Town Council - Regular Meeting

Council agenda. Agenda item two, adoption of the agenda. Is there moved? Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion that we um amend the agenda slightly. I believe it would be appropriate to close the town council meeting before we start the WPCA meeting just to make sure that they are two distinct separate meetings and there's no confusion on that. Second. Is there any discussion on that? We would make that sorry do make that agenda item 15A.

Is there any other question? Just for clarification, if you're is having a separate meeting, why would you start with agenda item 16 if you weren't intending it to be part of the council meeting? Right. It would need to we would need truly doing that. You would need it to start at 1, not 16 for agenda item. And you would have to call the meeting to order, which you have, but that would be item number one, not right. I just think we should make sure they're two distinct separate meetings. I numbered accordingly.

Correct. Is there any other discussion in regard to the agenda? If not, those in favor of adopting the agenda as amended, signify by saying I. I oppose. Nay. Agenda is adopted. Number item three, approval of minutes. Special meeting of April 7th, 2026. Move to approve those minutes. Motion made to approve the minutes. Is there a second? Second.

Motion made second. Is there any discussion regarding the minutes? Any errors, omissions or changes? There are none. Those in favor of adopting approving the amendments signify by saying I. I. I.

Nay. Minutes are approved. Moving into agenda item four. Public hearings and public remarks are going to be in two phases. The first item is regarding specifically comments or related to the uh general government budget and the board of education budget, debt service and capital improvement budgets. That will be followed by a separate session of public general public remarks on anything but the budget. Is there anyone who would like to speak? Just for clarification on public remarks, they can talk about anything including the budget. Correct. I

I hope they would. I'm just saying that you can't public remarks.

They probably could. I won't disqualify them. Certainly. Nancy, would you like to Hi, good evening everybody. I'm Nancy Fuller, chair of board of education. As you know, in February, the board of education adopted a budget representing a 4.81% increase from last year's budget. The budget process is a long one that starts almost as soon as the fiscal year begins. The education budget was the result of countless hours of thoughtful preparation and planning by our administrative team and careful analysis by the board of education. However, the length and magnitude of this process makes for a fluid situation in which some aspects of the budget may change throughout the development. As we have in past years, we have pledged that throughout the budget season, we would continue to look at the budget for any places that we might be able to make reductions as well as to keep you informed of any adjustments that we have been able to make if information has become available. Dr. Vanel and I are here this evening because we have been able to make some adjustments to our budget proposal, which would reduce our request by $198,000 $198,300 and it would bring our budget from a 4.81% 81% to a 4.3% increase. It would not include any staff or programming reductions. At this time, the board of education adopted this initial proposal as a group and therefore it is important that we were all part of this decision. We have discussed the changes with the board and everyone is comfortable moving forward with this new number. So with that, I'm going to let Dr. Vantaso give you a brief explanation of what those adjustments entail. Thank you, Chair Coler, and uh good evening. So, uh in spirit of uh transparency, but also just to follow up quickly on what Chair Coler has just

shared is that we have continue to monitor our current fiscal year, how we're operating, and just as we did in prior years and we will continue to do moving forward, uh we monitor this until the date that the fiscal year actually ends because it does help for us to have some context about uh moving forward. So, with that, I just want to speak to the $198,300 uh worth of reduction, which is uh closing in on $200,000, and just kind of give some uh explanation surrounding this. And I could certainly take uh uh uh any questions that you have. So initially um we believe uh so long as everything continues to function as it should and uh we as I have always shared with town council board of finance and with the board of ed is that when we're doing a budget projection for a year we're almost building this budget 12 months in advance of what the year is. So there's a lot of approximations that are made. There are projections that are made and every year we're trying to fine-tune those. And uh I have shared an awful lot over the course of my very short tenure here with the board of education, but with the community to really elucidate where are those lines and we devoted a lot of time during the budget deliberations over the course of this year to actually meet with the board of education members to go line by line through the budget, have our administrators provide context to what's in those lines uh just to raise awareness and and all of those uh all of those and my time's up so I'm not allowed to share it now.

You got a minute and a half. Okay, I got you. All right, so all right, let me get right to the specifics of this. So, so where we are right now is that currently our projected end of the year balance is such that we do believe that we have broken the structural deficit that's been in place for the board of education budget. That is good news for the town. It's been a lot of hard work toward that end. We know that there have been multiple years of deficit within uh the school district and uh we believe that so long as everything continues to operate the way that it is between now and the end of the school year uh that structural deficit that's been I know a an issue uh for this community uh should be addressed and it appears as though we're moving in that direction. With that being said, um as with uh anybody who is in fiscal management, they're looking to try to offset what you can for the future because we are in the state of uh the state of budget where we are right now. We would like to move forward and do some buy ahead into fiscal year 27 based on where we are with our project balance. So, there's $100,000 that we are designating uh for the purposes of investing. And really, I try to keep things very, very simple so that they're simple so that they're able to be traced by the community. That $100,000 would include investments in curriculum and programming that were built into the fiscal year 27 budget as well as technology purchases. I like to keep it in very tight areas so that we can monitor that. So, there's $100,000 that are going towards curriculum and technology.

Excuse me. Yes. ask the chair a question. Um, since we've already received the the board and I do appreciate all your comments, but I just want to make sure that we're going to allow everyone else to speak past the 3 minutes if they desire as well because it's on there that we have a threeminut limit and if we let unfortunately the uh superintendent go through it then I believe we allow the taxpayers to also speak their piece. I think the superintendent should actually be speaking during part that part of the budget presentation so that we can hear those comments.

Three minutes and let's we'll leave it at three minutes for everyone and superintendent can be invited back in when we discuss the budget if he's available. Okay.

All right, sir. continue on or wait till the next. Hi, my name is Stacy Gibson. I'm a parent and an educator in this district and one of the possible cuts to education um if the budget um you know needs to be voted for re um referendum, excuse me, um will have an impact on a program that I have taught for the last nine years um smart start preschool. Nine years ago I built and designed the classroom the place vape and the curriculum for the Smart Start preschool at Memorial School. It's an established program in the community that supports children and families it serves. to cut the program would be a disservice to many families who may otherwise struggle to access preschool education. I have been an early childhood educated educator in East Hampton for 25 years and I've raised two children who have gone through the East Hampton school system. I support the budget each year and I will continue to do so. The Smart Start PreK program is a a partially grant funded by the state and it serves students in need. Each year per state requirement 60% of our classroom has to be filled with children who meet specific criteria. That criteria includes financial need, deployed or incarcerated caregivers, multilingual learners, and foster children. Each year, we continue to fill our class, and we've proven that year after year, this program is essential to many. One might argue that based on the needs of our town, we would benefit from additional classroom as well. Smart starts a full day, 5-day a week, free preschool program at Memorial School. We've already had preschool screens for next year, and we found enough eligible students to fill the class already. While parents have not been notified yet, there are many families who are anxiously waiting to hear whether their learner has a spot. Smart Start Preschool provides children with

learning through play and gives children real life enriching experiences. Children learn to share and socialize while growing their emotional, language, cognitive, literacy, and motor skills. While teaching this program, I was recognized as teacher of the year in the town. The PAR educator who works with me has been recognized as well as PAR educator of the year. We have we're in it for the children who are 100% invested in their future. Research does show that a high quality preschool education does reduce the need for support services in later educational years. I've led my children to support the food bank in town twice a year with cat food and soap soap drives that teaches the children to give back to their community as well. We s we support St. Jude's each year and and take part in a trikeathon in order to give back. We work with the local library in town and and have library visits each month. And we even get to visit the public library to ensure that every child in my class has a public library card by the end of the year. I actively research local grants and fundra to fund field trips to give my children experiences they may not have had otherwise. These include apple picking in orchards, visiting farms, pumpkin patches, baking experiences, seeing fairy houses, museums, splatter painting field trips, dinosaur museums, getting their library card, building visiting children museums, numerous animal visits, and hands-on activities that provide enriching experiences for the children in preschool. This May, I actually have my class and 75 of their closest family members attending a yard goats game and a graduation on the field. We create a family throughout each year and friendships that have dured throughout the years with the students and families continue to grow. My class runs the schoolwide post office at Memorial School for the month of February, delivering mail and spreading cheer. We host touch a truck each year for the town and we have quite a crowd. Is that it?

Okay. Oh, it is it. Oh, my best paragraph's coming up. Early child education is not an option. It's vital for the success of their upcoming ed elementary education. If we invest in their future at a young age, it'll help guide them as learners and build their confidence and joy. It's money well spent. Thank you. need to recognize you. You did go back and sit down when I stand by the church.

Is there anyone who would like to speak for recognizing me? uh Bonnie Sweet Riley, 41, Mike Bernard, on behalf of the preschool program that Stacy Gibson just spoke so eloquently about. Um every nine years, 162 children have attended the prek program. If you were to ask any of the parents over the last nine years, how that program has exemplary um 162 kids ready and set for kindergarten. The preschool program, if you are not aware, is essential. and des cutting this program. I am now advocating for this program. These young types start school fearful and over 100 days they are happy and excited to learn. Numbers, letters, kindness, structure, confidence build, and making friends. The average cost of daycare in Connecticut for four to 5 year olds is almost $2,000 a month. Keeping a prek program helps parents with finances while ensuring safety for their children. My first grandchild is now in third grade is adjusted child whose beginnings were in the skill program. My 5-year-old grandson was a challenge at home to learn behavior and at the onset of this class he adopted it. He has learned all of his letters and numbers and he's thriving. This program benefits the future. Kids ready for learning while on target with state requirements which we all know has money. Creating a learning environment for the future. Respect behavior to respond properly. That equals less distractions for future teachers. The prek program starts children with a positive idea of education. Isn't that what we want? and did that right with my passion and desire to speak about Stacy Gibson and

her Mrs. the well advocate that works with her. Stacy Gibson, as you heard, doesn't just teach children. She nurtures children. She doesn't just educate them. She cares for them. She creates an environment that makes it possible for parents at home to feel like their children are having the best opportunity to get their education started. She taught my daughter of the school children 22 years ago. As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the greatest programs that we could possibly have. And the fact that we are to cut it is just wrong. And with her statement, as far as she was concerned that we could use a little, I thoroughly agree. As far as I'm concerned, I would appreciate it if we could do the right thing in this town. Let these little guys start their education with a positive view of what school is like and make a better future for children. Thank you. Thank you. Uh they said that I text someone said that since you did whatever you did to the microphone, they can't hear online.

That might whatever you did it up online. Turned it on. Yep. Testing one, two, three tests. Yeah, it says garbled. Two people. It's garbled.

Yep. Two people sent me a text saying it's garbled. It should be testing the owls. Testing the owls. Okay. See how that goes.

Better without bike. But hold on. But look what uh lower but less. Those are generally quieter. So move it. I'm ready to move on. Is there anyone else who would like to speak? Yeah. Good evening. My name is Daniel Finn. Hello Champion Hill Road. I am current vice chair of the board of finance. I am speaking in a personal capacity here tonight. Um I want to talk about the budget process and what got us to where we are today in terms of the uh the process that we've been through. the board of finance uh has taken the time to pay attention to uh what's been presented to us to go through the budgets line item by line item whether it's the town budgets whether it's through the education budget and really dig into the numbers to see if there's any opportunity for us to reduce the current budget requests from the uh from the town uh the town or from the board of education. Uh it was proposed by some members of the board of finance to reduce the senior center position back to a half position from the full prime time position that we recommended in the general government budget for example. Uh we thought that was not a good idea. We had a conversation with the senior center as part of the budget workshop which was public uh and uh we talked to them about what their current staffing situation is and the increased number of people that are utilizing the service center really feel like they need that other that other that full-time position rather than just a part-time position. We also found that uh in the education budget, we went through that there was not anything that we could find that we were able to trim out um other than what uh Chair Kohler and the superintendent shared this evening in terms of being able to uh basically pay for some stuff

in this year rather than push it back into next year. Um one thing that we did see that we could do was potentially to preund the memorial, sorry, middle school parking lot uh paving project which is on your agenda later this evening. Uh by doing that with existing funds, we feel like we could get that project at least uh earmarked. Even if the oil prices, for example, may push that out of this year, but at least have a shot of getting that that project done with funds that we already have and don't have to go out to taxpayers to ask them to to pay uh more taxes to uh to cover that. Uh this year, obviously, there's been a reevaluation of properties in town, and it has been unequal, which has created a lot of hardship for a number of folks. Folks who had smaller homes found that their percentage increase was significant. folks who've had uh larger uh homes found that it was not nearly as significant. People who had commercial properties did not say see the same revaluation. So it has been unequal across the town. Um because we can't look at every individual taxpayer situation uh we felt that it was our responsibility to do the best thing for the town from a budget perspective and then we trust that people will uh make the best decision for themselves and what they think the town should be going forward when it comes to the budget referendum. My hope is that people that trusted myself and the others that they voted for on the board of finance will trust that the work that we did was good and that we presented a budget that is fair and reasonable and will keep this town uh providing the services that we need, not overpaying for things that we don't need to overpay for and maintain the excellence of our education system, especially after the number of folks that we had to lose uh in the education system last year. So that's my time and I thank you very much for your time this evening. Yes.

Shelby Galvin, 46 Whitebridge Road. Um, I'm here to speak in support of keeping the Smart Start preschool program that was included in the flyer of potential reductions brought forth by the budget brought forth with the budget by the board of education. Um, for the past nine years, this program has been an essential resource for families facing economic and cultural um, challenges in the community and it gives those children access to a strong early education, ensuring children are prepared for kindergarten and beyond. In 2023, my son participated in this program and it truly exceeded my expectations. His teachers and the program itself supported his growth both socially and academically, giving him a solid foundation to transition into kindergarten. Um, the program offers a well-rounded structured learning environment during the most critical stage of a child's development. It also brings significant value to our town, including a $75,000 grant that helps sustain it. I respectfully ask that you continue to invest in the success of our young learners by removing the Start Start program from the list of reductions. Thank you. Good evening. Janet Carter Royce, five Bishop Hill Road. I've been lucky enough to send both of my children through our town Smart Start and Bell Ringer PreK programs, as well as support my niece and nephew and countless other children as they went through the programs. I'm a current board member of the East Hampton Elementary PTO where we also do everything we can to bolster the program as well as the rest of the grades. While I would love to stand here and expound on all the ways Stacy Gibson and Leslie Wanderer are absolute blessings and heroes for all the work they do. I'm

going to try to speak to Smart Start itself. East Hampton Smart Start is a NAK accredit accredited program that is already heavily funded by grants from the state of Connecticut and local fundraising. Other towns with active Smart Start programs include Coventry, Enfield, Wallingford, New London, Clinton, and more. If the town as a whole chooses to cut the Smart Start program, East Hampton will use lose $75,000 in state funding as well as their highly respected Nyak accreditation. This is not funding and accreditation we can simply get back next year if we want it. Once the funding is gone, it can take years to reapply and be approved. Instead of removing such an important program from our schools, we should look to our neighboring towns for expanding their programs, not removing them. Coventry has a population smaller than ours and receives $225,000 in state grants for their Smart Start program. While we have one Smart Start class, Coventry has three, plus all the additional support staff. Our school support Smart Start PreK. Our state supports it. Our PTO and parents in town support it. All we ask is that our fellow residents stand with us and support it as well. Thank you. Matt Englehart, N South Ron Lane. Uh, first let me just express my thanks to everybody for volunteering to serve in this council. I know it's a a tough job. Um, I'm here tonight in three capacities. As a board of education member, as a taxpayer, and as a parent. In all three roles, I encourage the town council to support the proposed budget, and for the town to follow suit with the referendum. This budget season has been an absolute bear. While some in this community see it as dollars and cents, and I respect that. I view it from the lens of what is at stake. The board has been at this since January, and we have

reviewed every line item. Education is not immune to inflation and skyrocketing costs. We also have a duty to ensure that every student, regardless of circumstance, is offered the best chance to succeed. That's not just our role as board members, but as an entire community. That requires an investment in funding, time, volunteer, and so much more. Last year, East Hampton lost 14 positions due to funding reductions. We lost important programs and activities that benefit students and families. It was heartbreaking, but was the will of the taxpayers. However, we cannot afford to further compromise the quality of schools, but the service that we provide to families and residents. the proposal you were considering uh the proposal you were considering just holds the line. We're not gaining back anything we lost last year. We're simply asking to move forward with a standard that makes East Hampton a community that supports learning in students. And we do that without sacrificing the interests of of the rest of the community. There's a frustrating narrative that emerges every year that attempts to pit education against the needs of seniors or public safety. That is pure political theater. We are all part of the same recipe. Our schools, libraries, senior center, infrastructure, police, fire, ambulance. We all need to be strong for East Hampton to succeed. It's not about Democrats, Republicans, or independents. We are all members of this community, and I believe we should approach the referendum with the best interests of everyone in the town. The proposal you are considering is not asking for anything more than what is needed. The plan is well below the percent increases of many of our neighboring towns and we will continue to seek ways to reduce spending as you saw from Nancy and Tim already tonight and that they'll explain further later. We're also we're also pushing the state to do their fair share. Just today we learned that the state is adding 270 million in communities to support not just to us but everybody both for education and taxpayer relief. We have been part of the voice pushing for such action and we have no intention of stopping now. This budget proposal is fair. It fulfills the needs of education and does so without spreading taxpayers like you, me, and everyone in this room. Please support

the proposal before you and send this plan to referend. Thank you. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Judith Thur. I live at 157 Daily Road in East Camden and I just have a question. I heard the board of finance was approving uh the parking lot that's being done. I haven't been to the middle school. I don't know how bad the parking lot really is, but obviously the war in the Middle East is affecting the price of gas. It's affecting the price of anything that we are using that has to do with petrochemicals. So, I was just wondering if that um if that what that amount in the budget would be, it would help fund something else that is it sounds like we really need like the preschool program. Is there anyone else? Lady in the back. Um, Crystal Chan, 34 Wetland Avenue, um, as you're all well aware and as a superintendent has very clearly shared, the education budget proposal maintains our needs of our students in the upcoming school year. The overwhelming majority of the increases driven by by salary and benefits which is collectively bargained. Without the increase as proposed by the BOE and approved to move forward by the BF, we risk losing some amazing resources and programs that our kids without question benefit from. My now kindergartener was very fortunate to have Miss Gibson's pre Miss Gibson is as a prek class. As a full-time working parent, options for a full day prek are limited. But when we got off the wait list, we jumped at the opportunity to be in Miss Gibson's Smart Start program. If you have any children that have had the privilege to be in

Miss Gibson and Miss W's preK class or participate in any of Miss Gibson's after school camps, you will know how special they are. Many parents would describe Miss Gibson as a unicorn. What she is able to provide the children outshines any options in our town. from social and emotional development to exposure to our community through touch a truck, field trips to the library, triathon, apple orchards, just to name a few. And let's not forget about the wedding of Q and you. She sets our children up for success at a very young age. This should not be taken lightly. Beyond prek, it is well researched and understood that children's exposure to education outside of their standard curriculum of math and reading such as language, arts, and sports is so important for their development. For folks that continue to complain about our children riding around town, limited supervision and mind mindfulness of their safety, imagine taking away more taking more away from our children that could provide them with the education, love, and guidance that they need to be positive influences in our community. Support moving the budget to referendum and please vote to continue to support our education and our teachers soon. Agard 5 Viola Drive. I'm here as a parent and a newbie into East Hampton and as a parent educator here at Memorial School. All I can say is I moved here three years ago on a recommendation for my sister. May she rest in peace. and she couldn't say enough about this town. Not only is this community amazing, not only is the school system amazing, and I came here not only just for the school

system, but because how amazing this community is. And working in the school systems now, I'm seeing it after last year's budget and losing what we did, we cannot lose more. So, I'm hoping standing here today and having this community hear what I'm talking about, we cannot lose more. I'm dealing with it day in and day out and we cannot do it. We have an amazing community and we have amazing school system. We have amazing people who work in this school. Please do not cut this budget any more than we need. Thank you. Rebecca Harvey, 39 Flanders Road. I'm probably going to get booed out of here for what I have to say, but I'm cool with that. So, um, the threat and cut seem to be working. We're looking at, um, wellestablished program and student interaction positions rather than on the top heavy administrative cost. Smart Start program is obviously something that should not have even been addressed on the list. As far as being informed, the only people that are being informed are the ones that are on the email list, but you also have to be part of Parent Square to be able to open any of that documentation. So, even if you're getting the emails that says, "Hey, we have this information for you as a taxpaying resident. You can't view it." So, that's a little frustrating. Um, I don't think any investment should be made on the board of ed side. Um, this applies to our minimum balance requirements. And if this is really something that's needing needed, it should be applied to the town side as a one-time, you know, investment to our board of education. In general, if we continue with a 2.61 rate increase in four years, we're going to be right back to our current mill rate of over 39. The town needs better fiscal management, not increases yearly. When it comes to the

town budget, planning and zoning does not need help enforcing regulations that are not understood by the public or our enforcement officer. This will just turn into unsolicited harassment from the department. I can't see moving forward with board of education budget with the inconsistencies I found in just the last few days and there's no way to cover all of it in just 3 minutes. We are down 148 students in less than two years. Numbers with enrollment figures aren't consistent with the MBR paperwork and town paperwork. The minimum budget requirement application and receipts from the state are nowhere to be found in any of these budget packets. With the document with um the documented consistent decrease in enrollment, how are we justifying an almost $2 million increase when we should be considering how to decrease our spending? The town is backing residents into a corner and making financial decisions on our behalf that is just not okay. And there's not as many people that will get up here and tell you that a lot of people can't afford it. So, hi Justine Manino, 51 Daniel Street. Um, I can't say anything about the preK program. My my kids didn't do it, but I can speak to some of the other programs that were looking for reductions. Um the PAR educators, we we cannot afford to lose any more of them. I have my two boys here who both receive special services at the school. Without the PAR educators, they fall behind and that's not fair to them. Uh the family and consumer science program, it's

absolutely something these kids need. They need life skills. I think back when I was in high school, it was home. It is things that they're not going to be able to learn at home the way they learn it at school. It's something crucial to them to grow up and then participate in society as functioning members of society. Um the high school science and engineering programs, those brought my son out of his shell and gave him a whole experience of what he wants to do now when he graduates in June. without those programs, I don't know that he would have found what he truly loves. And the fact that we had those programs at the high school, it's just the more they were offered, the more kids got involved and it it sparked something in them that is going to carry them through life. I know the board of ed budget is is hard for some people who don't have kids in the program, and I understand that, but these kids, they need it. They need these skills, these classes, these experiences. They need them to be successful.

So, Hi sound 147 Colchester Avenue. Um considering um what's going on in town, we need big ideas. Um so I'm taking this opportunity for to ask why I've been around in town for 50 years. We haven't pursued an aquifer in town to provide water for the center. And all I uh my timing here, we we're only looking at uh digging wells and moving water that way. Why have we not done so? I think I've done a little re research, but it needs to be obviously looked at by professionals. If we dam up the stream over by the vioideuct over by the air on the airline trail that should provide a certain amount of water that then be pumped back into the center of town so we can uh help the community there and also um take the back their buildings those rundown buildings and make them housing with the water supplied. That would certainly help our uh um help improve the center of town and um provide good quality of life for them. uh we need structural change. Uh I believe the middle school and high school should be aligned so that uh with the same starting times and periods so we can move teachers back and forth between the two. Right now uh because there are period because of the time changes and periods differences. Uh we cannot easily move teachers from one school to the other to make up for a loss uh uh if we lose a teacher or someone doesn't come in that day. Um we need to consider um how we can make

structural changes to improve our efficiency so that we can save money. Um we need to review the I believe the art, music and sports programs uh and the teacher schedules to make sure everyone is used fully used uh for full daytime schedules. Um I have not seen uh individual u the uh those teachers in those programs art music and sports and um seen that they're fully utilized all day. Um salary caps we should also consider salary caps for those uh very high uh employees in town. we really need to pursue um as much as we can all the cost benefits um because this is this this year has been extraordinarily hard on everybody. I know you're pursuing things for seniors uh to try and do what we can in that respect. I encourage you to continue that but um also consider being uh bold moves um and taking some bold action. Thank you. Sal just didn't want to fact that water has been thoroughly studied. There are not performance, pardon me, that are certainly untapped or not considered. That's why we've had to look for other locations. Yeah, my name is Square Crochet, 64 South Main Street. Uh, I just wanted to say that I thought that was a really good idea that we consider that these fuel costs may go down and that there may be things that we can do a little later. That was a really good idea. So, I just wanted to say thanks. stuff and also about the uh the the

safe star or smart star. I think it would be really helpful uh and persuasive to show it's been progress for what nine years. So you probably show differences in grade point average graduation stuff like that. I'm sure that I'm sure that the evidence is there. I would look here. Thank you. Judy, you've already spoken, haven't you? Anthony D. Simone, 26, Hog Hill. Following the recently completed re-evaluation, the average family is now facing an estimated $2,000 increase in their property taxes. This information was presented to the council in early 26 and should come as no surprise for many residents residents. This is not a minor adjustment. It's a significant financial burden at a time when household costs are already rising. The reality is simple. This outcome was avoidable. Nearly two years, town officials work toward bringing a responsible industry into our community. An industry projected to generate approximately 1.6 million annually in new tax revenue with no impact on town services and no impact.

Excuse me, Tony. just uh Noah first. It's an ethic violation of him talking from a town. Any ethics thing on the town website? It is true. So that my rights as a resident don't count. You want me to show you it first? Sit down. Is the town manager aware of any conflicts with the site? It's written right in your caption attorney speech. I'm talking about the budget.

Pretty sure heard the thing was coming. Let him speak. or these others.

There is a provision that would that would prevent an would seem to have prevent the former employee uh talking on um I'm going to just be generic and say on topics that they were previously involved in. Um I don't know that there has been any kind of an ethics complaint made uh in that regard. just um we can do that just then about that I we did not look at that particular code I did heard hear about it earlier today but I haven't looked into it any further than that I would think all of you should know that I already

what's your peer view you want to take away my first amendment right absolutely not it's in there um we tal I'll give it to you. Talk about ethics. Okay. Yeah, I sent it to you and I've got three statements for tonight at all three public comments. You're going to silence me? I'm also a town resident who pays taxes in this town.

It's not. You did this to yourself. All right. Enough is enough. It's written. Do your job. Yep. Do your job. There's proof this time. What do you want me to do? Now I'm making it work. Take 30 seconds in our show. No, I violate my comments just short of three minutes. Well, so I would I would advise that you do not talk on anything that you were involved with at the WPCA. Correct. That's fair

because that's what the that's what that section of the blue or the charter talks. Supplemental tax revenue could have meaningfully offset tax increases revenues are now facing. It could have fully funded long needed capital improvements, including a new fire station, a new senior center, both of which are desperately needed and widely supported. It was derailed by a group that opposed the budget year after year. The same group that consistently resists any effort to grow or diversify our grandless. Their opposition was not constructive, not fact-based, relied heavily on misinformation.

What is most troubling is the contradiction. Some individuals campaigned loudly as defenders of the taxpayer, promising lower taxes year after year while actively opposing oppo opposing every realistic mechanism that would actually reduce the tax person. You cannot be against growth, against development, and against expanding the grand list while claiming to support lower taxes. The math simply does not work. Anyone with financial trans training, especially a CPA, understands that this result was entirely predictable. No new revenue, higher property taxes, and the burden once again shifted onto homeowners and families who already carry the majority of the load. Budgets reflect priorities, values, and long-term vision. The problem facing this town is not reckless spending. It is the repeated refusal by a group to allow responsible wellplanned growth while offering no viable alternatives.

If you look at neighboring communities that embrace development, you see the results. Growth pays for critical infrastructure, stabilizes taxes, and protect protects residents. If we refuse to do the same, we're choosing higher taxes and fewer options. I urge town leaders and residents alike to recognize the consequences of these choices and take responsibility for them. We should work to grow the grand list and protect the taxpayer, not punish them. And for the record, I support the budget.

I realize, but can I have 30 seconds, please? That's 30 seconds. and three minutes. There are other people who is there anyone else who speak? Are we done with the budget part or is it No, we're still on the budget.

Hello, my name is David Stwald. I live at 51 Daniel Street and I read about the sixth grade world language cut and I feel like that wouldn't be helpful cuz sixth grade in world language you learn the fundamental basics of all of it like how to say hello goodbye and mainly most of the stuff that then you expand on when you're in seventh and eighth All right. Lily Cordera, 32 Hog Hill Road. First of all, I would just like to say thank you so much for hearing everybody tonight and um I look forward to you all hearing my statement as well. Uh my name is Lily. I am a third grade teacher here in town and I also grew up in East Hampton attending our schools and now I'm lucky enough to be here and teach. I was even a student in Memorial School's preschool program. The Smart Start program that supports our preschool learners um is now at risk if this budget does not pass. I was also lucky enough to have Stacy Gibson as a kindergarten teacher and now as a co-orker and she is amazing. But I'm sure most of you already know that. Um, when we talk about this budget, we are talking about real losses for our children. The district has outlined what could happen if the budget's not supported. larger class sizes in grades three through five, the loss of preschool programs, cuts to art, fewer support staff like PAR educators, and reduced access to athletics and transportation.

The hardest part is is that this is not new. It happens every year. Every year, educators are left wondering if their jobs are secure. Every year, we brace ourselves for what happens or supports that might be taken away next. And every year, our students feel the impact of that uncertainty. That means more students in each classroom and less individual attention. It means children missing out on early learning experiences like Smart Start. It means fewer opportunities for students to find what they love, whether that's art, sports, or hands-on learning. I see every day how much these experiences matter to kids, not just academically, but socially and emotionally. School is where they build confidence, discover their interests, and feel a sense of belonging. This budget does not expand. It simply protects what we still have. Without it, we are asking our students to do more with less. Again, as someone who started here as a preschooler and came back as a teacher, I'm asking you to support these opportunities for our children. Please support this budget. Thank you for your time. Is there anyone else who you like to address?

Oh, hell. Wait, we got one coming from behind me. Have to do anything. Thanks. Um, I just wanted to follow up your name and address for us.

Yeah, sure. Danielle Aragon, um, 42 Ridgeview Drive. Um, sorry, I just don't want to forget anything. Um, I'm here tonight to speak in support of the Smart Start program at Memorial School and the impact it's had on um, both my children and I believe the community. Um, when my two daughters first entered the program, one's currently enrolled now. Um they were very shy, quiet and introverted. The transition into the school um you know it's difficult at first for young children but over time they grew confident, engaged and eager learners. This growth happened because of the supportive environment that the Smart Start program provides um and the dedication of educators like Mrs. Gibson who built the program. She meets each child where they are and helps them build confidence. Um I need some confidence right now. The program gives young children a safe foundation to develop socially, emotionally, and academically during a critical stage of development. Um the kindergarten teachers have said that they recognize the students that have gone through the program and you know what a difference it does make. The impact um extends beyond individual students. It strengthens our entire community in my opinion. It prepares children to enter school ready to learn um you know the connections they make and they're um more likely to succeed I believe after going through the program. It also gives um families confidence that their children are being nurtured. I never felt um like my children child was anywhere where I didn't want to leave her. They loved going there. They rushed out the door to get to to Mrs. Gibson's class. And you know, we were new to East Hampton 8 years ago. Um, and we were considering leaving the town, but after being in this show start program, it's what made East Hampton feel like home for us.

Sorry, I'm getting emotional, too. Good evening. Tom Seaguin of Cone Road. I got to be one of the negative Nancies here. Uh I challenge the board of education and the town of finance board to um come up with a budget at the current fiscal year's dollar amount. As Mr. D. Simone mentioned, for those of you that aren't aware or haven't went to that calculator, your taxes today are going to increase by $2,000 a year. That's over $100 a month. Well, close to $1,300 a month. As someone on a fixed income now, um that's a lot of money. And uh doing more with less, unfortunately, is a fact of life. In the months ahead, we're talking about sewer expansion. We're talking about a possible new firehouse. That's going to increase our taxes. Every year, our taxes keep going up. Fact of life. For those of you that are still working, I wish I could still work. There's many here that wish they could still work. But, you know, I I worked for over 60 years and it's it's my time to to smell the roses and drink the coffee. And I can't do that if every year the taxes keep going up five, six, seven, or this year I'm maybe one of the fortunate ones 18%. I've been here for 40 years and this I

asked myself, what are my taxes paying for?

Thank you very much. that would stream the smart program that that that program has value and I'm sure the board of education director can find the money in the budget his budget to maintain that because that's our feature. I have a very quick comment. Megan Rosenfeld, Three Main Street. Um, as someone who has been an early childhood educator for many years, I have had the privilege of uh conducting early screenings for intervention for young children in preschool. and one of my own children um received an early intervention screening in preschool which gave him the tools and the resources he needed to be successful when he got to first grade. Um one important fiscal remark I'll make about early screenings in the preschool years is that there is significant return on investment. Children whose developmental delays or disabilities are caught that are caught early and are addressed early require less spending over the course of their education. So if we are looking at investing smart, we invest in early childhood education and I would urge this council to take that under consideration when you're considering your budget. Thank you. Is there anyone else who hasn't spoken like to speak on the budget?

As you can see, two online as well.

Hi there. Uh Shannon Turner, 42 Spicel Drive. Um, I just want to raise a concern about how town resources are being used to communicate about meetings, elections, and referendums. Um, if school-based systems like parent square, printed notices, and home and backpacks or staff time are used to encourage awareness or participation in those communications are only reaching a subset of residents, primary families with children in the school system. During the last referendum, I became aware that some residents were receiving those notices while others were not. um that creates an uneven distribution of information using public resources. My understanding is that communications from public entities must avoid even the appearance of influencing a vote. When outreach is limited to a specific group, it can raise concerns about fairness and neutrality. I respectfully ask that the town either discontinue this practice or ensure that any such notices are distributed in a way that reaches all residents equally. Um I too have concerns about consistent increases year after year bringing up our miller rate further and property revaluation has been hard for many of us as well. I agree that we should um see uh as little or no increases to keep us as close as we were to last year as possible. Thank you. Is there anyone else in the audience?

Two online.

Brian, are you able to hear me? Yep.

Okay. Hey, this is Bri Brian Turner, 42 Spicefield Drive. Uh, according to the New England School uh Development Council, K through2 enrollment has dropped 14.9% over the past decade. Uh this decline is is declined from 1,829 kids in 201516 to 1,604 kids this year. And a number of students is projected to fall to 1,556 next year. So that's a nearly 15% enrollment decline without any kind of proportional staffing adjustment suggests that there's there's some opportunities for savings here for all of us. Uh there's a modest increase projected for K through three band of kids kindergarten through third grade over the next three years, but this small increase is more than offset by larger declines in upper grades. Grades 6 through 8 are down 24 kids. Grades 9 through 12 are down 32 kids. So the modest K through three growth can be covered by reallocating teachers from the shrinking upper grades rather than adding a kindergarten teacher. It's just not necessary. Move a teacher over and make use of the resources you have. Uh according to the district's uh NESDEC enrollment report, roughly 100 to 150 East Hampton students are educated outside district buildings each year through private schools, homeschooling, choice out and out of district special education. This means districts actually actual in-building enrollment is significantly lower than the raw number suggests. That creates even more excess capacity uh and strengthens the case for rights sizing staffing and spending. East Hampton spends above the state average per pupil and the board of ed uh board of finance and town council should align the school budget with current enrollment realities. Lowering the board of ed budget will ease tax burden on homeowners, seniors and families while maintaining strong schools. I propose a per student spending cap moving forward. And I propose we follow the lead of our neighbors in East Hatam who passed a town budget with no increase over last year in the wake of a very unbalanced revaluation. And as an example, somehow my modest home, which is in dire need of

repairs, is considered to be worth more than the island resort in the middle of the lake that one of the town council members owns. The revaluation needs to be audited. East Hampton taxpayers deserve spending that matches actual student numbers, and it's time to convert the declining enrollment into concrete savings and meaningful tax relief. Thanks, iPhone.

Hello. Ask him again. iPhone.

Jen, can you hear? Hi. Yeah. Can you hear me?

Go ahead. The only thing I have to say about any of the education budget, I don't think the smart start program should be cut, but you could trim a whole lot of fat from starting right from the superintendent's office. I don't know how many people he has on his staff, but obviously then they're doing his job. Well, why why does it take that many people to do his job? He's he's got a job to do. He should do it. You don't have to cut programs. You always threaten to cut sports, cut this program, cut teachers, pay to pay pay to play sports, and you always seem to figure out a way not to do that. Start trimming the fat from the top if they're useless and can't do their own job. On a second note, um well, I'll wait till the next public comment for those. I'll keep it to the education. That's all I have. Thanks. Britney. Hello.

Yep.

Hi, my name is Britney Verono, 22 Curry Lane. Um, I moved, my husband and I moved here in 2018. Um, we moved here for the schools and um, you know, to be a part of a smaller community, close-knit. We both grew up in very large towns and, um, did not like our experiences growing up. Um, which is why we moved here in 2018. We have five young kids. Um, our the oldest is 11, then seven, five, three, and one. Um, my three oldest boys, um, all attended both the Bell Ringer PreK program and Smart Start. Um, I cannot speak highly enough about both programs. Um, Mrs. Toro over at the bell ringer program. She runs such an amazing program with the high school students that um you really get to know them personally and you know my oldest started that program I think in 2018 when we moved here and I have just seen the incredible amount of growth and love and um heart that she has poured into that program and making it um So amazing for both the preschool students and high school students as well. Um as far as the smart start program um also my three oldest boys have um attended the program and my fourth son who is three and currently in the um integrated prek program. He receives um special education services and is hopefully um

slated to attend the Smart Start program in the fall. Um I'm personally invested in these programs, especially, you know, coming fall. Um you know, my ideally my three-year-old would be attending. Um the Smart Start program is aimed for financially disadvantaged families. um first and foremost, which um my family falls into that um category due to my large family size and my husband being disabled and a veteran. Um you know, we rely on these programs um for our our kids to attend. Um without these programs, we would not have any other options for our kids to attend preschool. Um, my son, who is currently in her program, um, started the program, um, not knowing how to spell his name, not knowing his letters, not being able to count, um, you know, to more than 20. And my last conference with Mrs. Gibson in March, um, even in December, she said that my son is now ready is more than ready to start kindergarten. And I know for a fact that if not for her Yep.

your three minutes are past. Oh, okay. All right. Thank you. Sorry.

Billy

Billy Anderman, 37 Royal Oaks Avenue. I should be studying for my college finals, so I'm going to keep this short. I understand h taxpayers frustration about how property taxes keep going up every year and how it makes it harder to stay in town. I also understand how valuable the education system is in this town, having been a part of it all my life until graduating last year. I think we need something that deals with the best of both worlds. This town needs a new source of revenue. I propose that this town have a 1 to 2% sales tax on everything except groceries. In New York, where I go to college, sales tax here is 8% with half of it going to New York State and half of it going to the county. Connecticut does not have county government. So, I'd assume something similar would go to the towns. I think a marginal sales tax will put us on par with what I pay in sales tax here and would not substantially prevent people from purchasing things. It will also allow us to collect revenue from people who don't live in town or don't own land in town, which will help offset the residential burden. This additional revenue could potentially help lower property taxes while still supporting the services we still desperately need. It won't eliminate property taxes entirely, but it is a start in the right direction. I hope you take this into consideration. Thank you.

Is there anyone else? No one online. There anyone else in the audience who wants to comment on the budget? If not, going to close that section public hearing. We're going to move on now to You got one more. Sorry.

Just a little Hello, my name is Alyssa Pago and I live at 60 East Hambridge Road in East Hampton. Uh, I just wanted to take a minute to recognize the young man who got up here and stood and spoke in front of everyone because I'm very nervous and I just thought that was really brave. So, thanks for inspiring me. Um, my daughter's name is Sarah. She attends Smart Arts preschool. Um, it's been a lovely experience for my family. Um, I left a challenging situation domestically and I wouldn't have been able to afford to put my kid in school um without the help the Smart Start program. And my daughter is thriving. She's brilliant. She's smart. She's happy. She loves the school. And so I thank you guys. Now, now you're opposing comments regarding the budget. Before we started this public comment, can we just have a quick discussion because Tony did have two more public comment sessions and he said he wants to talk about and I would like to address it before what we're going to do so it doesn't become a problem for the next two public comments.

That's why I sent it to you last Thursday along with Dave hoping that it would be addressed prior to the meeting. Um it it is in here. Um and uh it does say uh that no public officer or employee shall after determination of services or employment with the town appear before any board, commission, committee or agency of the town in relation to any case, proceeding or application in which he personally participated during the period of service of employment or which is under active consideration. extra.

With that said, I have a hard I I understand it's in in our code of ethics, but I firmly believe everyone has the right to free speech. So, I want to bring that up because it is part of our code of ethics. Um, but I also believe that everyone has the right to speak as a taxpayer. So I think that we need to agree as a group how how to proceed because it it it is part of our code. Um and but I'm also a very uh strong advocate of the first amendment. So does anyone have a comment on

So is it possible to override the code by a vote of the council? No, it's in the charter. So no, no, it would only be by uh and I talked to the last charter review and they said had they seen it, it would have been removed then uh because it does in French. All right.

So the intent of that is to prevent someone from being an employee and then um moving around and becoming becoming so to speak an advocate for uh a petitioner. I mean that's the intent of that as I understand it. Nevertheless, as I said to to Tony tonight, I have advised him uh based on that reading to not talk about things in which he was involved when he was in our employee. If he chooses to take action against the town because that's a violation of some right that he has, then we'll have to deal with that as as it comes. But that's my advice to him tonight. I think he modified his earlier comments to eliminate that part of his discussion. That's what I think it a I think that's what it is intended to do, but the language is relatively plain that we're not allowed to talk about things in which we participate.

That's fair. I don't disagree with that. And I've been around town government in this town my entire life. I think we've always been tolerant of letting our citizens speak to the their fellow citizens. Wow. We're certainly not under a bridge or 10 miles away, right?

Now move on to public remarks, general issues, or if you choose where to add.

Is there anyone who Rebecca Haj 20 Middletown Road Cobalt have to bring up bioolids facility. Once again, I feel like there's a lot of open issues remaining here. Um, first I'd like to remind the town council and everyone that we do have a charter and a code of ethics, specifically chapter D, code of conduct. Under intent, the people have the right to expect that all public officials and employees will conduct themselves in a manner that will preserve the confidence and respect for government in which they represent. Under section D2, expected behavior. Avoid both actual and potential conflicts between their private self-interest and the interest of the public. Keep the community informed on town affairs. Encourage communication. recognize that the function of local government is to service in the best interests of all people. I feel like we've fallen short here. Um on more than one occasion, the FOI requests, uh there's hundreds, if not thousands of documents are proving very insightful. Um still reviewing a ton of them, but wow, the determination to bring this plant facility into East Hampton is really quite amazing. It's almost like there were personal fortunes to be made here. Um, three things I'm thinking in particular. One, most of us, many of us have requested to see in writing that Griffin Residuals has formally withdrawn any intent of pursuing a bio solids facility in East Hampton andor the town of East Hampton has no interest in locating a bioids facility within its borders. Um, I see Griffin still has Connecticut on its

website. I don't know if they're entertaining somewhere else, but I would really appreciate it, as I'm sure anyone else living in Cobalt and or Middle Hatam would, if we could get this in writing from someone. Um, I'd also like to see it, frankly, in the 2026 POC. Number two, we're still waiting for multiple um answers to questions that have been posed to the town council and gone unanswered in writing. and in person here um from myself and others. Uh one was from um Peter PCH 59 Milhattam Road. This is from a previous meeting. You know why did Anthony reach out to Griffin within two weeks after his hire? Who else knew? Were there other proposals put out to other companies? Was there you know the letter of intent which now has been released? What public officials knew of the details of the plan? I think we'd all like to see a full postmortem on this so we can avoid similar issues in the future. Also, at the March 10th meeting, I pulled the town council and I know Richard, Jack, and Karen, you guys seem like you're actually for this kind of project um at the time. Anyway, um Michael Perolini of 16 Firm Lane did a lot of work and a lot of math. I won't reiterate the numbers, but it seems like the benefit to the town was a a rounding error to the budget. So perplex to say the least. Will the public be able to address WPCA issues in item 18 versus now that it's open?

WPCA would be at that time. Okay. Unless it's one of the two items on this agenda for our meeting.

Hi again, Rebecca Harvey, 39 Flanders Road. So, I'm going to speak um about the sewer avoidance and let you know that I'm in full support of that proposal that you see before you tonight and believe supportive action needs to be taken from the council. Um it's a proactive step to preserve our town and manage growth responsibly. Connecticut General Statute 7-264 allows municipalities to adopt these measures. This is fully within our authority and our rights. East Hatam implemented sewer avoidance years ago for a reason. Another thing that we could kind of take uh some tips from, East Hatam seems to be doing some things correctly. uh when it's suggested that expansions for the sewer are in line with state housing requirements. I don't know if you all know, but Darianne just has already implemented a one-year pause on these requirements, and we should be taking similar steps to protect our town before making any more long-term decisions. Everything being done in reference in this town right now is based on the 2016 POC survey, which I found out twice now. once from Juliet and once from Mr. Cox today, but the town has no supporting documents of this. So, here we have some papers that tell us someone's summary or interpretation of what those survey results were, but the town is missing all the supporting documents. So, how are we conducting business with nothing to actually reference? Um, we need to start seeking ways to keep control at the local level. Not sure if you all know, but Connecticut um does operate under the home rule um which gives each municipality the ability to operate how we see fit. With the amount of information that we've learned has and is being kept from the residents that we're all seeing through the foyer requests, um honestly, voting for this

avoidance until we kind of get our town back under control is something that I think is the least you can do. Um, and let's not forget that our tax dollars went to our town manager and those he oversees to plot um, just how far things can go before even making you, our council members, aware of it. And we have written documentation of that, too. So, I really think that at this point, everyone needs to take an honest look at the bylaws, the town council bylaws, the code of ethics and the code of conduct because your residents at this point, I think, know it better than most of you, including our town manager and our town attorney. So, um I think we're ready to start fighting for what we want and we don't want to have to take the responsibility of doing what's right out of your peanuts. Judith Bird, 157 Daily Road. Um, the last meeting that we had, we were talking about the right to harm. Um, and I think uh we sort of went toward the state statute versus our old 490 designation. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I researched that and what's happening now is that large entities, specifically Lyman Orchard and Bishop's Orchard, um, have had a lot of input in terms of, uh, this the state level Um, Lyman's is a thriving business. They created a museum from the mansion that's on the property. Um, they have a golf course. I'm not sure what, you know,

what that entailed, but I grew up in Meridan. So, I saw what Lman Orchards used to be and I see what Lman orchards is now. Same thing is going on with bishops. So, we can't get um any kind of funding um to to stop any kind of development. In other words, sell development rights for about $14,000 an acre. Um they've moved from a minimum uh size of property. You now have to have 30 acres in Connecticut um to farm. I'm a member of the Connecticut Farm Bureau and we're trying to work on that so it doesn't affect local people. But um it it is and there's also a $10,000 minimum amount. Used to be $2500. Big difference between $2500 and $10,000 amount. Um particularly when you are a horse rescuer if you happen to be that you have to carry a very a very big amount of insurance for that. Um I happen to own property that was the old Colbert farm um on both sides of the airline trail. There's some very very significant historic um information on the airline trail. Um, and this goes way back before it was actually the airline trail. And I hope I'm not going over my three minutes, but a geologist from Wesleyan came out and asked if he could go back on my property and look at a vein of rock that connected the European and American continents. I know where the holes are, where he actually drilled. And in fact, that that vein of black uh rock is there. It's a piece of basaltic rock. very historic and you know very few people know about that. Um we tried to replicate the old Cobbert farm with a

center chimney um house that my dad designed for us. Um and I don't get any tax breaks and I've been rescuing horses for I don't know how many years. There's no competing with Connecticut Draft Horse Rescue. Um anyway, that's basically what I wanted to say. I think we have to adopt our own our own 490 legislation. Thank you. You're welcome.

Good evening. Steve Strong, 48 State Road, Strong's Farm and Sawmill. Um, we definitely need to adopt something with regulations with farming, the right to farm in East Hampton. But before we do that, we definitely have got to get a commission formed so we know what the definition of farming is. This has come up time and time again on this. Um, and I want to remind you guys, Mr. D Simone had just said something about adding to the grand list. Just keep adding to the grand list. Just keep adding to it. That is radical behavior. It's just out of control. That just leads higher taxes, more schools, more infrastructure. What you need to do, and you guys all have it in your hands right now, is to stop this BS right now. save the farmlands, adopt all these the regulations, get the right people in charge here, and get it written the right way so we can save tax dollars. Keep adding to the grand list, you're going to keep adding to expenses. That's simple math. That's what it is. It's just going it's not sustainable. So, my advice would be let's do what we need to do to protect these farmlands and protect the town of East Hampton. We are not making new new land. So if you want to keep putting in push for a sewer system, the only reason you want to put in a huge sewer system is put in more houses. Add to the grand list cost us more money. That's it. Thank you.

Jacob Kravitz, 34 Walnut Avenue. There's been an awful lot of discussion about stewards of development lately at town meetings, among community members, and on Facebook. There's a vocal minority that want to protect the rural character of this town. I want to address this. The federal government's definition of rural is settlements less than 2,000 people, less than 500 houses, or a population density of less than 35 residents per square mile. And while facts don't matter anymore, here are some statistics. Our population at the last census was 12,700. We're roughly 35 square miles. So that gives us 357 residents per square mile. We fit into none of those categories. In comparison, our neighboring town, East Haven, has 8875 residents. 5 55 square miles, roughly 163 residents per square mile. I've heard some people say they don't want Route 66, the busiest artery in town, turning into the Berlin Turnpike. We are not in danger of that. Berlin has 762 residents per square mile, Newington 2,300, and Meridan over 2500. If you do want to live in a rural town, there are still a handful left in Connecticut. Union, Scotland, Cornwall, to name a few. We have several issues that seem to crop up in our town regularly. lack of affordable housing, lack of enough portable water in certain areas due to heavy metals and PCBs, and lack of housing for new families to move in or for aging seniors to step down into when their current property becomes too much to maintain or live in. Nobody is talking about bringing a Walmart, another Dollar General, or a 20tory apartment building to town. It would be nice if the first thing that greeted people as they come into town along Route 66 from Portland wasn't an empty strip mall. But we're getting a liquor store there, so we definitely need another one of those. As you probably know, a septic system can only filter out so much per day. A reliable sewer system will help keep pollutants out of our groundwater. In the early 1980s, as a community of under 9,000 residents, we decided the lake is a valuable asset to town, and we we wanted to protect it. So, public sewers were installed in that area. The town has grown. Why shouldn't the infrastructure grow along with it? The rest of the town primarily drains the Connecticut River. Shouldn't we protect that, too? Why should we trust

that there aren't aging or dysfunctional septic tanks that won't beach into our groundwater? I know I often go a little too long between oil changes in my car. How can we ensure that everyone is maintaining their septic on a regular basis? How can we ensure that septic fields aren't being flooded with heavy rains, something that we've gotten a lot more frequently lately? The Hartford metro area has been the part of the country with the least available housing for the last several years. People want to be here. We should welcome them to town with open arms. This town isn't what it was 30 years ago. It isn't what it was last year either. The only thing constant is change. that you can either be dragged into it kicking and screaming or you can embrace it and get it done in a way that makes sense. Thank you.

Thank you very much. All righty. I wasn't going to speak tonight because I was just looking at what was on the agenda, but I heard some comments, so I figured I'd make a few of my own. Uh, let me start three minutes. I keep tracking. Okay. Um, I kind of wanted to echo uh what Steve Strong had to say. He had a lot. Oh, I'm sorry. Let me My name is Chris Patel. 15 old Clark Hill wrote. I want to echo uh what Steve Strong had said. You know, we need a right to farm ordinance. We need to protect the farms and uh you know that's a very important part of the town in general. Um there's been a lot of talk tonight about budgets, about the grand list, about you know uh rural character and I think we're kind of at a crossroads here. You know, uh I'm all in on what Steve said about the farms. You know, anybody's heard my comments in the past, you know, it echoes the same thing. My perspective and my position is a little bit more focused on smaller operation than a commercial farm per se. Uh I'm always trying to be an advocate for the backyard homesteader. And I think that's very important because we have to decide as a town, do we want to keep going with this massive development? Do we want to have sewer everywhere and then public water system and then you know more and more development? you know that that that uh goes against what we want. As you know, Steve alluded to, as you increase the grand list, you are going to be increasing your costs, your infrastructure, and everything else. A culture of a town is dictated by the people that live here. If we create a

town with ordinances that are friendly to backyard homesteaders, people will move here for that reason. Those types of people will be the loudest advocates of keeping our rural character of our town. Are we going to go back to having, you know, half the population? No. But we can still put things into place that prevent, you know, the continued uh expansion of, you know, sewer which leads to more development and more culde-sacs and things like that. I completely reject this idea that we are held hostage by progress. And I reject that the only way we have progress is more building. If you want houses to become more affordable, that's a national economic issue. You can talk about mass deportations. You can talk about interest rates. You can talk about whatever you want. I'm not going to get into partisan politics tonight, but that is something that will make your houses either more expensive or less expensive. Building four new culde-sacs in town is not going to drive is not going to drive down the cost of houses so your kids can live here. I'm sorry. It's just economics and nobody up here has any power to do that. So, I just want to make sure we're, you know, aware that um moving forward that that we're taking the steps to protect what we already have, you know, and I think the first step in that is making sure we keep that agricultural sense of town, you know, uh with the right to farm ordinance. And I know there's a lot that goes with that. You know, like I said, a lot is talked about commercial farms and I'm all on board of protecting those. I just want to make sure we're also protecting those small parcels that keep that that is one of the things that keeps our small town unique. Thank you.

Yeah. Hi, Duchcher 64 South Main Street. Uh I want to say something. I came to that meeting about the uh the WTC whatever it was the the Bow Wish thing uh and it was my first New England town hall and the whole room was full. It was amazing and the people that spoke it made like that was my semi semi quincentennial bone right so impressive and I think one of the reasons it was because of some of the things that happened I know the gentleman who was a pig farmer his his name was maligned and uh we succeeded in getting the open space but I think that that thing was so motive it got so many people out here people cared about that they cared about that man who'd been uh spoken badly of and I I think that we we should I don't know I haven't talked to him may not want to do this but I think there was talk about that being a park I don't know if you want to have park named after that's next to the police facility but I think something that was important that man endured that was it salting but it got everybody out here it was an incredible example of uh democracy I mean every stripe of political affiliation was here and yet everybody was unified together it was amazing so now that as far as like the the rural character. That's why we do move here. But that doesn't mean you can't make money. I mean, uh, look at the Hamptons. You got used to have potato farms, stuff like that. You don't see sheds. A lot of these buildings, I don't blame the, uh, business owners for wanting to do those things affordably. But they tear down all this and then all the buildings look like sheds. If you're going to have development, that's great. But like, if it's going to be something that looks bad and people require it, people hide it from view plantings and stuff like that. We need some kind of aesthetic decision where people get to say, "Look, do we want the businesses to look like this or do we want them to look like garbage? I don't want that. Nobody wants that." And no matter how

rural it is, if everything is here, all these shed like buildings, people don't want to move here. You know, people they want prices to go down for taxes. Well, if we had had some kind of a disaster with that bio solid thing that would just Who would want to come here then? You know what I mean? the whole country would know of this as like east, you know, scat town. It would have been terrible and nobody knew about it. Clearly something was wrong with that about the kids. I I'm from New York City. I moved here three years ago and I had a buddy of mine was had a puppy and he was going to uh dump the donuts. He came back and said, "You're not going to believe this. I was struggling with the dog and a kid got out of his car across the parking lot, ran over and opened the door for him. all the kids in this town. It's like the 1950s. I mean, every kid is nice. I have not met single bad kid. And uh I think that this is incredible place and I think that that gentleman should be acknowledged if he if I think Park Bear Park or something like that because that should be that was uncool and but yet that uncoolness is what motivated everybody to show up and I think that we need to you know clearly people are coming here and that was a big moment. So I think that gentlemen should be acknowledged. I think that that if he's open to it, something will be named for him because him being slided and him standing up for himself.

Thanks. Hill Baker and I'm Lee Hill. Um, I wanted to say that I uh support a moratorium on sewers because sewers lead to dense housing developments, which I don't think the majority of people in town support based on the remarks that I'm seeing here and elsewhere. I hate to say this, but the truth is this whole bioolids episode has torched the credibility of the town council, the town manager and Miss Hajj. I think the moratorum needs to be pulled up in six months because frankly I personally do not rely on the um integrity of the town to bring it back to the town pe town's people in six months for further consideration after bioolids integrity was was exposed as not being present and I think it needs to be for much longer maybe even permanent but you 6 months is not adequate. Thank you.

Peter Downey, 166 Lake Drive. People don't like being lied to. People don't like being lied to by their government even more. If we were to take a poll right now, you guys would probably have about the approval rating of Congress. You guys really need to look into this and what went on for this. And if you don't, I don't think we can take you seriously anymore. I don't think a lot of us do it right now. Thank you. Wow. Good evening. My name is John Murphy. I'm with 11 Teragon Drive. I understand what people are trying to get done here, but we need to get back to understand what the law is. Right. Under the Connecticut General Statutes, a water pollution control authority is granted statutory authority over sewer planning, service areas, and system management. Not the time, right? We don't currently we don't we correctly fired everybody pollution control authorities. It's a time to wipe the slate clean and start over, right? We need to put people on there that understand the task at hand and understand our plan of conservation and development, right? And also, you know, preserve our town's rural character. So the first thing you need to do is reconstitute the WPCA. They're the ones that have got the authority to do this. So that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Daniel F85 Champion Hill. Um again, uh vice chair of the board of finance, but speaking on my own behalf, not a book for the board of finance. Um couple things I wanted to say. Uh Mr. Hint and I don't agree on a lot politically these days, but I think we both agree that the first amendment uh is a paramount over a town of fixed code. And I think that every taxpayer, even if we disagree with them in speech, especially especially if we disagree with them, ought to be allowed to speak and have what their opinion heard just like anybody else, regardless of their former employment or other positions on the matter. Uh I was on the area that might have gotten sewer expansion. I did not want that of Champion Hill. Um I'm not interested in that at all. So I disagreed with the proposal there. I disagreed uh with the uh bio facility, the way it was proposed, the way it was handled or did not like some of the things I heard about how property owners were treated. Uh that said, every taxpayer should be able to speak uh especially when you disagree with them. Um a couple valid comments that I wanted to make uh this evening. As a financial planner, we do work with our clients on good budgeting. Good budgeting means planning not just for the things that you know, but for contingencies that could potentially go wrong. It means looking for ways to both reduce expenses, but also ways to increase revenue. And the uh in order for us to reduce our cost as taxpayers, we need to have other sources of revenue come into the into the into the town. There's been an announcement today that there's some additional funding coming from the state. We have to see what that dollar number actually looks like. That may help this year. Um, but it's not, as far as I can tell, it's not permanent going forward. So, that needs to be addressed at the state level. At the local level, the things that would increase the tax base in a way that would not increase our property taxes personally is going to be commercial and industrial businesses. I'm not saying they need to be in residential areas and I don't think that would be a good idea. But we do need to figure out in terms of how we structure a plan of conservation and development and how we develop

ourselves as a town. What parts of town it makes sense to have some industrial processes in where we can expand that and hopefully get businesses in here that will have a higher tax base and will reduce our personal residential property taxes. Uh otherwise, we're going to be faced with the same situation as we have the last several years. We're going to have a budget fight about increases. We're going to think about what are we doing with education and seeing how we can potentially cut from our already bare bones budget. Um it's been stated that we're topheavy on administrators. Just to clear the record on this, we can all have different opinions on the dollar numbers, but our our administration for the board of education in East Hampton is the leanest administration in terms of number administrators per pupil of anybody in the surrounding area by a significant margin. We are not topheavy on administrators in East Hampton. There is no fat to cut in the education budget right now without cutting people and not not administrators because there's no space to cut there anymore. It would have to be teachers or programs if we decided to reduce the budget any further from where it is right now. The board of ed um town government's done a great job in terms of the budgeting and I appreciate their work there. Thank you. Anthony D. Simone, 26 Hog Hill Road. I'm formally requesting that council member hints recuse himself from sponsoring, advocating on, deliberating, or voting on matters involving WPCA or joint facilities. This request is not based on disagreement with policy outcomes, but on the need to preserve public confidence, ensure impartial decision-making, and protect the integrity of the town's infrastructure governance.

Process matters deeply in decisions of this magnitude. Council member Hints as the sponsor of an ordinance has publicly stated that he does not support actions that could lead to future sewer needs or expansion and has stated opposition to any policy that could place the town of a position to comply with state's housing requirements. These nothing works. These statements paraphrased from the January 13, 2020 council meeting demonstrate a stated predisposition on central

when a decision maker has publicly knew about this. They did nothing ABOUT THIS AGAIN. YOU DID NOTHING. And you KEEP HE INVESTED YOU A WEEK AGO. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE DOING? Has nothing to do with anything I worked on. If he's allowed to talk, I'm allowed to stand up and talk in due course when you're recognized in order. This is conduct. You guys vote pushing the ending on has nothing to do with anything I worked on.

Uh Will you please do your job? You can't silence me. You're not silencing him. You're going to be silenced. You shake your head. We're going to do whatever. HE BROUGHT PROOF THIS TIME AND YOU DIDN'T DO IT. You're not silencing us anymore. YOU WERE ON THOSE EMAILS TOO WITH HIM. WHERE'S THE ETHIC VIOLATION FOR THAT STUFF? ALL YOU GUYS WERE ON IT. AND YOU KNOW WHAT HE WANTS TO ATTACK? TED'S THE ONLY ONE I DIDN'T see throwing dirty on with. This whole town ALREADY SEEN ALL THE NUTS.

YOU GUYS ARE ALL THE only You WANT TO LET HIM TALK? NO. Sit down, please. He can't talk anymore. Please sit down. Do the right thing. Come on, guys. You have to get you were dealing with sewer issues. I think um extended beyond that point. I'll talk to my lawyer. Think the first amendment overrides your up your ass. I'll post it online. All right, Rob. If you're with that, I'm gonna have to

Is there anyone else who care to make public remarks? Those online.

Yes. Hello. Good evening. Um, Kyle Dawster, 56 William Drive. My comments are about the proposed ordinance on a sewer avoidance policy and limitation on sewer expansion. And I say that very carefully because it's a lot of a lot of words. Uh, um, I'm a sewer user and resident of East Hampton. I appreciate the goal of protecting our environment and community character. However, I have serious concerns about how this ordinance will affect residents and existing sewer users. There are certainly pros and cons of this ordinance. Uh the proposed ordinance strongly protects surface water and groundwater particularly like polog and other sensitive resources. It also limits urban sprawl, large scale development and unwanted areas of the town. It also helps to preserve the town's existing character which many residents highly value. Those are the pros. The potential drawbacks of this ordinance will be extremely expensive and those expenses will be paid for by East Hampton sewer users and its taxpayers. The ordinance will limit housing options by significantly constraining multi multifamily housing, senior housing, discourage economic development and the redevelopment of underutilized properties that may require sewer access. These examples would reduce housing availability, inflating home prices and rents. More importantly, whether you like it or not, this ordinance will be in direct conflict with the state of Connecticut's housing affordability goals, resulting in lawsuits filed by developers, property owners, and the state of Connecticut. And if this ordinance is passed, it could be the courts who determine development in our town, not our town residents, not our commissions, and not our POCCD. Finally, I'm concerned about flexibility. Why does the ordinance prohibit even planning or feasibility studies for

future sewer needs? Where the town could determine for itself where it's best to plan for discrete development. Responsible infrastructure management requires the ability to plan, not just to react to emergencies and politically unjustifiable expediencies, as some on this town council have most certainly done. I'm assuming that this ordinance has been reviewed by the town attorney already and he has provided or who has provided his legal opinion. If not, then that's an issue in and of itself. It would be plainly irresponsible given the ordinance legal and environmental scope. And I would go more about the environmental scope that is positive, but I don't have enough time. I respectfully ask the town council to clearly address these issues before adopting this ordinance. An ordinance that could permanently increase costs for current sewer users who will need to pay higher fees to maintain sewer infrastructures and an ordinance that will increase all of our taxes to fight that the to fight the lawsuits that will follow its passing. Thank you very much. of the sewer.

The sewer avoidance policy is Mary. Are we in a new category now? The the sewer thing. Yeah. So, we're going to go to that later. Okay. Great. Thanks. Right now, it'll be about that. Mary,

good evening. Mary Crowe, 92 Young Street, East Hampton. Unfortunately, due to health reasons, I'm unable to attend in person tonight. The East Hampton Lions touched the lives of so many residents in so many ways. We are proud to host 100% free concerts to our seniors throughout the year. In conjunction with our 250th anniversary committee, we are excited to host a concert for everyone. The free concert will be the Navy Band from Newport. The concert will be on Tuesday, May 12th at our high school. The concert will begin at 6:00. At 5, we are hosting a social with free hot dogs for all. We've had success in the past hosting the Coast Guard and now it's the Navy and to my knowledge they have never played in East Hampton. We need your help. We need your support. We need you to promote the concert to your friends, relatives, and especially our veterans. We would like to request a proclamation and we would like at least one of our leaders to welcome them. Yes, there's a council meeting that night. However, the council starts at 6:30. Our council starts at 6. You may also stop by at 5, socialize, and have a hot dog. Please show the Lions that these free concerts are appreciated. They take a lot of time, effort, and funds to put on. But more important, let's show the US Navy what an awesome town we live in, cuz we do. Thank you.

Hen, can you hear me? Y

um I just wanted to touch on a couple points. Uh one, somebody already touched on. I would also like to know where a withdrawal letter from Griffin Residuals is to the town of East Hampton because you guys have lost all trust in all of the town's people with all the shady dealings with all the foyers that are coming out. You've lost the town's trust and we're not even sure they're really pulling out of East Hampton to be honest with you. Um secondly, on the budget side, it's just all questionable management. Juliet doesn't need an assistant or a full-time officer. She doesn't even understand the regulations herself. Um, she needs to be replaced, not encouraged. And we waste more money doing things like this with the town manager who hides things from everybody that we've all figured out now with all the foyers coming out. All of you guys have been shady up there. And also with the re-evaluations going on, how are any of the lakefront properties, all of their all of their reevals have gone down when most of the homes in town seem to have gone up? I think an audit is is warranted there. You guys need to look into that. There's a lot of shady things going on and you guys lost all the town's trust. So that's all I have to say. Bunch of shady or anyone else who like Russ.

My name is Russ Kavlin. I live at 127 Commtock Trail. Um, I've been looking at this the sewer avoidance policy and limitation on sewer expansion proposal. I'm just looking at it and I apologize my comments may be a little halfhazard, but I'm just digesting it at this moment. I think this comes on the heels of very legitimate concerns about specific sewer expansion projects and sewer expansion processes and various hardships that people were facing. I think that's been loud and clear. I think it's nobody has misunderstood that. I also think it comes on the heels of the concerns about the water pollution control authority and the activities that they were recently involved in. And I think that those two things have genuinely upset a lot of people and I understand that. Um, and one only has to have been in the process for a while to to appreciate that. but following these legitimate concerns and these legitimate um criticisms or statements with what I consider to be an extremely I hate to use those kind of hyperbole but it's a very bad policy in my view for the town to basically tie its hands with any real consideration of anything that has to do with development. There is responsible development. There is thoughtful development. There is necessary development if this town is going to either provance or continue to provide the services or provide the kind of relief in terms of taxes and burdens

and and uh mill rates that people are are speaking about. Anything that says you can't even think about these things unless twothirds of the town agrees to any expansion anywhere in the town, nothing can go forward. That is just a foolish limit for the town to impose on itself. It's one thing to say, "Let's take stock the next 30 days, for the next 60 days, okay, the next 90 days." But to say, "We're going to change the rules of the game going forward for any type of development is, in my opinion, well, my opinion, if the town council did that, it would be extraordinarily irresponsible and extraordinarily nonserving the public. And I don't care what party or administr group is up here. You tie your hands like that, um, you will very possibly regret. And lastly, I I would take issue with the with the comment. Oh, and I'll say this.

Sewer avoidance is actually a way to limit I'm sorry, to severely limit any development except septic development. And if you think septic development is great for the environment, think again. Thank you. Son Samato and I live at 85 Hog Hill Road. And I promised myself that I wasn't going to say a word tonight, but what my speech is going to be is not about development. It's not about being a developer in town or being uh proactive and trying to be a thoughtful developer in this town. My comment is going to be on how disappointed I am in the room and in the people in this room and in the comments that they are making and how rude they are to the people who are volunteering their time to be thoughtful and make prudent decisions that benefit this town. I I fully respect everybody's opinion in this room, whether I am in the same camp or a different camp. But as a town and as a general population, we owe the people who are getting up here a level of respect. It doesn't matter who they are or what they think, but we should be acting with some class in this room with a level of respect in this room. And as a business person in this community, I'm embarrassed for the language coming out in this room. There are children here who are speaking on behalf of the programs that benefit them. And there are people donating their time up here. Whether you agree with their positions or not, it's embarrassing to admit that I'm a member and a a member of this

community when I listen to what's coming out in this room. Thank you. Anyone else? There's one more line. Katrina, can you hear me?

Yeah. I'm Roger on Hog Hill and I just want to speak on the sewer avoidance. The proposed sewer avoidance ordinance has been being framed as growth management. But we need to be honest about what actually does. It doesn't save money. It does not manage cost. It the real effects is to block investment, slow growth growth of the tax base and shift more financial burden onto the people who already live there. Avoiding sewer connections does not avoid cost, it concentrates them. When you limit growth, you limit that grand list that we spoke about before. It's a real thing. That means that that same municipality expenses that we pay are spread over fewer taxpayers. That's something to really consider. The result is simple and predictable. Higher mill rates, higher bills for exa existing homeowners. And at the same time, the property taxes are already rising and sewer bills are already high. People are already pressured financially in this town. And this policy moves the town in exactly that wrong direction. This is especially concerning giving the reality that we're facing. Our sewer system, the can has been kicked down the road for probably 50 years and there's probably more than a hundred million dollars in infrastructure needs that have been, you know, spoken about over the years. They're all in the meetings. Sewer systems carry major fixed operating and capital costs. That's just for basic maintenance and running. when 10 people, 10,000 people when they could if they get connected all those costs whe whatever that number is those base costs still exist on what we have today. I think Mark mentioned that there was you know two billion dollars worth of infrastructure that we have to maintain. If future connections are intentionally restricted those fixed costs get divided among a few rateayers. Those rates will go up. Anyone who says otherwise is

ignoring basic math. So I have a direct question for council for anyone who is on the sewer user end. If we intentionally limit the few future sewer users, is everyone in solidarity of all this anti- sewering of town and anti-development? Are you prepared to socialize all those costs across the entire tax base? Because if you're not, then you're choosing to raise sewer rates on our current residents. Many who have been crying about how stretch how thin that they are stretched. What makes this even more troubling in a town is that there's been workable, responsible process. Everything that that WPCA planning, defining a sewer service area that was transparent, it's all there. All right, the protected rural character management where growth occurs, it was all planned out. It's all on those websites. All right, they've had meetings. It's all at public on on all the public venues. That process relied on technical expertise and long-term planning. replacing it with direct council control may be legal, but it shifts sewer policy out of a professional framework and into a political one that should concern every resident regardless on where you stand on development. Process matters. Public confidence matters when the sponsors of this ordinance have publicly stated opposition to any future sewer expansion. It raises legitimate concerns about impartiality on the very policy that is now before us. And at a minimum, this creates an appearance problem that undermines trust. We all can agree on that. In the decisionmakings, infrastructure decisions on this scale demand objectivity, transparency, and the clear focus on the town's long-term financial health.

Thank you.

Is that it? Is there anyone would wish us to make any final comment. If not, those in the public would mark such meeting. Moving on to agenda item six, presentations. Excuse me. You have no presentations this agenda item seven, bids and contracts. Uh, no bids or contracts this evening as well. Agenda item 8A, proclamation for the US Navy Northeast Pops Band. Karen,

Mr. Chair, I'd like to read our proclamation for this evening. The United States Navy Band Northeast Pops Ensemble. Whereas the United States Navy Band Northeast Pops Ensemble proudly represents the excellence, professionalism, and service of the United States Navy through music, community outreach, and public performances. And whereas the Northeast Pops Ensemble brings together talented Navy musicians who inspire audiences through patriotic selections, popular favorites, and musical performances that celebrate the rich traditions of our nation. And whereas the East Hampton Lions Club and the Town of East Hampton are honored to welcome these distinguished musicians for a special concert, providing residents and visitors an opportunity to enjoy an evening of entertainment, unity, appreciation for those who serve our country and to help celebrate America 250. And as and whereas the presence of the United States Navy Band Northeast Pops Ensemble in East Hampton highlights the town's commitment to community events, cultural enrichment, and recognition of the men and women of our armed forces. And now therefore, we the East Hampton Town Council on behalf of the citizens of East Hampton do hereby recognize and celebrate the United States Navy Band Northeast Pops Ensemble and extend sincere appreciation to musicians of the ensemble for their service, dedication, and outstanding performance.

Thank you. Agenda item 8b.

We usually do move to accept make that recommendation. Is there any discussion? Motion made second. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. Those nay. presented item 12.

Agenda item 8B, resolution regarding the acceptance of a grant from Connecticut deep for cleanup of three Walnut Avenue. Uh thank you. On behalf of the uh Brownfields agency, I stand here and ask the council to uh adopt that resolution to accept the grant that it has received uh from the department of energy and environmental protection uh under its basically under its brownfields uh grant program uh to that is aligned toward u properties that'll be used recreationally or at least partially recreationally. So the the agency has received $250,000 to allow it to start to do the cleanup of contaminated soils on three Walnut Street, which is those of you will recall is uh the parcel in the village center sort of behind center package uh that ultimately will have some uh multi-use uh feature associated with the village center uh and um but has contamination that needs to be cleaned up. The goal is to start uh with the deep funds on the western part of the property and as we achieve more funds we'll move east.

Move to make that resolution. Second motion made to resolution from accept town $50,000 grant. Uh do we have any matching funds or anything uh that comes with this grant or what are they? The town does not have any matching requirement. Uh we've submitted the request as 100% so we don't have to put uh town funds in for the remediation. Ultimately, we'll need to redevelop the park and and do whatever we're going to do our final version there, but we don't know what that is yet. And there's a bit of cleanup yet to be done.

So there's no caveat to this 250,000. Well, there's always strings of course with money that comes, but we have to do the cleanup that we say we're going to do. That's the only Okay. Yep. That's the only thing we have to do. And there is no town match. I should mention that the brownfields agency has also asked um uh DEC, which is economic and community development, uh for additional brownfields funds uh in the amount of a million dollars to finish this entire property. Uh we'll see how that goes. They're in the sort of a question process right now. Uh and maybe this summer we'll hear whether we get those funds as well. Again, no match.

The question um I took a look at the underlying grant application several pages. Who wrote that? Who the brownfields agency wrote that? The members of the Brownfields agency.

I'll tell you that was excellent. That was one excellent write up thorough uh it really u it really laid out what what can be done there and it'll be it'll be an asset a great asset for this town. So, I publicly like to thank them because that was no wonder we got as much as we got and and it wasn't this limited the grant amounts limited by the state to like 480,000 or so we got we got most

we got most of the grant money that was available here for restampin on the strength of that application. Is that not correct? They did they did excellent work. I agree with you. They did. Excellent work. Please give them our thanks. Good things are happening here,

folks. Good things are happening. Thank you. Take a vote. Those in favor of the accepting the $250,000 say I post nay. Thank you. Agenda, item nine, continued business, a subcommittee reports and updates. Are there any?

Moving on. 9B review discussion and possible action of fiscal year 2026 27 general government board of education budget debt service and capital improvement budget just to start the discussion. It's not the intend move ahead with moving the budgets ahead at this time. will take into account comments, evaluate the budget with uh our vote coming across.

Can I ask a question, Mr. Chair? Sure. Um I don't know if the town manager or Joelen or the superintendent have any idea of when we might get the additional information on these funds that they've talked about. Will that even possibly be in time for any budget be debating it on Monday with us kind of I don't know if someone has a yeah we just received a notification today so May 7th the legislative session concludes okay

from what we are hearing uh this afternoon about 3:00 but the governor intends to sign the budget perhaps as early as this weekend which may give us an indication it will probably take a little bit of time for the office of policy and management to do the spread out of how much each community is going to receive but hopefully within the next couple of weeks. So possibly before we need to should be available to incorporate our final budget recommendation

and some of that money. My understanding is the 170 million would be continued. It's the 100 million um to go to municipalities that would just be a one-time thing. So um again we don't know any details and where who's getting what what municipality is getting what my understanding is the 100 million is going to the Bridgeports Waterberries Hartfords but again details are still still remaining to be seen. So but it's good to know that that 170 million is not a one-time thing because then we would be right back where we are today. Mr. Chairman, can we have the superintendent take the podium just to have a few questions comfortable?

I mean, we're talking about budgets and the other one

I I will promise I will so I I mean these aren't hard questions if I may. uh start a relatively smart start uh that we have so much about tonight in and that program is that in the 198,000 that you that you guys saw at the beginning. Great question to ask and I want to provide thy way round. So that program exists at the 430 budget that now sits in front of the council. That program has not been removed. You want to be suggesting cuts.

All of these potential reductions are potential reductions should the 4.3 not one be moved forward. Then we'd have to look elsewhere where we're going to reduce or in referendum. So none of none of these reductions just to make it hold on just to make it clear

um when we started the uh discussion this evening and you guys gave the presentation you indicated there was from the original submitted budget the budget that came here originally from the board of finance you said that there's there's $198,300 that you're suggesting we could further reduce the budget that we receive. Correct. So what you said is that smart start

that is not involved. Okay. I didn't get to finish that. So 100,000 to buy ahead for curriculum and program 60,000 to reduce facilities lines for next year and 383,000 was just on a contracted service that we just signed. Those are where those reductions are. None of these are included in those. Okay. Sure. Your budget is sitting at 4.30 for the board of ed as per the board. All right. Thank you. That that was one of my questions. Sure. Can I Sure. for one minute. Your turn.

Well, one of them I'd like to do is um I got to tell you I learned a lot about Smart Smart and I'd like to know more. Um I did not know how good this program is and how many people do rely on it and I'm glad that uh so many people spoke on this. Um uh it definitely educated me and I'd like to know a lot more about it. Richard did that was a question I want to ask you because I was concerned if you were if we would drop it down and you took a roughing off that $200,000 we would take that program out and we are not we are not okay that makes me feel a little bit better on that um and uh the um we talked real quick about this about the the paving of the the middle school.

So can you just fill me in a little bit more on that again? Sure. uh a capital request went in to the capital committee where uh for the paving projects. Uh we have three upcoming. We're trying to systematically put the most those in order. The first one that was requested was for the middle school

uh for this upcoming uh for the upcoming summer. There uh originally the proposal and I don't have it out in front of me was roughly a little over $400,000 was the request. uh our director of facilities, director of public works went back to the company to get a better sense of that. I think there were some questions around that cost. Uh that was done. Uh we actually had both with the company that was going to do it as well as another company. They both gave estimates and they all were suggesting that it was going to be roughly about the $400,000 which was originally estimated for that project.

Are we going to wait on this a little bit and hoping things go down? That's that's really with you all and I I know that that's further conversations. I that's really with you decide. So we received a note from Matt uh from Dave but from Matt and he did an analysis and he lowered the cost a little bit. I think the maybe 350 or so and he identified the cost that's oil related and it was $3,000. So, so in other words, the boil it would be three. It's a net. Okay.

I have to tell you, I'm concerned about that email. The fact that $450,000 number went or whatever came out of the budget and then we got a a proposal at our last meeting for I think it was $450,000 additional expenditure that the board of ed went outside of the town, got quotes, never once talked to the public works until after we pushed back on it and originally posed almostund $20,000 more than we than we actually leave for the project if the public works was to do it. It's just one more example of

how it to me seems like mismanagement. You should have gone to the if you're going to go to the town after this push back, why didn't you go to the town before?

Can I can I just share I have to kind of walk this back. The request that went to the capital committee in January, the initial request was developed with both the director of public works for the town and with the director of facilities. They worked together on that proposal. The proposal that was shared and that piece here proposal that was shared was a collaborative effort between the two of them. At that time, I think there were questions around whether or not that was the accurate pricing. And so together they have gone back to research that to get further information on it. Public works director is here that can speak to that.

Yeah, I would like to have because uh we had a conversation earlier and I was told that um the board of ed was the one that got the pricing on the first when it came to the county. I respect that. I respect that. But I just want to share that's Yeah. And now point of order, Mr. Chair, we're not actually on that agenda item yet. So should we finish the budget and then move to the paving project, please? Yeah, I'm sorry. I just want to make sure we address. Yeah, I I I apologize. I was jump. I respect your question. I just want to make sure we're we're just a couple of things I have is Sure.

I want to just you know, forgive uh uh due diligence. I think that the board of ed did a great job here in the board of fines. This is very tough. And you know, I' I've uh as everybody knows, I'm out in town a lot and this has definitely come up, you know, and everybody's talking about how difficult times are. We've all talked about, you know, raising taxes and and you know, that the the going out to dinner has now become a luxury, not that once a week thing with the family, right? And weekend getaway may not happen this year or whatever it might be. Uh I I when you started off earlier today I'm gonna you know I don't want to say cut because that's probably the right wrong word but uh $200,000 left rounding off is that's a big number to start off with you know and uh and without losing that which I was a little worried about when we got going on because I think that is very important and I was hoping if we have to do something else it wouldn't come from that uh that smart start sorry and u but I think that they did a great job and um this is tough there's no doubt about it and you know I I I wrote this down and most of you probably in this room will get it. When I was a young kid, uh there was billboards out, right? And it was a store carrying a baby and it says everything else comes by truck. What I'm getting at is it's fuel oil, right? Fuel oil keeps everything going. It doesn't matter if it's a paving project to the truck to whatever we got to get to our groceries to whatever. That going up really does put a damper on everybody's budget. Uh you know, electricity we talk about all the time. So, this is definitely a tough times, right? We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know what home eating oil is going to be in in November, December right now. We're all hoping it's going to go down. Uh, but I give everybody credit who did that work on that budget.

I appreciate this. And just like to follow up on the ECS, what we just talked just mentioned. So are you suggesting or that in fact there there has in fact been some ECS money additional freed up by in this governor's uh so let me I can definitely yeah go over that.

So uh as it relates to uh there was just a press release that was given to us at the latter part of today. Uh the I know that over the past several weeks the legislature has been working very hard. There have been multiple requests for increases to educational cost sharing. There's been a tremendous amount of advocacy. We in East Tampa have been a part of that advocacy in connecting with our legislators but also going to the state at this point in time. Governor had originally said we hear the issues and concerns from municipalities. My bottom line right now is I'm looking to increase right now the educational cost sharing by 100 million this year. Legislator prop legislature proposed 350 million. Another legislative group proposed 170 million. We did hear from speaker of the house this morning that there was in all likelihood that they had the governor support for 170 million. He released the press statement this afternoon that said that he is and that he will sign it. And then uh we are now just waiting to find out how much that has been. But as I've communicated with council members, I will give the numbers as soon as I receive those. So you can uh deliberate with those numbers.

So is it more likely than not that East Hampton will get something? It is more likely bill or something. According to him, it is to be spread across the state of Connecticut. We know there are certain dollars being earmarked for some of the areas where there has been some plight right now, but we will expect to see some. We just don't know. Is it 50,000? Is it 300,000? Could it be even more than that? We do not know right now. Thanks. Thank you. You're very welcome. Unless someone else wants to go.

Um, so I I guess I I one of my first comments is and it was brought up by a resident that flyer you have in your hand with all these proposed cuts. I didn't get a copy. Apparently, it only went to uh parents, people that you want to come out and vote for your budget. Why was it not terminated amongst the entire town? I can speak to that. And happened last year, too. It does. on the day of the budget, I'll send out robocalls as well to parents. So, if I can speak to this y and I will 100 speak to that.

First of all, what I've hear though is that that information is helpful. It is transparency. The way I view it, it's putting out there and sharing with the community.

Sure. In terms of how to get it out, the school district has only a singular mechanism for communicating with the community and that is based on the enrolled students within the district. The parent square system is all we have. We we don't have another system. I am more than willing to provide this to the town to provide this to every town council member so that that information be shared. We don't have the mechanism in the district to do that. Well, then it shouldn't really go to half a third of the population. If you want the the whole community to vote on it, you're doing a disservice to the rest of the community by sending it out to only the people that it relates to.

Your point is paying the bill because twothirds of the rest of the people are paying the bill and they're not getting the information and that is wrong. We will work with the parent to not we will support getting that information out to everybody moving forward. We don't want to limit it. We're hopeful that the information does end up getting out for the community, but if there's a way that we could do it together with the town, we will absolutely do that. And you shouldn't be sending out robocalls on the day of election or referendum when it doesn't go to the rest of the tax. That has not happened since we approved full day kindergarten.

Um anyway, uh a couple other ones on the unfunded position or the unstaffed positions for this year. What was that that contributed? What was the dollar amount of the the unfunded positions and how much of that related to your thou $200,000 as one question that's followup is are they removed from the budget for next year?

Okay. So first to give you an exact number the number that I can provide for you is the $1.6 6 million that was reduced out of the operating budget last year that included the staffing members as well as those programs. And I assure you, Mr. Hints, I am not one to make suggestions of what are the things that we have to reduce. I don't make shadow cuts. Everything that is noted and it is on the flyer, those are all programs and services that were reduced in terms of what programs are coming in that we removed last year. Those programs are not coming back from last year. What's been the only changes in the operation for this district for staffing changes? We had one proposed increase in kindergarten. I have 95 students in kindergarten this year. I have 135 projected for next year. I added a teacher. There is no additional FTEES.

That's not clear. I think you misunderstood my question. Okay. My understanding from one of your previous things is that you had positions that couldn't be filled in the current year. So you have unfilled positions at the board of ed. Did you not say that at one of the the meetings that you had positions throughout the district that were funded that you had weren't able to hire for as of this year? All of the FTEES that were in existing in this year, those are existing in next year's operation. No, they haven't been removed. That's That's not what I'm talking about. Last year's budget. Yes.

When you were talking, I thought you said there was either a teacher or a parent or something that there was people that were never hired this year that were in your last year's budget. So, you should have a surplus from the people that were not hired last year or I thought you you said on one of your your talks here that you had people that were approved last year that you weren't unable to hire for the current year. Is that not true? That is what we have is staff position. We have positions that become vacant during the year. We have people that are hired into those roles that may leave us of which we have vacancies in those particular positions. Those vacancies could be for three months until we find an employee to fill a vacancy or they could last longer. But every position that is in the budget that was even at the end of all the reductions coming into the year, those positions at different points in time have been filled. But perhaps people have left those and so there are some current vacancies within those. But the intention in our proposal next year was take the status quo of our operation because our enrollments not changing next year but to keep those staffing in place for next year.

Correct. So those people that you don't have currently in the hire, what is the savings to the town for the current year and how does that relate to your overage or your reduction your deficit? Where did that come into play for that number and if you're a and if someone So here's no 12 months.

Okay. Okay. So here's so every year as part of trying to do our due diligence with the operational budget, we budget a what's called a turnover factor that we anticipate based on staff that comes and goes, meaning that they ones that have left positions, new employees fill those vacancies perhaps at a lesser salary. We build into the budget a lower number which is referred to as a turnover factor which is never a guarantee that that's going to be hit. Some years you can hit that, some years you may not hit that but it's a mechanism to try to bring about savings. Every time a a a teacher is proposed to me through the administration or a non-certified or classified staff member, I'll take a look at their salaries. Where was the person was exist existing in the role? Could I perhaps bring this person in at a lower salary? But those are kind of that's where that turnover factor we're trying to make up 160,000 out of doing a goodwill to this community as we try to prep the budget, anticipating that we will likely see over the course of an entire year $160,000 in savings based on trying to hire staff members lower than the staff members who have recently left the district. But every position that's built in the budget, the anticipation is is those will be filled because there's a need for those positions.

That's going forward. Again, I was trying to figure out where your savings are and what it equated to for the current year. It sounds like it's built in.

But there's got to be a way to calculate whether they hit their turnover rate, haven't hit their turnover rate, if they have exceeded their turnover rate, because as you said, you're going to use it for lower incoming salaries. Well, we know that because you just approved an administration and they get 3% a year plus benefit increases that that's in that that salary that you're putting in there is only good for a couple years and then they're at max salary again. So, you know, that that turnover number is good for only a year maybe. So again, I I guess I'm I'm looking at it from when I went on to try to figure out what the um minimum budget requirements are by the state and where we have been. Um and every time I hear you the the board or the finance town council cut the board of ed budget, they didn't cut anything. Um you've requested like larger increases every year. Now you're asking for a 4.8. So whatever is reduced here, it's not a cut to your budget, it's an it's a lower increase to your budget. No, and it far exceeds what the the state minimum um required budget is. Uh last year, according to what was online, that we overfunded by $1.25 million over what the state minimum was. And all we see in the propaganda is you're cutting cutting cutting and we're and and that's nuts. So can I I have to I have to just speak and I you know me well you don't know me but I have always made myself available to sit and meet with anybody to sit down to talk this budget and I share that with you to suggest that these reductions weren't reductions these were coming into fiscal year 26 when we reduced this budget by $1.6 $6 million.

These were reductions to program staff services that the district provided because the cost of increase if you look at inflation rates I'm going to take for example even the state of Connecticut we are in the midst of a bianium budget for appropriated funds on the governor's two-year budget. Their increase for the state was 6.38% is what was to move the budget to next year. When you're talking about a number of a 430, you are getting by right now based on movement decisions that are being made that help. But to be very truthful with you, when you reduce costs, if we do come to and I respect the realities of where the disappointment and the upset has come from the past, but the deficits and I have worked tremendously hard with the board of education, with the town to break that structural deficit to get us moving in the right direction. anytime you don't meet if I'm if I share with you and I understand there's credibility and trust I understand that I haven't earned that yet but the reality is is the number I'm giving you is to maintain the programs and services without additional elements that are within this budget. So when we say that we're going to reduce this budget to a 2.5%. Or to a 3% what I'm saying the operation itself is a 4.3%. We sat with the board and we went through line by line by line to understand those to keep things at status quo. There's always fluctuations that happen with budget times things are a little higher, things are a little bit lower. We're having a better budget season than we've had this year. Things that we couldn't anticipate special let out placements where there's costs. I hear enrollment changes. How does that factor in five years we look at enrollment? What was shared earlier that there was 140 less students? That's an accurate number. But there's also been an increase of 50 special education students. Next year, the enrollment

projection is reducing by nine students across 12 grades. When you look at all of that, there are reasons that provide some justification. But I am you you at any time can reach out to me. we could sit and go through these numbers. I'm willing to do that with you to help bring some clarity around that. I'm just saying I don't think the taxpayers are going to support it. I told Dave that long ago, unless we have come on with a flat budget, um I I do not see that passing.

I think we're going to be right in the same place as last year. We'll move on to agenda item 9 C follow on middle school paving and potential addition of let me invite Matt back up and and we can have that conversation. We did provide he did provide to you a memorandum that outlines the the current estimated costs. I know that the state took bids uh in February for this. So Dr.

Okay. So uh just to kind of get back to Ted's initial question. Um so this project was generated by the board of the facilities director back we were in the capital process start I think it was like September. Uh the facilities director approached me uh basically you know the guy who does most of the paving around in town um you know what I thought for numbers um so I gave him a quick per square yard number uh based on if it was a like a bid job. So that's really where this is coming in is we have normally parking lots of that size are a big project where you have engineers come in, they survey everything, they do a design and you know there's there's a cost that goes with that, right? And that was the number that got put forward in that initial estimate that we talked about. And as we went through the process through the capital process, that's when I kind of got involved and we said, "Hey, maybe there's a cheaper way." And I talked about using the state vendor in place program on state bid. Um, you know, because essentially you're just you're getting the savings of, you know, this bulk asphalt that the state buys that they allow, you know, the towns to get in on. So that's kind of where the I think there's a little confusion is that there's one set of numbers if you do it as a bid job. There's another set of numbers if you do it as a as a vendor place job. Um, so I don't know if that answers your question or if

No, I I understand what you're saying and that makes total sense. My frustration was that they went to the board of finance, got a special appropriation for $450,000 came through. The council wanted us to blanketly approve a $450,000 without going to you, without getting the actual cost. That frustrates me. So I think part of that right comes from at that point when we were still in those meetings I could not get a commitment from our vendor place contractor to do the parking lot. So I think what they were doing was assuming that we were going to have to go as a bid project. So I think they were putting the worst case number in there and then saying like okay if we can do the vendor in place it's going to be a lower number. So I think that's where that came from.

And you know what assuming does what's that? And you know what a submitting does. Oh, I know. Right. I understand. So, but that that's where the I think that's where the miscommunication may have come from because there was kind of two paths that we weren't sure, you know, given the time frame what we're going to be able to do. So, I have gotten a commitment from our favor to do this project if we so choose. Um, and just address the cost of

Yeah. So, yep, that's uh something else that has kind of come up a bunch of times. So, with the state bid, there is um escalation and deescalation for oil built into the bid price. So, these contractors, they put their bid price in, you know, back in February is when this starts going around. So really it was it was before you know we're in with Iran and all these things were going on and the oil prices weren't high and it was still $105 a ton right which is quite substantial compared to what we were paying just like four years ago. So it's really it's an overall inflationary pressure on the paving more than I mean oil is a huge factor but that escalation price is more like when you're doing 91 and you're you know hundreds of thousands of tons of asphalt going down them. So for this instance you know it's like the current escalation is like $3,200 for that amount of tonnage going down to the school. Uh just as a reference. So it's, you know, it's it's really geared for these huge projects. So it is something you have to watch, you know, based on whatever you read budgeted.

Again, a great memo, really informative. So you put a number on finally the project 355700. Yep. So basically then are you saying that that that looks like the cost to the town, not the 400,000 or 400? So, if we do it better in place, right, and that that's the nice thing with that is like it's very defined. Like, I know the square yards, I know how much asphalt's going to fit in there. Like, yeah, you know, I know what it's going to be aside of the escalation, which, you know, is $3,200, right? It could be a little bit more. It could be less. It, you know, you actually could have negative. You know, if everything goes well and, you know, oil prices come down, then there's deescalation.

But it's not five figures. It's it's four figures for us. Yes. for us. for us. So, so you're saying the job can be done uh to your satis all our satisfactions for 355 700. Yes. And not the 400 that we had to get a number from right until we knew those real numbers. Is that correct or no? That's correct. Okay. And then additionally, I'm just going to throw this out there. If I can tie it in with child's road paving, right? And this is where kind of things become uncertain. I could additionally save $25,000 because they'll give me because it's more asphalt, I'll get a lower price. Gotcha.

So, you know, but that's still a little unknown because, you know, that's kind of based on when the budget passes because it's actually next year's fiscal year. And just one last question, as you look at the school, we're talking obviously about the big parking lot on the right hand side as you look at it. Does that include the circle in the front? It's the whole school and the circle both both park done that as well. Thank you. That's Thank you. Jack move to approve the um middle school paving project. Doesn't it have to go back to board of finance for appropriation adjustment?

Uh the question would be whether you can reduce that on your own. But what I was going to say is at minimum we have to prepare that resolution because it does have to go to town. Excuse me. It does have to go to town meeting. So it does have to go to town meeting. It doesn't have to go to town meeting because of the size of the appropriation from So what do we need to do to move it forward? If you're ready to move it forward, I mean not going to stop you from making a motion that says let's move it forward, but we need to prepare a resolution for you and you'll need to it should be on our next agenda. Yeah. put it on your next agenda for uh calling a town meeting to deal with that additional appropriation. Finish the process. I I want to do whatever we need to do to move it forward, get that resolution prepared and

and find out whether it needs to go back to board of finance. Right. We'll confirm. Second. Well, we're under continued business. Didn't we table the right to farm ordinance this meeting? It's not on there, which I just noticed. We're gonna we're talking about the creating a committee. We have a motion and a second. There is a motion to to do that. That's going through the next meeting because there's nothing for us to vote on. Is there? No, we didn't we didn't pass the the paving. Yeah. Right. We're here until next meeting. We don't have the We don't have the document to do that. Understood. I just thought made a motion just to do.

No, it's just going to go to the next meeting and Dave's going to find out if that's going to boardment and he's going to get the resolution for to approve at the next meeting. Totally. Okay, it's fine. We good, D? Yeah, that's fine. Okay. So, we're talking about at our last meeting about creating a a group to look at the rights to farm ordinance and we did table it. Um, it's not here. Is there a way could I make a motion to add that so we can always have a quick conversation on that? I know it's getting late, but you got another meeting. I know.

But if we continued it, it's not on the uh continued or we did. I'm sorry. My understanding was that you intended for that to be looked at by the agricultural committee which we need to set. We needed to set up which has to come here so we can set the because I thought we said we weren't going to use the current uh committee that we're going to my understanding was that that committee was never appointed and we were talking about just getting a small group together to to do that. That was my understanding from my understanding was that the appointments committee was going to appoint an agricultural committee that we already had an agricultural committee and but we didn't even know who's on it. No, we didn't even

No, no, we were going to appoint an the the new members and um

but no find out how many members or what the members were. So, how could we have them fulfill something that we never figured out what was on the actual commission? We we did talk about that last time. There are you said there are seven members and two alternates and then it talks about that there are non- voting exeicio members uh that are appointed or recommended by that body uh that are youth under 19 in the in the organization and well this is not what I was expecting to have handed to me um that are youth of the organ that are youth in the community. Uh, and then it also references that the animal control officer is a non is an exopicio member. So the membership I I in my opinion is clear. Oh, I thought we were doing a com a committee to review because it hadn't ever been funded since it was originally done what 10 plus years ago and no one ever build it.

But I thought we agreed last time that the committee our appointments committee would appoint an agricultural committee. Right. I mean the the structure is there. We just need to fill the bonds. All right. That was not my understanding. Okay. What was handed to me was was evidently a request. I don't know where who it was sent to, but um it's actually a small downsizing of the of the body from 7 to 5. I thought that that's what we were going to talk about is to create a group and whether it be done almost like as an ad hoc based on the all the people that point of order. Could I motion to add this item?

I did and we had got a second here. Okay. A second. I just want to make sure it's added to the agenda for, you know, all the legal purposes. I do we vote on that, Mr. Chair? Yes. Is there discussion? adding that to agenda. Not those in favor sign say I. I post nay.

If I may, I think we should put people on the commission and then task them with letting us know if they feel there should be changes in dollar amounts associated with what they're doing because we would, you know, be putting people on who know more about that than I do about farming and perhaps some of the other council members. I know you know a lot about it. Um, but I think we should test the commission with coming back to us and saying they want changes, you know, here are the things that we should do. If I may, uh, Kathy, how many applications did we get? Three.

That's it. I think a lot of them thought that the email there went to Juliet was their application. I'm just telling you what I believe their their thought process was because everyone was emailing Juliet to get on. So she has a list of member that have already uh because I think that that was what was told at one of the PCB meetings that talked about a is to contact her. So I believe that there's many more people that are interested and they were all uh they may not have um Juliet the proper process but I believe she has the names of all those people.

Juliet raised her hand. Could she speak on that topic to let us know? Julia. Hi. Hi. So, I I got a list at the at the focus discussion. We have a list of all the people that were interested. I sent everybody out an email. There were a couple that were missed. I I got in touch with them and I gave them the instructions to fill out the the application. So, I mean, I've instructed everybody to go fill out the application who is interested. That's right. That's

I don't have any personal, you know, I don't have any emails from people saying, you know, sign me up or something like that, but I had the list of people that signed up at that meeting that they were interested in in joining. So, I mean, that's that's as far as I can take it. So, they have to go fill out the application, right? Yep. That's that's absolutely correct. We have a commission

whether it fits exactly what everybody wants right now. I'm not sure that's the important thing. The important thing is get people on it. We're interested, have them sit down, take a look at the ordinance which establish that says, and then if they feel we need uh changes or additions to it, then bring it forward in in an ordinance and I'm sure we'll be happy to get it. So I think um we've got three applications in four now. So if perhaps what will happen is here Juliet's still there. Uh maybe just send if you Juliet if you have uh those emails of of people u that you want to just remind to please uh contact the uh council the

yeah contact cap excuse me and uh with an application very simple so let's agree that at the next meeting I mean maybe the uh appointments committee we could meet before our next meeting. Yeah, whatever we can put together when we have enough to get together, we'll get together and and and make a payments as soon as we can. But just a reminder those who were interested uh to hey, please sign up because we have to go through the interview process and then we'll make it happen.

I'll send out a reminder. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Moving on. New business. Agenda item 10A. Review and acknowledgement of local emergency medical services command. As the council may recall, uh, every five years we have to update the way that we handle, uh, local emergency medical services in the community. Uh, this is the this is the plan. I'll give uh, great thanks to Chris Weary, the interim chief at the at the ambulance, uh, for putting together this plan. What you see here is sort of the initial whatever it is 20 pages or so. Attached to this is several hundred pages of the various mutual aid agreements and various other documents that uh we put together uh as part of the full plan uh that sort of show the state how we handle uh emergency medical response in the community. The important thing to know is that really not much has changed. The major descriptive change is how uh is how the ambulance has restructured itself uh in the last uh se in the last few years. Uh it tries to describe that. It also talks a little bit about goals for, you know, ongoing activity in the community about educating the community on 911, educating the community on hearts smart, uh, participating in mass casualty drills, those sorts of things, uh, that we continue to do, uh, in the public safety arena to make sure that we're prepared. It continues the process of using uh police officers as the as the emergency medical first responders with the fire department as the supplement there and the ambulance in the basic role uh of transport. It it also continues to outline the fact that we have the agreement as to the municipalities in the rest of the county

for using Middle Sex uh Middle Sex Health and their paramedic service to fund par or to cover paramedic services in the county uh throughout and in East Hampton in particular. So, it's a lot of status quo, if you will, uh for how we handle um EMS response in the community and we need to forward that on to the state. Like I said, uh we have committed to them that we would get it to them by May. Do we have to

wanted to you don't have to do any you have to take an action here. I wanted the council to have an opportunity to take a look at it. Um it's a if you want to see the entire document, you certainly can. I don't think we put the whole thing in the even in the in the packet. Um but uh happy to do it. Uh I think there was a discussion last time that the council wanted to at least see it before it went out uh five years ago. Uh so I'm just showing it to you before it goes out signatures on it and all that. There are questions we can certainly try to get them addressed. Take a little bit more time, but it's a basic rundown of how we handle the process. look to me and they're very good. He was well done. Thank you.

Again, thanks to Chris. Chris did the more than the line to share there. All right. So, we'll be forwarding that on to the state uh in the next second. Moving on. Agenda item 10, discussion of a concept ordinance to establish the sewer avoidance policy limitation on sewer expansion. that it I guess it's not my

Well, yeah. No, I I put it together and uh um asked for it to be put on the agenda as a starting point. Um I do think it does need to uh go to the the town's attorney. Again, this is for discussion uh for us. Um it is pretty clear that um over the last several months, uh sewers have come up numerous times and we have we went from um not approving the bonding to say we're not doing sewers for the um Cone Road, North Cone Road, Abby Road area. Um and then a month later we're talking about uh doing expansion and then we have the the whole Griffith thing that came through. And then if you look at the PCB um it's just uh showing um expansion after expansion. Even areas that we originally said uh we were not going to approve sewer for are continued to be in the sewer plan. Um, so what the intent is to try to get something a little bit more permanent um for the town um as far as uh not embracing sewer.

Mr. Chair, could we please hear from the town attorney?

Yes, Rich is here. I ask him to be here related to this and of course related to the resolution on your WPCA then so Rich is certainly available.

Uh well well first of all if I have any questions but I would say at the start that this matter I understand the intent uh of putting it forward with town council really is more appropriate to be discussed at the WPCA level. This is going to be some of the concerns that you have as you kind of act as a WPCA. You should really be considering this as a WPCA matter, not as a town council. That statute was very clear about that that the WPCA has the authority to do certain things, not the town council. So, when acting on these types of issues, be clear that you're acting as a WPCA. WPCA has a broad range of possibilities that it can address in terms of setting the boundaries of where sewers are supposed to be, where sewers are to be avoided. the implementation of a sewer plan that encompasses decentralized wastewater management districts, a whole host of things that need to be considered. A simple blanket, we don't want sewers is not going to fly. It's not legal. All right? And we can discuss the concepts about where they should be and shouldn't be, but a straightup ordinance that denies sewers is not going to it's not appropriate. Uh so that's that's that. Uh same thing with the next item on your agenda about the waiver of interest. That's not something that you can really address at this level. And I will also, not to steal the thunder out of your next meeting, but I don't think that's appropriate at the WPCA level either. It's kind of mandatory under state statute that you have to impose interest. Uh so we can talk about that at the next

meeting. Okay. But that's I think that's more appropriately to be either just tabled here or transferred to the the WPAC portion of your agenda this evening. I think we're tableing until our next real WPCA meeting. Yeah. Great. Thank you.

Where is this? You want to skip Tennessee? Yeah. Yep. Where is this? No. Tennessee. I don't even have it in my back. Tennessee. Yeah. Oh, did you print it out before? It's the one in your packet has tendency. Tennessee, not an item. It's in the agenda memo. Yeah. Um Oh, I figured they would have a separate

No, there's no the me. So, notwithstanding the town attorney's comments, um I have asked the council to to wave interest in penalties on sewer fees that are have been requested for appeal with the WPCA. um an action of the WPCA uh earlier or late last year or early this year, I think it was late last year, um added new fees to certain houses in the community that were deemed to have additional units. So, if I if they looked at my house and they deemed that I had two units, but I didn't think I had two units, I was a I was allowed to protest. so to speak, appeal my now $1,200 bill. The WPCA had not heard those appeals yet when the changes were made. And because those will be due or become delinquent at the end of this month, I've asked the council to wave those interest and penalties on anybody who hasn't paid that pending their appeal. It's up to you. I just thought it was a way to allow them to let the appeal go through and then pay that bill if they are deemed to have to pay that bill and or have it absolved if it is a bill that doesn't have to be paid.

Well, I know the state the IRS penalty is not something that that could that penalty be interest. And so I can't imagine and maybe Rich can address that. But the other option is they could pay it and they can get a refund if they their appeal is granted. Well, and and um that's been the direction that staff has given them. I'm just merely looking at an opportunity, again, not withstanding the town attorney's comment, uh an opportunity to sort of let it go because of the fact that um it's by our actions that they haven't been able to have their appeal heard. It's up to the council. If you don't want to do that, that's fine. And we can

Should we move it to the next meeting though? Is that what Rich was saying or no? But I think on this particular matter, the attorney was saying that really nobody can nobody should wave these fees and I can't argue with that. However, I would ask the council to do it anyway, so to speak. I move to let it go. What do you mean let it go? To waiver interest and penalties on appeal. You can't wave interest. I think penalty you have you you could possibly get away with but I the statute how can you get rid of a statute? We can't we need to

I'm sorry. You know they should pay their bill and then we should give them a refund if it's I understand I understand the town manager's desire to address those parties that have been delayed because of the restructuring of the WPCA. It's absolutely legitimate concern. However, to your point, Commissioner Hints, you can't wave statutory interest. It's just not possible. The way that town council can handle this after the fact and after they pay the penalties and interest and whatever it is that they needed to pay is to issue a refund based on the fact that you had a delay of 2 months, 3 months, whatever it was since their application came in because of the actions of the town council. That's the appropriate way of family.

Well, I'd like to help the residents. I think we'd have to follow the proper legal channel. Exactly. Time withdrawal money. I think nothing to proceed with that at this time. Well, if we can agree that we really we will we will provide refunds. No, we got to have address. We don't even know how many of them are going to succeed or or if any. Okay. Next, I'll manage this report.

Uh, let me just quickly make uh reference two items that I think are you know what I'll just me reference one item written version is in the on the town lot website and available for people to look at. Uh, but I just want to mention uh that uh next week May 4th uh we'll start doing the paving project in the middle in the village center rather. Uh so people will start to see the impact of of milling operations next week and paving operations in the week following that uh to clean all of the pavement up between Main Street or rather on Main Street between Highway 66 and Route 16 and uh pieces of Summit and Beavenon uh Boulevard and Bevon Avenue and the connection points wherever we did work in the village center. So, that's coming up. Hopefully, two more weeks of disruption down there and we should be uh essentially complete with that project. So, that's upcoming. Uh if you move through that area regularly, you may want to consider an alternate route. Businesses will still be accessible. You can get into the parking lots and all those things so that you can continue to patronize the businesses. Um but vehicle traffic will be a little tough.

That's all my comments. Could I just ask Matt to make sure that the those who are actually doing the paving operation are aware of the time frame for school when people arrive and when people dismiss just so they're prepared for it before all the cars show up. Okay, perfect.

Is that it, David? That's all I have. Item 12, appointments. Agenda item 13, tax refunds.

Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion to return return four refunds totaling $1,680.32 for owners. Motion made and seconded to turn over taxes signify by saying I remarks last opportunity. Judith Bird, 157 Daily Road. Um, I was just looking at stuff and first off, I don't think anybody's going to sue the town of East Hampton if they don't pay their sewer funds or the interest on top of it. I think that's kind of a point even though, you know, the town attorney has to leave out the town. Um, but secondly, um, I wanted to make a suggestion about getting information to the public. I think the River East News Bulletin is a free paper that's delivered to probably everyone in town. I may be mistaken, but I know I get it and I read the East Hampton section at as soon as I get it. Um, the second thing that I wanted to bring up is that the sales tax in Connecticut, the minimum on selling goods, because I sell on eBay and it's collected is 6.35%. So, I heard that we should tack on another 2%. Um, there's a concept that the poor pays more. In other words, you pay a bigger amount of um your income on goods and services that you require. So, um I think that 6.35% that came in. I think attorneys pay

more. There's a whole list of of uh services that you know are added to that. So, I don't think we need to add a 2% um additional sales tax to uh things at least temp. And the other thing I was just kind of looking at was that paving project because I think um Matt might have said something about uh saving $100,000 over and above with um Til Contamaso doing the paving and then there was another savings of about $25,000. And I'm just curious about what would happen. I I can understand the downtown area. That makes perfect sense to me because there's, you know, basins and all kinds of stuff. But I also heard the fact that we need a new senior center and my dad was an architect and an engineer. And I just wonder if you look at the current library building and senior center. Um, their cathedral ceilings inside, all you need is 8 ft to um, you know, to go up a level. And there's public parking right next to the library that the town uses cuz they were talking about parking as being an issue. And I just grabbed the plans, the original plans. Nothing has been changed since 1984. So I think that's another option for the town to look at instead of thinking about, you know, a brand new senior center that has to go in. Um, we could look at what's existing. Um, I know some of the outside columns have um been compromised because concrete is very um I can't think of the word, but it it's abrasive to metal.

So, there's a lot of options that we have existing. And if you look at the building, there are shades that come down. There's dormers on the building. Um, I know the plans are at Yale. Um, did I use my three minutes? Okay. Well, anyway, I do know that. You're always welcome back. Thank you.

Okay, great. Thanks. Hi, my name is Greg Sh again. Uh 64 South Main Street. I wanted to say something like this town used to be a big tourist town. I don't know why. There used to be a train station. We went to the lake and stuff like that. That's a great area of development possibility because it makes the town look nice and I don't think we're going to be run over like they are in the Hamptons and be priced out. But that would be something that would enhance it. The thing is I've got pristine wellwater. I'd rather pay higher tax than have to pay for a sewer bill than lose my water. Okay. The other thing is um are they going to plant any more trees that they took out downtown because it looks like they got a new park, you know, sidewalk, but it looks kind of barren and awful. Uh and are there any plans to pave Daniel Street? It is impossible. I keep going down that thing. You have to pull over to the wrong lane. You're going to save your car. Uh that's it. And I just want to thank everybody included.

Is there anyone else? Sound is poor. One more seven closest to Avenue will just make a short sweep. I think the budgets are going to fail big time this year. Probably three times. You need to be prepared. Both budgets, education, and the town. Now, regarding this um middle school um um paving, um it sounds like you're going to have a proposed town vote to approve that. Be prepared to remove that when the town when it comes to referendum and the town votes no. Thank you. Yeah. Chuck Anker 65 Spelling. Um, one suggestion, uh, and it backs up what this lady over here said. I was really happy she made those comments this afternoon, but, uh, you have a very nice paragraph in here about civility.

Uh, I would suggest adding something that anybody uses foul language like that is banned from from speaking. Maybe there's a fine something uh for that. And I'd also like to respond to the woman on the phone who said that the uh uh any of us late people didn't get a tax increase. I can assure you that is not the case. Anybody wants to know what the taxing, come look at my bill.

Yes. I didn't even realize you were back to cover on that. Hi, Rebecca Harvey, 39 Flanders Road. Sorry, getting super tired here. I actually just wanted to come up here because I struggle. I struggle with the budget and Dr. Ventassel, this is for you. I struggle so much and it actually upsets me because I really adore you as a person. So, it gets really hard to get up here and debate what I know you you're doing what you think is best. I'm doing what I think is best. But when it comes to this town and transparency, I do have a problem with not being able to open those emails. Um, I think even sending a link out or getting a really cheap texting service. I mean, I think or just posting something where everybody's going to the same page for instead of putting it within an app that not everybody can open. I think there are definitely solutions and even knowing where to seek that information out easily is, you know, really helpful. But I also struggle because I know how difficult it is to deal with the town hall and getting responses from people. However, Dr. Vanassel gets back to me in sometimes minutes, sometimes hours, but never more than 24 hours. And I do I have a really hard time like coming at you with anything. And he is just he he's a really good person. And I just wanted to come up here and say that. So, thank you Anyone else? You have one online too

and top sequin conro. Um, I think we should be preparing uh to redo the budgets. Again, it's a zero sum. I do realize if we maintain the current last year's current uh dollar amounts that almost everyone here will have pay higher taxes already. So, with the current proposal, most of us are going to be paying close to 18% more.

So, I think we should try to maintain the current fiscal year that we're currently in dollar amounts because I I truly believe once once this goes to referendum that everyone will be disappointed with all the hard work that you have put into making that budget. I don't question what you all did, but I feel that you're going to be doing it again. So, I think we should prepare for the worst and be ready so we can turn that around as fast as we can so we can beat the the the the tax season. Um, there was something else, but I'm tired and everyone else is. Thank you very much.

30 minutes. I was just going to say your Medicaid is going to stop. you're going to have to have work requirements and that's before you can volunteer. Maybe the town should think about what kind of things we could create for those people who are going to need to do 20 to 20 hours a week volunteering to keep their Medicaid. That's two at the I think the end of the next year. You know what I'm saying? like that could be an example of giving people a way to volunteer to keep their Medicaid and yet the town could maybe I don't know you I don't know if you can employ people like that in schools and things but that could be coming up as a potentious money saving one Kyle

yes thank you uh good late evening Kyle Der 56 William Drive Um, thank you to the town manager who was unnecessarily disrespected at tonight's meeting and for asking a town attorney to attend tonight's meeting and share his legal opinion, limited as it was. Um, but that's great that he was at the meeting. Nonetheless, if the town council now acting as a WPCA chooses to accept or move forward with the ordinance as proposed by Mr. hence and remote possibility of acceptance by the town council. The end result would be financially and economically disastrous for the town of East Hampton. Please be reasonable and protect the protect the town. Thank you. again one last time tonight and then Daniel Finn 85 Champion Hill Road and I appreciate uh your time here this evening and how long you've been in this. Um I want to talk about budgeting process in terms of cuts versus not cuts. This topic comes up every single year where it's discussed that if you reduce an increase, it's not really a cut to the budget. Um, that's just not how inflation works. You know, that's not how actual dollars work in terms of people's expenses. If you have a budget for your household, in terms of your expenses, and your expenses go up, you don't get to just say, "Oh, well, I'm not going to cover those expenses." You either cut the expenses, which is a cut, or you try to increase your revenue to cover the difference. There's not. It's still a cut though if you reduce your your actual because even if you're

actually spending more dollars, you're still cutting from your budget if you're not paying for the things that you were paying for before. The same is true for the board of education. Same is true for the town. um the the the budget flyer that the the board of ed uh put together to make sure that people were aware of what the potential risk is towards the uh to our current services and current education uh for the town uh is just exactly what it is. It's just an information about what could occur if we reduce the budget any further from where it is right now. The increase that we proposed from the board of ed, the board of finance, and now to the town council is significantly underneath comparative districts. Uh it does not significantly change staffing and it does not get us back to even where we were last year. It barely meets back up to the budget where we should have been at the end of last budget season. And I get I get the pain that some people are experiencing because my numbers is a big number too in terms of the percentage increase that my taxes are going to go up this year. But we cannot we cannot budget based off of some people having a higher increase and some people having a lower one. We have to go based off what the town needs in terms of its services the town wants in terms of services or we have to cut tax bigly. There's no in between. It's one or the other. So as a town I'm hopeful that the people that entrusted us last fall to make good decisions and do this hard work of putting together budgets will entrust us to sort of say this is the best budget we're going to get to maintain where we are right now. And if we want to cut services or reduce our education and make it harder for parents to stay in town, make it harder for kids to get the education that they need to be successful later on in life, that's a decision the town can decide to make. But it's going to be that's the decision you're making if you decide not to vote for the budget. I I respect everybody that their own best conscious will make their own decisions in terms of themselves. I do think it is a little bit frustrating when elected officials publicly say that we don't think the budget's going to pass. I think that's a

a poor use of of time. Now, you might think that, but maybe you could do some work on trying to actually get people to understand what actual inflation costs look like and what we need to do as a town. That's my recommendation.

Anyone else? If not, agenda item 15, communications correspondence and announcements. There are some in your package line. Please read them. 15A adjournment of the Al Con.

Yeah. We're going to take about a 10 minute break just move to the next area. I think you know 15 California.

I remember Canada. Sorry. Board of Education.

Yeah. Um that other people looking I can't even hear him or not. almost really

well. So it's not 100%.

We're going to have to decide how we want to handle So we have pictures now in fact what we know Now the thing is I don't listen very Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. It's not

And the same Oh yeah,

I have a lot of down there. So when I went to the man's coming home tomorrow running.

What do you mean? Oh, really? I'll build it. I'll build it again. points and Let's get this going to have to go back.

We've got an appointment. We got appointments at 10:30. We got to get

like to call this special meeting of the Order control authority the order. You satisfied that we saluted the flag or do you want to do that again? I think we're okay.

No bonds. Yeah, this is really aative meeting. Water Pollution Control Authority. First item of business, as I understand it, is to elect a chairman. I would like to make a motion to that effecting making Jack Solomon chairman of Proction to control the committee. Can I also make a nomination?

Yes. I would like to nominate Ted Hint because I think Mr. Hints has proven himself over the last few meetings with taxpayers in his town as educated in the water in the consumer system and I think he'll be a good nominations. That's any position. Those in favor of closing nominations signify by saying I I

Is there anyone any discussion regarding the candidates? I would vote by I raised a hand. Those in favor of Mr. Hints, please raise your hands. It's two votes. Those in favor of Mr. Solomon. Raise your hand. Five votes. Mr. Solvin supported the chairman of the border pollution control.

Congratulations, chair. I think we wanted the seat.

No, I don't want that seat. I just want to get the first item item three on our agenda is public remark. If you want to make public remarks, please line up over there. You can come on up. Timothy Fury, report Belleview Avenue, Bristol, Connecticut, representing Belltown 30 LLC. Uh my clients uh have two approved projects uh for sewer connection that have been uh delayed due to all of the activities with elimination of the sewer commission staff etc. But we are very anxious that uh when people are in place that we can move our two projects along. eight Alden's crossing, two homes to be connected. Uh the failure to do so, which is resulting in us not being able to sell one of the houses to someone who was contracted uh to buy it. And 30 Long Crossing, which is the industrial subdivision, uh it was approved uh on November 4th, 2025. Conditions were issued on November 12th, 2025. letter of approval with those conditions in December. All the documentation was completed. The only issues that were outstanding was the town uh with the staff that was in place then wanted us to design it in a certain way to lower it uh so we could access future other parts of the town. Uh as time went by, we were told that the town no longer had desire to do that uh future uh design for the town's purposes and we need to

redesign at our expense, spending over some $50,000 in engineering design uh to bring the uh the sewer elevations back up so they would service the two properties we were approved but no longer uh service future needs or potentials of the town. Uh we were ready to go either way. We're ready to go with what the town wanted designed initially or what the town approved for us to service our properties. Uh the uh property isn't an approved uh sewer area. Uh to either include it in your moratorum or to deny it would be arbitrary. There appears to be no basis. You as a group, you're new to this. when your attorney tell you you need uh to create specific sewer areas to remove certain sewer areas to not just do so in an arbitrary manner um and you need to um work with with D the state potentially whatever federal funding you've gotten and you also have partners you have commitments to other towns to accept their uh sewage from trucks and the pumping and you have a partnership with Colchester as well as well as an obl obligation to uh the rateayers in the other towns. Uh we would ask uh you to direct your staff uh and engineering firms who have reviewed this improvement to uh conclude uh their contracts. Um the sewers would be constructed at our cost. have no impact on the town except for a positive one because we would be a rateayer and contribute to those things. And just lastly with anything regarding this war or more attorney, I don't believe Mr. Why not should be sitting here even because she is an interested party and has an absolute conflict of interest. Your town attorney's here. You can

discuss with him the appropriateness or inappropriateness of that. You have questions of me, I'm available as I'm included. Could you um define what it is you need from the town? Well, you need we need you to conclude our two agreements so that we can construct. So, are there agreements, Dave? Are there agreements that the WPCA has in hand that give you the course?

Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm told the only delay to the developer agreements being finally prepared to sign was a decision by the town of what elevation they wanted and how many things. Sorry, I I misspoke. We'll go on we'll go on to the next public comment. And I would tell you just finally because we're unable to go forward uh there are economic consequences both my client and to citizens of East Hampton. There are four employees of this company that would be working to build this sewer system to serve these two projects. They will have to be laid off this spring. Okay. The four people you serve.

Thank you. Are there further public comments?

No. Yes. And I will close. Next item on the agenda is the appointment of joint facilities members. Um, you need to appoint three. Correct. So yeah, there East Hampton and Colchester each get three members on that body and East Hampton gets the chairperson. So you need to identify three members of the WPCA to serve on that body and one to serve as the chair among from those three. Okay. So I will volunteer. Do I have any other volunteers?

Rich, would you like to? Sure. Um I I don't know if I have enough time. I'll be honest with you. Minority representation either Ted or Ted Ted under control.

Does that do we need I didn't hear minority representation. It's a requirement for all bodies of the town.

Don't flip a coin. Yeah. I said I'm tuning right now. Okay. Ted, did you say no? Yeah. I think you got it.

So then who are we going to appoint as a Republican member? Dave said we would have to rep appoint appoint I guess you can leave it bacon for now. um two members with the members from Colchester does create enough of a quorum that that body can meet and at least get a budget passed and those sorts of things. Okay. Well then I guess we let Pchester handle it.

But you should by motion appoint those two folks at least that you have now and and identify somebody to serve as the chair of that body from the two of you. I don't know how you want to do that. Sorry. you just continue with. I think I should. Okay. So, move to appoint somebody else. I move to appoint Jack as chair and Rich as one of the members and we will wait to see if we can get another member for that. Okay. Second. Second. Okay. All those in favor? I

oppose. Okay. Very good. discussion of sewage through expansion projects and consideration of a resolution for six-month moratorum on sewer expansion.

Mr. Chair, I am going to recuse myself for that item since it could affect the project nearby. So, um, Attorney Carella is here, uh, and he is the the author of the resolution you have in front of you. And this is really in response to the conversations the, uh, the council had before it became the WPCA about how it wanted to handle projects that were in process. Uh, you just heard about a couple of them. uh the the project on Alden's Crossing Long Crossing. There's also been a project that was approved for Clark Hill, but nothing's been done there other than design. Um so there's a handful of projects that are uh are potential expansion projects uh that have been approved notwithstanding subdivisions and things like that. uh and uh the or the resolution in front of you and I'll invite Rich to kind of come up and talk about uh its design and um and it's it's uh its effect. Um the process the intent is to give yourselves a little bit of breathing room and time uh to review those and make determination on how you won't proceed. So Rich,

so as Dave said, uh I was asked to prepare a moratorum for six months of future sewer connections, uh or increases of existing projects. Um by way of background, I think you need to kind of your first, you know, maiden voyage is the WPCA, know a little bit of maybe the lanes of where you're operating here. Um the you have to work and and you have to work collaboratively with the town in the sense of the plan of conservation and development. The plan of conservation and development is this is the the document that guides the location and the areas where sewers are to be expanded or maintained or avoided. Um that's under 8-23. Um 8-23G specifically talks about the those types of inclusions. It's a requirement that the that the plan of conservation and development include those kind of considerations. So you have to work collaboratively with the plan of conservation and development and your body as WPCA should guide that discussion in that development process. Uh your role as WPCA members is to create a water uh pollution control plan, a sewer plan that talks about those same topics and other topics as well. Um and that's under 7-U 246. So those are kind of your statutory guard rails of what you have the ability to do. I think this moratorum will give you the opportunity to take a breath and start to really understand what it is that you want to accomplish here. You can, you know, you're going to continue to have meetings as a WPCA. you're going to dive into those topics, take a look at the current facilities, its capacity, um, and what it's being used for today. You know, remembering that the WPCA, uh, the, um, the joint facilities agreement that you have with Colchester is a budget that you have to adopt in the next couple of months. I think it's June

or July 1st. I got to look again. Um, but you need to act on that pretty quickly. Um, rely on staff to get the information that you need there pretty quickly. And you know, you need time to to do all that. This six-month moratorium on new connections, um, I think is appropriate for you to consider because it'll give you the opportunity to take those things into consideration as you move forward with both the plan conservation and development and your uh your sewer and water water and sewer plan. Um, so that's what's laid out here. as it relates to kind of the pending applications, the the projects that you just heard about, I do think it's appropriate that you consider those as well during this moratorum period and and and address those concerns appropriately. There are two approvals that um Mr. Fury's client has, one on Aldens and one on Long Crossing, I think is the name. Um, you know, the Alden's one uh requires, I believe, the the sewer expansion to that two lot subdivision. The seven the 30 long crossing one was approved with a septic system design. So, I don't know that it's necessary for you to expand it there. Um, and so you need to to look at that and and look at that contract that was drafted and see if that's what you want to go forward with. Um so this moratorium will give you the opportunity to kind of take a breath take these things into consideration and and and move forward appropriately.

You know on those two um approvals if there's a contract what is needed from the WPCA if there's a signed contract both private parties. Sure. the WPCA enters into a a development agreement with developers that talks about who's responsible for constructing the sewer line, how that gets paid for, the schematics of it, the details of it, and that's the contract that I believe they're talking about. So, that's something that the WPCA has to review and and approve and finalize. So, it hasn't been approved. The contract, those two, I believe, have not been approved, right? Fine.

Not by the WPCA. They've been drafted. They've been moved around. Terms have been negotiated, but those terms may not be But there's no approved contract. That's correct.

With that being said, Rich, um we do have this November 12th, 2025 uh seven page submittal review status. I don't know what else to call it. Doesn't have a terminology. Uh it says we have reviewed. This is from the WPCA. We have reviewed the general sewer layout design of a blah blah blah for 30 long crossing long crossing road and eight aldens. Um and then it says under number one at this time the submitted plans satisfactory meet WPCA's requirements for the proposed sanitary sanitary sewer system layout that they're talking about. So this this is I don't know seven pages, eight pages, whatever it is, single space. Um it's got requirements that the um developer has to meet and uh the police department chimed in, the fire department chimed in.

Who else? Works chimed in. It's kind of thorough. Where does this then fit? So, it's my understanding that that's a design approval. That's the WPCA reviewing the design of the plan. It meets their technical specifications, but it's not necessarily the final WPCA approval of the development agreement. Doesn't have any finances in there. Doesn't speak to who's going to be financially responsible for the construction, the assessment, the things that are those are the things that would be in the contract you're talking about. Correct. Do do we have those available? Have they been prepared or do we

drafts of them? I I feel like I've sent them to the council before, but we have drafts of those. The near final drafts or at least as they were conceived. No, I don't think that's you know if you sent them then I missed them. But we should I would say I would I would say that we should probably take a look at this. I mean it's a lot of work that's been done. Obviously I agree. That's what I'm advising you. You should take a look at it. You should make sure that it complies with what your intentions are relatively to a sewer plan. Right. There's a sewer plan on the books. Yeah.

And you need to decide whether or not those development agreements comply with your your sore plan. Well, that would mean seeing the contracts, right? So, let's go. I would say, right? Correct. Yeah.

I don't think you need to make a decision on this moratorum tonight. I do think you need to kind of reconvene at the next regular WPCA ag regular agenda and and put it on the agenda for your action at that time.

Yeah. If I can follow up on that as well. Um, from what I tried to glean out of your guidance over the past couple months, uh, WPCA really is a bit different than P&Z as far as accepting applications for things. P&Z has to accept applications and work diligently to get it through following regulations. But from what I've heard you say in the past is that really WPCA may it can or or does not need to uh act on an application if someone puts puts it forward. Is that correct or not correct?

That's not correct. You do you do need to act on it. You don't have the specific statutory timelines within which to act. Um so you have to you do have to act on an application. Yes. Right. What in a certain period of time or I um I can get you chapter and verse on that. Okay. That's right. But you know if that's something you want me to give you a little bit of memo on process-wise. I

I guess what I'm trying to get at is this. Um and my initial feeling about this moratorum probably follows my feeling about this the ordinance to you know that we were discussing before. both of which I'm not I personally don't think it's in the interest of our town or the WPCA to u to go along with it quite frankly. And why is that? That's because you know the stars have aligned here in East Hampton um in in a certain way that we can make we can make a really good decision about sewer expansion in this town. In my view, we got a POC that's coming to fruition. We've got virtually a a new WPCA with a new viewpoint, an understanding of what the town wants and what it's looking for. Uh with also with an understanding that the WPCA serves not just people who may not want sewer expansion, but those who currently are being served as well. and those who for 100 feet could hook up if they want to and would otherwise be prohibited under that ordinance we were looking at. I'm reluctant at this point personally to really start giving away or adjusting the power of any board at this point in time until we can sit down work with the WP work through the POC. Understand currently what the plan is to pursue extension because I we know there is one right wrong or indifferent. Take a look at it. see what that has to say and come up with something that that

really brings all of these entities together in their thought plan and their thoughts because again on the WPCA or on the council you know we really don't have we the luxury of saying this is what I want when I want it. We have to take into account everybody in town and what their feelings are. Those who are on the system who are not on the system, those who might want to be and not just now but into the future. So again, I'm reluctant to put at this point in time any restrictions on what we can do. I I don't disagree with what you're saying and I think that's the intention of this moratorum. If you if you read the kind of the purposes.

Yeah.

All right. It's and I I'll recite them real quickly so that everybody can understand it. You know, the idea here is that it's in the best interest of the town for you as it does in PCA. So, number one, undertake a review of the facility that you have here. determine if its design and treatment capacity is currently being utilized is is appropriate and take into consideration the intermunicipal agreement that you have with other towns that deposit their sewage here including Colchester um and whether or not it that can currently adequately be managed by its current design. That's number one, review the existing capacity. Number two, determine if future increases as anticipated could result in adverse treatment both in terms of its capacity or under your deep permit uh and make sure you don't exceed any permitted allowances. And number three, coordinate a review of not only the facility but the intermunicipal agreement. You know, that agreement was from the '9s, had a 20-year shelf life. I don't know that it's been continued um and guide and and align with the new plan of conservation and development with the town. So those are the ideas of why the moratorum would give you that opportunity and that breathing room to do all that what what what you just said uh as well doesn't have to be 6 months could be three it's a little short right

and a year is too long right so you know it's about right my opinion if I understand where we are in the PC the um the sewer part of the POC is not done right is that I I mean, I'm pretty sure that's true. Um, it's not and it would uh WPCA would have a major part. I think we're not feeling we know what it should be. Even if it were done, it hasn't been blessed and completed yet. And they would always be open, it would seem to me, yeah,

to what uh the WPCA itself thinks. So they that could always be changed. So again, I think we have an opportunity to to do this right for East Tampa. In my view, we're all coming together now. I think we have a good idea where people in general would like us to go and I think um again marrying that with our responsibility to serve everyone in town. I think we can come up with something good. But let's let's work on it that way. And just one last follow-up question. So the moratorum would not affect anything in the pipeline i.e. applications that have already been uh submitted. Is that correct or not?

As I drafted it, it would affect anything that's pending. Okay. So I think we may want to we may want to reconsider that and look at that in light of Mr. Furious client and in the pending applications that you have there. Yeah, seems like those are the only two that I'm aware of. I don't know if there's others, but we might we may want to take a look at what's pending and address that at your next meeting. Okay. I hear what you're saying because, you know, people will put work into these these plans. I think it's only fair to uh to give it to run it out

to run it out. And I think you need to have a hand in understanding what those projects are and whether or not they meet your expectations in terms of the plan of sew.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. any other question. So I just wanted to make a statement before the next item on the agenda. Um, so as we take over the temporary role as WPCA, I'd like to emphasize that the existing operations are crucial, require considerable expertise and knowhow, and are supported by this group. We would like the personnel who keep our systems running to know that we will do what is necessary to keep the system running and support and value their work. Um, so I guess so in meetings of the WPCA, Dave, who beyond the WPCA members, who is in attendance? uh us well it's been the well certainly the the secretary from the wastewater plant handles the minutes but the PU the public utilities administrator and the superintendent uh from uh the wastewater plant have always both been in attendance as well

okay I don't think we want to change any of that right I don't think so the the current schedule for the WPCA has them meeting on the first Tuesday of the month. Um, at the WPCA, at the plant, uh, the council could certainly retain that. The council as the WPCA could certainly retain that schedule. I would encourage you to do your meetings here. I've been encouraging WPCA to do that. I think it's a better meeting space. Um, yes, in general, especially when they have public attendance. Absolutely.

But their meetings have been published as the first Monday or rather the first Tuesday of the month. I'm um so it's already published like May 5th. Well, right, their calendar was approved as the normal sequence that everybody does around the end of around the beginning of the year, end of last year, their calendar of meetings was approved and they scheduled those uh for the first Tuesday of the month. would soon be like to make a motion says about I believe they're at six o'clock

but but listed as being at the WPCA. So if the council wants to amend that to change the location or change the time have our meetings here in the council chambers on the first Tuesday of the month you time published was 6

6 o'lock six. So the only thing that would change is the location to the dunk from the town hall. So like a second second discussion. All those in favor? Those car She's

Are we having any future discuss any other discussion about the proposed ordinance? Um, it's a special meeting so you can't amend it this particular agenda. Okay. Okay. So that would have to be on the So that would be on your regular.

Okay. which is quickly right it's actually next week right May 5th 5th 6:00 here has tacos okay meeting of the WPCA is adjourned I didn't mean to put my 30 minutes.