Ballots on Tuesday included a question letting voters decide whether the town should appropriate the spending "for road improvements and pavement projects" and borrow $10 million to finance the work.
Voters supported the measure by a total of 3,460 to 2,577.
Several town councilors supported the move over the last several months. But some officials, including Mayor Ron McDaniel and Councilor Billy Caron, argued it wasn't a good time to pile on to the town's debt.
Town Council Chairman Tom McNally said the town would spend less on annual road maintenance and instead perform a mix of milling and paving and total reconstructions over the next several years.
After voting at the Montville Community Center on Tuesday afternoon, Lee and Rowena James said while they don't live on a dilapidated road, they fully supported the project
"Some roads really need it," Rowena James said.
By charter, the town must hold a referendum for "any non-budget expenditure which exceeds 5 percent of the tax levy, the amount the town needs to generate in taxes," according to Finance Director Theresa Hart. The town's general tax levy is about $39.8 million for the 2018-19 fiscal year.
While added revenues, spending or market conditions could shift property tax rates up or down, the town estimated that 2023 — the costliest year during the 10-year project — could see a homeowner pay about $118 in added taxes on a home assessed at the median of $123,720. The estimated tax impact of the bond drops every year thereafter.
Public Works Director Donald Bourdeau has been working on a list of dilapidated roads and will conduct more surveys and engineering work in advance of repairs next year.
Windham OKs $14.6M community, senior center
Joe Cooper
Windham voters at referendum Tuesday approved plans to build a $14.6 million community and senior center at a Main Street plot formerly housing the old Jillson Square theaters.
The town will spend $10 million on the 30,000-square-foot facility at 533 Main St. in downtown Willimantic, a section of town. A portion of project costs are offset by a $1.3 million state grant and proceeds from its sale of the Kramer Building at 322 Prospect St., which houses the town's recreation department. Voters greelit the project by a 2-1 margin.
Designed by Farmington's QA+M Architecture, the new building will feature dining spaces, senior and social services offices, recreation offices, fitness areas, a gymnasium and a six-lane swimming pool. The new gym and pool areas will serve as upgrades to similar amenities at the Kramer Building.
Construction will begin in summer 2019 with an expected completion in mid 2020, said Tom Arcari, principal of QA+M.
OSHA Issues Final Rule on Crane Operator Certification Requirements
OSHA has published a final rule that clarifies certification requirements for crane operators, and maintains the employer's duty to ensure that crane operators can safely operate the equipment. The final rule will maintain safety and health protections for workers while reducing compliance burdens.
Under the final rule, employers are required to train operators as needed to perform assigned crane activities, evaluate them and document successful completion of the evaluations. Employers who have evaluated operators prior to December 9, 2018, will not have to conduct those evaluations again, but will only have to document when those evaluations were completed.
The rule also requires crane operators to be certified or licensed and receive ongoing training as necessary to operate new equipment. Operators can be certified based on the crane's type and capacity, or type only, which ensures that more accredited testing organizations are eligible to meet OSHA's certification program requirements. The final rule revises a 2010 requirement that crane operator certification must specify the rated lifting capacity of cranes for which the operator is certified. Compliant certifications that were already issued by type and capacity are still acceptable under this final rule.
The final rule, with the exception of the evaluation and documentation requirements, will become effective on Dec. 9, 2018. The evaluation and documentation requirements will become effective on February 7, 2019.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to help ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, education and assistance.
For more information, visit www.osha.gov.
Money for New Milford library, Ridgefield, Danbury wastewater plants, Newtown police station
Voters across the Danbury area supported Tuesday spending millions to renovate their library, build a new police station and upgrade wastewater treatment plants in their towns.
In New Milford, residents approved a $6.5 million renovation to its library. The project had failed twice before, but passed 7,780 to 3,290 this time.“We are so grateful to the town coming through for us,” Library Director Sally Tornow said. “It really shows we’re needed.”
The library will expand from 15,000 to 22,000 square feet, adding meeting space as well as expanding and relocating the children and young adult sections. The plan will also make the library compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The library will hear at the end of the month whether it will receive a $1 million state grant to help with the overall $8.5 million construction.
Wastewater treatment
Both Danbury and Ridgefield supported projects for their wastewater treatment plants.
Danbury residents voted 15,207 to 3,222 in favor of the $102.6 million upgrades to the plant, which has not undergone major improvements in 25 years. New state environmental discharge regulations require a massive rebuild of the existing systems.
City officials unsuccessfully battled those regulations in court for years and now must complete the upgrades by 2022, including having a complete design by July 1 to receive 10s of millions in state funding.
“I’m glad the voters agreed with us that we have to move forward with this,” Mayor Mark Boughton said. “We’re already into it in terms of design and to meet our goal of getting it into the state to meet its deadline and receive our state funding.”
Ridgefield’s $48 million project for the town’s sewer system passed by a vote of 7,067 to 4,687. These upgrades will also make the system complaint with new state and federal guidelines.
Under the plan, the Route 7 facility will be closed and the 120,000 gallons it treats per day will be pumped to the South Street facility, which will be upgraded.
“Wastewater infrastructure is often out of sight and out of mind, so we are grateful that people recognized its value as they came out to vote (Tuesday),” Amy Siebert, chair of the Water Pollution Control Authority, said.
The town is seeking $11.5 million in grants for the work, but the rest of the project will be covered by increased sewer rates and $8 million from the general taxpayers.
In Newtown, voters approved $14.8 million for a new police station, and to buy land on South Main Street and Peck’s Lane for the new headquarters. The referendum passed with about 62 percent of the vote, First Selectman Dan Rosenthal said.
“It’s a nice message to send to the men and woman of the police department that voters backed the plan,” Rosenthal said.
The existing building on South Main Street is in disrepair and too small for the department, which has more than doubled its officers since the old station was built in the early 1980s.
In Ridgefield, voters resoundingly passed a controversial plan to separate the Inland Wetlands Board from the Planning and Zoning Commission. The current system has the same nine members acting as both the board and the commission.
But three of the nine charter questions failed - including proposals to make the town treasurer and tax collector positions appointed instead of elected and a requirement to have 2 percent of the voter population present at the annual budget meeting to make a change to the town or school budget. Among other questions that passed was a rule prohibiting candidates from running for more than one elected office with overlapping terms at once, which had caused confusion after the 2017 elections.
In New Milford, residents approved charter revisions that dealt with town finances and the finance board, with other changes cleaning up the language.
Under one change, a failed budget will go back to the finance board and only the rejected budget would be changed. Previously, the Town Council could revise both the schools and town budgets if one of them failed.