Well, well, well, it looks like legal eagle Galen Wells has popped up in another news story about the solid waste contract. Naturally, in defense of Amanda Brown. You’d think that after being on the losing side of so many legal issues as Democratic Town Committee chair, she’d want to avoid the muck of this latest legal imbroglio. Alas, no, unlike the real Democratic Town Committee Chair, who must have wisely sought counsel of a more practical kind, Wells has this to say in today’s Hour:

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So now Amanda Brown is hiding behind the idea that the letter she waved at the Council hearing last Tuesday is addressed to the Mayor. She convieniently forgets that the date of the letter is May of 2008, long after the bid process had closed and thus evidence that CRRA was attempting to circumvent the bidding process. Contrary to her assertions, its still a violation of the bidding process to consider bids that come in after the sealed bid process.

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Moving this into the political theater, Art Scialabba filed a FOI request for Council member Amanda Brown’s emails and correspondence concerning her contact with CRRA. The Hour reports:

“This is to request that you send me copies of any of the following documents in your possession,” wrote Art Scialabba. “All correspondence, documents and communications, including e-mails, received by you or sent by you on the subject of the city’s waste-hauling contracts and possible selection of transfer stations.”

Scialabba asks that the documents be provided to him within four business days of Brown’s receipt of the request. He continued that he will pay Brown for the cost of coping the materials.

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The parking authority held a meeting last night to approve changes to the daily rate at the SoNo train station. The plan they approved will raise the rate from $7/day to $8/day at the train station. But, they are offering a $4/day rate with a free shuttle service at the Maritime garage. Enterprising commuters might see this as a good deal. I’m not wild about raising the rates at the SoNo train station though, especially by a dollar. It’s one of those issues that fall under the philosophy of do you encourage use of mass transportation by making it cheaper and more convenient and therefor subsidize it for the greater good, or do you simply focus on cost recovery.

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Come January 1, 2009 we will know two things. Who will be the next president of the United States and that garbage trucks will be heading down to Meadow Street. We’ll of course have known who will be the next president for a couple of months by then, because it will be old news. Just as we know now that there will be a solid waste transfer station on Meadow Street now, because it is old news. For some reason, opponents of the City managed transfer station neglected to follow the maxim, you can’t manage what you don’t know. That maxim is one my standard bearers. The irony was that opponents of the contract used this lack of knowledge as a raison d’etre for why the Common Council should vote down the contract allowing City Carting to manage the Meadow Street facility on behalf of the City of Norwalk.

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One of the more interesting developments of the council meeting last night was created by Amanda Brown. When she suggested that she had a letter allegedly to the Mayor with a quote of $75/ton by CRRA, as I noted in the meeting report –I immediately though she violated something. That something is the very public Norwalk procurement guidelines. We learn from these guidelines that bids over $100k must be sealed bids.

§3-203 Competitive Sealed Request for Proposals. Any procurement of special or professional services or design-bid-build, which are in excess $10,000.00 shall be based upon competitive sealed request for proposals. The Purchasing Department shall assist the User Department The procurement of these services shall not be artificially divided so as to avoid this requirement under this Section.

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Common Council MTG 06/10/08

Attending: Serasis, Brown, Sutton, Lindstrom, Bolden, Geake, Moccia, Bondi, Hiliard, Straniti, Conroy, , Bonnefant, Hempstead,

They discuss the missing words from the past meeting minutes. Krummel points out that there’s a missing bit that Corp Counsel said, and Lindstrom says her questions and Sheehan’s answers were missing. Lindstrom has the missing into on paper, what a novel concept. Brown corrects a sentence she stated. Straniti corrects a sentence she said that doesn’t make sense.

They vote unanimously to correct as mentioned.

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WTF. I thought the full moon was last week. The Hour reports that:

Residents opposed to a proposed new solid waste disposal contract are going to hold a prayer vigil in front of city hall tonight, as the Common Council is scheduled to vote on the contract, said a local organizer.

“We don’t know what the outcome of the meeting is going to be, yea or nay,” said Rev. Nelly Mann. “We’re just going to pray them up.”

The city is considering a new contract with Stamford-based City Carting & Recycling Inc. The city’s current contract with Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority ends Dec. 31.

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They celebrate with Cajun stuff, or something. Somehow I’m not getting the linkage. French colonists who settled to Lousiana, prior to the purchase, and Norwalk? Since the Aquarium is somewhat devoted to all things Long Island Sound, you’d think a them of Oyster,  Norwalk was world reknowned for Oysters in the late 1800’s, might have been more appropriate. Or maybe something New Englandy. From the Hour:

There was a “Cajun” theme in honor of the great white alligator on display which comes from Louisiana, said aquarium publicist Chris Loynd. Cajuns refer to the Acadians, who were expelled from Canada’s east coast in 1755. Many of them settled in Louisiana where they developed a unique culture. “Cajun” is a variant of Acadian.

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Well maybe they don’t. This council has been rather fond of the table motion. And the pass motion. And the meatball motion. That last one is definitely not in Mason’s Rules. From the Advocate:

The Common Council is expected to vote on the city’s controversial garbage contract and possibly intervene in the acquisition of properties for the proposed redevelopment of West Avenue.

The city’s Redevelopment Agency is requesting to take up stalled negotiations with private property owners in the footprint of a planned $553.3 million, 19.8-acre mixed-use development along West Avenue.

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