Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, Bloomfield. Let us all stand as we place the 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.

We will now continue with roll call.

Councilor Cooper.

Present.

Councilor DeVethan-Brown. Councillor Mahon. Here. Council Oliver.

Okay.

Council Merritt.

Here.

Council Waterhouse.

Here.

Council Goodwin. Here. Excuse me, Deputy Mayor Lloyd.

Here.

and Mary Anthony Harrington here, okay. We now move to announcements and presentations. This presentation will be by Public Works regarding the Maple Avenue Traffic Calming Project.

Hey, good evening, Mr. Mayor, Madam Deputy Mayor, Councilors, Town Manager, Glenn Gertie, joining you virtually, Director of Public Works and Facilities. I also have on the line Darren Lemire, our Town Engineer. More or less, this traffic calming project on Maple Avenue was more of an announcement than a presentation. This is a project that's been in the works since 2022. Through the traffic coming, the town's traffic coming initiative. However, as we're closer to a construction date, we're actually looking to begin the project shortly after Labor Day. And we realized that there were some residents who were actually unaware that the project was going to take place. So Darren has been incredibly proactive in working with strategic communications to take advantage of every opportunity and communication channel to share with our residents the project along with the details. Darren, if you'd like to go through the slide briefly, this will probably take about five minutes. Again, just for resident awareness of the upcoming project on Maple Avenue.

Thank you very much, Glenn. Good evening, Councilors, Deputy Mayor, Mayor. As Glenn said, my name is Darrell LeMire. I'm the Bloomfields Newtown Engineer. I replaced Rob, who recently departed. Maple Avenue, this traffic comic project is going to start very soon. We have it set for after Labor Day. Right now we're in talks with the construction company trying to figure out the best way to manage traffic. Right now we're looking at the road to remain open, but one way alternating traffic. Just to give you a kind of idea of the location, it goes all the way from Mountain Avenue. There's some work close to Mountain Avenue all the way downtown. to Burr Avenue and then even a little farther south of Burr, almost to Cottage Grove. For a project overview, basically this project, as Glenn said, it came through the traffic calming process and to improve safety for residents, pedestrians, and bicyclists. consists of select tree removals. I think there's only about four or five. And we're installing four concrete median islands or chokers. We're installing asphalt paths adjacent to the chokers for pedestrian biker safety. And at Sandpiper Drive with intersection with Maple, there's going to be a raised intersection. And this here is a concept showing the choker median and then with the walkways on each side of it. Just going to background, as Glenn said, it was started in 2022. There was two neighborhood information sessions conducted. We had neighborhood support of the project. The design started in 2025. Actually, the RFP, I think, went out in late 2024 when I started. they started as deputy town engineer and uh we installed temporary delineators in 2025 and they're still in um but now the design was completed in 2026 and the contracts as i said earlier is to be awarded soon and construction expected to start And that was the end of the presentation. I don't know if anybody has any questions or comments.

So the project's going to take place in two phases. Just to let you know, those Choker Islands that Darren mentioned, there's a total of four islands spread out from south to north on Maple Avenue. Right now, after Labor Day until the end of the construction season, weather permitting, that's going to be the goals to complete those islands. And then we're going to pick back up in the spring and do the raised intersection at Maple Avenue and Sandpiper Drive. one way alternating traffic while the median islands are being constructed. And then we'll figure out the logistics in the springtime for the raised intersection, which is a little more complex.

Thank you. So we have two counselors that have questions. We'll first go to a counselor Cooper and then deputy mayor.

Thanks Glenn. So, so when is this, when is it scheduled to start?

We're looking at the week of Labor Day. We don't have a definite start time, definite start date right now, but we're looking at the week of Labor Day. Okay. All right.

So that information will come out. The other thing was, how long is each phase of the project scheduled again? Okay.

So the first phase will run from September until the weather shuts us down for the construction season. The contractor who will soon be awarded is very confident we can knock out those median islands or choker islands probably by October, November. And then we'll shut down and then we'll start in the spring, probably April, to then tackle the raised intersection at Maple and Sandpiper Drive.

Okay. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Lloyd.

I just wanted to say thank you. Mr. Garrity, Mr. Lemire, thank you. It was mentioned 2022, but we have a very engaged community over there that would say these pleas for traffic calming have preceded 2022. These concerns have been around for a good while, so may have been formalized through a process. So I just thank you. On my behalf, and as well, I'm sure you'll get a lot of gratitude coming from the public that this is coming to fruition. The traffic is pretty bad over there, and I'm sure they'll be pleased to see that this is moving forward now, which is seemingly going to be a rapid pace. So much gratitude and thanks to your staff for making this come to fruition.

Thank you. Thank you. Uh, councilor Merritt.

Yes, I, I wanted to add a thank you as well. Uh, this has been the people on that street. has been asking for something for maybe 30 or 40 years. Somebody convinced our town manager back 20 or 30 years ago that he couldn't do that on the streets, and maybe the state didn't like it, but it certainly was needed, and they did it in Hartford successfully, so I don't know why we can't do it. And there was certain... That street was built as a bypass for the center of town, and because the center is so difficult to get through, a lot of traffic has taken that route rather than go through the center of town. So I just think it's great you've done it, and I hope we can do more of that kind of thing. Thank you.

Thank you very much, I don't believe we have any more questions identify, so thank you very much for your presentation and we certainly feel the same about the sentiments of the Community, they are ready and willing for this project to start and be completed, thank you. Now move to citizens statements and petitions.

Robert Berman, 8 Hiram Lane. I have three items to bring to the council's attention this evening. First, one of the items in executive session is the lawsuit. Berman, Robert, et al. versus Schwab, Allen, et al. I hereby request that this item be discussed in public session. As this council and the town attorney have already been found guilty of not following the rules on this type of request once already, I don't think you want to gamble with it again. Part of my request if this item is removed from the agenda or becomes part of another executive session agenda item, my request is to be treated as a permanent request. Second, we now have the situation of the town attorney himself violating the town of Bloomfield's charter. When will this lawlessness end and attorney's elected officials start obeying the laws? My third item has to do with the last council meeting where you authorized the spending of town unallocated funds on both Bloomfield Access Television and Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce. The motions in both cases did not address the amount of funding. I quote the motions as follows. Quote, it was moved by Councilor Cooper, seconded by Deputy Mayor Lloyd, and voted to adopt appropriation of undesigned fund balance in fiscal year 2027 budget, Bloomfield Access Television. Close quote. Open quote. It was moved by Councilor Cooper, seconded by Councilor Oliver, and voted to adopt the appropriation of unassigned fund balance to the fiscal year 2027 Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce. Nowhere in these motions is a mention of the dollar amounts. The resolutions containing the amounts were never part of the motions. Therefore, it should not be in the minutes. Listen to the taped discussion of these items. This council needs to get its act together and follow the rules, which it has steadfastly refused to do. This points out the fact that a large number of Bloomfield residents do not think this council is worthy of respect. I request that a copy of my remarks be made a permanent part of the official record of tonight's meeting. Thank you.

Mark Sanderson, 17 Oak Lane. Hello, council members and residents. Tonight, we're going to talk about a charter revision committee. My understanding is a charter revision was voted on some time ago and was not included in the in the ballot as it should have been. A number of people over several meetings have asked for an explanation as to why it wasn't included. And I know you've made comments many times about how you want to respond to questions. I've not heard any response. So I think at least tonight, before you discuss what we're going to do going forward, I'd like to know what happened in the past. Why was that charter revision not included in the elections as it should have been? There is an open SCEC investigation currently against the city for that purpose to find out what happened. It'd be better for you to tell us before they have to find out themselves. So thank you for your time. Thank you.

It's larger.

Okay.

Good evening, all. This is just a question that I have, please. I noticed that on August 17th, there was a notice by our governor giving out $10.6 million to the schools for special ed and all the surrounding schools. And I'm just curious to know why Bloomfield was not included. I'm just asking. Was this a grant application that we missed? Because all the other schools are around there. So Windsor, West Hartford, everybody is on there. And it's special ed. Don't we have special ed in Bloomfield? So I'm just curious to see why Bloomfield was not a part of this. Thank you.

Thank you. Shulman.

Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Excuse me. I just have two things I wanted to mention and one question. I read with great deal of concern some purported facts by Peter Frank, and I'm sure you're all aware of it, about the audit and about this and that and a whole bunch of things. I'm not here to stand here to try to resolve them all or even to think about resolving them all. But I think I can resolve one of them. And I'd like to ask you about that. A couple of years ago, the council in its infinite wisdom took $4 million, I believe, out of the reserves and put it in a fund for economic development. I'm not going to talk about the good, bad, or indifferent of that. I would like to know if the manager might be able to tell us, excuse me, roughly whether any money has been taken out of that and roughly how much is left. I'm sorry?

No.

You have to excuse me, I'm having some trouble. No, no worries. I suffer from the same, Mayor Schulman. The money is still there in its entirety.

Okay, well, my suggestion then, there was some talk in there about the possibility that by June of 27, that we'd be below the suggested limit in our reserve fund. And I have a very simple suggestion. The council always has the authority to take money out of the reserve fund. So why don't we take $3 million of the $4 million and put it back in the reserve fund? If we take $3 million and $4 million and put it back in the reserve fund, you've still got $1 million for whatever economic development you see fit. And you now have, I think, resolved the problem about the reserve fund falling below the suggested percentage. So I would ask you to seriously consider that because if it's been sitting there for two years for economic development that we haven't seen, then certainly we could put it back. And by the way, there could be a council resolution that if we are fortunate enough to obtain certain economic development developers or whatever the council is applying for, that it simply has the option of taking it back out of the reserve fund. But in the meantime, it can go into the reserve fund and resolve that problem. The other thing that I wanted to take up that concerned me was the question of the audit. And I'm almost out of time?

You are. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Just to say, with respect to that audit, that I think there ought to be a guarantee that it will be done, whether the current... resigning finance director, does it or not. There ought to be a commitment by the council and by the manager.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Erin Berenger, 28 Kenmore road. It's been 255 days and it really is time to prioritize the ethics commission. On December 12th, it was announced that the town council was seeking volunteers to serve on the Ethics Commission. Well, 255 days has passed and yet, we don't have a date on when residents that were asked to serve on that December date to be interviewed. Now, this is not a dig at our current committee on committees because I appreciate Councilman Goodwin and DeBetham Brown and, of course, Waterhouse because they've been doing a lot of work They've interviewed probably 60 people. We'll hear it on council updates later. However, I mentioned this because of all of the boards and commissions, I would think ethics would have been on a top priority. So I respectfully ask that Committee Chair Daryl Goodwin make Ethics Commission a priority. A functioning Ethics Commission is an important part of being accountable to our local government. And we've heard a few other residents mention things. So I would strongly urge you to get it on the agenda for the second Thursday in September. And for everybody watching, this is not the first time I've asked because I've emailed as an appropriate mode of communication. I hope after nearly eight months that they make this a priority. Regarding the news of the resignation of the current director, I'm confident that our deputy finance director who has a background of accounting and experience and who has been in Bloomfield for the last two years could shepherd us through this fiscal audit. I was also, I hope that she will be able to review and edit open finance, which for anybody that's heard me talk up here, for the last eight months, this is our system where we can look at where our Bloomfield money is spending. So I would urge her just to finish my sentence, I would urge her to properly categorize the already $250,000 that are in undefined. It'd be helpful if she could help categorize that into appropriate categories. Thank you.

Rick for Curtin, Bloomfield.

Excuse me.

Pardon me.

Mr. Curtin, we had been advised that we need to get your address. I know there's concern.

So here's what I would say, and we could probably try to figure this out. I prefer not to continuously publicly list in my address. I did write it down there, so she has it. I don't think there's any rule that I have to give my address.

Then is it okay if she just announces?

What is the, what is the reason for announcing my address?

It's standard procedure that we give the resident's name and their address verifying that they live. Yeah.

I don't think there is a law. Okay. Could I start? You didn't do it, there was two others, Ms. Archer, I'm not trying to call her out, but she never stated her address. So it seems like- Fine, fine. Jeez, so can I now start my three minutes? Continue. Oh yeah, no, that's fine. I was just stating a point of reference. Seems like we're in alert.

That was an oversight. Thank you.

Okay, so can I now start my three minutes? Continue, continue. Okay, so I just wanted to just address executive sessions. I did send the council an email on August 20th, and this email was the inconsistency with how we list executive sessions. Case in point, there is Wendy Taylor versus the town of Bloomfield and the town manager. It was never listed on the agenda. That's still... in litigation, but still it's not included on the executive session. I'll give you an example. For instance, you have here the town of Bloomfield versus the FOIC and Curtin. That's what I'm talking about. The inconsistency of how you list executive session. So hopefully that, the council will respond to explain why we do have that oversight. I also want to address the plans for the finance committee going forward, including the FY25 audit. So my concern is currently we do have challenges with the current structure in place, the amount of bodies we have in that department. With the finance director leaving on the 15th, is this council going to hire more individuals to give support within that department? Hopefully that will be explained in those discussions, either here tonight or at the finance committee meeting And last but not least is the committee that the commission that's being once again discussed tonight. I just sent an email about that. I don't believe it's in compliance. Hopefully through the discussion tonight, I'll get some clarity on the email I sent to the council. And my last concern is I know the council said on many occasions that residents should send emails, reach out, there is an inconsistency of how response is given to residents. So what I'm going to ask for the emails and I'll send an email tonight. I would like that to be part of the minutes for tonight so that it could be part of the record because it seems like things are falling through the cracks. No one is responding to residents. So if it's part of the record, it's there. So thank you. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, are there any residents online who would like to participate in this discussion? Please identify yourselves. Going once, going twice, going three times. Okay, so citizen statements and petitions have been completed. We'll move to our next agenda item. which is a report from council subcommittees. First being governance, policy and economic development. That is a committee that I chair. We have had several meetings this month and I've updated up to this point some of the projects that have been identified by, excuse me, by Director Coleman. I believe our EOCD is in the process of being completed. It is not done, but it is very close. We have the project on Blue Hills Avenue Extension, which will bring four businesses to the community. People's Bank out of Mass. There's Sherwin-Williams, and then they're looking for two more candidates to fill that opportunity. We also have several other projects that are in the process of being completed, and so I won't necessarily identify those because they're not actually on the books as going forward as yet. We did get some movement from Popeyes, very limited. Their president had been contacted and, for lack of a better term, kind of mildly threatened. And they did respond We just don't know how quickly that project is going to be completed. And so we sincerely apologize. The Arabella project on Blue Hills Avenue is going well. And I believe they have just hired a compliance officer so that will comply with some of the requirements that we as a council had stated and required of them. I believe that is it for governance policy and economic development. So I almost failed to mention that we met a couple of days ago last week with the new Cigna CEO. They brought us to the office and it was a very, very good conversation. He seems as though he wants to do some good things with this community and in collaboration. So really, really excited about it His name is Brian Ivanko. He is the new CEO, and the facility looks beautiful, and they have certainly expressed interest in doing some really great things. We did talk about the town center. We did talk about some other areas that we would potentially hope that they would engage. Quite obviously, this was the first meeting, so we don't anticipate or expect that people Mayor Mrakas, It would respond back quickly, but it did seem to be a sense of interest and. Mayor Mrakas, So we're excited about that. Mayor Mrakas, That concludes my remarks for governance policy and economic development, we will move to finance budget audit and bonding with deputy mayor Cindy Lloyd.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. As we know, all information is available online for review. Certainly, I would endeavor to do what Director Hill did in his presentation, but I'll start with a shorter conversation. Budget preparation for next year will be beginning very soon, as opposed to awaiting different benchmarks and milestones for the audit to be completed. They are working simultaneously on both. The plan of the time manager is to begin budget preparation work sooner versus later, engaging not only council, but directors and other internal constituents so that we can get a handle on this and look at it as it's evolving over time in light of waiting for the brand list information and everything else. There's also a plan to engage some residents who may be helpful in speaking with the town as well and doing some guidance in an advisement on how we can better prepare the budget this year so that we can do it in a more timely fashion with the most input from those that have the capacity to help us with that process. There was an overview on the audits. We know that 24 has been submitted, 25 trial balance has been submitted and indeed our Consultants CLA have begun their field work, and if I'm not mistaken, it's well underway. So with that, I believe the date, I believe, I repeat, I believe the date that we hope to have completion on that is going to be around October of this year, which is definitely much better than what we did with fiscal year 24. And as all of this is going on, they're also diligently working to do all the preparation for FY26. I'm going off the top of my head on my recollection. I believe that the hope is to have 26 submitted by March of next year. So as we continue with each year that we are cleaning up and preparing on the audit level, we are getting better and better on catching up. Not to belabor the point when the staff came in, and thank you, Ms. Barringer, for giving your vote of confidence for our current finance director. I concur with you on her capabilities to be able to lead this department forward if she is the selected candidate. They are working simultaneously on 25 and what that looks like and fulfilling some of the asks of the field work. And then 26 ongoing and starting to look at budget preparation. So they're very busy right now. And to the other question, Mr. Curtin, we have discussed on numerous occasions of always providing the support within financial capabilities to provide the finance department the assistance they need. We know if we have a gap or we don't have a finance director, well, there's some savings there, right, on salary line, which may afford us the opportunity to retain or continue some consultant or some temporary workers to ensure that we stay on top of this audit, as well as looking at next year's budget preparation. So those were all good comments and were well taken. So I thank you for those. That's the general overview. I'm not going to get into the numbers. They're all available online, but it is looking very encouraging as we continue to catch up and get back on the cadence we should be for audit preparation, as well as being prepared for budget season next year. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you very much. We will now move to public health safety and environment. Councilor Todd Cooper.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So the public health safety and environment committee met on August 12th at six o'clock. That's always the second Wednesday. of every month. And as a heads up, there will be no meeting for the second Wednesday of the upcoming month. We had all of our counselors were in attendance and We had police department updates from Captain Zachary Klamberg, who was in place of Chief Hammock and Deputy Chief Hydes. So with that, there were some increases in larceny involving theft, fraud, and online scams. We have sustained decline in auto theft. He noted the department is addressing crime trends through enforcement investigations, agency partnerships, and community education. Traffic enforcement remained active with 46 accidents, 148 motor vehicle stops, and targeted enforcements in response to citizens' complaints, including around Maple and Burr, which you've just all heard or report. about the traffic calming that is going to fully come online now. So that is a welcome thing. And also I want to take the time to thank our DPW and engineering folks for finally getting that out. It is very important. Captain Kahnberg gave us some personnel updates with uh, retiring officer, Janine Allen, uh, for her 10 years of service. Uh, she will be stepping away. Um, and also, um, gave us some, uh, a talk on some stop the bleed kit installations and new opioid, uh, harm reduction stations. And biggest thing is a physician equipped quick response vehicle operated by medical director, medical director, Dr. Patini. And also the department received its new ambulance, which is being prepared for state inspection and certification. Moving on to the fire department updates and for center fire district, Chief Bernard reported 57 calls for services in July, including six motor vehicle accidents, five hazardous material incidents, three carbon monoxide calls, 29 false alarms and other fire electrical and emergency calls. There was also mutual aid with Windsor and Enfield and responded with Bloomfield PD and ambulance to a serious two vehicle accident on Bloomfield Avenue requiring extrication. He also reported on a firehouse maintenance, including HVAC upgrades and servicing of self-contained breathing apparatus and equipment. Uh, and their Bloomfield, uh, fire department members, uh, participate in community events, um, recognizing for departing firefighters. Uh, they also have training throughout the month. And, um, right now they have 37 firefighters and seven cadets, but their compliment is, is well, uh, within, um, what they are looking for, uh, as a full compliment. Um, We're gonna move on Blue Hills Fire District, Chief Willie Jones, also, 44 calls in July, bringing the year to date total to 290 calls, no major incidents, although they did respond with that center fire on the RV fire on Old Poquonock Road. One firefighter sustained minor injury and other calls primarily involving downed wires, false alarms, motor vehicle accidents, and natural gas incidents. You smell natural gas, call the gas company. The department continued their regular training also, and they are looking, along with the Blue Hills and Center Fire, are planning their joint 100th anniversary celebration, including a parade and banquet scheduled for October 3rd of 2026. Be great to see everyone come out and support our efforts our emergency service personnel. uh, chief Jones reported, they have more than 40 members, uh, approximately 43 to 44, including career staff. And they continue to attract, uh, new individuals interested in joining. And so, uh, they're again, they're, they're, uh, public safety, uh, efforts are, you know, to be definitely be recognized and encouraged. And, uh, one more time, I'd love to see fly EMS. Um, captain Klomberg was in for, on behalf of, uh, Lou Blumenfeld, and he reported it was a busy month for Bloomfield Volunteer Ambulance with 188 calls for service, including seven cardiac arrests, two trauma alerts resulting from serious accidents. The ambulance also participated in National Night Out and continued to provide medical coverage for 911 calls, town events, private events, schools, and community programs. And Captain Klonberg expresses appreciation to both paid and volunteer EMS personnel with special recognition for the volunteer EMTs who continue to dedicate their time to serving Bloomfield. providing outreach, recruitment, health and safety education. For conservation, energy and environment, Chair Paula Jones of that committee, she highlighted the Climate Resilience Hub project at the Swift Factory in Hartford, a regional initiative focused on emergency preparedness, food and water distribution and energy assistance. They are planning a fall visit and potential opportunities for Bloomfield to learn from the project. She also talked about the ongoing extreme heat initiative and outreach and partnership with the health district and EMS. New resident concerns, the rapid spread of the spotted lantern fly in Connecticut. You see it, kill it. And especially here in Bloomfield or Hoskins Road, noting its potential impact on trees and agricultural crops. There was also a concern about folks who are putting out poison, poison for squirrels, poison for chipmunks and things of that nature. But there is an anticoagulant rodenticide, which can harm wildlife because it kills those animals, but then there are also higher... animals up to chain and birds, eagles, hawks, and things of that nature that eat them. And then they are also poisoned. So we want to be careful about what we put out in order to take care of those rodents. And there was the Extreme Heat Initiative, talked about that, about senior services, cooling centers, check on your neighbors, ensure you do that. West Hartford Bloomfield Public District, Amy Krause, Health Director, she talked about public health initiative services and upcoming events. They continue to provide free, anonymous, no appointment needed access to health and overdose prevention. People don't think here in Bloomfield, but if it is needed, our public health folks are ready to provide the services and supplies through community outreach. They also partnered with Bloomfield PD and Amplify on harm reduction efforts. And these are being incorporated community health tabling events to increase awareness. Two outdoor harm reduction cabinets were recently installed in Bloomfield with the third location currently being We're voting on the main motion now.

We're voting on the main motion. No.

And there was one more. Abstain. Abstain. Motion passes. The action regarding the request to extend the submission deadline for the Charter Revision Commission's draft report to the town clerk has been moved and seconded. And I believe seven, six of the nine councilors voted yay. Two did not, nay, and one abstention.

So can I suggest that we do the whole process over for clarity? Okay.

Excuse me.

Excuse me. Can we please stop, uh, consider and take at, excuse me, item number 20, 27 Oh three, consider and take action regarding the request to extend the submission deadline for the charters revision commission's draft report to the town clerk. Is there. Yes.

I called the question.

Let us vote on calling the question first. Okay. Are we good with that? We're not.

We were almost complete.

Let's complete that. And then we will do our vote.

Okay. Councilor Cooper. This is on calling the question. I vote. Yes. Councilor DeVithan Brown.

Voted no.

Yes. Councilor Mahan.

Still no. No.

Council Oliver? Yes. Council Merritt? Yes. Council Waterhouse? Yes. Deputy Mayor Lloyd?

Yes.

And Mayor Anthony Harrington? Yes. Okay. So, call the question. All right. So we consider and take action regarding the request to extend the submission deadline for the Charter Revision Commission's draft report to the town clerk. All those in favor? Order, order, Mayor Harrington. Roll call. Roll call. Roll call, yeah. Thank you. Councilor Cooper? Yes. Councilor DePete and Brown?

I vote no.

Councilor Mahan? No. Councilor Oliver? Yes. Councilor Merritt?

Yes.

Councilor Waterhouse?

Yes.

Councilor Goodwin? Abstain. Deputy Mayor Lloyd? Yes. Mayor Harrington? Yes. So we have six yes, two nays, and one abstention. The motion passes.

One of order, Mayor Harrington. So I've requested at previous meetings, and I'm hoping that we can continue to do this where we, when we're voting to call the question, we do that by voice. And then when we're voting on the actual measure, we do a roll call. So I'm hoping that we can do that moving forward instead of a roll call for each vote.

Thank you. We move to new business. Item 202704, consider and take action regarding the request for a proposed revision of building permit and land use application fees. Do we have a motion? So moved.

Second.

Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Oh, I'm sorry. Have our director Coleman.

Thank you. To read the motion.

If we can just read the motion into the record.

Item 202704. consider and take action regarding the request for proposed revision of building permit and land use application fees. Needs to be moved to public hearing.

Correct. Correct. I would like to get a motion. Okay.

set a date for a public hearing?

Second. Second. Okay. Would we check with our collective counsel too?

Any discussions? The motion was- Is there any discussion? Mr. Councilor Mahan.

Thank you, Mayor Harrington. I actually wanted to hear from our from Director Coleman regarding it, you know, whether there are any estimates of like the potential increases in, I guess, the revenue coming into the department or have there been any numbers drafted up? I know it's very hard to tell because everything changes year over year. And we're not always booming and bustling, but we're moving forward nonetheless. But are there any projections that you have of the impact?

Counselor, you actually included this in your budget approval. When you prepared your budget, you included these proposed fees as a revenue. It'll generate approximately $130,000 additional revenue for fiscal year 27. This is implementing that budget decision. Thank you.

One question. Was part of this, I guess, 10% going to the housing fund?

What?

1% goes to the housing fund. That's already built in. We've probably generated for FY26 $200,000 plus that went into that fund in addition to the $500,000 that was initially seeded. As I said, we generated last year about $1.7 million in fees against a projection of $1.7 $3 million. So we had a really good year. We've started off well this year. I think if things happen as we estimate, we should have a number of significant projects through the permit process by the end of FY27. So I think we projected, I think, $1.2 or $1.3 million in the budget. I think we should certainly mean that and very probably exceed it. But again, these ordinances are implementing budget decisions that you made for FY27.

And we're still working on the procedure and plan for the housing fund?

Yes, we are. We're trying to... get that done as quickly as we can. We understand the council's interest in getting that up and running.

Thank you. So this item, oh, thank you very much.

Was there anything more that I just wanted to again, remind you that the motion this evening would be to assign it to public hearing at your next meeting.

Okay.

That way we can move it along.

All those in favor. Those voting nay. Any abstentions? Okay. Motion passes. We now move to the report from the town manager.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Madam, Deputy Mayor, Councilors, staff, and valued citizens of Bloomfield. I plan to cover the following topics this evening as part of my town manager's report. Transition plan for CSLT, that's the Community Serving Leadership Team, present recruitment efforts, fiscal year 2028 budget, fiscal year 2025, and 2026 audit. I planned on covering those as well, but Deputy Mayor, Mayor Lloyd did a great job in covering down, so I will not repeat what was said. I'll discuss economic development, community events, and then I'll close. All right, the transition plan remains the same for 330 Park Ave with the leadership there. engaged in efforts to get those will be taken over up to speed and we're also continuing our recruitment efforts of the. assistant director of social and youth services and once that position has been filled, there will be a transition between that new person and the director of social and youth services. we're also going to have the same type of transition plan. between the director of HR and the present director of HR. In terms of present recruitment, right now, director of finance is open. We're going through an internal process. The HR director has gone through the first round of interviews. The second round is to be scheduled. There'll be a final round after the second round with me. The final interview after the second round is complete where I'll make a decision. Assistant talent accountant, That's open. First round of interviews are being scheduled. The Assistant Director of Social and Youth Services, The first round of interviews have been conducted second round to be scheduled Then there'll be a final interview with me assistant town engineer that position is open Maintainer is open. We had an internal process with no candidates and now we're opened up to an external process A custodian has been hired and will start within the next two weeks and the full-time IT Technician position is still open And as I mentioned, thank you, Madam Deputy Mayor, for giving a good overview of audit for fiscal year 25 and 26. And yes, we are starting a lot earlier. And this month, we will have internal meetings with departments to see where there can be some money savings based on historical records give backs at the end of fourth quarter to see where we can perhaps tighten up so we're not continuing to give back large sums of money. And we have contracted for a work analysis study to be conducted by a consultant. And I have a meeting scheduled this week for candidates being considered for the Office of the Town Manager's Blue Ribbon Budget Development Team. And I thank those citizens. for their willingness to engage. In September, the team will meet, the Blue Ribbon team will meet, and I hope to receive guidance. As I said last time, I reported from this council for the fiscal 20-year, fiscal 28 budget. That guidance would be preferred to be in writing. and we'll continue the staffing study and town manager's proposed budget development. In October, I hope to begin discussions with BOE regarding their budget and the staffing study will continue. November, present the preliminary town manager proposed budget to the finance chair and incorporate finance chair's guidance to town manager's proposed budget. In December, review. the town manager's proposed budget with the Blue Ribbon Budget Development Team, make final presentations to the finance chair and finance committee, and by December, provide final TM proposed budget to the town council. I realize this is out of the norm, I realize this is aggressive, and I realize this is causing some of my department heads some challenges, but we're going to get ahead of this. and we're gonna drive on and we're gonna overcome those challenges. So I'm very comfortable with our ability to do so. Economic development has been already updated. No, it hasn't been. We did have a town center development presentation that was made to all interested applicants last week. I had envisioned conducting some sort of open house so that people will understand why their investment in Bloomfield was worthwhile and the open house wasn't very practical. So instead Goldman and York put together a presentation. I believe that presentation is available online for our viewing public and you can see the effort that we made to ensure that we get the right partner to develop our town center. The process will close in September. 800 Cotter Scope Road, we're still in efforts to get something before TPZ and the town council in regard to that. And as the mayor already mentioned, the meet and greet with CIGNA leadership went well last week. DPW and engineering, but first I'd like to say thank you to the residents who live in the area of Maple Ave. I know how long you have been requesting action to address your needs regarding traffic calming, because I received a call from Ms. Lori Julian while still on active duty in North Carolina before I was sworn in. And Ms. Julian asked for my commitment to resolve her concern of over 10 years. I committed and I'm grateful to our engineering and DPW who made the project a priority and now have us at a point of building the design less than two and a half years from my initial discussion with Ms. Julian. So thank you DPW and engineering team. Tax calculator. I am working towards getting quotes to have the tax calculator bill by a consultant that we rolled out with my proposed 2028 budget. a community event. The final concert on the green will be this Thursday. Mass confusion will be performing. Come on out for good food and music. On a personal note, for those unaware, our clerk of council, Ms. Latonia Tabb lost her father, Mr. Clinton Cook, on July 30th, 2026. On behalf of the staff, again, of the town of Bloomfield, I would like to express my condolences to the Cook and Tabb families. Mrs. Tabb, thank you for your steadfast service to the town of Bloomfield. during this difficult time. In closing, I encourage all citizens to please follow the excellent example of former Mayor Sid Shulman this evening and ask questions of the town directly. I do not read town citizens' social media posts or bloggers' speculation about the town and have no idea as to what is being presented as factual information to the public. So thank you, Mayor Schulman, for bringing your questions. I hope they were all answered during tonight's presentation by the council and myself. And subject to your questions, Mr. Mayor, that's all I have.

Thank you. My comments will be brief. I had a couple questions.

We're in the town manager's report.

Is that?

No. That's well within what we can do here. I had my hand raised as well. Thank you. So just a couple of things. Thank you, first of all, Town Manager, for your report. Two things, a few things that I missed. I just have three questions. I missed when the Blue Ribbon, a couple of things about the Blue Ribbon Commission. One, how are these folks chosen And second, when will the members be announced? I think you said something about when the members would be announced, but I missed that. And then I do have a follow-up question after that. So how are they chosen? And then when will these members be announced?

Well, thank you for your question, Councilor Mahon. They're chosen based on my observations of people who have been committed to the town of Bloomfield and helping the town move forward. And so I determine that by observing folks in the public arena, such as this, as well as other efforts that they make within the town. And I also base it upon what I consider to be their aptitude to bringing value to the effort. When will they be chosen? I'm having the interviews this month and they will be announced next month.

Thank you. And so I'm not going to... challenge how they're chosen. But I guess the only question that I do have regarding that specifically is, was there an application process? And was this a process that was open to the public overall? Or yeah, I'll just leave it there. And I do have just one separate question regarding the Charter Revision Commission. But...

As I said before, they were chosen based on my understanding of who I think is best capable to assist with this. So as a town manager, I see and hear and engage a lot with the community. And based on those criteria that I see every day, I made the decision for this town manager appointed committee.

Okay. Okay. So it wasn't open to the public. It was open to the public. I selected it from the public. Okay. Um, so, and then secondly, uh, how much is this, uh, this new charter revision commission process going to cost? That's my last question. Okay. It didn't get to the question was called before I could ask. And I've asked that question in previous meetings, never got an answer on how much it would cost. Uh, how do you know how much this is going to cost this new process? I do not. Does anyone know? Oh, I'll ask you mayor Harrington after your report.

Thank you. You will get the same response, but let's move on. I wanted to talk about the wonderful convocation that I attended today at the Blue Hills, excuse me, the Bloomfield High School. It was great. There were about 500 employees and they identified some who had received special recognition relative to paras and teachers there. So it was really, really pretty cool. This weekend was my first visit to the farmer's market. I apologize for not having attended before, but it was really, really good. I tried to participate with each vendor that was there and they were very appreciative and It was a very good day and I'm going to send the message out that we would hope others would go to attend as well. Regarding CIF, that's the grant that we're currently submitted to the state. We're thankful that Bobby Gibson, Representative Bobby Gibson, will continue to support this measure. We also have talked with Senator Derek Slap, who continues to support this measure. And Representative McCrory, who will still maintain that position, up into and beyond the time that they make this decision, we are looking for his support as well. And we're reaching out to Representative Marion Kahn. She has indicated that she would support this effort as well. And... I don't think anything was necessarily mentioned about First Cathedral. That project is still moving forward. We will be meeting with them sometime this week. What is, Oh, $535, uh, has been given to, uh, social and youth services from composite lodge number 22. That was for, uh, teachers supplies. So we're very happy, uh, that this organization, um, uh, made this contribution and will possibly make others. And that is the conclusion of my report as we had already identified quite a few happenings in the community. Now we move to council comments and we will have each two minutes each. I have down here 20. No, it's not 20, it's two. And we will start with... Councilor Debeeson-Brown.

Thank you. I'm going to just quickly revisit that two-minute situation. I am still baffled how elected officials get less time than residents. And I don't believe that the council has voted on those suggested changes, Mr. Chair, so I would respectfully like for us to revisit them. We're talking about budgets, and it's a good time that we're starting early. I would ask us to look at the cadence in which we collect tax payments. As a town, we can decide twice a year, four times a year, five times a year. I would look at that cadence. I had the wonderful privilege of standing in line. I saw Mr. Chair as he was leaving, and I got a lot of feedback from our residents. And I think if we can change the cadence or increase the cadence of taxpayers' payments, that would be a benefit to our residents. Also back to public safety. Yes, we do have a blight ordinance in place. We do not have a mechanism to... ticket and to receive funding. So that's what I'm saying that we need to build that out a little bit more because it's almost like a toothless dog. We have the mechanism, but we have the ordinance, but we don't have a mechanism to ticket and to receive funding. I'm glad that we're gonna be doing this workforce study. I believe it's with CTHRC. I believe that's the name of the people. I have requested a copy of the SOW just to make sure that it will capture everything that we will need information for as a council when we make decisions for the 2028 budget. And I believe I was under two minutes. However, I do want to discuss this two minute situation. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Before we move forward, I need to reset. Councilor Goodwin.

Um, I just want to stay publicly again, because I know there's concerns, particularly about the ethics committee, that there is no effort on my effort or counselor to read them Brown or counselor waterhouse to prevent that committee from moving forward. We are literally just doing the due diligence to give everyone the opportunity. I should say, even when we interview for the next four to five committees, even those people, the newest committees will have two times to be able to come for an interview. So even when the ethics committee is added, People who are on that slate, which I believe is about 15 different people, will be given the opportunity twice to be able to come to an interview. So even adding it to the list doesn't immediately mean it will make it to the council agenda because the process is to try to be as fair and equitable as possible to give as many people the opportunity to fully participate in the process. which I believe is what people who added their comments to our new process and procedure were hoping that we would give people an equitable opportunity to participate. That ends my comments. Thank you so much.

Councilor Cooper.

So thank you, Mr. Mayor, for giving me five minutes.

Point of order.

I just want to say thank, I want to thank Bloomfield residents for coming out on what, You know, things may not always work out the way we want them to, but certainly people are able to come out and voice their concerns, no matter what they are, whether they are for or against any measure. You know, it's still good to see people, you know, have faith in the system. You know, folks seem to be losing that on a national level. So on a local level, it's still good to see. And I hope that we keep the same energy on the national level. I do, but I'll leave that there and just talk about our traffic calming that is going to come up. I'm glad that that has finally come to fruition and that our residents will have that in place for them so that they feel safe in the town of Bloomfield. And I don't have much more, Mr. Mayor, other than to say, You know, it's good to be here and getting the people's business done.

Thank you. Thank you. And Council Waterhouse.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to let everyone know that the Lions Club is doing a pet food drive. It is Thursday, August 27th from 630 to 8 p.m. And it will benefit the Simon Foundation and the Bloomfield Animal Control Association. Drop-off is at the Lions Club. Town Green. Just kidding. Oh, Concert on the Green. Keep going. If you have any questions, Wendy's right there. Thank you.

Thank you. I've got to stop. One moment. House of Merit. I have another comment.

Whoa. Thank you, sir. You didn't even have enough time to reset the clock. Shut up. Counsel.

Counsel. Counsel. Counsel.

Thank you, Mayor Harrington. First, I want to thank everyone that came out, attended in person, online, and those that are going to be watching later on YouTube. Thank you for staying engaged and for believing in our talent so much that you'll continue to pour your time, effort, and energy into making Bloomfield better. I'm happy to see Bob Icke back on the Board of Education. I know that wasn't the most ideal opportunity uh situation uh you know and we didn't get there in the most ideal circumstance but um nonetheless you know he's been a champion on the board of education for many many many years um i might might want to say longer than i've been alive but i don't think quite that long as i get older but um but i'm glad to see him back um you know I do want to revisit a consistent theme that I speak about often, which is receiving answers to very important questions. We ask questions, council members, residents, ultimately we're all stakeholders in this community. We ask questions, answers need to be given. There's too many instances in which we have questions that are left unanswered. And then we're left to fill that void with, as the town manager stated, blogger speculation or something of the sort. But in the absence of actual answers from the administration, what are we left to do? You know, I asked the question on how much is this charter revision commission going to cost us? Again, when we initially started the process, it was point of order. that's an item that we've already discussed okay my apologies so i'll continue um but everyone knows what i'm talking about we just need answers to these questions um and i i would like a timeline as to you know when i can thank you very much sir your two minutes is up another hundred thousand thank you deputy mayor lloyd nobody else knows either

I'm just waiting for Councilman Hahn to wrap.

You have the floor.

Thank you. He was finishing, so I didn't want to start. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I understand. I appreciate it. I'm speaking a little louder because when I speak at a normal cadence or a voice tone, you guys say you can't hear me. I just want to thank you guys for the time to speak. Regarding the Charter Revision Commission, I think how much it's going to cost is a good question. We do know that a lot of the work has been endeavored, and it doesn't mean that we need to curtail the process, but I do think it a valid question to see how much it's going to cost. We can't speculate that. How can they come up with it? But I think our starting point would be what did we spend last time and work from there. And I don't expect because a lot of work has been done that we would end up with a similar financial commitment. But I do look forward to that work beginning. I want to thank everybody that came out tonight. I do encourage the public to please do consider staying engaged, speaking out regarding commentary that was made regarding the rules and procedure. Those were changed in November of 2023 and the new rules and procedure regarding many including going from two down to one council meeting. Those changes were made in a previous administration. So I'm sorry, you might not have received that information council to become Brown, but I think it's been redistributed to this new council as it relates to the changes that you hadn't voted on your right, because they had been made in a previous administration. So that may be kind of what's going on here with some of the confusion about council comments and timing and parameters around that. that situation. So I just wanted to share that in case you were not aware. But thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, for the floor. I appreciate it.

Thank you. And this concludes our council comments. We're now going to move into executive session, which will include the council and our town attorney. So we need to vote on it first. Excuse me, excuse me. All those in favor? Excuse me. Let me make the motion. There's a motion to move into executive session. There's a motion to move into executive session. Do we have a?

Second. Okay.

All those in favor? Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Thank you. So the room will clear and we will invite the town attorney to join us.

Maybe some people with you in the town bank.

Thank you all for coming.

We need to clear the room.

I don't know if that's accurate or not. I'll ask the question. I'll ask the question.

I have no problem asking the question. I want to be sure that you have somebody to take you out here. Yeah.

We have to clear the room.

Okay, folks. Thank you so much. We have to clear the room. We have to clear the room so we can get on with the town's business. We have to clear the room. Citizens, we have to clear the room.

Exactly. So please, good night.

Natasha's going to hang this one. Okay. So she can bring us back. Yeah.

Okay. Well, thank you for... And you did well.

8.30. There's no fucking reason why it should be going on even...

Ladies and gentlemen, you have to leave the room.

Mayor? Mayor Shulman.

Good night. I'm out of here.

Have a good night. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Attorney Cumber will explain to you because right now.