Consider this the first of many experiments.

Common Council MTG 02/26/08

I came in late because I was filming the BOE Cambridge report. After how long this took, I’m not sure I’m going to post that up.

Attending: Krummel, Serasis, Brown, Sutton, Lindstrom, Geake, Bolden, Moccia, Hilliard, Conroy, Moccia, Bonnenfant, Kydes, Hempstead, McQuaid

Public Participation: I basically missed this.

Resignation: Debbie Mathies has resigned from the historical commission.
Krummel speaks to the resignation of Debbie Mathies. Hempstead also speaks to the resignation. Bolden adds to the high praise for Mathies.

Moccia says that tonight has several hot button issues and that he hopes that the council keeps things in the spirit of discussion.

Bondi is absent so Krummel leads the Council President remarks.

Consent Calendar:
Krummel reads off the items with a brief description. This is actually the best reading of the consent calendar that I’ve experienced. Brief, informative and nicely done.

They vote unanimously on it.

Finance Committee:
Hilliard moves 7B4 to set the budget cap. He reads off the item.

Hilliard says that there was a quite a bit of debate but they agreed to move it the full council. He thinks it’s a good budget.

Hempstead moves to amend the motion to reduce it by 2 million and something. He explains why here:

Bonnenfant asks Hempstead if he found any savings. Hempstead explains that the role of the council is not to find line by line budgets. He credits Moccia for putting a reasonable budget and not a pass through budget as has happened in years past.

McQuaid supports the amended and lower budget cap number.

So does Conroy, and he says that they should be able to find cost savings.

Brown says that the current cap is legit but they could ask the BET to make further cuts. She thinks that they should give directions to the BET on what reductions they want to make.

Krummel makes the argument hat infrastructure is always gets cut when they ask for a reduction.

Hempstead reminds the council that the number he suggested is based on the CPI. He adds that the population of Norwalk has gone up by 5k and that the enrollment in the schools has gone down yet there’s been an increase in personnel in the administration.

Mayor Moccia weighs in and there’s some discussion on the procedure of the amendment and the vote and clarification of what they are actually voting on.

Hempstead’s motion to amend the budget down by 2 million and change fails 7-5-1.

Geake abstains.
Hempstead, McQuaid, Bonnenfant, Contory, Kydes vote for it.
Krummel, Serasis, Sutton, Lindstrom, Bolden, Hilliard, Brown vote against it.

They take a 3 minute recess.

Now they vote on the budget.

Geake crosses to the Republican side to vote against it. He explains it here:

Hilliard says blame the BOE for the budget not the council.

Lindstrom says the BOE should have a finance director but supports the budget and hopes that the BET will reduce the cap line item by line item.

Moccia encourages the state legislature to force the BOE to follow a line by line budget like every other agency in this state. Then the fun with the tied vote happens. Moccia votes with the Democrats.

They move onto the Kydes reimbursement from the ethics hearing. Kydes recuses himself. Amanda Brown opens with a reduction recommendation that basically halves it:

Both Moccia and Hempstead criticize Poruban for the whole mess.

Krummel makes a motion to kill the debate.

There’s confusion on what they are voting on. They revote after it is cleared up. Good thing Conroy clarified what they were voting on because the Democrats had to change their votes.

They continue the discussion, the Republicans think there’s some opportunity to reduce the bill either by discount or removing some items. Lindstrom says that the council shouldn’t be deciding on this. Moccia gets annoyed that Poruban caused all this by releasing the ethic charge to the press.

Krummel thinks the process is wrong and that it should all kick back to corp counsel.

Brown comes back to the idea that this is a procedural issue and that she’ll look to modify the current ethics ordinance to set a cap on legal fees and a statue of limitations on how long someone can take to file for a reimbursement.

Bolden says that corp counsel advised Kydes to seek outside counsel. She thinks Kydes is entitled with the reimbursement.

Now here’s a really fascinating observation on this. The council spent more time discussing the $13k reimbursement than they did the $275 million budget. Think about it.

They vote on Browns amendment on reimbursement only $5910.

It fails
Brown Y
Geake N
McQuaid N
Sutton N
Bonnefant N
Serasis N
Bolden N
Hillard N
Lindstom Abstain
Hempstead N
Conroy N
Krummel Y

They vote on the main motion next. Krummel makes a motion to kick it back to corp counsel. There’s a discussion on the procedure here and there’s much confusion. Krummel is asked what he is referring the motion back to corp counsel. Krummel accuses corp counsel of not doing their job. He claims there should have been a recommendation on the bill. Moccia disagrees.

But the battery gives out on the video camera so ….

Krummel is asking for a legal opinion form corp counsel about whether to reimburse Kydes legal fees and what the state statute

Krummel: Finds the legal opinion faulty.

Moccia: Asks if Krummel wants to decide this himself. Asks about Krummel’s law degree

Krummel: I don’t need a law degree. I’m a citizen and this is precedent setting move. “We are engaging in a conflict of ethics”

Conroy: Did this come from corp counsel or the finance committee?

Moccia: It came from the finance committee.

Maslan: It came through the law department and then onto the finance committee. Maslan explains no one has asked whether the law department should reimburse or not. His department and himself was never asked. He reminds them that it’s the counsels ultimate decision.

Hempstead: You are asking us to kick it back to corp counsel so they can kick it back to us to vote on it anyways.

Krummel: There’s a difference between taking on an issue without a recommendation or with a recommendation.

Hempstead: If you had said move it to the law department for them resolve I’d have no problems with that.

Moccia: Reads from Maslan’s letter.

They do a roll call vote on the motion to refer back to corp counsel.

The motion fails and I missed the actual vote.

They vote on the main motion:

Brown N
Geake Y
McQuaid Y
Sutton A
Bonnefant Y
Serasis Y
Bolden Y
Lindstrom A
Hempstead Y
Conroy Y
Krummel N
Hilliard Y

The motion passes to reimburse Kydes the full amount.

They move onto the ordinance committee on the tax relief for the elderly and disabled. There’s some questions about the limit that is higher than the state recommended amount. Tom Hamilton explains why the recommendation is beyond the state maximum of income limits because of cost of living in Fairfield County.

Krummel asks about state reimbursement for this.

Hamilton says there’s a state program and Norwalk does get money back but this is in addition to the state program.

Conroy: Asks about other programs and their impact.

[Why are they asking about the caps an individual would have, either you think elderly or disabled should get a tax credit or not.]

They vote unanimously.

They vote on the simulcast at the OTB.

Hempstead: Encourages others to vote against it.

Geake: “Before this came from the committee, I didn’t know there was an OTB in Norwalk.” Has a hard time denying a request for legal use. Cites that the public hearing has no public at it except for committee members and the press.

McQuaid: Doesn’t think voting this down will change anything. Doesn’t think that the OTB location is the best place but he will support the resolution. There have been no issues with the OTB facility.

Moccia: I think we get $100k to the city, and that the OTB might be looking at other locations.

Bolden: Says that she might preach against gambling, but that the issue is whether they just listen to it or watch it. She feels that it is cruel and unusual punishment to have someone sit there all day just listening. [Laughter in the room] Says she supports it.

Moccia: quips, “I would lay odds that you would say that.”

Brown N
Geake Y
McQuaid Y
Sutton Y
Bonnefant Y
Serasis N
Bolden Y
Hillaird Y
Kydes Y
Lindstrom Y
Hempstead N
Conroy Y
Krummel Y

10 -3 the motion passes to allow televising of the OTB stuff.

Now they are voting on fireworks from the parks and recs.

I wonder why this is not on the consent calendar

There’s no discussion. Mike Moccaie had to sit here all night so that there’s no discussion?

Second item: Chain link and wooden fence stuff which is an ongoing contract it seems.

Brown: Asks about what is an open purchase order.

Moccaie: Explains that they can use it for multiple projects. Different sites, different accounts are used.

They vote unanimously.

They finally adjourn.