Town Council - Special Meeting

All right. And then up. So, we'll call this meeting to order. Comment. It's a special meeting because we're starting at 6 here in the community room of town hall. It is September 2nd, 2025. Uh, fire exit notifications out the back. Take a left through the doors. Take a right into the parking lot. If we could all please stand for the pledge.

Thank you. Thank you. Uh may God bless the town of Plymouth and may God bless the United States of America. Uh item five, public comment. So on item five and six, public comment. Uh if you are have questions on item seven, which is the state DOT project, we are going to do a special Q&A with the representatives from combat. uh directly following their presentation. So I would ask that we just hold questions on that project uh to that agenda item item seven. Um so with that, is there any public comment on a non-aggenda item? You'll have to come up to the front here. Yes, Melanie, come on up right to the microphone here. Sorry, our backs turned, but we had to get the presentation right. You can stand in front of the mic here in the council if you'd like. Melanie Church, 328 Main Street. I learned that we have a tractor sitting with the board of who I believe two years ago got rid of outdoor maintenance. Now we've gotten rid of janitors and it's still sitting there. a brand new tractor which we could use for a p for parks and wreck. You know, this is the idea is not these people keep things when they don't need them. They're paid for by the tax collector or by the taxpayers here in this town. Now to me that should be turned over not wait for another five years.

That is something that we could use and we need. We have a lot of areas in town where we are keeping up. Now to keep that a secret for two years is deplorable. Now another point I want to bring up to you. They turned around and they voted after the budget was done and they got rid of janitors and gave themselves a raise. That is a slap in the face to every taxpayer. When you do a budget, this stuff should be presented, not voted on afterwards in an executive sessions. These are important issues that need to be taken up. That 600,000 that was taken for North Main Street Bridge was turned around 12 years ago. And then I find out other money had been taken out of it too. It the charter is very clear. What is in the budget that's what we use. Anything over that is a special appropriation. If it's over a hund,000, it goes to referendum. We have no transparency and we have no rights anymore. We deserve those rights. Read your charter. Go to the finance and read it. And under finance, that's how we vote on. Not just they take money and they blow it anywhere. You're forgetting us, the taxpayers. We're the ones that are that you're spending our money. And the same thing goes with the police uh extra duty fund. We are getting no revenue. In fact, we're in violation of

the charter because we have a bunch of ordinances that we're supposed to be charging for. The only one we're doing to wrap it up. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. [Music] Any other public comment on non-aggenda item? Okay, seeing none, public comment on an agenda item. Okay, seeing none, we'll go right on to uh item seven, state of Connecticut, Department of Transportation, Route 6 Ay Avenue presentation. Uh Jared Hendrickson is here from Honda. Uh Jared, if you'd like to come up, um introduce your team and uh the floor is yours. Thank you for coming tonight. And if the council would like to uh go down and have a seat to watch this presentation, I would certainly encourage you to do that. Thank you. Uh I'm not sure if that's

Jamie. Your presentation is not going to be up there, right? Small. Okay. So, it's up to you next what you want to do.

It is, but it's your choice. Whatever you guys want to do. I'll go. All right. Good evening everyone and welcome to the presentation on state project number 110 136.

Yeah, here's the mic. Can you hear me now? No. Testing. Testing. Okay. Good evening everyone and welcome to the presentation on state project number 110136 major intersection improvements on route 6 at north main street in avenue in the town of Plymouth Connecticut. My name is Jared Hendrickson and I work for the state highway design unit for the Connecticut Department of Transportation. And with me tonight I have Scott Bushy, principal engineer of the state highway design unit, Julian Faulk, design engineer from the state highway design unit. Judy Neimichek, district engineer from district 4 construction. Joe Mancini, assistant district engineer,

Jesse Menses, project manager,

and Sean Smith, project engineer. Additionally, Robert Matase will be the chief inspector on the project. First, I'd like to talk about the pre-construction condition out in the project currently. The current geometry of the intersection of North Main Street and Route 6 is undesirable as it's very skewed intersection with a building limiting the site distance right now leading to a crash pattern. Additionally, you have two signals within a short duration of each other on South Main Street Route 6 and North Main Street Route 6, which causes a lot of congestion and crashes as well. Additionally, there's a lack of left turn lanes on Route 6 onto Amey Avenue, North Main Street, and South Main Street, which also leads to long congestion and Q lanes at peak hours. Additionally, Agy Avenue is stop controlled and at peak hours, it's tough for vehicles turning right or left out of the intersection to make the turning movement, which leads to safety concerns and crashes as well. This is a drone video showing the pre-construction condition right now. As you can see, there's a skewed nature of the intersection of North Main Street and Route Six. Additionally, there's the building limiting sight line. I'd like you to pay close attention to the left turning movement from Route Six onto North Main Street. As you can see, until the cars move up to make a left turn, the white truck cannot make the through movement to continue along Route 6 because on street parking is allowed. That leads to a lot of congestion, as you can see when the video goes up more all the way back to Prospect Street at Route 6 during peak hours, which is undesirable. Next, I'll talk about crash history. Between January 1st, 2016 and December 31st, 2018, there are a total of 35

crashes with 11 total injuries reported. As you can see, North Main Street in Route 6. It's a hot spot due to the skewed nature of the intersection and limited sight distances and lack of left turn lanes. officially on Agie Avenue. You can see another crash pattern here due to the lack of left turn lanes and no signal at this intersection. So the post construction condition, this is a plan of what the project will look like once it's completed. As you can see, we're going to minimize the intersections to two instead of three within the downtown area. and the signal at South Main Street and Route Six will be eliminated as it will no longer be needed as North Main Street will be realigned to form a traditional four-way intersection with Route 6 and Agy Avenue. Also, the roadway will be ride widened to accommodate left turn lanes for access to the Woods Court neighborhood, South Main Street, North Main Street, and Agy Avenue with the widen roadway. This will allow for on parallel on street parking, the left turn lane and an unobstructed through movement. Also due to the decrease in signals from 2 to one as the new intersection of North Main Street, Nackne Avenue and Route 6 will be signalized will lead to will lead to less congestion and improved sight lines as the building that used to exist at the northwest corner of Old North Main Street, Route 6, has been demolished already. A little bit about the project history. Now, the initial public information meeting was held on October 22nd, 2019. Start of construction was May 30th, 2022. But in the fall of 2023, it was discovered that there was a survey topographic error used to develop the design, and there was an accuracy of up

to 6 in throughout the project limits. This caused some complications with design and therefore a full redesign of the project was initiated and required. The redesign started on March 24th, 2024 and change order plans were held over to district for construction on June 4th, 2025 where they currently talking with the contractor. Next, I'd like to talk about the construction limits. As a part of the redesign, the project was expanded Overall, the project was expanded on the western limit to include the intersection of Prospect Street and Route 6. This will allow for ADA pedestrian facilities to be installed and traffic equipment enhancements at this intersection. Additionally, on South Main Street, project limits were extended roughly 300 ft to the intersection of Agy Avenue at the request of the town. Additionally, on Agy Avenue, the project limits were extended 400 ft down to the intersection of South Main Street. Then all the way to the eastern project limits, we extended them past Baldwin Park and Route Six so that we could accommodate an ADA pedestrian friendly midblock crosswalk and pedestrian facilities there as well. Jiren, just you could pause right there. If any if anyone could just silence their cell phones, we would certainly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. And then additionally, full depth roadway reconstruction will be occurring throughout Route 6 on the project as it will lead to a more desirable pavement structure. Some additional enhancements that were taken into consideration as part of the redesign is ADA pedestrian facilities such as sidewalks and sidewalk ramps, rectangular rapid flashing beacons, decorative buffer treatments, decorative luminires, streetscaping apprentices, improved drainage systems, granite

curbing, landscaping and additional parking. Sidewalk buffer treatments throughout the project limits will consist of imprinted concrete sidewalk in the area shaded in red and grass buffers in the area that's green. Overall, we decided to go with imprinted concrete sidewalk because it's low maintenance and it's aesthetically pleasing and will track people to the downtown area. Additionally, the picture on the left is of a printed concrete sidewalk that was installed on a previous project. The color will be chosen by the town of Plymouth and the pattern will match the pattern as close as possible to the streetscaping that exists to the east of the project project limit so that it's continuous throughout the downtown area. We will be installing timber beam rail as a part of the project along Old North Main Street. This is going to be an aesthetically pleasing rail once again that will be very popular and will to track people to the downtown area and the new green space being formed in the area. Chose like we chose this to protect the slope in between off of Old North Main Street in between Route 6 and North Main Street because it's a low speed low volume street as Old North Main Street will be deadended and only provide local access. Black metal handrail will be installed in two locations as part of the project. Due to the realignment of Old North Main Street, black metal handrail will be installed at the staircase leading to 11 North Main Street. Due to the steep grade of the of the yard, a staircase was justified in this area. Additionally, to make the pedestrian facility ADA compliant at the northwest corner of the intersection of Prospect Street, Route 6, black metal handrail will be installed in this area as well.

decorative fence such as seen here in front of Terryville Library will be installed throughout the project limits. There are five locations where the fence will be installed or reset. The fence will be reset at the northwest corner of Route 6 and Prospect Street as it needs to be reset for sidewalk work to be completed. Additionally, the black the black metal handrail that is old and falling apart on top of the retaining wall on the north side of Route 6 will be replaced with a decorative fence as well. And decorative fence will be installed on the south side of Route 6 and between the back of sidewalk and the parking lot for 8 South Main Street. protects against the steep slope that will exist between the parking lot and the back of sidewalk and black metal f decorative fence will be used on top of the retaining walls to be installed on South Main Street and the driveway for Terryville Pizza. Next, we'll talk about some streetscaping impertinances. Decorative luminire such as seen in the picture here will be continued from the east of the project east of the project limits through the project limits so that the streetscaping is continuous throughout the project limits. Overall 25 decorative luminires as seen here in red will be installed throughout the project limits along route six benches and trash recepticles will also be installed as part of the project at the top at the six locations approved by the town. Right here is where benches and trash receptacles will be installed. Some miscellaneous streetscaping elements such as the town of Plymouth sign, Eli the Duck, and a historical

information sign will be will be installed or installed in the future as part of the project. Overall, the town of Plymouth historical information sign will be put at the Veterans Memorial Park. Eli the Duck will be the centerpiece of the project and and the neighborhood and will be installed at the northwest corner of the intersection of Route 6 and North Main Street. The town selected this area as it will be the focal point of the of the town green space that will be additionally a forthcoming electronic town of Plymouth information sign will be installed within the town green space as well. Granite curving will be installed throughout the project limits. This is because the streetscaping project to the east of the project has granite curving included within it and we would like to make the streetscaping continuous through the whole entire downtown area. So granite curving will be extended. Pedestrian crossing extensions will be installed at three locations at the southwest corner of Prospect Street and Route 6 and at the northwest and northeast corner of the intersection of Route 6 at North Main Street. As you can see in the blow detail below, these will include lowle plantings and an imprinted concrete and will consist of an imprinted concrete sidewalk area. This is a space that pedestrians will use to talk to each other as they encounter each other on the path or we use this extra storage space for pedestrians looking to cross the intersection. This is a rendering of what downtown will look like after the project is finished. This is North Main Street at Route 6. Please notice the two pedestrian extension areas, one at the northeast west corner and one at the northeast

corner with a bench. Also, Eli, the duck will be installed at the edge of the pedestrian extension area as well. Parking layout existing. There's 75 spaces out within the project limits right now. And as a part of the project, we'll be adding eight parking spaces within the project limits for a total of 83. Additionally, a handicap space along South Main Street will be provided as well with 88 pedestrian access to the sidewalk running along South Main Street. Additionally, with the coordination with the town and local town representatives, South Main Street was completely redesigned as part of the project. Overall, the town came to the state with an issue of wrongway entries on South Main Street and asked us to see if we could develop alternatives for how to fix the problem. Overall, we decided that extending the one-way nature of South Main Street from the northern entrance of 8 South Main Street down to the intersection of Agy Avenue and South Main Street was a good fit for how to for how to prevent crashes and for how to prevent wrongway entries on South Main Street. Additionally, we were able to accommodate an island deterring wrongway travel at the intersection of South Main Street and Acne Avenue where the northbound through movement would typically exist in this island. It will be a raised island with granite curving around it and will be court and will have lowle plantings and a flashing do not enter solar powered sign. Additionally, due to the redesign of this area, 88 pedestrian facilities along both sides of the roadways have been accommodated along with 18 parking

spots, which is an increase from the nine that exists out there today. And the one handicap spot I mentioned earlier. Also, the 70oot loading zone will be will be maintained as well for local businesses to get deliveries. Sh trees will also be put in as a part of the project. These are aesthetically pleasing and once again create a good downtown environment and atmosphere. Overall 28 street trees will be installed as a part of the project. The ones boxed out in red will be installed in a printed concrete sidewalk and the ones in green will be installed in grass buffer areas. These are the types of trees that will be installed as creek trees. Please note that these are special underwire trees that will not grow into the overhead utility wires above. The street trees will be cast in a flexi pave rather than your standard metal tree pit that you would usually see out in the field. There's several advantages to using flexi pave such as you can choose the color of the flexi pave so it matches the urban nature of the project or what the town council wants to use for a color for the area. Additionally, the tree pit the flexi pave allows for the tree to grow to a diameter without restricting it and also water will infiltrate through the flexi pave as well as it is a pvious solution. Seen here on the right is an application that we've used in the field and installed. A flexi pave rectangle raing beacons will be installed at two mid block crossings along Route 6.

These will be solar powered which has several advantages such as no electrical service charges to the town of Plymouth and will avoid potential underground utility conflicts that exist when having to trench for conduit provide electrical services to these and no issues with shading are anticipated due to street trees existing trees or buildings. The two locations for the RFPs are to the east of Baldwin Park Lane at the Mid Black crosswalk and to the west of South Main Street at Route 6 at the Mid Black Crosswalk. Next, I'd like to get into the construction staging. Construction is anticipated to start on October 13, 2025. The 2025 work area consists of all the drainage along Route 6. This work will be done using alternating one-way traffic. During the 2026 construction season, we anticipate that Route 6 and Prospect Street will be reconstructed up to the intersection of South Main Street and Route Six. Also, Old North Main Street, North Main Street, and Agy Avenue will also be reconstructed during this construction season. Alternating one-way traffic will be used for all construction activities during the 2026 work season. During the 2027 construction season, the rest of Route 6 will be reconstructed using alternating one-way traffic. Additionally, the Veterans Memorial Park and green space in between Old North Main Street and North Main Street will be constructed and finalized as well. Additionally, South Main Street will be

reconstructed using a detour and a road closure of South Main Street. As you can see, this is the detour plan for South Main Street. The work area is shown in yellow as South Main Street will be shut off at the intersection of South Main Street, Route 6, and Agy Avenue in South Main Street. And the detour route would be going down Ay Avenue until you reach South Main Street to continue southward on South Main Street. So, some work that's been completed. We had a hydrodnamic separator cleaning on Agy Avenue to address drainage problems. Also, utility relocations overhead and underground are ongoing and anticipated to be fin finished by the end of November 2025. Currently, rightsway acquisitions are ongoing as well and are anticipated to be completed by April 1st, 2026. Currently, the change order is being implemented by District 4 construction and the anticipated start of construction is October 13, 2025. The expected end of construction is November 27th, 2027. Does anybody have any questions? your name and address angles night. Um, I just have a question. Um, park going down between pizza place and Walgreens. Does that have an opening into that plaza anymore? in

pizza place in Walgreens. Yeah, there'll be two entrances to eight 8 South Main Street there currently after construction. Okay. Because it looked like it was going all the way down to Ay Avenue. Yeah, the construction will be, but the business access will not change after construction in that area. Anybody else? I'll make it.

I am Jim Cloneski from South Main Street. I'm sorry, Beach Avenue. The question is about um the east west section of Ay Avenue which runs parallel to or alongside of the cemetery. Does is the town certain that we actually own that piece of property that we actually own that road? I think there was some question about it never being turned over from the Eagle Company when they closed. I've never heard that before, but Well, I heard it from our town historian or previous town historian. So, I just thought I'd ask and see if you do have any information on that. I've never heard that, but we'll double check. Thank you.

We should. Yes. Okay. The other question I have, was there consideration given to Steve Bolson on Route Six? Uh, no. We'll look at that. I know there's when you're done, I know there's a question in the back. What? Okay, good. One more. And the area where the uh building was knocked down, uh is that going to be park area? Is that part of your plan, the town's the state's plan or is that town's plan or what's happening with that with that property where the dirt is all mounded up? Now,

that's currently being used as a part of construction right now and owned by the state. After the project's over, it's got to be evaluated by our rights way unit, see if it's a conforming lot, I believe, and then at that point, it will go up for, I believe, an auction. And the town will have the first right of refusal on any offer that's put in on the property. Thank you. I have no other questions.

Thank you. Amarie wrote, um, I live at 125 North Main Street, so I have a very vested interest in this project. I have a question and a request. My first question is right now the buses come out of Elite Terry School and they have a smooth curve coming out onto Route 6. How are you accommodating those buses that are going to come down that short bypass now and make that 90° turn out into traffic onto Route 6? Where are you? Most of those buses are taking a right-hand turn out of North Main Street when they come out of the school. They take a right-hand turn because they head towards Clement. So, they're going to go west on Route Six. Right now, they're coming out. They're making that smooth curve out of North Main onto Route Six. Going west.

They're going to now come down that short little cut into Baldwin Park. And then they're going to take a 90° angle turn onto Route Six. How are you accommodating that right-hand turn for the for that big turn radius of the buses not to go into the eastbound lane? Yeah, that's all been checked. and they will not go into the through lane for Route 6 eastbound. How will that be? If you've only got a onelane road, will it only be one lane right there where they're turning out onto Route Six, or will they have a turning lane?

No, not coming from North Main Street onto Route Six. There won't be a right turn lane, but the radius of the curve is large enough to accommodate school buses not overtracking into the eastbound lane.

Okay, then I have a request. Um, I walk around Baldwin Park on a daily basis and down North Main Street. The way that the state left the construction, you did a temporary sidewalk up Route 6 to the monument and then you left the sidewalk unfinished from that part, that point at the at the monument up to the corner of Route Six on at North Main Street. You didn't put a sidewalk in. So now if you want to continue walking up Route Six, you have to walk through the weeds. Then to cross North Main Street, you have two choices. You can walk across North Main Street, step up onto about an 18 in jump up to get back onto the sidewalk, or take a jump into traffic on Route 6 to get back around onto the sidewalk. I would like to request that this fall before you guys leave this for the winter, please continue that temporary sidewalk up to the corner of North Main and Main Street and create the entrance up back onto the sidewalk when you cross North Main to continue up Route Six. I would very much appreciate that because otherwise you have to cross the street and come back to the other side and there's no crosswalk. Thank you. Anybody else? Melanie Church 328 Main Street.

Melanie Church 328 Main Street. I have two questions on this. One is as you go up, you're talking about the congestion come up to right where all our businesses are, where the plaza is, where Terryville Chevrolet is, where McDonald's is, where there's a package store. I live the next house up from the package. Sometimes it takes me three lights to get up. I can't even turn right and go because you have cars coming out of um oh, Harington Avenue, right into the traffic. What's going to happen when that's all freed up below? You're going to have more of a congestion at that stop. And that has five stops. You have the the east and west on Main Street. Then separately you run it for the plaza. Separately you run it for Harington Avenue and separately for McDonald's. So you already have a congestion there. That was over 30 years ago. They were supposed to widen that road. When you have the trucks coming down to go to Terryville Chevrolet, traffic gets backed up the other way. This is all very poor planning. Another thing, when you come down Prospect Street and you drive down that hill, your car bottoms out if you're alone to the ground because it it just like dips and then you're on Main Street. And that's been a problem for years. And those are the things that need to be corrected. Yeah, you're going to free up traffic down there, but they're going to

get back lots right up on right where the IGA is and all that. You look at the amount of cars that go through there now, and if you put a count, I guarantee you it's high and that that nothing's being done there. You can't keep burying parts of it. And part of this I understand the problem like uh Amarie mentioned the 18 in that wasn't done by uh the construction company. You know how much more are you sure that this time you have the elevations correct for Main Street? Anybody else? Randy Mard, 140 Waterbury Road. Um, just have a question. When it's all said and done, um, obviously this is an estate project. Who's going to maintain the all what you're showing in the in the slides? you know, who's going to maintain the the property and the the greenscapes and all that. And the other question is the uh one of the slides showed a a wooden railing. How long will that wooden railing last cuz like, you know, I'm from Massachusetts originally. A lot of that wooden railing out there doesn't last all that long and it gets, you know, it it breaks apart. Um, is this built to last? since it's a different type of wood uh composite that you're using where it'll last a lot longer uh where it doesn't have to be changed out down the road. Those are my two portions. So to answer your first question, um everything seen in the picture here has been approved to be

maintained by the town as they've signed the project authorization letter accepting maintenance responsibilities for all the greenery, imprinted concrete sidewalk, metal handrail, decorative fencing, benches, all the streetscaping discussed. And to answer your second question, um this is CT deep designed timber beam rail. So, it's been used by CTE in our parks, and I'm not sure what the longevity of the wood is.

I angle 69. Um I previously you were showing where South Street came out on Route 6 and I just want just a point of clarification AA sidewalk did that were were you saying that's crossing there or is it further up or further down the only reason I'm asking you you there's no light that's going to be there if I'm if I heard you correct with no light you're going to have the flashers there. Are you sure you want to put a crosswalk right there? That's the only question I've got.

Yeah, that's an area that we felt would be a good area is the town plans on developing South Main Street at 8 South Main Street. So, it' be a a great area to put a midblock crosswalk so pedestrians on the north side of the road can cross right into what the town is going to turn into a uh heavy pedestrian use area, I would call it. And um due to South Main Street's oneway nature, seems like a safer safer area to cross as well as you won't have two movements to deal with. He only has one movement to deal with.

My name is Benny Clements of Flower Drive. I just want to thank the DOT professionals and all the hard work you've been working on this and working with the CIF committee and part of the comprehensive planning and improvement of Main Street. There's a lot of hard work. There's been a lot of meetings. We've had a lot of discussions and I also just want to say thank you uh for coming and doing all the work that you've done today and the CIF committee and the council for the communication backwards and forwards over the last several years on this project which is part of the comprehensive development redevelopment and transformation of Main Street of Terry. So thank you very much.

Thank you sir. is South Street Tarville. Will there be any accommodation for the light that is adjacent to the ambulance garage? At one time when that was built, we were going to have a signal that we could push as we were exiting to road six. Will that be in the accommodation to the light there so that the ambulance people can get out a little more easily? I am not sure about that. I believe preeemption will be a part of the project. I'll have to go back and look at that, but I believe it has been put in as a part of the project for ambulances turning to left going through the signal. Anybody else?

Thank you, Jared. I appreciate it. Thank you. Oh, of course. Okay. Go ahead. You have your um question. Uh I got two questions. Uh Mr. Card brought up a point about maintenance on Main Street. Um there's trash recepticles. Who's is public works actually going to empty those trash receptacles? Yeah, Rex doesn't.

Okay. Uh, and then secondly, you had stamped concrete for the streetscape as opposed to we now have brick. Is there a reason why either one was selected? Because personally when I drive down Main Street, I see brick and there's weeds all growing up through that

area. I prefer that. Um, and I think at some point I would like to see that area cleaned up. Maybe doing same concrete we could all the way down through. So, thank you. Thank you very much. That's why we want the style great maintenance. Yep. Anyone else from the council?

No. Okay. See, thank you. Thank you, J. It wasn't back. And it's working.

Just hang tight as we up here for a minute. Yeah, leave the podium there. I'm gonna use that. Anyway, what's up?

We had a council member need to take a quick break. So, once he gets back, we'll we'll keep going. Okay. [Music]

Make sure Okay, let's question. Sure. [Music] [Music] Yeah, it's fine. Put it there for

So, we have a a special guest here at the town council tonight. Uh, Miss Madison, if you can join me up here. Certainly, anyone from your family can come up, too. So, Miss Madison here uh decided that she was going to do a lemonade stand to raise money for Small Wonders this year. And um Miss Madison raised over $1,000 for Small Wonder. and I wanted to honor her with this certificate of appreciation. Whereas the town of Plymouth would like to recognize Madison as a valuable asset to our community who gave her time and support in raising $1,120 from her lemonade stand for the Small Wonders program. And whereas the town of Plymouth values its youth and recognizes Madison as a true example for young people who are seeking to prepare themselves to become better citizens and leaders for tomorrow by developing those traits of character today. And whereas the town of Plymouth encourages all of its youths to mirror Madison's good deeds, dedication, and outstanding performance. Now therefore, I deem it an honor and a pleasure to extend this certificate of appreciation to Madison, calling upon the citizens of this community to join me in recognizing her valuable kindness and contribution. In witness thereof, I, Joseph T. Kildoff, mayor of Plymouth, do hereby set my hand and cause the seal of the town of Plymouth to be affixed the second day of September, 2025. Congratulations, Madison and

Yeah, please. I can take one picture. Family right here.

Perfect. Perfect. Thank you.

Thank you. [Music] Thank you everybody for that. I think hopefully we made balancing tonight there. Um, I want to congratulate the Terryville Lions for another great fair. Uh, their 77th annual Terryville's biggest event of the year and I think the fair just keeps getting better. I want to thank all the volunteers. Um, I know that the Lions Club couldn't put it on without many volunteers coming up and and helping throughout the weekend. Um, we had great weather. I think great turnout. I know the numbers are still coming in, but I really uh just want to appreciate everything the volunteers did and the Lions Club did because uh you know they're one of the main organizations in this community and and most of what they bring in they put right back into the community. So um kudos to the Terrible Lions for another great fair. Item nine, discuss to take action to refund overpayment property taxes to the following. We're not going to read off all the names here, but I would accept that motion. Motion by Joe, second by Ron. All those in favor?

Opposed. Thank you. Resignations appointments um to accept the resignation of Horus Wilcox from the zoning board of appeals. Motion by Joe. Second, second by TJ. And I just want to say he's a very long-erving member of that board and we are it's unfortunate that we're losing him. Uh so thanks to Horus or as we all affectionately know him as Chip. Um do we have a motion and a second? All those in favor?

Opposed? Thank you to appoint Sarah Sandshaw to the Human Services Commission as a regular member with a term ending date of 10127. Motion by Joe, second by Ron. Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Thank you. To appoint Morgan Holdley to the human services commission with as a regular member with a term ending date of 4127. Second. Motion by TJ. Second by Joe. Any discussion? All those in favor?

Opposed? Thank you. Item 11. Uh we come to the Natuck Valley uh Council of Governments proposal for Plymouth's plan of conservation and development and Plymouth's affordable housing plan. statemandated uh plans that we must complete. And we have Savannah here from the Ngatuck Valley Cog who is here to talk to us about these two um proposals. We have to bring that one back or do you have a microphone? Yeah.

Yeah. If if people want one, that's fine.

Yeah. Okay. Just raise your hand. Anyone else want that? Can everybody hear me? Okay. I'm gonna try to turn this way, too. I'm sorry that my back is turned a little bit to you guys, so please bear with me as we go through the presentation. Um, thank you, Mayor Kilda. As the mayor mentioned, my name is Savannah Nicole Vielba. I go by SN and I'm the community planning director of the Nic Valley Council of Governments. I appreciate the council and residents of the town being available to discuss the two planning proposals Envy Cog has prepared for the town of Plymouth. I also will walk you through this slide. So, we're going to head to the next slide now. By the end of tonight's discussion, you should have a better understanding of who we are as the Nagitech Valley Council of Governments, what is a plan of conservation and development and an affordable housing plan, and what are the benefits of doing these planning processes together. There will be dedicated time at the end of the presentation for questions, but I um we'll take any questions from the council as going through the presentation if if you want to stop me

as we're going through. Next slide, please. Perfect. So the Nagatic Valley Council of Evidence also known as NDP is a voluntary association of 19 municipalities. We're a state designated regional planning organization and federally designated metropolitan planning organization which is just a fancy way of saying we support our members on transportation, environment, housing and land use planning and implementation efforts. Our board consists of the 19 chief elected officials of the region that's shown on the right of the slide. Mayor Kilduff is your representative on our board. I'd like to take a moment to clarify who we serve by talking about the ways in which we differ from a municipality. Um you all as residents, property owners or business owners. your Plymouth's constituent and you as the town council work really closely with your residents, your property owners, your business owners to make decisions about the policies to implement, how to spend money, and the decisions on how to govern the community. As a council of governments, the town of Plymouth is our constituent. So, we work with your mayor when making decisions about what policies, plans, or programs to conduct at the regional level. And while our work does have direct effects on US residents, property owners, and businesses, our governing structure has Mayor Kild as your representative to our organization. This relationship looks slightly different when we work on efforts such as the efforts we're here to talk about you with you today. Um, we keep the mayor in the loop about projects, but generally we work with a lead commission and a staff leazison to assist us with the administrative aspects of these sorts of planning processes. Next slide, please. Great. Thank you. So before we begin, who has previously worked on a plan of conservation in development, also known

as a PCD? Anyone? Anyone? Hey.

All righty. So, this will be a brief refresher for you and an overview for everyone else. Um, we'll start with the legal reasons. The mayor kind of gave you an idea. Um, you legally are required to. That's that's the biggest one. Um, CGS section 8-23 requires every community's planning commission um to adopt or amend their plan of conservation and development every 10 years. So, in the town of Plymouth, that would be your planning and zoning commission, which did this process in 2015. If a community does not amend or adopt your plan of conservation and development, you become ineligible for a variety of discretionary funding sources um unless you receive a waiver from the office of policy and management. Mayor Kilduff, Envy COG and the Office of Policy and Management have been talks about your POC and its due date. Um I just want to stress that many municipalities have their due dates make up on them. Plymouth is not unique in that regard. OPM is aware that Plymouth is preparing to work on its PCD and I looked on OPM's website today. There are 17 other communities that are in the same boat as you. I just want to stress that it's common to be here. Um, and Envy doesn't currently anticipate that your due date will prevent you from being able to secure a funding waiver should the county decide to apply for discretionary funding. However, it is really important that you begin this process as soon as practical. Next slide, please. Okay. So, a lapsed POCD does not mean that you should rush your rush your process. Your plan of conservation and development is an important policy document that is intended to guide future development and conservation policies for the next 10 years. It's valuable to take the necessary time to plan for implants's next decade and creating something that town leaders

will use to implement the goals that you set for the town. I believe that a PCB is one of the most wide ranging policy documents that a municipality can create because in this plan you work as a community to better understand how to enhance common strengths, capitalize on potential current and future opportunities, mitigate current challenges, and prepare for future challenges um around development and conservation because you want to study an attractive community where people enjoy living, working, and playing within. Next slide, please. So, we're on what is a plant conservation development PSCD slide with the two boxes. As you work on a PSC, main things will arise around specific conservation and development goals. Just to give an example, um MDORD wrote Thomasson's plan of conservation and development and through the process infrastructure improvements and economic development were key goals that came through um the planning efforts with the town. And in thinking about each, the steering committee created a variety of recommended action items that town leaders will need to accomplish to achieve the infrastructure and economic development goals. These action items or strategies often take one of two flavors. I'm just going to give you a brief example of each. So the first which is shown on the top is where a strategy and plan sets in motion a process where a town enacts regulatory change that either achieves or makes movement towards that broader goal. So again just to provide an example of of your sister town and Thomas we helped them draft a variety of strategies about the types of businesses they wanted to see updated in their zoning regulations in their specific commercial zones. So we had public meetings and we worked through that process and heard what the community wanted to see as additional uses. We talked to their planning and zoning commission and through that we made these strategies that said hey

these are the five uses that you really should adopt in your zoning regulations. They have that as a clear strategy now. So that's one way that strategies can lead to implementation. The second way shown on the bottom is where a strategy and plan sets in motion a process where the town seeks to fund the strategy to achieve or move towards a goal. So to provide another example, um Thomas was pretty clear and in agreement that their water pollution control facility needed to be upgraded. And so by setting strategies around that necessary um infrastructure improvement in their plan, it helps their water pollution control facility. It helps their legislative body. It helps their board of finance have a rationale when it comes to budget season. And the community is asking why is this item here? You can then reference your plan of conservation and development and say we plan to do this two years from now, five years from now, seven years from now. So everyone has an idea, but when you're trying to phase and fund these larger projects that have to get done to keep the committee vibrant and another piece on that is that articulation of a funding need can help a community secure funds from the state and sometimes federal partners because they often in their applications ask you where is this referenced in your plan of conservation or development? Where is this referenced in town policies that show that this is an idea that you all have ratified and that you want to see happen? So getting these sorts of projects of all scales into your plan only help you secure funding at later points. All of this is intended just to be illustrative of what an actionable plan can do. The right facilitator can take your plan from an existing conditions report to a forward thinking visioning tool that helps support your park as town leaders and helps you as community members set what you want live to be like in 10 years.

So we'll go to the next slide and we'll talk about affordable housing planning. Um I'm going to ask the same question. Who's previously worked on an affordable housing plan? Yeah. So we get two. We got another one. No. Um, so again, a little bit of an overview for you guys.

But, um, we'll start again with the legal reasons. You're required to do it by law. Um, like your PSD, you have to do it at a set interval. Unlike your PSD, which is every 10 years, your affordable housing plans are every five years. your um legislative body or your planning and zoning commission can adopt or amend your affordable housing plan. And I'm I apologize, but I'm not sure who adopted your plan. I know that it happened in 2023. Um but unlike a PUCD, if you don't do your affordable housing plan, it doesn't affect you in terms of discretionary funding. However, I can say I was previously the town planner in Pu Falls. And if your plan doesn't make bolstered, we got slapped pretty hard by the court with an 83G where that was one of the things that they called us out on saying, "Hey, you haven't done your affordable housing plan. You're not proactively considering housing." Um, and it didn't help us out when push came to shove. Next slide, please. With that in mind, we encourage communities to see their affordable housing plans as a proactive and empowering planning tool that allows the town to define your needs and your goals for housing. Once you know your goals and your needs, um we can work to balance your opportunities and your constraints. There are legitimate constraints to building affordable housing, whether they be geographic, whether they be infrastructure constraints, whether they be market constraints. We look at all those things through these planning processes um in reduction to your need. So looking at specific household types, understanding where your income sits, um looking at what you currently have for a housing stock and what you hope to see added to your housing stock. Um so a collaborative and thoughtful planning process can help your planning and zoning commission make decisions that they are sure are representative of

your town goals. That's another big thing for affordable housing plans. Next slide, please. So I wouldn't be here today if I didn't believe in MD cards planning process. We are currently in the process of adopting Tom of conservation and development. We also wrote Oxford's affordable housing plan and we're in that same adoption process there. So Plymouth has a unique opportunity to work with MDOT on both plans because we have refined these processes in the communities that we just worked with. We know the questions to ask. you know how to tap into your infrastructure and your systems um so that we can ensure that the benefits of planning is actualized in the town of Plymouth. Um so some of the benefits I just want to briefly cover today that are we could go over are it's cost effective to work with one facilitator on both plans. Um and working with Envy COD can ensure that we work with the town that the budget makes sense for how you've budgeted for these planning efforts. uh it can reduce Plymouth's town staff burden from facilitating these planning processes. Creating these plans is a lot of work. It's a full-time job and that's what some staff at MVCOG work on. And so, while we do work closely with the committee and likely a representative from your staff, it's a lot easier to reduce staff time when we're with them once or twice a month instead of them having to do this in addition to every commission they staff enforcement action that they're working on. Um, it makes you know that there's someone who is thinking about your plan 247. Uh, I'll wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning and I have a little note before I write on things I'm thinking about. So, know that we we really do need that. Um, another benefit is that we create synergy between the two planning docu documents so that they tell your story together without being duplicative. Sometimes that's the hard part when you do them separately is you end up telling the same story twice. We don't want to do that. We want two

documents that make sense together that the town um is is proud to share and proud to to implement. And additionally, by aligning the timelines, it makes it so that every other affordable housing plan requirement will fall when conservation and development is due. So you can clump them together at one point every time. Um instead of having to do three separate planning efforts, you do two. You do your POC and your affordable housing plan together. you do your affordable housing plan five years out. And then we also believe that working on both at the same time will encourage residents to be engaged and activated in both efforts. We see people come to POC efforts or affordable housing efforts and they get energized because you're thinking about what you love about your community. you're you're honestly talking about things that you wish would change or that you're afraid of happening and and we can talk through all those things, but the energy is one meeting or it's a six-month period. And so to work on them together, we can really get everyone's feedback in a way where you're part of a prolonged process. Um, and we get to know each other. I I it's been really wonderful to be at your your town council meeting today and the friendliness of of the crowd. it's clear that you're a close community and so um I like doing these plans. I like being in these processes where I get to know you as well. So, um we we like that part. And then this is where I get a little bit cheesy about the work. I promise it's the only cheesy thing I'll say. Um but I really think when these plants are done right, they can empower community and create a sense of pride as residents, as town leaders, and businesses because you have an open understanding of the goals of the town for the next 10 years. Um they really are beautiful efforts that um you can be proud of and and that's really what we seek in in our planning process is we want something that we know what's going on about. You all know what's going on about and you're coming together. We're here to help you facilitate that

process. Next slide, please. With that, um I'll open the door for questions. But should the town decide to work with MVCON, we'll work closely with the mayor until the leading commissions and staff leans are met. I just want to thank you all for for your time today.

Thank you, Savannah. And um just because I know that the question will come up. Um in last year's budget, there was 45,000 put aside for our EOCCD. Uh there was nothing included in this year's budget, but we do have 45,000 set aside. and the Nagat Valley cog has agreed that if we um contracted them to do this work for us um they would bill 45 for this fiscal year and then the remaining the next fiscal year. So we wouldn't be expending any additional this year. With that I'd open up to the council for questions. Any questions? What was the actual date that he said due?

So you can't hear you. The BCD is this year due date. So the BC is this year. Um and the affordable housing I believe is 2028. Okay. So if you do them together, you that I'm assuming the PCD will be done first and then the affordable housing will be done second.

Yeah. We'll work with the we'll work with the mayor and the town so that we will send OPM a letter once we think that the scope will be done. And that's kind of what the state's looking for right now is the town has agreed to work with and because we anticipate having adoption by this state and the state gets off your bag once you're able to I know it's kind of rough but the they're happier at that point. Um, I can also say that's what happened in Thomas where they contacted us a little later in the process. As long as the the town and then the city is communicative with the state. Um, we haven't seen it cause any issues should you seek a waiver for discretionary funding. Um, they're they're really mad at the ones who aren't doing anything. Those are the ones who don't get the waivers. And um just kind of a backstory on this, we did have a staff um attempt to draft, you know, an amendment to our POCCD and we do have it and and we can certainly and I believe you were all emailed that. actually Tony, I don't think you were on the council yet, but um emailed that, but I just felt that it doesn't um I I don't know that that'll be viewed as a complete plan and that that concerned me and so I approached the Valley Cog because I seen what they had done for Thomas and um here we are bringing this proposal to you. So, we've worked really closely with Savannah to put this together. Um, I tend to think that doing them concurrently, um, makes sense so that we don't have to worry about either one of them uh, for a significant amount of time. Um, but again, that's that's just our proposal and I believe you have a couple of proposals in your packet. Um, one for the PC and one for actually you have two different options for the PC and um, and then one for the affordable housing. Savannah, you want to just kind of go over the difference between option A and B?

Sure. So, you will see the so the affordable housing plan is only one option there. That's a process that that's the way that one goes. We really don't recommend removal of anything in that process. Um, so we're talking about the POC options. You have an A and a B in option A. It does not include the youth summit which is a process that we did in Thomas where we um had a two-day event with the juniors and seniors their local boards and commissions came their state reps came um some state agencies came. It's kind of a a larger ticket item. You see it on option B how much it costs. um we understand that it's not fiscally possible for every community and so that's removed from option A and option A also is removed as the community kickoff and community celebration that's not to say that stakeholder engagement isn't part of the planning process we do a stakeholder survey we'll do a community survey and there's a line item for targeted community engagement so that as through these processes we can go to the alliance club should we be asked we can find these targeted ways still to involve people in the planning process. And I'll just also note for the the public as well that there's still an item and the commission can see it as a C1 committee planning. Um we run a process that always involves residents in the planning meetings. And so in Thomas, we had a specific meeting process where we had an activity meeting and a strategy meeting. I think that was a little bit too much to to ask a steer in committee to do. So, I I've got ways they would reorganize it, but um every single element of your plan, we have activities that we invite the public to put out until the mayor 35 flyers, businesses um in Thomas, we would do something similar for employment to say, "Hey, we're talking about housing today

or hey, we're talking about our economic development goals. Come to this meeting. Come back to this room. do some activities with us so that we can understand your committee and your community's um desires around that principle. So, it's it's fair to say that these are not plans that you'll you're going to draft in a dark room and then hand it to us and say, "Here you go. That's not this process whatsoever."

No. Um I I like to be you'll notice me in town hall and you'll be like, "Hey, here she is." So, um we really do like to implant ourselves in the communities when we're working on these efforts. Um it's that's what it's about for us. That's it's a academic intellectual and a heart exercise for for our staff. So um that's really the difference between option A and option B is A and does not include the installment B does. I see a lot of input from Thompson.

Yeah. Um it was a we actually received an award. we were um nominated as we were awarded we were the Thomas Education Partners of the Year for the work that we did in the planning process. Um and we also got a citation from their state reps for that effort. Um what we ended up doing was is it was a a two-day process and it really does require your board of education to to buy in as well, but um Thomasson's did and so we did two days but the goal was learning about governance and working on the plan. And so we worked with their civics teacher to break up 60 students into five groups that were around the um principles of the Thomasson's plan. And the students learned about that concept from a planning perspective. So I'm a housing planner. I'm with the housing group. So I talked with the Thomasson students about the current housing conditions and the ways we talk about housing from a planning perspective. When students picked different topic areas they wanted to focus in on. So my group wanted to focus in on housing for young adults, shelters, and affordable housing. The students then worked with our staff and we drafted strategies that they got up on day two and and presented together. It was a really empowering um opportunity for them as well as for us to see all they had to say, all they had to contribute. And if you look at Thomasson's plan, there's a badge icon that's with all of the strategies that were either created by the students or were said a little less eloquently that had the same, um, intention that the steering committee created. And so, um, we think it just shows them that they're part of the process. Um, and I think it's also difficult from a parent perspective when you can say many generations of of our town believe in in this this implementation goal.

But we understand it as we we we get that. Um, and we did so with that targeted youth engagement, we did the youth summit, but we also did youth surveys. So we surveyed the seventh and eighth graders and then the high schoolers in Thompson. We still think pending your board of education cooperation and desire to do that with us that we could do the survey piece. We just can't do that that more in-depth two-day process um that's done in option A that's represented in option B.

Any other questions from the question? Sure. Go for it. Now I I have a few questions. First one is is this a um something that's being done in every community throughout the state that it's it's a required by statute? Yes. That doing both both parts that you're talking about with the housing and with the um what was the other piece? The conservation planning conservation.

Yes. So they're both required under se separate sections of the statute. Your plan of conservation and development is required under 8-23. Your affordable housing plan is required under 8-30J. And so they don't have to be done together, but the state law allows you to do them together, which is the financial benefit of one's 10 years, one five, one's five. So you do two procurement processes instead of three. Okay. So it is required by the state for every community to do this. Yes. Um and what is what's the annual cost of this to the town? this this plan. Yeah. What what we're looking at

you have the um Well, I there's a few of them. You said about $45,000 set aside. So, yes, in in in the capitals in it for our POCD plan in last year's budget, there was 45,000 in there. Um for option B, just the uh POCD is 89,100. Option A, $78,900 and the affordable housing was $26,110. Is that per year or is that just for the total? So that that 45 covers half of this. Yes. Which would start out, but the process is going to be a multi-year process anyway.

It takes us about a year and a half to work on these because we spend we're in your community. They take a while to do. So once this is done, say we you meet the goal of requirements of meeting the 10y year or fiveyear is that something that in five or 10 years you'll come back to us and you'll do another plan as if you love it and you have us. So it's a it's an but I mean it's it's statemandated that this will be something that we will be required to do every five 10 years. Yes. At a cost of whatever to the community.

Yes. and you could go out to a consultant outside of we think the benefit of working with us is it really organization more of our staff understand the town it helps us so we're seeing environmental grants and we're seeing transportation grants um the towns that work this closely with us our staff we learn your streets better we learn your parks better we really understand your infrastructure and your goals um and we don't go anywhere um so just to provide an example we wrote opt for affordable housing plan. We now are in conversations with the planning and zoning commission about zoning strategies to increase housing options. We wrote the plan. So when we're having those additional conversations, they're not coming to us asking us, hey, could you read this plan? Could you come up with some strategies to spend with them for the last year? We understand what they're looking for. Um as your client, that's part that part is part of what we do. So you get better service when we understand their community and in that way. Are the requirements similar for each community? I mean as far as say us and Thomas in Yeah. or us and say water.

Yes. So statutoily yes they are but that's where having a a skilled facilitator of the process is important because we could read the statute and there are people who read it and think that it means the same thing for Plymouth as it does for Woodbury as it means for Thomasson. Um I'm the AICP certified planner. I went to I went to graduate school to do this. So, um when I read the statute, I know how to look for the nuances so that you feel like is Plymouth. If you feel like this plan is water and Thomas, you did my job wrong. And so, we do have certain elements we have to talk about, but we do it in a way that your community feels ownership over them. just just I mean I don't want to become water that's that's my whole thing unfortunately as I see the writing on the wall with all the regionalization of things un sometimes small towns lose they get lost in the shuffle and we become a region rather than small towns so

and this plan I I just want to make it clear when's being consulted with in this way I'm working on plan I'm not working um limous plan as part of the region and thinking about that which is a beneficial thing because I'm looking for synergies and cost cost efficiencies or ways in which you can work with your sister towns um but I'm working as a an extension of Plymouth just like when we worked on Thomas we work as an extension of Thomas um we get to bring all of the resources has to our GIS resources our communications resources we've got experts in like I keep saying transport transportation and environment and these other areas that really lead to a robust planning process. But there's we represent you. Um same thing when we did Oxford, we talked about what Oxford did for housing, not necessarily what the what would have been a regional perspective on that. So these plans are I don't want to say there's a firewall because that's not how it is, but we are working for you and that relationship is just understood at our level. How many staff members do you guys usually have working on a project like this?

Sure. So, there's generally two people who are leading the process, but we then have other staff from our other divisions. Mic is organized around four divisions. Community planning, which I lead, which is comprehensive planning, a housing planning, land use planning, community engagement planning. We have an environment planning division, a transportation planning division, and a brownfield planning division. We use the other staff as we need their expertise. So when we're working on the transportation aspects of your plan, anywhere from two to three in the transportation planning division, come to those meetings because I can talk to you so far about transportation, but there's a point where you want that expert that I know, but I'm not. We're not looking outside for those people. They work in our organization. Um GIS is the same way, data is the same way, design is the same way. you see our staff out taking pictures of your community, but there are too many people. It's it's clear to the town who to contact. You get to know our faces. Um, and we will often communicate with the rest of the organization on behalf of the town.

We work closely and join throughout the process on different projects that are coming through as how to guide the outcome. So we don't as C as Mika generally um should a community need that level of assistance that's something that a request that could come from the mayor for a more in-depth involvement in the processes for the plans of conservation and development. They have to be adopted by your planning and zoning commission. But the state and I'm sorry back there's no easy way not to turn that back to anyone. I'm sorry about that. Um the state enables uh a planning and zoning commission or the plan conservation and development to create a steering committee. That's what Thomas did. That's generally what we recommend because it's good to have planning and zoning is there. It's have someone from the legislative body because the plan of conservation and development has to come back to your board for a report at the end of the process. Um you can get broader voices in the room that way. So, we work with the planning and designing commission as keeping them up to date with what's happening through their representative, but this process really does kind of separate from the everyday application process. Um, that's a lot of work in and of itself. And so, whether you had your planning as a commission work on this, we would recommend probably a separate meeting to get through these processes or you'd be there till 11:00 at night trying to do both. And we need we want people mentally ready to go through our processes, not hired because spent two hours in a public hearing. Um, yeah. Hope that answers your question.

Any other questions? Okay. Uh so I guess the first thing uh that up to the council is um do we want to contract with the dog valley council of governments for one both zero and then if we were to do the plan of conservation development do you want option A or option B? Those would be the questions and I would send it up to the floor here. I'll make a motion that we uh contract can't hear you.

I make a motion I make a motion that we contract with uh the council of government with or both plans uh in regards to the POC. uh I would go with uh option B which includes the uh youth summit for the particular reason that I would I would like our youth to be involved there something that's different that u hopefully um by you going here you can entice some of the youth to get into the field that you are because as an engineer we are short so I hope it kind of promotes them to the death. So that's my motion. I'll second that motion.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? I'm with Joe. I think it's really important to get the you there because uh they're the ones that are going to be here for the next 20, 40, 50 years. So we need their input to see where we're going. Okay. All right. Hearing uh no more discussion. We'll take a vote. Tony. Oh, yes. Hi, Ron. Yes. Joe, yes. TJ, yes. And no, thank you.

Okay. Thank you so much, Savannah. And we'll be Yes. And that motion pass. 421. Uh item 13, discuss and take action on police commission's recommendations for an appropriation to replace total police vehicle. Um now during public comment, there was a member of the public that did mention that um you know something over 50,000 would have to go to a town meeting that does include this, but the uh police commission um came up with a recommendation due to a total police cruiser. Uh they were not given any new vehicles in this year's budget. So, um, they are short. So, I invited the police to come and speak about, uh, where they are for vehicles. And I believe the chief is here and Sergeant Vladimer, and they can kind of give us an overview on where they are. And then, um, the council, we can decide if we would like to schedule a town meeting. evening

and June 19th by an act of God during the storm of sorry can't hear you cruiser number 12 it gets hot how's that okay cruiser number 12 on June 19th was parked in the parking lot and the tree came down decimated it was total so we're looking to replace As the mayor said, we did not get any cruisers this year. We usually get one, maybe possibly two, but this is a vehicle that was already in the budget because we have the vehicle. So, I believe you have the the list in front of you, the cost for the vehicle. That correct? Yes. And the email you sent, yes, they have that.

Yes. So, we are looking to go with a Dodge Durango, which is $3,400 cheaper than the Ford Taurus SUVs. We we're again we're having a lot of problems with the Ford Tauruses. A lot of recalls right now. My vehicle's on a recall. The detective sergeants is on a recall. We have one on the line that's on a recall. They're under warranty, but this they're still on recall and they're out of service for months and months. So, one vehicle's down. Obviously, you have to use other vehicles. So, that is a problem with the Fords. This is happening all over the country. Uh, Sergeant Lambert did some extensive research and the uh, Dodge Durango are being used by Bristol, Cheshure, and they're having good blocking good surface with them. And plus, they're $3,400 cheaper than what we would pay for a uh, there are no more sedans being made. This vehicle that we had, Car 12, was a sedan, but in 2023, uh, the departments, Chevy, Ford, all stopped making the sedans. All the police departments are not using SUVs and we do have to go with an SUV for obvious reasons. It's it's roomier. You can put more equipment in the sedan for cond. They do not make them anymore. So looking at the amount here, it's 43,000 for the cost of the the Durango itself. 12 is approximately 22,000. The lettering on the side, which is a onetime cost. Now these are guesses. We're trying to give the best guesses we can. Um is 1500. the modem, the MPT cabling accessory, 7,500. Uh the setup of the cruiser 2000, the uh Axon uh camera system, dashboard camera system is no cost. Radio is no cost. That is being transferred from Carwell and would be to the new vehicle. Total cost 76,000. We're anticipating um about 10,000 from the insurance company for the loss of the vehicle and adding in a contingency because these

like I said these are just guesses 7,600 the total cost would be 73,600 and then from um if we were to do this October 1st which the vehicle will not be in for 90 days. It was a 90-day wait for the uh Dodge Durango. It would be 39.99. That's for the cellular service. So, we would owe $359.91 for that. But, um, this is just putting us back to where we were. We have 18 cruisers. We have a regular trailer and another trailer which is not included. But, if you come here during the day, uh, during the week, the cruisers aren't here. They're out on road jobs that by using those vehicles, which the town does charge for those uh, vehicles when an officer is on a road job. They charge for that. That money is coming back into the town by using those vehicles. The older vehicles, this was a 2017 vehicle that was decimated, that was crushed and it had what approximately 90,000 90,000 miles on it. And when we get the Durango, it will go on the line and another one older vehicles will be transferred. But they bring in, as you know, the officers thousands and thousands of dollars into the as revenue by working the road jobs and working extra duty, which is that help to the taxpayers because all our crews for years have not been paid with any money from the taxpayers and the the town does charge for it. And it's obviously the contractors want the vehicles for safety reasons, the lights, sirens, etc. to warrant oncoming vehicles. So that's what we're just looking not to get anything above, nothing beyond, just to replace one that was decimated by an act of God when the tree came down. Do you have anything you want?

Um, I know we've been having issues with the hybrids. Um, Sergeant, if you could just kind of speak to that a little bit and why we're very strongly leaning towards going back to gas vehicles. So, uh, currently there's three cars at the dealership. Like the chief said, her car needs a new engine. We have two other cars down for, um, an extensive period of time, close to probably two months now. Um, we just got the captain's car back, which is brand new, had a recall that was down for um, about a month. And then the hybrids just haven't had good luck with them idling, and then to go out. So, you go out there right now, I guarantee at least three cars have check engine lights on on them. And it's not a digital public works. It's just these things uh aren't working the way that we anticipated them and it's not cost savings that we anticipated when they first came out. So we uh switched gears and looking to go just to a regular um conventional gas engine where public works could have a better rain on repairing them or preventive maintenance.

Any questions from the council? Yeah. Mayor, can you explain? Um, so it's 78 76,000 73600 each paid for that, but it has to go. You can, but and correct me if I'm wrong, Bill, but because it's still an appropriation above 50,000, that would still require a town meeting. Yeah, if you if you don't mind explaining.

Yeah. So the the charter does not speak to the source of the funds. The charter speaks to whether or not an additional appropriation is made to a department's budget. So regardless of how this is paid for, um it's it's it's immaterial when it comes to the $50,000 limit in the process that the council has to follow. So that would require a town meeting.

Yes. Okay. And if the council chooses to do that, um, the process of scheduling, does the council have to set that date or does that just come through mayor's office? Uh, that's a good question. I don't know that off top of my head, but I can certainly answer. Okay. Just want to make sure that the council decided they wanted to do that. Yes. Yeah. Um, we have the chair of the police commission, Kathy Pasquez, while the town attorney looks at this that would like to say a few words. Thank you. Yes.

Hi, I'm Gabby Justice and I'm chairman of the police commission. Um the police came to us and gave us all the information on the um what happened with the cruiser and like the chief said they um it was an accident and this year um the finance board cut two. every year they get two vehicles because of the high mileage and and um um the uh years that they are. Um they also brought to us as the chief said that the vehicles they were using the fors correct um weren't um giving them the um they were more expensive and weren't giving them the light and so they looked at something cheaper and tried to get that. So I'm just saying here the police commission looked at everything and we recommend um that you um pass that. I'd also like to ask in previous times that money was taken from the um account of the overtime and it didn't have to go to

you mean the do you mean the extra duty? The extra duty and it didn't have to go to account. Can't that be done again? No. So in the past when vehicles have been replaced out of that it's typically been done within the budget itself. Okay. So because that they didn't get any vehicles this year, there's no appropriation for it. So unfortunately, as the town attorney said, um it's the appropriation in total is above 50,000. So would require a town meeting. So um yeah, so we have to do that. We're just verifying the process of that. If the council did choose to do that,

myself and the police commissioner would recommend that that they have stay. Thank you. is I I would suggest if we do go if the council does want to do this um just do it before our next council meeting in October. That would be my suggestion, but I want to see the process if the council has to vote on that or not. Right. If it if it gets approved by the voters that the town needed a question we just look at the wrangles or we look at the Chevy titles too that the state and lots here. So I understand our problem with Durango. So um I I spoke to Terville Chevy and Northwest Hills. was a um state bid for the Taho are about $55 to $6,500 more than what we have now

and they're having big engine problems with the engine viscosity just idle hours. Um I spoke to Cheshure who have um the Durangos spoke to Bristol and they're saying they have no issues with them. Okay.

Just the ports now are they're getting to the point with the problems we're having. dangers. Uh I had a recall of mine. It says the car will either you lose power or the engine can catch fire. So the first time it happened, I was coming up the hill and I was lucky. It happened at down in Thomas by the Sith gas station. I was able to pull in. I just got off the exit and totally lost power. So I I pulled in there and then they sent it out. The same day I got it back when Ford said it was fixed. I'm driving home on 84. I'm in the third lane and it happened again. Now I'm in the third lane and I'm trying to like, okay, I got to ease my way off. Now the vehicle's losing power. This is dangerous having these vehicles. So we're trying a vehicle that has less problems and that we're not going to have all these recalls with the vehicle. So if that happens to an officer, same thing. It could happen uh losing power and he's has to get somewhere, you're going to be delayed getting there because the car is going to break down. So that's what we're trying to get something that's cheaper for the town, but we're going to have less problems. like uh sorry in the said the Taho are a lot more and they're having problems with engines too and my car needs a whole new engine. They they fixed it, tried to fix it the first time, at least they said they did, which they obviously did now. I mean, it's a whole new engine. It's under warranty. But again, this is dangerous. As you know, I was already in one accident. If I have 18 this time sliding it over, they probably would just run over me. So,

thank you. Just one other question on the lettering. Is there a way we somewhat get more visible letter? I know we run the ghost lettering, but something just like to identify the Tom Plymouth on it that's not in the ghost lettering. we do to do the outfitting. So with um that with the cost for the lettering on there, you have to pay a design fee for them to change it. But with it going to Durango, you have to pay that anyway. So we could definitely explore different options.

Wait, sorry, Tony. Go ahead. I'm sorry. There seems to be over well over $10,000 in guessing. Can't get a more accurate price on what it is for the insurance. You're talking about what the reimbursement. Yeah. So that's no no the 7500 uh which was the guess 1,500 2,000 for cruiser equipment. That that's what they're telling us right now. We check the prices that could change those and and when we went in at the height and I guess again if it's 787 73,600 and we don't use all that money that will go right back.

I would say guess was guess was probably not the best verbiage there. It should have said estimate guess. So they did get an estimate that's what the and they called it a guess but it is an estimate. Yeah. And whatever we don't use, if we're on the high end and we're over and we get more money, it'll go right back. Oh, it's not after 50 years in New York business. I can guarantee you asking minimum price.

But it doesn't. I mean, I don't know that it would hurt to have a console do it. No. And it's silent. The charger is silent. Okay. So with regard to the lettering, it's one thing I was always about. Sure. So we have the black cruisers. If we can do orange lettering, that's the color of my high school. So that' be a good idea for the SRL vehicle.

Okay. So um I guess the next would be on the council if we would like to schedule a town meeting. My suggestion would be just do it before our regular October meeting which would is scheduled currently for uh October 7th and say 6 o'clock and police can be there make their proposal and then the voters that show up could vote on it. That would be my suggestion. Again,

I'll make a motion that we have a town meeting uh set prior to our next council meeting at 6:00 for the appropriation to replace the order to this vehicle. Motion by Joe, second by Tony. Any further discussion? Okay. Uh Tony, yes. Ron, yes. Joe, yes. TJ and Remy. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Item 14, liaison report. So, we can start over here with Randy. You'd like to

Okay. Uh I went to public works. Uh there's a list of things that were going on there. Uh Carl's working on the phone system in the town hall, how it's uh antiquated and figure out the lines and who owns what what not. Uh so there's potential for some savings there. Uh the library has two new uh charging stations for EV vehicles in the upper parking lot that were installed. Uh I worked on getting my grant on that and those are installed finally. Uh there's a couple trucks uh there was a new 10 wheeler that came in and there's one truck that's down. Uh so they're evaluating that and uh the material that they sell out of the uh the pit right now is currently $2 a yard to sell. They're looking to increase that to $5 a yard. Uh so there'll be more to come hopefully for next meeting on that one. WPCA, they're still working on all of their studies and they're getting deeper down and getting onto some properties and looking at some stuff there now. So be more next month.

Okay. Thank you, TJ. Joe Brown, one meeting that they had was the uh Bright Lands Commission. They did have a public hearing on Nus County Avenue. Um all presentations were made and they're going to be voting on it their next meeting. Um which they're trying to schedule. Uh they have three other applications. um that the opportunity was accepted. That's it. Thank you. Would you like to kick off comments? You have any additional council comments? No, Rob. Joe, I'm looking forward to hearing DJ.

I think time is very informative with the six project and uh I think it's going to bring a lot of life to downtown and uh Randy. No. Okay. Uh motion to adjourn. Motion by Joe. Second by Ron. All those in favor? All right, everybody. We'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night.