Jeff Mill
EAST HAMPTON — As the date from the official groundbreaking draws ever closer, town officials are ramping up their efforts to ensure construction of the new town hall/police facility goes smoothly.
That includes coming up with a name for the road that will lead to the new 33,400 square-foot building.The Town Council discussed the status of the $18.9 million project earlier this week. Members got an update on the status of the project and sought to put to rest a rumor that falsely suggested the square footage on the building has changed.And in one measure of how interconnected the world has become, there was also a question about the possible or even probable impacts of tariffs on steel on the project Prompted by Town Manager Michael Maniscalco, councilors decided the road needed a name.
“Let’s get the public involved. Who knows what they could come up with,” Councilor Josh Piteo said Taking his point, Town Council Chairwoman Melissa H. Engel said if the council wants the public to get involved, “Let’s have it be a fun thing.”
And so, Maniscalco’s office released a statement: “Road Naming Contest for the NewTown Hall/Police Department/Board of Education Facility.” The name “should encompass the history and future of our town and represent all of our residents,” it said. The council will pick the winning entry during its Sept. 25 meeting. The person who chooses the winning road name will be recognized at the groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 28 at 1 p.m.Nominations for the road name should be sent to the manager’s office, 20 E. High St., East Hampton, CT, 06424, or email it to Maniscalco’s assistant Cathy Sirois at csirois@easthamptonct.gov by Sept. 21. Councilor James “Pete” Brown jokingly suggested the road be named for him.
If that’s the case, “It will be a short road,” Engel responded.
Lisa M. Motto, who, with her husband Stephen J. Motto, is serving as the customer project manager, delivered a quarterly assessment of the project’s status. The new facility will be built on a 5.4-acre parcel of land in the Mottos’ Edgewater Hills mixed-use development.
The project is both on schedule time wise and “on budget as planned,” she told the council.
Two professional financial analysts are reviewing the final cost estimates for the project, she said, and the results of their review are due back Sept. 17.
“We have 20 golden shovels all lined up,” Lisa Motto said, explaining she and her husband know a shovel manufacturer. Councilor Dean Markham asked Motto what impact the expanding tariff war with China — in particular with regards to steel — would have on the project.“That’s a loaded question right now,” Motto acknowledged. “That’s the area [contractors] most worried about right now,” she said, adding, “We’ve been seeing a 10 percent increase” on the cost of steel. “We do have a number of areas we can tweak to stay on budget. Markham suggested pre-purchasing steel for the project, an idea Lisa Motto said the building committee has discussed.
Meanwhile, Vice Chairman Mark Philhower asked Motto to address persistent rumors the building has grown in size. Her answer was an emphatic no. In fact, she said, the community room has been reduced in size.
Kickbacks derail Glastonbury man
Gregory Seay
A Glastonbury man will spend eight months in prison and repay about $47,500 to the IRS for his role in a construction kickback scheme, prosecutors says.
Javed Choudhry, 60, also was sentenced Sept. 6 in Hartford federal court to four months of home confinement and three years of supervised release following his May conviction of conspiracy and tax offenses tied to the kickback scheme, the Connecticut U.S. Attorney's Office said.
According to investigators, while working for a Stamford contractor between 2011 and 2014, Choudhry received between $250,000 and $500,000 in cash kickbacks from construction contractors in exchange for steering them millions of dollars in contracts on construction projects in Stamford.
In addition, he failed to report to the Internal Revenue Service most of the income he received through the scheme, prosecutors said.
Larson's Vision For Highway Tunnels Under Hartford To Be Explored At Forum
Kenneth R. Gosselin
U.S. Rep. John Larson began pushing two years ago for a two-tunnel solution in Hartford to replace the aging Interstate 84 viaduct and ease the bottleneck at the interchange with Interstate 91.
Now, Larson, the 1st District congressman, is taking on his skeptics and convening an educational forum that will bring officials and experts from Seattle, where a 2-mile tunnel along the waterfront in the city’s downtown is nearly complete.
The forum will be split into two panels. The first will focus on Seattle’s experience constructing a $3.3 billion tunnel to replace an aging viaduct that separated the city’s downtown area from its waterfront. Construction began in 2011, and officials say the tunnel could open in the fall.
The second panel will shift the focus to Hartford and Larson’s two-tunnel plan.chief executive of the Metropolitan District, or MDC; Carl Bard, former MDC director of engineering and deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation; James P. Redeker, commissioner of the state DOT; David Fay, chief executive and president of The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts; and Scott Jellison, chief executive of MDC.
The forum comes as the state proceeds with plans to replace the I-84 viaduct and studies options for improving the interchange with I-91 . State planners had rejected the idea of replacing the viaduct with a tunnel as too costly, at an estimated $10 billion. Instead, they opted for lowering the highway and placing it below grade.
Larson’s vision is a bold one — bury both highways in tunnels under the city and connect them with a massive underground interchange.
Larson, who is seeking re-election in November, argues the project would bring together two halves of the city split apart since the 1960s by I-84, and would re-establish the connection to the riverfront cut off for two generations by I-91.
While the vision is an attractive one, skeptics say the tunnels would be costly, with one estimate at $50 billion. The project would be federally funded.
Larson, an East Hartford Democrat, would likely carry weight in seeking funding, especially if Democrats recapture the majority in the House of Representatives in the November midterm elections.The tunnels would not have exits so motorists would have to follow them to their end and then backtrack into the city. Last week, state transportation officials said studies showed two-thirds of traffic is traveling in or out of Hartford.
Monday’s event, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Hartford Club on Prospect Street in Hartford.
Some of the travel expenses are being paid by panelists, while expenses of others were picked up by the Larson for Congress re-election campaign.
Public Hearings Set For Phase 2 Of Manchester School Modernization Plan
Jesse Leavenworth
Over the next several months, town and school district leaders will seek residents’ comments on proposed sweeping changes to the school system.
At a joint meeting Tuesday night, the boards of directors and education resolved to hold public hearings on options for phase two of school district modernization, including a preferred plan that would renovate and enlarge three elementary schools and convert a fourth into a preschool center.
Officials will consider the public’s input before drafting a spending question for an April referendum. General Manager Scott Shanley said a schedule of public hearings will be publicized within two weeks.
The SMARTR2 (School Modernization And Reinvestment Team Revisited) committee has considered three main options for elementary schools that were not part of the initial $84 million modernization phase. The panel has recommended renovating and enlarging Bowers, Buckley and Keeney elementary schools to accommodate 400 students each and converting Martin School into a preschool. Under that plan, Keeney would be the center of a school neighborhood across much of the town’s southern section.
This option, estimated to cost about $28 million, is the best, the SMARTR2 panel found, because it meets goals of placing all children in modern schools, sustains racial balance, keeps class sizes at 17-22 students and leaves room at each renovated school for enrollment growth. Mayor Jay Moran stressed at the meeting, however, that no decision has been made and that officials want to hear from citizens.
Manchester is projected to be the largest community in Greater Hartford within the next several years, and district enrollment is expected to climb by about 200 students in the next 10 years.
If voters approve a bond issue in April, construction could start on the first school in 2021 and the overall project could be done by 2024 under the best case scenario. Delaying the decision, officials have said, would mean higher construction costs, possibly lower state reimbursement and putting off construction until 2022 or 2023.
SMARTR2 rejected a plan to renovate all four schools at a cost of about $31 million, in part because state reimbursement would be relatively low. The panel also rejected renovating and enlarging two schools to accommodate about 580 students each and closing two others. Because the state reimburses more for larger projects, that is the least expensive option at $19.8 million to $22 million, but it would leave little room for growing enrollment, officials found.
So far in the first phase of modernization, Bennet Academy has been joined with the Cheney Building for a new fifth- and sixth-grade school. The project also includes “like-new” renovations and additions to Waddell (recently completed) and Verplanck schools. Robertson and Washington schools are to be closed eventually. SMARTR2 also is to address re-use of schools that have been or will be shuttered.