Town Council - Regular Meeting

I'll release the pledge. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Moment of silence for the men and women in the armed forces. Our first responders. Those fighting the good fight in Ukraine, those suffering from the military conflict in the Middle East, and also a special memorial as I found out that a former vice chairman, or former chairman of our board of finance, Mr. George McLaughlin, he passed away in December about a year and a half ago, but may his memory be eternal also. Thank you. I hope you've seen the American Creed.

Certainly. So, America's Creed by William Tyler Page.

I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived in a republic, a sovereign nation of many sovereign states, a perfect union, one and inseparable, established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, and to respect its

Diane, do we have anybody for public comment? Okay.

All right, Katie? One minute here, I'm telling you. Okay, so let's move to item five, our consent agenda. Prior minutes and task letter. Collector, I move the items five A and B be accepted.

And we have a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Any abstentions? Thank you.

Tax collector, I'm sorry, Mayor's comments. Thank you.

And first, I'd like to, the youth agency will not be here tonight. But I do want to give special recognition. We will be handing out certificates to them. They're going to have their own meeting as they couldn't make it tonight. But for the minutes, I'd like to thank Amanda Patrell-Espinal, Amanda Romano-Garza, Cara Fergus, Brooke DeMog, Chloe DeSimato, Dominic Hudick, Julie Brackett Brick, Kristen Rogge, Lourdes Lydia, Mason DeMora, Peyton Jadu, Nella Brabrek, Sarah Varghese, and Sarah DaSilva for their time as student advisory board. An absolute thank you to them as a lot of them came up and presented to us. And a big thank you to them as well. As far as mayor's comments, a big thank you. We had our two Memorial Day parades we were able to have yesterday. The first one, Gaylorsville. So big thank you to Chief Williamson and the entire Gaylordsville Fire Department. A big thank you also to Chief Ceruto and the Milford Police Department as they did the traffic control. Northville Fire, Waterwich Fire, the Milford Ambulance, the Veterans Honor Guard for the a gun salute state representative bumpy state representative callahan for marching the parade as well and thank you to those that were out on the parade route uh as we uh honored in gaylidgeville though to pay the ultimate sacrifice Big huge thank you for the Downtown Memorial Day Parade to American Legion Commander Jim Delancey and VFW Commander Mayer for their efforts in the Downtown Memorial Day Parade. Big thank you to the Milford High School Chorus for their beautiful rendition of the National Anthem and Tina Oviatt for her moving rendition of America the Beautiful. That was awesome to start it off. Thank you to retired U.S. Marine Warren Hengel as he did our U.S. flag presentation. And I wanted to thank Senator Hardin, Representative Buckbeak, Chief Ceruto for their continued support as they walked in, we all walked in the parade route, as well as our National Guard troops and veterans that were also marching in the parade. I want to thank Boy Scouts, the Veteran, and the Milford Fire Honor Guards for proudly holding the red, white, and blue. I also want to thank our first responders, including our fire and ambulance chiefs, our CERT team, parade attendees, which included our New Milford High School Marching Band and our Scatticoke Marching Band, our New Milford Cadets, Scouts, Lions Club, Knights of Columbus, Litchfield County, Irish American Club, the Masonic Lodge, numerous sports teams, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and many, many more. It was great to see all of those wonderful parade attendees. I want to give a big thank you to Pat Hembrook and Katie Johnson from my office, as they pretty much did most of the coordinating of the parade, along with VFW Auxiliary President Kathy Mayer. Also, our New Milford Police Department Deputy Chief Will Coxon, who got us a flyover, but due to the cloud uh a low canopy of cloud cover we could not have the flyover but also want to thank the police department for providing a traffic control along the parade route Big huge thank you to Cathy Berenger and the entire Garden Club for the poppy display that you see out on the southern green and that's to honor the following U.S. servicemen and servicewomen. Also when you go down to the triangle off to your left where the Milford sign is you see a wonderful display saying 1776 and that is the Garden Club too as well as all the all of our gardens that we have whether they be the mayor's one in the front the tax collector one here on the side town clerk and then the numerous ones all throughout the town just amazing work by the garden club and thank you diana i know you're part of that garden club as well also big thank you as you see out here in the front our public works team as they painted the red white and blue cross walk for memorial day it's a big thank you to them also we had work done at the triangle and the roundabout getting prepared for the summer And also for those that may be watching tonight, if you do come into the downtown, take a look at the lampposts. We have our 2026 New Milford grads up on the lamppost. A big thank you to the Grad Party Committee and all the sponsors for those wonderful banners. I also want to thank the Daughters of the American Revolution for Revolutionary War Heroes that are also on the lampposts. So a big, huge thank you. congratulations to the milford high school boys volleyball team the program qualified for the swcs for the first time in program history so great job to them i also want to mention that uh fellow councilman uh rolando is not here tonight as he is uh part of the new milford high school girls softball team they are in the playoffs I believe they're ranked number two in the state, so congratulations to them. And I think they're playing right now, so we wish them well, and hopefully we get some updates on the score. I want to also congratulate Ella and Gabriella. They are gymnasts at New Milford Elite Gymnastics here in New Milford. They performed at the Regional Championships Diamond. Ella is the bar champion and Gabriella placed seventh in the vault and eighth in the beam. A big thank you to Faith Prep second grade teacher, Ms. Soloski, and Principal Nicole Santora-Joseph. They allowed me to visit the second grade class. That's great. They know lots of stuff, I can tell you already. They know the president, the vice president. They know our members in the federal as well as state legislatures. And it was great listening to them and we're talking about how local government and the community help one another. So great, congratulations. Also congratulations to the Canterbury Saints as they are the WNEPBL baseball champions as they won 7-5 over Cheshire Academy. Some things as we've begun our infrastructure projects are Cornwall Drive. Our contractor continues replacing stormwater catch basins to the new road elevation. And then once that's completed, we'll begin the binder course. And then after the binder course, we'll put on the top course. Also, we are doing River Road, a drainage project on that, as there's some areas due to low elevation caused water to really go on to some of our homeowner's property. So Jack and team is doing a drainage project there. Lanesville Fire Department renovation project, the contractor has installed siding along the southern wall of the addition. and placed in compacted process materials for the base for the new blacktop that will be installed. The subcontractor there was prepping the floor for installation of the actual tiles that will be going down. Our Brookside Bridge renovation project is beginning. The contractor installed the debris shield over the river and laid out saw cuts for the removal of the old bridge deck on Brookside. And we have New Milford. I spoke with Chief Ceruto today. And we have our statistics when it comes to, let me get it here, our traffic that we just had. I thought I had them with me. Apparently I do not. So I'm going to move away from that. Events that we have going on in town starting this coming week. We have our rock to block, which will be Thursday night. That starts at 6.30 here. The band is 100 Proof. A big thank you to our merchants and to the Bank Street Group, Gary Goldring for that, and the merchants that are downtown. Also starting at 5 p.m. on Thursday is Kimberly Farm is doing their Cruise Night, which will have music, food, and cars. Lawyers in the Library is also going to be on Thursday, 5.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. at the library. and this is lawyers pro bono give out 20-minute sessions for questions concerning what may be some of your questions when it comes to the law and legality again a big thank you to the lawyers that are doing this pro bono you can go to the library website and you can reserve your 20-minute session Also, May 30th, we're having our Farmer's Market Music on the Bandstand. We'll be by Don Lowe, and that starts at 10 a.m. to noon. The Farmer's Market is 9 a.m. to noon. Also, Oddfellows is doing a roast beef sandwich sale. That starts at 11 until they sell out, and that's pretty quick. So if you'd like to get a roast beef sandwich and help support Odd Fellows Lodge, that starts at 11 a.m. Also on the 30th, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the New Milford Ambulance Barn. The New Milford Ambulance presents a wellness fair fundraiser event. Also on the 30th, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the town green is the Milford Garden Clubs doing their spring plant sale. Lots of great plants there. Those proceeds go to help the garden club who does wonderful work here for the town. Also on the 30th and the 31st, starting on the 30th at 10 a.m., And then going to 10 a.m. on the 31st, the Boy Scouts Troop 158 is doing camping for cans right here on the green. And this is a fundraiser, or you can bring non-perishable cans, and that will go to support loaves and fishes. May 31st, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pettibone is Don Clady's doing his Cruising New Milford Car Show. He has lots of cars, bikes, trucks, all sorts of great things for car and truck and motorcycle enthusiasts. Come on down and see those. June 5th, the registration is 8.30 a.m. The tee-off is 10 a.m. at Candlewood Valley Country Club. is the harry brook open golf tournament i believe there's still some opportunity to reserve a spot there the milford senior center on june 5th from 4 p.m to 7 30 p.m is doing paint and sip it's limited so please reach out to the milford senior center to reserve your ticket there june 6 11 a.m to 3 p.m on town green is in the milford women's club's 29th annual teddy bear festival So get down there, especially with your young ones. There's a teddy bear hospital too for those teddy bears that need a little bit of tender loving care to them. June 6th at 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at New Milford High School is the third annual grad party car show. Proceeds to that go to help the grad party. And for those that don't know, the grad party is the one that provides the safe party at the high school the night of graduation to provide a safe event for our graduates. And I know there is a lot of money that will be portioned out to those seniors. So a big, huge thank you to everybody raising funds for that. The Milford Library is doing on the 12th a presentation of Thomas Edison's A Life of Invention. Farmer's Market's on June 13th, 9 a.m. to noon. And then Music's by Denmark Jams. That's from 10 to noon on the bandstand. The library on June 13th, again on Saturday, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. is doing John Celo. He explores the historical accounts of the Liberty Bell. He is a wonderful historian out of Sherman, and he will give a great account of the Liberty Bell. We're doing our town-wide tag sale. That's going to be on June 13th. That'll be throughout the town and also at Pettibone, so stay tuned for that. June 13th, second Saturday stars. And that's up the observatory 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Go down. We have two now telescopes. We have one that you can use and then there's one that's actually done by automation. And we also have the June 14th, 3.30 p.m. at Center Cemetery is the SAR Grave Markings and DAR Patriot Recognition for our patriots celebrating again part of our America 250. The next Rock the Block is on June 18th at 6.30 p.m. Anchor Management will be performing. Forgot on June 13th, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Pet Thrift Shop, and that's at Animal Welfare to help out. And then on June 27th, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Commission of the Arts is doing their Outdoor Arts Festival. So lots of great things happening in town. That's for sure. And I'd like to also read a proclamation and this is on May 17th to May 23rd and I know that's already we're already behind we're already past that but town council was not in session at that time so to speak having a meeting and that was National Public Works Week. so whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure facilities and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and the public health high quality of life and well-being of the people of new milford connecticut and whereas these infrastructures facilities and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers managers employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens. And whereas it is the public interest for our citizens, civic leaders, and children in New Milford, Connecticut to gain knowledge and maintain ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works, and public works programs in their respective communities. And whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week, sponsored by the American Public Works Association and the Canadian Public Works Association, Be it now resolved, I, Pete Bass, Mayor of the Town of New Milford, to hereby designate the week of May 17th through the 23rd, 2026, as National Public Works Week, and I urge all citizens to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association, the government agencies, and activities, events, and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, employees who recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health, safety, and quality of life. I, in witness thereof, I have set my hand and caused the seal of the state down in New Milford this 23rd day of May 2026. And I believe this is something that we need to thank each and every week for what they do because we use their services each and every day. Jack, I'd like to give this to you. and for our DPW team, and thank you guys for the great job that you guys do for our town.

Thank you. Thank you.

Let's get a photo. Okay. If you're going to do it, let's do it right now. Okay. Love shot.

Okay, so first of all... Oh, thank you.

Look at me.

I want a nice big smile.

Thank you both. Thank you, Jack.

Appreciate it very much. Thank you. Thank you. Good job.

And to give an update to the council also, we had our budget vote that was done this year on a Saturday. The budget did pass. The voter registrars came to the town council and suggested, as on average our voting attendance had been about 11.3%, so we all wanted to give the opportunity to try a new day. to see if we could get additional people to come out and vote. This particular vote was less than the 11.3. It was about 9.6%, I believe Chris had said. A lot of different conjectures of what it could be. Could it be just it was on a Saturday? There's lots of events going on that Saturday. You had a GOAT Days. You had the prom. You had all sorts of other things that people are very busy on a Saturday. um just for the council's edification because of the way our charter is and dates that are required it makes it very difficult for a Saturday if we were to continue with that it would be the same Saturday you would still have these same events going on the same Saturday my recommendation to make to the council is we tried it

would suggest we go back to the Tuesday that has been there forever in a day and continue to try and create the awareness to drive the vote to the Tuesday I just have one comment that because of what I heard from people and not everybody liked it two things it didn't start in the early morning as we do on our Tuesdays and that threw some people off who were going out to do whatever they do on Saturdays the other was the notification of it now I know we talked about it I know that a lot of people knew about it but there were people who had no idea now I realize that sounds a little strange to those of us that are always involved but I don't know that could have had part of it I just think one is personally I think one time I isn't a test, that's all. Because a lot of towns around us, as I told you, Newtown, Southbury, and who else, Brookfield, they do it, and Sherman, they have been doing it on a Saturday for a long time. But I do agree that there's a problem because of the timing that we have to have. That that's always going to be the beginning of a season of things starting to happen in town, as was then, goat days. So, you know, it's... Prombs.

yeah yes that's the truth i would just like to second everything that katie said i heard both of those complaints myself talking to people both the timing of it because some people wanted to go vote before goat days began some people start their days very early and so i've had some neighbors and family friends come up and address that as well So I think I would agree that one try is not the end-all be-all of Saturdays. You know, there's some experimentation that needs to be had.

All right.

We couldn't advertise the exact date until we had voted on it. We had sort of publicized that it was going to be on a Saturday, but we couldn't say which Saturday. Would it be possible to vote earlier so that there's more lead time to promote it in the future? Did the vote have to take place on that occasion, or could we have voted earlier? which like in the hours you mean no no sorry i mean when town council voted to approve of that particular saturday it was like a week before that saturday or something and if if we could have asked town council voted earlier i think the issue that when you're talking about timing is we have to make sure that

the budgets pass because you have to warn that budget in the paper and the paper now gives us specific times as to when we have to publish it so it's at yeah so it's these times that really cause it to where it folds into like this one saturday and you want to give yourself time in case one or both budgets fail. Because what happens is then you have to go back. Board of Finance has to adjust the budget. You have to replace it in the paper. And you don't want to make it to where your second budget now is after July, and then you have a... Makes sense.

Yeah. And there's still absentee ballots. You know, if you've got to be someplace because it's Saturday. Mary Jane?

I have to say I was surprised that the voter turnout was so low. It was disappointing. A couple of things. I don't think the signs were big enough. Maybe they had bigger signs somewhere else, but like in Northville going up to Skattacoke, it was this very small sign that said voting. And you know what? I had to keep reminding myself, like, you got to go vote.

You got to get out of here.

Yeah, because it's a habit. I will say that the nice signs. I almost forgot to tell you the truth.

Big signs. Mary Jane, I know I did speak with Mike that we are going to get much larger signs that we're going to put out. more of those. We use the electronic signs. I think we could probably put those out a little bit earlier, but we did have some road projects that we had to push those electronic signs out as well. And just trying to get more of the awareness out, whether it be on the Saturday, if that's going to be the choice, or go back to the Tuesdays. And I think that's something that You know, maybe I'll ask Chris and Sandro to come back, and then the council can kind of give the input as to if you want to give it another try being a Saturday and how you do that. Is it opening at 6 or go back to the Tuesday?

I think the other problem is it's the only vote that's going to take place on a Saturday. Everything else will be back to Tuesday.

That's right. Correct.

So I think people just are probably confused.

Yep. But if we did it again, yeah.

I have to say this. I mean, the sign said vote, and we did have the date in a lot of places. But when you drive through the other towns, you see white backgrounds with red or red with white and vote. And they were there for a while. So I think if we try it, we learned from that. I think the early time, though, is important. And stressing absentee ballots, right?

Okay, so I'll ask Chris, maybe we'll have them come in in August and kind of get more of a briefing from them as well, and then give them when we want to do that, whether keep it on a Saturday or move it back to Tuesday.

The newspaper does present a bit of an issue there because of the time it takes for all of that to be printed. And then again, you know, after Board of Finance... But we got to do what we got to do.

Next is the pension update. And Mr. Pilla is the pension committee chairman. And I'd like for him to come up and give the town council and the public an update on our pension.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the council, staff and members of the public. Tommy Pilla, chairman of the pension committee. It's been over 25 years. that have had the honor to serve on the pension committee. The committee also has great members, Walter O'Connor, Walter Baer, and Dave Lawson, as well as all the other former members who are very dedicated. Baer, I want to thank you for attending various pension committee meetings. Your financial acumen has been very helpful to the committee. The town's finance director, Olga Melnikov, The plans administrator does a great job. The HR director, Greg Bolero and Diane Cunningham also do a great job in maintaining the personal status of the pension plan. The investment advisors, principal financial and angel pension since 2014. Prior to that was John Hancock. The committee interviewed eight or 10 advisors and chose principal financial and angel pension. The committee's May 8th, 2026 meeting principal financial and angel pension presented the asset which rose from an unprecedented to an unprecedented $87.6 million. On July 1, 2025, the plan assets were 82.9 million. May 8th of 2026, less than one year, it grew to 87.6. It's four plus million over 80 million, 120th, 5%. A little more than 5% growth. Pension started in 1963 for the town of Milford. The Pension Committee started in 1999. There are 831 members in the plan, including sewer and BOE, except teachers. They're certified with the state. There are 372 currently employed. 115 deferred members, which they will be eligible at a later date, and 344 retired members collecting pensions. The fine benefit plan. The town on July 1, 2022, went to a 401 plan for new hires, except police and dispatch. 5% contribution from the town, 2% from the employee, but you don't have to stay 10 years to be vested. The Pension Committee is also trustees of the OPEB Trust, the acronym OPEB, O-P-E-B, Other Post-Employment Benefit, which is police medical. So when they retire, they have medical until age 65. The committee over the years has done a lot of work to give this a solid foundation to protect not only the town, the taxpayers, but the employees. that they have a pension plan when they retire, that they deserve. The committee, along with the finance director and the HR directors, a lot of time involved in tracking all the names. Because, you know, people retire and they move on and they move to another state. How do you keep track of what goes on in their life? So every year, there's a letter sent. Because, like I've said in the past, who knows what the laws are in other states in the country.

The letter that's sent asks the person to reply back? Yes.

So if they're alive. Yes. It's very important to do that. Yeah. Because they used to rely on Social Security. The security stopped and that could be 6 months after someone passed. Who knows when they found out? We go beyond that. We do a forensic. So I have to present this to you tonight. It's unprecedented. The asset in this plan. Yes, and hoping in the next budget cycle, because we'll we go to the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2026, which will get the update in October from the actuaries. of who's still on the plan, who unfortunately passed away, or if it went to, could be whole life or it could be joint, went to a spouse. We get all that information. And like I said, the finance director and the HR director, their office does a great job tracking, very important. Because I'm hoping as we go forward, that we can reduce the ARC, the annual recommended contribution, which takes a little pressure off the budgets.

Yeah.

Mr. Mayor, that's the whole plan. Awesome. I want to thank everyone for their support. Thank you.

Thank you. I don't know any other town that could say they had such a prosperous...

The committee's done a great job.

Yeah, it's amazing.

Well done.

thank you thank you Tommy thank you to you and the committee outstanding work thank you

Item number eight, I'd like to move that we appoint Mike Crespin to the Commission on Aging. That would be for a term of May 26th, 2026 through January 31st of 2030. Second.

Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Any abstentions? Thank you.

Item 9, Parks and Rec. I'd like to motion that we approve that Parks and Rec be allowed to accept the following donations. These are for the 8 Mile and 5K Road Race. They are requesting that the monetary donations be deposited in the Recreation Gift Fund, and that account number is 335-1000. five nine nine zero two and that would be five hundred dollars from o and g industries seven hundred and fifty dollars from living stones five hundred dollars from mountain high and 250 from candlewood animal hospital those second second any discussion all those in favor aye opposed any abstentions thank you okay finance olga

Good evening members of the town council and members of the public. I'm here to present our financial report as of April 2026, which is 10 months into the fiscal year. So starting with the revenue, so far we are continuing our positive trend towards achieving most of our budgetary targets. A couple of departments already exceeding their budgetary limits, I guess, such as building department, land use, town clerk is approaching The target, they are a little bit behind in timing, so so far we're not seeing any concerns. Interest rates are where we want them to be. They are below 4%. We are collecting less on interest income than prior year, but we are still in a sound position to meet and even achieve our budgets. So that overall is a very positive trend. Tax collections are at 99.7%. We just have a little bit to go to meet the 100% target across all categories. Again, there are different collections, current taxes, prior taxes. interest in liens but as a category overall we are getting very close to achieving the target so overall no concerns the state revenue is coming in as scheduled and we're almost at the very end of the fiscal year so if you have any questions I can take those Moving on to the expenditure. Again, we're just wrapping up fiscal year. The communication was sent out to the departments to focus on the year-end wrap-up. There is a deadline to monitor their accounts and submit final requisitions and purchase orders, so that would help us to kind of foresee where we might end up as we are heavily focusing on the year-end position and results of our operations, but it is still too early to say. So far, everyone is staying within their targets. As you can see, no pending requests or no transfer requests have been submitted to the town council, so that is always a good sign. So, so far, we're moving forward. And the future plan, so currently audit procedures have started already. We are in communication and fiscal year 26 oversight is going on. So we're focusing on that. There's something else.

Revenue?

And for next month, that one we will be presenting to the town council our year-end adjustments. So that will be, you know, kind of, we'll have an idea what action is needed at that time to wrap up the fiscal year.

Good. Positive then, huh? Good. Any questions? No.

Thank you. The mayor will be right back about the... just has step away and that's the first light he has that and he's got the economic development and i'm just going to sit here wait for him as we will twiddle our thumbs yes i know isn't that nice

No. No.

I apologize. I forgot my economic development report. I thought so.

All right, so we have finance is a positive thing. So follow up with that.

Okay. Your grant right. So state of Connecticut, current unemployment rate is at 5.2%. In New Milford, workforce is 15,014. Employees 14,232. That leaves unemployed at 782 people. We hope that no one that wants to work and has an opportunity to do so can. But we are at 5.2%, the same as the state of Connecticut. Nip and Garbage Pickup, three veterans, done an outstanding job. And this is money that the wholesalers collect on those small nip bottles. and they're given to towns a lot of towns put it into their operating account but thank you to the town council we kind of segmented those dollars for making sure our roadways are cleared also for people that can't afford getting furniture or refrigerators out of their homes there's an opportunity to apply for funding to do so so they're not stuck on the roadways or thrown into the rivers courses so uh three veterans went to judge bridge walker brook road north south washington ridge hawthorne lane Weathervane Drive, they picked up 55 pounds of garbage. 16 nip bottles, 33 redeemables. They also went to Brown's Forge, Front of the Mountain, Indian Trail, Gaffney Road, Mud Pond Road, Sand Road, Grandview Lane, North Valley Road, Hine Road, Northern View Drive, Bass Road, Bayberry Lane, Old Stage Coach Road, Station Road. There they picked up 60 pounds of garbage, 37 nip bottles, and 18 redeemables. They then went to Avery Circle, Avery Road, Gold Buying Road, Good Hill Road, Highview Road, Mountain View, Mountain View Terrace, Mountain View Avenue, Mountain Laurel, Howland, Old Park Lane, Taylor Terrace, Hip Road, Palomino Drive, Mayor Lane, and Rolling Glen Drive. There they picked up 111 pounds of garbage, 245 nip bottles, 98 redeemables. As we continue to tell our public, Please keep your garbage, your bottles, and your vehicles. Please dispose them properly when you reach your destination. Throwing out cans and garbage not only looks bad, but it's extremely horrible for the environment and the animals that use these areas for their habitats. Also, I stopped last Thursday to the chamber. They did their business scene, which was at Lucia's. And if you're an owner of a business or if you're a decision maker, these chamber business scenes are a great place to network. See if you can get additional business, learn from your peers. And again, they do these one Thursday a month and it's a different location. So stay tuned to their website or the economic development page for more information. Mama's Tacos right across the street here is now open again. So congratulations to her and her team. It's great to see it open and thriving. So a big huge congratulations. The inside is beautiful. It was all redone due to the fire. lot of room they're open Mondays and Tuesdays Thursdays till 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays till 9 p.m. Sundays till 7 p.m. and they're closed on Mondays they're also now going to do a Saturday and Sunday brunch 9 a.m. to noon time as well. So big congratulations to them. Update on Goat Days, very successful. They're the first event that we have. It was very well attended. Also within Goat Days was the Moonlight 5K run. that the OSPI Foundation runs. There's over 500 runners there this year, which is kind of what it used to be years ago. So big congratulations to them. Also, congratulations to Boardman Butcher, who's on Kent Road Route 7, as they had their two year anniversary. So big congratulations to that wonderful business. And a big congratulations to Allison and her mom, Cynthia, as they had the Youth Arts and Flavors Festival. This was at the Silo. What this was is 35 young entrepreneurs brought their products and businesses to network and to sell. It was great to see all these young business owners, so to speak, and entrepreneurs there. Big, huge congratulations. They're going to be doing more of these it was great to just see uh really inspired by these young entrepreneurs and their passion for their projects i thought it was great i want to thank e garrett water solutions is they had their grand opening at their new headquarters on 48 still river drive it's great to see the company grow and they consider new milford now their home katie thank you for you uh for coming there also diane thank you for attending Chief Ceruto was there as well for the grand opening. Also, a big congratulations to Alice Souza and Daniela Ramos on opening their new business, which is Clear Service Multiservice. They're located in the Executive Center, so that's kind of that strip plaza. It's right after Stop and Shop, and it's a new business, and what they do, they do DMV services, so you don't have to go to DMV anymore. They do car registrations and renewals, tickets and compliance, dispatch services, business formations, and more. So you can check them out. So a big congratulations to them. And outstanding. Farmer's Market is now open. So this was their second week. They're 9 a.m. to 12 noon. And it's great to see our regional... uh farmers we have uh pies you have food you have bread you have flowers you have all sorts of great stuff there and in the pouring nine a.m to two in the pouring rain there were tons of people there just goes to show you how many elephants trunk is open they were closed sunday you know this is weather dependent there uh and a big regional uh hub people come from all over at least the northeast and more to go to this we're also trying to get them to go to the milford antique trail which is other businesses where they can find their treasures And I wanted to give a big thank you to Brian Wilson. He's the director of the state's parks division of DEEP. Lori Paradis-Brandt, she's the Connecticut State Parks Assistant Director of Education. Chuck Kilson and Darlene Kasich, they are of the Skaticope tribal nation. Gabriel Benjamin of the Institute of American Studies, Julie Stewart of the town in Bridgewater. She's a historian. State Representative Jason Buchbaum of 69th. We're all here at Town Hall discussing the next steps in process of honoring Skattakos Chief Wormog, who had his monument up on Lover's Leap. So we're working on reinstalling that monument, which is a state park. So right now we're working on providing additional awareness and education opportunities as the state wants to see as we continue to move on to really describing what the monument would be, which is why Chuck Kilson and Darlene were here to give the input of the Skaticoke Tribe. So I'll be updating the council as we're moving more forward for that. Also, New Milford native, he grew up here, went to school here, Jackson Olsen. He is also with the Savannah Bananas, which is a huge baseball event. He is on Dancing with the Stars. He can dance. Big show on ABC, so congratulations to him.

He's a great dancer.

and uh at the next town council meeting i'll be bringing up new milford now we've pretty much refreshed that whole website which is great and part of that where you can go to the drop down and you can see the new milford antique trail that's going on and also continue to get more people to opt in to notify new milford for real time updates yes And that's pretty much what I have.

Item 11, you wanted to remove? Yep.

So there's different items on here. There's one on a grant and then there's also the negotiations for the dispatchers. Unfortunately, the agendas that went out did not go out to you, Ari, and did not go out to you, Zach, the update. The drop down that Pat and the new Katie that's replacing Pat had the old names on there. So it wouldn't be proper nor right to have that. So I've taken those off, which is why Senior Packet, the Wednesday agenda, we'll add those to the next town council agenda so that everybody sees those. If you'd like to see the contract, you can see Greg Bolero. We can't distribute that publicly or put it out because they haven't been ratified yet. But you can, the council, go and talk to Greg and review them if you have any questions on that. Mary Jane. any update on what's going on with the east street with the school yep so we had a uh the contractor who came before us he was working out his pro forma to make sure that if he's going to do that project that it actually uh comes out economically because the town is not putting any money into the project that was the goal all along with this so he wants to make sure by doing this project that the numbers match out hopefully in the next two weeks he's going to prove or bring us the numbers to that i can bring to the council to make sure if we go forward, because the townspeople will have to vote on this, because it is town property, to make sure that something like this does come economically, it's a viable solution for that. So that's where we are with that. Lastly, which we'll be putting up on the website is two more things. I received correspondence from Eversource. Eversource is asking for an 11% increase in their rates. So they had given the town some information, which we'll be putting online, why they feel they've justified in an 11% increase.

Yeah, let's have them come tell us about it.

I'll also be posting on our website is Aquarian Water is also asking for rate increases. They're going to be holding a public hearing at the library so that the public can give input. On that increase, and I'll have more information on making sure I got to talk with Kathy to make sure that date has been verified and we'll be posting that as well. These are 2 utilities that we all well, those are on water. Those that have wells aren't but those that do have a query in water. They're asking for rate increase, and we all use Eversource here in New Milford for their rate increase. I did ask them back if they could be like Aquarium Water, which was part of them. Now they're being spun off to an independent, smaller agency for them to come before us, whether it even be at a town council meeting, and talk to us why they want to raise the rates on our public 11%.

It's not a good time to do that. People can't afford as it is.

Any questions? Okay. I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second. All those in favor? Aye. Thank you, everybody. Thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you.

Thank you.