Annual Town Meeting and Special Town Meeting
November 19, 2007
First Selectman Robert P. Valentine called the meeting to order at 8:03 P.M. in the Goshen Center School Cafeteria.
Robert P. Valentine opened the floor for nominations of a moderator. H. John Krukar nominated John Morris. Ray Turri seconded. Catharine Corwin moved that nominations be closed and the secretary cast one ballot. H. John Krukar seconded. Passed unanimously.
John M. Morris, moderator, asked Barbara L. Breor, the clerk, to read the call to the meeting.
ITEM #1 Acceptance of the Annual Report for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2007.
Ray Turri moved to accept the Annual Town Report, seconded by Allan Walker. Passed Unanimously.
ITEM #2 Acceptance of the Town Auditor’s Report for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2007.
Allan Walker moved to accept the Town Auditor’s Report, seconded by Francis Goodhouse. Robert Valentine spoke on behalf of Allan Walker, Chairman of the Board of Finance. He stated that this has been another good year and a lot of this is discussed in the Selectmen’s Report in the Annual Report. On June 30, 2007 the General Fund balance is healthy. Four years ago the fund balance was $368,000 and as of the end of this fiscal year the balance has increased to $1,921,259. The Town came in under budget by $461,000. Our budget is put together before the State budget and we always budget conservatively, not relying on State money. A lot of the credit goes to the Department Heads, Boards and Commission members, volunteers, staff and employees for only spending when necessary. Additionally $75,000 was allocated
last year for Legal expense for Region 6 fees issue and we have only spent $4495. On October 3, 2007, exactly one year and one day later, Region 6 voted to have a meeting November 28, 2007 in the auditorium on the proposed amendment. Therefore the balance will be returned to the Board of Finance. He went on to state that the Land Acquisition Fund, which is the 490 penalty, fees in lieu of Open Space and the additional conveyance tax, went up by $46,427 last fiscal year to have an ending balance of $139,507. The Town has paid off as of the 2006-2007 fiscal year the East Street South bond, and in July 2007 we paid off the bond for the Firehouse roof. The Town is officially debt free. Passed Unanimously.
#3 Adopt a Resolution for Town Aid Road with the State of Connecticut, Dept. of Transportation
Allan Walker moved to accept the Resolution. Nanci Howard seconded. Robert Valentine stated that the Board of Selectmen determine how and where to apply the money that the State of Connecticut, Department of Transportation gives us for town aid road. The Board of Selectmen keeps a separate line item for this. It helps to offset the Public Works budget. Passed unanimously.
ITEM #4 Adopt a Resolution to endorse the “Litchfield Hills Public Works Equipment Cooperative.
Ray Turri moved to accept the Resolution of endorsement for the “Litchfield Hills Public Works Equipment Cooperative”. Allan Walker seconded. Robert Valentine explained that the program was established when Public Act 07-239 passed the Legislature. The State of Connecticut would like to see the Towns work cooperatively seeing as Connecticut does not have a county form of government. This would affect a 20 town region in the Northwest corner and towns wishing to participate would have to have a resolution passed by December 31. The grant that our district, which is Litchfield Hills Council of Elected Officials and the Northwest Council of Government, would be applying for is for two sweepers which will be housed in Harwinton and Hartland and a basin pumper/vacuum which will be housed in Torrington. All the
towns that wish to utilize the equipment would pay an hourly fee that would be kept with the Litchfield Hills Council of Elected Officials and these moneys would offset the repair, maintenance and replacement costs. LHCEO would also be the one to keep track of who has the equipment and when. The towns would have to have their personnel trained on the use of the equipment. Passed unanimously.
ITEM #5 Adopt a Resolution to endorse the “Northwestern CT Regional Planning Collaborative”.
Catharine Corwin moved to accept the Resolution of endorsement for the “Northwestern CT Regional Planning Collaborative”. Nanci Howard seconded. Robert Valentine stated that it is the same idea as the above resolution that was also passed through Public Act 07-239. This would be a one year effort to create a model ordinance for Regulations for Zoning. This would help with a Regional Planning service. One of the things it would help create would be model regulations for Work Force Housing. All the towns that participate would pool their resources through a State grant. Passed unanimously.
ITEM #6 Elect three members of the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses for a term ending 2010.
Robert Valentine nominated Martin Bothroyd, Ray Turri and Anthony Savarese. Catharine Corwin seconded. Nanci Howard made a motion to close nominations and that the secretary cast one ballot for each candidate. Greg Mitchell seconded. Passed Unanimously.
ITEM #7 Elect one member of the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses to fill a vacancy ending 2008.
H. John Krukar nominated Lorraine Lucas. Nanci Howard seconded. Catharine Corwin moved that nominations be closed and the secretary cast one ballot. Nanci Howard seconded. Passed unanimously.
ITEM #8 Elect Two Members of the Recreation Commission for a term ending 2010
Robert Valentine nominated Greg Mitchell and Nanci Howard. Martin Bothroyd seconded. Ray Turri moved that nominations be closed and the secretary cast one ballot for each candidate. Allan Walker seconded. Passed unanimously.
Nanci Howard made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:29 P.M., seconded by Catharine Corwin. Passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara L. Breor, Clerk
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