By: Maria Moore

Two “hot” issues were on the Board of Selectmen’s agenda of their last meeting: outdoor woodburning furnances (OWFs) and the town’s rental properties. The issue of OWFs was the one that was dealt with at the meeting, while the issue of the town’s rental properties was set in motion and will be discussed at the second selectmen’s meeting in September, on the 28th.

The meeting was held in the intimate setting of the lower level (“Jaildoors”) conference room on Tuesday, August 24, and among those in attendance in addition to the three selectmen were, from left to right, Reggie Smith Jr. (Board of Finance), Dan LaPlante (Planning and Zoning Commission), Larry Terra, Alesia Kennerson (Board of Finance), and former First Selectman Earl MacInnes.

The selectmen quickly went through the first five items on their agenda (see the copy of the agenda at the end of this report) before tackling item #6, the issue of outdoor woodburning furnaces.

Item #6: Outdoor Woodburning Furnaces ~ Discussion

All three selectmen ~ First Selectman Dan Jerram, and Selectmen Tom Klebart and Bruce Gresczyk ~ fully participated in the discussion on OWFs and in the voting on the motion at the end of the discussion; see our Footnote on the participation of all three selectmen in the discussion at the end of this report. Larry Terra, who was recently admitted to the Connecticut Bar Association, had submitted to the selectmen information on OWFs, including a fact sheets published by the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) on the deleterious health effects of the smoke from OWFs.

First Selectman Dan Jerram began the discussion by saying that the issue had been tabled by the selectmen to allow Larry Terra time to submit information to them.  Dan said that in the past the issue had been sent by the selectmen to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), which had sent it back to the selectmen again. See our March 25, 2010 report … Outdoor Woodburning Stoves Issue Again Before P&Z. Dan said that P&Z had chosen not to regulate those devices (OWFs) even though they have regulated other energy-producing devices such as solar. Referring to the information from DEP which Larry had submitted, Dan said that DEP “opines” that they may not be the best in terms of health, but the DEP does not regulate them. He said he had gotten feedback about regulating OWFs per an ordinance and he’d had a conversation with Christine (Hayward, his Administrative Assistant) and there were lots of questions on how that would proceed. Christine, who was at the meeting taking the minutes, said that there had been concerns expressed by the police concerning the enforcing of an ordinance in terms of being a nuisance to a neighbor. “How do you define it and how do you enforce it? There are issues already with open burning.” Christine said. P&Z also had concerns about enforcing with their (limited) personnel and as for the police, with their limited manpower, enforcing ordinances was not a priority, she continued.

Tom Klebart said that he had gone through the materials and that there’s reason to believe that they’re not a really efficient means of heating. He said there were 10-11 towns that have regulated OWFs and he agreed that it shouldn’t be via an ordinance but rather it should be P&Z that set it up. “I agree with the police,” Tom said, “I’d rather see them doing police work.” He added that it was mostly done by regulation, that P&Z was best suited to do it. He emphasized that there was enough history and research to study the matter, and not to set it aside.

Dan responded that there were lots of different ways it could have been considered by P&Z, by special exception for example. He added: “My neighbor has one (an OWF), and you wouldn’t know it.” Bruce noted that the town had a 200′ setback, which was more than the state was doing.

Dan asked if the recommendation was to go back to P&Z to have them consider putting it (regulation of the OWFs) in their regulations. Tom said that there’s enough reason to recommend that they set it up as a regulation, but also for them to do a study on it and go beyond.

Bruce said that at the state level “it didn’t get out of committee.” He emphasized that there was a difference between an oversized unit and an undersized one. “It depends on your location,” Tom responded. “On whether the smoke is coming in low to the ground and gets into the house.”

“You get that with regular woodburning stoves.” Bruce responded. “The smoke is more hazardous.” Tom answered him. “That’s in cold rather than hot mode.” Bruce contended, “That’s partial combustion.” Tom responded that wood stoves burn hot.  He recommended sending it to P&Z for them to study and see if they want to put in some form of regulation.

With the discussion ended, the selectmen voted on the following motion, which they passed unanimously:

“To recommend that the Planning & Zoning Commission revisit the inclusion of a regulation limiting the use of Outdoor Wood Burning Furnaces (OWF’s) within New Hartford’s Zoning Regulations.”

Our reporter obtained the wording of his motion directly from Christine Hayward, since the wording was changed slightly several times before being voted on.

Once the motion was passed, Dan suggested they cosign a letter to the P&Z Chairman to show they support some inclusion. Tom agreed, saying there was enough reason to support something in the regulations.

Later in the meeting, under Item #10, Opportunity for Public Comment, Larry Terra briefly summarized some of the information he had provided to the selectmen. He said that since their last meeting two more towns had banned OWFs, Cheshire and West Hartford. He emphasized that regulating OWFs would have no impact on indoor woodburning stoves, nor would it impact open pit burning.  And as far as the DEP report that had been compiled from studies it had a big “Yes!“ that the smoke was harmful to people. He added that he was not aware of any equipment capable of meeting regulations and that the Public Health Act gave the selectmen the authority to do all that they need to protect residents. He ended by saying that, according to the DEP leaflet Thinking of purchasing an outdoor wood-burning furnace?, one OWF emits as much particulate matter (i.e. toxic air pollutants) as 3,000 homes, and New Hartford has 12 of them.

Dan thanked him and said he had found support for them to give a letter to the P&Z recommending they revisit it and add some level of regulation.

Smoke from the Gresczyk Farms' outdoor woodburning furnace envelops the farm buildings and drifts towards residences on Dings Road in March 2010. Photo from NewHartfordPlus archives.

Item #7: Distribution of Brodie – Surdam Task Force Report

At the end of the August 10 BOS meeting, Tom had asked about the report on the town’s rental properties that had been completed by the Brodie/Surdam Property Task Force.  Dan had agreed to put that item on a future agenda, and it was included as item #7 in their meeting of August 24, the subject of this report.

Copies of the 58-page report were distributed to the selectmen and to interested members of the public.  Dan said the selectmen would  take up the issue at the second meeting after their current one, i.e. on Tuesday, September 28.

The 58-page report by the Town of New Hartford Brodie/Surdam Property Task Force, Report to Board of Selectmen, is dated October 2009.  The Task Force, under the non-chairmanship of Reggie Smith Jr., a former First Selectman of the town and as yet not a member of the Board of Finance, was assembled by former First Selectman Earl MacInnes on May 18, 2009.  The Task Force was Earl’s response to the avalanche of criticism leveled at him for having secretly signed a lease with Don Birden, a member of the town’s road crew to rent to Dan the Brodie House, part of Brodie Park for 4 years at $400 per month.  This secret lease was signed by the two, unbeknownst to either the other selectmen or the Rec Commission, only a few months after the previous tenant, who was paying $1,000 a month in rent, was evicted from the property.  To revisit the issue just before the Brodie/Surdam Property Task Force was formed, please see our April 27, 2009 report Public Gets to Question the First Selectman, Those in Executive Session Don’t.  Shortly after the report was submitted to the Board of Selectmen in October 2009, the present administration, headed by Dan Jerram came to power.  Until Tom Klebart resurrected the issue on August 10, the situation remained unchanged: the road crew member and his family continue to live at the Brodie House paying $400 in rent.

We will be publishing a follow-up report, summarizing the contents of the Task Force’s report as well as summarizing the situation with the Brodie House rental, both of which should be the focus of the September 28 BOS meeting.  In the meantime, we are attaching as a downloadable PDF a copy of the Task Force’s recommendations, pages 8 and 9 of their report: Brodie/Surdam Property Task Force: Recommendations (230)

One of the banners announcing the concerts at Brodie Park this past summer was across the front yard of the Brodie House on the corner of West Hill and Niles roads. Photo from NewHartfordPlus archives.

Item #11: Any Other Business to Come Before this Board ~ Proposal For Use of CRRA Money To Develop Economic Development Plan

Tom Klebart brought up the use of the CRRA money, which the selectmen had discussed during their August 10 meeting.  At that time Dan had presented the other Board members with three different projects for which he wanted to use the CRRA money; see our August 12 report Proposal to Use CRRA Settlement Money Discussed At BOS Meeting.

Tom said that he didn’t want to use that money for recurring items; rather, he said, he wanted to look at the possibility of using it to hire a consultant to develop an economic development plan.  Tom continued: “We keep talking about new business coming to town, but we need to develop a plan.  What incentives do we need to set in place that this is a town that business will want to come to.”

Dan said that they were doing that with the Industrial Park and with Routee 44, but again Tom insisted: “We’ve never developed a plan of what do we need to put in place.” Dan said they could continue to take it up at a later meeting.

The Board meeting was brought to a close at 7:45 p.m.  Immediately the meeting ended, former First Selectman called to Tom, congratulating him on his proposal which, Earl said, showed great forethought.  ”[The town will] get a better return than buying a grader!” Earl added.

_______________

Footnote: Selectman Bruce Gresczyk participated fully in the discussion regarding whether or not to regulate OWFs. Bruce and his family own Gresczyk Farms on Route 202 and they operate an OWF on their farm. At past meetings Bruce has voiced opposition to any regulation of OWFs; see our report of the May 25 Board of Selectmen meeting. Bruce had been asked at a previous Board of Selectmen meeting whether he would recuse himself from any upcoming discussion on OWF and he said he was considering doing so. After the August 24 meeting, being reported on above our reporter was asked by a number of residents to check in with the First Selectman to see whether a legal opinion had been sought on Bruce’s participation in the discussion at the meeting. First Selectman Dan Jerram said that he had consulted with the town attorney, Chip Roraback and he had been told that there was no conflict. Dan pointed to the outcome of the discussion ~ to send the issue back to the Planning and Zoning Commission asking them to include OWFs in their zoning regulations ~ and said that he was perfectly comfortable with the process.

________________

Board of Selectmen

Regular Meeting

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

7:00 PM

Town Hall

AGENDA

1.)Minutes

2.)Operations Updates

3.)Grants Updates

4.)Adoption of Non-Discrimination Resolution

5.)Adoption of Loan Resolution – USDA

6.)Outdoor Wood Burning Furnaces – Discussion

7.)Distribution of Brodie – Surdam Task Force Report

8.)Request for Tax Refunds

9.)Correspondence

10.)Opportunity for Public Comment

11.)Any Other Business to Come Before this Board

[Correction: The number of hours worked by Beth Paul is 20 hours for Burlington and 20 hours for New Hartford, not 15 hours for New Hartford as our reporter assumed in the original report.  The information regarding the breakdown of her hours was not forthcoming from the First Selectman's Office, therefore our reporter assumed that Beth was working the 35 hours specified by the employees' union contract since Beth is a union member.  Today our reporter confirmed unofficially that Beth's work hours are 20 hours for Burlington and 20 hours for New Hartford.  We have not been able to confirm officially whether the additional 5 hours are being paid to Beth as overtime; nor have we been able to confirm officially whether the town is being reimbursed by Burlington for a proportion of her salary and benefits, as has been customary when the town has contracted out its employees to other municipalities in the past; 7:15 p.m., Friday, July 23]

[Correction: The union representative corrected the statement regarding the union not being approached for concessions during the budgetary process as stated in this report.  The union said that the First Selectman had asked for concessions on the health insurance, the union wanted to negotiate saving the Administrative Assistant's position in the Land Use Office; this was not made negotiable by the First Selectman and no concessions were made by the union.  Subsequently, a part-time Administrative Assistant position was reinstated in the Land Use Office and has been filled; 7:30 p.m., Friday, July 23]

[Correction: The number of hours worked by the Registrars of Voters is 10 hours per week, plus any additional days required for elections; this number was incorrectly given as 15 in this article and has been changed to 10.  The corrected total hours worked by Lila Tuxbury are 20 hours per week, which still make her eligible to qualify for the town's pension plan.  We apologise for this incorrect number; 1:00 p.m., Thursday, July 22]

By: Maria Moore

With the Jerram administration now well into its 7th month in office, that is, over a quarter through its term, NewHartfordPlus is looking at the functioning of Town Hall to see what that might tell us about the current administration. Following is Part II of a two-part report that looks at the way the Jerram administration has handled personnel changes at Town Hall. Part I, published yesterday enumerated the changes in staffing at Town Hall that have occurred since the Jerram administration came into office on December 1, 2009.

Over the past 6 months or so our reporter has spoke many times with First Selectman Dan Jerram regarding personnel changes at Town Hall and the manner in which those changes are being handled. The last contact she had with him regarding staffing at Town Hall was at the beginning of last week, the week of July 12. On Thursday, July 15 she stopped by his office to speak with him about the vandalism at Brodie Park; on Friday, July 16 she stopped in again a few minutes before noon to ask him personnel-related questions for this article; however he had just left for his one-week vacation. Our reporter also speaks with Christine Hayward, Dan Jerram’s administrative Assistant several times a week regarding municipal personnel matters. Her last conversation with Christine regarding personnel matters at Town Hall was this afternoon, Wednesday, July 21.

Our reporter mentioned to First Selectman Dan Jerram this report on personnel changes at Town Hall that she was working on and he said that he had stepped into “a particularly challenging time” when his administration came into office.  He pointed out the fraud that he had had to deal with and also the recession which had a huge impact on his budget for this fiscal year. Our reporter acknowledged the challenges he faced but also pointed out that each administration has had to face its own challenges; for example, his predecessor, Earl MacInnes had to deal with getting the approval by the townspeople for the sewer plant and then getting the construction of that plant off the ground.  Dan emphasized that there are more positive things for our reporter to focus on, such as the road repairs that are ongoing.  A report on the road repairs will be forthcoming; however, this report will concentrate on how changes in personnel are being dealt with by the First Selectman since we believe this gives valuable insight into the management style of the Jerram administration.

Following is how some of the personnel changes outlined in Part I of this report have been, or are being handled by the First Selectman:

1.  The replacement of the Highway Superintendent

The day after the Highway Superintendent was suspended without pay on January 7 First Selectman Dan Jerram appointed fellow Republican Selectman Bruce Gresczyk as Interim Highway Superintendent.  Beginning January 8, Bruce was paid $30 per hour, without benefits and with the use of a town vehicle and a gas card.  Dan pointed out the need to have someone with experience step into the position immediately since it was the middle of winter and the town was almost out of salt.  Bruce had been First Selectman in town from the early ’90s through 1998 when he left that position to move to one at the state Department of Agriculture.

Selectman Bruce Gresczyk served as Interim Highway Superintendent from January 8 through March 12, when he resigned from the position to go back to work full-time on his family’s farming business.   During his two-month stint as head of the Highway Department, Bruce reported to both the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance that he had undertaken an extensive survey of the town roads, most of which he said were in “deplorable condition”.  Bruce completed that survey and helped set priorities for the roadwork to be done with the newly-elected First Selectman. Our reporter asked for a copy of Bruce’s report on the town roads and was told that Bruce had not produced a written report, neither was there a written list of priorities for road work to be undertaken; the First Selectman did show our reporter a photocopied map of the town with roads to be worked on highlighted in yellow.

Bruce also began a major tree-cutting operation in town because, as he reported to the Board of Selectmen and to the Board of Finance members, the town had neglected to keep up with tree maintenance and there were many trees that were a danger.  Our reporter asked at the end of a selectmen’s meeting what happened to the trees that were being cut down around town and she was told that they were left where they were cut and that the property owners normally took the wood.

On March 22, one week after Bruce had vacated the Interim Highway Superintendent position a new Interim Highway Superintendent (or Interim Highway Foreman as he corrected our reporter) was appointed by the First Selectman. That second Interim Highway Foreman is Doug Spencer, a 37-year veteran of the town’s Highway Department and the head of one of the town’s two road crew groups.

Our reporter checked in with the First Selectman’s Office about the “Interim” status of Doug Spencer’s appointment as Highway Foreman and she was told that it would continue for the foreseeable future.

2.  Resignation of the Town Hall Custodian and His Replacement

Norm Paul, the part-time Custodian at Town Hall worked early morning hours, completing his work before Town Hall staff arrived at work at 8:00 a.m.   Norm was informed in February by First Selectman Dan Jerram that he was needed to work during the hours that Town Hall was open.  Norm agreed to change most of his work hours to accommodate the new requirements, but not all.  This was unacceptable to the First Selectman and Norm resigned.

Our reporter asked what Norm’s work hours were when he was hired and she was told that he had been hired to work while Town Hall was open; however, he had been allowed to change his hours to early morning hours under a previous administration.

Norm’s position was not advertised as being available but rather was filled by word of mouth.  An Interim Custodian, who is related to a road crew member has been hired for the position.  However, since she is not available to work during the summer ~ she works at Brodie summer camp ~ the First Selectman’s Office advertised for a temporary summer Custodian.  A college student has been hired for the summer until the Interim Custodian is available to return to the position.  Our reporter asked whether there were any plans to hire someone permanently for that position, and was told that for now it was an interim position.

3. The suspension and retirement of the Land Use (Zoning) Officer

The town’s Zoning Officer, Karl Nilsen was suspended without pay on the basis of an internal investigation by the First Selectman of alleged time card fraud; please see our coverage of Karl’s suspension which led to his retirement.  At the beginning of this year our reporter had asked Karl about his retirement plans and Karl had responded that he had “another 5 years” before retiring.  Karl, however was openly unhappy with the new administration’s plan to eliminate the Administrative Assistant from the Land Use Office.  Like other office heads at Town Hall, he had not been asked to submit a department budget for the new fiscal year as had always been the practice of previous First Selectmen.   This year Karl and other other department heads were informed of what their budget would be and what cuts were being made.   The department heads were concerned about what the cuts proposed for their offices in the new budget and three of them attended the Saturday morning workshop held by the Board of Finance this past March; however, no public input was allowed at that workshop.

The internal investigation carried out by the First Selectman centered around Karl’s allegedly billing the same work hours to both New Hartford and Burlington.  While the investigation was ongoing our reporter asked the following questions of the First Selectman’s Office:

• Has there been a specific policy regarding employees to sign in and to sign out when leaving the building, as the new administration was now requiring all employees to do?  From what our reporter could gather, there was no set, written procedure; each First Selectman handled it differently, with the most recent First Selectman, Earl MacInnes not requiring anyone to sign in or out.
• Do employees have regular job performance reviews where they receive input regarding their performance and the expectations of their employer are clarified?  From the information our reporter was able to gather, it appears that employees at Town Hall do not receive job performance reviews or evaluations, nor have these been instituted by the Jerram administration.
• Is there an employee policy handbook, with specific guidelines and requirements of the employees at Town Hall?  Our reporter was told that there is no  employee policy handbook, nor are there any plans to put one together; rather, the response was that “we’re too small an organization” to put together an employee policy handbook.

Following the acceptance of Karl’s retirement request by the First Selectman on June 6, an Interim Zoning Officer was appointed.  Rista Malanca, who previously worked as the Administrative Assistant in the Land Use Office, has been appointed to the interim position.  A copy of the Memorandum of Understanding which was just signed last week was not available to our reporter.

4.  Bookkeeper’s Assistant Position

Roxanne Helt resigned from the Bookkeeper Assistant position in May.  Her resignation was not communicated generally to the other staff at Town Hall; however, Lila Tuxbury, the Republican Registrar of Voters, was observed being trained for the assistant bookkeeping position.

Roxanne’s position was not advertised as being available internally or in general, but rather was filled by the wife of the Vice Chairman of the Republican Town Committee, who is a close confidant of the First Selectman.  Our reporter asked about the lack of advertising and she was told that Town Hall is not required to advertise open positions.  Our reporter observed to the First Selectman and to his Administrative Assistant that, if only for appearance’s sake, she would have advertised the position.  Asked about Lila’s qualifications for the position, the First Selectman answered that she was qualified for the position, having in the past worked as a bank teller.

As noted in Part I of this report, the Bookkeeper’s Assistant position was cut from 15 hours per week to 10 hours per week;  however, since the Registrar of Voters also works 15 hours per week as a Registrar [ corrected to 10 hours per week plus any additional hours as required], the 25 hours per week make Lila eligible to qualify for the town pension plan.  [The corrected total, 20 hours per week still make Lila eligible to qualify for the town pension plan.]

However, the Assistant Bookkeeper position has not been officially filled.  Since May, the First Selectman’s Office has said that Lila Tuxbury is working as the Bookkeeper’s Assistant “on a trial basis.”  When questioned further about this, our reporter was told that they wanted to see if the position worked out for both parties.  As of the beginning of last week, July 12, the First Selectman confirmed that the position was still being filled on a trial basis.

Part-Time Administrative Assistant Hired For Land Use Office

The First Selectman commented several times since he took office that he believes that certain offices at Town Hall are overstaffed, specifically the Assessor’s Office and the Land Use Office.  At the time that he eliminated the Administrative Assistant position in the Land Use Office he said that support staff would be cross-trained to work in different departments, and that the Land Use Office would receive administrative support in this way.  However, a part-time Administrative Assistant position for the Land Use Office was advertised at the end of June and a new person has been hired for that position.  The position is now a 15-hour per week position.

Our reporter checked in with the First Selectman’s Office about the original plan for the administrative support for the Land Use Office to be provided by other employees at Town Hall.  She was told that that idea had been met with resistance by the employees concerned.  The First Selectman’s solution appears to have been to contract out the town’s Assessor to Burlington and to hire a part-time Administrative Assistant for the Land Use Office.

Cut In Funding Of Tax Collector Assistant Line Item May Hurt Bottom Line

[Please see the comment submitted by the Tax Collector clarifying and correcting some of the information below regarding her department]

Another notice on the doors of Town Hall is from the Tax Collector’s Office and it informs visitors that Notary services will not be available in the Tax Collector’s Office during the month of July, the busiest month of the year for the Tax Collector.  Our reporter stopped by the Tax Collector’s Office and Linda Sheffield informed her that the combination of cutting the funding in her Assistant line item, together with giving her Assistant the same raise as everyone else at Town Hall meant that this fiscal year, she will only be able to have her Assistant, Debbie Ventre work for 876 hours, rather than the 1030 hours Debbie worked last year.  This, despite the record collections by the Tax Collector’s Office last year.

Linda said that because she had Debbie available to follow up on collections, he office brought in $314,807 in back taxes owed; the previous year they had only been able to collect $115,000 in back taxes owed.   Her office also collected 98.5% of the adjusted grand levy; the Board of Finance assumed a 96% collection rate.  Linda attributes the exceptional tax collections of her office directly to her having the extra help available to follow up on collections, either directly or through hiring marshals.  This year, she said, they probably won’t be able to reach the same collection rates because she won’t have the same level of help from her assistant.  Linda also confirmed that with the cut in help, she cannot spare the time during her busy month, July to carry out Notary duties, as she has done in the past.  Requests for Notary services are being directed to the First Selectman’s Office.

Meeting The Challenge in Tough Financial Times

The First Selectman told our reporter that these were challenging times with the economy in recession.  The cutbacks in staffing and in the staff’s hours are his administration’s way of meeting that challenge.  However, one has to note that against this backdrop of cuts, his budget included 3.6% raise to non-union town employees, and he did not approach the employees’ union for concessions.  Our reporter spoke with the union representative, Nancy Eldridge who confirmed that the union had expected to be approached for concessions, and that the union had hoped to have been able tosave the Administrative Assistant position in the Land Use Office.  Nancy said that the First Selectman had never approached the union for concessions during the budget process and no concessions were offered by the union.  [The union subsequently corrected this by saying that the First Selectman had asked for concessions on the health insurance, the union hoped to save the Administrative Assistant's position in the Land Use Office; this was not made negotiable by the First Selectman and so the union made no concessions.  Subsequently, a part-time Administrative Assistant position was reinstated in the Land Use Office and has been filled.]

Part-Time Employees Also Eligible To Join Town Employees’ Union

During her discussions with the town employees’ union regarding staffing changes at Town Hall, our reporter was able to confirm that all part-time employees at Town Hall are eligible to join the employees’ union.  The assumption had been that part-time employees had to work at least 20 hours per week to be eligible; however, Mike Brady, the employees’ union attorney, confirmed the following to our repoter:

“As the plain language of the statute states, only part-time employees who work on a seasonal basis are excluded from MERA (see definition of employee). One who is employed for a period of more than 120 days per calendar year is covered by MERA regardless of the number of hours worked per week.”   Police Dept. of the Town of Windsor Locks v. Board of Labor Relations, 225 Conn. 297, 622 A2d 1005 (1993).

The town employees’ union representative confirmed that all existing and future part-time employees would be given the opportunity to join the employees’ union if they so wish.

[Part II of this report is in the process of being edited and will be published on Thursday. Thank you for your understanding; 9:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 21]

[Addition: We have added the Building Inspector's position in the section 'Other Cuts in Personnel' since the status of that position was changed from a part-time position to a contracted service, resulting in a cut in the funding for that position; many thanks to a friend of NewHartfordPlus who pointed out this omission in our report; 10:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 21]

[[Correction: The wording of the notice originally quoted at the beginning of this article is the wording in the Notices/Announcements section of the town's website. The notice on the doors at Town Hall is worded slightly differently. We have also added the wording of the notice on the doors to this article. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused; 9:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 21]

By: Maria Moore

With the Jerram administration now well into its 7th month in office, that is, over a quarter through its term, NewHartfordPlus is looking at the functioning of Town Hall to see what that might tell us about the current administration. Following is Part I of  a two-part report that looks at the changes in the staffing of Town Hall and the way the Jerram administration has handled those changes.  This report follows up on our June 29 report Notices and Help Wanteds: Town Hall.

If you have had occasion to go to Town Hall in the last month or so you will have been met by a notice prominently displayed on the doors of the building that says:

“NOTICE:

Please be advised that summer vacation schedules may have an impact on daily office staffing.

It is always best to call ahead to insure that staff in a certain office will be available to assist you if you have business to conduct that is of a specific nature.

If you have a question or concern, and no one is available to assist you, please stop by the Selectman’s Office.

We thank you in advance for your understanding of employees’ vacation schedules.”

A similar notice is also posted on the town’s website:

“NOTICE:

Town Hall office staffing may be impacted by summer vacation schedules. If you have specific business to conduct that requires the assistance of specific personnel, it is advised to call ahead to ensure that someone with the expertise required will be available to assist you. We thank you for your understanding of summer scheduling.”

Our reporter didn’t remember seeing a sign like this at Town Hall in previous years and she checked around informally to see if anyone else remembered such a notice in the past.  None of the half-dozen residents she asked could remember such an occurrence either.  On checking with Christine Hayward, the First Selectman’s Administrative Assistant, Christine said that there had been such a notice before and that perhaps people just hadn’t noticed it in the past.   The notice itself may be a moot point: if someone has gotten to the doors of the Town Hall to read the notice, then they may already have made that trip for naught if the person they need to see is out.  The notice is also posted on the Town’s municipal website under Notices/Announcements; however, someone interested in talking to the Assessor, for example, might not think of looking in another section for information pertaining to the Assessor’s Office.

During our own trips to Town Hall over the last couple of months we noticed the following disruption in the service of several offices:

• the Land Use office was unstaffed between Thursday afternoon and the following Tuesday morning during the Memorial Day weekend.  Rista Malanca, who was the only employee who would have been available to staff the office during that time was taking a combination of comp time and a vacation day during that holiday weekend period;
• during the 4th of July, a notice on the door of the Assessor’s Office informed the public that the office would be closed two days during that week.  Laura White was on vacation that week and Beth Paul, the town Assessor was working at the Burlington Town Hall.
• on a Friday morning, the general contractor for the St. John’s Episcopal Church addition was using the credenza in the reception area of the First Selectman’s Office to go through the plans for the addition that he would be leaving with Christine Hayward since the Land Use Office was unstaffed that day.

The service provided by some of the municipal offices has definitely been impacted; however, that is due more to the cuts in the hours and in the personnel of those offices than in the fact that it is summertime.  In the past, each office at Town Hall has been staffed by two employees who staggered their vacation times so that each office was staffed by a member of that office.  With the recent turnover in employees and cuts in the number of hours staff work, it is inevitable that service to the public should suffer.

Since last December 1, when the present administration came into office, the changes in staffing at Town Hall are as follows:

Terminations/Resignations:

1. January 6: Dan LeGeyt, full-time Highway Superintendent was suspended without pay while police investigated the larceny of town money and/or town property.  Dan LeGeyt’s employment was terminated on March 26 for thefts totalling approximately $3,500 over a three-year period.  Dan LeGeyt was one of the highest paid employees on the Town Hall staff with a salary of $63,116.66.  For the specific reasons given for Dan’s termination,  see our March 29 report Town Terminates Employment of Former Highway Superintendent…
2. February: Norm Paul, part-time custodian at the Town Hall, resigned after having been asked to change his work hours from early morning to coincide with the hours Town Hall is open. Norm and the First Selectman were not able to arrive at a mutually-acceptable work schedule and Norm resigned.  Norm earned $17,000 for his part-time position.
3. March 29: Karl Nilsen, full-time Land Use Officer, was suspended without pay while an internal investigation was being conducted into allegations of time card fraud.  Karl submitted a letter of retirement to the town effective April 22. On June 6, the Town reached a settlement with Karl whereby Karl gave up accrued benefits due to him and his retirement was backdated to March 29, the date he had been suspended without pay.  Karl was also one of the highest paid employees at Town Hall with a salary of $61,516.
4. May: Roxanne Helt, part-time Bookkeeper’s Assistant, resigned her position in May for personal reasons.  Roxanne worked 15 hours per week at a salary of $12,573.

Positions Eliminated/Unfunded/Cut In Current Fiscal Year’s Budget:

The following positions were eliminated by the First Selectman in his budget for the current Fiscal Year 2010/2011 which began on July 1, 2010:

1. One full-time road crew position was eliminated.  No-one was laid off due to the move of a crew leader into the Highway Superintendent’s position.
2. One full-time Administrative Assistant position in the Land Use Office was eliminated.  Rista Malanca, who was due to be laid off on June 30 was not laid off due to her move into the Land Use Officer position.  A part-time, 15-hour per week Administrative Assistant has recently been hired for this position.
3. One part-time Administrative Assistant position in the Rec Department was cut from the budget.  Christy Tellier, who works 15 hours per week, is being paid directly by the Rec Department out of its operating budget.  This effectively cut the Parks and Rec budget by $14,000, the amount of Christy’s salary.

Other Cuts In Personnel:

Other cuts in the hours of Town Hall employees made by the First Selectman in addition to the cuts outlined above and which were not part of the new fiscal year’s budget are:

1. The full-time Assessor’s hours available to service the Town’s needs have been cut from 35 hours to 15 hours.  Beth Paul, the Town Assessor has been contracted out for 20 hours per week to the town of Burlington.  When our reporter asked about the arrangement, she was told that Burlington pays a pro-rated amount for Beth’s services.  Beth continues to receive all full-time benefits from the Town of New Hartford, including being enrolled as a full-time employee in the Town’s pension plan.
2. The Tax Collector’s Assistant position has been cut back from 20 hours per week to 12 hours per week.  This means that Debbie Ventre, the assistant in that department is no longer eligible to be enrolled in the Town’s pension fund.  To be eligible for a town pension, the employee must work at least 1,000 hours per year which breaks down to approximately 20 hours per week.
3. The Bookkeeper’s Assistant position has been cut back from 15 hours per week to 10 hours per week.  However, Lila Tuxbury, who is now filling this position is now eligible to be enrolled in the Town’s pension fund because she also works 15 hours per week as the Republican Registrar of Voters; the hours of the two positions combined total 25 hours, more than the approximately 20 hours per week needed to qualify for a town pension.
4. The Building Inspector’s position was changed from a part-time position to a contracted service; see our report of the March 23 Board of Selectmen meeting that includes the First Selectman’s announcement that the Building Inspector’s position had been modified.  As a contracted service provider, Paul Volovski, the town’s long-time Building Inspector was to limit his hours to no more than 15 hours per week at a rate of $40 per hour.   This reduced his salary of $40,558 as a part-time employee to a maximum of $31,200 as a contracted service provider.

These, then are the cuts that have been made to the staffing levels of the different municipal offices.  Part II of this report will look at how staffing decisions have been made by the Jerram administration.

The notice on the right advises visitors that not all Town Hall services may be available due to summertime staffing. Photo: Maria Moore

Following is the latest wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) construction progress report #11, emailed to us by Denton Butler of the Building Oversight Committee (BOC)

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TO: Board of Selectmen
FROM: WWTP – Building Oversight Committee (BOC)
SUBJECT: Project Status Report #11
DATE: June 24, 2010

(1) Item: Construction Progress

Status: As of June 23 the WWTP upgrade is 413 days (56%) into the allotted 2-year contract period. The project is estimated at 86% completion (in the amount of the revised contract value of $7,213,480. This reflects the adoption of (3) Change Orders totaling $415,743.  A total of $6,239,057 has been expended to date. (Please refer to the financial summary at the end of this Report.)

(d) Automated screen mechanism

On May 25 all sewage processing equipment required to meet the provisions of the NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit were placed into service and the new WWTP was made operational. Following an “all go” operation of the new Plant for approximately one week, the old processing plant was decommissioned. The nearly (60) year-old metal sedimentation tanks were drained, washed and crushed. Subsequently, two 12′x60′ cement EQ (equalization) tanks were set in place. (See photos.) The equalization tanks hold partially treated influent that is sent through the filtering system and UV processing before being released into the Farmington River. The footings for the last of our prefab buildings (lab/admin) were poured this week. Frost walls will be poured within the next (10) days and the lab/admin building set in place during July.

CHN  (C. H. Nickerson) will be seeking status of “partial completion” from the Feds and Engineers and New Hartford, as the Owner. Three stages of completion will be recognized in this project: Partial, Substantial and Final Completion. Partial completion status starts warrantees for those mechanicals placed in service and requires the Town to provide insurance coverage under its policy. Substantial completion will provide for all systems operational with only minor “punch list” items to be completed. The Town’s Building Inspector will then do a “walk-through” and submit regulatory standard forms to the design engineers to substantiate compliance with acceptable practices and building codes. Final completion as the name denotes is Contract Completed.

Our continued thanks to John Chudzik, CDM for taking the pictures accompanying this report.) (a) Sludge Tank Removal; (b) Aeration Tank Disposal; (c) New EQ Tanks; (d) Automated Screen Mechanism.

Item #2:  Change Orders And Credits

Status: A series of PCOs (Proposed Change Orders) have yielded Change Order #4 to include: an outdoor lighting change; influent manhole replacement; replacement hot water heater; and a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) for the EQ Pump. A series of other job credits offset all but $5,648.86 of the additional cost. Further reductions in the value of the contract from engineering and construction costs are expected and will be projected in the next BOC progress report.

(3) Item: Buy American Provisions

Status: The BOC prevailed in its appeal for a waiver for non-American made heating/air-conditioning units. Our analysis of the last American manufactured product yielded a review that showed an inflated price; a less than high quality product and possible issues involving ongoing replacement parts. USDA concurred.

(4) Item: Funding Initiatives – USDA Application Status

Status: NO COMMENTS

(5) Item: Near-term Project Look Ahead

Status: The immediate look ahead includes: pouring frost walls – lab/admin building; bank stabilization; lab/admin building placement; old lab building refurbishing; placement of crushed stone; establishment of walkways; driveway blacktopping; and landscaping.

(6) Item: Integration of A Plant Operator

Status: Three interim Operators have been qualified in the operation of the WWTP systems until such time as the WPCA approves a new Operator for the Plant.

Financial Summary As of June 23, 2010

(a) Sludge tank removal. Â Photo: John Chudzik

(b) Aeration tank disposal. Photo: John Chudzik

(c) New EQ tanks. Photo: John Chudzik

For all the best reasons in the world ~ or the worst, depending on which side of the table you’re sitting on ~ our reporter has fallen behind on writing up reports of meetings she has attended. She has now been instructed to catch up through a series of meeting briefs over the next several days, which she will attempt to do. As always, please be sure to read the official minutes of meetings which are posted in the Minutes/Agendas section of the town’s municipal website when they become available.

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At its May 11 meeting, the main business of the Board of Finance (BOF) members was handled at the end, when, under item ‘VIII. Other Items to Come Before the Board,’ they set the mill rate for the upcoming fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2010. Before that, some of the other items discussed were:

Agenda Item #I. Superintendent’s Report Dr. Philip O’Reilly, Superintendent of New Hartford Schools, reported to the BOF on the items contained in our May 8 report …BOE Looks To Next Year….

Those items included reinstating positions that had been cut due to savings the schools had been able to realize partly through two retirements of veteran teachers and by signing a new 5-year contract with Dattco, the bus company. Philip also reported on the boiler replacement at Antolini which was also expected to cost less than had been previously projected. BOF questions were centered on whether the schools had enough money to cover the personal day/sick day buyouts which Philip said they did, and on details of the boiler installation.

Agenda Items #V: Opportunity for Public to Speak; and VI.WPCA Update

Noting that no representative from the WPCA was at the meeting to give an update, Denton Butler, BOC (Building Oversight Committee) member expressed his strong concern about the way the WPCA was operating which, he said, “was not proceeding in a manner and at a speed to benefit the town of New Hartford.”  Saying that the wastewater treatment plant would reach substantial completion by the end of June, Denton laid out a number of his concerns to the BOF members, including:

• there was still no quotation for an operator for the plant;
• reporting to the DEP was still deficient and without that reporting the DEP will not release any money;
• funding opportunities for sewer extensions would expire in July and the WPCA has not pursued that funding;
• and that user fees can’t exceed 2% of residents’ median income, limiting the amount that can be raised from users which may then come back on non-users.

Ben Witte, BOF chairman informed the other members of the Board of Finance that Bill Michaud of the WPCA had emailed him to let him know that he wouldn’t be able to make the meeting.  Ben then said: “There seems to be conflict between the WPCA and the BOC. Any time they have brought up issues here the conflict seems to subside and then rise again.” Jim Fitzgerald commented: “It’s a business, and they need to run it as such. We have asked for a 5-year projection and we still don’t have that.” Jim ended by saying he “would have the Board (WPCA) step up or resign and elect someone else who’ll do it.” Dan Jerram, First Selectman added his viewpoint: “I can’t contest what Denton has said. It’s not like any other enterprise ~ it’s a “fee for service” enterprise. The ability to meet deadlines is becoming a greater and greater concern. The request for proposal for operator ~ they kicked it to a consultant and paid $8,000 to do it. They could have done that last year.”

After more discussion Ben suggested putting together a subcommittee to address the matter, but Dan Jerram said he wasn’t sure if he could do that. He said the selectmen could put it on their agenda. Jim proceeded to give more input but Ben responded: “Let the selectmen have a try at it.” And he told Jim to go to the Board of Selectmen if he had any more input. “Ben’s last words on the matter: “I’m just frustrated we keep talking about it!”

As his final Public Comment, Denton said: “I urge you not to increase taxes but draw down reserves to cover any increase in taxes.” Our reporter seconded that request.

Agenda Item #VII, Reports

Treasurer’s Report: Gordon Ross, town Treasurer reported that the town had received the ECS (Education Cost Sharing) money from the state, and that the town’s tax collection rate was 98%, which he said was good.

First Selectman’s Report: Dan Jerram reported that there had been a low turnout for the budget referendum but that it had passed the first time. On the line item transfers, he said Chip (Roraback, the town’s attorney) was considering his position about the line item transfers. Asked about the washout, Dan said that the Inland Wetlands (Commission) has revised it (the plan) a bit and that a second soil scientist was looking at it (the washout area).

Laura Sundquist brought up the fact that the town has two polling stations and that, in talking to Daria and Lila (the town’s Registrars of Voters) they don’t want two. Reggie Smith Jr. said he likes his polling station exactly where it is (Reggie votes in the South End Firehouse); Jim Fitzgerald said there should be only one and that it should be in Bakerville, which has the greater population. Gordon Ross said that in Canton they had passed their budget at a town meeting. Both Dan Jerram and Ben Witte were of the opinion that they had a bigger turnout (with a referendum) compared to a town meeting. Reggie, thinking back to his time as First Selectman in the early 90s with a very active Taxpayers’ Association said: ” I have seen 20 people (at a town meeting) or 500 ready to lynch you!”

Agenda Item #VIII. Other Items to Come Before the Board

The Board of Finance members then discussed setting the mill rate which Ben said they had to do at that meeting in order to get the tax notice out to the taxpayers. Without a copy of the mil rate calculation sheet ~ there were just enough copies for the Board of Finance members ~ and without other visual aids, our reporter had a difficult time following the technical part of the mil rate discussion. The final outcome of the discussion is as follows, as emailed to our reporter by Ben Witte on May 12 in his correction to the figures she had incorrectly reported in our May 12 Grapevine:

“The tax increase is 0.42% (not 0.1%). The mill rate is 0.10 mils increase. This is identical to what was presented at the budget hearing (0.33% tax incr, 0.08 mils & 96% collections), with a slight change to the grand list based on BAA (Board of Assessment Appeals) appeals settlements subsequent to the hearing.”

Following is some of the discussion surrounding the setting of the mill rate.

Ben asked the question: “What do we want to set for the mill rate and for the collection rate?” And then he went around the table getting each BOF member’s response:

• Roy Litchfield: Roy said: “”I’d like to go to zero and would like to see us discuss zero increase in the mill rate. we can do that by adjusting mill rate, and have the opportunity to finance any shortfall shoul it materialize. I really think we started at zero, came close, can keep it at zero.”
• Reggie Smith, Jr.: Reggie asked if anyone had a list of the collection rate over the last 5 years and Ben answered: “The collection rate has been over 98%. We can do anything we like with it.” Ben then cautioned that there was a tight collection rate coming up, that they hadn’t adjusted for appeals.   Reggie asked about moving money from the surplus fund.  ”We can’t move money from surplus after the budget is passed, correct?” Ben agreed, saying the only thing they can change is the collection rate.  Reggie said that they had told voters they would take an additional $30,000 (out of the surplus?) to get to zero.  Ben calculated what the collection rate would have to be to get to zero, and he came up with 96.4.  He said: “If we go at 96, we can put that as a hedge for next year.”  Reggie’s final word: “I’m very concerned about the revenue from the state. I support support 96.4%.”
• Laura Sundquist: ”I admire going for 0%. We’ve passed it and I would rather keep it for insurance for next year.”
• Alesia Kennerson: Alesia agreed with Laura, supporting a 96% collection rate.  ”I accept the figures as on the sheet (mill rate calculation sheet), and keep it as insurance for next year.”
• Jim Fitzgerald said: “(The difference is) so small, and based on what we said, stick with it.”
• Gordon Ross said: “Nobody would really notice it.”
• Ben said: “We will want to budget 97% for next year.   I recommend (we) take 96 and go with that.”
• Dan Jerram said: “It wouldn’t bother me either way.”
• Jim Fitzgerald asked what the collection rate had been over the last two years and Gordon answered: “98.6% Annie (Witte, the town Bookkeeper) told me today.”

Ben then proposed a motion based on a collection rate of 96%.   However, before it could be voted on, Denton Butler asked to speak and in a very forceful tone of voice, he asked whether they had considered how it would be interpreted by their constituents, when they came in with an increase?  ”The last time the collection rate has been at 96% was in ’91-’92.”  He pointed out.     “The bigger issue is if you have the fortitute to stand your ground.” Denton went on. “I defended you through this process. You lost, and now you’re dinking around over the collection rate.”

Denton’s remarks led to another round of discussion over the collection rate.  Jim asked Ben directly what the collection rate is and Ben answering: “98% plus if it makes a difference to you!”  The Board touched on the fact that they had initially said 0% and then had presented 0.8%, which the voters had approved. Ben said that they had been very open at public meetings, and that the additional funds (collected) always go towards funding the next year’s budget.  Never one to like to pay taxes before they’re due, our reporter commented that as a taxpayer, she’d rather the town collected only the taxes needed to fund the budget, rather than to keep collecting more and then putting it towards next year’s budget.

With everyone having had an opportunity to have their say, Denton said: “It’s a philosophy.  I’ve had my say ~ move to a vote.”  Reggie also asked they move to a vote, which the Board did.  Roy who is an alternate on the Board, did not vote. All the other Board members, with the exception of Reggie Smith Jr., voted in favor of the motion, which set the mill rate at 0.08 mils based on 96% collections.

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Board of Finance Meeting, Tuesday, May 11, 2010

AGENDA

I.Seating of Alternates
II.Adoption/Revision of Agenda
III.Superintendent / BOE Report – Dr. O’Reilly
IV.Approval of Minutes a.3/9/10 – Regular Meeting b.3/13/10 – Special Meeting c.3/23/10 – Special Meeting d.4/6/10 – Special Meeting e.4/13/10 – Regular Meeting
V.Opportunity for Public to Speak
VI.WPCA Update
VII.Reports: a.Bookkeeper’s Report – Annie Witte b.Treasurer’s Report – Gordon Ross c.First Selectman’s Report – Dan Jerram
VIII.Other Items to Come Before the Board
IX.Adjournment

A view of Town Hall from under the fragrant tree in front of the Misiorski building across Route 44. Photo: Maria Moore

A Note from the NewHartfordPlus crew: A comment was made at the end of this meeting to the effect that NewHartfordPlus would misreport the meeting anyway.  For the record, our reporter does her best to report on the wide array of topics discussed in the many meetings she attends ~ and not always with the benefit of documents handed out to board members.  If you are aware of an error in our reports, please let us know and we will publish the correction, clarification,  etc. as soon as we become aware of it.  Our corrections are noted at the top of the report in question.  The only corrections we are not able to make are those that would knowingly favor one political viewpoint over another, or one group of residents over another.  As Bob, our techie, is fond of reminding us: “We want to stay playful at this!”

By: Maria Moore

Yesterday evening’s Board of Selectmen meeting at 5:30 p.m. was a brief one, with the Selectmen moving through the agenda items at a steady pace and ending by 6:05 ~ just in time to get home to dinner for those who were not staying for the 7:00 p.m. Board of Finance meeting.

Following is a report on some of the items on the Selectmen’s May 11 meeting agenda; the full agenda is listed at the end of this article.  As always, please be sure to read the official minutes which will be posted on the town website once they become available.

3.  Operations

Budget Referendum: First Selectman Dan Jerram said that the budget referendum had gone well, with a 2:1 approval by the voters of the budget on the first try.  He added the head moderator’s sheet of the vote count to the record of the meeting.

Roads: Dan said that guard rail posts are now being worked on by the road crew.  He also said that Glasso (company) is specing out the roads to be worked on ~ Southeast, Burwell, Steele and Kinsey ~ and then they’ll figure out the chip sealing.   Regarding the West Hill Road overlay, Dan said two bids had come in.

Parking on Central Avenue: Dan said he has talked with the Beekley Library Board about using some of the Foothills land for parking and the Board members seemed receptive to it. They’re continuing to work on it.  The Foothills land is the grassy area between the old library building and the new library on Central Avenue. The Foothills Trader was located there when it was locally-owned.

Wastewater Treatment Plant: Selectman Tom Klebart asked when the sewer plant would be coming online and Dan said: “It’s ready to go” and mentioned the end of May.

5. Resignations from Boards/Commissions – WPCA, Conservation

WPCA: Dan announced that MaryBeth Greenwood, who has been on the WPCA for just over a year, has resigned due to personal reasons.  Steve Hanright was appointed to the WPCA on Dan’s recommendation.  Tom asked if there was still a vacancy on the WPCA, and Dan said there was, that they were waiting for the WPCA to complete the revision of their charter before appointing someone else.

Conservation: Chris James on the Conservation Commission is moving out of state and has resigned from the Commission.  The Selectmen will be looking for a replacement for Chris.

Commission on Aging: Dan proposed Penny Miller for the vacancy on the COA and the selectmen approved Penny for that Commission.

8.  Set Time, Date, Manner of Special Town Meeting

A Special Town Meeting was set for Thursday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m. to act on an easements from Mary Ann Gunning (Emergency Access easement) and St. John’s Church.  The easements are to allow the WPCA access to lines located near the walkway to be constructed as part of the new addition at the back of the church; see the April 12 press release from St. John’s.  To read a downloadable copy of the Notice of Special Meeting, please see the link at the end of this report.

10. Correspondence:

Paul Volovski, the town Building Inspector, sent in a letter saying that the Rec Commission wants to take out the boathouse at Brodie Park since it was unsafe.  Paul agreed that the structure was unsafe.  The selectmen approved taking down the building.

11. Any Other Business to Come Before this Board

Bill Baxter, former First Selectman, had come to the meeting with copies for the Selectmen of paperwork related to the Northwest Chamber of Commerce’s initative to set up an Economic Development District.  This district would include towns in Litchfield county and the northwest corner.   Bill Baxter had recently made a presentation to the town’s Economic Development Commission on the Chamber’s initiative and the town had contributed a small sum [$250? ~ to be confirmed] towards a study for such a district.  Bill told the Selectmen that state funding agencies would now be looking at funding on a regional, rather than a municipal level.  The state has also passed legislation limiting the number of regions in the state to 8, and Bill said that small towns in our area need to hurry, or they may end up being assigned to economic development regions with Danbury or Waterbury.  Tom expressed the apparent feeling of the Selectmen when he said: “I’d rather be absorbed by Torrington or Winsted, rather than Danbury!”  Dan said that the LHCEO (Litchfield Hills Council of Elected Officials had taken a little time to get on board) but they now saw the need for it.

LID (Low Impact Development Stakeholders’ Group): Tom said that the LID was progressing nicely and they were finding that it worked well with the new regulations (the proposed regulations that will soon come into effect.)

The meeting ended shortly after 6 and our reporter went home for a while, leaving Reggie Smith, Jr., the only other member of the public at the meeting, to relax a little in the conference room before the Board of Finance meeting at 7 p.m.

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To read a downloadable copy of the Notice of Special Meeting: Please click on the following link: Notice of Special Town Meeting, May 20 (197).

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Board of Selectmen
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
5:30 PM

AGENDA

1.) Minutes – April 13, 2010; April 20, 2010
2.) Opportunity for Public Comment
3.) Operations Updates
4.) Grants Updates
5.) Resignations from Boards/Commissions – WPCA, Conservation
6.) Appointment to WPCA – Steve Hanright
7.) Authorization to sign 2010/2011 Sand/Salt State Contract
8.) Set Time, Date, Manner of Special Town Meeting
9.) Request for Tax Refunds
10.) Correspondence
11.) Any Other Business to Come Before this Board

St. John's Episcopal Church in Pine Meadow with the red banner across the front announcing the building of its new addition. Photo: Maria Moore

Following are the Community Calendar listings for today in New Hartford, CT:

Tuesday,April May 11, 2010:

• New Hartford Senior Center activities: at Senior Center, Town Hall, 530 Main St., New Hartford. Activities: Fitness at 10:45 a.m. ($2.50 per person, per class, includes a fitness card which is stamped for every class attended); Cribbage ‘n cards at 1:00 p.m. For more information please call Jean Barnicoat at 860-379-3980 between 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.
• Early Literacy Program: Comprehension Session: at 9:30 a.m. at the Beekley Library, 10 Central Avenue, New Hartford. For more information about this Early Literacy Program please see the flyer posted in our Bulletin Board or call the Library at 860-379-7235.
• Bakerville Library Story Time for 3 to 5 year-olds: at 10:15 a.m. Bakerville Library, 6 Maple Hollow Road, New Hartford. For more information about the library please visit the Bakerville Library website.
• Board of Selectmen Regular Meeting: at 5:30 p.m. at the Town Hall, 530 Main Street, New Hartford. For the agenda for this meeting please see our Calendar.
• Board of Finance Meeting: at 7:00 p.m. in the Senior Center at the Town Hall, 530 Main Street, New Hartford. For the agenda for this meeting please see our Calendar.
• The Landscape of the American Mystery Novel: Blind Descent by Nevada Barr: at 7:00 p.m. at the Beekley Library, 10 Central Avenue, New Hartford. Book discussion with Pat D’Ascoli, editor of CT Muse. For more information about this book discussion series, pleas see our February 4 article The Landscape of the American Mystery Novel…
• Have a Spring-related business you want to advertise?: Check out our BRAND NEW Yellow Pages: an economical, simple way to get your business in front of our 32,066 visitors (this past March). Use the “Submit Your Listing” form to send us your information and we’ll list your business. Looking for a lawn care service? Check our Yellow Pages where we’ll be listing companies as soon as their info. is submitted to us.

Our Calendar section provides additional information about the events listed above and information on past, current and future events – a permanent record of events in New Hartford. Also check out our Bulletin Board where you can see flyers on events happening around town, and where we have listed information on local non-profit groups.

…NHGrapevine…

“Not everyone has the same visual: I suggest a town outing or picnic to show where they would put their projects.”

One of the suggestions made by a resident at last night’s public forum to collect ideas of uses for Brodie Park South. A larger than usual number of residents turned out for the meeting that began the public participation in the development of a long-term plan for the property; see our upcoming article on this meeting.

Contribute to the …NHGrapevine… Let us know what you’ve heard – or seen – in town and we’ll add it to this listing, and also add it to the …NHGrapevine.. section. So let’s hear what you’re hearing around town…

The entrance to the Town Hill Cemetery in dappled sunlight. Photo: NewHartfordPlus archives

It’s been six months since our article An NPR Moment: An Important Message From Our Editor and I won’t bore you by running through the wonderful reasons why you should support NewHartfordPlus financially.  But maybe I will ~ just a tad:

• An average 1,000 visitors per day come to NewHartfordPlus for their local news coverage ~ a lot of interest in the happenings of our small town of 6,500+ residents;
• Our blow-by-blow news coverage of issues we consider important is unequalled: just look back in our archives beginning in January and see for yourself our comprehensive coverage of the recent budget process ~ over 30 articles (feels more like 300!) covering all New Hartford Schools Board of Ed meetings, all Board of Selectmen meetings, most of Regional #7 Board of Ed meetings and all but one of the Board of Finance meetings (the one I didn’t report on was my symbolic boycott: the April 13 meeting after the Public Hearing on the budget when the Board of Finance made no changes to their proposed budget ~ although I did report the essential outcome of that meeting in the Grapevine quote the next in our April 14 Daily Calendar);
• our attendance at an average of 4 meetings per week, including town boards and commissions, and non-profits.  And this means attending the full meeting, not just a 10-minute stop ~ long enough to shoot a 1-minute video clip, write down 2-3 quotes and then leave ~ as one of the local reporters for one of the newspapers covering our town is now in the habit of doing.
• our unaffiliated view on town politics and events which means sometimes I’ll speak up at meetings and ask the hard questions ~ mostly the ones which residents suggest I ask since they, for their own good reasons, feel they can’t ask publicly;
• link our community in person: one of the huge pleasures of being out in our community at different meetings and events, is being able to connect residents with other residents and local organizations just by saying at the right time: “Oh, so and so would love to contribute to your cause/would be really interested in your service/offers the service you’re looking for/have you thought of getting in touch with…? …”
• link our community on the web:  so many residents let us know “I read about it on NewHartfordPlus!”, “I’m so glad you mentioned that!…”

The only thing that has changed in the last 6 months is that my work hours at my paying job have now increased to an average of 30 hours per week, while Bob continues to work full-time.  NewHartfordPlus is our “extra-curricular” activity, taking up an average of 80 hours per week.  You do the math.  Suffice it to say that when we took a 2-hour break this past Sunday to start work on our garden, we both said: “We have to make time to do this!”

OK, here’s the pitch:

If you enjoy coming to NewHartfordPlus at least a couple of times per week, and you find something that makes you feel more connected to our community, then Bob and I are asking you to consider adding NewHartfordPlus to your “Must Support” list.  $10 per month, gets you listed on our Stakeholders page which we really will get updated ~ another “housekeeping chore” which we’ve put below “cover the news” on our to-do list.

We are not asking the non-profit organization you belong to ~ only one of which in the past 16 months has made a financial contribution to our local news site.  But of course, we would gladly welcome any contribution from any of the non-profits whose events we cover, and to whom we provide a link on our home page to their organization’s website, all for free.

We are not asking the Republican Town Committee or the Democratic Town Committee ~ which appear to interpret “Unaffiliated” to mean “One of Them,” even if the large number of voters in New Hartford identify themselves as “Unaffiliated.”

We are asking YOU, our reader, to consider supporting this independent, local news source that continues to link you to our community and our community to you.  Whether you consider us “the blog“, as Ben Witte, the Board of Finance Chairman, referred to NewHartfordPlus in his comment blasting our “slanted coverage” and in which he gave the results of the budget referendum to our readers even as our reporter was down at Town Hall waiting for the results ~ or as the closest thing to a local newspaper since the “New Hartford News” ceased publication in the 1950s [ ? gotta check the name and the date with Dina Waker, our original reporter about town] ~ NewHartfordPlus IS the place to catch up on our local news.

So, until another unaffiliated news source takes our place (Please let us know and we’ll help you get started!), or I decide I really am more interested in pursuing a Masters in Social Work than in being the self-appointed town reporter/photographer/editor 24/7:

Your financial support is critical in continuing to keep NewHartfordPlus reporting on our community!

Thank You,

Maria

P.S.  I’ve promised myself today that, even with two back-to-back meetings to cover this evening, many “hot irons in the fire,” and 150 unread emails in my Inbox, I will find the time to plant the two pink lily of the valley I bought at the Garden Club’s Plant Sale last Saturday, because as Bob reminded me again this morning:

“We’ve gotta stay playful at this!”

Watch for the photo of the two planted pink lily of the valley plants  in tomorrow’s Daily Calendar…

Ways to contribute to NewHartfordPlus:

• Send a check to NewHartfordPlus at P.O. Box 667, New Hartford, CT 06057
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Or, in the traditional, country way: right now we’re in need of a coupla bales of hay for our garden…

The wisteria is blooming freely again on the large maple opposite the Moore's home, a glorious reminder that "tempus fugit" and the opportunity to plant a spring garden is a fleeting one: Seize it! Photo: NewHartfordPlus archives

By: Maria Moore

Resignation Letter received by Town

Karl Nilsen, the town’s Land Use Coordinator (which includes the functions of Zoning Officer and Inland Wetlands Officer) submitted a letter of resignation to the town of New Hartford on April 22, notifying the town of his retirement effective April 22.  The letter, addressed to First Selectman Dan Jerram, was hand-delivered to the First Selectman’s Office on the same day that Karl officially resigned from his part-time position as Zoning Officer in the town of Burlington; see copy of Karl’s resignation letter at the end of this report.

The news of Karl’s resignation letter to the town was first reported by Kari Banach in today’s print and online issue of the Republican American and was later picked up by the Register Citizen on its website.   The news of Karl’s resignation from his part-time position in Burlington was first reported by David Hutter of the Register Citizen on April 24; David’s report made no mention of Karl’s resignation from his New Hartford full-time position.  Karl’s resignation from both positions came exactly one week after the Register Citizen published, on April 15, 20 pages of documents related to the investigation which the newspaper obtained from the First Selectman following an FOI (Freedom of Information) request seeking all documentation related to Karl’s suspension; see also our April 15 report announcing that NewHartfordPlus would not be publishing those documents, believing their release to be premature due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.

Karl’s Resignation Not Acted Upon By Town

Our reporter’s uppermost question of the First Selectman’s Office this morning was to ask why her almost daily question of “Are there any developments?” or “Are there any changes?” to the ongoing investigation did not elicit the letter. The response from the First Selectman was: “It depends on how you ask the question. Your question has to be specific.” “So my asking if there were any developments in the zoning office situation wasn’t enough?” “No, because there haven’t been any developments as far as the town is concerned.” First Selectman Dan Jerram said, adding that Karl’s status with the town is unchanged: he is still an employee. Dan added that if the town terminates Karl for cause, then he won’t be eligible for a pension or benefits. Dan provided our reporter with two photocopies supporting this:

• the first, Section 7 from the municipal employees’ union contract which says that unused personal and compensatory time, and one-third of the portion of sick leave accumulated will be forfeited if the employee is terminated for cause;
• and the second, Section 12.2 from the town Pension Fund, which says that if an employee is involuntarily terminated due to fraud or dishonesty, at the discretion of the Retirement Board, he will forfeit payments and benefits under the fund.

Our reporter asked whether the retirement package had been forwarded to Karl and Christine Hayward, the First Selectman’s Assistant said that there is no retirement package, that normally the employee informs the First Selectman of their intention to retire and the First Selectman then asks the pension fund company to calculate the employee’s benefits. Our reporter asked if the town had done that for Karl and the response was that the town had not done so.

Our reporter then asked whether the employees’ union had been informed of Karl’s letter and Dan said he had communicated with the union after the weekend; Dan did not release a copy of his communication to the union. Our reporter then spoke with Nancy Eldridge, the employees’ union president, specifically when she had received a communication from the First Selectman’s Office and Nancy said: “On Tuesday afternoon.” ~ three days after Karl’s letter had been received, and on the same day that the Board of Selectmen’s meeting had been cancelled, and the Annual Budget meeting where, without discussion, the budget was sent to referendum for a “Yes” or “No” vote.

Conversation With Attorney Rosenblatt, Karl’s Attorney

This afternoon our reporter spoke with Attorney Leon Rosenblatt, an attorney specializing in employment and labor law, regarding Karl’s status. Attorney Rosenblatt emphasized two points:

1. As he had told Kari Banach for her interview, an employer cannot decline an employee’s resignation.  ”We don’t have slaves or indentured servants in the US!”
2. The town will find that the provision in the Pension Fund regarding forfeiture of an employee’s pension is not legal.   Attorney Rosenblatt said that Karl has been employed by the town for 25 years and that: “Forfeiture of an employee’s pension rights isn’t in the cards.”

This report will be updated as more information becomes available.

The information on the letterhead has been whited out to preserve the privacy of an individual, in accordance with our policy on NewHartfordPlus

By: Maria Moore

Before This Evening’s Town Annual Budget Meeting

The New Hartford Annual Budget Meeting, scheduled for this evening at 7:00 p.m. would have,  in times past, brought together voters to debate next year’s budget line by line, make changes where they saw fit, and then approve the budget ~ or not, as was known to happen.

Tonight’s town Annual Budget Meeting, a shadow of its former self, having been stripped of its purpose by the Selectmen at a Special Meeting on Tuesday, April 20, is set to draw only a handful of participants, most of them required to attend by their official roles: the three Selectmen (maybe), the Town Clerk, a Moderator; and one or two reporters.  Why would any voters interrupt their dinner?  No discussion of the proposed budget will be allowed at the meeting and the referendum date of May 4 has already been set.  Even the Board of Selectmen meeting, which should have preceded the Annual Budget Meeting, has been cancelled, and with it, residents’ last opportunity to address the content of the proposed budget before the referendum date.

Our reporter attended the town Annual Budget Meeting that is no longer an Annual Budget Meeting and was back home within a half-hour.

Meeting Summary

At 7:07 p.m., the town Annual Budget Meeting was over.   Reggie Smith, Jr. was elected Moderator, a role Reggie graciously takes on.  He read through the Notice of Annual Budget Meeting, and the Budget, untouched by the Board of Finance at their last meeting, was sent to referendum on the predetermined date of Tuesday, May 4.

Our reporter underestimated the number of people at the meeting. At its beginning, the following were present:

• First Selectman Dan Jerram;
• Selectmen Tom Klebart and Bruce Gresczyk;
• Town Clerk Donna LaPlante;
• Moderator and Board of Finance member Reggie Smith, Jr.;
• Board of Finance Chairman Ben Witte;
• Board of Finance members Roy Litchfield and Laura Sundquist;
• and our reporter.

As the brief meeting concluded, Board of Finance Member Alesia Kennerson joined her fellow Board of Finance members, and the Register Citizen reporter arrived with his video camera.

Conversation With Town Clerk Donna LaPlante

Our reporter checked in with Donna LaPlante and asked if she remembered when the townspeople actually attended Town Budget Meetings to discuss the budget. Donna replied that yes, she remembered it well. “The meetings used to be held at Pine Meadow Elementary to accommodate the people.” Donna said. Our reporter asked if there were really that many people who showed up at the meetings and Donna said that it wasn’t unusual for 100 voters to show up at the Town Budget Meeting. “That’s when they could discuss the budget and cut or eliminate line items from the budget before voting on it.” Donna said.

Elevator Conversation With Ben Witte

Riding down in the elevator one flight with Ben Witte and Bruce Gresczyk, our reporter told Ben that with all the Board of Finance members who showed up at the meeting, she was way off on the estimate she had given in her short report before the meeting. Ben answered that he wasn’t going to go to the meeting, but that on reading the statute he thought he’d better be there in case the budget didn’t go to referendum and he’d be needed to present a budget. As the elevator doors opened, our reporter asked Ben: “You mean you had a budget with you?” At which Ben smiled, holding his portfolio in hand, and the elevator doors closed.

Our Reporter’s/Editor’s Take

There is something slightly uncomfortable in attending a public meeting whose main reason for being has been removed, and at which no public input may be given ~ despite Reggie’s adding that anyone with a question could speak to the First Selectman personally after the meeting.   All present followed an unwritten script, from which there seemed no room for deviation.

Looking back on this 7-minute town Annual Budget Meeting, one has to wonder whether the time has come to bury this construct of a public meeting, and proceed with whatever other form of government should take its place.  This would save the half-dozen or so from the necessity of having to go through a meeting of no substance, just at dinner time.

At the beginning of the Annual Budget Meeting on Tuesday, April 27. Photo: Maria Moore

The Town Budget Meeting on Tuesday, April 27. Photo: Maria Moore

Following are the Community Calendar listings for today in New Hartford, CT:

Tuesday,April 27, 2010:

• New Hartford Senior Center activities: at Senior Center, Town Hall, 530 Main St., New Hartford. Activities: Fitness at 10:45 a.m. ($2.50 per person, per class, includes a fitness card which is stamped for every class attended); Cribbage ‘n cards at 1:00 p.m. For more information please call Jean Barnicoat at 860-379-3980 between 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.
• Early Literacy Program: Comprehension Session: at 9:30 a.m. at the Beekley Library, 10 Central Avenue, New Hartford. For more information about this Early Literacy Program please see the flyer posted in our Bulletin Board or call the Library at 860-379-7235.
• Bakerville Library Story Time for 3 to 5 year-olds: at 10:15 a.m. Bakerville Library, 6 Maple Hollow Road, New Hartford. For more information about the library please visit the Bakerville Library website.
• CANCELLED: Board of Selectmen Regular Meeting : for lack of agenda.
• Annual Budget Meeting: at 7:00 p.m. in the Senior Center at the Town Hall, 530 Main Street, New Hartford. To learn more about this meeting and to see the Notice of Annual Budget Meeting and Notice of Referendum please see our April 21 report Selectmen Meet Briefly, Set Future Budget Dates.
• Have a Spring-related business you want to advertise?: Check out our BRAND NEW Yellow Pages: an economical, simple way to get your business in front of our 32,066 visitors (this past March). Use the “Submit Your Listing” form to send us your information and we’ll list your business. Looking for a lawn care service? Check our Yellow Pages where we’ll be listing companies as soon as their info. is submitted to us.

Our Community Calendar section provides additional information about the events listed above and information on past, current and future events – a permanent record of events in New Hartford. Also check out our Bulletin Board where you can see flyers on events happening around town, and where we have listed information on local non-profit groups.

…NHGrapevine…

“There’s no selectmen’s meeting but there will be the Annual Budget Meeting at 7.”
“It’ll be a 5-minute affair.”

First Selectman Dan Jerram and his Assistant Christine Hayward told our reporter yesterday. Odd to think that a town Annual Budget Meeting is no longer the place where the town’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year is discussed and voted on. There must have been some heated meetings in the past to get us to this point…

Contribute to the …NHGrapevine… Let us know what you’ve heard – or seen – in town and we’ll add it to this listing, and also add it to the …NHGrapevine.. section. So let’s hear what you’re hearing around town…

Trillium in full bloom in a wooded area along the banks of the Farmington river. Photo: Maria Moore

By: Maria Moore

The town’s three selectmen met briefly yesterday evening, Tuesday, April 20 to set the details for the Annual Budget Meeting. This Annual Budget Meeting is a holdover from the days in our town governance when townspeople actually came together at the Annual Budget Meeting to discuss the proposed budget and to vote on that budget. That original purpose of the Annual Budget meeting is still item #1 on the Annual Budget Meeting. Item #1 gives the purpose of the meetins as: “To consider and act upon the Town Budget recommended by the Board of Finance for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010″.”

Through a motion by the selectmen at yesterday’s meeting, item #1 was removed from the agenda of the Annual Budget Meeting, as has become the custom, leaving only item #2 on the agenda for that meeting; see the notice of the Annual Budget Meeting below.

The date of the Annual Budget Meeting was set as April 27 in the Senior Center at the Town Hall, 530 Main Street, New Hartford. There will be no discussion of the budget at that meeting, The selectmen also adopted May 4 as the date for the referendum on the town budget at the two polling places in town, the South End Firehouse in Bakerville and the Town Hall in New Hartford center.

There was a question about the Annual Town Meeting which is normally scheduled to occur on the same evening as the Annual Budget Meeting. That annual Town Meeting will take place at a later time in order to allow for some of the paperwork to be completed. Our reporter asked later when the Annual Town Meeting might be held and she was told probably within the next couple of weeks.

The selectmen also adopted Fair Housing Resolutions and Policies, something they must do each year to qualify for certain grants.

________________

Board of Selectmen
Special Meeting
Tuesday, April 20, 2010

5:30 PM
Town Hall

AGENDA

1.)Minutes
2.)Set time, date, manner of Annual Budget Meeting
3.)Remove Item Number 1 from the call of the Annual Budget Meeting
4.)Set time, date, manner of Budget Referendum
5.)Adopt Fair Housing Resolutions and Policies

By: Maria Moore

The Regional #7 Board of Ed held its District Budget Hearing this evening, Monday, April 19 to about 20 residents from its member towns. Molly Sexton-Read, Chairwoman of the Board of Ed presented the same budget to those present at the District Hearing as she has done at the Public Hearings in each of the district’s four towns: New Hartford, Barkhamsted, Norfolk and Colebrook. To review Molly’s presentation, please see the videos of her presentation (video segments 5, 6 and 7) at the New Hartford Budget Hearing on April 6. The budget presented is for a 1.75% increase, which has been achieved only by cutting 6.1 FTE (full time equivalents) certified staff and 8.5 FTE classified staff. In addition, all administrators at the school have agreed to a salary freeze and all non-union employees are having their salaries frozen for the second consecutive year. Another factor that has helped keep the increase so low has been that Regional #7 has been able to negotiate a 0% increase for the next year with 3 out of their 4 transportation companies, and they are waiting for a response from their fourth company.

In response to questions from members of the public, it was confirmed that the Art and Tech Ed departments would see reductions in their offerings, and that World Language classes would experience an increase in their class sizes. One residents asked whether the cuts in the programs would hurt students going to college, to which Clint Montgomery, Superintendent of Regional #7, said that they had talked about it extensively and that they had made the decision to keep the core subjects.

A concern voiced by several of those present was the effect the cuts will have on the team looping structure at the middle school. Molly explained that most students won’t see a change, but some students will have some new teachers they haven’t had before, even though they will still belong to the same team and be with the same kids. Dan Jerram, one of the two New Hartford Board members, came back to this concern at the end of the hearing and asked the superintendent if he was confident about the teaming structure, and Clint: “Yes, I am confident we can do it. It will take creativity in scheduling and in avoiding study halls for the students.”

Another question from a parent was whether the administrators had looked into charging for participation in sports. Molly said that they had begun gathering information on charging $50 per sport; however that would only bring in between $25,000-$30,000 and it would have an impact on the participation rate. “We don’t want to discourage participation.” Molly said. The parent agreed, adding however that engaging students during the school day was as important and study halls during the day didn’t do that. Molly acknowledged that it was a work in progress.

With all questions from residents answered, Board of Ed members discussed briefly the feedback they had received from the various Public Hearings they had attended, which was centered mostly on the middle school. They then went on to set the District Meeting for Monday, May 3, to accept the annual budget they had presented, and to set the referendum date for Tuesday, May 4, with voting taking place in each of the four member towns; downloadable copies of the Notice of District Meeting and the Memorandum setting the referendum date and question are attached.

Correspondence: Request To Undertake Regionalization Study By New Hartford

The Regional #7 Board of Ed had received a letter from the New Hartford Board of Selectmen informing the Board that the town’s selectmen had approved a motion to ask Regional #7 to undertake a study of integrating K-6th grade into Regional #7.

Board members confirmed that if they are formally asked by two of their district towns to undertake the self-study then the had to do it. One of the members of the Board informed the others that Norfolk and Colebrook will be holding an informational hearing next Wednesday on regionalizing their elementary schools.

Regional #7 Notice District Meeting (163), Regional #7 Memo Ref. Date and Wording (129)

Following are the Community Calendar listings for today in New Hartford, CT:

Tuesday,April 20, 2010:

• Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Building Oversight Committee (BOC) Meeting: at 8:30 a.m. at Town Hall, 530 Main Street, New Hartford. For the agenda for this meeting see our Calendar section.
• New Hartford Senior Center activities: at Senior Center, Town Hall, 530 Main St., New Hartford. Activities: Fitness at 10:45 a.m. ($2.50 per person, per class, includes a fitness card which is stamped for every class attended); Massage with Mindy Lee at 12:00 noon; Crafts at 1:00 p.m.; Cribbage ‘n cards at 1:00 p.m. For more information please call Jean Barnicoat at 860-379-3980 between 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.
• Early Literacy Program: Comprehension Session: at 9:30 a.m. at the Beekley Library, 10 Central Avenue, New Hartford. For more information about this Early Literacy Program please see the flyer posted in our Bulletin Board or call the Library at 860-379-7235.
• Bakerville Library Story Time for 3 to 5 year-olds: at 10:15 a.m. Bakerville Library, 6 Maple Hollow Road, New Hartford. For more information about the library please visit the Bakerville Library website.
• Board of Selectmen Special Meeting : at 5:30 p.m. in the Sessions Conference Room at the Town Hall, 530 Main Street, New Hartford. For the agenda for this meeting, please see our Community Calendar.
• Low Impact Development Stakeholder’s Group MLUE Grant: at 7:00 p.m. in the Senior Center at the Town Hall, 530 Main Street, New Hartford. For the agenda for this meeting, please see our Community Calendar.
• Have a Spring-related business you want to advertise?: Check out our BRAND NEW Yellow Pages: an economical, simple way to get your business in front of our 32,066 visitors (this past March). Use the “Submit Your Listing” form to send us your information and we’ll list your business. Looking for a lawn care service? Check our Yellow Pages where we’ll be listing companies as soon as their info. is submitted to us.

Our Community Calendar section provides additional information about the events listed above and information on past, current and future events – a permanent record of events in New Hartford. Also check out our Bulletin Board where you can see flyers on events happening around town, and where we have listed information on local non-profit groups.

…NHGrapevine…

“Excellent person involved!”

Said Wayne Conner to the Regional #7 Board of Ed members as they talked about Ken Chichester’s starting as the new High School Principal on July 1. Ken was sitting among the audience at last night’s Board of Ed meeting.

Contribute to the …NHGrapevine… Let us know what you’ve heard – or seen – in town and we’ll add it to this listing, and also add it to the …NHGrapevine.. section. So let’s hear what you’re hearing around town…

A view of the the center of New Hartford along the banks of the Farmington River from the Route 219 bridge on Monday afternoon, April 19. Photo: Maria Moore