Town Council - Special Meeting

Good morning. Welcome to this odd hour up for a meeting, but it is a special meeting of the town council. Couldn't it be last night? Matt because it couldn't. It's not. Could the town manager explain why the Buddhas had to be changed? Yeah, we we're not going to banter back and forth and it will be explained.

David, would you Sure.

Uh so, as we all know, the town council originally had called this meeting for 6:30 last night. Um notice for that was made in two phases. Uh Saturday afternoon and uh Sunday at the middle of the day it was filed in the clerk's office. Uh unfortunately um I had overlooked a piece of the section of the statutes uh that requires or perhaps better way to phrase this um excludes from the calculation of the normal 24-hour notice requirement for meetings of the town council and in particular for special meetings of the town council. Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, and any day that the town clerk's office is closed. So, having been having that section of the statutes, which disallows the use of the weekend as a notice period uh for a special meeting brought to my attention, we really had no choice but to cancel the meeting. Any action taken at it would have been illegal under state statute. and court decisions. Unfortunately, because of the conversation that you intend to have uh and the need to have that with as much time in advance of the town meeting as possible, this was the earliest time we could do. It is it is the not it is not the preferred time. Last night would have been better, but according to state statutes, we would have been disallowed. The only way we could have done it on Monday night would have been to know by 12:30 on Friday that we intended to have this conversation.

Thank you. I'll accept whatever responsibility I have in that. As I said, it was my mistake. I missed that piece of the statute. Not one that we use all that often. And we didn't have the legal agreement.

We did not have the opinion. So our agenda is limited to really three items. Agenda item. The question at hand is review and discussion regarding town attorney opinion concerning propriety of town meeting vote for approval of acquisition of property for WPCA and joint facilities sewage system use. The town the council the town manager received the attorney's opinion sometime In the early evening on Friday the 6th, that opinion or the the town asked for an opinion regarding the propriety of the town meeting vote related to the proposed acquisition of 292 West High Street, which had been approved in a resolution by the council meeting. The question that had been posed to the town council uh attorney Richard Carella was is the joint operation of the East Hampton Water Pollution Control Authority through the Colchester East Hampton Joint Facility

the appropriate venue to fund and to purchase property for the CH facilities? The simple answer, the answer that the town meeting boat is neither legally required nor appropriate for the town WPCA/jint facilities to purchase the property at 292 West High Street for the construction or operation of the sewer system. We can go through opinion and ruling, but the jump to the conclusion. Meeting vote was not legally WPC purchase the property street for the construction of the sewage system. The town meeting is second. The appropriate for any of expension expens or the joint facility of the property has statutory authority of property and the ex of its own. meeting has town meeting has no authority any such vote either null and neither binding nor advis

sole authority to approve or to the joint facilities committee who's affected by this plan. Every single residency here is going to have a property value define. Mr. Chair, excuse me. Just asking you to read. Please read the paragraph.

Mr. Chair, can the town manager please explain what the proper process is for this type of land acquisition? And if it's been done,

so the short answer to the last question that was asked by the member of the public is no, it has not been done yet. um the it hasn't been done because that was not the process that was being followed until Friday night. So, so what would have to happen given the new given the opinion from the town attorney, what would have to happen is the statutory process related to uh any expansion or any acquisition of land by the joint facilities acting through um the WPCA of East Hampton and Colchester. And that would primarily include a public hearing to receive public input on, in this case, the acquisition of the land. That meeting hasn't been scheduled. It has not been held yet. It would need to be held for it would need to be held in accordance with the normal statutory process. There is nothing that would prevent the WPCA from holding public information sessions if it chose and other ways to help the community understand what the proposal is and what the proposal is not. Nevertheless, in accordance with state statute, they would ultimately need to hold the public hearing before they took a vote to finalize a determination on the acquisition. As we all know, um they did make a recommendation to the town council uh for the town to acquire the property under the process that we have used in the past, which as the opinion opines, uh is not

the proper process for that utility to acquire land. Dave, who is the existing contract with WPCA or the town of East Hampton? [clears throat] The with Are you asking with the property owner? Correct. Yeah. The the town council approved the agreement with the with the property owner. So, it's with the town of East Tampa, not the WPCA. That is true. Okay.

The recent concerns around Mr. DC roll calling the question all facts that today questions did you hire Mr. No public comment yet. I'm sorry. We'll It's not open to public comment yet or questions. I just wanted to know if he hired the man and if he signed a contract with driven residual. Those two that's not pertinent to this meeting. He's got us here today is trying to residuals and he's the one that he hired him and

Mr. D. Simone is hired by the WPCA as I understand it. What's the town controls? No, the town doesn't control.

Well, the town does appoint every member, Dean. So, in by default, they probably do control. Who pays the salary? The WPC. Joint Facilities pays the salary of the public utilities administrator. There's doubt all around this purchase today because of the things he's done and said though it warrants a much closer look than where we're at right now. Where there's smoke, there's fires. Can we ask for public comment before you vote because sir? No. [ __ ] Yeah,

every one of you should be fired. Folks, there'll be plenty of time for public comment this evening. I urge you to come to the town meeting this evening under public comment in your three minute section and speak whatever uh you would like to say. Right now there unfortunately no public comment, but there will be plenty tonight I'm sure. So please come back at 6:30 for our public comment. Isn't this meeting today meeting? No. No, that's already tonight's meeting is regular regular meeting of the town council.

So, if I may, the the you have two items on your agenda at this point, followed by some public comment. Uh the first is review of the the attorney's opinion that we've received and uh which in short as was described earlier uh indicates that the town meeting is not the proper authority for the acquisition of land related to the public utility. The second question is whether the town council with that knowledge would uh resend the the resolution that calls for the town meeting tonight. town meeting capital T capital M the function of direct legislation by the electors of the town because as the attorney has opined that body of people does not have the proper authority in this case. The regular town council meeting that is scheduled for tonight is not in question. That is a regular meeting of the town council and will continue to proceed as it always has on the second Tuesday of the month. So the the second question you have in front of you is whether you wish to rescend the town meeting based on whether it has authority. That's the question in front of the town council. The question as it relates to whether the purchase of the land is appropriate shifts back to the WPC, I'm sorry, to the joint facilities committee. They will be responsible for uh holding public information sessions uh to explain what the purpose of the land would be for again and to receive the p the comments from the public on whether they should make that purchase, whether there are concerns or conditions under which they should make that purchase or things that they should take into consideration in the future. those

comments should be taken by them directly when that process comes forward. I would argue that the town attorney is suggesting regardless of whether the vote occurs tonight at the town meeting, which may or may not happen, that information should still be done. That action should still be taken by the joint facilities. it should still have that because it ultimately is the one according to the statutes that has the authority and responsibility for making that decision.

So does that mean Dave that the contract with the town of East Tin that is pending is now null and void since it has to be redone uh and renegotiated through the um joint facilities. Uh I don't know that I mean it is a contract with the town. Um

then the taxpayers vote in it whether it's meaningful or meaningless. If you're not if the contract's not void and still a valid contract then the taxpayer should have a voice in it. I would suggest that the contract is still a valid contract and the voice of the people in that instance would be the public hearing um at the WPCA joint facilities. But the question of of that contract has not really been fully explored other than to say that it does have language that calls for uh the contract to be valid until all governmental approvals have been achieved. But if we're no longer buying it, then that's never going to happen.

For a state statue, it has to be in the town's name. land acquisition. The acquisition of property is can be properly done by joint facilities which would indicate that joint facilities would be the owner of that land which would be the town. Joint facilities is a joint operation of the towns of East Hampton and Colchester

by state statue that needs to be in the town of the WPCA have to be East Hampton. The title for the property is the rest of the property around it is not going owned by the WPCA facilities. It is owned by the town East and an expansion of this is for What that's being proposed by the charter of East Hampton would require a public referendum. I don't have the specific location, but an expansion to 10 times the water facility that is currently in place would require a referendum within the town. Public vote

if clearly these people don't want to vote, right? And we want to know what the town council, town manager, and the town attorney are doing to stop these contracts because none of us want this facility there. So, we don't care what you guys do. Just what are you going to do to stop it because it's already gone through fall at this point. We want to resend the town meeting because legal council has advised us that any action would be null and void regardless getting out of it. Why are you so poor?

What What are you getting? Uh that's an those are inappropriate comments. Well, f first. Yeah. What am I getting? I'm getting on this. I'm getting a seat here to listen to you.

You got our backy. So, uh, if I may, the the acquisition of the land and the conceptual bioolids drying facility that has been discussed are unrelated. That is my statement. That is the my understanding of the facts as they are today that they are unrelated. They are they they are

please procedure in council. If you want to speak you direct your questions to me on the record is not true. They're related through the same we're not going to debate this between with you. You can bring this up at public hearing. No, we'll bring it up in public comment after you guys keep going with us. We're all here. We're not leaving. And we'll be back tonight. That's fine. That's your right.

So, as I said, um the acquisition of the land is unrelated to the Griffin residuals proposal that has been conceived and discussed at a very high level uh in various public meetings. the intent of the acquisition of the uh vacant parcel uh which is really not the topic of today's but just to answer the question um the intent of the acquisition of the parcel is to provide space for uh future modifications to the treatment plant that may be necessary to allow it to continue to meet uh the treatment requirements that it will have uh in the future. As you know, it is designed to be a 3.9 million gallon per day facility. It's operating at little less than half of that today. Uh in the future, as requirements and restrictions continue to change for the level at which that material has to be processed, the WPCA and joint facilities have uh discussed being able to make sure they have the space available to add treatment facilities in the future. That notwithstanding the Griffin residuals proposal is at a conceptual level. Uh it has been discussed uh among staff of course. It has been presented at a conceptual level at the planning and zoning commission of course at the joint facilities WPCA meetings and at the town council some months ago. It would require the normal planning and zoning commission review uh that any other land use activity in the community would require. It of course also because of the type of

facility it is requires a number of other permits for discharge of uh water wastes back to the wastewater treatment plant. uh for discharge of any emissions into the air and other permits that uh I don't recall at this point but that are the purview of the state of Connecticut and uh perhaps federal regulations as well. Um but that process has not even really stepped off other than as I mentioned at a high level conceptual uh review or a presentation not even really a review presentation to those bodies that would come in the future uh as and would have to stand on its own merits of uh benefit if you will and and cost to the community. So that would come in the future. Dave, since you are talking about the Griffin property, um, according to the memo, it looks like it's more than halfway through the process. Um, and according to the meetings, uh, this was something that was solicited, um, for the town by Mr. D. Simone, and that does not seem to be a conceptual, uh, project when it looks like it's that far into it. So, uh, could you maybe speak to that or speak to that tonight at our council meeting because what you're saying doesn't align with what the memos are saying and what the other meetings are appearing to be.

I can talk to it if you want or I can talk to it tonight. Either one. I don't care either or. I just want it addressed.

Um what I think you're referring to is a memo that was that was written um I don't remember exactly when. I feel like it was the last part of next year that outlined some steps in the process. Uh the first few were related to sort of the concept and whether there was any interest in pursuing or allowing it to be pursued. uh and and the first few boxes of that list of 6 8 n steps uh have been checked off uh through um a basically a letter of intent to say yeah we would look at this uh 25

thank you uh and would uh review it. Um at this point it's gone really not much farther than that. uh the the property owner or rather the business owner uh has been seeking a parcel of land on which to perform that function uh and is trying to identify where it would be. Uh once they're able to successfully acquire that land, then they would need to come forward uh with the rest of the process, which is really the meat of the process.

But again, if it was conceptual, then how could Mr. D Simone be threatening eminent domain to that property owner if he did not sell it to them. Um that that seems kind of a little bit more than conceptual if you're threatening eminent domain to the uh to the property owner. Um the threat of eminent domain uh can only be uh well notwithstanding the attorney's opinion what I was about to say is would be exercised by the town. Eminent domain power is a power of government and can be used. Uh it is one that is fraught with political challenge and legal challenge uh but is available to a town when it feels as a policy it is appropriate to take that step. Um it is not one that is entered into lightly and is in my opinion not one that we would exercise in this instance and Mr. D. Simone is aware of that of my position in that regard and uh I think uh understands how that statement uh should or should not be used in the future.

I know I'm just concerned because he did threaten the property owner with the eminent domain. Um, and if that was without your knowledge, then we have even bigger problem because if someone made um a decision based on a threat by a um an employee that is part uh in line with the town threatening the town, it's going to take it by eminent domain. We have a major problem. Well, that matters. Okay. I will point out that none of the five council members here would advocate or support eminent domain acquisition.

Tell us about it. The video was out on online. The town doesn't want the people to know about it yet. December 3rd. sweep it under the rug. So, WHO WHICH ONE OF YOU SITTING UP THERE BECAUSE IT WASN'T Ted and it wasn't Tim. Which one of you said does not tell us about it yet? None of us. None of us. We have all heard. Uh the reference may be to you can't stand forever.

I I think this is a reference to um discussions around the specific parcel of land that was being that was attempted was is being attempted to be purchased uh by uh the the company Griffin Residuals. Uh we were not at liberty, although we have knowledge of where that is, we weren't at liberty to say where that was because of the process that was being undertaken. It was a private transaction um that was with all due respect to private transaction with threats by a town employee. Um I believe I have addressed that with that employee and if necessary I will address it again.

Well I think that needs to be done because the harm could have already been done if if something was done based on I know that that person has expended great legal um costs in association with this because of the threats made against him and um that could come back to bite us in the behind as well. If you can tell us this biomass facility is done and over with, I I could sleep tonight. Um the and this decision being made today is, you know, is this the same person's baby and I'm concerned that this decision has more to do with, you know, meeting some um requirement from Griffin Residuals than it does with saving money on upgrades to the facility. Perhaps that is all the more reason for the members of the WPCA, I'm sorry, the members of the joint facilities uh to continue to communicate with the public uh about those two things. Um

this man willingly showed a a willingness to throw a much beloved resident under the bus in the defense of prison residuals in the future. Um so why should we believe anything he says to

I'll repeat. I think it's the joint facilities commission, the committee rather, the members of that body who are uh residents of the town of East Hampton and residents of the town of Colchester who will need to decide whether there is reason to buy the land we are talking about or reason to enter into any kind of an agreement with a bioolids drying facility whether that facility is in East Hampton or elsewhere in the state much like it always has to do with its process. the land use decision related to that, if in fact it goes forward, and that'll be a decision that Griffin Residuals has to make, if in fact it goes forward, would have to run through the public process associated with the planning and zoning commission. Okay.

If the if the if underscore that word Griffin Residuals decides to pursue the project anywhere in East Hampton, then that process gets followed. Similarly, if that in that company decides to move somewhere else in Connecticut, they would follow that community's land use process as well. planes and zoning and Julia the

construction of a new facility yes would boil down to the planning you planning and zoning commission and as alluded to by a member of the public other bodies as appropriate inland wetlands agency etc etc the land use regulatory process is what gets involved there and frankly as I mentioned in the ultimate use of any land acquired by the joint facilities or the WPCA or frankly the town. Any land that it's acquired by the town that then gets a use put upon it. um whatever that may be, a pump station, a a police station, a fire station, a town hall, a storage garage would be subject to the uh discretion or the rules of the planning and zoning commission. Anything and everything that the town does either as a general government entity or through its utilities is a special permit under the current town regulations. So a special permit means that nothing we do is a permitted use. We can't just go in, so to speak, and get a zoning permit and do our thing. We have to that is the town and its utilities have to go through a special permit process in front of the planning and zoning commission for everything that we do. Sears Park years ago special permit. This building special permit public works years ago special permit. All that same process.

Reality though is how many times has a town office uh project been denied at planning and zoning? I suspect never, but it would have to do with how that facility is is laid out. And in the case of this, especially with heightened uh concerns about screening and locations uh of if if we're talking about WPCA facilities or joint facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, the location of those things, the screening of those things. Uh just recently the planning and zoning commission reviewed uh modifications to a lift station and the above ground facilities related to a lift station. Uh and uh did review that did modify it did require certain screening from re from uh neighboring residential properties. Um insured separations and things of that sort. Excuse me. Well, so the planning and zoning commission, I think, attempts to be very uh sensitive to the community and what it needs uh as much as it can within its own regulations and what they say

non-performing commercial use in a residential neighborhood industry on a burn on Vern. She is biased towards a commercial use non-conforming commercial use in a residential area. How are we supposed to rely on that on a project from this magnitude?

A lot of us get our food from over there at a local farm. I don't want this right next to my food and where I buy my eggs. All concerns that uh the planning and zoning commission would have to look at. uh if in fact there's either a modification of the wastewater treatment facilities there or uh any other proposal including the bioolids drying facility uh in that location.

Mr. Chair, I fully respect the residents. Believe what you want. That's not open for debate right now. You all should have the opportunity to express your opinions in the appropriate venue. The only point of this meeting is that the town council has no authority over the land purchase. It would be disingenuous to ask you to vote on something that you have no authority over. You shouldn't vote either because you're getting free sewer out of the deal. I am not getting anything. Prove it. Prove it. Where? Where's the contract?

Exactly. There is not one. There is no nothing going forward in that respect. The fact of the matter is this council does not have control over the vote. You stated that my recourse against this whole thing was to come. That is the information I was provided by the town manager. That is the information I was provided by the town manager. So, how do I know the information that you're using to say the things that you're saying to me right now aren't misinformed?

Because we got a legal opinion and I went through the agreements, the IMA agreement with joint facilities and the WPCA agreement that set these things up. I did not make this choice. This council did not make this choice. These choices were made a long time ago in legal agreements. That is how they were set up. A public utility has the right to make a land purchase if they have the money to do so and they do not need town bonding. It is not my fault that it is not under the control of the town council concern about a vote.

Should you have researched your answer um if you care about that resident resident's concerns before you gave them a wrong answer? The town council takes advice from town staff requires a referendum. The expansion of the facility by charter of town of East Stampin requires a referendum. Let's cut let's cut to the quick. That is a separate policy.

Not talking about fixing the the plant as it is. Griffin has proposed a 100,000 uh gallion facility as opposed to the 14,000 that Mr. Cox has suggested would be necessary to serve the town of needs. It's 10 times at least the fac the the current use of the facility. It requires a referendum.

Why is the town attorney not here today? Why is Anthony Dotton out here today? Yeah, he has a big voice and stuff. [clears throat] He support somebody generations.

Thank you, Robert. And honestly, I know you guys personally and you guys are trying to support that. What has my father ever done bad to you? What has he done bad to you? I'm pretty sure my family has been pretty good to a lot of you on that board and you guys are going to support a guy that wants to come in and want says MFA which you guys say you can't do and then wants a bad mouth by far. Are you guys going to do anything to make this right? Because honestly, we all know you guys personally. You grew up in this town. You guys did a lot in this town. You guys want our backing, but you don't have our backs.

Mr. Cox, can you advise the public who has the authority? Hey, I'm one of the big farmers. Yes, my property stinks. Farm stality of the matter is if you wanted it to go through, you never would have sent the letter to the attorney. So, stop acting like you're you're you have no nothing to do. I don't act innocent. What if I wanted Ted? I'm not sure what you're suggesting. You knew the outcome wasn't gonna Does the Does the town council have any legal authority to stop the WPCA from purchasing the property?

You can sit there and you can Does the town council have any legal authority, Ted, to stop the WPCA from purchasing the property? The contract is in the town's name right now. That was because I was informed by the town manager that process. That's the reality of the matter is if you wanted this to if you thought this was going to pass a town meeting and there would be no push back, you never would have sent that letter to the town manager to the town attorney. Period. End of story. It does not matter if the town has no WTA require the referendum.

Fanny here. He's giving out bad information. It's the town council's duty to hire and f the town manager. Sorry, Dave, but trust in us. They're not apologizing to us. What is the point of you guys even being on a board then if you can't do anything? Have you signed a contract with Griffin Residuals? Yes or no? Town manager. As for the town manager, yes or no? No. Is the town attorney going to be here this evening? No. Why shouldn't he be here to answer questions?

Town manager or the town attorney is away attending to a family matter. He would have been able to be here last night.

So all of us as re residents have to get our own attorney to go up against the town if you guys aren't going to work for us. This is shameful. It's disgusting. And not one of them is changing their vote. They're all saying yes to it. That's why we're here at 8:30 in the morning. Nobody's giving us answers on what you're going to do to stop it in its tracks. You should realize you've been lied to yourselves. You're supposed to work or I don't think so. Every one of them. Don't think this is going to go away. This definitely is not going away.

No, nobody wants it. We don't even have the infrastructure on 66 to handle this. Do we not see how the cobalt intersections are already? And now you've got trucks that are going to be proposed to come in up and down hills. It's going to be a nightmare. Not just for our town, but everybody else that has to commute on 66. This is literally the definition of a [ __ ] shot. If we got this far already, you guys were serious about this. Yep. Been working on it for what, two and a half years? Yeah. Yeah. And you got to so you can't hodge came in in 2024. This is what they've been working for. Problem also

the paperwork moving rivers. That's a problem. Yeah. Thank you for your attention. Concern. Yeah. That's that's the look of we have your back. Yeah. pitiful with a knife in it. Somebody needs to post this on YouTube. This is ridiculous. This is embarrassing. You wonder when people ask about what about East Standard, they'll go, "Where is it?" And God's place is a joke. We haven't made a motion yet. Move

to resend the um need for town meeting. Second. What? Discussion. Further discussion with the council. Call a vote.

A motion has been made by Jack Solomon to resend the resolution for the town meeting tonight given the public opin given the opinion of the town attorney. Is there a second to that? Karen second. Opinion of a guy that can't be here. I'm sorry. Opinion of a guy that can't be here. Which guy? It's in writing. It's in writing. You can't give us back our question. Call a question.

Call a question. Those in favor of resending the resolution for the town meeting set for March 10th, 2026, please indicate by saying I. I. Opposed? N.

The opinion is the resolution is rescended. Thank you. Now there there's public comment. There's a process for that. If you want to speak, come up to the dis after being recognized. Give your name and address for the record and we're here to listen. Let me see.

I'm Robert Bear and I'm part of Bear's Farm. I think everybody in this town officially knows now that my property stinks, that I have a farm. What are you guys going to do to have my back of the guy you're allowing to come into this town and badmouth your residents that have been here for over three decades? What are you guys willing to do to have our back? Don't Dean, don't don't try to back. Don't Don't try to What are you gonna do? And you also He doesn't do anything either. He doesn't call. What What are you gonna do to help us out? That's That's

You guys are speechless for once when you're not jamming up somebody's ass. Dean, can I ask can I just ask one clarification? Can the town manager please disclose who controls hiring the public utilities administrator because the town council has no authority over hiring that position over hiring or firing that position. If the town manager could clarify, hires and fires that person.

All employees of the town of East Hampton other than the town manager are hired fired based on merit by the town manager. So what's that? What are you going to do about him? I want to know what is council again. Can we please go back to public comment under the appropriate process? Stand back up there again. Okay. No, no, no. You don't have to stand up there again. What do you Sorry, Robert Bear. Bear's farm. Making myself look stupid, right? What are you going to do? You just said it was your job.

You want me to respond? I mean, I can respond that I will that You should be fired. All five of them. I am not stopping till he's fired. Robert, we have your back. That would help us a lot.

And you know what? I hate to say it. Anybody else on that board that you guys are in charge of, I want gone. There was a meeting where I got publicly laughed at. I have something to say. I say to your face. They laughed behind closed doors. That's okay. Is that what you stand for? Honestly, I want to know. Is that what you stand for? Somebody that represents this town, is that what you stand for? Then do your job, please. Peter Reginald Downey, 166 Lake Drive. That is Hazen Tree Farm. You need to fire D Simone and Juliet Hodgej. You already know my concerns about Juliet Hodgej. I came down to you as soon as she was hired about her unethical behavior, her behavior in other towns, and why is she here. You ignored me. I reached out to a council member. Let my concerns be known in a private matter manner. I guess you know nobody really cares. You need to fire her and D Simone and then you guys need to fire him. There's no there's no way out of this. There is no way out of this.

You guys are shameful. You know, my grandfather served on this council. He would all take you to the woodshed and put you in your place where you need to be put. I hope some other people up here can tell these people how shameful they are, too.

Rebecca Harvey, 39 Flanders Road. I agree with everything that's been said. The council needs to take care of David Cox and before you do that, he needs to take care of get Anthony D. Simone. There's conflicts of interest and as a resident I am asking every single one of you on this town council to figure out and work with the town attorney on how to stop this now. Michael Pergalini, 16 Fern Lane in Middle Hatam. I will express the same concerns with other uh as to the planning and zoning commission. Uh as I alluded to from the public floor before, there is a definite bias to commercial in in uh in specific to Fern Lane. Uh there was a bias on a a non-conforming commercial use in a residential area. We can all discuss that another time to the matter at hand. Uh we miss one you spoke about disingenuous comments. Here's you in the River East talking about there's no additional truck traffic. I [snorts] was at the meetings for Griffin Development where they talked about an incremental 10 to 20 trucks in the various phases of this project. Uh those those additional trucks create a hazard as you come along 66. Griffin Development has one out of their five possible projects. Only one is currently in use. Uh all the others have been squashed. The one facility that they do have in place is on a rural road with a 500 vehicle tra uh traffic in a in a low volume rural road.

where you're talking about putting this on 66 is the primary traffic corridor for between 9 and 15,000 vehicles a day. And you're going to add 20 heavy trucks a day and a hazard to every person sitting here uh and the rest of the residents of this town. As I also alluded to earlier, let's let's let's not uh hide what this is. We're not just buying a talking about buying a small piece of property for the for the use of this water treatment facility within the needs of the town of East Hampton and and Colchester. This is a 10 to 50 time expansion of that facility augmented by Griffin Development. That's what this is about. Any change of the of the size and use of the facility would require by a charter of East Hampton. Uh, and I don't have the specific sighting, but we can all figure out what that is. Would require a refer public referendum, uh, and a vote by the public. That's not what we we're trying to shove this under the rug between planning and zoning and and this meeting today, and it needs to stop now. You're not following proper procedure, and you should all be held account for it. I have one more. I think that's sufficient. Uh, you know, let let's let's be real, folks. We're not trying to solve the problem of East Hampton, which would require a 2,000 and perhaps a maximum 4,000 gallon per day type operation. This facility is untried technology, unproven and and and again, it also is a significant expansion of the use. Instead of the Belltown, we're going to be the feces collection of the state of Connecticut. the size of this facility can can handle 50% of the entire waste of the state of Connecticut. Let me say that again. 50% of the state of Connecticut could be of held by this

plant. That's the intention with the program that's been advocated by D Simone Hoj and Griffin Development. Stop. It's not about protecting the town. Let's talk finances here. The savings that Mr. D. Simone talks about the savings represents less than 2/10 of a percent of the cost of the waste disposal. That's 2/10 of a percent. That's a rounding error on the on the total budget of this town. The revenues generated 100,000 106,000 per ton represents less than onetenth of 1% of a revenue opportunity for the town based on the current town budget. These are rounding areas. This is being portrayed as a much larger problem. Yes. Would you need to figure out how to solve this waste problem, but it's being hidden and create and and created as a different problem than what what it actually is. The the solution is worse than the problem. I think I've said enough folks. This project needs to end and the the advocates of it need to be challenged in terms of their continued employment. Th this River East article which Mr. D. Simone says there's no additional truck traffic. I was at the meeting where Griffin said there's going to be additional 10 to 20 trucks. Which is it? I'm going to go with the the the information that it was presented by Griffin further from Griffin. And we're not talking just about waste. They were talking about and and and I can uh you know conveniently some of these things came off the website in the past few days, but I have the copies of them. They're talking about unstabilized waste being transferred and food product far beyond the current need of waste disposal for the town. This project is not being presented for what it actually is.

Anybody else want to chime in? Please do. I thank you for your time. that I made. If the WPCA is allowed to buy this parcel of land and expand, it's going to be easier for them and the town to allow the Griffin residual. So that's why this parcel of land and the expansion of the existing facility does matter and that needs to be stopped so it can't expand onto residual easier. Ethical and conflict of interest concerns call into question today's [clears throat] land [snorts] purchase. Yeah.

Bonnie Sweet Riley, 41 Lake Boulevard. I'm definitely not as educated as all of you smart people. So, thank you for all of the knowledge that you've given me as a citizen. Um, I had a couple things that I wanted to say that were very common. No one buys a piece of property with our intent to use it. In the past, our planning and zoning has ruined our town. They have a realigned uh structure for what can be put in place. Housing developments that never should have happened and everybody who knows who's been brought up in this town has seen what has happened to it because of those results of planning and zoning. So, the fact that the company is going to purchase a piece of land and then wait for all of the um you know permits and everything that they can get, we all know that planning and zoning will work to make that happen because we've seen the destruction of our beautiful town. Uh secondly, I just want to say that I can't believe that this is even happening that you guys for all of this time have been doing all of this with all your underhanded backdoor BS. And those are my initials so I can use them. And I'm just saying that what you do is not okay. You're supposed to be representing us and we're here angry citizens. We should be here as happy citizens trying to support what's going on to better the town, not screw it up like it's been happening. Thank you. Hello, Bernard Coughlin, 33 Keelley Pond Road. I just make want to make a couple comments in regard to the Griffin plant. Um, the facility in Kentucky is located on 300 acres in a rural area that

affects basically nobody as far as odor is concerned. Um, in one of the DPC WPCA meetings, uh, Mr. D. Simone said that, um, the the facility here, you know, would have to have all this extra odor control and whatever, but we're talking about 8 acres compared to 300 that the current and only facility that this plant runs is on. It's a little concerning to me that Mr. D. Simone was hired on August 5th in 2024 and he admitted in the meeting that in or in that memo that in August of 2024 he contacted Griffin about this project. He stated in one of the meetings that um they one of the board members asked him if he had any connection with Griffin. His response was, "No, but I've known him for 10 years and I've tried to get them into other communities in my other in my other position as an engineer or whatever he is. So, unfortunately, this land acquisition for the plant is totally intertwined with this Griffin plan. And it's my belief that you and the town would have had absolutely a minuscule maybe amount of push back if that Griffin thing was off the plan. If it wasn't even mentioned or or it wasn't even on the books, which it shouldn't have been even considered. Um, I think the acquisition of this land for the use of our plant would probably have gone through without too much push back. Thank you.

Anyone else? take a pony [clears throat] tell. I agree with all you people who have said that the assessment of the property was going towards $940 an acre for my small you people. I'm going home to talk to my horses. Is there anyone else?

It always matters. Oh [ __ ]

Um I don't speak well in public. Um I just want um to ask the question again and have it said on the record again that you have no contract signed with Griffin Residuals. That is correct.

Okay. Um I live at 8 Cland Road. My name's Kevin Rogers. Um the pro this whole thing is um going to result in industrial property replacing residential property on both sides of my house. Um we live on dead end road. This proposition makes it a through road with 25 um tractor trailers and roll off dumpsters going up and down my road every day and night. If the town lets this go through, um I I just I'm I'm completely destroyed. I Please um don't don't let it happen. Say again. Yeah. how how they intend to expand this road with uh you know um houses four houses on this road right up against the road um is beyond me. Um but it it won't be pretty I'm sure. Um not to mention, you know, we we move into town, we think we're moving into a place where we have residential, you know, asurances. Um and um what this plan proposes to do to the four residents on my road um is is appalling to say the least. Um, so I just wanted to be on record with that.

Just to set the record straight from my point of view, I haven't been involved in any of discussions other than few com comments of Griffin with their proposed plan. The council has always been concerned and Mr. Hint who is not is joining us by Zoom.

Mr. the council has been concerned about the ability to afford the various services that the vast amount of people of our community want and desire. We've looked for additional tax revenues. This was a proposal that had on the surface some merit and I I'm going to Kevin, I'll get to your point in a moment. I just I just wanted to address you for one more second. Um you married my wife and I. I know I did. On our back deck overlooking the property that is in question today. I'm aware of that, Kevin.

Okay. So, um, and and if you'd let me finish,

I just wanted to just draw your attention to I said it in the crowd, but I wanted to be on record saying that, um, you know, there is legitimate ethical and conflict of interest concerns re regarding uh, Mr. D. Simone's actions. Mr. D. Simone is the man that um as far as I can tell um is the tip of the spear on today's purpose purchase as well as um the person that put the numbers together that you all used to agree to get let it get this far. Um whether the plant actually needs these two 100 foot tanks 50 feet from Route 66 or not um I think is something worth investigating a lot further given um all the information we have now about um things that call into question whether he's l actually just a corporate plant. Um he's been here since day one um in working in favor of this company. Um, so I questions why you might have hired him. Um, but also he's in a meeting. Um, um, there's one of his own board members tells him that, you know, if this happens, he might have to go back to whatever corporate closet he came from. So, they're even aware of it. So, um, I that's all I have to say. Kevin, I'm I'm just going to finish what I started to say. When I heard where they were thinking of accessing basically on Coughlin Road, I informed the town manager that was an absolute no-go in my mind. Gree Hampton, it's a terrible location for access or egress. the the corner is tight there. The road is narrow and I that was

How did we get here? So, let's let's be clear then. Um the property um that um the landowner was approached and threatened with um you know the town taking it from him uh is on Coughlin Road. But it tell you if you did Coughlin Road would not in my mind be a proper entry or exit or any kind of serious traffic continue and if it's on the manager then you guys know what you have to do.

The council doesn't have the authority to it's a land use issue. We can express our views, opinion, whatever strength we have as a council under the charter. We will exercise that and we will follow this very closely. We we had no intention of radding anything down anybody's throat. If we're going to throw our full weight behind it, Dean, then I think that that should be with a meeting with the town manager regarding the actions and the threats made my by Mr. D. Simone to community members. Um, as you know that one of the other members that was brought up today was uh apparently and again uh from just from media reports removed from office for just those things. So that really I have

so um the fact that we have a member that uh the town manager just said is a direct report to him that is threatening town uh people is a major problem and that is an issue that the town council should get behind. Mike Perellini again and Miss Hodge, I don't No, I don't think that from a previous job. Ted, would you mind please restating what you said because the public did not hear you properly.

Oh, I'm sorry. I said that uh if Dean's uh on board with what he just said, then we need to work with the town manager because um supporting a member of his staff that is outright lying to the um community as well as threatening community members should not be there. And we need to work with uh the town manager as far as making that right for our community. You Ted, do you mind just specifying which person you're talking about because I think there's some confusion amongst those here. Mr. D Simone is the member that I am speaking of right now. Thank you.

Yeah, he's listening in. Again, that is not that is not under the purview of the council.

Mike Pergolini again and I appreciate your time. But uh in in follow to what Mr. Hines just said um con comments and information has consequences, misinformation has consequences. Lying by omission has consequences. I refer back to this River East article which is clear that there is misinformation and lying by omission. Mr. D. Simone, since we're talking about him, says that there's no additional truck traffic. It's clear that the Griffin development proposal intends to expand the facility and use additional traffic. If that information wasn't relayed to you as the town council, that lying by omission should have consequences. Uh, we can talk about planning and zoning. I guess I have a question. Does this council nominate or control the individuals who are on the planning and zoning commission because it seems to be the exception to the planning and zoning commission more often than not.

Uh I that uh they are appointed by the town council. Um, as a matter of fact, that is one of my items for tonight's meeting. Uh, that I just found out that two of the members, one has a son working at the WPCA and one has a father working at the WPCA directly under Mr. D. Simone, which I think is also an issue that the town council needs to take up during appointments this evening.

So, it sounds like we need a little sunlight here, folks, because sunlight is the best antiseptic. I'll leave my comments there. Is there anyone else?

Thank you for your attendance. Mr. Cherry, I make a motion that we adjourn. Second. Second. Those in favor? All right. Thank you. Thanks. Good journ. See you tonight. Yeah.