Notes from the North Branford Town Council Latest Meeting

In addition to for four new vehicles for the Police Department and hearing a presentation on by Bob Gregan, the following items were also discussed.

Board of Education

North Branford Town Auditor David Cappelletti was questioned by the council at the Oct. 18 meeting. The council had discussed a of the Board of Education and wanted to seek advice from Cappelletti on the matter.

Cappelletti informed the council that, in his audit of the Board of Education of North Branford, he'd found out members of the board were filing their taxes on a 1099 form instead of a W-2 form. According to Cappelletti, unless an individual has a legitimate business, they should be filling out a W-2 form. Filing taxes via a 1099 form results in unlawful deductions for that individual.

When asked about high-risk areas, Cappelletti told the council that he focuses on capital projects, cash disbursement and summer expenses. He also asked the council for suggestions during his audit of any high-risk areas they would like him to look into.

“North Branford runs very well in comparison with other areas,” said Cappelletti. "Here, it's mostly communication that needs to be tightened up."

While Cappelletti will be performing his regularly scheduled audit as per the usual, there was no decision made on a forensic audit of the BOE.

Town Car Policy 

Council members discussed the police department's and discovered that they may have no say in its revision. A 2001 town council-approved ordinance, which was revised by the police department to include an item that allows the department to act independently from the council on such issues as police policies, is potential grounds for the police department to disregard the council's original policy established in 1995. Town Attorney John Gesmonde is looking into the matter.

NBHS Roof Leaks 

Major is complete, but there are still a handful of leaks around the school – around five or six. Due to insufficient gutters, rain water is running off onto other buildings, including directly onto a skylight.

Councilman Al Rose asked, “Who's watching it? How is it we got residential-sized drains on a gym? We just spent $400,000 on this, we have a building guy paid on the Board of Education. Who's watching this?”

A temporary fix is in the works, which will allow for positive drainage. Water will run into the parking lot rather than onto lower roof tops.

Mark Caputo Roofing Company was used for the roof replacement and repairs.

Miscellaneous  

• The Council approved the Fair Housing Policy.
• The Steap Grant has approved the state of Connecticut for $24 million. There is still no word on how much of the grant can be applied to the town of North Branford, which applied for funds for the Community and Senior Center.
• The Permanent Project Building Committee will meet again on Oct. 24.
• The FEMA Emergency Operations Center Grant was approved to towns that ranked the top two in terms of emergency operations performance. North Branford just missed out, raking third. Town Manager Richard Branigan suggested a re-submission in the next budget request.
• The Charter Revision has been tabled until the Jan. 3 meeting. 
• The council approved of the resignation of Lou Paternoster from the Parks and Recreation Committee.
• Numbers for the have yet to be released due to some outstanding bills. Firm numbers should be available next month.
• The Capital Improvement Plan for the 2011/2012 year through the 2016/2017 year was approved by the council.