Electronic Waste Disposal

The City of Middletown will be hosting an Amnesty Week, May 15 – 22, 2010 for free disposal of electronics at its Recycling Center. The event will be open to Middletown residents ONLY and will accept all electronics for recycling at no charge to > residents.

Residents will need to have a Recycling Center permit which is available at no charge upon presentation of vehicle registration from the Department of Public Works. > Items accepted include: computers, monitors, printers, scanners, DVDs, VCRs, televisions, stereos, answering machines, and microwaves. Residents MUST be able to unload items themselves and place them in the trailer.

The event is sponsored by Samsung and processed by > Universal Recycling Technologies and will only be available > the week of May 15 – 22nd. The Middletown > Recycling Center is located on the corner of Johnson St. and > North Main St. and is open Monday – Friday > 7am – 3pm and every Saturday through June 7am – > 12 noon. > > For more information, contact the City Recycling > Coordinator, Kim O’Rourke, at 860-344-3526 or kim.orourke@cityofmiddletown.com.

Bulky Waste Spills into Finance and Government Operations

An appropriation to fund bulky waste disposal led to contentious debate at Wednesday's meeting of the Finance and Government Operations Commission. The Commission ultimately gave unanimous support to the request for $30,000 to pay for waste disposal.

The debate over the funding and policy of bulky waste pick-ups actually broke out before it was to be considered on the agenda. Mayor Giuliano offered his support for the appropriation during the public hearing, and in contravention of normal procedures, the chair of the Commission, Councilman Klattenberg, allowed a vigorous debate to take place during that period of the meeting. Commission members Gerry Daley and Klattenberg clashed with Director of Public Works Bill Russo and Mayor Giuliano over the need for the appropriation, and over what Bill Russo had told the Council when they voted to change the city's bulky waste pick-up policy. Commissioners Joe Bibisi and Phil Pessina largely supported Russo and the Mayor.

Giuliano told the commissioners that he had asked Public Works to pick up all the bulky waste that property owners have been leaving out. He indicated that while Public Works could pick up the trash without a further appropriation, they could do nothing but store it in the city yard without further funds, "We have no money to dispose of what we pick up." Russo said the problem with bulky waste was not confined to any part of the city, "It's not an isolated problem, it's city-wide."

Russo said the problem had gotten much worse since the Council changed the policy on bulky waste pickup, effective July 1st. To increase revenues, the Council abolished the free weekly pickup of bulky waste in the sanitation district (the central part of the city) and the once-every-three-years free pick-up of bulky waste outside the sanitation district, and implemented a charge of $75 for every bulky waste pickup.

Councilman Daley was incredulous that there was no money for this, already in the Public Works budget. He insisted that Russo had told the Council in May that the Council's $30,000 appropriation for illegal dumping would be sufficient for the entire fiscal year. Russo responded that "illegal dumping" referred to trash dumped on isolated roads such as Sachem Drive or River Road, and that bulky waste left outside a house was in a different category. He said that while an old mattress or refrigerator on the front lawn was a health code violation, it was not the same as illegal dumping.

Giuliano suggested that enforcement of the ordinance would motivate landowners to pay the $75 fee. He pointed out that if the city placed liens on a property, the lien fees and possible subsequent legal fees would rapidly escalate the costs of leaving garbage out, and he predicted owners would start paying the bulky waste pickup fee.

Russo wanted the appropriation to support a return to the old policy of providing free bulky waste pickups, but Giuliano told him and the Commission members, "The appropriation will not change the ordinance." He told the Council members that if they wanted to do so it would have to be done as a separate matter.

Russo indicated that there had been a total of 81 citations for trash given by the Health Department. The commissioners were very clear that they wanted the citations to continue, but that they also wanted the trash to be removed. Councilman Bibisi urged, "Cite 'em first, then pick it up!"

The Commission unanimously passed the $30,000 appropriations request, but even after the vote continued their rancorous questioning of Russo about the bulky waste situation. The debate and questions will likely continue into the next meeting of the Common Council, when it will consider the appropriation request.

Other Items of Business.

The Director of Parks and Recreation, Ray Santostefano, requested permission to take money that had been appropriated for park ranger salaries and instead use it to purchase surveillance cameras to deter vandalism at isolated parks locations. The Commission strongly supported his idea, but denied the request on procedural grounds, saying it would be inappropriate to transfer from salaries to capital equipment. They encouraged Santostefano to return with a request for a new allocation for capital purchases.

Director Finance and Revenue Services Carl Erlacher reported that revenues into the city were holding steady. He said that the city had collected 50.8% of tax revenue for this year, a number almost exactly the same as a year ago. He also said that they had collected $742,000 in back taxes, above the $500,000 that the budget had projected for the year.

Now You See It, Now You Don't

(Photos: Beth Emery)


Alarmed by the piles of bulky waste accumulating in neighborhoods close to downtown, Mayor Sebastian Giuliano has ordered that waste be collected by the Public Works department and that the department request $30,000 in emergency funding to reinstate bulky waste pickup in those neighborhoods.

In an austerity measure, on July 1, the Common Council did away with the free pick-up of bulky waste in the downtown "sanitation district" where residents were entitled to three pick-ups annually. Almost immediately, bulky waste such as furniture, mattresses, appliances and house fixtures began to line the curbs of downtown neighborhoods.

Complaints flooded the public works department, and several residents addressed the complaints to the Common Council at September's meeting. At that time the Council requested a report on the situation at the October Council meeting from Public Works Director William Russo.

"I think some of it can be attributed to habit," Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said Friday. "People were used to getting their bulky waste hauled away. And some are still not aware that a new system is in place."

The new arrangement calls for a fee of $75 for bulky waste removal.

After an inspection of downtown neighborhoods, and consultation with city Health Director Dr. Joseph Havlicek, Giuliano decided to act and requested that the public works department remove what had already accumulated on the streets.

"Our phone has been ringing off the hook," Russo said. "I truly believe that reinstating bulky waste pickup will help get some unsafe areas cleaned up."

"We had to get it picked up," Giuliano insisted. "Or by Christmas we'd be knee-deep in trash."

Most of the streets are now free of trash.

"I have the legal department checking on our new code enforcement ordinance to allow us to do what New Britain has begun to do in a program they call 'clean and lien.' The city will clean up a blighted area, and then go after the property owner for compensation. In the past we've been able to cite a landlord, but that didn't necessarily make the pile of trash disappear," Giuliano said.

Giuliano explained that the pay-for-service approach is necessary because of increasing fees the city has to pay for disposal of bulky waste. But he admits that the sudden impact of the ordinance change could be seen along every street downtown.

"Following our recent tour we have to be willing to see the actual situation and adjust accordingly," Giuliano said.

Giuliano emphasized that most residents and landlords are abiding by the law, or mistakenly leaving bulky waste on the curb.

"But I have a gut instinct that there are some property owners who do not like the new fee, and are attempting to force the issue," he said.

Giuliano is urging concerned residents to attend the October 5 Common Council meeting where the issue of bulky waste will be discussed.

Curb Eyesores

Last week I noticed 6 small piles of garbage within two blocks of my house. This week the same 6 piles were still there but now 6 more had joined them.

I called the Bulky Waste phone number in the phone book and asked about the new rules for pick up and was referred to the public works phone number at city hall. When I told public works about the 12 piles of garbage, they asked “what streets are those piles of garbage on?” and in response to me they replied that “no one on those two streets has called for a pick up.” If they had called for pick up they would have been told that free bulky waste pick up has been suspended due to budget cuts and that now the residents of the central area of town, who used to get regular free bulky waste pickups, have to pre-pay $75 to public works before bulky waste will be picked up. However, that $75 buys up to three truckloads of bulky waste disposal.

Now what to do about those small piles of refuse? Most of the piles of garbage on my walk would not be worth paying $75 for a pick up. If we as neighbors complain to public works, public works will contact the Health Department and they will send someone out to give the offenders a warning and a period of time to get the garbage removed. If the home owner or the renter does not remove the garbage, public works will send someone out to take away their garbage cans.

Clearly this is a problem. If the amount of garbage left on the street can double in one week, we have an image problem if not a health problem. The nice woman who answered my questions at public works said “well, it is a learning curve.” I’m pretty sure that some of the piles of garbage were left by people without means to dispose of the items…no car at all or they have a car too small to carry a mattress to the dump. The broken table just does not fit in the garbage can and for some of my neighbors $75 is well beyond what they can afford. Calling the health department can only make the matter worse. Furniture left out in the rain over the last couple of weeks would be a health problem if brought back into the house. Leaving it on the street, means their garbage cans will soon disappear and now they would have a real health problem of garbage building up in or around the residence.

I realize that the decision to suspend bulky waste pick up may have seemed like a fiscally prudent one – but as Izzy Greenberg said at the council meeting recently, it will cause our central downtown area to look like a dump in a short period of time. I did walk around my neighborhood this morning and the blocks nearest the Wesleyan Campus had no piles of garbage. None on Church Street? None on High Street? None on Lawn Avenue? Is Wesleyan making arrangements for pick up on these streets? I did notice a few small piles of garbage on these streets a week or so ago. The Wesleyan Freshmen arrived this week with their parents and the image they have of Middletown might be marred if they went through any of the neighborhoods adjoining campus with piles of garbage. I walked a little farther from campus this morning and saw 3 mores piles of garbage on Hotchkiss Street had been added since this weekend.

Is there a way to get what is out on the curb now in the Village District and in the North End cleaned up? At the very least notices need to be sent out to all Middletown residents telling us what the new bulky waste policy is to prevent these eyesores from appearing.

In the best of all worlds a compromise of picking up the first week of every month or even quarterly might help out the many residents who cannot make their own deliveries to the dump. Also, a smaller fee of $25 for the pick-up of one item might solve a lot of these problems.

Council Meeting Slogs Through Procedural Debates

For nearly five hours, the Common Council debated small but significant procedural details in resolutions and ordinances before them.

Before the Council became bogged down in debate, they honored retiring members of the Middletown Police Department including recently retired Chief Lynn Baldoni, 37 year veteran Joseph Labbadia and retiring officers with two decades of service including Michael Kerkes, John LaTerra, Amy Pear, Robert Siena, Robert Tremblay and David Visconti.

In a short speech recounting her years as chief, Baldoni reminded the council of a few promises she made.

"I told you I would do my best, and I did," she said. "I told you I would make mistakes, and I did."

She thanked the Council for their support, and commended her fellow officers for helping her shape a troubled department into one where respect and positive interaction with the community were paramount.

The hot topic of the evening for the public was a new fee system for bulky waste. Previously, every city household could summon a free bulky waste pickup every three years. Members of the public addressed the council on the need to reconsider assessment of a $75 fee proposed for the removal of bulky waste.

Property owner Paul Fazzino said that the council should "leave the system the way it was, or the North End is going to be a real mess."

"A change like this in a struggling neighborhood will severely affect the quality of life," said Izzi Greenburg, director of NEAT (North End Action Team). "These changes will result in more illegal dumping, more backyard dumping."

Public works director William Russo assured the Council and community members that his department had a $30,000 fund to address the issue of illegal dumping.

"The last thing we want is garbage sitting on the lawn," Russo said. "We're very agressive when it comes to keeping the city clean."

Some Council members wanted reassurances that the new fee system would not cause an overabundance of illegal dumping.

"You can assure the public that this situation won't deteriorate?" Council member Gerry Daley asked.

Russo assured him that many area towns now charge for bulky waste pick-up in the range of $75-$100 per pickup.

The Council asked Russo to report back on issues that arise with the new system in place, and Council member James Streeto (jstreeto@snet.net), a member of the Public Works commission invited the public to attend the next meeting (second Wednesday of September), to provide input on how the system could work better.

The two procedural motions which took up the majority of discussion were an ordinance which would allow the Common Council to approve use of outside legal help by the Personnel Department. The debate began during the segment of the meeting called "questions for directors" during which Personnel Director Deborah Milardo, and legal counsel Tim Lynch explained the standing procedure for hiring outside council, and the minor but frequent fees assessed for recurring personnel interactions with union members.

The Council voted to postpone action on the issue until its next meeting.

The Council also spent significant time debating an ordinance and a resolution which formalize an opinion that the Board of Education may not make personnel issues for non-certified Board of Education personnel under the city's jurisdiction.

An ordinance, proposed by Council member Vinnie Loffredo, aimed to create a liaison between the city and the Common Council. After much debate, that ordinance was sent back to the ordinance study commission for more study.

A resolution to notice the Board of Education that workforce decision must be in line with the City Charter passed unanimously.

The Council also passed a resolution to allow the city attorney to speak with members of West Lake condominium associations to talk about the eventual disposition of West Lake Park.

Local gadfly Sal Caracoglia once again attempted to address the Council on free speech issues. He was ruled out of order early in the meeting by Mayor Sebastian Giuliano and was escorted from the meeting by a police officer. Prior to the segment of the meeting entitled "public comment for item not on the agenda" the mayor explained that the meeting segment was designed to elicit public comment on the legislative role of the Common Council, "because it's almost impossible to make appointments with all twelve Council members." He emphasized the session was not to direct the mayor on executive matters as those issues could occur in private appointments with the mayor. Caracoglia accused the mayor, and the remaining Council members of stifling his first amendment rights. The mayor disagreed with Caracoglia's assessment, after indicating that he had extended Caracoglia "every courtesy," but when Caracoglia brandished the Constitution and Supreme Court rulings, the exasperated mayor declared him out of order, adjourned the meeting and ordered the Police Chief to clear the chambers.