Hartford City Council Meeting s1

Council Preview Hartford City Council Meeting Monday, November 9, 2015

Prepared by Hartford 2000

The Council meeting will be held on Monday, November 9, 2015 at 7 PM, preceded at 6 PM by a public comment period. The next regular Council meeting will be held on Monday, November 23, at 7 PM. The next regular public hearing will take place on Monday, November 16, at 7 PM. All meetings are in Council Chambers in Hartford City Hall.

There are 27 items on the agenda. Below is detailed information about items of special interest to neighborhoods. Following those details is a listing of all agenda items, in layperson’s language. The official agenda for the Council meeting is available online by clicking on the meeting date at the following web site: http://www.hartford.gov/townclerk/council-agenda .

ITEMS OF SPECIAL INTEREST

New Agenda Items: The following items appear for the first time on the Council’s Agenda.

Easements – The Council will consider a resolution which will grant eight subterranean easements to the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) for construction of the South Hartford Conveyance and Storage Tunnel, which is part of the MDC’s Clean Water Project. The tunnel will be 18 feet in diameter and run from the sewage treatment plan on Brainard Road, across Hartford, to Talcott Road in West Hartford. It will be constructed 170 feet below ground. Its purpose is to store stormwater during a heavy rain event until the treatment plant has the capacity to treat the stormwater, thus avoiding sewage overflows. The MDC is obtaining easements from each of the 225 property owners along the route of the tunnel and the City owns 8 of the properties, located on Brinley and Clermont Streets, and Franklin, Maple, New Britain, and Wethersfield Avenues. The MDC will pay the City $1,250 for each easement. (Segarra) (Item #5)

Appropriations – The Council will consider an ordinance which makes three appropriations totaling $1.3 million from surplus funds generated in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015. The estimate of the FY15 surplus is about $7.3 million. The three appropriations are 1) $497,000 to the Police Department for purchase of Shotspotter equipment, which pinpoints the location of gunfire in real time to allow officers to respond quickly to incidents, 2) $300,000 to the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) for implementation of the Public Safety Initiative which works with young people to introduce them to public safety careers with the goal of increasing the number of Hartford residents in such jobs, and 3) $300,000 to the Department of Families, Children, Youth & Recreation to expand the number of young people participating in the Youth Employment Program. (Segarra) (Item #21)

Registrars of Voters – The Council will consider an ordinance which changes the selection process for Registrars of Voters. Currently, Registrars of Voters are elected every four years. The ordinance provides that, beginning in 2016, the Court of Common Council will appoint a registrar for each major party, as defined by State law. Currently, the two major parties are Democrat and Republican. Prior to such appointments, the Council will solicit applications and hold public interviews of at least 5 of the individuals who have submitted qualifying applications. Registrars shall serve four year terms beginning in January of 2017.

Previously Submitted Items: The following items were previously on the Council Agenda. They were referred to committees and/or to public hearing and are now on the agenda again for action.

Broad Street – The Council will consider a resolution accepting a grant of $2,956,100 from the CT Department of Transportation that will be used to reimburse the City for a portion of the costs of street and streetscape improvements to Broad Street between Capitol Avenue and Park Street. The project has a total cost of $4.6 million and consists of repaving of the street and installation of curbing, sidewalks, decorative lighting, and landscaping. The City’s portion of the construction cost will be funded from existing cost centers in the Capital Budget. (Segarra) (Item #13) ------LIST OF ALL AGENDA ITEMS

Item #

1. Gold Street. Approval of the use of 12,000 square feet of City-owned land which is currently open space, for relocation of Gold Street and the use of the 13,000 square feet of land which is presently Gold Street for replacement open space. (Segarra)

2. Financing Fee. Approval to accept $100,000 from the developers of the housing at 390 Capital Avenue as a fee for securing bond financing through the Redevelopment Agency. (Segarra)

3. Scholarship. Authorization to accept $2,500 per year for 20 years, from the developers of housing at 390 Capitol Avenue, to be used for annual scholarships for Frog Hollow residents. (Segarra)

4. Billboard Agreement. Approval to enter into a license agreement with Lamar Companies for continued location of a double-sided billboard on City-owned land at 425 Ann Street for a fee of $500 per month. (Segarra)

5. Easements. Granting of subterranean easements to the MDC beneath eight City-owned properties for the purpose of constructing the South Hartford Conveyance and Storage Tunnel as part of the Clean Water Project. (Segarra)

6. DoNo. Authorization for the developers of the Downtown North project to include a hotel on the parcel of land across the street from the baseball stadium, in addition to a grocery store, residential and commercial space, and parking. (Segarra)

7. Report. Report on a meeting of the Audit & Government Accountability Committee held on October 28 at which audits of the Fire Dept. Machine Shop and Police Dept. Property Division and other financial matters were discussed. (DeJesus)

8. Reappointment. Confirmation of the Mayor’s reappointment of David Jorgensen to the Hartford Redevelopment Agency. (Segarra)

9. Functional Family. Request to the Planning & Zoning Commission to adopt a “functional family” definition that does not require marriage or blood relation as the measure of family bonds. (MacDonald, Deutsch)

10. Restrictions. Approval to accept use restrictions imposed by the CT Dept. of Energy & Environmental Protection on the two City easements on land owned by MIRA on Maxim and Reserve Roads. (Segarra)

11. 72 Lawrence Street. Approval of the sale of City-owned property to My Sister’s Place for $5,000 for construction of a 2-family Asthma Safe Home. (Segarra)

12. Sale of Properties. Authorization to sell City-owned properties at 104 Clark Street and 60 East Street to REGO Realty for $1,000 each for use as open space for tenants of adjacent rental properties owned by REGO. (Segarra)

2 13. Broad Street. Approval to accept $2.9 million from the State of CT as partial reimbursement for the cost of improvements to Broad Street between Capitol Avenue and Park Street. (Segarra)

14. Easements. Approval for the City to acquire three easements on Laurel and Hawthorn Streets and Capitol Avenue for $10 each as part of the Sigourney Station Street Improvements Project. (Segarra)

15. 197 Bond Street. Approval to sell a vacant City-owned lot at 197 Bond Street to Pope Park Zion LLC for $5,000 for the construction of a 2-family home. (Segarra)

16. Coltsville National Park. Approval for the City to enter into a Cooperative Management Agreement with the National Park Service for management and operation of the newly designated Coltsville National Historic Park. (Segarra)

17. 960 Main Street. Approval of an amendment to a lease with the owners of 960 Main Street for changes in occupancy by the Hartford Public Schools and extension for an additional five years. (Segarra)

18. Deferred Compensation Options. Ordinance allowing City employees who participate in the City’s deferred compensation plan to choose from Roth IRAs and other investment options not presently offered. (Segarra)

19. Breaks in Service. Ordinance changing the process by which employee breaks in service may be reclassified as leaves of absence. (Segarra)

20. HIV/AIDS Information. Resolution requesting information on programs and grants which provide services to people with HIV/AIDS. (Jennings)

21. Appropriations. Ordinance appropriating funds from the FY2015 surplus as follows: $497,000 to the Police Dept. for Shotspotter equipment, $300,000 to the Capitol Region Education Council for the Public Safety Initiative, and $300,000 to Dept. of Families, Children, Youth & Recreation for Youth Employment. (Segarra)

22. Registrars of Voters. Ordinance authorizing the Council to appoint two Registrars of Voters every four years beginning Dec. 20, 2016 and setting forth a process for such appointments. (Wooden)

23. Financial Information. Ordinance requiring the Office of Management & Budget to annually submit, to the Council, detailed information on all commercial projects that have received financial assistance from the City and further requiring M&B to submit 5 years of overtime expenditures for Police, Fire, and Public Works Departments. (DeJesus)

24. Budget Details. Ordinance requiring the Office of Management & Budget to submit an itemized detailed version of the Mayor’s Recommended Budget each year. (DeJesus)

25. Talcott Plaza. Approval for the City to accept title to the office building and parking garage located at 36-70 Talcott Street in lieu of foreclosing on delinquent real estate payments of approximately $2.2 million. (Segarra)

26. Fee Waiver. Waiver of fees for the use of City Hall Atrium for an event to be sponsored by Christian Girlz Rock on November 14, 2015. (Anderson)

27. Bicycles. Approval for the City to accept four bicycles valued at $5,252 from Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (SINA) for use by the Police Department’s South District Bike Patrol. (Aponte)

3 If you have any questions about the agenda or wish to be removed from the Council Preview/Review list, please email Linda Bayer at [email protected] . The Council Preview/Review is a service of Hartford 2000.