Town of South Windsor Explanatory Text for Referendum Questions

The following was released from the South Windsor Town Clerk's office:

The South Windsor Town Council, at its regular meeting on Sept. 4, 2012, adopted appropriations and borrowing resolutions in connection with the Fiscal Year 2012-2013 capital expenditures budget and further voted to submit certain resolutions, in accordance with the Town Charter, to the electors and qualified voters of South Windsor for approval or disapproval at a referendum to be held in conjunction with the Nov. 6, 2012 election.

Pursuant to Sec. 9-369b of the Connecticut General Statutes, as amended, the Town Council has authorized the Town Clerk to prepare, with the approval of the Town Attorney, an explanatory text with respect to each question on the ballot. The applicable text is set forth under each of the five questions below. These explanatory texts will be furnished to each applicant for an absentee ballot and will be made available for public distribution and at the polling places. The full texts of the resolutions, as approved by the Town Council, are on file and available for public inspection at the Office of the Town Clerk, Town Hall, 1540 Sullivan Ave., South Windsor, CT 06074, during the Town’s regular business hours.

The appropriations and bond note authorizations to be voted on shall be placed on the ballots under the following ballot headings:

1. Shall the resolution appropriating and authorizing bonds in the amount of $5,790,000 for the planning, design, acquisition and construction of various renovations and improvements to the Town’s schools, including information technology systems, educational technology and equipment be approved?

This appropriation will be used for a number of capital projects for the South Windsor school system. Elementary Schools: full roof replacements at Orchard Hill and Pleasant Valley Elementary Schools, and the removal of asbestos required for the replacement of the Pleasant Valley kitchen floor. Middle School: replacement of the cafeteria serving line. High School:  partial roof replacement, completion of the second of five phases of parking lot paving, resurfacing of the track, and replacement of gym lockers. District-wide:  replacement or upgrade of information technology systems and equipment based on state-approved Educational Technology Plan.  This appropriation is inclusive of any and all State and Federal grants-in-aid thereof and may be used for administrative, financing, legal and other costs of issuance related thereto.  Several of the proposed projects currently are eligible for partial reimbursement from the State. The reimbursement rate is determined annually by the General Assembly.  South Windsor’s current reimbursement rate for similar projects is 45.7%. The proposed projects eligible for reimbursement are the three roof replacements and the Pleasant Valley School floor replacement. 

2. Shall the resolution appropriating and authorizing bonds in the amount of $1,270,000 for planning, design, acquisition and construction of various renovations and improvements to Town buildings be approved?

This appropriation will be used for a number of renovations and improvements to South Windsor Town buildings.  Community Center:  new boilers, heat pumps and a generator.  Town Garage:  generator.  High School:  generator for the High School emergency shelter operations.  Police Department:  new oil/gas storage tank, a generator and HVAC pumps with cooling tower.  Town Hall: replacement of boilers and gas mains, HVAC improvements and other improvements in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Said appropriation is inclusive of any and all State and Federal grants-in-aid thereof and may be used for administrative, financing, legal and other costs of issuance related thereto.

3. Shall the resolution appropriating and authorizing bonds in the amount of $4,000,000 for the planning, design, acquisition and construction of various road paving and drainage improvements be approved?

This appropriation would be used for several road milling, paving, reconstruction and drainage improvement projects to the following roads:  Chapel Road, Dart Hill Road, Foster Street, Nevers Road, Nutmeg Road, and other neighborhood connector roads.  This appropriation would be used to plan, design, construct and for any land acquisitions required for these improvements.  Said appropriation is inclusive of any and all State and Federal grants-in-aid thereof and may be used for administrative, financing, legal and other costs of issuance related thereto.  The Town Council may, by resolution duly adopted, add to or delete from the list of proposed projects provided the total appropriation and bond authorization does not increase.

4. Shall the resolution appropriating and authorizing bonds in the amount of $1,620,000 for the planning, design, acquisition and construction of improvements to Town’s information technology systems and equipment be approved?

This appropriation would be used for the upgrading of the Town of South Windsor’s information technology systems and equipment according to the five year capital projects plan.  The proposed improvements and upgrades include new computers (staff computers, laptops, police car; fire truck; and ambulance computers, servers, printers, copiers and enterprise backup hard drive devices) and computer system equipment/software (network switches, wireless access points, spam and firewall appliances, replacement of the Microsoft Office 2003 software, Microsoft Server 2012 operating system, and Microsoft Windows 7 Operating system.) Fiber optic network upgrades will be installed providing upgraded communication of data (3 MB to 1 GB bandwidth) and voice to all town government buildings (town hall, town garage, community center, sewer treatment plant, police station, animal shelter and all three fire houses). Private wireless access points will be installed at various locations to provide the police, fire and ambulance departments high speed access to data from police car, fire truck and the two ambulances. Finally the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) maps will be updated to improve access to town data used by citizens, local business and department staff (police, fire, public works, engineering, planning, recreation and human services) and for emergency response purposes. Additionally, databases (permits, street signs, sewer and storm water) and public records (easement maps, wells, septic systems and building files) will be converted to digital formats allowing the public and local businesses to access these types of town information through the GIS system. Said appropriation is inclusive of any and all State and Federal grants-in-aid thereof and may be used for administrative, financing, legal and other costs of issuance related thereto.  

5. Shall the resolution appropriating and authorizing bonds in the amount of $1,010,000 for the planning, design, acquisition and construction of improvements to existing park system and athletic facilities be approved?

This appropriation will be used to plan, design and construct various improvements to the Town of South Windsor’s park system and athletic facilities.  The proposed improvements include the installation and/or construction of water features, playground/outdoor equipment, bike/hike paths, amenities at existing athletic fields (concession, scoreboard, bleachers, parking), irrigation systems, pavilion, fencing and general park amenities (picnic tables, recycling/trash stations, water fountains).  Said appropriation is inclusive of any and all State and Federal grants-in-aid thereof and may be used for administrative, financing, legal and other costs of issuance related thereto.