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With the May meeting of the WPCA taking place this evening, we are making available the video of that Board’s April meeting. We apologise for the lateness of this report – the NewHartfordPlus crew has been busy, busy, busy working on community issues (the town budget, the use of town-owned practice spaces by youth sports, etc. etc.) and there are still only 24 hours to each day!

The Water Pollution Control Authority met on April 5, 2012, with the following items on its agenda. We will write a brief summary of each item discussed as time permit. Below the agenda is the video of the April 5WPCA  meeting.

April 5, 2012 7:00 P.M.

Call to Order

Approval of Minutes: No minutes of previous meetings were presented.

Opportunity for Public comment on Agenda items: No comment.

Water Planet Report: Jason, the operator of the town’s waste water treatment plant reported on several items, one of which was the collapse of the parking lot at the waste water treatment plant.  There was a leak in a pipe under the parking lot; the pipe appeared to have been damaged by a backhoe during the construction of the plant and it appeared to have been leaking since then.  Nickerson, the plant’s construction company, was called to remediate the situation and the only thing left to be done was to asphalt the surface which will be done once the asphalt plants reopen.  A rough estimate of the cost is $10,000, which may be covered by the construction company.

United Water Report

Chairman’s report of recent developments

Budget report

Customer requests

Orders to Connect

Delinquent accounts—update

UDSA funds

Any other business to come before the Board.

Adjournment

Video Of WPCA April 5 Meeting

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Below is the video of the April 5 WPCA meeting. Click on the image to view the video on the NewHartfordPlus YouTube channel.

Technical Problem: While we work to link the image with the video on YouTube, please access the video by clicking on the following link: WPCA April 5 Meeting.

Click on the image above to watch video of the April 5 WPCA meeting on the NewHartfordPlus YouTube channel

The Clean and Waste Water Study Group held its first meeting on March 15 to establish the framework for their study of the future of the town’s water and waste water systems which together form the New Hartford Water Company and is under the direction of the WPCA.  This group will hold its second meeting this afternoon, Thursday, April 12.

Following is the video of the study group’s first meeting.

Click on the image above to watch the video of the Clean and Waste Water Study Group's first meeting on the NewHartfordPlus YouTube channel

Summary Of The Study Group’s First Meeting, March 15

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Following is a brief summary of the Clean and Waste Water Study Group’s first meeting. Please be sure to watch the video of the meeting (linked to via the image above) for a full account of the meeting.

The study group was formed following a request by the Building Oversight Committee (BOC) to the town’s selectmen to set up a task force to evaluating the future of the town’ water and sewer system; see video of the BOC presentation at the Board of Selectmen Special Meeting on February 13.

The  members of the study group that had assembled in the Sessions Conference Room were the 7 that had been proposed by the BOC during their February presentation, i.e.:

•  2 WPCA members: Bob Kryzs and Steve Hanright;
• 2 BOC members: Roy Litchfield and Denton Butler;
• 2 past First Selectpersons: Kate Rieger and Bill Baxter; and
• the current First Selectman, Dan Jerram, to act as Chairman.

Also attending the 2 p.m. meeting was David Rosengren, another member of the WPCA.

Bill Baxter asked what the reason was for calling the study group/task force together and he was told that financial considerations – the small number of users, the costs associated with the new wastewater treatment plant, etc. were the reasons.

Denton Butler had outlined three possible scenarios in his handout:

• maintaining the status quo
• town ownership and assumption of the operational management
• possible sale/lease of assets to a third party.

Bob Krzys also had brought in a handout with his thoughts on the subject.   He agreed that there were issues and he emphasized that the most important aspect was to look at the data and once they knew what they were dealing with then they could move forward.  He said that in order to expand the user base for the wastewater treatment plant they would have to expand the wastewater collection system and he identified two potential sources of funding to do that: (1) the left-over USDA funding that might be available and (2) the town is on the DEEP priority list for the fiscal year 2012-2013 that would make available $1.2 million in a combination of grants and loans for the expansion of the sewer system to Cottage Street.  Whether they were going to access that money and how the repayment was going to be structured was  something to be considered, he said.

After further discussion the group divided itself into pairs that would work together on gathering specific data to bring back and share with the rest of the group at their next meeting on April 12.

The Regional # 7 Board of Ed presented their proposed budget at their March 28 meeting which was held in Barkhamsted.  The budget which includes a 2% increase is the same budget that will be presented at the Public Hearing to be held in New Hartford this coming Tuesday, April 10.

Molly Sexton Read went through the proposed budget for the small number of members of the public who attended the Barkhamsted meeting.  Molly prefaced her presentation by showing a slide of the past 4 years’ budget increases for Regional, as well as this year’s proposed increase.  Those figures are:

• 2008-2009: 3.98% increase
• 2009-2010: 0% increase
• 2010-2011: 1.75% increase
• 2011-2012: 1.64% increase
• 2012-2013: 2% PROPOSED increase.

During the same time period, from 2008-2009 through 2011-2012, Molly said, the number of Regional’s certified staff dropped from 104.3 down to 99.2, a decrease of 5.1 certified teachers while the ADM student population dropped only by 9 students.

In the proposed 2012-2013 budget, Regional is adding certified staff, bringing the total number of certified staff to 101.4. Part of this increase, .6 of a position, is to increase the Finance Director’s position back up to full-time, due to Roger Newbury’s retirement at the end of the current school year. A full-time Ag teacher is being added, as well as some part-time art and social studies courses.

While the total Regional budget is showing a 2% increase in its expenditures over last year, the increase in New Hartford’s assessment will be 7.51%. This is due to New Hartford having 19 more students attending Regional while the other three Regional towns (Barkhamsted, Colebrook and Norfolk) have a total of 24 less students attending Regional. That 7.51% increase represents $587,749 more in the amount New Hartford will be paying to send its students to Regional; the total assessment to New Hartford will be $8,418,270.

Download a copy of the Regional # 7 Proposed Budget that will be presented at Tuesday evening’s Budget Hearing: Northwestern Regional # 7 2012-2013 Proposed Budget, 4/23/12 (22).

Following is the video of the March 28 Regional # 7 meeting.  The first 27 minutes of the video is of the budget presentation and the question and answer period with the public:

Click on the image above to watch the Regional # 7 meeting in Barkhamsted on the NewHartfordPlus YouTube channel

The Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) met in March to continue working on the many fronts their Board is engaged on. With the town’s new waste water treatment plant now in service, the WPCA is responsible for the operation of that plant as well as the infrastructures that deliver waste to the plant and also deliver clean water to the its users. Add to this the financial oversight of both the waste and clean water systems and the pressing need to add more users to share the burden of paying for more than 70% of the cost of the new plant, and it is easy to see why this is the most hard-working Board bar none.

Following is the video of the WPCA’s March 1 meeting. Below the video is a summary of  some of the discussion that took place during this meeting.

Click on the image above to watch the video of the WPCA's March 1 meeting on the NewHartfordPlus channel on YouTube

Summary Of Meeting

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The first item on the agenda was the report of Water Planet, the operators of the town’s wastewater treatment plant (3 mins. 40 secs. in video). At the end of that report WPCA member Bill Michaud took the opportunity to say how well things were going with Water Planet, that the flow of information was better than it had been in the past and that the company was doing an excellent job.

WPCA Learns Of Waste And Clean Water Task Force Set Up By Selectmen

Chairman Bob Krzys then updated his fellow Board members on a meeting that the Board of Selectmen was looking to set up for March 15 (12 mins. 40 secs. in video). Bob passed out a document, ‘New Hartford’s Clean and Waste Water Future,’ which had been considered by the selectmen at their meeting. Based on that document the selectmen had agreed to convene a task force to consider the future of the town’s clean and waste water operations; the task force was to be made up of two members of the Building Oversight Committee (BOC), two former selectpersons, two members of the WPCA and the First Selectman. Bob said that he had told the First Selectman that he would bring the matter to the WPCA at their meeting for their input and to see who would participate on the task force, and he was informed that the selectmen had already picked who the WPCA representatives were going to be – Bob Krzys and Steve Hanright. Bob said he was free on the evening of the 15th and would go at least to the first meeting. “This is all I know about it – it’s a two-pager,” Bob said, referring to the document from the Board of Selectmen that he had just distributed to the WPCA members.

Looking at the list of issues on the two-page document, Bill Michaud said that the list was one that concentrated on the symptoms, not the causes of the issues they were having. He said the issues were the same as those that other systems in New England were facing. “The reason we haven’t fixed all these things is because we have a very small user base, a lot of fixed costs and we’re really doing the best we can to get ahead of this.” Bill said. A general discussion ensued, with Dave Rosengren commenting that 400 users couldn’t support the whole infrastructure and that it should be approached as a community issue. “The community ought to be involved in supporting the infrastructure through the general tax base,” he said. Regarding a possible sale of the water and/or waste systems, Bill Michaud commented that their Board is one that is focused on fiscal sustainability but also weighs in the interests of the community. “This is a much different Board than a Board that would sit on a utility whose main interest was in making sure that its shareholders were making a good return on their investment… That’s a loss of control in the future of the downtown of New Hartford.”

Bob said that he and Steve Hanright would attend the meeting and report back to the WPCA Board members.

More will be added to this summary as time permits; please view the video to watch the meeting.

The New Hartford Public Schools Board of Ed met on Tuesday, March 22, immediately following its Long-Range Planning Committee’s meeting.  Among their agenda items for the meeting, the Board members discussed their proposed 2012-2013 budget and reviewed several policies including their Bully policy.

In the last minute or so of the meeting, Bryan Keilty, Chairman of the Board, gave the full Board an update from the Long-Range Planning Committee’s meeting earlier that evening.  That Committee, Bryan said, was going to set up a joint meeting with the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance to get their input and to put a cooperative procedure in place that they would all be comfortable with for the closure of Bakerville School.  With none of the regular Board members having any questions regarding the update Bryan had provided, the Board meeting was brought to an end.

To watch the video of the Long-Range Committee’s meeting earlier that evening when the consolidation of the schools was discussed, see our March 26 article Consolidation of New Hartford Elementary Schools Under Consideration…

Following is the video of the March 22 local schools’ Board of Ed meeting:

Click on the image above to watch the video of the March 22 local schools' Board of Ed meeting on the NewHartfordPlus channel on YouTube

At their February 9 Special Meeting, the Board of Selectmen reviewed their draft Capital Project List which then was submitted to the Board of Finance Capital Subcommittee for their input.  First Selectman Dan Jerram said that the list (shown in the graphic at the bottom of this article) is the result of his talks with the various Town departments and commissions. The BOS discussed both capital and operational expenses and concluded by agreeing to set a preliminary goal of a 1% to 2% tax increase for the upcoming fiscal year 2012-2013. No draft of the Operational Expenses List was available at this meeting.

Following is a video of the discussion of the Capital Projects List, which is the 3rd and final video segment of the Special BOS February 9 meeting.

Click on the image above to watch the video on the NewHartfordPlus YouTube channel

Capital Projects List:

Click the download link to download a copy of the list: Draft of the Capitol Projects List. (37).

The Building Oversight Committee (BOC) went to the town’s Selectmen at their special meeting this past Thursday to ask for an Evaluation Task Force to be set up with the goal of evaluating the future of the town’s water and sewer system. The BOC’s members, Denton Butler, Mike Dezzani, Roy Litchfield and Ken Krohner had overseen the construction of the town’s wastewater treatment plant and, once that project was completed, they continued overseeing projects related to the system’s water and sewer lines.

BOC member Denton Butler gave a summary of the condition of the sewer and water lines which, he said, are old and in need of maintenance beyond the financial resources available to the WPCA. Denton said that there had never been a systems-wide evaluation and the Evaluation Task Force being proposed by the BOC would look into the three options open to the town:

1. Maintaining the status quo with the WPCA continuing its present role;
2. Examine whether town ownership and management of the system would make any sense; and
3. Look into the possible lease or sale of the assets.

The BOC suggested the following members for the Evaluation Task Force:

• 2 WPCA members: Bob Kryzs and Steve Hanright;
• 2 BOC members: Roy Litchfield and Denton Butler;
• 2 past First Selectpersons: Kate Rieger and Bill Baxter; and
• the current First Selectman, Dan Jerram, to act as Chairman.

The BOC proposed completing the evaluation and submitting their report to the Selectmen within 90-120 days.  The Selectmen approved the formation of the Evaluation Task Force, while commenting that they thought the timeline was tight.  BOC member Mike Dezzani, however, emphasized the need for them to work quickly since there were problems with the system that would need to be addressed by next winter.

Download a PDF copy of the BOC’s summary of their presentation: New Hartford\'s Clean & Waste Water Future - BOC (31).

Watch the video of the BOC presentation on YouTube:

Click on the image above to watch the video of the BOC presentation on the NewHartfordPlus channel on YouTube

By: Bob Moore

The American Legion District 6 held its High School Oratorical Scholarship Program Constitutional Speech Contest at Northwestern Regional #7 on January 28, 2012.

New Hartford resident Brandon Steeves, a sophomore at NWR7, was one of the two contestants. Brandon competed against Michael Ciarlo, a senior at Thomaston High School.

Brandon was the first to speak, with the assigned topic of “The Rights and Responsibilities of the U.S. Citizen”. Michael spoke next, on the topic of “Our Founding Principles”. After a brief pause, both came back to speak on the 15th Amendment to the Constitution which prohibits the government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen’s “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”.

Michael Ciarlo was the winner of this year’s competition and will be going on to compete at the State level. Our congratulations go out to both these young men for their excellent work.

New Hartford Town Clerk Donna LaPlante was one of the judges and New Hartford resident Rich St. John was a score keeper.

The first American Legion High School Oratorical Speech Contest was held in 1938. Its purpose is to instill a better knowledge of the US Constitution in High School students. It also provides generous scholarships to winning contestants, with the national first place winner taking home $18,000 and the second and third place winners receiving $16,000 and $14,000 respectively.

For more information about the contest, visit the American Legion’s website.

For more information on local American Legion activities, contact Rich St. John at stjohnrichard@rocketmail.com.

The video of the Oratorical Contest has been removed at the request of a parent of one of the contestants.

The town’s Recreation Commission met on Wednesday, January 4, 2012, with First Selectman Dan Jerram in attendance and sitting at the head of the table. John Maschi, who has chaired the Commission for a number of years, was unanimously reelected Chairman for 2012.

Below is a description of items discussed by the Commission members and with the approximate time that those items were discussed in the video:

• Camperships – there was a discussion of how assistance is allocated to families in need, and how that need is determined.  Rec members expressed themselves as satisfied with their current way of allocating camperships, while the First Selectman proposed basing it on a verifed families, eg. whether the family qualified for the schools’ free lunch program; 2 mins. 46 secs.
• A ropes course is being proposed by Rec Director Dennis Minor, to be added to the right of Berkshire Hall in a wooded area; 21 mins. 30 secs.
• The Field House project was updated by the First Selectman, with him suggesting that it lends itself better to be part of Rec’s capital projects than the ropes course and other Rec wish list items; 24 mins. 30 secs.
• A discussion of Brown’s Corner, with the First Selectman saying that if there is any money left over it would be made available for Rec’s ropes course; 27 mins.

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We are in the process of adding a description of the items discussed by the Commission members with the approximate time that those items are discussed in the video. In the meantime, for those who prefer to watch the video without aids, click on the image below to watch the video on the NewHartfordPlus YouTube channel:

Click on the image above to watch the video of the January 4 Rec Commission Meeting on the NHPlus YouTube channel

The New Hartford Board of Selectmen held an on-site Special Meeting on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 to walk two locations under consideration for expansion of recreational playing fields.  The first site visited was the field area behind the Ann Antolini School and the second was a  parcel of land on Old Steele Road which is privately owned. Both parcels are being considered by the Brodie Park South Study Group Committee and that committee has requested funding from the selectmen for environmental studies for the two sites; a third site under consideration, in the interior of the Antolini lot, was not part of the walk-through.

Participating in the walk-through were the three selectmen, Dan Jerram, Alesia Kennerson and Jack Casey, as well as Christine Hayward, Administrative Assistant to the First Selectman. Dan Eddy, the Chairman of the Brodie Park South Study Group Committee, was also part of the group. Members of the public included Daria Hart, Dan LaPlante, Peter Anderheggen and a concerned resident whose property abutts the Old Steele Road site.

The Special Meeting was followed at 7:00 p.m. by a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen at which the site visits were discussed.  We will add a link to the video recording of the Regular meeting as soon as it is available as soon as it is processed.

Click on the image below to watch the walk-through on the NewHartfordPlus YouTube channel.

Many Thanks to Andrew Pelletier for his great work videotaping under less than favorable conditions.

The Northwestern Regional #7 Board of Ed held its annual organization meeting on December 14 in the Newbury Library-Media Center at the Northwestern Regional High School/Middle School. The brief organizational meeting was immediately followed by a regular NWR7 Board of Ed meeting. Discussion at the second meeting covered a wide range of topics including the Robotics program and a technology update. Following is a video of the two meetings. Click on the image below to view the video on YouTube. A list of the approximate times in the video when specific agenda items are being discussed has been provided below.

Click the image above to view the meeting video on YouTube.

The Board of Finance held their last meeting of the year on Tuesday, December 13.  Newly elected Board member Maria Moore took her seat for the first time, replacing former Board member Laura Sundquist who resigned last month.  Alternates Kate Rieger and Joe Gareis were sitting in for Board members Dan Charest and Jim Fitzgerald.  Kate  was later appointed to fill the seat of Board member Alesia Kennerson, who resigned in order to assume her position as a newly elected member of the Board of Selectmen.

Following is a video of the complete meeting.  Due to its length (2 hours +), the video was cut into two parts (see below); click on the images to view the videos on YouTube.

Part 1:

• 0:00:37 – New Board members welcomed
• 0:01:00 – Letter of Resignation from Alesia Kennerson
• 0:02:00 – Letter from Jim Fitzgerald re. new appointments and further discussion of same
• 0:04:19 – Prospective Alternate Candidate Bill Cotes (Republican) introduces himself to the Board
• 0:06:00 – Reggie Smith nominates Kate Rieger to fill the seat vacated by Alesia Kennerson
• 0:08:10 – Reggie Smith nominates Bill Cotes to fill the alternate seat vacated by Kate Rieger
• 0:09:00 – Maria Moore reads her email addressing the two alternate seats on the Board being filled by members of one Party (R)
• 0:15:30 – Brian Keilty swears in Kate Reiger and Bill Cotes
• 0:23:35 – Rec Commission member Dan Eddy addresses the Board
• 0:33:45 – Non-lapsing Education Funds subcommittee
• 0:48:30 – Board of Education/Superintendents’ report (some of this report is in Part 2 of the video)

Part 2:

• 0:00:00 – Board of Education/Superintendents’ report (continued from Part 1)
• 0:02:20 – Bookkeeper’s Report
• 0:05:00 – Treasurer’s Report
• 0:09:45 – First Selectman’s Report
• 0:46:00 – Schedule of meetings for next year
• 0:47:20 – Election of BOF Chairperson 2012
• 0:48:34 – Letter from Jim Fitzgerald
• 0:49:45 – Capitol Budget Subcommittee
• 0:51:00 – Downtown Rehabilitation Grant and Survey Grant

TO BE ADDED:
Some of the documents discussed in the Board of Finance Meeting will be added here for viewers’ reference; Tuesday, December 20.

By: Bob Moore

The Recreation Commission held a Special Meeting on Thursday, December 8 after their regularly-scheduled meeting was canceled the day before. Chairman John Maschi was unable to attend and in his absence, Dan Eddy ran the meeting.

First Selectman Dan Jerram gave extensive input on agenda items, including an update on the septic system and the work on the new roof for the Field House. Dan also provided a Parks update including the Planning and Zoning Commission’s input on the use of Brodie Park South by the Football program, saying that the area would continue to be used by active sports for the foreseeable future.

Rec Director Dennis Minor introduced a proposal to build a Challenge Course at Brodie Park North. Rec Commission members gave Dan Eddy approval to represent the Commission at the meeting of other Boards and Commissions. Commission members also unanimously approved submitting the names of the four existing Commission members whose terms are ending in December for reappointment by the Board of Selectmen. Since their November 2 meeting had to be canceled due to the late-October storm, they asked the Town’s Selectmen to make the reappointments at their December 20 meeting so that the Rec Commission might have a quorum at their regularly-scheduled January 3 meeting. The four Commission members up for reappointment are John Maschi, Maureen Morris, Sally O’Neill and Ed Smith and all four have indicated their interest in continuing on the Commission.

To facilitate viewing of the Rec Commission video below, following is a list of the approximate times in the video when specific agenda items are being discussed. Please use the round scroll button on the bottom bar of the video box to fast forward to the time associated with the agenda items of interest to you. The time will be displayed above the button as you scroll forward.

• Septic System [2:00 mins.]
• Field House [7:00 mins.]
• Parks Update [10:15 mins.]
• Five Year Capital [38:00 mins.]
• Recreation Budget [1:00 hr.]
• Current Price List [1:11 hr.]
• Recreation Commission Reappointments [1:25 hr.]

Click the image above to watch the video on YouTube.

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Following is the agenda for the above meeting:

NEW HARTFORD RECREATION COMMISSION
TOWN HALL
Thursday, December 8, 2011
7:00 PM

AGENDA (Special Meeting)

I.Call to order

II.Approval of Minutes

III.Septic System

IV.Field House

V.Parks Update

VI.5 Year Capital Plan

VII.Recreation Budget fiscal year 11/12

VIII.NH Youth Basketball Financial Statement 2010-2011

IX.Current Price List

X.Challenge Course Proposal

XI.Recreation Commission Reappointments

XII.Adjourn

Next Meeting:
Wednesday 1/5/12 @ 7:00 PM
Town Hall

Respectfully submitted,

Dennis Minor
Recreation Director

It’s hard to get Bob the techie anywhere these days without his video camera in hand. Here is the result of his walking around the Bakerville Library Holiday Festival, Breakfast with Santa and Light New Hartford. Keep in mind now, “home video” – no bells, lights or tripod…