Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, Councillor Cooper, Deputy Mayor, Councillor Oliver.

Good evening. Was that you, Councillor Mahon?

That is me.

Hey, good evening.

Next time I'll say Councillor Mahon speaking first and then give you the heads up. That's the right way, right?

We'll get used to it. But if your camera's on, you know it probably...

It's okay.

We can figure it out if we see your face.

Counselor Mahan speaking. Yeah, it's okay. I think we're okay.

I wasn't looking, so seriously, when I asked and I have this thing on, so... Well, I'm stuffy as well.

I'm sick, so I'm just a little stuffy.

Good evening, Bloomfield. It is 7 o'clock, and we are about to begin our town council meeting. Could we all please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

And now we will have a roll call. Councilor Cooper.

Present.

Okay. Uh, counselor to be some Brown.

Yeah.

Counselor. I'm a Han here. We are waiting, Councilor Oliver, so we'll wait until he comes. Councilor Merritt. Councilor Waterhouse is not here today. Councilor Goodwin is not here today. Deputy Mayor Lloyd.

Present.

And Mayor Harrington is here. Present. We can now acknowledge that Council Oliver is here as well. Great. So we move into announcements and presentations. The first was to be a citation to the Bloomfield High School Athletics track and field. However, there are several students that weren't going to be available for tonight. The principal did inform us. and they are scheduled to come at our next scheduled council meeting is our hope that they'll all be able to attend because some are going off to college and so we may not be able to actually see them on the date that's forthcoming. The next was a citation that I will read. I'm sorry. There's a citation, the Kennedy family on the passing of Aaron Jermaine Kennedy on June 20th, 2026. The mayor and the town council, excuse me, the mayor and the town council of the town of Bloomfield profoundly or proudly honor the life and legacy of Aaron Jermaine Kennedy. whose unwavering commitment to his family, his community, and the youth of Bloomfield will be remembered with deep gratitude and respect. Born on August 12, 1984, at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, Aaron was the beloved son of Arnold J. Kennedy and the late Sherry Scott Kennedy. He was a proud graduate of Bloomfield High School's class of 2002 and continued his education at Western Connecticut State University and Southern Connecticut State University. Aaron dedicated more than 10 years of service to United Parcel Service, UPS, in Hartford, where he was recognized for his strong work ethic, and dependability. Yet, it was through his lifelong passion for coaching youth football that he made his greatest impact. Known throughout the community as Coach Kennedy, Aaron devoted more than two decades to mentoring and inspiring young athletes through the Bloomfield Raiders, Hartford Hurricanes, New England Brotherhood, and most recently, the Bloomfield Junior Warhawks. His leadership extended far beyond the football field as he instilled the values of discipline, teamwork, perseverance, respect, and character in the countless young people whose lives he touched. Aaron's legacy is reflected in the generations of youth he encouraged, the families he supported, and the community he faithfully served. His kindness, generosity, and steadfast commitment to developing young leaders have left an enduring imprint on the town of Bloomfield. Now, therefore, I, Anthony C. Harrington, Mayor of the Town of Bloomfield, on behalf of the Town Council, extend our heartfelt condolences to Aaron's father, Arnold J. Kennedy, his family, friends, former players, and all who had the privilege of knowing him. We honor his life with gratitude and celebrate a legacy of service. mentorship, and compassion that will continue to inspire our community for years to come. Dated at Bloomfield, Connecticut, this 13th day of July, 2026. My question is, is there a family member or someone that was planning to take the citation? He is, okay. So I'll put it on the side. Thank you very much. There's also an overview of Bloomfield's recent Sustainable Connecticut certification that is being provided by Nicholas Kabzuba. I'm sorry. I tried. Sure, absolutely. Kabuza. Okay.

Awesome. Thank you. For the record, Nick Kabuza, Environmental Planner, Town of Bloomfield, Connecticut. All right. Thank you all for this opportunity to speak here today. I'm here to celebrate what we've done so far, what we plan on doing, and a little overview of Sustainable CT. I know time is precious, so without further ado, I'll get started, please. All right. So I think many of the counselors here probably are familiar with the program, but I thought I'd give a brief overview for those who aren't and those who are in the audience and you are curious. So in a nutshell, the way this program works is towns complete efforts and initiatives and a list of actions. And actions are organized by category. I'll break this down a bit more later. After getting a certain number of points by completing actions, a town can receive sustainable CT certification. I call it SCT just to be brief. A certification lasts about three years. So that's the basics. So we can move on to the next slide, please. It's awfully tiny. Sorry about that. But as I mentioned, as you get a certain number of points, that qualifies you for a certification. So logically, it goes bronze, silver, gold. To get bronze, you need at least 200 points, silver, 500, and gold, 750 or more. Other basic requirements are each town to get a certification must complete one action in each category. Therefore, each town kind of like broadly addresses sustainability across all subjects. That's, I think, the idea. In addition, to get certain levels of certification, at least one or three or, I think, or I can't read that well up here. A certain number of actions must be done with a equity toolkit. And that's kind of a whole other talk I can give, but essentially it means that at least one action must be done with an equity lens towards the completion. On the right side, just a little more framework here. This is kind of how the website looks. There's the category is inclusive and equitable community impacts. And the actions are 1.1, 1.2, et cetera. For the record, Bloomfield has completed 1.1 and 1.3, which are pretty major accomplishments. But we can move on, please. Great. So why are we doing this? I like to first start out that sustainability and sustainable CT is more than just ride a bike, plant a tree. I think when we think of sustainability, we think of these images of natural resource conservation and these kinds of subjects, but it's much more than that. The reason we do this program, it's an investment in the long-term resiliency of Bloomfield. These actions are designed to address, I'm quoting the director of the program here, everything that makes a community whole. It provides also a roadmap for the town's interests as they're related to sustainable best practices. And of course, getting a certification is a recognition of all the work the community has done. Lastly, people often ask, you know, is there money involved? The answer is yes. Firstly, though, to participate, it costs no money at all. Most of the things, a vast majority of what I submitted didn't cost me or my department anything as I was submitting them. However, what being part of this program does, it makes the community in Bloomfield able to participate in the community match fund. That's kind of a whole talk in itself. I think there are many groups in town that have already benefited from it. To my last count, groups in Bloomfield have been able to use $22,000 that were raised through being part of this program. But that's a rough estimate. And also, again, I can explain more in another time.

But for sake of brevity, I'll keep it going. Please.

Okay, so again, why sustainable CET? As I mentioned, it's everything here that makes a community whole. That includes clean air, land and water, affordable housing, vibrant local economies, diverse and safe transportation, social equity, preparedness for natural disasters. It's everything that makes the community resilient as time goes on. These are the actual categories in the program. Again, I could go through all of them later, but this is just to give you an idea that it's more than just, you know, ride a bike planetary. Please move on. Thank you. And so without further ado, I mean, to me, this is what sustainability looks like in Bloomfield. It's the tangible and intangible cultural landmarks, safe transportation, opening new businesses, of course, having ways for our community to enjoy and embrace our natural resources. But it's everything that makes Bloomfield strong and resilient. So I would throw that picture up there to give people a visual idea of what I'm talking about here. Next slide, please. So now the actual report, so to speak. So a brief timeline here. In 2018, thanks to town council, Bloomfield became a registered community. So to participate, it requires a vote from town council, a resolution, and being part of sustainable CT now means we can try and get certified and participate in that community match fund I was talking about. So in 2019, we got our very first certification. We were certified bronze with 240 points. As you might recall, to get bronze, you need 200. So we did a good job of getting bronze in that year. However, if you don't continue to submit, you lose certification within three years. So that's what happened to Bloomfield and our certification expired. So for about three years, we were uncertified. Next slide, please. In the present, though, I'm very happy to announce that Bloomfield has been awarded 315 points. Again, we qualify for bronze this year, but we made a significant improvement on the amount of points we submitted. In addition, I'll point out that In our submission, nine of our completed actions were designated as Connecticut success stories. And what that means is that in this program, towns can look to examples of how other towns completed certain actions to use as guidelines and be leaders. For nine of I think the 13 items we submitted, Bloomfield is a leader. We're an example to follow. I think that's something to be proud of personally. And of course, as I'm already talking here, it's a recognition of our success. And the next slide, I'll probably elaborate a bit more. So again, sorry, it's pretty tiny. I don't think I realized how small it was. Anyway, to have the entire report, it's like a 13-page report, and then there's several subheadings, and there's small text, et cetera. These are all the actions we completed during this go-around. The ones with stars next to them are the actions that are CT success stories. So of course, you can revisit this online and get a better look, but this is just to give you a visual right here. Next slide, please. And at this slide, I tried to get a little creative to show folks an idea of, you know, an elevator pitch, so to speak. What have we done so far? What can we also do to elaborate on other actions? So you can kind of tell from this pie chart, again, it's tiny, but the categories we've done the most work in, the dark green, the dark red, and the brown, I believe the light green relates to well-stewarded land and natural resources. The dark red is healthy, efficient, and diverse housing. And the brown is optimal health and wellness opportunities. So those are where I think you can say we're really strong and can continue to grow. But we have other areas where we can lean a bit more. Next slide, please. So again, this is just some recognition I was talking about. You know, front page of the messenger, the Bloomfield delegation to the awards ceremony was actually the front page of the Sustainable CT website for about a week. That's pretty cool. And lastly, something that I think we're very proud of is that Sustainable CT has recognized that Bloomfield has done a lot of amazing work kind of in a short period of time. So we were invited with a handful of other select towns to go to the state capitol. and talk with lawmakers and other folks from other towns to celebrate what we've done. So, you know, we're proud that we could represent Bloomfield in the Capitol. Next slide, please. So in the future, what are we looking to do? We want to keep going, keep growing. Hopefully, we're aiming for an even higher certification in 2027. Of course, silver is in our reach, but gold, who knows? In addition, during the first go around, we did a lot of kind of taking stock of what we've already done. That is, over the years, the town has been doing a lot of great things, I say just by Bloomfield being Bloomfield, of course, without the intentions and efforts behind those actions. In any case, I think during our next go around, we're hoping to get even more community feedback, maybe doing some kind of survey, some more meetings, to give ourselves even more direction, aside from clues we already have from our POCD, and of course, input from the CEC. Next slide, please. I think I'm nearing my time here. Whoops. Okay, how do we keep going? So as I mentioned, identifying initiatives we've already kind of worked on in the background and submitting more of that information, aligning goals we have throughout town with the things on sustainable CET to use that roadmap, so to speak. And that's kind of the way we keep moving forward. Next slide, please. I think I'm nearing the end. So how do you make it happen? I want to emphasize that this effort was not, it will not be a one person effort, a one department effort, a staff effort. It is a collaboration. And in my opinion, this award is not just a recognition of sustainability in town. But it's a testament to how the town can collaborate across staff, across organizations, special interest groups, and what have you. So we keep working together is what I'm trying to say here. In addition, Sustainable CT themselves provide a lot of one-on-one guidance. They're really quick answering their emails, calls, et cetera. They're really helpful. And lastly, we can look to other towns to see what they've done and how we might get inspired. On the right side, you'll see, as I mentioned, Bloomfield is a success story for a few opportunities. So we've looked at those examples and try and follow as well.

I think that might be it.

That's it. I think I'm under 10 minutes. Thank you so much for the time. Happy to answer questions here or an email. And thank you so much for your willingness to work on this project. It's been great. So let's celebrate.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Any council questions? There is, from Councilor Cooper. You have the floor.

Oh, thank you, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Nick, thank you so much for that. You know, it does show some projects and quality of life issues, you know, along with how we treat our environment, our people, You know, just a lot of things. Slide, I think it's slide nine. If we could go back to that for a second. I think there was some really good information about the areas that were covered. And I believe that folks should, you know, folks should know about it. So, and it says, what have we done, right? You know, in this, you're talking about equity, resources to support local businesses, watershed, you know, these things, you know, supporting the arts, solar. I mean, this is a really comprehensive discussion. blueprint of what Bloomfield has actually done over that time period I know you said this was awarded in 2026 but it was for the prior years after it had expired but you began to look at it again and You know, I'm even looking at item 10.5, support equitable food access and local farmers. Right. You know, we know in the present atmosphere that we're in, there are things that, you know, people are going through. And and so, you know, that's a that's a huge, huge piece. Right. Are recycling. How do we keep our town clean? Right. you know, those sort of things, and quality of life issues, you know, sustainability. And this plan is awesome. It really is. Just want to say congratulations to you and the folks who put this together, CEEC, Paula Jones, the chair, and to the town of Bloomfield, your administrative portion for, you know, getting this type of thing done. Hope to see more of this in the future. Really do. Thank you so much.

Yes, one final note. I want to say that when we went to that event, this project, this proposal was recognized as the best one throughout the state. So we need to definitely give him some acknowledgement. So thank you very much.

LET'S NOT DO THAT TONIGHT THOUGH. THANK YOU, MR. CHAIR. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PRESENTATION AND THE COLLABORATIVE WORK WITH YOU AND THE OTHER DEPARTMENTS IN THE TOWN. SO JUST BECAUSE COUNSELOR COOPER BROUGHT IT UP, 10.5 SUPPORT EQUITABLE FOOD ACCESS IN LOCAL FARMERS. CAN YOU AND MAYBE YOU JUST NEED TO SEND ME A REPORT JUST TO GIVE ME SOME IDEAS EXACTLY HOW THAT CAME ABOUT.

Absolutely. I can elaborate now if time allows, of course. I actually happened to turn right to it in my binder, so it was meant to be. All right. So a brief overview of the action. 10.5 was to host a farmer's market in your town or partnership with other towns. And what we submitted was that, I'll read it exactly, the town of Bloomfield supports the Bloomfield farmer's market by hosting the event on properties owned and managed by the town, including in the past the town green and the Philly Park parking lot, as well as in the human resources center. I had to, we mentioned the hours in the summer and the winter. And we also provided links so folks could find it on our town advertising. The other portion of that for action 10.5 was directly or through community partnerships, encourage and support at least one farmer's market. Our market, to accept farmer market nutrition program vouchers, also known as FMNP vouchers, as well as the Connecticut Electronic Benefit Transfer Card, the EBT card, which is the payment method for SNAP benefits. So because we showed evidence and proof that our markets currently do all that and that our market exists, we got those points, which is a huge recognition of the effort, I think, of our Bloomfield Farmers Market and all those who support it. So it's a massive contribution. weigh again how a cross-collaboration reflects the blueprints of town.

So the, as you said, collaboration of other things that are happening in our town feeds into our point system. Mm-hmm. Just wanted to clarify that. The Bloomfield projects have raised $22,000. I'm just going to ask you to send me a copy of what those projects are. We don't need to go through them tonight, but please know that I would like to see them. Once again, thank you for the collaborative work that you're doing.

My pleasure. Oops, sorry. My pleasure. Thank you. Thank you very much.

I believe we're all set. Thank you. Now, as we move forward, Due to the scheduling, we kind of preemptively read a citation for the family. And now what we'd like to do is have the family come up here, if you would so please. First thing I want to say is if I didn't mention that Councilor Michael Oliver brought this to the council. So we're going to read it from here. The Kennedy family on the passing of Aaron Jermaine Kennedy on June 20, 2026. The Marin Town Council of the Town of Bloomfield proudly honor the life and legacy of Aaron Jermaine Kennedy, whose unwavering commitment to his family, his community, and the youth of Bloomfield will be remembered with deep gratitude and respect. Born on August 12th, 1984 at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, Aaron was the beloved son of Arnold J. Kennedy and the late Sherry Scott Kennedy. He was a proud graduate of Bloomfield High School, class of 2002, and continued his education at Western Connecticut State University and Southern Connecticut State University. Aaron dedicated more than 10 years of service to the United Parcel Service in Hartford, where he was recognized for his strong work ethic and dependability. Yet, it was through his lifelong passion for coaching youth football that he made his greatest impact. Known throughout the community as Coach Kennedy, Aaron devoted more than two decades to mentoring and inspiring young athletes through the Bloomfield Raiders, Hartford Hurricanes, New England Brotherhood, and most recently, the Bloomfield Junior Warhawks. His leadership extended far beyond the football field as he instilled the values of discipline, teamwork, perseverance, respect, and character in the countless young people whose lives he touched. Aaron's legacy is reflected in the generations of youth he encouraged, the families he supported, and the community he faithfully served. His kindness, generosity, and steadfast commitment to developing young leaders have left an enduring impact imprint on the Town of Bloomfield. Now, therefore I, Anthony C. Harrington, Mayor of the Town of Bloomfield, on behalf of the Town Council, extend our heartfelt condolences to Aaron's father, Arnold J. Kennedy, his family, friends, former players, and all who had the privilege of knowing him. We honor his life with gratitude and celebrate a legacy of service, mentorship, and compassion that will continue to inspire our community for years to come. Dated at Bloomfield, Connecticut, this 13th day of July, 2026.

I just want to thank you guys, especially you, Mike. You've been Mike's neighbor for like 28 years now. And like I said, Aaron was a big part of Bloomfield High School. He was a high school coach. He was a coach at the high school for a little while. And he's very, very, very into the youth in the town of Bloomfield. Followed in my footsteps. I was a coach. I coached for over 30-something years. And he followed in my footsteps and became a father figure to a lot of kids. Not only to Asia and Cairo, but to many more in this town. And I just wanted to thank you guys for this proclamation. Thank you very much.

And now at this time we have citizens statements and petitions. So we please just remind you that, uh, you'll give your name and your address. If you're a Bloomfield resident, it will be three minutes. If you are not a Bloomfield resident, it will be a maximum of two minutes. And we will please ask you to, when the buzzer sounds, to please complete your presentations.

Hi, I'm Donna Hubbs. I live at 16 Burke Street in Bloomfield, and I'm a business owner in town. Two quick things. I'm here to talk about the money that you want to allot from undefined funds, and I am a member of board member of the Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce, supporting my business. And my husband, Dennis, was the original technical director and founder of Bloomfield Access Television. We have not been involved in about 41 years, but he did found it. And he is the one who worked with David Ushery and trained him. And now David has gone on to much bigger things. So we are proud of that heritage. I would just like to say, having said that, that I don't feel that we have any undesignated funds in town. Number one, we have not finished our 2025 audit. So how do we know where we're gonna end up with that? Our 2026 audit should be starting and we don't know where we're gonna end up with that. So my belief is that those funds, anything that you consider undesignated, should go back into our savings account. Because this year, as you'll recall, we used a lot of that money to help lower our tax rate. I don't know how much we can take next year out of that. So in my household, if we come up with a windfall, it goes in the savings account. Maybe we take a little bit to go out to dinner, but it goes in the savings account. And I really think if these organizations are to be funded, that they should be funded, number one, a different way, and that there should be some kind of process to do that, because there are a lot of organizations in town that would love to have some funding and would be based on the criteria of these three, would be eligible for it. So I think we really have to think this through and not pretend, maybe, that we have monies to just give away. I'm not sure that that's what the council wants to do. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening. Good evening. And I'm at 12 Chateau Margaux. First of all, congratulations on the sustainability certification. This is very important work. And thanks for the explanation that was given. Great job. And go for the gold next time. I'm also interested in finding out more about the farmer's market and the use of unassigned fund balance for this project. And before utilizing public funds, I'm... assuming proper due diligence would be required, and that the state of Connecticut provides a farmer's market reference guide that details the complexities and guidelines of these programs. Consideration must be given regarding licensing, permits, insurance, providing detailed financials where specifically each dollar is going to, for what purpose, and then looking at the outcome. Was the money well spent? Are there other agencies, state or nonprofits that can provide a similar service? Is the current Bloomfield Farmers Market following all of these recommendations of the state? And with the name Bloomfield, does that hold the town liable in any way? And are we protected by that? SHOULD THESE PROJECTS MAYBE GO THROUGH SOCIAL SERVICES AS IT PROVIDES ASSISTANCE TO THE RESIDENTS RATHER THAN A SEPARATE ORGANIZATION? WHATEVER ORGANIZATION MAY BE SELECTED, IF THIS MONEY IS APPROVED, HAS THERE BEEN INVESTIGATION OF THE ORGANIZATION'S FISCAL OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT? WHILE A FARMER'S MARKET IS A NOBLE SUGGESTION, I WOULD STRONGLY ENCOURAGE INVESTIGATING ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS BEFORE COMMITTING THE TOWN'S RESOURCES AND POTENTIAL LIABILITY. Thank you.

Thank you very much

Good evening, Pat Davis or Lisa Lane. I wrote a whole speech again. I don't know why I do this to myself because I'm not going to follow anything that's on this paper that I wrote today. In particular, I want to ask directly to the council, the mayor through the mayor. When you ask people to come before this podium and on the agenda item, it says citizen statements and petition. Is the purpose if it is just to get this off of our chest or do you all actually take notes about what people are bringing to the attention of their concerns? Because as we go through the agenda and as we go through different meetings and we go to the next meeting, people have brought in concerns that I've witnessed online and in person that have never been addressed at all or even considered or discussed at any time after that I've seen. And in particular tonight, there were items on the agenda that are asking about these funds that are now going to be designated somewhere that I don't know of anyone that brought that to your attention. And now it seems like they're being brought up and people are saying that. They don't really want our funds to be transferred that way or utilized to those efforts. And it's disheartening that we continue to be here. So now that I know and I feel that when you ask for the citizens petition that those really kind of like fall on deaf ears, my attention is going to go to the residents that are online and the people that are in the audience and the taxpayers in the residents of Bloomfield. We have got to figure out a way that our voices have got to be heard because this isn't working. This is not working for me. It's not working for the residents. It's not working for the taxpayers. We are getting hit harder and harder by everything that happens here. And I don't know. When, if it's going to take effective leadership, because I think we lack that on the council, we need people that are going to lead and not follow and understand that we are the people, we are the taxpayers here. We need our money to go places. That's going to benefit everyone. I appreciate sustainability. I appreciate the farmer's market. I appreciate all those things, but right now I want to audit. I want to, uh, resolution to why my taxes have been skyrocketing and who is gonna really pay attention to helping us as residents and as taxpayers maintain and sustain our livelihood here in Bloomfield. You guys have been elected And to the people, again, I'm going back to the audience. If they're not doing a job, it's time for us to really look for people who are expertise in finance, expertise in transparency, expertise in getting the job done, and community development. We need experts around the table that are effective leaders and not followers. Oh, I'm sorry. I never go past my time. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Before we move forward, I'm just going to take one liberty to mention that we are making attempts to respond to each person that comes up here through the deputy mayor, myself, and our clerk of counsel. So from this point forward and prior to this time, many of those concerns are being addressed. Now I can tell you for, for myself, that is one of the things that we're trying to concentrate on because it will also come during council comments. People make every attempt to try to address it, whether it's to have you contact us directly or that someone else from leadership will be in touch.

do appreciate that yes thank you and my apologies for the interruption you you didn't give anybody else a minute can you give me a minute though i think that's absolutely fabulous it's really important that our residents feel seen heard and respected but here's the problem miss pat might have articulated what might have been in Ms. Donna's head and Ms. Donna would also like the response. So in everything that we're doing, let's try to make sure that we're also giving all the residents the responses because somebody's at home thinking the same thing. You just had the courage and the time to come out here and say it. So just think about that and how you all work that through. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, you have the floor.

Should I go? Have I started? My name is Erin Barringer. I'm 28 Kenmore Road. I posted this earlier on Facebook, but for our residents and council that perhaps haven't seen it, I will read what I wrote earlier this morning. At the June 8th, 2026 town council meeting during citizen statements, I shared my concern of using fourth quarter transfers to fund future expenditures outside of the adopted fiscal 2027 budget. Again, if you're online and review YouTube video, you can go to the time stamp at 19 minutes and 35 seconds to hear my full statement. I didn't expect at that time that just weeks later, council would consider taking action to appropriate additional funds from the unassigned balance for BATV, the Chamber of Commerce, and the farmer's market. I'll let everybody know. I'll edit my comments next year during fourth quarter transfers to include that other part. But to the council, without additional information explaining why this funding is needed and exactly what it's going to be used for, I would urge you to vote no tonight. I would also like to change gears that on May 4th at the annual town meeting, and I'm so glad Director Hill came back to join us because I have been talking for, I'm glad you're laughing, I've been talking for months about the undefined category. And I actually welcome Mayor Harrington and Deputy Lloyds that they're going to respond because I've been emailing for six or seven months and I still don't have an answer. So I welcome the answers back on the undefined because everybody that's listening on May 4th, it was about 2.1 million and we ended the fiscal year at 2.49 million in undefined. And also to Councilwoman Suzette DeBeathen-Brown, I really appreciate you saying, like, especially to Pat Davis, I'm so glad I came up after you, because I want to welcome hearing the answers to what other residents say. But in addition to that, to you, Councilwoman, and to Councilman Cooper, I just have one second. At the last subcommittee meeting I was at, you both said to the speaker that you would email independently with your questions to get the answers. But as a resident, I would like to see those answers too. And I have one more thing I'd like to end on a positive note. for everybody listening. And if you're attending on July 30th, we are going to have a fundraiser in connection with our celebration music event. More to come on social media. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

Sorry, I had to push.

Green light should be on. It's on? Okay. Sorry, can you hear me now? Yes. Okay. All right. So I manage the farmer's market. I live at 6 Nutmeg Lane, and that's the address of my farm as well in Bloomfield. I'm... I didn't know that we were going to possibly get money like we had applied through the state and we had been told that our application was competitive. And then one of my volunteers said that there had been a conversation that the state was giving out these huge chunks of money to organizations and some of which weren't even giving out food, which is like what we did a lot of last year. And and so that there was the possibility that at the state level, maybe we were going to get funds. So I didn't even know that this was where this money was coming from. I thought it was that the state was reconsidering how it had divvied up those funds so that it was trying to reach more people who were actually giving food to people who are hungry and can't afford to eat locally grown, regeneratively locally and regeneratively grown food. meat, vegetables, eggs, honey, and I'm working on dairy. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm a little bit like, this is a really hard time of year for farmers. Like, I'm really tired. And this money, if we were to get it, it would be food. Like, I don't get a salary. I just use it to like, you know, like when people come and other vendors come, we right now, in order to be more competitive for grants, like last year, it was the honor system. So people just said, like I need help paying. So we would give out like $20 per person, 35 per person, depending on like how much I had left in the pot. And so we didn't get the grant because that was kind of loosey goosey. So this year we did, we're doubling FMNP. And then when we're not actually qualified for SNAP, because we didn't get enough people who had SNAP cards and you get, you kind of have to pay a fee if you don't sell enough to SNAP people. And now with SNAP, A lot of people losing eligibility. It was kind of like a toss up whether it was worth it. So but we're going to do it. And like so now we're only giving money to people who have those cards. Not that that really like fully meets the need. Like otherwise you're going to have a bunch of people in town who still cannot afford to buy food from farms. So they're going to go buy food that is grown in places where. pretty soon it's going to be too expensive to get that food. So having like things in place so that people in Bloomfields could have access to these locally grown foods before the price of gas goes to what, like, I don't know, $5 a barrel or whatever. Like it's, I think it's good and it's nice. Like, I don't know if any of you have been to the farmer's market, like, but it's a nice place to go.

Thank you very much.

Rickford Curtin, Bloomfield, Connecticut. So I'm here tonight to address the three items on the agenda that the council is moving money from the fund balance to fund. This is not year-end transfers. We're nine days into FY27. So to me, just from a process standpoint, when I saw this, it didn't really make any sense that council or the administration would even suggest transferring funds to give to organizations. When if you think about it from a logical standpoint, how do you pick and choose which organizations to give it to? If you went to the state for grants, you have to go through a process. You have to fill out paperwork. You have to provide financials. Was this done? I don't believe so because none of that documentation is within the package that I receive. So for me, it's just a little, I guess... uneasy to just finish wrapping up a budget process where your own departments, you had to make some tough cuts, social services and so on. How do you justify putting this on the agenda to even consider this? To me, that's concerning. And one of the things that I think we really need to look into, because we have a habit of doing this, is duplication. How does social service, I thought we, at one point, I remember the town put in something on the website asking residents to donate so we could donate to residents in need. I have no problem with the town providing space for organizations to do what they're doing. Or if the council decide that they want to carve out a line item in the budget, to say, hey, we're going to provide funding to the public. They go through a process, and we doled $100,000 out to various organizations. It's a process. There's a paper trail, accountability. It's not something that I agree that you should do, but that's a process that you should consider. But what you're attempting to do here is not kosher. So I would advise the council to vote this down. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay.

Ms. Riley, you have the floor.

Hi, Gail Riley, Maple Avenue. I am not for you transferring money for BATV. I find it hard to believe that with everything that was set up from, I believe, January or February, that you knew the Board of Ed was closing gyms. You knew they were reorganizing the elementary schools. And you knew that the Board of Ed was going to be eventually moving into Carmen A. Race. That in all that time, nobody ever realized that BATV might not have space anymore. And now you want to move it to 330 Park. If it was so important, it should have been discussed and voted on in last year's budget. Not having money transferred now out of undefined to support BATV. Quite honestly, I don't even know how to watch something on BATV. And I know that Comcast and those providers give money. to local TV channels. So for this to come up now, to me is unacceptable. I can't believe nobody discussed this or talked about it back in deliberations. So I would hope that you would vote no to giving BATV money to move from a race to 330 Park Avenue. Thank you.

Thank you. any others online that would like to speak yes good evening you have the floor

Good evening. My name is Vera Smith Winfrey. I serve as the executive director of the Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce, and I am a resident of Bloomfield at 13 Barnhill Road. Thank you for this opportunity today. And I absolutely. I am pleased to hear all of the feedback from my fellow residents. I just wanted to be clear about the chamber. And if you're not familiar with the chamber, the Chamber of Commerce has been part of this community for over 60 years. And I'm proud of what we've built together within the town with our members and with residents. that the chamber does, we do to make Bloomfield stronger. And when we bring 1800 to 2000 people to the town green for the food truck festival, that helps put Bloomfield on the map. And when we connect a business owner to resources that helps them grow and that's jobs and that's commerce. And then we also support students or Bloomfield students receive chamber scholarships and that's an investment in our future. But with all that in mind, While we want to see these funds put to work directly for Bloomfield, and of course, supporting things like the Community Resource Guide or the Food Truck Festival, I think that it would be I think it would be more beneficial if the chamber could actually have a space in a town building. So that way the chamber has a visible presence in a civic space. It costs the town very little, if nothing, it makes us more accessible to the businesses and residents that we serve. So I just want to be very clear about while we appreciate While we appreciate the fact that the town is considering us, but we also recognize that this could possibly be a burden. And so it is with that that I would hope that council would look at finding a space. We used to have a space in the chamber, I mean, with the town. And then when renovations happened at 330, and we had that space for decades, but when renovations happened at 330, that space was no longer available for us. So that's really what I wanted to make sure that I stated tonight. Thank you again for this opportunity. Have a good evening. Thank you.

Hi there. I'm sorry.

What did she ask?

Thank you very much. Are there any other residents who would like to speak? Going once, going twice, going three times. Okay. Citizen statements and petitions are now closed. We now will move to reports from council subcommittees. So the first governance policy and economic development, just want to give a brief acknowledgement of what we last discussed. Dave Malesko, Director of Parks, Recreation and Leisure, reported out on Rockwell Park Improvement Project and the project remains in the permitting phase and is now scheduled for review by the Town Plan and Zoning Commission on July 23rd. The required lighting analysis has been completed and submitted and if the project receives approval staff anticipate releasing the RFP in August and selecting a contractor in September, but the overall time line shifted by approximately one month. Next, John Coleman, director of building and land use, provided updates on the plan for conservation and development, as well as the business development updates for the end of the year. There was no clearly defined timeframe, but it is in its last phases of development. It's planned to go to DPZ, I believe, in late August. late July, early August. Thank you. And we'll come to council by possibly September, late August. Great. Great. Okay. Thank you. The administrative report was read by Director Hill on behalf of the town manager. That concludes governance, policy, and economic development. Next, we have finance, budget, and budget auditing and bonding with Deputy Mayor Cindy Lloyd.

Good evening. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. A brief report this evening. Last month, we had a discussion and status update regarding the fiscal year 2025 audit. As we continue to do the work on the town side, our town finance department is working very diligently to help the Board of Education do their reconciliation so that it can come together with our documents to be submitted to CLA, our auditing firm. So I believe that's probably just a bit of the delay in it being submitted as it was previously hoped to have been submitted near the end of June. We are not at that mark, but we are very, very soon to do so with them collaborating very well in getting this done. We also had the May 2026 monthly report that was discussed. Additionally, we talked about fourth quarter budget transfers. Just specifically, and thank you, Director Hill, for having a very understandable presentation to that end on those departments that had excess funds, they had surplus that were utilized to cover the departments that had gone over budget, and those transfers were recommended and then at a subsequent council meeting were approved and authorized. So thank you council for doing that as well. The discussion of the town attorney's expenses was tabled to a later date. We will revisit that and we will have our next meeting on the third Monday of the month. So be on the lookout, that will be next Monday. Thank you so much.

You're welcome. Thank you. Next, we have Public Health, Safety, and Environment. Counselor Todd Cooper.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So we did meet this past Wednesday for the Public Health and Safety Committee. Short report, but meaningful. We had a report out from CEC on our recycling efforts. which of textiles, which are very good. There is not a lot of revenue that is generated from it. However, the tonnage of recycling that Bloomfield is able to take out of its waste cycle is huge. That does not go into, you know, our garbage that we have to put out and then it goes into a, you know, one of the disposal places. So that's, it was very good news, right? That was one. And also we had, A report out from Captain Zach Klamberg, who came in. He talked about some of the classes that are given, CPR classes, stop the bleed classes. And he provided some responses to, I think, Counselor DeBethan Brown and myself. about the cost of that and seeing if cost could be lowered. But he did respond with the fact that I think it's $75 that with that folks get the CPR class and the stop the bleed and that the majority of the cost goes to the cards for the certification to the American Heart Association. And that if we were to reduce those costs, there would have to be an offset somewhere. And I think that would be an expense to the town. But that is not something because the value of what is being provided for the price is great. That was one thing. And then also reported out on the volunteer ambulance, which there has been a new one that's been purchased. And that will be coming online soon. So, you know, we yeah, we get to take care of our Bloomfield residents through donations, whether they are small donations, but he said also through larger corporate donations. So, you know, folks are seeing that, you know, the program here is worth investing in. And that means it's worth investing in Bloomfield residents. We had reports out from both our fire departments, Blue Hills Fire Department and the Center Fire Department. They had a couple of mutual aid calls and, you know, some other smaller, you know, smoke calls. But fortunately, during this time, there was nothing devastating or that, you know, You know, we've had some tragedies here, but fortunately there was none of those to report. And lastly, we had Brad Huskinson, who came and spoke about plastics, plastics in the environment, microplastics, those forever plastics, things of that nature, and how we get to remove that from our environment, such as some type of having patrons ask whether they want knives and forks and plastic straws and things of that nature when they go into a restaurant and rather than the restaurant automatically giving that. So that is something that we can do as a council. You know, as part of a, you know, policy ordinance that will help us again with our sustainability and environmental issues. I think that Bloomfield is one of the places where we're, you know, pretty good with that. And I think we can only get better. And so I look forward to folks bringing that in. Lastly, we do need we are going to meet because we need to have some reports that we wanted on the where we are with a either moratorium and or a policy against. And I said it against data centers in the town of Bloomfield. We don't believe that the the That is commercially at the point where for the town of Bloomfield, it would be good for our environment or for its citizens, whether it's drinking water, power. It's just not at that level at this point. And I think that was it. No, one more was Maple Avenue. We also did not have our monthly report. So we're going to look forward to that being at our next meeting provided. So that's it for me. And thank you so much.

Thank you. We now move to education workforce, youth development and community services. Councilor Michael Oliver.

We did not have the meeting last month. I had to work. I was unable to attend. We do have a maker space requested to present a presentation. So that will be in tomorrow's meeting.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Committee on committees. I know counselor Darrell Goodwin is in flight from the West coast. We do have one of his members. I'm wondering, would you like to take the mic?

Thank you. So committee on committees met last week, Thursday. We I think we interviewed maybe 20 individuals for various committees. There were some that weren't there. So we're giving them an opportunity. We are having a meeting on this Thursday. We're trying to interview 20 at a time, as well as make space for those who weren't able to be at the previous meeting. So we're trying to fill these boards and commissions as soon as possible.

Thank you very much. We will now move to council business. The consent agenda. Is there a second?

Second.

All those in favor? Aye.

Aye. Okay. I'm sorry. I had my hand raised.

I'm sorry?

I had my hand raised.

For?

Just, I had a question.

regarding the consent agenda?

No, regarding committee on committees. Is that allowable? I had my hand up.

You had your hand up prior to it?

Yes, sir.

All right, go ahead, counsel.

I was just hoping that maybe we might have information on who the applicants were, the interviewees or something like that, when that information is available.

So I believe the applicants are all in the packet if you wanted to get that information. I believe the process will be that committee on committees will interview everyone that's interested in specific committees. Then we will, because we're using a rubric, then those rubrics will be added up and that's how the recommendation for who will serve on the committee will be made. So it's very, very even and very fair with the rubric. And we wanted to make sure that it was a fair process.

Awesome. And those, those will come before the council anyway.

Right.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Really. Thank you.

We did have a motion in the second on the consent agenda so that motion passes and we move to old business. We did. With you here, I knew I had to make sure that that was done. Anyway, so we moved to old business item 2026-73. Discussion and possible action regarding the appropriation of unassigned fund balance to the FY 2027 budget for Bloomfield Access Television. Is there a motion? Oh, Councilor, I'm sorry, Deputy Mayor Lloyd.

So move.

Is there a second? Second discussion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I'm having a problem with this. And this was on the agenda before the fiscal year started. It's July 13th. I cannot, in any good conscience, assigned, unassigned, add anything to this budget. Back in the Stone Ages, when the Human Services Building was being built, there was space there for BATV. Money went into that space there for BATV. I believe I could probably dig out the draft agreement between the town and BATV. And for reasons, BATV decided to go to Carmen Eres.

There was money back in the Stone Ages

that updated technology here at the town hall because they used to come and videotape. That no longer happens. So now to say that we're going to give them money to move, I just don't think it's fair. And as Pat said, Residents come in here and they make their statements, they make their petitions, and mostly it's about their money. And it seems like the majority of the council is not hearing what they're saying. I can't speak for the council, but I can speak for Suzette DeBetham-Browne. I am listening to what you're saying, especially when it comes to us putting our hands in their pockets. So if there is a policy in place, let's work the policy. If we're doing this as pet project and let me just, with this public service announcement out there, I believe that the cake is already baked, that counselors who have their pet projects have already spoken to each other to get support. I get that and I understand that. I do have to vote my conscience and I do have to vote what I believe the majority of the residents, what their thoughts and ideas are. And I think for us to spend time $15,000 to move BATV back to a place that was built for them. And as someone rightly said, they knew this was coming. They knew this was coming. I think it should have been done at the budget level, we could have even slid it in on the fourth quarter transfers, right? So I don't agree with this and I cannot support it. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Councilor Mahan and then Deputy Mayor Lloyd.

Councilor Mahan speaking. Thank you very much, Mayor Harrington. Sorry, I'm not there right now. I'm a little bit under the weather, so I'm sure you're probably glad I'm on Zoom and not there with you all right now. But I'll be there soon enough. Um, yeah, I, you know, I can't, I also, uh, like my fellow counselor to beat them Brown. I can't support, uh, this item. And now I'm not going to, uh, beat up on BATV for their, uh, lack of preparation with this. I, I think they've gotten enough of, uh, of a verbal beating from everyone else. And I think the point is pretty clear. They should have thought ahead with this. It didn't require crystal ball. The writing was on the wall very clearly through our lengthy deliberation process and very public conversations. But what I will speak more to is the fact that our residents have been very clear about how they want their money spent. I the fourth quarter transfers are a very normal part of our job as as a local government, as a town council. They happen all the time. But when you have such difficult budget years like we've had over the last couple of years, especially this last one where we didn't decide this budget until the 11th hour because we're pulling out. pulling, trying to find the money here, trying to find dollars and cents and digging into how much paper or pens departments have. And now we are just happily saying, oh, well, 15,000, there you go. It's irresponsible. And it's very much, I feel like, disrespectful to our residents who have been very clear, not only through our budget process, about How much they want us to have stricter financial guidelines and guardrails, rather, as we're making decisions with our taxpayer taxpayer dollars. You know, they're very clear about that. But, you know, Moving forward, at least in this process and as we continue to make these decisions, I think that we have to listen to us and not think. We must listen to our residents. At the end of the day, they're the reason why we're here. And they've been very clear about how they want this money spent. If we are going to be the stewards of the public dollar that we say that we are, we have to also act like it. And this is an opportunity that we have here to do exactly that. So I'm imploring my colleagues to join me in voting this down. Our residents want us to be a lot more responsible with their money. We can do that today.

Thank you. Deputy Mayor Lloyd.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And supporting a public service such as BATV does not make us thusly irresponsible. It doesn't mean that we're not listening to our residents. We're listening to the loudest ones. But what about the ones we hear in the public? The ones that tell us they were able to watch their grandchild's graduation last year. or the play at the high school that was televised by BATV because they're 87 years old and they're homebound. For those residents that don't know how to access BATV, it's not only available on cable, but it's also available on different streaming services such as Roku, and they even have an app. So they're very modernized in their capacity to deliver these services to the town, including every town council meeting that gets streamed. So I just wanted to clear that up for the residents that made a couple of comments earlier. And I think what's unfortunate is all of these presumptions of irresponsibility. And so I think it really bears for understanding for Director Hill to explain why we are doing this after having tabled it from the previous fiscal year. It is from a fiscally responsible perspective that we are looking to do it this way, because we want to be in alignment with not only best practices, but practices that would not be looked upon unfavorably by our auditor. Now, whether one on GP supports BATB or not, as it relates to the fiscal aspect of it, Director Hill can speak more clearly to it. These are not monies coming from out the blue, these are monies that were initially going to be looked from or received from the council contingency, agree or not. And the reason it wasn't done on the 30th was because it wasn't the best practice to do it that way. So Director Hill, if you could just elaborate a little more technically on why we are taking this up now and what makes it a better practice to do it at this time and this way. And then I would elaborate a little bit more for the public certification on VATV and their need to vacate the premises at the middle school, because I think that bears explaining as well. Director Hill.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Good evening. Mayor, Madam Deputy Mayor, Council, Bloomfield, as always, it's a pleasure to be before you, including this evening. With regard to the three items under old business, what the Deputy Mayor is referencing is when fiscal year 2026 ended, the council contingency that had a budget of $150,000 had approximately $148,000 remaining. And as the deputy mayor just mentioned, the council decided not to transfer during fourth quarter to what we call Fund 23. That had been done in prior years to get money from one fiscal year into the next fiscal year. Some may know them as council initiatives, but those fourth quarter transfers are not best practice. And that $148,000 that went unspent last fiscal year, fiscal year 2006, falls to fund balance. So first, it falls to fund balance. And after we get through the fiscal 2025 audit, the 2026 audit, we will see that those monies have fallen to fund balance. And consistent with the town's charter and its fund balance policy, appropriating these monies is a better way than fourth quarter transfers to achieve the same objective. So whether it was a fourth quarter transfer that in the short time that I've been with the town has been criticized to now doing it a more appropriate way, again, as the charter allows and the fund balance policy of the town allows to appropriate monies and only council can appropriate Appropriate monies for these three or any purposes that do not trigger the charter requirement if the 0.1% of the budget threshold is crossed. That 0.1% of the budget is approximately $118,000. So all three of these combined don't reach that level. So, of course, none of them individually meet that level. But one way of viewing it is, as the deputy mayors indicated, that this is a better way to achieve the same outcome that had been executed upon in prior years with fourth quarter transfers. Again, recognizing that the monies that were appropriated to council went unspent. And hopefully that helps, but I'm happy to answer any questions that counselors may have.

Thank you. There's a counselor Cooper, then counselor to beat them Brown. And then.

Okay. Mayor mayor.

Yes.

I'm sorry. I wasn't done. I just wanted to please explain the movement of the money. If you don't mind.

Sure.

Okay. Thank you so much. So there was an assertion that we knew this was coming. In actuality, BATV did not know this was coming. They did not anticipate. Many of us did not know that GEMS was closing and the impact that it had. Although we had heard that the Board of Education was moving into the middle school, but at the initial onset of those discussions was not a discussion that BATV would be removed. That came at some point after due to the Board of Education's own determination that they needed to reclaim that space. Additionally, I understand that BATV was in the process through the budget season sessions, lengthy session, getting quotes. And so at that point, it was unknown exactly how much they would need to affect this move. The Board of Education, although they get allocation from the town overarchingly, so it's really kind of, quote, the same money, is not contributing to this initiative. And I do think the town needs to support BATB in this move. I'm not going to go deep into supporting hungry people.

I will say that...

Yeah, I do support hungry people, but not Jermaine. We're not on that one. I do because there were some sidebars and really I'll say some jabs that were made that I take exception to feeding people, providing critical services to seniors, as well as our business community as being coined pet projects. They're actually community projects that our council initiated that benefit our community. And so I will end with that. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Councilor Cooper.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Appreciate you calling on me. And I'm going to start with what my intent is first before I make a statement. My intent is to table this. But before I make that motion, I am going to say that I fully expect this to pass. And the reason, or I may not make a motion to table, and I'll be honest with you, the only reason that would be is, would have been was if Director Hill had not provided the information. But I think he has provided enough information for us, right, to make a determination that this is good for the town of Bloomfield, right? It's not a surprise. And I will say this again, and I will say it again and again. We do have a loud contingent at times, right, who come out and rightfully so say what they like and what they don't like. But we also have to think about 22,000 residents, right? So when you have folks who are able to watch a graduation, able to watch a parade, able to watch a play, and those type of things via BATV, then that is something that the community is looking for, right? How we fund that and where we spend our money says what we think about our community. And I also am not gonna go into Food, because it's not germane to this, but I am going to say I am extremely disappointed that food is talked about in the manner of a process. Right? A manner of a process. And so that to the side, I am going to call the question. If I can.

There's hands on the desk, so you can't. I know you probably can't see, but there are some hands.

There are two more speakers that are already identified.

Okay. Who are the two more speakers, Mr. Mayor?

I was told I was going to speak before you.

I was about to say, like, why does that matter?

It only matters because, and I, Mr. Mayor, through you, we have folks who have spoken and spoken at length, and they are now speaking at length again. Is there a rule that that can't happen? Information has been provided, Mr. Mayor, and I am only going to ask that we remain germane to the subject at hand.

I think we're all duly elected to be able to have a thought and or opinion. Mr. Mayor, I am being interrupted.

Excuse me. One moment, please. One moment. One moment. Was there a second to the question?

To what question?

There was a motion made.

Yes.

Yes.

But there were hands already. There were hands. I know, but there'll be second to this.

Right. But there was hands already in here. So how can we, you're trying to say that everybody else that was in line don't have an opportunity to speak. Is that what you're saying?

Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. If I might make a recommendation. that we call upon those that have not had an opportunity to speak? And then, Councilor Cooper, I think it would be fair to entertain your calling the question, which I did. I have questions for you.

The finance director gave information that she spoke. No one else got to ask any questions. How does that make sense?

So, we will allow... I'm sort of to beat them brown to respond because she was in line and then go and then I can ask the record.

I have not been a very strong fan of ours, the TV over the years. But I And we certainly don't, as a town council, use BATV as we once did. So in that sense, it's not as important to us. Over the years, they have gotten a lot of support from the town. I believe for years, Larry Chapman gave money out of his contingency fund to them. And nobody ever voted on it. It just came out of his contingency fund. This is not a repetitive thing. It's a one-time thing where we're giving him money to move back into 330 Park where he used to be. And because we gave him a hard time back six years ago, he moved out and went to the board. We welcomed him. Now he wants to move back. And I wish we were talking to his board of directors and not Howard. I think that would be more appropriate. And I wish we had an itemized list of what he needed. But other towns do a much better job supporting their local TV stations. Simsbury, West Hartford, they have very, very active programs. VAT ATVs and and they do a very good job supporting them um we don't and I think it's too bad and I think we would have a better local TV if we did but um I I had questions about this but it just some people really appreciate but what they do is as I pointed out they still do things um quite appropriately needed by the community. Some people appreciate it. Some people don't think we should spend money on the schools. They don't have kids in the school. Well, I mean, everybody has different interests. So this is a service to the community and it's something we should support. I think it's bad that we don't, but I would like to point out that this is a, this is a way we have for the last 50 years that I know, um, We, things come up during the year. They all don't come up just at budget time. They come up during the year and we have a process which we're following right now. This is not a fourth quarter transfer. It has nothing to do with last year's budget. or next year's, last year's expenditures. It has to do with issues, and it's perfectly appropriate. It's the way we've been doing it for 50 years. Now, somehow you think this is wrong. I don't know why. I think it's a perfectly proper, but I think I was understanding that we were going to put this, put this table, table, We were going to table this because there may be other sources of money available for them to make this move, and we don't have to do it. I also would like to know exactly why they think it's got to be this amount of money.

Thank you. Counselor DeBeathen-Brown.

Thank you. I like that, Councilor Merritt. I'm glad that you went first. If there's other sources of money, let's identify that. And if we are going to do this, let's get an itemized budget as to why it's $15,000. But back to Director Hill, sir. Yes, ma'am. Rightfully, you said that at the end of the fiscal year, there was $148,000 left in council contingency.

Approximately $148,000.

And if we don't use that money, it goes back to?

It doesn't go back to fund balance. It was part of the fiscal 2026 budget. It did include some utilization of the unassigned fund balance. As we all know, or hopefully know, the majority of the budget is derived from tax revenues.

So whatever isn't used... Falls to fund balance. Falls to fund balance. So there's nothing wrong with it falling to fund balance. And I just want to... If none of these items came up, that money would go to fund balance and we would just put it to bed and keep on moving.

Well, the fiscal year 2026 has ended. So it has fallen to fund balance.

Right, right. So I'm saying if these didn't come up, it would be there.

No, it is there.

No.

It's not contingent upon these items.

If we're not spending this, it would stay there.

Yes.

Thanks. That's all I wanted to make that point. Just like any household budget, very simple. If I budgeted $10 and I only spent two, I'm going to put eight, hopefully, in savings for a rainy day. That's the only point that I'm trying to make. And here's this. This is not a whether I appreciate Howard. or appreciate BATV every now and again, when I'm flipping through on channel five and something catches my eye, I watch it. This is talking about being fiscally sound. That's my whole point. I don't like the narrative that we're making it about an individual or even the organization. Thank you.

Thank you. We have a council report.

Yes. Thank you. Don't know where that came from, but I make a motion.

It came from me.

Mr. Mayor.

Yes.

Motion.

I don't know where that came from, whether it came from you or not. Motion to table.

I told you exactly where it came from. Thank you. There's a second deputy mayor.

I seconded Mr. Mayor.

Motion to table. All those in favor?

Aye.

Those opposed? Aye. Sorry, that was for yes, not opposed. Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. So this is the motion to table. Councilor Cooper? Yes. Councilor DeBethan-Brown?

CZ DeBethan-Brown, yes.

Councilor Mahon?

I'm from a Han. Yes.

I'm sorry.

Yes.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Deputy mayor.

Yes.

And Mary Anthony Harrington. Yes. So this item has been tabled and we will move to the next item. which is item 2026-74, discussion and possible action regarding the appropriation of unassigned fund balance to the FY2027 Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce. Is there a motion?

Second.

Okay. Discussion?

Mr. Mayor, put my hand up.

Yeah, I'm actually looking down. There's Suzette DeBeath-Brown, and then you will follow, followed by Councilor Merritt.

Thank you so very much, Mr. Chair. Suzette DeBeath-Brown speaking. Counselor Suzette to beat them Brown. That is, um, I heard specifically, um, what Ms. Smith Winfrey requested. Right. And I think we should try to accommodate that request then giving this $7,500. I think that would be more appropriate, especially since I don't believe, um, And I did ask that that request came from the chamber, from the director of the chamber and or other chamber members. I think once again, let's give what's being asked for. So I'm hoping that we can find some space for her and not just throw money, right? Because even if we give the money, she still needs space. So I would ask that we just take that into consideration. And once again, if we're giving money to anyone, I do believe that there should be a process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Councilor Cooper, then Deputy Mayor Lloyd, and then Councilor Mahan. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Councilor Cooper. Councilor Merritt, then we also had Councilor Oliver, and then Deputy Mayor Lloyd, and then Councilor Bahat. I'm sorry. Can we begin?

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for calling on me. Just straight out, I fully support providing the money to Bloomfield Chamber. There have been a number of events successful. It draws the whole community together, draws our businesses together, and with their planning, And certainly there, I don't see any question of us not providing this funding. And also I think Ms. Smith Winfrey made another request about space. At some point, I think that should also be looked at for the town to provide. I think that would be for further discussion, but at this point, what is being asked right now, fully support. Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilor Merritt.

The Chamber really, any investment in the Chamber is investment economic development. Business, the reason we like business is that they pay more in taxes than they use in services. And Bloomfield has done very well over the years in maintaining, up until this last year, better than half of our taxes have been paid by business. not residential. And I think that's something we should We miss it because it's no longer true. And that's part of the problem we had this last year with our residential taxes. But any things that help business, like chamber of commerce, most expansion in business comes from businesses that are already here. They grow in Bloomfield. And we used to have a sign on 91 that said, plants grow better in Bloomfield. And that was like 30, 40 years ago. But that's true. We have had, over the years, a lot of expansion from present businesses. They like Bloomfield, and if they're doing well and Bloomfield takes care of them, they'll stay here and grow. And that's where a lot of our tax money comes from. So that's why we call it economic development. We like to encourage businesses. I mean, it also provides jobs and other benefits. But that's what this is all about. That's why we want to do the redevelopment in Brookfield Center. That's part of the reason. And we have other projects going on in other areas in town. So if you care about future taxes, we can't just think of today. We have to think of tomorrow. We have to make these investments. This amount of money is not a lot of money, and I'm sure it's not critical, but the $7,500 will help. chamber do a better job for economic development in Bloomfield, and I think we should do it. I think finding space is going to be very difficult. We have eliminated two buildings of the Board of Education. There used to be space in the Board of Ed, but there is no longer. And we have reduced our 330 Park. It's about half the size of the old 330 Park. And so we have a lot less space in town than we used to have. And I think it's going to be hard to find room for them. Maybe we can, but we should do that too.

Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Cooper, can you remove your legacy hand? And we're going to move to Councilor Oliver.

Well, a lot of positive things were said about Chamber of Commerce. I'm not going to repeat everything, but I do think it's an important part of trying to move Bloomfield forward and give ourselves a little exposure through the Chamber of Commerce to businesses. So I do support it. Thank you. Thank you.

Now, I'm curious. I'm not sure who was next. I apologize. There's been so many hands.

Okay. Okay.

That would be Councilor Mahan. Hello?

Yeah, I'll take a bite at it. I didn't realize that I was a little bit further down the line, but I'll take it. So I actually have a question and a statement. My question is, I've heard through our deliberations that this that these funds weren't requested by the Chamber of Commerce or its members. So I just want to know, how did we come to the conclusion of this request for this amount of money? If that's not the case.

Councilor, can I, I mean, Deputy Mayor Lloyd, can I take a crack at this?

I would love for you to do that. Thank you.

Basically, the Chamber of Commerce is the organization that we're trying really to work with to help them bring in more businesses to this community. Right now, if I'm not mistaken, there's about 125. businesses that they're working with which is the highest amount in recent memory and they work with about five thousand dollars from the town and what we wanted to do was to increase that amount to help them do more with the businesses that a are currently here and then also the events that they put together to invite other businesses to the town so uh you know it's a tight budget And, you know, for instance, there was an offering. I won't say what the location was, but there was an offering of free rent. But then the expenses for lights and utilities would have been pretty huge. So they did not move forward with that. We're trying, you know, to find a location, but. At the present time, we just know that if we expect this organization to thrive and to help our businesses in this area, then we need to also acknowledge the fact that we need to assist them.

So, Mayor Harrington, my question was, I mean, I understand the intention of the council. We've been fully supportive, especially in our budget process when we allocated funds to the Chamber of Commerce. But I just, so we've been fully supportive in that way. I don't recall there ever being any debate or contention around allocating funds to during our regular budgetary process. My question was how and who came up with the idea of $7,500? How did we come to that conclusion? Like I said, fully understand the intention of wanting the Chamber of Commerce to be able to do more. And of course, we want more businesses. We want more support for our businesses and their events are great. This is not a referendum on the worthiness of of the Chamber of Commerce. But I want to know how we came to this amount, who came to this amount, if not the Chamber of Commerce, then who decided this?

Deputy Mayor Lloyd, you want to take that one?

As concisely as possible, hopefully.

Mr. Mayor, I think you were the one that reached out to the Chamber. But what I will say, since you invited me to have a little word, I'll make it brief. When we talk about the funding and things that we were paying for and things that were serving us and that were not serving us, one of the things that we decided to discontinue last year were several thousands of dollars that were going to the Hartford Metro Alliance, which is the equivalent of the Bloomfield Chamber and an amazing organization that it is. It's simply what's not serving Bloomfield.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mayor Harrington. I had a very specific question, and no one's answering it. I mean, you took a stab at it. Now the Deputy Mayor is starting to take a stab at it. No one's answering the question.

And if I could finish, Councilor Mahan. Hold on. You like to preface all the time, and you do very long lead-ins.

May I finish my thought?

May I finish my thought?

It's very dark. May I finish my thought?

Mr. Mayor, may I finish my thought?

Well, no. Mr. Mayor, may I finish my thought?

Councilor Mahan does not have the authority to stop me. I've been acknowledged by the mayor. Mr. Mayor, may I finish my thought?

Yes. This was my question that I was asking. Mr. Mayor, will you allow the deputy mayor to finish her thought? No, I think I'll just take back my thought. Mr. Mayor, you do not need his permission.

Mr. Mayor.

I was, I was speaking on the question. So I just want to finish my statement. If I could just finish my statement, I don't want to ask a question anymore.

And I was answering a question with a preface, which you regularly do. And the media and the information I'm providing is germane to answering your question, sir. I mean, if you let me get there, like you always say to the mayor.

Point of order, Mr. Mayor.

You are the chair of the meeting. Would you please rein your councillors in? Thank you.

Point of order, Mayor Harrington.

I need a response from you. Can you rein your councillors in? Yes.

Well, I'm making every attempt. What we need to do, Councillor Mahon, if you can please... hold back and allow the deputy mayor to finish her thought. Then you can respond.

Well, point of order, Mayor Harrington, I'm just looking to finish my statement at this point. And then if the deputy mayor would like to continue her answer in her own time, then by all means, if I can finish my statement, Mayor Harrington.

Joe! Joe! No! Can I shut up?

Is that what language? Relax, relax. Is that what language he's using?

Yes, you are.

Are you kidding me?

I'm sorry, Merrington. Did he just tell me to shut up?

No.

Listen, listen.

Joe Merring told you to shut up.

We're going to recess. Can I finish my statement? We're going to have to recess.

Mr. Mayor, can I ask you? Yes. Can we recess, please?

I second the motion to recess.

I just wanted to finish my statement. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We're going to recess for 10 minutes. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord.

Counselor Merritt, that was very...

That, that, uh, councilor mayor, I'm, I'm in utter shock at your use of language.

Good evening. At this time, we've decided that we are going to postpone this meeting. There is too much to iron out and too many discussions going on at the same time. I just think right now we need to regroup. I will caucus with... the Republicans in caucus with our Democrats and we will move forward from there. But as of this evening, I believe we have concluded just about as much as we can, uh, or accomplished as much as we can in this meeting.

Um, yes, I just have, I just have one request, right? I have one request. So that this isn't a complete embarrassment. I want to call the question on the motion that was on the floor. so that we might complete this, right, and provide a service to something that is working for the town of Bloomfield that we all agree on, call the question, and then certainly we can recess or end or adjourn based on your recommendation, if that is possible. I'm calling the question.

Thank you. Yes. The Deputy Mayor has already left. I think we should just, as you said, Mayor Harrington, conclude and pick this up at a later date.

Is there anything urgent here that we're not covering? No.

Well, yes.

Can I make a motion to adjourn? Second.

The grant is on a clock. second one one moment one moment council cooper sorry so we're talking about the agenda and finding out if there was anything urgent right now that needed to be handled this evening

She's asking if 202701.

Mr. Chair, 2020-07, I think that's the right number. It's in regards to us being able to apply for a grant. I mean, I'm sorry, to receive a grant. And there's a time clock on that. Is that possible that we can make a motion on that item before we adjourn? I think we've lost Councilor Cooper.

Yeah, we've... One, two, three, four. We have four.

One, two, three, four, five. There's a call.

I'm here.

We have four here. Five. So can you just read what that motion is?

202701, consider and take action on the Connecticut State Library Historical Preservation Grant. Is there a motion? Is there a second?

Is there anything written here? I was about to say, is that the entirety of the motion, Director Hill?

The draft motion is included in your packet.

Okay.

The motion is moved to accept the FY2027 Connecticut State Library Historic Documents Preservation Program target grant of $6,000 and authorize the town manager to execute the grant contract on behalf of the town of Bloomfield, allowing the town clerk's office to proceed with the records management project as approved by the Connecticut State Library.

Second, second.

Any discussion?

Is that the entirety of the cost for the... $6,000. No, no, no, for the cost of the project.

The grant funds are the only funds available for the work. Okay.

Thank you, sir. Yep.

No discussion. All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Aye.

I'd like to make a motion that we adjourn.

Second.

Aye.

Aye. Thank you.