In what might have been the most tedious exercise in legal requirements and Roberts Rules of Orders, the Middletown Common Council passed a number of expenditures ordinances which fund energy-saving and money-saving advances at all Middletown Public Schools. The savings, achieved school-by-school through a number of improvements ranging from new energy-efficient windows to photo-voltaic cells, are projected to be large enough to provide full payback for initial expenditures.
Both Councilman David Bauer and Vinnie Loffredo questioned why what appears to be one large money-saving, energy-saving project was being broken down for expenditure school-by-school. But Attorney Joe Fasi, hired to prepare the contracts, noted that any expenditure of more than $500,000 must be approved by referendum. Each of the projects, notably, is below that figure.
The Council tabled another set of ordinances to create a new parking authority because there were not enough council members present at the time of the vote to achieve the supermajority (9 votes) needed to pass the ordinances. These ordinances will be considered at a special meeting on June 22.
The Council did approve the expenditure of $2.5 million to pay retroactive salaries for police officers negotiated last year.
In a response to a question, town Attorney Timothy Lynch explained that although the Council passed a resolution that a portion of money earned from the sale of Cucia Park to the Army must be set aside for open space, that the council was free to pass another resolution to repeal the original resolution. In the recently-passed budget, Council members assume that up to $1.5 million of revenue from the sale of Cucia Park, for which the Army is reported to have bid $2 million, would be returned to the General Fund for expenditure next fiscal year.
For at least the first half of the meeting, each Council member and t
he mayor was shadowed by a student from Woodrow Wilson Middle School. Students fled the chamber during a break in the reading of the energy-saving ordinances.The Council honored Martin Reardon for his service in the Marine Corps, his work with veterans and for his longtime chairmanship of the Memorial Day Parade.
The Council also commended the Police Department for their prompt reaction, and ongoing work after the murder of Johanna Justin-Jinich, and for their part in the capture of her alleged assailant, Stephen Morgan.
The Council also tabled approval of the waiving of showmobile fees for Fellowship Church.
Not a week after the majority Democrats on the Council returned spending to the budget for items such as July 4 fireworks, and pottery classes for senior citizens, Councilman Ron Klattenberg proposed a ban on waiving of showmobile fees.
"I can't remember the last time we charged for use of the showmobile," Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said."I think the Council should set a new tonewith the waiving of showmobile fees," Klattenberg said. "I suggest that we reject all requests for waiver of showmobile fees."
Klattenberg cited the tough economic times as a basis for his proposal.
4 comments:
It is outrageous that the common council intends to redirect the proceeds of the sale of Cucia Park into the General Fund for expenditures next fiscal year. The loss of city owned park land and open space is outrageous in the first place. After the citizens were promised that the proceeds would go into buying open space or additional parkland the council is reversing themselves. There was several private pieces of property that the Army could have used for their facility. Outrageous political maneuvering prevented this from happening. Now it seems that perhaps the common council wanted the Army to buy city land so that it would profit from the sale. Promising that the proceeds would go into open space was simply to nullify any opposition to the sale of city parkland. It is time to un-elect those members of the council who support this reversal. The citizens of Middletown are being lied to and are being ill served. We must elect honest and responsible council members.
Correction: Woodrow Wilson is a Middle School not a high school as noted in the article.
It was prudent for the City to want revenue or sewers or development of difficult property in Maromas for the Army base that was decreed by BRAC 2005 law to be located in Middletown. Although embraced by the Chamber of Commerce, the base was soon recognized for the beastly burden it would prove to be when, in a last minute deliverance, Cucia Park, a City owned piece of property was discovered. Although no new sprawl-encouraging sewers would be extended, at least no revenue producing land would be lost. (It is still baffling that the City chose to promise to buy an industrial lot to make sure that the Army would not choose a particular piece of private property. Is this deal still on? I hope not!)
Despite kicking sand in the Conservation Commission's face by also recommending a Maromas parcel specifically deemed unsuitable by the Commission (and also dismissed by the Army), the Mayor's Advisory Panel, seeking consensus, sought and obtained the endorsement of the Conservation Commission for the sale of Cucia Park. Where is that self-righteous Mayor's Advisory Panel now?
What I find "baffling" is that land deemed not good enough for an Army base was perfect for a power plant!
When a certain City Councilman and his prominent attorney friend lost their fight to prevent the power plant from being built in their neighborhood, the chances of going "0 for 2" were probably pretty slim.
What sense would it have made to have an Army base near a manufacturer of military jet engines and two crucial electric generating facilities?
By the way, if you are counting on all those tax dollars from Kleen Energy, don't forget the 25 year tax abatement the previous Mayor dumped on us taxpayers.
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