Finance committee approves parking department

Wednesday evening the Finance and Government Operations Committee took action on several budgetary items. They approved several routine requests for fund transfers, approved the acceptance of Rockfall Foundation grants to support a walking trail and a farmers market study, and forwarded their unanimous approval of a new City Department of Parking to the Common Council.

The Finance and Government Operations Committee consists of five members of Common Council: Joe Bibisi, Gerald Daley, Hope Kasper, Ron Klattenberg, and Phil Pessina. Ron Klattenberg chairs the committee, which meets on the Wednesday prior to the monthly Common Council meetings. They are responsible for the initial approval of budgetary matters, their approval sends an issue to the full Common Council for final approval.

Parking Department
Business owners and shoppers alike, frustrated with the parking situation in downtown Middletown, have urged the city to create a coherent parking plan. A major study, completed in August, 2008 (and available HERE), proposed:

Another important immediate action item is to pursue the creation of an autonomous, financially self-sustaining Parking Department, which will provide consistency in parking strategies, enforcement, and facility maintenance. Any surplus revenue collected by the Parking Department should be directed to downtown parking infrastructure maintenance and improvement.

The Parking Study further recommended that the Parking Department implement detailed monitoring of parking demand, to optimise the parking available for businesses and shoppers in the downtown areas.

The two major initial costs for this Department, which the F&G committee spent some time considering, are the salary of the director and the cost of office space. The F&G felt that if space was available, the Parking Department should be in the Police Department, to synergize with the functions there. However, all of the F&G members present agreed that the creation of a Parking Department was so important that it should not be delayed over a decision on office space. The proposal for a Parking Department was sent to the Common Council with unanimous approval.

Grants to plan for a Middletown Farmers Market, and to prepare a Middletown Walking Guide
The Rockfall Foundation awarded the city $2500 to initiate and sponsor a series of four planning sessions (charrettes) to bring farmers, land-use commissioners, city officials and members of the public together to establish a successful and sustainable farmers market. They also granted $1900 for a Middletown Walking Guide which would be published on-line. The F&G unanimously approved the acceptance of those funds.

Funds to attend fair housing conference denied.
Faith Jackson, director of Human Relations, submitted a request for $60 to attend a one-day conference in Cromwell, entitled "The Future of Fair Housing in America", sponsored by the Fair Housing Association of CT. This request was denied, with Hope Kasper and Phil Pessina voting 'naye', and Joe Bibisi and Ron Klattenberg voting 'yes'. Kasper and Pessina both emphasized that the denial was strictly a matter of fairness--the F&G Committee had this year denied numerous similar requests from city employees for conference fees, and they did not want to set a precedent for a new policy. Jackson indicated that the conference was of such importance to her job that she would be attending it even without reimbursement from the City.

Westfield Fire Station Roof
Russ Andrews, of the Westfield Fire Department, requested that the city request $80,00o from the state through the Local Capital Improvement Plan (LOCIP), to pay for half of the cost of a roofing replacement and improvement. This replacement roof will have a PVC white cover, and will be considered a "green-style roof" according to Andrews. Only municipalities are eligible to apply for LOCIP funds, hence the request through the F&G committee for the city to apply for the funds on behalf of the Westfield Fire Department. The committee unanimously approved the request, which now goes to the Common Council.

Other requests
The directors of Public Works and the Water and Sewer Departments came to request funds to cover replacement parts, and new equipment. Those requests were all approved.