Governance, Policy & Economic Development Subcommittee - Regular Meeting

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Oh. Good evening, Bloomfield. Our start time is 6:16. Our apologies for the delay. This is our call to order. Roll call. Uh, Councelor Merritt here. Councelor Goodwin, present. Councelor Deb and Brown

here. Councelor uh vice chair uh councelor Cooper and Mayor Anthony Harrington is here. Thank you very much. We are going to start with bold business and this will be a discussion and possible action regarding the town's boards and commission appointment process standard operating procedures or SOP as it's noted.

Okay. So, we will have our town manager, Alvin Schwab, who will speak to this item. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, counselors. Good evening, town of Bloomfield residents. Uh, Al Schwab. I'm happy to uh speak this evening about our standard operation procedure for board of commission and government uh and appointment management. Um, first and foremost, uh, what I'd like to say is that, um, this been a recurring theme here in the town of Bloomfield. And, and I'll add, uh, a town I I love dearly. I've been a part of the town of Bloomfield since, uh, the age of 13 when I first moved to Bloomfield in 1979. So, um, when it comes to loving this town and having interest in this town, uh, that does not go away, uh, based on my my present zip code. All right? So, um, I I I I say that because what I'm about to say is not very flattering, but it's true. Right? Since um serving in in this capacity as a town manager, what I found is there has been significant gaps in and how we do business in the town of Bloomfield. And this is not a gap that has just come about over the last two years that I've become the town manager. This is a gap that has existed for decades. And and I'm proud of this

council. I'm proud of my staff for recognizing these gaps do exist and for putting us in a position to start going forward uh with some best practices to fill these gaps. So as we talk about a significant gap right now uh that is a way in which uh council uh goes about uh filling boards and commissions for appointment processes. Okay. uh when I fell in on this role and we did a survey of um all processes uh we came to understand that there was nothing in writing that uh gave us the guidance uh for a continued practice of how we're going to go about uh developing um appointments uh for our council and and for my office as well. So uh so what we did uh and with um uh operations and communications uh Miss India Roger Rogers taking the lead is uh we went ahead and developed a uh an SOP. Right. So the purpose of the SOP was to bring about clarity and consistency as well as transparency to the town's boards and commission's appointment process uh to in to ensure that um we support continuity across our town organizations and ensure compliance and strengthen public trust and how appointments are made. uh like I the current landscape right now is that we have 50 boards, commissions and com and committees with various uh functions and appointment requirements. I know when I came on board to become the um the town manager, uh that was deemed to be uh perhaps to be too many boards and commissions at this time. And and I've been looking at it with some scrutiny to see if there's

opportunities to perhaps um u blend uh some boards and commissions or um or or or basically dissolve others. But um but 50 is a lot of boards and commissions for for a town of our size to to manage. So um we'll see what that looks like once we we really get after some further analysis. And um while interest and application exists and is publicly accessible, the overall appointment process as I said is is not formally documented in a single uh standardized format. So practices related to vacancy identification, referrals, timelines, and notifications vary depending on the boards and commissions. So the assessment I was talking about that was um taken place to to see where we're at now. Uh it was done with uh Miss India Rogers at the at the helm and then she looked at the appointment and reappointment practices. She looked at vacancy tracking and term expirations. She looked at the roles of the the council, uh, the RTC, the DTC, administration, and town clerk. And she looked at public access to information and communications with applicants. Uh, this assess this assessment highlighted gaps and process consistency rather than intent or effort. And a a key finding for the need for the SOP was that there is no centralized written procedure outlining the end to end appointment process like I said at the onset and there was has been inconsistent tracking of various vacancies and term expirations and limited documentation of referral roles roles and timelines um involving RTC and DTC and this lack of

standardiz communication with applicants including acknowledgement of of application and updates of status we know has caused uh avoidable avoidable frustration within the community. Right? So um we also um rely heavily on institutional knowledge rather than repeated repeatable transparent process. So we rely upon whoever's been here the longest to to lean on that person say how do we do this? And instead of having that that continuity plan in place or that contingency plan in place so that we can continue to go if if uh counselor XYZ or or staff member XYZ or town manager XYZ hits his power ball and decides you know what I want to take my talents elsewhere. We have no way of of having that um that that that plan to continue us forward. So that is why our SOP is is so important. is going to ensure our continuity and institutional stability regardless of staff or leadership changes. As I just mentioned, it's going to o promote an open and transparent communication with public and and interested applicants. And it's and it's going to clarify roles and responsibilities across the council administration, RTC, DTC, and the town clerk. Okay. is going to support uh in equity by ensuring all applicants are treated consistently and it's going to strengthen compliance, recordkeeping and public conference in the appointment um process. So, the next step for us to get this underway is for the um SOP uh which I have right here and and I've highlighted uh to for this to be approved by council and once you approve approve it, it'll be publicly accessible and supported by improved tracking,

communication, and reporting tools. We just engaged in some new um software that's going to help with boards and commissions management and this work will reflect the town's broader commitment to good governance uh transparency and inclusive civic engagement. So you should all have uh before you the actual uh SOP for board and commission government governance and appointment management. Uh it has a purpose section. It has a section that talks about submission process and intake which is initial pool. That's section one. Uh section two covers down on candidate communication and active pool maintenance. And uh section three is candidate vetting and interview process which is also known as the vetting stage. Cancel four is recommendation and appointment facilitation. And um we go over to um section five which is governance and recordkeeping. Uh and then we have an addendum to uh the SOP uh which basically focuses on those commissions and boards that are specialized high-skll and quasi judicial appointments such as ethics, citation hearing and planning and zoning. So, uh, a lot of time and effort went into this by Miss Rogers. She's she socialized this with with staff as well as, um, legal and, uh, I I think coming from no place, uh, this is more than a a good place to start and put us back on track or put us on track, uh, with a document that we can point to that continue to serve that will continue to serve this council and and town manager's office uh, for decades to come. So, subject to your questions, Mr. Mayor and Councel, that's my report.

Thank you. Uh, any discussion? Yes. Um, just one quick question. Uh, just quickly, it seems like it's a very, um, comprehensive document. However, I just got this, so I would need to digest it, right? Um, be able to take some time. And I think I'd asked for it previously so that I could read it and understand it and have some questions. When was this sent out? When was this sent out? Yeah. And when was that? What day was that sent out? Probably like last Thursday. Last week. Thursday. Okay. What I got was this is a little bit different than this. Oh, no. The memo from my draft.

Okay. So, I'm sorry. Did not see the draft SOP. Um, but I would like to be able to dive and I think that's reasonable, ma'am. Right. So, it's once again, thank you because it looks very comprehensive. Just a couple things that I'm thinking about. Um, I know that we rely on the DTC and the RTC to make um recommendations. I don't know how many members are on the RTC. I can't imagine it's a lot of people. I know the DT,

right? No shade. I just don't know how many people is on there. Um, I do know that the DTC is 65 strong, but I also know that there's residents in the town who's also not a part of either organization that would want to

uh submit their names, their resumes or whatever. So, I think that needs to be taken into consideration as well. I think um it's for the committees that the council um appoints, I think we need to be a little bit more hands-on in that process. um seeing their uh interest forms, seeing their resumes. If we're asking for résumés to make sure that as the appointing body, we have confidence. We know exactly what the pool was. Um we know exactly how many fish was in the pool before we go out there and try to catch fish. So, just some of those things that and and that is that is within the SOP map. That's the SOP.

I just like an opportunity to read it and to be able to digest it. That's that's me. I'm not speaking for anyone else.

As as soon as you're ready uh to uh give some feedback based on your ability to um you know fully comprehend and absorb and ask whatever questions you may have, then we just ask that you bring it to council for vote and your your recommendation. So, um if it takes more time based on the fact you haven't enough you haven't had enough time to review, that's that's fair. But we do have some some uh commissions that right now have expired. We have several that have expired. So uh I would almost recommend that even if we reconvene this uh committee uh before you know it will be hard to do it before the next uh council perhaps but if there's an opportunity to do so before the next council and uh you folks can be in a position to give the council uh an opinion on this then that will put us in a position to move forward sooner versus later. C. Councelor Merritt,

I I have a question. I think probably for the town attorney. Um, our former town attorney u set a very difficult standard um for choosing people to be on committees. And uh he strictly interpreted a uh requirement that no more than a bare majority of one party a majority party could be part of it. In other words, if you had a committee of had two uh Democrats on it, you had to have one unfair or Republican on it. And u this becomes a very ownorous requirement. I I'm a Republican, but um I have to admit that uh they're very very difficult to find interested affiliates. Really is when you're trying to make up a committee and so you end up with Republicans and same few people are willing to serve aren't necessarily the best and the brightest. um all Republicans aren't aren't bright and you know I'm sorry some of them most of us are brilliant but not not all of us and uh those same people get dragged out to be on committees and I I've been blessed with being a chair of a ad hoc committee that trails committee and uh I I find all sorts of good democrats I can put on but I have a hard time finding the requirement of unaffiliates or Republicans and it's a real pain in the neck. This is this is a I'm just wondering how what the state law I think is the thing that dominates this isn't a local thing. It's a state law. And I I would wish for a more liberal interpretation of what the state

law is so that I'd like to put more Democrats on my committee and just because they're the ones that are interested and came au and I've had I had somebody that was so interested in being in my committee that he converted from being a Democrat to being an affiliate which seemed ridiculous to me require that but that's what he did. He died soon thereafter. But still that was a um I I just shouldn't that shouldn't be required and I so I wish I kind of try to look into that further and see there's some flexibility. So I mean in some committees I I can see on the council where we don't even conform to that because we have a 63 instead of a 54. I know one town just changed over to a 54, but I don't understand why that doesn't apply to the town council, but it seems to apply to all of our committees. Thank you. If you would look into that a little further, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you. Um, councelor Goodwin,

while I do respect the ability to continue to review it further, I did just want to take a moment to celebrate the quality of this work. I think it attempts to minister to so many of the complaints we've heard, concerns folks have had about the complete accessibility of a form or if I filled it out in writing, is somebody still going to scan it and put it in? So, I just I think the SOP has really done a great job of trying to anticipate um any of the concerns that could come up to make this as applicable and as accessible to as many people as possible. So, I just want to thank you for your work. Thank you very much, Attorney Cooper. I mean, not attorney, excuse me, councelor Cooper.

Give me a minute. I'm I'm at L2 and I'll sure join you shortly, right? Attorney Crumby, he doesn't hear me. But anyway, uh um you know, I just want to say this is awesome, right? I do. I believe it is. Um and and so are you considering this a TM? You considering this a draft that we we consider it ready uh to be uh voted on as is. It's a draft because you have not agreed it to be final, but um this is what we're producing to you for consideration to bring up to council.

Awesome. I Yeah, it was just a question. No, is that was one question. The other one was um and to councelor Merritt's point um in all honesty what council merit brings up about the uh constitution of our commissions um goes back to our previous meeting you know with the charter that might be one of those opportunities to to revisit in the charter and so state law um state law right can't do anything about that? We can't. Not really.

Okay. Well, then I I have I have totally misspoken. Um I was going to make Bloomfield its own sovereign place, but I won't do that. Um I'm jumping off. Don't Don't do that. But you know, the the fact of of how we deal with these uh these commissions. I know that 50 is way too many, right? Will there be a culling?

What? Well, you know, I'm going to take my lead from council on that. Majority of these are are council appointed. Um, I can provide you a decision brief based on our analysis, but that final decision will be for you to decide based on what you see as the direction that the council wants for for the community. So, uh, we will provide you that with our analysis. So, you won't have to start from scratch reviewing. But um in terms of what you want and and what you're willing to uh have blended or what you no longer see as viable, that'll be a council decision.

One one last question. um the folks who are on these lists, will counselors have an opportunity, right, to say if we have a commission, if there's something that we'd like to or or some persons um or some names, simply names that we would maybe like to see. Well, we will

the process will be such that that folks who are encouraged uh to apply will be given the opportunity through the through the many vehicles that exist within the town, RTC, DTC, you know, u relationships that you have with with constituents and those names will be provided and and and vetted according to our our SOP and ultimately the decision will be the council's for for all council appointed uh personnel. I know India had one other thing she'd like to add, but before she goes to add that, I wanted to make certain that our public sees this woman, right? Because she is phenomenal. And then and and a term we use often in the military is basically what she embodies and that's a force multiplier. And what I mean by that is she does the job of multiple people which keeps our our payroll down and and it and it just serves us in a way that it's it quite frankly it's almost abusive to India right because she's always going she's always making things happen no matter what hour night if you're up on your email you you can attest to this because you know that you're receiving traffic from her and she's given guidance to new employees and now with her new role uh which is basically ally an extension of of what she was, you know, strategic um uh communication, government affairs. That just didn't resonate with me. But I do know what a director of operations and communications mean. So, I just changed the name to make it more identifiable to me and identifiable to the majority of the public uh when they when they look at our organization. So, she's the director of ops and comms and and she's on it, right? and I wanted her to be up here as somebody who uh does a lot in the background, but you need to see her in person live here. So, if I can have this opportunity to just give a round of applause for what she brings to the table, I would greatly appreciate it.

And um and I'll give her the mic at this point.

Hi, thank you Tom Andrew. So, I just wanted to um mention a couple of things. Thank you, Council Dean Brown. Um you've served for chair in the past for committee on committees. The function of that committee is going to be under this committee governance. So, the goal is is to have the SOP that is in draft form hopefully approved by the council next Monday with a couple of um comments that other people may have like from the community because I know it's Baron mentioned she had a couple comments and taking all that in consideration and having that be passed on Monday because we have to appoint these boards and commissions. They've been waiting since November. We have ethics people have been waiting. We have BAA which is the board of assessment appeals that needs to get ready for March. So, this is the goal on Monday to get this passed hopefully. So, I would respectfully ask all counselors to review the SOP that was submitted and to submit me any feedback you may have by this Thursday so that we can prepare um and actually by Wednesday to be honest with you because we got to send the agenda on Thursday so that we can prepare and have this in draft final form for a vote on Monday. And that's all I had to say.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. And and I must say that you have to be a speed listener when you're when you're communicating with um with Miss India Rogers. I I definitely had to uh turn up my ability to to comprehend because she gets it in. She gets it in. And uh Council Goodwin, thank you so much, sir, for your acknowledgement of of uh Miss India Rogers. Really appreciate that feedback. It it inspires the the team to just keep doing the excellent work that they're doing. So So thank you for that. Sir can

I'd like to so I I just want to say u um give acknowledgement once again to um India um many of much of the work that was put into this I think came from some community members who were identifying certain elements of the process that they would like to see in place. So I want to thank you all for for that. Um it's been difficult because the community is asking when when when and we have some I think uh ethics issues to to get right into. So it is imperative that we move as swiftly as we can in terms of putting these committees together. And I'm going to apologize to our committee because uh early on I did decide that it would come through us and I figured you know you've served as the committee on committees chair before and and many of us have been here for some time so we want to see each and everyone that comes through so at least we're not just passing on paper that we actually meet the people that are going to be on these committees. So I want to thank you for uh developing that process and I do hope that after review we'll be able to uh make some some decisions to move forward because there are a lot of people waiting with baited breath to to move on these committees. Uh councelor Merritt.

Well, I'm glad you hear a lot of people. So I'd like someone from my trails committee if you can give me some. Anyway, uh I had didn't have the impression there were thousands of people trying to get on committees. Um but that's good. I um I'm I'm concerned about the extent of qualifications required to be on a committee. I mean mo committees don't spend any of the taxpayers money. They don't pass laws. Not all of them. Some of them do have a budget. Some of them have a budget that we give them. Yes. Very minute.

Don't really we decide on the budget. They right give them a few hundred dollars. It's not at all.

And so also I I think um so I mean I I we shouldn't build too high a wall to require. So people look at us, oh I'll never qualify to be on that committee. That's just not true. I mean, if you're interested in something, um, we I had a guy who's just into sidewalks. He really likes sidewalks. Well, that isn't the main thing of the trails committee, but okay, that was part of it. And he thought we needed, and I agree with him, we needed a lot more sidewalks in town. And uh, so that but he he was qualified because he had been moved from West Harford. He had been on a committee for side work for some reason. So, but we we don't really require somebody to have a PhD to be on a committee and the conflict of interest is not a really big problem on committees. I mean, because I say they don't spend money and they and they don't pass laws. So I mean they're very they recommend things and then coming to the council usually or some other group and who who does have the authority TPZ for example or CBA. Um but so I I I'm I'm want to look at this and see if I we can kind of not make it look like a big wall to prevent people from being on a committee just because they don't think they're qualified. Thank you. Thank you for

Thank you. Uh any more just discussion? Yeah, just for for my own um personal uh edification. I'm looking under where it says candidate vetting and interview process. The vetting stage. Can you give me the section number number three?

Mhm. And I see uh note when an elected position vacancy occurs that we're going to reach out to applicable Democratic or Republican town committee and ask for candidate recommendation. What happens to the 5,000 um other Republicans and the 5,000 other Democrats that don't belong to the DTC or the RTC. And and I think that's where your connection with the community comes into place because yes, we're going to reach out to these known established organizations, but as someone who represents every member of the town regardless of political partnership, that's where it comes in. So, I can tell you uh I live in Simsbury over the hill, right? Four miles from from here. And um and I can tell you who and I'm a registered Democrat, okay? I can tell you the person that communicates to me most in the town of Simsbury via u media means is a Republican council person because that person met me in the street was at it was at a veterans parade and uh she said, "Hey, I'd like to sign you up." So that same way that that occurred and that communication line stays open is the same way all nine counselors can can make sure that communication lines stay open with all political parties uh regardless of affiliation. Absolutely. I'm just saying if we're putting it in our procedures, we should also make room, right? Because I

I I think some language could be added that will basically speak to the fact that it should be as broad as possible. That's So, thank you for that.

That's I know she's over there like, I don't know. Should I save? I don't know. No, you're you're correct when you say that, but the the the concern that I would have with that comment is that it may be a Democratic or Republican seat. So, we would start to recruit from the DTC or the RTC to fill that seat. Let's just say, you know, there's no Republican available. Then, we would go out to say an affiliate or a Green Party person or something like that. But, we have to start where the seat is currently vacant at like DTC or RTC. And that's where those recommendations would come in from. If they don't submit a recommendation, then we can go broadly like the time just saying,

but they might submit a re they might submit a recommendation, but there might be a better qualified individual out there. The only thing I'm saying is let's not put it because I'm well aware well aware of thoughts and opinions about the DTC and the RTC and people just don't want to engage with them, but they want to serve our town. So, if we're going to have standard operating procedures, I think it's important not to shut out the millions of people who aren't a part of the DTC or the RTC. So, while we're looking, put an ad in the paper, send out your email blast. We're looking for a Republican to fill this seat or an unaffiliate or we're looking for a Democrat or an unaffiliate. I think the the the more we make it um accessible, the better pool of candidates we will have.

Yes, sir. That's all I'm trying to say. Oh my goodness. Did you all just hear Joe Mary said he agree with me? I agree. I got witnesses. So, we'll add that we'll add that piece to that note. And I have a few more, but I'll I'll No, thank you. and and and I'm thankful to hear that recommendation because although we're giving you what we believe to be our final project just like the budget, you know, you take it and you do what you need to do to make it work work for you as a council and and and I respect that wholeheartedly as part of the process. I I have another

Yes, sir. I uh at one point uh I think I was the chair of the um golf course commission committee back when I don't know if we even have one anymore but uh and uh I wanted there were some people I wanted to put on a committee and uh uh going back chair of a committee used to be able to bring people on to the committee. It didn't require going through this whole and you found somebody that qualified and you said, "Oh, sure. You you can be a member of my committee." So I I I I'm I'm looking fondly at that situation which goes back at least 10 years I suppos and I can understand the benefits of that but I can also understand where some people may feel somewhat because the the door is not open to them because maybe they don't have a personal relationship with a chair. So with what we're proposing here, it's going to be the process that's going to allow for inclusiveness and and for everyone to at least feel like they can be a part of the process. We may end up with the with the chair's recommendation, right? But um but at least it would have been vetted through a process that everyone would have felt an opportunity to uh show their value and and serve their community.

That's fine. Thank you. Uh we do have another uh question or comment from uh councelor Goodwin. In in the future uh if we could go through the chair so I can make sure that I'm getting the right people who have raised their hands and and want to speak. So uh no offense to anyone just if we can do that that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks uh councelor Goodwin.

Yeah, thank you. Um, I do appreciate, um, looking at all of the ways to make things accessible. What I don't want to do, um, and I don't, and I just want to be clear, um, councelor Death Brown, I don't think you're suggesting this, but I don't want to undermine the purposes of the DTC or the RTC. Um, I think they exist with the effort that we might also support their flourishing in the town as well as encourage people to be actively involved in the RTC and the DTC. So I think we have to find a balance between how do we make it accessible to all people while at the same time continuing to support these systems that are in place. So some middle ground in there and I don't have an exact answer right now about how to perfectly word that. I appreciate the spirit that's in the current way it's worded because I think it does strengthen those committees which are involved by people of the town and even if you're not a member of those committees you still have an invitation to attend those meetings to put your name forward to you know name that you filled out an information sheet um I myself have gone through that process many times so I just want to be able to name that I do think it is a positive process and I just want to make sure we're not doing anything to diminish that those two bodies exist.

Thank you. So, as we close this discussion, uh we're talking about the possibility of uh bringing it to council after everyone has had an opportunity to review. Okay, that sounds good. So

the revisions are you'd like them back by when? By Wednesday. Okay. Thank you. This week just a councelor Death and Brown. Thank you. Just a clarification. Um do we have to vote this out of committee to the council before it act? That's what I thought. So I would I would make a suggestion um that we pro oh we Wednesday tomorrow's Tuesday h that one on the agenda but that Monday agenda goes off Thursday that's why

right I'm just seeing you make you make a motion to um I will request that you make a motion to um accept the current draft as it's written and then with revisions to be made by counselors as well as maybe a couple people that I spoke to already today from the community by Wednesday and have a final draft to council. Can you vote for that recommendation out of this committee that you did acknowledge that you reviewed it that you know in these discussions we have a couple of amendments that we would like to make. Could that be a motion?

I would um I I you know I did take some jurist prudence classes, but I would actually go to the town attorney to see if that's a legal motion because I don't know. I don't know because it's just a recommendation out of committee. So it's not like, you know, why do you read by Wednesday? Because I have to put in the agenda for Monday and that agenda goes out on Thursday because I I I would prefer not to wait another two weeks. Is it possible to have a special meeting on Wednesday for this committee? You can. Um,

was there a response from our town attorney? I'm not quite sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Not quite clear on what the question is. India, is the question to move this from committee to the full council? Well, yes, but the um clarification is is that there the document that they need to vote on is not quite ready and there's a few amendments that need to be made. So, the question was we have to vote a recommendation out of committee to go on council agenda for action. I'd rather have meeting a yes or no question. Have a special meeting.

So, I was I was making a suggestion to have a motion to say that the committee um did review the initial draft. they have a couple of amendments and have that be like a friendly amendment and have it go to council once those amendments are um are completed and reviewed and you know you can move the item out of committee to the full council and have the final document for vote by the full council. Okay. And there's no vote needed to to move the item out of committee. just a recommendation right on Wednesday.

So there's uh some discussion at the possibility of doing a Zoom meeting on Wednesday.

Here's here's what I will propose so that this doesn't feel rushed. um take your time looking at these and we can have as long as we don't get to a quorum we can have those counselors set up on a call on Monday right Monday early enough so that we can take all your feedback and we can put it in a document that you will then put before the council Monday evening right because if we start to look at this for a document finalized document on on Wednesday. That means there has to be some hoop jumping between now and Wednesday, right? And this will give you a little bit more time to to digest it and and think about it. And uh then we can have a meeting to finalize the language. And at that point, as long as you put it in a text and and and written text document, we can cut and paste your changes into our our document. And we can do that on Monday uh before the council meeting is what I would recommend. So, right now you're just voting to push it out of committee. We'll get together on Monday and we'll finalize what that final draft looks like uh to the council if that works for you.

Are we able to move that? Want to state it? We'd have to we'd have to make a motion to move this item out of committee to the council. Period. With period. Yeah. I don't think that changes.

Yeah. I I want to make sure that there is some language that we as a committee is being uh is doing due diligence, right? So, we could I would be comfortable making a motion to move this item out of committee to the full council with the caveat that members of this committee and members of the public get to weigh in before that final document to council.

I would say what would probably be and and and that's fine, but um what I would use because at some point the weighing in is over, right? So, we got to put a date and time on when to do that. On Monday and that will be at the end of your meeting that we'll have with you. Right. Because I'm not going to add anything from the public after council has agreed to what that document is. So, is it possible then, and I I'm sorry if I'm making this more difficult, so please forgive me. Is it possible then to have the cut off for weighin on Friday and we'll have that quick meeting on Monday because we can do that. We can do that

be cut and paste. I think that will be a little bit easier for India than for her to try to make it. So what we can do is we can post the draft SOP on on our on our website and and solicit public feedback. and um but understanding that um although we we welcome all thoughts, all thoughts may not be appropriate. So um but we can do that.

Yep. Yeah. So, I would like to make a motion that we move this item out of committee, giving counselors and residents the opportunity to weigh in on this item by Friday. Quick meeting on Monday to present to council Monday evening. I'm good with that. And we can set up the particulars about Monday's meeting on Monday. Second. All those in favor? I I I I motion passes. Sounds like good was about to Yeah, I was gonna vote, but I was gonna vote. I'm sorry. I saw you lean in.

I Okay, I'm sorry, Derell. I I I just want to say, you know, as as often that I don't speak about a lot of things that that occur, but uh you folks made us proud this evening as a community, you know, just working through this this challenge and talking about it and and just really representing what your true, you know, characters are, just people committed to just helping the town get better. So, I salute you, you know, and I thank you for the leadership that you shown tonight and um in getting us through this challenge and uh and I know uh the public love seeing this type of engagement and and solidarity and and and working through things and and we plan to continue to show them this same effort. So, thank you so much for that.

Thank you. Absolutely. We will now move to uh discussion regarding business development updates. John Coleman, director of building and land use. You have the floor. Uh, good evening, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, members of the committee. Um,

I know you've already had a long evening, so I'm going to um shorten this uh presentation um so that uh you can uh hopefully enjoy the the rest of the evening uh shortly. Uh there actually have not been a heck of a lot of changes since my last report, but I'll whip through it quickly. Uh the town center plan as you know uh was adopted last spring and a revised CIF application is pending before the DEC and we hopefully will see uh they will make their decision in March and hopefully we will receive a positive read back um on the plan and conservation at the Feb February meeting the commission will be at at the first of its two February meetings the commission will be discussing um u write rewrites of a number of the sections and on the schedule we're on now I would anticipate that the commission will be um doing the statutory referral to the town council uh for your March meeting um probably your second March meeting not your first March meeting in terms of policies and amendments um um TPZ at their sec at their at their second meeting will be discussing a number of zoning regulations um u amendments. Uh it'll also be discussing beginning preliminary discussions on proposed amendments necessary to respond to the new state housing legislation uh which we are working with a number of departments on. Uh we're continuing to review and prepare the uh housing trust fund policy so we can start expending the funds that we're putting in there. Uh and we're continuing the uh interstaff um conversations regarding uh collection efforts related to code

enforcement citations of both building health uh and zoning. Um on approved development and under construction that basically no changes uh so I'm not going to go through that in detail. um on u on pre-development uh and preconstruction. Um we had a second informal presentation with the uh uh with the team from 800 Cottage Grove Road. Uh the number of units indicated on this slide is is inaccurate. It's 20 it's 215 potential units. Um and they are now getting ready to um begin the process of um of being reviewed um for their potential uh requests for um some tax relief related to that related to that project which is we've indicated to them they really need to get an answer from from you all um before they really go into some of the more zoning stuff. And um so we're working with Gman and York uh which is our normal consultant on that process. Um we've also had a number of um of interests at 51 Gab Road. We've had informal meetings with um a number of potential uses and um hopefully that will begin to clarify itself over the next month. and um the five unit multi-tenant retail retail strip mall on uh on Cottage Grove Road 529 that's just e just east of Northwestern Drive uh has begun uh construction. Uh and the numbers while um you know not spectacular aren't bad for for January.

We had 151 building permits. Uh had a permit value of aboutund almost 112,000 almost 700,000 and a construction value of almost 11 million. And I can tell you that on the uh permit value we have now reached our uh FY 2026 budget um target. So um going forward for the next five months um it'll be a positive number which is uh encouraging both as you uh begin to develop your budget for uh for next year. And that briefly re uh is my report and I'd be happy to answer any questions from any of you.

Yes, councelor Beth and Brown. Thank you so much for that presentation. Um, with the new housing legislation coming down the pike, um, can you tell me a little bit more on, uh, the the thought process to try to preserve our rights as a town and a community? Um, and also, will there beformational sessions? And I'm asking because I'm going to one um, this week. So I don't I don't know if you're planning something with our residents just to give some more information regarding this

counselor. We are once we um once we finish our deep dive we are working with um particularly with the capital region council of governments to have a um full and complete understanding of the uh impact on on Bloomfield and what we need to do. We are as you I'm sure are aware we're ahead of the game. Um we're not uh under the um uh 30- GM requirement at this point and it's our intention not to be under that. Uh there are some requirements and that we have to look at in terms of the uh the parking uh regulations in there and the uh potential uh conversion of of non-residential space to residential space. Um, and also there's um there's um a sleeper in there related to um to mobile homes as we would call them uh that we need to look at. And once we've we uh also need to we'll be updating our our affordable housing plan, but I think we're way ahead of that because we have a fairly up-to-date plan with see whether or not we're going to coordinate with um uh with directly with the region when there's an opportunity for them to perform some of the activities on behalf of the municipalities. Um but yes um shorter answer is that um we will do everything uh to protect the interests of the town and to preserve uh our rights to uh control our own destiny and uh once we um have a fuller understanding of exactly what we need to do um we will certainly schedule someformational sessions. Uh, I would think that that's probably four to six weeks out.

Council Cooper,

I'm sorry, John. John, just just one quick backtrack on the town center plan. Um, where are we with that? We plan we um we have a we applied in early December for a reapplication for a community investment fund grant uh for just a little over 19 million to CD DCD. I'll get it out. And that um decision is anticipated uh in March. And obviously we're hopeful that um that we will have a um a positive response and relative to that I would encourage all of you uh every opportunity you have to mention it to our state legislators and encourage them uh to um continue their support um uh with the um CIF board uh to approve um uh the uh project um in this particular funding uh circle um political legislative support uh is critical.

Thank you. I hope that hope that answers your question.

It it does absolutely. Thank you. So, I I will say that uh Senator Slap and Representative Gibson have been uh spoken to and encouraged to uh further support. They've already provided support in the letters that they've sent to the legislature, but um I believe they are attempting to um I don't want to say coales, but to uh bring us in touch with the uh the uh chair and possibly hopeful that they will have some uh encouragement with that uh CIF committee We are fearful that that happens uh because we know um we've been waiting a long time to make moves on that property or on that downtown district and uh so uh it's very important but I I I want to mention there's been a lot of activity of late uh some with regard to Gab Road. Uh there are a couple of developers that are interested in that property and one in particular uh that appears to be purchasing it within the next week or so. Uh it was supposed to be last Wednesday, but it didn't happen. Um we also have um encouraging news with uh First Cathedral in the uh affordable housing units that they will be developing. Uh there has been a lot of interest in Bloomfield and so we're excited about it. We just want to make sure that we can make it happen. Um so it is important to move forward with the downtown district, but there are other areas of our community that we

want to make sure we can bring uh some new development. Which leads me to this last question. Krag appears to be interested potentially in providing some economic development support as well as as as far as an individual. Are you um can you speak to that to any extent? I know that there they sent out a questionnaire asking if a we had an economic development director and then b would we be interested in the utilization of their services in a variety of different ways.

I am familiar we um we we have not had direct conversation. I've responded back to them and particularly on the affordable housing um they've offered to do um economic proform analysis of um potential sites and I have um forwarded to them the Douglas Street site and the Blue Hills Avenue um site uh for them to utilize their consultant which happens to be GMAN and York uh to and um see if they select that Um we have um um since we used Gleman and York as our economic development consultant, I have not had uh a lengthy conversation with Krag about um about uh that particular um effort, but we will be. And as I indicated, uh we're going to be having extensive conversations with them about the housing legislation and how um they can assist Bloomfield in in uh the approach that we want to take to that.

Thank you. But we are but we are we are in um I think as you know, Mr. Mayor, we are in constant contact with Krag on a number of um of important issues including housing, economic development, transportation, um um um water resources, um solid waste disposal, um across the board. they have been a um they have been a very beneficial partner and um we we uh intend to continue to do that with them.

Thank you. Are there any more questions, comments from council? No. Thank you very much for that presentation. Thank you. We will now move to uh administrative administrative report from our town manager Alvin D. Schwab Jr.

Hey, good morning again or good evening again to uh councelor council uh Mr. Mayor and and council and and city citizens of Bloomfield. I really appreciate the opportunity to once again speak. Uh what I wanted to speak of is is a couple items in in particular and and that is uh first and foremost are the phenomenal phenomenal efforts of our um our DPW. They were highlighted on Fox 61 uh last week as a result of their incredible efforts and and um in clearing our roads uh during uh one of the the largest storms uh in in recent history. and they just did a phenomenal job. They they pushed through it. Uh there was no one hurt, no accidents. So, we're very proud of them and their efforts as and um and I I did double tap them this morning on our um on our weekly sync call to make sure that uh everyone appreciated their efforts and and they they were definitely appreciated. um would neglect the fact that we had to close uh last Monday, but um as I followed the governor's lead, I did so with the thoughts of our of our um workforce in mind and u making certain that um they they were safe and um and as non-essential employees, no one was putting themselves at unnecessary risk. Um, I I also uh wanted to uh comment on uh on a um a program that was well um attended by members of our uh community building leadership team and um and nine individuals who participated in our emerging leader um program development program. Uh this was an opportunity for select individuals

who volunteered to be a part of a a 12week um development program uh to go from where they were at uh to what they ended up leaving. um was with some enhanced abilities and and critical thinking uh communication skills and um and building collaborations and um and and just overall learning some best practices of of leaders throughout our organization. As I I say most um often, it's important that uh we build a bench from inside the staff that we have here now and make people feel valued and and and respected enough to know that they can uh pursue opportunities here within town uh that we don't always have to look for um a fill uh outside of the town. And uh and this program provided that opp that opportunity. It has never been done before in the town of Bloomfield. And um we had a grand um event that culminated with a a graduation dinner and award presentation. Mr. Mayor, I I thank you for your attendance and um and madame deputy mayor, I thank you for your attendance as well as as your words. Uh we had a a professional from from Yukon um who came out and and spoke, academic gentleman who came out and spoke and and praised us as a as a community, as a municipality for for having the forward vision uh to provide uh such an opportunity for growth for our people. So, um, we're going to continue with what we've been doing since my arrival. And I can tell you mines is a small part of the equation. Uh, and it's the easiest part. All I do is come up with what the idea is. And I rely upon extremely competent and capable staff to

execute the vision. And in this case, it was led by um, Miss Adeline Valentina. And uh, and that name that you expect to hear every single time, Miss India Rogers. cuz she had her she had her hand in the in the pot as well. Um but this was an HR um um deliverable which came out of um Miss Rosa Matias's uh department. So uh tremendously proud of of that evening and event for all our new people and uh and just happy to know that we're continuing to to make our mark. We plan to get some positive press about this. Uh, I know it was filmed by BATV, so if you weren't watching it live, there'll be an opportunity for you to see um very significant happenings here in the town. Uh, with that, sir, subject to your questions and the rest of the council, that's my very brief report this evening.

Thank you very much. Now, we will move to uh public comments. Okay. And also anyone who is online, if you could uh make your presence known. Sorry. No problem. All right. We have Mark Sanderson.

And before Mr. Sanderson steps up. Um, I have an appointment in in Westchester uh next week, Monday, so for what I'm dealing with. So, I won't be here. Just so you know, DTM will be here in my place. Okay. Well, blessings. Thank you.

No, it's not. Yes. Okay. Mark Sanderson, 17 Oak Lane here in Bloomfield. Um the SOP uh just in a brief read of it looks great. I think that's a big step in the right direction. I mean it's definitely we need that people should know what the criteria are for these jobs and how to apply for them and how they're chosen. Um and it's it's really good. So thank you for the effort. Thank you.

Um I was going to ask how this was going to happen. and I was interested in the ethics council or the commission and um and so I was going to ask when is it going to happen and I kind of have a much better idea of that now. Um the my other question would be what the criteria is going to be for the people that are chosen. So hopefully we can put something together so that we know are we in the ballpark or are we not for the people that want to participate and and be part of that that commission. So hopefully we can make that happen, you know. Um, and one of the things in the SOP I agree with Suzette because in the DTC and the RTC is a is a small percentage of the population, right? I've been here three years. I'm not a member of the DTC, but I'm a registered Democrat. Um, and I can't make all those meetings. I mean, I could, I guess, but it's a matter of priority. Should I have to go to those meetings and get known to be com considered for a position on a commission? And to me, I don't think that's reasonable. You know, if I apply for a job at Ford, I don't have to go meet with somebody at Dunkin Donuts first and get to know the people in human resources so that I can get in the door to get a job at Ford. I go to Ford, I go to their human resources department, I make an application, I go through their vetting process and the interviews, and then a decision is made. And I think especially in light of all of the the percentage of people in town that are not happy with the council's performance have have questions for them. I think we do some things today that would help alleviate some of that, but for some reason it's not being done. Like one would be to absolutely open the doors anybody. You know, you don't have to live like if if you'd have to live here six or eight months or a year to get to know people on a DTC before you could be considered, but you shouldn't have to. If you're a smart person, you just moved into town, you might be the best person for the job, but you wouldn't get it if you're going to the DTC or the RTC first. I mean, I think it should just be an open application. You put your application in. If you as

counselors have recommendations, I think that's great, you know, because you know people that'll do the job well, but it should be considered against all the other people that put their names in just like anybody else. It's all a level playing field. And I think if you do that, that will eliminate some of the concerns that people have on Facebook and all your complaints. The other thing was, and this isn't related just this, but I have the opport I wanted to tell you the um the uh commission for the charter revision. There's five people on it. They had an opportunity to expand that tonight, which would have helped lessen some of the complaints that you're getting now, but that decision wasn't made. And I think it was a bit shortsighted because if you really want to make the town's people happy with what the council is doing, a simple adjustment like that, allowing more people to be on part of it would have made some people would have shut a lot of people out. You know, you have to think about that. So anyway, thank you very much for I appreciate it.

Appreciate it,

Erin. Thank you. Aaron Behringer, 28 Chemmore Road. Uh, good evening, mayor, vice chair, and members of the governance subcommittee. Um, I want to first echo what the town manager said about India, um, you know, drafting this SOP. I think she did an excellent job. up. I had the opportunity to read it and I also want to highlight because I had the opportunity to um speak with her, you know, I love the collaborative spirit that she has that I said, you know, I have some thoughts and suggestions and you know, she will welcome my comments. So, I just wanted to um say that to everybody present and then also the residents uh listening. Um there was just a few things that um I wanted to to say about the SOPs. You know, I I do appreciate that the work um that has gone in in formalizing the vetting and recommendation process and really support this goal of transparency. But I want to raise several concerns that all point to one really central issue and that's the need for equal political party representation within the subcommittee. You know, there's four um Democrats and one Republican and it will be your committee that recommends the candidates to then go to council. So the subcommittee identifies the candidates. They're going to conduct the interviews. they're going to apply the scoring uh criteria and then ultimately recommend these nominations to town council. So since this body functions as the gatekeeper that's why I believe the

compet uh the com uh the group matters greatly without the requirement for this equal party representation even a wellintentioned process risks appearing unbalanced. Um I also think that standardized question and scoring rubrics are useful tools but they certainly cannot substitute for balanced judgment um at decision-m table and really this transparency alone is not enough. The structure itself must support this um independence and and credibility. Candidates that aren't appointed would be placed back in a quote active pool without really any transparency regarding any of the feedback prioritization and how long this individual that doesn't get chosen would remain under consideration for future uh boards and commissions. So this lack of clarity may really discourage public participation rather than encourage it if they're not getting that feedback. In addition, there was some stuff on the addendum. I just want to if you give me one 30 seconds more. While their structure appears orderly, it lacks some of the safeguards to ensure balance and independence and public confidence. I urge the council uh in the subcommittee to strengthen this process by adopting clear evaluation standards, ensuring balanced representation within the government governance subcommittee and increasing transparency at each of the decision point. Bloomfield deserves an appointment process that is not only fair but unmistakably credible and

reinforce Bloomfield's commitment to really transparent and impartial governance. Thank you. Anyone else in the room? Okay. Online, is there anyone online that would like to take this opportunity to speak publicly? I have a hand up. One moment, please. Okay, I'm gonna allow Wendy Williams to talk. Wendy, you are now and I'm unmuting you. You should be unmuted. Am I good? Can you hear me? You are good. You're in.

All right. Wendy Williams, 48 Gab Road. So I do want to start off by especially thanking India and the um town department for taking a look at this. I can attest to being a person who um when COVID hit it took a long time to get on a committee. So I do appreciate that this will streamline the process. The one thing that I do echo is um some of the sentiments of Mark Sanderson with the fact that I do think um it needs to be a broad generalization or broad general notification to the entire public and to the um dynamic of Bloomfield to see who is interested in what committees. There are multiple committees out there where we probably have very qualified individuals who have a lot of deep background but are not affiliated to anyone on the council, not affiliated to anyone on a border commission or to the DTC or the RTC. So all that I ask is I I totally agree with criteria and structure but that we just ensure that everyone is given an ample opportunity to apply but then if there's weights based on recommendations or other things that we take that into consideration but I just really would like it to be open to the general public initially and then use those uh criteria secondary. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Do we have any more online residents who are interested in speaking? Going once, going twice, going three times, and I believe our public comments uh we will move from this area and move to the approval of minutes. I'd like to make a motion that we approve the minutes from our January 7th meeting. Second. All those in favor? I I motion passes. Uh before

councelor Dell I said I Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. I said I councelor uh Goodwin I said I I Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry. Uh before we move to adjourn, uh our town manager had some words.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. One thing I want to make certain that uh we don't uh create a a monster out of this um this SOP, right? But we're not going to be able to cover every possible scenario that exists to be a comprehensive uh policy. Uh for a community that's never had a policy, uh I I don't want to see our SOP turn into a 10, 20, 30page document that's going to try to anticipate every single nuance that exists out there. Um, I just say let's let's be mindful of that whatever we put in writing is going to take someone to manage. And um and and as I look around the room tonight and and on screen, we have five people here out of uh 20 some odd thousand people in the town of Bloomfield. And and that doesn't mean there's only five people interested in governments, but that just means that's what we have. So those who truly want to serve, those who want to be a part of helping uh Bloomfield move forward, uh they find out how to make that happen. I can tell you my wife right now is a part of the the Bloomfield the the beautifification committee, right? So she comes over the mountain to to help Sharon man and and do things here, make our our town that much more beautiful. And she has no access to information because I can't talk about Bloomfield when I go home, right? but she somehow found out what she can make happen for this town. So, um let's be mindful. Let's make sure that we're not putting unnecessary burdens on this process. Those anybody who's gone for a job in the last 10 years, your experience has probably been the same as mine and that you get no feedback when you're not selected for a job. Nothing. You you don't know what's happening. You they just keep going on to the next stage. And unfortunately, that's the way things are nowadays. So I just don't want to put an undue burden on ourselves because we're creating this and everything we put in writing and we're say we're going

to do we're committing to. So, as that comes back to me and I start to look at this, I'm going to be looking at it from a a purview of the demands on staff uh as we do this because yes, we would love to have A through Z, but the reality is we don't have the staff to manage every single SOP uh to the extent that some people may want to in a perfect world. So, I just add that as a p as my perspective and and how I'm going to be looking at some of the suggestions that come my way. Thank you, Mr. Come here. You're welcome. I'd like to make a motion that we adjourn. Second. All right.