Amendment in the Amount of $21,840 to Appropriation from Cash and to Outside Services Acct # 43100923 – Water Division

3p. Consider and Approve a Budget Amendment in the Amount of $18,540 to Appropriation from Cash and to Outside Services Acct # 43100923 – Sewer Division

3q. Consider and Approve a Transfer in the Amount of $3,400 FY 2010-2011 to Taxes Acct # 408 from Interest on Customer Deposits Acct # 431 - Electric Division

3r. Consider and Approve a Resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute a contract with the Connecticut State Library for a State Public Library Construction Grant - Grants Administrator

3s. Consider and Approve a Resolution authorizing the Mayor to enter into a FFY 2010 State Homeland Security Grant Program Region 2 Memorandum of Agreement regarding use of state funding and custodial ownership of regional assets in Region 2 – Fire Chief

3t. Consider and Approve an Appropriation in the Amount of $36,250 to School Roof Committee Acct # 100800350-58835 from Contingency-General Acct # 10019000- 58820 – Chairman, School Roof Committee

3u. Consider and Approve an Appropriation in the Amount of $36,250 School Roof Projects (New Fund) to Revenue-Trans in from G/F Acct-new line to be established and to Owner’s Rep (Expenditures) Acct-new line to be established – Chairman, School Roof Committee

3v. Approve minutes of Regular Town Council meeting of July 12, 2011

3w. Approve minutes of Special Town Council Meeting of July 19, 2011

4. Items Removed from the Consent Agenda

5. PUBLIC QUESTION & ANSWER

6. Report out from the Chairman of the Wallingford Housing Authority Board – Councilor Nick Economopoulos

7. Consider and Approve Request for Proposal-Defined Contribution Plan Service Provider for Town and Board of Education - Personnel

8. Consider and Approve Request for Proposal-Legal Services for Defined Contribution Plan Provider – Town Attorney

9. Consider and Approve a Transfer in the Amount of $158,000 FY 2010-2011 to Self- Insurance-Workers’ Compensation Acct # 0011602-800-8310 from Property/Casualty Insurance-Gen. Gov’t $44,000 Acct # 001-1603-800-8250 and from Property/Casualty Insurance-Education $14,000 Acct # 001-1603-800-8260 and from Police Heart and Hypertension $100,000 Acct # 001-1602-800-8400 -Personnel

10. Discussion and Possible Action on Pension Cost of Living Adjustment of 1½% - Personnel

11. Consider and Approve an Appropriation of CRRA Funds in the Amount of $142,463 to Roof-Fire Headquarters (Expenditures) Acct # 200803505700010011 from CRRA Distribution –Revenue Acct # Fund 200 – Fire Chief

12. Consider and approve 30-year lease agreements with four property owners in Simpson Court authorizing the Town to construct rear parking lot improvements - Mayor

13. Consider and approve a temporary construction easement as shown on the attached map and approval of a Bid Waiver to allow Department of Engineering to engage contractor to undertake minor wall repairs to existing retaining wall between Holy Trinity School property and Simpson Court rear parking lot - Engineering

14. Report on the Wallingford Landfill and CRRA property contamination issues - Councilor Vincent Testa, Jr.

15. Discussion and possible action on adding language to the School Roof Committee's charge regarding energy conservation measures and incorporating solar energy technology - Councilor Vincent Testa, Jr.

16. Discussion and possible action to request that the Town petition the State D.E.E.C. to earmark all, or a portion, of the fund established from the recent Covanta $400,000.00 fine for energy conservation projects in Wallingford. - Councilor Vincent Testa, Jr.

17. Consider and Approve a $21 Million Refunding Bond Resolution with respect to the authorization issuance:

RESOLUTION WITH RESPECT TO THE AUTHORIZATION, ISSUANCE AND SALE OF NOT EXCEEDING $21 MILLION TOWN OF WALLINGFORD GENERAL OBLIGATION REFUNDING BONDS, AUTHORIZATION COMBINING INTO ONE ISSUE AND MAKING DETERMINATIONS WITH THE REFUNDING BONDS ANY OTHER AUTHORIZED BUT UNISSUES BONDS OF THE TOWN, AUTHORIZING AGREEMENTS FOR THE INVESTMENT OF REFUNDING ESCROW AND ITS REINVESTMENT OVER ITS TERM, AND REPEALING ALL PRIOR REFUNDING BOND AUTHORIZATIONS

-Comptroller

18. Consider and Approve a Bid Waiver to negotiate directly with the leading underwriting firms - Comptroller

19. Executive Session pursuant to Sections 1-200(2) and 1-225(f) of the Connecticut General Statutes with regard to strategy and negotiation with respect to Collective Bargaining – Board of Education

20. Executive Session pursuant to §1-200 (6)(D) of the Connecticut General Statutes with respect to the purchase, sale and/or leasing of property – Mayor

21. Executive Session pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes §1-225(f) and §1-200 (6)(B) to discuss the following cases:

DiNatale Realty LLC v. Town of Wallingford

Ives Road LLC v. Town of Wallingford

22. Possible Action on DiNatale Realty LLC v. Town of Wallingford; Possible Action on Ives Road LLC v. Town of Wallingford

REMINDER - Information meeting set Aug. 4th regarding the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail project

As published in the Record Journal Friday July 22, 2011

WALLINGFORD — The office of Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. will sponsor a public information meeting at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 4 in the Town Council chambers at the Town Hall, 45 S. Main St.

Representatives from the Connecticut Department of Transportation and their consultant team will provide an update on the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail project and its impact on Wallingford and possible station locations, including the property on South Cherry Street next to Judd Square Condominiums.

After the presentation, a question-and-answer session will be open to all attendees.

For information, call the mayor’s office at (203) 294-2070 or the engineering department at (203) 294-2035.

FROM WALLINGFORD - One guess

As published in the Record Journal, Sunday July 24, 2011

This week’s FROM WALLINGFORD was written by Stephen Knight.

Covanta, the operator of the Wallingford trash-to-energy plant, is handing over $400,000 to the State of Connecticut as a result of its plant having emitted levels of dioxins at twice the permitted level, according to an article in the July 16th Record-Journal. $400,000 that the company could have and should have used to prevent the problem in the first place now goes to Hartford. Half will go right to the general fund and the other half direct to DEEP for them to use in a “project to enhance environmental protection or conserve natural resources.” Read: to sustain the bureaucracy.

But the story does not end here, and this is where the residents of Wallingford should take note. In an almost “oh, by the way” manner, the article tips us off to the most onerous provision of this settlement: “The settlement also stipulates that the entire plant be shut down the next time an emissions violation is found.”

Here we wander into “the law of unintended consequences” territory, where big government and preening politicians so, so often find themselves – and we dragged right along with them. No doubt DEEP Commissioner Daniel C. Esty thinks of himself as one tough hombre for nailing this big, evil business (those previous two words are synonyms at the DEEP) and forcing them to sign a document pledging to commit corporate hari kari should their people make another error operating the plant. That’ll show ’em! But now think about the real consequences here. Covanta somehow screws up and another release occurs. In rides sheriff Esty and his posse of pasty-faced bureaucrats and they actually shut down this plant. Now what? We’re not talking about a package store caught selling beer to teenagers here. Shut that down and only the owners suffer the consequences. Shut this plant down and now five towns have to find a way to dispose of the trash generated by over two hundred thousand people.

This plant was built and operated for the purpose of incinerating thousands of tons of trash every month. It was placed here because Wallingford is centrally located and therefore all this stuff can be transported most cost-effectively. Pull the plug on this plant and all this material must be trucked elsewhere at much greater cost. And who do you suppose ultimately pays for that? One guess.

And this assumes that there is a place nearby for all this material, which there is not. So now it gets trucked out of state. Now we’ve defeated the whole point of having the plant in the first place – to reduce the volume of the trash in order to reduce the amount of transportation required to get rid of it all. And those trucks all emit what? One guess.

Here’s another consequence: The Town of Wallingford receives over $1 million per year for hosting the facility. Okay, the plant gets shut down. No plant? No payment. And who do you suppose ultimately pays for that loss? One guess.

My point is this: we expect significant consequences for those that do not comply with these regulations. But take-no-prisoners decisions like this tell us that the mission of protecting the environment has been supplanted. Because the State of Connecticut is populated with people who have a visceral, deep-seated hostility toward business and industry, sticking it to business and forcing them to their knees to bow low to the state has become the endgame. And while the agencies and the commissions and the lawyers and the bureaucrats all make their pronouncements and hold their press conferences and announce their “settlements,” all of us in towns like Wallingford are left with the fallout.

By shutting down this plant, Commissioner Esty will have another “Gotcha” trophy to show his fellow environmentalists. But the rest of us here in Wallingford will be left scrambling to deal with the resultant chaos that ensues.

Parties set their sights on November - Wallingford Democrats’ Testa tops ticket, to take on Mayor Dickinson

As published in the Record Journal, Thursday July 21, 2011

By Adam Wittenberg
Record-Journal staff
awittenberg@recordjournal.com
(203) 317-2231

WALLINGFORD — The Democratic Town Committee nominated its slate of candidates Wednesday, hoping to take back majorities on the Town Council and Board of Education and win the mayor’s office for the first time since the early 1980s.

Vincent F. Testa Jr. will be at the top of the ticket. The veteran town councilor and former school board member lost his 1997 bid for mayor by a wide margin, but pledged things would be different this time.

“I’m honored, I’m thrilled, I’m excited and I can’t wait to hit the trail with the great people that are going to be nominated this evening,” Testa said. “We’re just going to have a really good night on Nov. 8.”

The Democrats have not come close to defeating Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. — a Republican and the secondlongest- serving top municipal official in the state — since Michael Brodinsky ran in 2003. The Democrats did not endorse a mayoral candidate in 2009.

The party nominated six council candidates — the most seats it can win because of minority party representation rules. Those same rules guarantee it will hold at least three seats, which it does now. The rules also apply to the school board, where Republicans have a 5-4 edge.

For the council, incumbents John Sullivan and Nicholas Economopoulos will run alongside Robin Hettrick, Donald Harwood, Debbie Reynolds and Jason Zandri.

All but Reynolds have run for council before.

Harwood, who was chairman of the School Building Committee during a $72 million overhaul of 11 schools, was unsuccessful in 2009. Zandri, a computer systems administrator who helps raise money for the town’s annual fireworks display, lost in 2007. Hettrick, town committee vice chairman and a former Zoning Board of Appeals member, did not win in 2005.

---

Zandri

---

Testa

Reynolds, a business analyst at The Hartford, hasn’t run previously but is the mother of Jesse S. Reynolds, who lost council bids in 2007 and 2009. Jesse Reynolds nominated his mother as well as his father, Patrick, who is trying to win back a seat on the Board of Education.

Patrick Reynolds, who teaches science at the high school and college levels, won a term on the board in 2007 but lost in the last election.

The Democrats’ school board slate includes four incumbents: Michael Votto, Valerie A. Ford, Jay Cei and Kathy Castelli, the board’s secretary; and one newcomer, David Leonardo.

A 2006 Sheehan High School graduate, Leonardo graduated from the University of Connecticut in May with a degree in history.

He is an intern with John Larson’s re-election campaign for the 1st District U.S. House seat and is helping with the mayoral campaigns of Dan Drew in Middletown and Testa.

Democratic Town Chairman Vincent Avallone praised Leonardo’s involvement and said he was pleased with the candidates.

“I feel we have one of the best slates all the way around,” Avallone said.

Sarah Nathan / Record-Journal
Wallingford resident Vincent F. Testa stands to be acknowledged after being nominated as the Democratic candidate for mayor at the Democratic Town Committee meeting in Wallingford.

Wallingford GOP puts on a show for nominations

As published in the Record Journal, Thursday July 21, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — The Republican Party caucus Wednesday night was filled with poetry and poetic speeches and performances, as the town committee formed its slate of candidates for the Board of Education, Town Council and mayor’s office.

The night started with a procession of players from the Yalesville Fife and Drum Corps and the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps, followed by a formal set of nominations and seconds for candidates.

Wallingford native Jerry Labriola Jr. was recently elected state party chairman. He said local leaders like state Sen. Len Fasano, R-North Haven, helped him on the way to the chairmanship while he was seeking other spots in the party. He then lauded Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr., joking that he had taken office not long after the astronauts of Apollo 11 walked on the moon in 1969.

“We are so lucky to have a leader that just does a consistent good job and is rewarded every two years with re-election,” he said. Support in the auditorium of Dag Hammarskjold Middle School was strong on an oppressively humid July evening, with 65 registered Republicans in the audience and nine guests, said party notable and school board member Chet Miller. Miller was nominated to run for his seat again.
The party nominated Miller, Roxane McKay, Joseph Marrone, Michael Brooder, Tanya Bachand and political newcomer Christine Mansfield for the Board of Education.

As for the nine-member Town Council, it is Republican controlled, with six members including Chairman Robert Parisi. Planning and Zoning Board member Patrick Birney nominated Parisi in his speech, citing Parisi’s quote in a 2009 Record-Journal article as one of his favorite all-time quotes on politics.

In the article, Parisi was asked how his party came to be in the majority after a long stretch of Democratic control on the council.

“Wallingford needed stability and reassurance at time when both were scarce,” Birney quoted.

Jerry Farrell Jr., former commissioner of consumer protection and council vice chairman, announced earlier this year that he would not seek a 17th term on the council. He stepped forward to nominate local business owner John Le Tourneau to a third term.

Farrell said Le-Tourneau was the best man at his wedding seven years ago, and has shown the same altruistic qualities while serving the town.

“He’s the best man for the job because he stands up for the people of Wallingford,” he said.

The party nominated all five incumbents, including Le-Tourneau, Parisi, Rosemary Rascati, Vincent Cervoni and Craig Fishbein. Tom Laffin, a 31-year-old businessman, was chosen to replace Farrell.
Rascati, who admitted to being normally reserved, composed a poem to nominate Dickinson to another term. Dickinson, who has been in office 28 years, is the second­ longest-serving mayor in the state.

“ ’Twas the middle of April in ’83 / when a fine young man came up to me / said he: I’ve been asked to run for mayor this year / and an honest opinion I’d like to hear,” she read. “He’s guided us through thick and thin / and made sure at all times that we could swim. / So let’s return him to the helm to steer the ship forward once again.”

After the slate endorsements, the 13 candidates made their acceptance speeches. Fishbein, revealing a bit of a theatrical side, also read an original poem aloud.

“With two years in the past / the sail’s always at full mast / attacking the budget with pencil,” he read. “But in these uncertain times / it is best to dispel with rhymes / and to avoid at all costs idle gossip.”

Dickinson, long known for his penchant for dramatic presentations, did not disappoint his party after accepting its nomination. His speech bordered on avant-garde theater, as he spoke rousingly over the snare drums and fifes playing old patriot themes.

“There are drums of assembly because the winds of change are blowing all around us,” he said. “Just look at state level or national level. Our country, our state, must begin to adapt to a new reality. It’s not going to be the way it’s always been. The winds of change are requiring us to reassess what we do and how we do it.”


Dickinson

2 Republicans step up for seats on Wallingford school board

As published in the Record Journal Sunday July 17, 2011

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

WALLINGFORD — Two Republican hopefuls have put their names forward to fill seats on the Board of Education, including a vacancy left by the departure of Chairman Thomas Hennessey, who won’t be seeking re-election in November.

Republican Town Chairman Bob Prentice said Thursday that Christine Mansfield and Tanya Bachand expressed interest in spots on the board at the committee’s meeting Wednesday.

Mansfield, a graduate of Villanova University and mother of three who owns Discovery Training Services, originally planned a run for Town Council, but was passed over by the committee in favor of Thomas Laffin. But Mansfield said she feels the school board is a good fit too because she’s already actively involved with schools.

“I work closely with the school districts,” Mansfield said. “I’m involved with the next generation.”

Mansfield said her businesses offers internships to high school students and that she sits on Wallingford’s School-to-Career Advisory Council. Mansfield is the incoming chairwoman for the Holy Trinity School board, and said she would bring technology expertise to the Wallingford school board. Mansfield said she would try to reach across the aisle to the Democrats on the board to do what is best for the school system.

Bachand is a local organizer for the Tea Party — a conservative sect of Republicans. A personal injury lawyer with the Norwalk firm Bachand Di Scala, she has helped organize tea party rallies across the state and considered a run in 2010 for the General Assembly seat held by Mark Mushinsky, D-Wallingford.

“I feel like Wallingford has done a lot for me, and this is my way to give back,” Bachand said. With a son in the Wallingford school system, Bachand said she has first-hand experience with the town’s education system. “This is meaningful for me. I’ve got a dog in the fight.”

A trial attorney, Bachand said she isn’t afraid to ask the tough questions and that she sees her role on the board as someone who can stop and ask why.

“Why do we do things this way? What is this expenditure? Those are questions that need to be asked,” Bachand said. She admits that she has a lot to learn about the inner workings of the board but she would bring a “fresh pair of eyes” to the issues at hand.

Hennessey, a Republican, said that he feels the two most important qualities for board members are involvement with the school system and passion. Though the positions are all volunteer, Hennessey said the board requires commitment.

“You have to make yourself available for those extra meetings,” he said.

Important qualities Prentice said he looks for in board candidates include a passion for the kids and those who are conservative and want to help keep costs down.

“I’m pleased with the two candidates we put forward,” Prentice said. “We unofficially filled the slate.”

Bachand and Mansfield will be officially nominated at the party’s caucus on Wednesday. The Republicans currently hold a 5-4 majority over the Democrats on the school board.

Wallingford Gardeners Market

The Wallingford Gardeners Market begins this Saturday and will be open from 9AM to noon each Saturday until Sept. 17

What: Wallingford Gardeners Market.
When: Saturdays, 9 a.m. to noon.
Where: Railroad station green.
Who: Farmers, artisans, merchants, music and more.

FROM WALLINGFORD - Speaks volumes for Wallingford

This FROM WALLINGFORD column was written by my counterpart on the column – Stephen Knight.

It was originally published in the Record Journal on Sunday July 10, 2011

Topics for this column can be elusive during the summer, but not this week. There is no way that I was not going to write about an article in the July 1st Record-Journal about the Town of Wallingford having attained the highest possible bond rating with Moody’s Investor Services.

The Mayor and the Comptroller may play this achievement down with characteristic modesty, but I am under no such compunction. This is a big deal, and it speaks volumes, and not only about how well the two aforementioned executives have managed the town’s finances. This is not just about money and how we stack up after being extruded through the Wall Street statistics machine.

If a person is known by the company he/she keeps, take a look at whom some of the other 17 Connecticut towns are that share the distinction of this Aaa credit rating: Greenwich, Darien, Westport, New Canaan, West Hartford, Simsbury, Madison and Woodbridge. How did li’l ol’ Wallingford find itself in company with these towns, some of whose residents are the most affluent in the entire nation?

So how did we find ourselves in such company? Apparently it is a complicated mix of factors that are compared, but three mentioned in the Moody’s Investors Service review are 1) a “sound financial position bolstered by non-General Fund reserves”; 2) “low debt position” (our debt per capita is a very low $930); and 3) the policy of funding pension liabilities at the actuarially recommended levels.

1) Our non-allocated cash balances have been the topic of considerable discussion and debate for years. The Town’s financial position has borne fruit yet again, and the rating agency also noted our “ongoing pay-as-you-go capital spending.” Significant reserves allow us to do that.

2) Debt per capita. How much of a town’s annual budget is spent paying interest and principal on the debt it has accumulated? Ours is at 3.7 percent, a level that the rating agency is very comfortable with despite the fact that we are just above the state median household income level. If we should suffer the loss of a large taxpayer, does our debt obligation endanger our fiscal stability? We can’t hammer our residential taxpayers like Greenwich could in such a case, so over-borrowing could put pressure on the town’s ability to provide services. Moody’s answer: we see no problem because you are a long, long way from maxing out your credit cards.

3) After acknowledging the investment losses suffered in recent years, Moody’s goes on to describe our pension funding as adequate, and added this sentence: “However, the town continues to contribute its full actuarially recommended contribution, which was $3.6 million for fiscal 2010, which Moody’s views favorably ” (emphasis mine).

If your eyes are starting to glaze over reading this financial stuff, trust me, I feel your pain. So let me just explain my exhilaration about our new credit status this way.

First, this has to be recognized as an achievement for Mayor Dickinson, Comptroller Jim Bowes and his predecessor Tom Myers, for the Town Council and the municipal government in general. With the school roofs replacement program looming, and the state economy in the tank, ratings like we have now will not likely last into perpetuity, but we should be proud that we enjoy them now.

But this acknowledgement by the financial experts is also a reflection on the whole town. It is a result of having a mature electorate that understands that municipal government is about making tough choices, about not allowing our reach to exceed our grasp, about preparing for the unexpected, about asking for what we need rather than what we want. We do not look to government to provide everything to everybody, and we support the many non-profit organizations that fill that gap. In other words, it is about knowing who we are as a community, and then going about being that community.

Town debt loads vary widely - Wallingford stands out locally for low debt, high credit rating

As published in the Record Journal Tuesday July 12, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

When it comes to municipal finances, debt can be deceiving. It’s not always an indication of the fiscal health of a city or town, although it’s certainly a contributing factor.

Meriden is larger and less affluent than Cheshire, but Cheshire has a higher debt load. It also has a higher bond rating.

“There’s a whole series of considerations that go into how a city is rated,” said Meriden Finance Director Michael Lupkas.

Beyond debt, rating agencies look at a city or town’s demographic makeup, ability to pay, fund balance as a percentage of expenditures, and leadership, Lupkas said.

Managing debt is a matter of ongoing payments and keeping up with growth by maintaining buildings and infrastructure, according to several local municipal officials.

Meriden’s debt of $77,888,000 is the accumulation of every project that has been borrowed for over the past two decades, Lupkas said. The city is slated to pay off $11,930,000 of principal and interest in the budget year that began July 1.

The city paid down $12.4 million in debt last year, he said. Moody’s Investor Service, the credit rating agency that assesses the economic health of communities based on debt and fiscal management, gave Meriden an A1 rating, the fifth-highest mark.

“We do feel that over the past several years Meriden’s financial position has changed dramatically for the better,” Lupkas said. “We do think that an upgrade of one to two notches is fully within our reach.”

Recent large bond issues in Meriden include a $2 million project to replace police radio equipment, $975,000 to finally close out financing for the new Lincoln Middle School, which opened in 2005, and $1.8 million for the closure of a landfill, Lupkas said. Money has also been borrowed for road work, replacement of dump trucks, property purchases and park upgrades.

The city is also in the planning stages of a $216.7 million project to renovate the two high schools.

Only one area community has garnered the highest bond rating, Aaa. Wallingford was ranked highest by Moody’s recently after the sale of three bonds totaling $4.8 million.
 
Higher ratings equal more favorable interest rates when towns issue bonds.

Wallingford’s $42 million debt is shared by 44,881 residents, amounting to $935 per person, said Comptroller James Bowes. About two thirds of the debt — 67 percent, or $28.2 million — was generated by school projects.

“You have to figure the more kids you have, the more schools need expansion, and the more people you have, the more roads you need,” he said. “In terms of debt per capita, we’re pretty good — in the bottom half of communities in the state.”

Wallingford paid $3,351,000 on its debt last year and is scheduled to pay $3,340,000 from this year’s $141 million budget, he said.

Southington Finance Director Emilia Portelinha said the town paid $7,014,225 on its $73,148,000 debt last year and will pay $8,373,436 this year. The amount of debt for each of the town’s 42,534 residents is about $1,719.

Larger projects that created debt include school renovations, some more than 10 years old, totaling $18 million in work at three elementary schools. The town also recently borrowed $11 million for upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant, she said.

As with Meriden, Southington is also planning an expensive school renovation and expansion project — if approved by voters in November, the town will spend $85 million on its two middle schools.

Cheshire Finance Director Patti-Lynn Ryan said the town’s $79,818,731 debt is mostly for school projects more than a decade old, and does not include the $30 million that will need to be raised to complete a total overhaul of the wastewater treatment plant.

“We’ll probably have to start financing that shortly,” she said.

Debt for school projects, some completed almost 20 years ago, totals $14.5 million, she said. The town paid $9,996,609 against its debt last year; this year $9,824,610 is marked for that purpose. Divided by Cheshire’s 29,142 people, each person holds $2,738 of town debt, she said.

Q-poll: On Economy, Medicare, Americans Don’t Trust GOP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 14, 2011
CONTACT: Jaclyn Falkowski
(860)560-1775 / (860)712-7413 cell

Q-poll: On Economy, Medicare, Americans Don’t Trust GOP

Place blame on former Pres. Bush, congressional Republicans

This morning’s national Quinnipiac University poll showed that a majority of Americans have little faith in the ability of congressional Republicans to handle the country’s economic problems and would blame Republicans should the debt limit not be raised.

Forty-five percent of respondents said that they trust President Barack Obama more than congressional Republicans to handle our nation’s economy. And they trust President Obama to do a better job than Republicans in Congress in handling Medicare by 50 percent, compared to 37 percent.

“From Washington to Hartford, the GOP remains squarely out-of-touch with the majority of Americans,” said Connecticut Democratic State Party Chair Nancy DiNardo. “Just yesterday, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said that he refused to help get President Obama reelected by putting the GOP in a position where they co-own a bad economy. That’s not leadership; that’s putting the country at risk in order to score political points, and the American public isn’t buying it.”

Continued DiNardo, “All of their rhetoric simply does not resonate with the public. Connecticut’s congressional delegation has stood firmly against the game the GOP is playing with our future. We need more people like John Larson, Jim Himes, Rosa DeLauro, Chris Murphy and Joe Courtney to stand up for the people and do what’s best for the country, instead of what might be best for winning a presidential election.”

Despite GOP efforts to pin the entire economic crisis on President Obama, the American public doesn’t agree. A majority of voters—54 percent compared to 27 percent—say that they blame former President George W. Bush more than President Obama for the continuing effects of the recession.

While President Obama’s approval rating—47 percent approve to 46 percent disapprove—remained unchanged from the June 9 Q-poll, 65 percent of respondents said they disapprove of the way congressional Republicans are doing their job, compared with 26 percent who approve. Nearly half—48 percent—said it would be the GOP’s fault if an agreement to raise the debt ceiling and prevent the country from defaulting was not reached.

Voters also say that President Obama’s proposals to raise revenues are “closing loopholes,” not “tax hikes;” 67 percent favor increasing taxes on wealthy corporations and individuals as part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Sixty two percent said it’s more important to reduce unemployment rates than to reduce the federal budget deficit.

--END--

Jaclyn M. Falkowski
Communications Director
Connecticut Democratic Party
860-560-1775 / 860-712-7413 cell
jfalkowski@ctdems.org
Visit us today at CTDems.org!
Find us on Facebook and Twitter!

Wallingford GOP picks Laffin for council opening

As published in the Record Journal Thursday July 14, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — Two-term Board of Education member Thomas Laffin won the Republican Town Committee’s nomination Wednesday night to run for a seat on the Town Council that will be left open by the departure of longtime councilor and council Vice Chairman Jerry Farrell Jr.

Laffin, a 31-year-old father of two, graduated from Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., with a degree in political science. He is the North American construction manager for Edible Arrangements.

Laffin, who ran unsuccessfully for office two years ago, said he learned a lot from his campaign and vowed to work harder this time and to raise $5,000.

“I’ll hit more doors, I’ll raise more money and attend more events,” he said. “I don’t like what the Democrats are saying about the mayor and I want to sit at that table and say something.”

Laffin attended his first town committee meeting fresh out of college at age 22, he said, and found himself sitting at a table with the men who would later become the council’s Republicans.

“I knew I wanted to get involved with a group of people that wanted to limit spending, limit government,” he said.

The other hopeful for the nomination, Christine Mansfield, a graduate of Villanova University and a mother of three, owns Discovery Training Services and has been active in volunteer work in the area for many years, she said. Her campaign would have focused on creating a “brand” for her party and her council running mates, using T-shirts, volunteer drives and other activities.

Councilor Craig Fishbein spoke in favor of Mansfield and said she was the better candidate based on her solid relationships in the community through her business and charity work.

“It’s hard to stand up here as a member of the Town Council, but I have to look at who the better candidate is,” he said. “I speak from the heart on this one.”

Mansfield is no stranger to dealing with politicians. She told lawmakers in February that the state suffers from an image problem that is being spread nationwide, and if it doesn’t start operating like a business, it risks losing more people and companies.

“Trying to safeguard this community without mortgaging our children is crucial,” she said. “If I do one thing well, I know how to rally people.”
Board of Education Chairman Thomas Hennessey told Mansfield she would be a perfect fit for a vacancy on his board, and ultimately voted for Laffin for a council run.

“Tom is a very staunch team player and he has innovative ideas,” Hennessey said. “He’s supportive of where the town wants to go in the next decade.”

Farrell, 43, said either candidate could have filled his shoes. The former state commissioner of consumer protection announced earlier this year that he would end his 16 years on the council to spend more time with his family.

Connecticut Executive Branch Layoff Notices

Not necessarily having to do with Wallingford directly but I thought it would be of some interest.

Reported to the Office of Policy and Management as of 10:00 a.m., July 13, 2011

The list below shows the Agency at the top of each subsection, the bargaining unit affected and the number of layoffs for that unit


Department of Construction Services
Managerial 1
Administrative Clerical 4
Engineering, Scientific, Technical 8
Admin and Residual 1
Total 14

Department of Correction
Administrative Clerical 6
Correctional Officers 191
Health Professional 3
Education B 9
Correctional Supervisor 13
Total 222

Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection
Managerial 1

Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
Managerial 5
Service/Maintenance 10
Administrative Clerical 6
Protective Services 2
Health Nonprofessional 33
Health Professional 33
Total 89

Office of Policy and Management
Managerial 2

Grand Total 328


Recap by bargaining unit:
Managerial 9
Service/Maintenance 10
Administrative Clerical 16
Correctional Officers 191
Protective Services 2
Health Nonprofessional 33
Health Professional 36
Education B 9
Engineering, Scientific, Technical 8
Admin and Residual 1
Correctional Supervisor 13
Total 328

Notes:
1.) Does not include layoffs or separations prior to June 1, 2011.
2.) Noticed employees may have legal and contractual rights such as bumping rights or may choose to retire in lieu of layoff.
3.) Position counts are unduplicated.
4.) Does not include Legislative or Judicial branches or constituent units of higher education.

Declaration of Independence - Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776

As cross posted from http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html

Here is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence.
The original spelling and capitalization have been retained.
(Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776)

The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776