As a followup to last night’s post on the DPW budget, I have posted up the list of trees that are part of the huge backlog of trees. I also have a link to the schedule of sewer hookup fees and have confirmed that every residential or commercial hookup whether on existing properties that are expanding or changing their use, or new developments will be required to pay a fee. This should help fund ongoing maintenance in a non crisis way that everyone Hal Alvord, Mayor Moccia, Bill Krummel and Fred Wilms agreed was important to do.

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Radon has been clocking in time at in area classrooms for a possible go at participating in the CMT tests. Or according to the Hour, there’s Radon detected in 25 classrooms. I’m not sure what to make of it, so here’s the details from the Anna Gustafson article:

The district conducted two radon tests in about 600 district rooms in December and averaged the results of the two tests to determine which schools needed work to decrease radon levels. The averages are measured against the EPA’s action level for radon in the air, which is 4 picocuries per liter. A curie is the unit used to measure the activity of radioactive substances.

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Today’s Hour contains two enticing tid bits of news in a Robert Koch article. The first:

“The Water Pollution Control Authority for the city of Norwalk is deferring approval of sanitary sewer connections in the Westport Avenue sanitary sewer service area until infrastructure improvements are constructed with a targeted completion date of no more than two years,” wrote Elisabeth O. Bardon, operations manager for the public works department, in a memorandum to Planning and Zoning officials. “This applies to any new development that will contribute flows in excess of what is currently being discharged to the sewer from the affected parcel.”

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The Courant is till keeping the pressure on Jim Amann-D and Larry Cafero-R over their day jobs and whether those jobs constitute a conflict of interest or ethical issue. From the Courant:

In his life outside the legislature, House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, works for a state employee union that is a political player at the state Capitol.

Across the aisle, House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, is a partner in Brown Rudnick, an international law firm with a subsidiary that lobbies the General Assembly.

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The budget season is barely under way and already I feel a sense of deja vu while sitting through the Department of Public Works presentation. The highlights? DPW prepared a tabbed binder to go through the budget requests. It was very thick. They went through every tab, and no, I don’t mean the diet soda.

Ok the Public Works Dept Requested 18,234,000 which is an increase of $2 million or a 15.2 % increase.

Tom Hamilton recommend 16,056,066 or a 1.45% increase. He gave a quick explanation involving accounts for workers comp reduction, other general liability calculations reductions, (these are based on actual loss experience), and the Pubic works department praised the DPW for some success in reducing workers comp filings.

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