Latest East Windsor Selectmen's Report - May 2, 2016

The Pension Board met on 4/20/16. As a lot of folks can appreciate, the market had a rough start to the year before recovering, which had an initial impact on our pension investments, but our investments are up 2.25% year to date, and 8.24% inception-to-date. The board also reviewed pension assumptions and will be considering adjustments to the adjustments at the next meeting.

That same night, the Board of Finance met and discussed a desire to see a time efficiency evaluation of Town departments. I agree that it would be in the Town's interest to find efficiencies. Similar evaluations have been done in other parts of Maryland and Connecticut, such as CityStat. Could the First Selectman look into this concept and report back?

On April 21, Peter LaRese was recognized as East Windsor Rotary's Citizen of the Year. Pete is a soft spoken guy who does so much for others in a quiet, unassuming way. He is a great example of "service above self." Congratulations, Pete!

On April 23, Abby's Helping Hands hosted the annual Walk for Abby. This year marked the largest number of participants to date - more than 700! This event is always an opportunity to see our community come together for a great cause, and personally is my favorite day of the year to be from East Windsor.

On April 25, the Elderly Commission met. They had a good discussion about ways of continuing to provide services to all seniors in Town, and focused on ways to be inclusive of seniors in both Broad Brook and Warehouse Point. They discussed some long term goals, including where the center should be located, what should be housed in conjunction with the center, etc.

The commission also discussed the senior property tax relief program, plans for community day, and formulation of a survey for outreach to residents and a flyer to explain what the Elderly Commission is and does.

On April 26, the Planning and Zoning Commission met and discussed a number of topics, including modifying the phasing plan for the proposed Horizon View Estates located at East and Middle Roads, the final review of the Warehouse Point Study, and a review of the Plan of Conservation and Development.

On April 28, the Conservation Commission was scheduled to meet, but they did not have a quorum. The Agriculture Commission did meet, and were joined by Joe Kennedy from the South Windsor Agriculture Commission. The commission members and Mr. Kennedy discussed various projects being considered in each town. The commission reviewed the plots for the community garden, currently with 9 people signed up.

I missed tonight's meeting due to work obligations associated with the close of the legislative session. However, there are a number of items that I want to weigh in on.

Ahead of next week's referendum, I've heard some concern about a lack of public outreach about the bonding questions. What is being done to let people know about them, and about the pros and cons of each question?

First, Barber Hill School: the next step is for advocates of the project to secure releases from abutting property owners. That will happen in the coming weeks.

Secondly, I shared with the board an email from the Town Attorney explaining the necessary process to sell town property. I think it does make sense to get some of these out of our possession and back onto the tax rolls. I also think we should suggest to the PZC that the Town forego accepting open space swaps in the future, and limit that only to a fee in lieu of open space so that we can make strategically deploy our resources in a way that makes sense.

Finally, I would comment on the panhandling ordinance and the sign policy, but no information was provided in our packets for preparation. I'd ask that these be tabled until the next meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Jason E. Bowsza
Selectman