Chair Report: October 18th Meeting Review and October 25th Preview

Good Morning, and happy Friday neighbors! From the Council Chair, providing a review of our Tuesday, October 18th special meeting and a preview of the Tuesday, October 25th regular meeting.

First, the town council met in executive session on October 18th for collective bargaining negotiations. After exiting these negotiations, the council unanimously voted in favor to not rejecting the contracts as agreed upon between the Tolland Board of Education for one year with the Tolland Education Association as well as with the Tolland Administrative Society for three years.

For next week’s regular meeting, the Town Council has a busy schedule with several new items of business to discuss and consider. Prior to that new business, a citation will be read into the record recognizing outgoing Water Commission member Mr. Tom Rallo for their 11 years of service on the commission.

The first new item of business is a consideration of a resolution to authorize the Town Attorney to enter into an agreement with Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. regarding contaminated water/well issues.

The second item of new business is a consideration of a resolution approving a revised inter-municipal agreement with the Town of Vernon for sewage and septic treatment. Minor changes include adding language to allow for billing software to generate charges that will reduce errors and several grammatical error corrections.

The third item of business is a consideration of a resolution closing out the Board of Education’s COVID relief fund. There are no further required expenditures from this fund and it was required for the Town Council to meet between October and December to review the continuation or termination of this fund.

Fourth, the Town Council will consider a resolution appropriating $1.5 Million in HVAC improvements to Tolland’s Intermediate and Middle Schools, with an issuance of up to $900,000 in bonds and notes and setting a public hearing for November 22nd. This project is a part of the Board of Education’s upcoming Capital Improvement plan and is a response to available grant monies associated with state regulations requiring HVAC equipment upgrades to these schools.

The fifth item before the Town Council is a consideration of a resolution to create an Affordable Housing Trust and setting a public hearing for November 22nd as well. This ordinance has been an ongoing discussion since the start of 2022, with multiple joint meetings held with the Tolland Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) and regular council meeting updates. The Trust Fund, if approved, would exist in addition to existing municipal affordable inclusionary housing requirements by allowing developers to opt out of constructing enough affordable housing and instead pay funds into this Trust Fund.

The Town Council’s sixth item of business is a consideration of a resolution to amend Section A173-9 of the Tolland Town Code related to PZC Application/Permit Fees and set a public hearing on November 22nd as well. The Tolland PZC has reviewed a number of their fees and permit costs and identified adjustments that will make our community more competitive with other towns for developers looking to build multi-family developments and commercial developments. These changes would not significantly impact the town’s revenue stream.

Seventh, the Tolland Town Council will be considering a resolution for the 2022 STEAP Grant Award for the Tennis Court Renovation and Replacement project and setting a public hearing for November 22nd. This hearing is required due to the amount being appropriated from the grant exceeds the balance for appropriations approvals without holding a hearing. If approved, the resolution will allow the Department of Economic and Community development to process the grant award and the Town Manager to sing off on documents pertaining to the grant funding.

The eight item of business is an approval of a lease for land between the Town of Tolland and Tolland County Mutual Aid Fire Services Inc. (“TN”) for 20 years. This land is where a communications tower is located and has been on lease for 20 years with WFSB, however they no longer need the tower and will not be renewing. An opportunity arose for TN to lease the tower and the equipment they have on the tower to operate their services.

Ninth, the Tolland Town Council will consider various equipment in disrepair or obsolete from the Tolland Board of Education. The item in question is a Hamada offset printing press, which is obsolete and no longer works as designed.

The final new item of business is the consideration of an appointment to the Veterans Recognition Commission.

Thank you for taking the time to review this report and the subsequent agenda, packet and minutes below:

October 18th meeting minutes - https://ecode360.com/TO1208/document/688956539.pdf

October 25th meeting agenda - https://ecode360.com/TO1208/document/689190490.pdf

October 25th meeting packet - https://www.tollandct.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif3921/f/uploads/regular_meeting_packet_-_2022-10-25.pdf

If you would like to submit any questions or comments to the Town Council, please email us at towncouncil@tollandct.gov.