Town of Glastonbury, CT - Town Managers Report 04/10/2007

Plans are in place to install mid block crosswalks as weather permits this spring. Initial locations include Main Street at the Rankin Road intersection with the Riverfront Park Trailhead, and Welles Street at Naubuc Green. Additional mid block crossings have also been identified.

Governor Rell’s proposed budget would increase Glastonbury’s ECS funding approximately $2.165 million effective July 2007. Given budget uncertainties, these monies are not included in the recently adopted Town budget. The Education Committee recently recommended changes to the Governor’s budget. These changes increase and decrease ECS funding for various communities. Glastonbury’s grant for the coming year would increase approximately $27,000 under the Education Committee’s proposal. At the same time, Senator Williams and Representative Amann are recommending towns not include increases to ECS funding as proposed by Governor Rell. I will keep you advised as budget deliberations continue.

Demand Response: This involves a monthly payment byc to communities agreeing to transfer to generator power during times of power shortages. For example, summer months. Preliminary analysis indicates Glastonbury can engage generators at Town Hall, Wastewater Treatment, and other town facilities. There are a variety of firms coordinating such demand response programs. Glastonbury is conducting a Request for Proposal. Indications are Glastonbury could receive $60,000-$70,000 annually for agreeing to this program with a significant net gain to the Town.

Energy Audit: As part of continuing energy conservation initiatives, major Town facilities such as Town Hall, Wastewater Treatment, Library, Police and Community Center will be formally evaluated as part of an independent energy audit. This will help identify further opportunities to reduce energy consumption and costs with applicable cost benefit analysis.

Investment Earnings: As reported earlier, I am working with the Director of Finance and Board of Finance to review pension investment allocations in order to identify potential opportunities to increase pension fund returns. Town staff and the Board worked with Fiduciary Investment Associates (FIA) to conduct an independent analysis. This process was highly successful. I will now work with the various parties to enact changes as applicable. Increased investment returns translate to lower employer costs.

Enterprise Funds: This is under review with implementation under the 2008-2009 budget. This approach provides a separate appropriation and revenue fund for certain Town activities. For example, this could remove program related costs for Parks & Recreation activities from the General Fund budget. Appropriations and revenues would be handled through a separate fund. This provides greater flexibility and removes such appropriation and revenue increases from the annual General Fund discussion. I am working with the Finance Director to identify potentials and will review with the Board of Finance and Council before next budget season.

The Town recently conducted a RFQ for banking services to help reduce costs and identify and enact cash management efficiencies. One of the goals was to implement lockbox and remote deposit capture services. This was reviewed during the budget process. Such services will be implemented over coming months and will help increase investment returns and reduce operating costs.

The Board of Finance at its meeting of March 26^th unanimously approved a bid waiver for purchase of used vehicle for Police Department use. The Council previously approved this waiver subject to favorable Board of Finance action.

As coordinated by Human Resources, all town staff are participating in comprehensive Customer Service training. This is an excellent training program and part of our ongoing training and employee relations work.

The Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority (CRRA) is sponsoring residential electronics recycling collection. This will be held at the CRRA facility at 211 Murphy Road, Hartford, on Saturday, April 28^th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Glastonbury residents may participate in this program at no cost. This is an opportunity for residents to dispose of computers, monitors, TVs, radios, cell phones and other electronic devices.

Fuss & O’Neill is commissioned to perform the traffic study of the Town Center and streetscape study. I expect the process to take approximately 3 months. Workshops will be scheduled as part of the project.

This involves a previously funded project to correct drainage in the Dug Road/Tryon Street area. As designed, the project requires an easement from property owners located between Tryon Street and the River. Work continues to secure the required easements. In the alternative, the drainage project could involve a new drainage system along Ferry Lane. However, this is expected to be significantly more costly.

Flat screen monitors were purchased under government contract in 1999 for installation at study carrels located through the Library. Although slightly more expensive, the flat screen monitor provides maximum work area for resource materials, notebooks, calculators, study guides, mouse operation and other study carrel related uses. These monitors remain in use some 8 years after initial purchase.

Part-time staffing with responsibility for the “put ‘n take” area was deleted from the budget in early 2003. Additionally all seasonal staff for refuse operations was written out of the budget a number of years ago. Full-time benefit eligible staffing assigned to refuse operations (Transfer Station, Recycling, Bulky Waste) has been reduced from 7 to 4 over recent years and replaced by part-time non-benefit eligible employees. This has significantly reduced cost and improved the relationship between business needs and staffing.

The town pistol range is an important asset which provides for training opportunities and significantly reduces town costs in a variety of ways. Preliminary analysis indicates annual costs for range operation of approximately $2,700 as compared to at least $10,000 annually for travel and set up at an offsite location. At the same time we work to minimize impact on surrounding residential neighborhoods.

The method of construction provided for expansion joints at various locations. This allows for the potential of some slightly different settlement for the bridge and walls. There is some differential settlement which makes one of the expansion joints wider than expected. This does not affect the structural integrity of the bridge. The faux stone façade was a design feature requested to better match the rural location of this bridge.

The park project required a variety of analyses and permits. Examples include Wetlands flagging, vernal pool inventory and bird survey, archaeological surveys, geotechnical studies and borings, hydrology and hydraulics reports, State Stream Channel Encroachment Permit, Water Quality Certification, Flood Management Certification, Coastal Permit, Army Corps of Engineers Individual Permit, Conservation Commission, Town Plan & Zoning Commission, etc. The project also requires independent testing and inspection services. Design and engineering services commissioned to assist with above.

Work is underway for a complete reorganization of the Town web site. This is to improve user friendliness, availability of information, identify and implement e-commerce opportunities, and generally provide a highly successful web site to help manage and reduce future costs.

A recent independent analysis of fleet operations indicates “Glastonbury’s fleet is, for the most part, older than accepted standard industry practice would dictate.” This is not an issue and we have a successful replacement schedule. However, we do have a variety of older vehicles and equipment. Given Town operations, we will have specialized equipment for certain “business” responsibilities typical of any municipal operation.