Town Council Discusses South Windsor Capital Improvement Survey Results

The results from a Capital Improvement survey were discussed in detail at a special work session held by the Town Council on Tuesday evening. 

The was distributed to 1,500 residents, of which 362 were responded and more than 80 residents completed the survey online. 

While some of the survey responses were a toss-up, others clearly communicated resident sentiment.

The council will host a second work session on Sept. 4, at which time the group could decide which projects to include on a referendum ballot.

The survey questions drawing most of the attention during the evening focused on those where residents were asked how likely they would be to vote for a referendum that had all referendum projects placed under one question titles "Community Referendum."

More than 70 percent rejected this proposal.

In the reverse, when asked if they would vote for a referendum where the ballot separated each project into its own question, 84 percent said they would vote favorably.

Councilman Keith Yagaloff was concerned about lumping all the projects together and presenting it to the public for a thumbs up or thumbs down.

"I think people are going to perceive it as a spending spree," he said, and urged the council to select a maximum of three questions to put to taxpayers. "Many of these things have not been in the capital improvements list in the last two years.  What we really need is a prioritized list,” he said.

With a list of 24 projects, it came as a surprise to both the council and Councilwoman Jan Snyder, a member of the Capital Improvements Committee, when Town Manager Matt Galligan strongly urged the group to include the replacement of a defunct fuel cell, which powers a portion of the high school. This project was not on the original list of projects provided by town administrators.

A lengthy discussion was held about whether everything on the list of projects was truly essential and urgent.

Survey questions for projects Councilman Cary Prague referred to as "in their infancy," were also posed to residents. Citizens responded as being "very unlikely" to support athletic field expansions (33.4 percent), as well as a new recreation facility at Evergreen Walk (40.2 percent), but "likely" to vote for a community center (i.e. Senior Center) expansion (27.0 percent).