New public safety software to be purchased

As published in the Record Journal Thursday June 27, 2013

By Andrew Ragali
Record-Journal staff
aragali@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224
Twitter:@AndyRagz

WALLINGFORD - At the request of Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio, the town will spend nearly $600,000 for new public safety software. It will replace aging software that controls police, fire and medical dispatching as well as investigative and administrative functions, Dortenzio said.

The software will be purchased from New World Systems. The department has spent about $1 million on technology from that company over the past 15 years, Dortenzio said, and has been happy with its service. The technology works together and cannot be interfaced with software from other companies, Dortenzio said.

The Town Council approved a bid waiver Tuesday to allow the department to continue buy equipment from New World Systems. The item was added to the agenda Tuesday night by waiving a rule. Several councilors wondered why they were first being told about the bid waiver that night.

“It was an oversight that it didn’t appear on the agenda,” said Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. “They bid the hardware, but they didn’t want to bid the software because they wanted to stay with New World Systems.”

Network hardware was publicly bid last month, Dortenzio said, and the costs came to $180,431.

The bid waiver passed on a 6-3 vote, with Jason Zandri, Nick Economopoulos and Craig Fishbein dissenting.

Zandri said a newer product could bring bigger savings. Dortenzio said the software replacement is a piece of a larger system that would cost far more to replace than the $1 million invested over the last 15 years.

“You’d have to come up with four or five times the money I’m asking for tonight,” Dortenzio said to the council.

Dortenzio said he was approached by New World Systems two years ago and was asked to purchase new software. The department put off the purchase, he said, “because it makes more financial sense now.” “I don’t know that another vendor couldn’t meet our needs,” Zandri said. “There’s nothing else to compare it too.”

While Fishbein agreed that new software needed to be bought, he was upset that Dortenzio went about soliciting a draft contract with New World Systems without telling the council.

“I don’t think that’s the procedure that should be followed,” Fishbein said. “It was my understanding you come before the council first to get permission to engage.”

Dortenzio said he communicated with New World Systems for six months to develop contract language.

“When I’m hearing these things are going on, I don’t think that’s the process,” Fishbein said.

Economopoulos also weighed in, saying “I just find this not the right way of doing business.”

Dickinson supported Dortenzio’s request.

“I fully support the efforts of the department to upgrade and proceed forward in a logical and efficient way,” Dickinson said.

To his knowledge, the mayor said, the town has never put to bid software for any department. Software has always been purchased through bid waivers, he said.

“I understand the importance of this, and sometimes the importance has to be the overriding factor of what we do,” said Town Council Chairman Bob Parisi.

“It’s just too critical of a system to shop around right now,” Councilor John Sullivan said.

Town Councilors John Le-Tourneau, Tom Laffin and Vincent Cervoni also said Tuesday night that they were comfortable with the bid waiver and had faith in Dortenzio’s work.

When questioned by Sullivan Tuesday night, Dortenzio called the new software a “premier product.”

Fishbein said he doesn’t “see it as a premier product if only a handful of towns in the state use it.”

Dortenzio said Berlin, Newtown, Waterbury, East Hartford, and Cheshire have the same software. The product isn’t more widespread in the state, Dortenzio said, because not all departments provide the same level of service. A cheaper product could be purchased, he said, but it would provide only one-third of the current software’s capabilities. Since correctly dispatching emergency vehicles is important, Dortenzio said he’d rather spend more money for a better system.

The council approved transferring $120,425 left over from the regular wages account and $475,506 from the town’s surplus to the department for the new software. Zandri and Economopoulos voted against both items.

With the new system, maintenance costs will decrease, Dortenzio said. Annually, the department will pay $119,212 in maintenance under a new contract with the company, $18,000 less than the current contract, he said.

Buying houses would add land to old cemetery

This will be discussed at the Town Council meeting (TONIGHT) on Tuesday June 25, 2013

As published in the Record Journal Saturday June 22, 2013

By Andrew Ragali
Record-Journal staff
aragali@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224
Twitter:@AndyRagz

WALLINGFORD – The town is considering the purchase of two houses on Prince Street to create more space for the historic Center Street Cemetery.

The purchase of property at 58 and 60 Prince St. will be considered at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, said Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. The plan is to move the cemetery’s maintenance and office building to the property.

The town expects to buy 58 Prince St. for $148,000 and will look to acquire 60 Prince St. by eminent domain. The property was foreclosed upon and is for sale through a bank, Dickinson said.

The town is considering use of eminent domain because its inability to reach an agreement on a reasonable purchase price with the bank, Dickinson said. “We don’t want to pay more than it’s worth,” he said.

According to the town assessor’s office, 58 Prince St. is owned by Jack Delieto. As of 2010, the assessed value of the property is $113,400. Its full-market value is $162,000. According to the assessor’s office, 60 Prince St. was owned by Jo Santiago. Its assessed value, as of 2010, is $112,600. Its full-market value is $160,800.

Dickinson said it’s rare that two houses next to the cemetery are for sale at the same time. Since the Center Street Cemetery Association has identified a need for space, “now is the opportunity to acquire something,” he said.

The association operates and maintains the cemetery under an agreement with the town, he said. The organization is primarily funded by the town.

The six-acre cemetery, at the intersection of Center Street and Route 5 was established, in 1670. Lyman Hall, a Connecticut native who signed the Declaration of Independence, and Moses Yale Beach, a newspaper publisher and one of the founders of the Associated Press, are among those buried in the cemetery. Other graves contain those killed in both the Revolutionary and Civil wars, and the father of a woman tried for witchcraft.

Purchasing the two houses on Prince Street “would enable a move of the cemetery’s maintenance office and buildings off of their current site and into this area so there’s more area in the cemetery for the more typical purposes of a cemetery,” Dickinson said. “It allows for more flexibility.”

Bob Devaney, the cemetery’s caretaker, works in the maintenance and storage building. He could not be reached for comment Friday. Town Councilor John Le-Tourneau said a new, larger storage facility built on newly acquired land would allow Devaney a larger office space to meet with families.

A bucket loader used by Devaney is kept under a tarp right now, he said. A new building would create a storage garage for the machine. The current building would be demolished, according to LeTourneau, potentially creating “a great place to put a receiving vault for cremated remains.”

“Rarely do pieces of property surrounding cemeteries come up for sale like this,” LeTourneau said.

The Town Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Town Hall auditorium, 45 S. Main St.

Waivers leave two with bitter taste

As published in the Record Journal Wednesday June 19, 2013

By Andrew Ragali
Record-Journal staff
aragali@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224
Twitter:@AndyRagz

WALLINGFORD - At the Town Council’s June 11 meeting, 54 bid waivers — from nine departments and one miscellaneous item from the mayor — were on the consent agenda, which is used to quickly deal with items that normally don’t warrant discussion. But not all councilors agree that bid waivers are good business.

“This is the start of the next (fiscal) year, so we have ongoing contractual issues for most of these, if not all of them,” Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said. “You want to start the new year able to pay bills and utilize services without having to come before the council with every issue.”

All the bid waivers were approved, but two councilors voted against them.

“This bid waiver thing, I don’t like,” Jason Zandri said.

Zandri, a Democrat, is running against Dickinson, a Republican, in the upcoming mayoral race. Town Councilor Nick Economopoulos, a Democrat, also voted against the waivers.

“I’m just not going to go with that,” Economopoulos said.

There’s a chance that, if certain services are put out to bid, the town could save money, Zandri said.

An example he used earlier this week is the Independence Day fireworks. The fireworks are no longer funded by the town, but were four years ago. Zandri said the town went out to bid for the show every year and always used the same vendor, paying about $40,000 a year. But now, Zandri said, he raises money through his own efforts, and can put on the same event for about $25,000 by using different vendors.

“Just because it’s something we’ve always done for simplicity’s sake, why not once in a while pick apart all of these to see if we can save something?” Zandri asked.

The town looks to waive the bidding process because, in certain circumstances, “only one vendor can provide the service,” Dickinson said. Such services included in the latest round were computer maintenance and telephone services, he said.

The mayor gave an example. If the town had a truck that could only be serviced by one company, he said, there’s no point in putting the job out to bid again.

Dickinson said there is history and rationale behind every waived bid.

Councilor John Sullivan, a Democrat, said he understands Zandri’s point, but added, “there’s a time and place for bid waivers, obviously.”

Sullivan said that if Zandri and Economopoulos were concerned, they should have had the bid waiver items removed from the consent agenda. Councilors can request before council meetings that items be removed from the consent agenda.

Councilor John LeTourneau, a Republican, said the town is always looking to save money. He said he feels confident that if there were a way to save money by putting services out to bid, it would have already happened.

“It’s not stuff you’re going to find big price variances in,” Councilor Vincent Cervoni, a Republican, said of services for which bids were waived.

Councilor Craig Fishbein, a Republican, said he has objected to specific bid waivers before, but had no issue with the waivers passed last week.

Train station safety issues have some apprehensive

As published in the Record Journal Sunday June 9, 2013

By Andrew Ragali
Record-Journal staff
aragali@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224
Twitter:@AndyRagz

WALLINGFORD — With a new train station will come added responsibilities for the Police Department, said Deputy Chief William Wright.

The station will be built at the intersection of South Cherry and Parker streets, according to state Department of Transportation plans. Construction is to begin in early 2014.

Wright said that “anytime you add another facility to the town, it is an added responsibility.”

“We are short-staffed,” Wright said, “but responsible policing will take control.”

Security concerns regarding the station were brought up by several town councilors at a public input session two weeks ago. At the meeting, state DOT officials presented plans for the new station. Plans include emergency telephones to be installed throughout the station and two parking lots. John Bernick, who is managing the New Haven-Hartford- Springfield commuter rail project that was the emphasis for the new station, said that the new station will be designed to be open, well-lit and safe. Bernick said cameras will be installed throughout the station and parking lots, and the station will be built with see-through paneling because “you want to be able to see what you’re walking into before you get into it.”

Councilors expressed concern over the fact that there will be no security personnel provided by the state or Amtrak at the station. Since the station won’t have security, Wright said it will become part of the department’s routine patrol. Just as is done in the current train station, Wright said officers will periodically walk through and patrol the new station on foot. “We are out on foot very often,” he said. Still, it’s “impossible to see every nook and cranny.”

Also, councilors said during the meeting that they feel cameras won’t help with safety because there would be no live feed anywhere. Bernick said the cameras are to serve as a deterrent, and to help catch criminals after the fact.

Video is only really useful “after the fact,” Wright said.

In Meriden, Bernick said some police officers will receive a live feed of video from the city’s new train station on displays in vehicles.

“Currently, we don’t have that technology in our patrol cars,” Wright said.

During the meeting two weeks ago, Town Councilor Craig Fishbein brought up concerns about the design of the parking lots. Bernick said the lots will be surrounded by foliage so that people in neighboring homes don’t have to look at a parking lot when they look out of their windows. Also, lighting in the lots will dim after a certain hour so the light does not bother neighbors late at night.

Fishbein said during the meeting that this design might actually attract crime.

“It remains a concern,” Fishbein said Friday.

“We share those concerns,” Wright said. But Wright said that he understands the complexities of trying to fit a new building where there has never been one.

The state is “trying to be a good neighbor,” he said. Wright said he understands both sides of the argument, and that responsible policing will prevent any issues.

Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio was involved with a group of town staff that worked with the state DOT to design the station. Dortenzio was unavailable for comment on Friday. Wright said Dortenzio did provide input on potential safety issues at the new station.

For police departments everywhere,“train stations have become areas where we spend a great deal of time,” Wright said. With good design and policing, crime can be minimized, he said. “We’re concerned about any areas where mass transit occurs.”

VIDEO - Recent Council discussion regarding prescription dropbox

As brought up by the public during the Public Question and Answer agenda item at the May 25th Town Council meeting: