South Windsor Council Discusses Capital Projects

The Town Council on Thursday discussed 24 proposed projects totalling $12.9 million that could find their way onto the November ballot.

The projects, which, if approved by voters, would cost South Windsor taxpayers $11.4 million after state reimbursement, address myriad issues in town from leaky school roofs to road repairs to technology upgrades to improvements at Veterans Memorial Pool.

No action was taken at meeting, as councilors mostly treated the special work session for informational purposes.

Councilor Jan Snyder, the head of the council’s Capital Improvements Subcommittee, said that the projects were just one of a three-phase plan to get the town’s capital improvements back on track.

In recent years, capital improvements - mostly larger ticket spending items - have been slashed from budgets to reduce the overall tax burden on residents. The 24 items presented by Snyder and various town staff were meant to serve as a “bridge” over the next two or three years so the capital improvements fund could be replenished.

The goal, according to Snyder, is for such items to be handled on an annual basis rather than having voters approve them at a referendum every several years.

Listed below are the 24 projects:

$1 million

* The town would be reimbursed by the state about 45 percent of the cost of the four projects. Still the town has to list the project's entire cost.

The following are questions asked by residents and town councilors:

Are these projects going to be presented to voters in November?

Maybe. The town council is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Aug. 28 to discuss what projects are of the highest priority. At that meeting the results of the survey sent out to about 1,500 voters will be dicussed as well, which should provide some additional insight to the council.

In addition, Mayor Tom Delnicki asked Snyder to include $1.5 million for neighborhood road repairs. Deputy Mayor Gary Bazzano also asked Snyder to at least look into what the referendum would look like if a couple of athletic fields items (softball field reversal, synthetic turf at the high school and lighting a field) were included. Those items, like the ones listed above, would merely be subject to discussion at Tuesday's meeting.

Councilor Kevin McCann said that he would prefer to include the repaving of the driveway of Company 1 of the South Windsor Volunteer fire department for public safety purposes and to protect the expensive equipment of the department.

Is there going to be one question or many at the referendum?

The council will discuss further at its Aug. 28 meeting whether to break out each project into separate questions or to have one community infrastructure referendum question. Not every project listed above will be presented to voters.

Why fix the school roofs if the town is looking to build new schools in the not-too-distant future?

Deputy Mayor Gary Bazzano asked if the town would be throwing away good money after bad by repairing the roofs at the three schools if new schools were going to be built.

Patrick Hankard responded that the roof projects were critical and that his staff had repaired 71 leaks in the three roofs over the last 18 months. Hankard said that the roofs needed to be done or they would eventually fail. Hankard said it was also a matter of health, as mold could be an issue if the roofs were allowed to continue to leak.

Is there a health hazard with the asbestos in the kitchen floor of Pleasant Valley School?

Dr. Saud Anwar expressed his concern that the asbestos in the kitchen floor of the elementary school should be taken care of immediately, not via a capital improvements referendum.

Hankard said that the asbestos in the floor was not exposed and that there was no health hazard. He reiterated several times that there was no health hazard at the school as a result of the asbestos. That said, he believed the project, which, if approved, would start next summer, should still go forward.

How certain is that 45 percent reimbursement figure?

Councilor Cindy Beaulieu wanted to know how certain the town was to receive reimbursement from the state at a 45 percent rate.

Hankard said that because of the nature of the work, it was virtually certain that the town would receive a locked in rate of about 45 percent - if not slightly higher - if it were to apply for it this year.

Are the athletics projects listed above a part of the $3 million athletic fields proposal?

No. The $3 million athletic fields proposal is a separate issue (except to the extent that Bazzano asked Snyder to look into the items above) that Town Manager Matthew Galligan is looking into whether to present the council with lease purchase options separate from the referendum discussion. Lease purchase agreements would not be subject to voter approval, but their terms would be separate line items in each annual budget.

Why all the generators?

Tropical Storm Irene, the October 2012 snowstorm and resulting power outages and a recent drill held statewide indicated that the town needed generators to help convert town buildings into emergency shelters.