Wallingford wastewater plant project on time for April deadline
Lauren Takores
WALLINGFORD — The contractor performing upgrades
to the town’s wastewater pollution control facility is
preparing to ask for a time extension, but the new phosphorus removal
system is slated to be up and running by the state’s April deadline, town
officials said.
Upgrades to the water pollution control facility, 155 John
St., have been in the works since 2011, when the state Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection introduced stricter phosphorus discharge regulations.
Several towns, including Wallingford, are required by
DEEP to perform upgrades to municipal wastewater treatment plants to
improve phosphorus removal systems.
Phosphorus is considered an environmental hazard because it
causes algae bloom, which depletes oxygen in water bodies and poses a threat to
wildlife, according to DEEP.
The new stricter limits take effect April 1.
Neil Amwake, Water and Sewer Divisions general manager, said
during a Public Utilities Commission meeting last month that C.H.
Nickerson, a Torrington-based environmental construction firm, is
preparing a time extension change order.
Currently, the construction completion is slated for Feb.
17, but things like paving won’t be finished before the spring, Amwake
said.
Nickerson already had extended the completion date by
one week.
“You ask once, and you ask for the right amount of time,” he
said, “so they really are double checking and triple checking how much
time they're going to ask (for).”
He said the new tertiary phosphorus building is “on
target” to be completed and operational by April 1.
Performance testing is slated run in January and February.
“Once we do the performance testing, we're going to keep the
machines running,” Amwake said. “We're not going to shut them down for four to
six weeks. We're just going to run them right until April 1, and just go right
into the next phosphorus season.”
The phosphorus removal season is April 1 to
October 31, but preparation begins March 1.
$86M project
The original contract sum was $45,507,000. After a change
order, the price increased by about one third of 1 percent to
$45,667,715.
The total cost of the entire upgrade project
is $86 million. State grants and low interest loans have been applied to
the phosphorus removal system.
The wastewater treatment plant is on a 153-acre site and
empties into the Quinnipiac River.
The project includes a tertiary treatment process for
phosphorous removal, two secondary settling tanks, a secondary pump station,
ultraviolet disinfection and a post-aeration process, along with standby
generation, site work and electrical upgrades.
Amwake has said there have been no significant upgrades to
the plant since it opened in July 1989, other than adding a nitrogen removal
process in 2005.
Nickerson has completed wastewater treatment plant upgrades
for several Connecticut municipalities, including Meriden.
Road Crossing Construction Precedes Greenwich's Street Light Adaptation
KEN LIEBESKIND
"The crossings were excavated and all concrete
foundations that hold up the steel poles for traffic lights were put in
place," said Ross Rizzo, vice president of The NY-Conn Corporation of
Danbury, Conn., the contractor on the job. "We dug the foundations 12 to
13 feet deep and poured the concrete and installed a rebar cage with eight
anchor bolts. Then, we installed steel mast arms that were designed for each
intersection."
He said the company used Takeuchi and Bobcat
mini-excavators, John Deere backhoes and Altec pressure diggers on the job
along with six-wheel dump trucks.
Rizzo added, "It's one of the first times it's been
used to coordinate signals to keep traffic flowing and Arch Street is very busy
because of its proximity to I-95."
Greenwich is using McCain ASCT adaptive software on the job,
which the company said "generates optimal signal timing parameters across
an arterial network by adjusting cycle lengths, phase splits, and offsets based
on prevailing traffic. It provides a suite of synchronization strategies to
improve operations and mobility."
"Synchronizing lights with ASCT on I-95 ramps in a
heavily traveled area will save on congestion and improve air quality by
eliminating wait time," said Circosta-Cohee.
Construction began on the Arch Street job in August 2020 and
street light street installation will be completed in February 2022. The budget
for the job is $2,197,393 with most paid by a federal Congestion Mitigation and
Air Quality grant. The town of Greenwich will pay for part of the job that
includes design fees of $554,000 and inspection fees of $282,000. CEG
Inquiry underway over top prosecutor’s hiring of OPM official’s daughter
The administration of Gov. Ned Lamont has retained former
U.S. Attorney Stanley A. Twardy Jr. and two other lawyers from the firm of Day
Pitney to investigate “possible improprieties by state employees and possibly
others.”
Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr. said Thursday a
focus of the inquiry is the circumstances surrounding his hiring of Anastasia
Diamantis, the daughter of Kostantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, one of the budget
officials whom Colangelo had been lobbying for help in securing raises,
recently obtained emails show.
Colangelo said he and the Division of Criminal Justice
welcome the inquiry.
“There was never any impropriety in the hiring of Miss
Diamantis or any of my executive assistants, and the division is eager to see
the matter resolved,” Colangelo said.
Kosta Diamantis simultaneously was deputy secretary of the
Office of Policy and Management, an unclassified political position, and the
director of the Office of School Construction Grants and Review, a classified
job with civil service protections.
On Oct. 28, Diamantis was removed from the OPM position by
the governor’s office and suspended with pay from the school construction post.
Rather than accept the suspension, Diamantis retired.
Emails obtained by the CT Mirror under the Freedom of
Information Act show that Anastasia Diamantis was hired as Colangelo
unsuccessfully pressed state officials, including Diamantis, for help securing
raises for prosecutors to address what he called longstanding disparities
compared to public defenders and others.
They also show that Anastasia Diamantis, a state employee
since 2015, had a part-time job with a school construction management company
for several years. She kept the job for at least 14 months after starting on
July 3, 2020 as a $99,000-a-year executive assistant in Colangelo’s office.
When Colangelo hired her, she had been employed for nearly
five years at the Department of Rehabilitation Services, first as an executive
secretary to the commissioner and then as a disability claims examiner
assistant. She has a master’s degree in elementary education from Fairfield
University and a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Sacred Heart
University.
Questions were first raised about her hiring in a column
published Oct. 1 by The Hartford Courant. The emails obtained by CT Mirror
provide previously unreported details about Colangelo’s lobbying for raises and
Anastasia Diamantis’ second job with the construction company, Construction
Advocacy Professionals, which represents owners in overseeing construction.
Colangelo said his hiring of Anastasia Diamantis posed no
conflict, nor should it create the appearance of one, because the Department of
Administrative Services is the authority for establishing compensation plans
for the Division of Criminal Justice, not OPM.
“I did not have any concern about that,” he said.
Still, it was Kosta Diamantis who informed him in writing on
May 21, 2020, shortly before his daughter applied for the criminal justice job,
that due to fiscal constraints, the OPM could not support his request.
Colangelo continued to make his case for the raises to Diamantis and OPM
Secretary Melissa McCaw after Anastasia Diamantis started work for him in July
2020.
In an email on Aug. 31, 2020, he told Kosta that the pay
scale was depressing the number of applications for state’s attorney: There
were only five for openings in the Hartford and Stamford-Norwalk judicial
districts.
“Kosta, Here are the number of applicants that we have had.
We really need to correct the not moving from 35 to 40 hours for this group,”
Colangelo wrote. “You can see how it has hurt the number of applicants. I look
forward to having the opportunity to discuss this with you.”
Administration silent on scope of inquiry
It is unclear if Twardy’s inquiry reaches beyond Diamantis’
hiring by Colangelo.
The state’s contract with Twardy, which was signed Nov. 15,
offers scant detail about the scope of work: “The contractor will serve as
outside legal counsel to conduct a factual investigation on behalf of the
Office of the Governor regarding possible improprieties by state employees and
possibly others, and, as requested, to provide legal analysis and
recommendations for possible further actions.”
The contract was capped at $75,000 and anticipated Twardy
conducting 12 to 15 interviews, without identifying the subjects, though it
referenced directions to come: “A more detailed description of the services
will be provided in a ‘Statement of Work’ to be provided separately.”
The Lamont administration declined to provide the statement
of work, citing attorney-client privilege, or discuss the inquiry in any
detail.
Kosta Diamantis, a former Democratic state representative
from Bristol who was hired for the school construction job in 2015 and took on
the additional OPM job in 2019, said Thursday he believed the paper trail of
emails and other documents showed there was no undue influence in the hiring of
his daughter.
He offered no opinion of who might be interviewed.
“I haven’t the foggiest idea why they would waste that much
time and energy when the emails speak for themselves,” Diamantis said. “My
question in rebuttal would be, ‘What is in the emails that suggest I did
anything improper? Which I did not. And so my next part of that is, so if it’s
not improper, then they want to dig further to ask questions, so that they can
find something improper?”
He has retained a lawyer, Norm Pattis, who could not be
reached for comment.
Diamantis exited state service with a scorching assessment
of the governor’s senior staff, and the governor’s office indicated that
retaining outside counsel was intended to show impartiality.
“Independent counsel was retained in order to ensure a
complete and thorough review, free of any potential claim of partiality,” Max
Reiss, the governor’s communication director, said in an emailed statement.
“This independent inquiry is ongoing. The Office of the Governor will not have
further comment as this is an ongoing review.”
In an interview with the CT Mirror on the night he retired,
Diamantis criticized the governor’s top aides: Paul Mounds, the chief of staff;
Josh Geballe, the chief operating officer; and Nora Dannehy, the general
counsel. He complained they disrespected McCaw, the OPM secretary.
Twardy’s contract was signed by Attorney General William
Tong, not Dannehy or anyone else in the governor’s office. Dannehy, however, is
listed as the contact for the office of the governor.
Twardy also was the chief of staff to former Gov. Lowell P.
Weicker Jr., who served from 1991 to 1995.
“I welcome any review of the hiring process because I know
the outcome will allow us to move on and continue our focus on the very
important work that the division does every day to serve the citizens of
Connecticut,” said Colangelo, who oversees a division that employs more than
500 people.
OPM, where Diamantis was influential, had no authority to
either create the executive assistant position given to his daughter, nor could
it unilaterally address Colangelo’s complaint that the salaries of prosecutors
were not changed when the state shifted them from a 35-hour to 40-hour work
week decades ago, Colangelo said.
The commissioner of the Department of Administrative
Services and McCaw, the secretary of OPM, would have to sign off. But OPM is
seen as a place where hiring, the domain of DAS, can be slowed, especially in
times of fiscal difficulties.
Colangelo said OPM played no role in authorizing the
executive assistant position that went to Anastasia Diamantis.
“The executive assistant positions were created through DAS
with the Division of Criminal Justice,” said Colangelo, who took over
leadership of the division in January. “They were effective on March 13, 2020.
They were created way before I even met Anastasia.”
She emailed her resume to Colangelo on June 9, 2020. She
referenced a previous conversation, saying, “Attached please find my resume,
per your request.”
About two weeks earlier, it was her father who gave
Colangelo bad news about the compensation plan.
“OPM currently estimates a General Fund deficit of $620
million in FY 2020, $2.4 billion in FY 2021, and likely more than $3 billion in
FY 2022, based on current consensus estimate of the long-term effects of the
pandemic on the state’s economy and revenues,” Diamantis wrote Colangelo on May
21. “We are, therefore, unable to pursue your request for increased
compensation, at this time.”
In an interview Thursday, Colangelo said the paucity of
applicants to his office has worsened.
“This became critical for me when we were filling the New
London state’s attorney position,” he said. The division received three
applications, only two from candidates who met the qualifications.
Colangelo said he would continue to seek higher compensation
for prosecutors.
A part-time job in school construction
Colangelo said he was aware of Anastasia Diamantis’
part-time job with the construction management company and that outside
employment is permitted.
Antonietta DiBenedetto-Roy, the owner of the construction
management company, said Diamantis had worked for her on projects in Rhode
Island, in part to avoid any potential conflict with her father’s role in
overseeing construction grants. Emails show, however, that at least on a few
occasions, the younger Diamantis helped the company with documentation on a
Connecticut project.
Diamantis is no longer employed by DiBenedetto-Roy, but she
declined to say when Diamantis left.
Anastasia Diamantis did not respond to requests for comment.
Some of Diamantis’ private-job emails became state records
because they were copied to her state email address. The last email she sent on
behalf of Construction Advocacy Professionals was dated Sept. 17, 2021 and
related to a list of Rhode Island school and finance contacts she assembled for
the company.
But Anastasia Diamantis was copied on an exchange of emails
between her father and DiBenedetto-Roy regarding state documentation on the
Birch Grove Primary School project in Tolland in July 2019, a project
fast-tracked to replace a school with a crumbling foundation undermined by
pyrrhotite, a mineral that expands when exposed to moisture. Her father said he
could not recall why he copied her.
She also twice exchanged emails with DiBenedetto on the
Tolland project in September 2020, each time during the state work day.
On Friday, September 4, 2020, DiBenedetto asked her to
prepare a spreadsheet listing the subcontractors of the Tolland school’s
general contractor, D’Amato Construction of Bristol. Diamantis sent her the
material at 3:23 p.m. the following Tuesday. Two weeks later, Diamantis
answered another email about documentation on the Tolland project.
“It might have been something she was just helping me with,
filing of documentation,” DiBenedetto-Roy said. “Because she was strictly
working for me in Rhode Island.”
A chat with the Commissioner of Transportation
Jim Cameron
Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe Giulietti has a holiday gift for rail commuters… and maybe a lump of coal for the stockings for highway speeders.
Once a year I get a sit-down with the commissioner.
We’ve known each other for many years since his days as President of
Metro-North. He knows I always ask him the tough questions but once told
me “You’re always fair, Jim,” a comment that brought a tear to my eye.
So when I asked him when train service was going to get
faster, he didn’t blink… or over-promise.
“My boss (the governor) keeps asking me the same
question. We’re still doing the modeling,” he said. And while a few
months ago he promised a 10-minute faster ride “by
next year,” Metro-North trains are still slower and running less frequently
than just a few years ago.
But while the railroad crews are still “playing
Whack-a-Mole” with trouble spots, any hopes for expanded service and more
express trains probably won’t happen “until the spring,” says the commissioner.
Stats show overall weekday ridership is topping out at 53%
of pre-COVID numbers. But a handful of rush hour trains are up to
75%. And new
technology allows the railroad to know on a minute-to-minute basis
just how crowded each train is. He said that he has plenty of spare rail
cars so that CDOT’s partner, Metro-North, is quick to add cars to increasingly
crowded trains.
But while service or speed may not be increased, neither
will the fares. “We are having no discussions about fare increases,” said
the commissioner. Neither does it seem that peak fares will be returning
anytime soon, at least not until service improves.
What is still under consideration are new discount fare
plans. Though he wasn’t specific, such things as a discounted 30-trip
ticket have been discussed previously.
Rail and signal enhancements on the diesel-only Waterbury
branch line will mean expanded service but not new cars, at least not
yet. The CDOT request to the tiny rail car industry for new cars
proposals brought a dismal response, but the agency is working on other ways of
modernizing the fleet.
And when the MTA’s $11 billion East Side Access project
opens Grand Central to Long Island Railroad trains in December 2022,
Commissioner Giulietti hopes that some New Haven line trains will then access
Penn Station “the first day ESA opens.”
On the highway side, traffic is worse than before COVID,
both in delays and danger. “It used to be that people drove 20 miles over
the speed limit,” he said. “Now they drive 50 mph over the limit.”
Accidents are frequent and often deadly at these “horrific speeds.”
So CDOT is about to launch three pilot programs in work
zones with speed-enforcement cameras. Sometime “before the spring” anyone
speeding in these work zones will be ticketed automatically at a fine of up to $200.
The nation will soon be awash in money from the recent
infrastructure bill with $30 billion designated for Connecticut and another
$100 billion up for grabs in competitive bidding. But to write the grants
and prepare the engineering to qualify for that money, CDOT needs to deal with
its brain drain.
Almost 400 senior staffers at CDOT have retired this year
with more expected to leave next year before pension rules change. In
addition, the agency needs to hire 200+ staffers just to handle the new
infrastructure projects. Commissioner Giulietti says his recruiters are
visiting universities and even high schools to find and develop talent.
“These are good paying jobs,” he says. “ And they’ll be
around for 20 to 30 years” as we rebuild our roads and rails.
Jim Cameron is Founder of the Commuter
Action Group, advocates for Connecticut rail riders.
48-unit, mixed-use apartment redevelopment proposed near Blue Back Square
Some prominent Greater Hartford developers are looking to
transform two West Hartford offices into a single, mixed-use residential and
commercial building.
Avner Krohn, Brian Zelman and Richard and Zach Korris — who
together own the two existing buildings as Farmington Avenue Acquisitions LLC —
submitted plans to town officials on Friday outlining a 48-unit structure that
would be put up at what is now 920 and 924 Farmington Ave., near the Blue Back
Square shopping center.
The developers said the proposed building would have 40
one-bedroom apartments and eight two-bedroom units. The ground floor would be
used as commercial space, they added, and 61 parking spaces would be set up
outside to serve residents and visitors.
Current plans do not include a restaurant for the ground
floor, according to Richard Korris. Instead, the space could be occupied by up
to three different commercial tenants, Korris said.
Krohn, the chairman and CEO of New Britain-based Jasko
Development, said the project will give renters easy access to an amenity-rich
section of West Hartford without having to rely on a car to get there.
“If approved, this new community will offer residents
convenient, walkable access to a wide range of services — restaurants, shops,
gyms, groceries, dry cleaners, healthcare, movies, the library and many more —
just a few steps from their front door,” Krohn said.
“As the gateway to West Hartford Center, this community will
be the first structure most see when they come to the area,” added Zelman, the
principal of West Hartford-based Zelman Real Estate. “We believe we’ve designed
our building to help serve as an desirable entry point to our town center.”
According to town property records, the land where the new
development would be built is currently occupied by two structures — a
13,650-square-foot, single-story office building at 920 Farmington Ave. and a
12,240-square-foot, three-story building at 924 Farmington Ave. used for
offices and storage space.
Farmington Avenue Acquisitions LLC purchased both addresses
for a little over $1.6 million each, town records show.
Carlos Mouta outlines $72.8M mixed-use development in Hartford’s Parkville neighborhood
Developer Carlos Mouta’s vision for a $72.8 million
transformative apartment and retail development in Hartford's Parkville
neighborhood may soon get a $3.5 million boost from the Capital Region
Development Authority.
Mouta is seeking a $3.5 million CRDA loan to clean lead
paint, asbestos and other hazardous materials and pollutants from the building
and property at 237-245 Hamilton St.
The proposal was introduced to the CRDA’s Housing &
Neighborhood Committee Friday. It needs approval from the full CRDA board.
Mouta said he plans to build 189 apartments in the
236,000-square-foot building. He is also planning 80,000-square feet of
mixed-use space for startup businesses, along with amenities such as “Zoom
rooms,” a gym, a beer garden and a small grocery store.
“It’s going to be a great addition to that area,” Mouta
said. “I am responsible for about 250 [apartment] units in that area.”
Mouta grew up part of a working-class family of five in a
Cape-style house on Kibbe Street, a short distance away from the Hamilton
Street building he bought three years ago. He said he feels a sense of
obligation to the neighborhood, and that this is a project that needs to happen
for the area's success.
Mouta has renovated several large properties in the area.
Among his creations is the popular Parkville Market.
Mouta said he is working to confirm $24 million in historic
tax credit backing from state and federal historic preservation offices.
Once that is confirmed, Mouta said, he can continue work to
secure $10 million in funding from opportunity zone investors and another $20
million to $30 million in traditional bank loans.
Mouta said he plans to use CRDA funds to clear hazardous
materials at the property over a period of three to four months. That work
would start as he is securing other sources of funding.
Mouta said he hopes to begin construction in early spring.
Portions of the development could be ready for occupancy in
18 months, with the balance of the project completed in 24 to 30 months after
launch, Mouta said.
“It’s a significant project and it’s critical long-term to
the success of the Parkville area because it’s such a dominating structure,”
said Michael Friemuth, executive director of the CRDA.
One of the most sought-after retirement homes in the state
is welcoming an expansion to its New Britain campus valued at over $11 million.
The Jerome Home/Arbor Rose assisted living community
recently broke ground on a 19,000 sq. ft. facility, to include 20 new
apartments for memory care residents and a state-of-the-art wellness center.
The estimated completion date is Oct. 2022.
“We hope to start moving people in during fall of next
year,” Jerome Home/Arbor Rose Executive Director Lori Toombs said.
The not-for-profit home, located at 975 Corbin Ave., is
affiliated with Hartford HealthCare. It offers skilled nursing, inpatient and
outpatient rehabilitation, memory care, residential care, independent and
assisted living.
There are currently 16 memory care units in Arbor Rose.
“We have a waiting list for memory care so it’s great we’re
going to be able to offer 20 more units with this expansion,” Toombs pointed
out.
She was joined by colleagues, the Board of Trustees and the
construction team at a recent groundbreaking ceremony outside the facility.
Longtime trustee Harry Mazadoorian is looking forward to the
future of Jerome Home/Arbor Rose.
“We’re very pleased with how it’s going,” he said of the
project, which was delayed more than a year due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The U.S. News & World Report recognized Jerome
Home/Arbor Rose on its Best Nursing Home List based on nationwide ratings from
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
“People want to live here; they love living here,” Toombs
said. “They know we are one of the best places in the area and that’s why we
are able to expand.”
The new wellness center will feature services and programs
for short-term rehab and outpatient care as well as a GoodLife Fitness program.
John Manning, chairman of the Board of Trustees at Jerome
Home/Arbor Rose, put his stamp of approval on the project.
“We started this many years ago and it’s good we’re finally
seeing shovels out there moving dirt around,” Manning pointed out.
The project’s architect is Gerry Frank, founding partner and
President of Bechtel Frank Erickson Architects, a firm based in Lexington,
Mass.
“I have a long history with this place,” said Frank, who was
also the architect of Arbor Rose, located on the Jerome Home campus.
“This is very exciting for us,” Frank added. “What’s
fascinating to me is the way Jerome Home has grown over time. You can see it
reflected in the architecture. It’s almost like a college campus now.”
The history of Jerome Home dates back to 1932 and was one of
the first assisted living facilities for the elderly. In the 1970s a skilled
nursing unit was added and the home expanded again in 1990. Arbor Rose was
completed in 2008.
Jerome Home acquired several homes in deteriorating
condition located along Hamilton Street, which were demolished to allow for the
expansion. A large parking lot is also being constructed.
Memorial Boulevard Bridge reopening Monday
BRISTOL – City Hall announced that Memorial Boulevard Bridge
would be reopening with detours to be removed this coming Monday for traffic
patterns to once again resume normally.
Construction on the project started in June. The creation of
parapets and sidewalks will continue along with decorative elements throughout
the winter season and on into spring, said city officials. Some closures may
occur temporarily as work is done.
Cyclists and drivers are encouraged to remain vigilant as
construction continues.
Officials said the bridge is slated to be reworked to honor
veterans as well as the city’s clock making heritage with motifs in league with
those themes. Discusses were made with the Bristol Board of Parks Commissioners
as well as the Bristol Veterans Council.
The bridge was rehabilitated as it had been gradually
degrading and is receiving a facelift as officials have often referred to it as
an entrance to the city’s downtown.
Trademark Contractors was awarded the project for over $2.5
million. Funding for the project was provided through the state’s bridge
program with 50% match of funding municipal and federal dollars through a
“progressive reimbursement” process back to the city.