The New Britain City Council will meet on Wednesday, December 13, 2023. The agenda for the meeting includes:
Public participation: available in person at 7:00 pm or by phone calling begins 6:55 pm at 339-209-6176 Watch common council meeting live streaming at: https://www.newbritainct.gov/meetings or https://www.youtube.com/@CONBCT/streams
Minutes: Every city council agenda usually includes minutes from the previous city council meeting. Residents could examine what the city council has done previously. This agenda includes minutes from the October 25, 2023, the last meeting before the November elections. Minutes of the November meeting is not yet included.
Petitions: Alderman and president pro Tempore Francisco Santiago (D) submitted two petitions regarding road safety in Elam St and Corbin Ave, and Alderwoman Iris Sanchez (D) submitted a petition regarding road safety on North Street. Alderwoman Candice Scott (D) submitted a petition requesting information about a September 2021 $2.2 million federal grant given to New Britain to help provide services and purchase rentals for people who are homeless or are at risk of homelessness. More than two years later, the grant is yet to be implemented.
Note: Petitions are statements sent usually by council members requesting information or investigation by the city of issues of concern to the community. The mayor refers the petition to the appropriate city department for a written response. According to the city ordinance Section 2-4, “Each office, department, commission, board or other agency of the city government shall report, in writing, on all petitions and resolutions referred to it by the common council not later than the second regular monthly meeting of the common council after the date of such referral.”
Consent agenda: This section includes four items: (1) settling injury claims by with four residents (usually these injuries are caused by falling on city sidewalks and streets). (2) city lawsuit settlement for a false arrest claim against NBPD for $12,500. (3) city sales of surplus equipment. (4) a response to Alderwoman Wilma Barbosa (D) requesting speed humps and other mechanisms to reduce speeding on Fulton, Benson, and Roosevelt Streets. The response does not document the degree of speeding on these streets but instead notes that the city of New Britain bans the installation of speed humps and bumps on City Streets. Also, speeding cameras will be installed around New Britain per new state legislation.
Note: This section of the agenda includes reports from various boards, commissions, departments, and legislative committees including responses to previous petitions. The common council votes on all the items together in roll call. Every common council member may exclude any of the items to discuss and vote on it separately.
New resolutions: This section includes 19 items. Some of the highlights are:
(1) reappointing members to the Mattabassett District Commission including one registered democrat, one registered republican and one registered unaffiliated. The Mattabassett District is a unique institution formed by the State Legislature in 1961 to provide wastewater treatment in a more efficient and cost-effective manner to its four constituent communities, New Britain, Middletown, Berlin and Cromwell.
(2) $36,168 worth of rifle and pistol ammunition for NBPD
(3) Two public health federal grants: (a) $391,653 federal grant obtained by the state from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention to create a four-year Sanitarian Trainee position who will eventually join the public health workforce as an inspector. (b) $366,080 obtained from the American Rescue Plan Act to support the completion of epidemiological investigation of lead poisoning among children 2023-2026.
(4) Flooding related allocations: addition of $46,000 to the project to fix the infrastructure in Overlook Ave. that has a history of flooding in the past 5 years.
(5) Purchasing vehicles: Only 2 out of the 12 vehicles use electricity to improve vehicle efficiency.
Ford F250 super cab truck – $81,569
2 Ford escape Hybrid $77,574
Ford Explorer $38,700
8 Ford Police Interceptors $521,374
(5) Arch Street improvement – State of Connecticut local transportation capital improvement grant of $290,000 to improve Arch Street aesthetics, crosswalks, reduce speeding, business access, and more shared spaces.
(6) Establishing an audit subcommittee: In lieu of late submissions of city finance auditing, Aldermen Santiago (D) and McNamara (D) propose to establish an Auding subcommittee of the Committee on Administration, Finance and Law in order to provide general oversight of finance department functions
(7) Amendment to the City Water code ordinance: In lieu of high unexplained water bills experienced by hundreds of New Britain households over the years, Alderpersons Scott (D) and Simpson (D) propose to allow customers 90 days of repair in case of faulty equipment without accruing interest.
