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:

TONIGHT - (May 28, 2013) The Wallingford Fireworks Fund will be presenting the donation to Wallingford at the Town Council meeting for the 2013 event

Tonight at the regularly scheduled Town Council meeting I will be asking to waive Rule 5 in order to present to the town (on behalf of The Fund) the donation for the Independence Day celebration which includes all the costs for the event (the fireworks, the town services, overtime for police and fire, etc.) as well as all the costs for the R Band performance which we were also able to save.

The meeting starts at 6:30 and I am expecting to be able to waive Rule 5 fairly early if you wanted to stop by and just see the Town Council vote on accepting the donation.

Thank you again Wallingford for helping us to get it done.

Public Information meeting with State of Connecticut Department of Transportation regarding the Wallingford Railroad Station Relocation

This is going to be item #9 on the Town Council Agenda for Tuesday May 28th; the meeting itself begins at 6:30PM

There is no way to be certain when the item will come up and it may be taken out of order; if you have any interest at all on this I would suggest you attend the meeting.

Outdoor dining: a palatable concept; Ordinance would extend hours, amend ‘archaic thinking’

As published in the Record Journal Thursday May 23, 2013

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

WALLINGFORD — Town councilors said Thursday that they believe proposed changes to an outdoor dining ordinance will help downtown businesses attract more patrons.

“Let’s loosen it up a little bit to promote downtown businesses,” said John Sullivan.

A public hearing will be held Tuesday on the repeal of an ordinance that prohibits restaurants with outdoor seating from using umbrellas bearing the names of producers of alcoholic beverages. The new ordinance would also allow patrons seated outdoors to order drinks without ordering food, and to drink out of bottles.

The new ordinance also would extend outdoor dining until midnight. Currently, outdoor dining is supposed to end at 11 p.m. “It was archaic thinking,” Town Councilor John LeTourneau said of the ordinance enacted in 2004. Restaurant owners have voiced their concerns previously, he said.

“I assume it’s a good move for businesses at this point,” Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said. “I don’t see that it’s harmful.”

The proposed changes were approved by the Town Council Ordinance Committee on April 4. The committee is co-chaired by Craig Fishbein and Vincent Cervoni. The entire Town Council must vote on the issue after the public hearing.

Cervoni said Thursday that the ordinance change doesn’t only cover outdoor dining areas that serve alcohol. The revision clarifies how far an outdoor dining area can protrude onto a sidewalk.

The revision states that there must be enough space on the sidewalk to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Town Council Chairman Bob Parisi said proposed revisions “make the ordinance a little more business friendly.”

“We certainly don’t want to work against our businesses,” Parisi said.

In March, Cheryl Milot, owner of Gaetano’s Tavern on Main, offered her concerns to the committee. She argued that outdoor dining should be allowed past 11 p.m.

“There are times that we have to tell people, ‘You’ve got to come in now,’ “ Milot said at the time. “We do have people who come, have dinner and linger and have a couple more cocktails.”

Councilor Nick Economopoulos said Thursday that the changes will encourage business.

“I don’t see our town as being too rowdy,” he said.

Councilor Jason Zandri said the town should not be overly restrictive about drinking in outdoor dining areas.

“I definitely support it when I look at what other towns allow,” he said.

 

Photo by Dave Zajac courtesy of the Record-Journal

Patrons of Gaetano’s Tavern on Main enjoy a table outdoors Wednesday in downtown Wallingford. An ordinance being considered in town would, among other things, allow patrons seated outdoors to order drinks without ordering food, and to drink out of bottles.

MY TAKE - Wallingford budget passes with additional cuts

So as two points of reference you have the blog post I put up on Monday May 13th titled Wallingford Budget to be decided upon at the 5/14 Town Council Meeting and the story that ran in the Record Journal on Thursday May 16th titled Wallingford budget passes with additional cuts.
 
For clarification purposes from the article I am going to first address the following:

Town Councilor Jason Zandri, who supported Sullivan’s amendment, said increasing the tax rate to balance the budget instead of cutting education money would only mean an additional $5 a month for the average household.

“The lesser of the two evils here is to charge a little more in taxes,” said Zandri, a Democrat.

I want to have full context and explanation around this because as printed it is not fully clear.

The comments I made of "an additional $5.00 a month per average household" would be the TOTAL additional taxes charged IF we saved the additional Board of Education cuts AND included the increase in taxes that Mayor Dickinson already approved.

Mayor Dickinson approved $46.00 a year of additional taxes for median assessed homeowners and we were discussing an additional $14.00.

The "lesser of two evils" (further tax increase) comment came AFTER we had proposed other alternatives. I would rather pass on $14.00 of additional taxes than cut the Board of Education budget further. 

We offered to raise the revenue side (income) calculations and proposed some other cuts to totally negate the tax increase and save the additional cuts to the Board of Education budget. This was voted down 6 to 3.

We offered to use an additional $280,000.00 from the rainy day fund to offset the additional cuts to the Board of Education budget. This current budget already included $4.3 million dollars from that fund allowing $6 million to remain behind - an additional $280,000.00 was easily handled. This was voted down 6 to 3.

We offered to up the taxes an additional $14.00 a year to avoid the additional cuts to the Board of Education budget. This was voted down 5 to 4.

At the end of the day, three ways to get the job done were proposed and all were rejected. It is pretty clear that the intent was to make sure this cut stayed since they went through so much trouble to keep saying "no" to every solution provided. If they wanted to correct the problem another way they could have offered it. They didn't. They had their solution already there - add further cuts to education.
 
If you favor this outcome then you've voted the correct people into office in 2011 and they have represented you well.
 
While I am disappointed with the cuts I am content with the process at how we arrived at this outcome; the people that did show up to vote, elected officials to perform this work on behalf of them and they carried out that duty.
 
If you think one of the other solutions provided was better or something else should have been suggested then you need to consider more like minded people when you go to vote in November.
 
As a follow up to that - only 37% of the registered voters showed up to vote in the last local election; the minority of about 6,000 voters is having their say for the majority of all Wallingford residents (approximately 45,000) many of whom cannot vote like the children in the school system.
 
More food for thought. At the end of the day, your local elections are at least as important as the Presidential ones (where Wallingford voters turn out at 85%). They impact your property taxes and the type of local services you receive, from Police and Fire to town operations. It also impacts the public school system where your children and grandchildren go to learn and become productive members of society.
 
It is important to vote always; to me there is more impact being one voice of 25,000 (the number of registered voters in Wallingford) over one voice of 150,000,000 (the approximate number of registered voters in the United States).

 

Wallingford Budget to be decided upon at the 5/14 Town Council Meeting

This is your last chance to speak on any items that come up for change on the budget; I will post the full agenda but I can tell you right now it will be a long meeting.

Please see the below information regarding the changes being proposed due to an expected $531,411.00 shortfall from state funding.

The proposal is to make changes to nine general fund expenditures, the largest of which is expected of the Board of Education budget. This is being done to prevent a further increase in taxes.

Before this shortfall of funding from the state, taxes were proposed to go up approximately $46.00 per household on an median assessed home ($191,000.00). If your property is less than this, you could have expected a smaller increase and if it was larger then it would be more.

If these changes are not made or some other changes are not proposed and adopted then the only way to gap the $531,411.00 would be to raise taxes further. To do that the tax increase would need to go up by about an additional $26.00 so the total change for this year would be about $72.00 as listed above rather than the current $46.00