School, Solar and Sewer Plans Win Council Approval
- Philip Thibodeau
- 15 minutes ago
- 6 min read
An epic, four-and-half-hour long meeting of Southington’s Town Council ended late Monday night with a series of votes that pushed several proposals involving the school system, solar parking canopies and the Sewer Department one step closer to implementation.
Elementary School Rebuild
The meeting began with an official celebration of hometown Olympian Austin Florian’s success on the skeleton course at the recent Winter Olympics. After that, representative Patrick Gallagher from MP Planning Group delivered a presentation on the elementary school rebuilding plan similar to the one recently given to the Board of Education, save for a slight decrease in the town’s estimated contribution.
This was the first chance that members of Town Council had to ask questions about the project in a formal setting. Councilors Chris Palmieri and Kristen Guida asked what the downsides would be if the referendum was postponed until November in order to give the public more time to learn about details. John Koplas from Colliers Project Leaders replied that a delay mainly risked increasing the project’s cost by four or five percent.
Some three hours later, when it came time for public comment, three residents, all parents of children at Flanders School, stepped up to the podium to urge Council members to vote against the current plan. Each stressed their agreement that the town’s three oldest elementary schools need upgrades, but all argued that the plan as presented lacks crucial details and was developed without sufficient community input or adequate transparency.
Sara Howard, head of the Flanders PTO, called on the Council to “invest in their constituents” by communicating better about the details of the plan and explaining, for instance, what problems would result if the proposal failed at referendum.
The motion that the Council voted on Monday would advance the process but did not constitute its final decision on the matter. It would allow a public hearing on the project to be held on March 23, with a optional second session scheduled for April 6 or April 27. In addition, it would refer the proposal to the Planning and Zoning Commission for comment. Planning and Zoning must offer their opinion on the project because of the proposed alterations to the school buildings, something the commission is required to review.
The motion carried by a vote of 6 to 3, with all six Republicans voting in favor and the three Democrats on the Council voting no.
Tennis and Parking Lot Reconstruction Passes
Some of the proposals that passed Monday night did so by a unanimous vote, like one to replace an aging sewer line at Town Hall before the street outside is repaved. Others, like the elementary school rebuild, received party-line votes, with the Democrats advocating a wait-and-see approach while the Republicans sought to keep the process moving.
One proposal, however, elicited a mix of individual opinions. That was a plan, previously approved by the Board of Finance, to greenlight construction of a new parking area at the high school around a new set of tennis courts, and to pay for that project from the town’s cash reserve.
During discussion, Councilor David Zoni argued that it would be more prudent from a fiscal point of view to fund the project by bonding rather than drawing on the reserve. Zoni cited a recommendation from the Government Financial Officer Association that towns should maintain a 16.67 percent emergency reserve, not just the mandatory minimum of 11 percent.
Palmieri said that whether it is paid for with cash or borrowing, a public referendum should be held on the matter. His rationale was that the Town Charter mandates a referendum for bonding projects over $1 million and that it would be more in keeping with the spirit of the Charter to allow residents to cast a collective vote on the expenditure even if no bonding was involved.
Replying to Palmieri, Council Chair Paul Chaplinsky pointed out that the Town Attorney had given his opinion that the Council’s action was consistent with the Charter. In response to Zoni, he argued that the town had a certain responsibility to use taxpayer funds to benefit taxpayers, rather than hold onto their money.
Councilor Josh Serafino spoke strongly in favor of the project, noting that, as the youngest member of the Council, he had the most immediate experience of the current parking crunch and felt that building more parking spaces was the best way to tackle it.
Councilor Jim Morelli then questioned how necessary the parking project really was, given that there might be other solutions, and expressed a preference for a public hearing or even a referendum on it. He noted that the project had been labeled the ‘High School Safety Project' on the agenda, but that no specifics had been offered on accidents caused by on-street parking around the high school.
Shortly before the vote was cast, Councilor Tony Morrison pointed out that while it may make sense to move forward with the project and pay for it from the cash reserve, this decision would leave little room to undertake any new capital projects in the next two or three years that could be paid for in this way.
Morrison also reiterated a point that came up earlier in the discussion, which is that drawing down $4.5 million from the cash reserve would deprive the town of $139,000 per year in interest income, thus further exacerbating the looming budget crunch.
The final vote was 5 to 4 in favor of the move, with Morelli joining the Democrats in voting no.
Solar Parking Canopies at Police Department and High School
The Council also voted 6 to 3 for the town to sign a contract with solar-energy firm Greenskies to construct parking canopies equipped with solar panels at the Southington Police Department Headquarters and in the parking lot at the high school.
This arrangement would resemble a popular form of residential rooftop solar in that the town would not be required to cover the cost of installation and maintenance for the panels. Instead, the company would make a profit from the energy that the panels generate. The town would also see a significant reduction in the electric bills for the high school and the police station. It was estimated that on sunny days, the canopies would take care of 100% of the police station’s electricity needs, while the high school would save about $200,000 per year on its electric bill.
A secondary benefit of the canopies is that they would offer vehicles parked under them substantial protection from the elements.
The main objection to the proposal was made by Palmieri, who expressed discomfort with the fact that the energy consultant had not yet verified whether the presence of the canopies would create any problems for snow removal from the high school lot.
This was not the only solar energy project the Council considered on Monday. Robert Ives from RPI Development came to the podium to urge the Council to take advantage of a ‘free money’ arrangement involving solar energy. The proposal did not involve the town building solar capacity for itself. Instead, this would be a ‘paper’ deal in which the town would assign its usage of the Eversource grid to a firm, Tritec Americas, that would then bundle it with usage from other towns in a way that would allow it to make a successful bid for a solar farm. If and when this solar farm was built, the town would receive a check for $1.3 million.
Council members were not persuaded by the proposal, which was cast in highly abstract terms, and moved to table it until they could learn more.
Sewer Billing Cycle Change
The Council also voted unanimously to approve a recommendation from the Sewer Committee to change the billing cycle for municipal sewer bills from quarterly to twice a year.
Morrison, the Sewer Committee Chair, said that the change had been recommended by the new head of billing and collections, Halaree Monnerat, who had extensive experience with municipal billing systems in other towns. The switch would cut paperwork and mailing expenses by 50% and free up department employees. Those employees could then devote more of their time to collecting on past-due accounts – a growing problem, with bills that are 60 days or more past due now amounting to $1.2 million.
The Sewer Department is also switching its billing system from MUNIS to Gemini Gems, which is currently used by the Tax Department.