Welcome everybody to the regular meeting of the Common Council for April 22nd. We'll begin as always with public participation. It's now 7.02 p.m. Just ask that please remember to state your name and address clearly for the record. And you limit your speaking time to three minutes. I'm going to call up from the list first in order. But if anybody hasn't signed up and hasn't spoken and wishes to speak, we're here for as long as anybody wants to speak, and then some. And we'll also check on anybody calling in remotely. First name on the list is Joe Fortier. Good evening members of the council. My name is Joseph Fortier and I'm an assistant principal over at Pulaski Middle School. I come before you tonight on behalf of Pulaski Middle School to ask for a thoughtful compromise and a meaningful increase to the 2026-2027 school budget. Over the past two years we have not stood still. We have built something real and measurable. At Pulaski we have reduced student referrals by 751 incidences year over year and we are on pace to reduce them even further this year. This is not by chance. It is the result of intentional systems, consistency, and relentless effort from our staff. We've implemented clear and effective school-wide practices, tardy and skipping policies, cell phone expectations, stronger family communication, consistent grading, and structured behavior protocols rooted in restorative practices. These systems have created a safer, more predictable environment where students can focus on learning. Our commitment to instruction is just as strong. This year alone, our administrative team and instructional coaches have conducted over 400 learning walks, provided targeted feedback to strengthen teaching in every classroom. We are focused on bell to bell instruction and high quality tier one learning aligned with state standards. We've also built systems that ensure this work is sustainable, like our lead teacher program, which meets twice monthly to refine instruction, analyze data, and plan meaningful, engaging lessons that meet the needs of all learners. In preparation for the Smarter Balanced Assessment, we established a dedicated committee, invested in over 200 student resources, and implemented a comprehensive monitoring system to push students toward grade-level proficiency and beyond. And just as importantly, we're developing the whole child. Through our PBIS system and the Pulaski way, respect, responsibility, and pride, we're building a school culture that students believe in. Here's the reality. This progress is fragile. Without a significant increase in our budget, We risk losing the very momentum we have worked so hard to build. Reduced staffing will stretch our capacity beyond what is sustainable. Class sizes will rise, perhaps beyond contractual limits. Restorative practices may give way to increased suspensions because we simply won't have the personnel to do the work the right way. Teacher burnout will grow, absenteeism will increase, and students will feel the impact first. It is much easier to lose progress than it is to build it. The students of New Britain deserve more than maintaining the status quo. They deserve continued growth, opportunity, and stability. We're proud to be Pulaski generals. We're proud of the systems we built to support academics, social-emotional development, and future readiness. But pride alone cannot sustain progress. Capacity does. I ask you tonight, how can we continue moving forward if we no longer have the resources to do so? Please partner with us. Find a compromise. invest in our schools so that the progress we've made is not only preserved, but strengthened for the future. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Fortier. We can hold our applause to the end. We'll get to the next speaker. Thank you. Next speaker is Derek Roberts. Hello good evening members of the council. My name is Derek Roberts and I'm speaking tonight as a proud graduate of New Britain Public Schools a long term educator a current assistant principal of Pulaski Middle School and yes Derek Roberts my address 222 Main Street downtown New Britain Connecticut. I'm also speaking tonight as from a current assistant principal at Pulaski Middle School. My career beginning as a BSA or actually attempt custodian at 17 during the long hot summer months at New Britain High School and growing into a role as a school administrator is a testament to the value of the New Britain School District. I also echo Mr. Fortier's concerns so I'm not going to restate them. We must do better. Our students our staff and our families deserve a budget that reflects a true commitment to education not a reduction of opportunity. The current proposal falls extremely short of the high standards our new brand community expects and flat out deserves. Thank you. Thank you Derek. Our next speaker is Jacqueline Escales. Jacqueline. Good evening members of the Common Council and Mayor Sanchez. My name is Jacqueline Escales and I'm a lifelong New Britain resident residing at 146 South Mountain Drive. I address you tonight in three roles as a resident who cares for the city as a taxpayer and as a teacher nearing retirement after almost 35 and a half years of service to our community's children. First I must express my disappointment in Mayor Sanchez in the May going back as far as May 2021 in a Connecticut Mirror article. You criticized former Mayor Stewart for years of flat funding our school district. You were quoted saying how will we attract new families to move into our city and keep our economy alive. We desperately need a mayor in New Britain who values public education. Furthermore as a former former educator and state education committee leader you stated that quote with my experience not only just on our local board of education but as the chair of the education committee at the legislature I can produce an equitable budget for New Britain that puts our kids and their futures first. I now ask does this current budget truly prioritize our children. It is disheartening that after all these years dating back to when I received my first paycheck and a pink slip simultaneously we are still grappling with school funding issues. We must find a way to do better. For over three decades I've had the privilege of teaching in New Britain classrooms witnessing the incredible potential of our students. Given the right tools resources and supports they are capable of achieving truly remarkable things. Funding directly influences the quality of instruction the level of support for our students and the opportunities we can offer. When resources are inadequate our children are the first to suffer through larger class sizes fewer programs and reduced support services. Investing in the Board of Ed's request is not merely a request. It's a critical necessity. It fulfills our moral duty to New Britain's children and represents the wisest wisest long term financial strategy. By championing by championing education we fundamentally elevate the value of our entire community ensuring a stronger more prosperous city for all. I've personally seen the immense strain placed on our district due to years of being one of the lowest funded in the state of Connecticut. This chronic underfunding has pushed our school system to a breaking point. proposed 26-27 budget is not a wish list for extras. It's essential for maintaining the absolute minimum staffing levels and core educational programs required to keep our students safe engaged and learning at a foundational level. More cuts will destroy the basic structure of our schools. As a taxpayer I am acutely aware of the importance of every dollar. However our primary responsibility must be to prioritize education. While I acknowledge that the state must increase ECS funding I AM IMPLORING YOU TO PRIORITIZE OUR SCHOOLS IN THIS MUNICIPAL BUDGET. SHOW OUR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS THEY ARE VALUED AND DEMONSTRATE TO OUR STUDENTS THAT THEIR CITY BELIEVES IN THEIR POTENTIAL. PLEASE FUND THE BOARD OF ED BUDGET TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT OF YOUR ABILITY. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND YOUR SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY. THANK YOU, JACQUELINE. OUR NEXT SPEAKER IS MARK SPALDING. Good evening members of the Common Council. My name is Mark Spaulding. I live at 153 Whitney Street in Hartford, Connecticut. I have been serving the New Britain community as its director of pupil services for the city schools for almost eight years. And I'm here this evening to address the cuts to education proposed in the budget for fiscal year 2027. For those of you who may not be familiar with the term pupil services, the pupil services department supports New Britain students who attend district schools, private schools, alternative schools, and regional magnet schools, and who are receiving special education services or section 504 accommodations under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Currently we're responsible for approximately 34% of the district's 10,000 students ages three through 22 supported by over 600 district employees. This includes special education teachers, related service providers such as social workers, psychologists, as well as medical staff, paraeducation, para-educators, and many others. Of these students, 709 are on a 504 plan, and the remaining 2,788 students are on an individual educational plan or an IEP. An IEP is governed by the Individualized Education Act, which became law in 1975 and was updated in 1990 and 2004. In Connecticut, there are 14 recognized disabilities under IDEA law. The services that are in IEP are mandated services under federal law and must be provided and paid for by the school district. This becomes a challenge with students who are highly impacted, either physically or emotionally, because if the district cannot sufficiently support a child's needs, either because it does not have an appropriate program or because it has no space in a program, it must pay a private provider to provide those services. That is the law. The good news is that here in New Britain, we have in-district programs that currently serve 570 students. We also have 166 students who are outplaced due to their needs or that our programs are at capacity. That 166 number has decreased from 180 at the beginning of the year, and I anticipate a further drop. I'd also like to note that we are below the percentage set by the state of Connecticut for students outplaced for a district our size. MY CONCERN IS THAT IF THE PROPOSED BUDGET IS PASSED IN ITS CURRENT FORM, IT WILL NEGATIVELY IMPACT OUR ABILITY TO PROVIDE THESE MANDATED SERVICES IN DISTRICT, LEADING TO POTENTIAL LEGAL LIABILITY AND INCREASED COSTS AND OUTPLACEMENTS. FOR EXAMPLE, WE CURRENTLY HAVE 25 STUDENTS, 25 CLASSROOMS RATHER, WITH OVER 250 STUDENTS ON THE AUTISM SPECTRUM. Most of these classrooms have between eight and eleven students in them and cost the district about five hundred thousand dollars each to staff. If we had to outplace ten similar students to private schools in the Hartford area it would cost New Britain one point seven million dollars to provide those same services. And concluding I am I am worried about also unintended consequences that if the proposed budget will have on our ability to attract and retain dedicated staff and more importantly how it will adversely impact our students with disabilities and their family, many of who are already struggling. And I know that all of us in New Britain want the best for our city's children. And I am more than willing to sit down with anyone here and provide you more information, detailed information on special education, if it will help you in the decision-making process. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Spalding. Our next speaker is Madeline Figueroa. SPEAKER 7- Good evening members of the Common Council. My name is Madeline Figueroa. I live at 75 Sylvan Road. I am here as a taxpayer and as a parent a grandparent with children in New Britain public schools. I raised four granddaughters. I appreciate the council's work to maintain fiscal stability but I am deeply concerned that the proposed school funding creates a gap arc our children cannot afford to bridge. Our district faces eighteen point nine million shortfall a one million local increase against double digit inflation is not a status quo budget. It is a budget for decline. When the funding falls short we lose more than line items. We lose programs that keep students learning and safe. For example, this budget would cut special education services for my autistic grandson, removing support that are essential to his progress and well-being. We would also risk losing specialized reading programs. My granddaughters take advantage of those programs. Extracurriculars to keep them safe off the streets of New Britain. Okay, born and raised. I know I know what it's like for Mount Pleasant to run those streets. If our schools falter our property values and long term health of our city will follow. I am a homeowner. If these schools fail my property value our property values suffer with that. Right. The math is not mathing. It's not. A balanced proposal. I am asking. for a balanced responsible approach, that's it. A modest one-time bridge from reserves, the city holds over 40 million in fund balance. I respectfully ask the council to authorize a one-time two to three million draw from the fund balance, authorize it, get it done. A million is not enough. Right and so we bridge this gap right. This will prevent a catastrophic a catastrophic staff layoff while we wait for state aid. Aggressive state advocacy I urge the council to stand with the Board of Education in demanding an ed an updated education cost sharing formula so New Britain receives its fair share. Classroom first spending commit. to a rigorous review of administrative overhead so any additional local funding goes directly to teachers, special education. Please authorize a one time two to three million dollar draw. Our children are worth it. I raised four children here, three of them are college graduates. One of them is a maxillofacial surgeon. Here, New Britain, they're here. My son says it all the time. I'm not the only black and brown person. that's smart here in the city of New Britain. There are many of us but no one gives us the chance. Respectfully. Thank you. DIRECTOR HERSEY. Thank you Madeline. Our next speaker is Elise Archibald. Good evening members of the council. My name is Elise Archibald from 135 Amherst Street in New Britain by the college. And I am here because New Britain is at a crossroads. Right now our school district as you know is facing a critical budget shortfall for the 26-27 school year. To cut funding now isn't just a belt tightening measure. It is. a direct threat to the safety, stability, and future value of our city. Every dollar we cut from our classrooms today will be paid back tenfold tomorrow in the costs of unemployment, public assistance, and the criminal justice system. Research shows that every $1 invested in local education can lead to a $20 increase in home property values. Conversely, when we slash funding, we don't just lose teachers. We lose the families and homeowners who keep our economy alive. I am a transplant from a city that I love dearly. I'm from New Haven, and I've been living here for 20 years. And I love that things are beginning to grow, and culture here is happening, and the schools are improving. And I am so proud to be here. And I want to continue that pride. I want all of us to continue to have that pride. New Britain students are already working against the grain. They deserve a city. that views them as an investment, not a line item to be trimmed. I urge you, please, to reject these cuts, protect our alliance district status, and ensure that our schools remain a foundation for growth, not a casualty of the budget. Please, let's invest in New Britain's future, not its decline. Thank you for your time and your ears. Thank you Elise. Next speaker is Desiree Costa. Good evening everyone. My name is Desiree Costa. I live at 193 Amherst Street. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here to ask you clearly and respectfully to fulfill the Board of Education's full funding request. For decades education in New Britain has been underfunded. that is not a reflection of one administration but of a long standing pattern that has left our schools working harder with less. Today we have an opportunity and a responsibility to begin correcting that. While we appreciate the effort to increase the flat funding rate, the current proposal still represents a reduction of approximately $1.6 million compared to last year. That is not just a number on a spreadsheet. That is fewer resources, fewer opportunities, and real limitations placed on our students' ability to succeed. And it is our students who will feel this the most. In a city that is actively rebuilding, redefining itself, and striving for growth, putting education at risk is simply not an option. Education is not an expense to be minimized. It is the foundation that everything else is built upon. It is the cornerstone of economic development public safety workforce readiness and community stability. When we invest in our schools we invest in the future of New Britain. I am speaking tonight not just in general terms but specifically for the Jefferson School community a community of resilient hardworking students dedicated educators and families who believe deeply in the power of education. These students deserve the same opportunities as any others, access to strong academic programs, support services, enrichment, and safe, well-resourced learning environments. They are not asking for more than others. They are asking for what is fair. We cannot continue to ask our schools to do more with less year after year and expect different outcomes. At some point, we must decide that enough is enough. that we are ready to prioritize education in a meaningful, tangible way. And this is about prioritization. This is that moment. Fulfilling the Board of Education's request is not just about maintaining services, it is about restoring opportunity, closing gaps, and ensuring that every child in New Britain has the chance to reach their full potential. I urge you to act with that future in mind. Our students are watching, our families are counting on you, and the long-term success of our city depends on the decisions you make today. You have difficult decisions to make, I understand that. I completely understand budget decisions. The easiest part of that decision is funding education properly. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you, Desiree. Our next speaker is Heather Nicole. Good evening, members of the Common Council. My name is Heather Nickell. I live at 74 Breezy Corners Road in Portland. And for more than four decades, I've had the privilege of serving the children of New Britain schools and families. I began working at the City of New Britain at just 15 years old with the Park and Recreation Department. For 17 years, I helped serve the community in that role. I then continued my service in our public schools where I have worked now for 30 years. for over forty years i have dedicated my career to the children and the families in this city i stand before you tonight not just as the principal at homes but as someone who has grown up in the system worked in the system and believes deeply in the system but i need to be honest with you year after year we are asked to do more with less and i'm here to tell you clearly there is no more to give in our schools doing more with less doesn't mean efficiency it means larger class sizes it means fewer supports for students who need them most it means staff stretch beyond capacity it means difficult decisions that impact real children sitting in our classrooms every single day we're not talking about extras anymore we're talking about the basic conditions needed for children to learn and educators to do their jobs efficiently our students deserve better they deserve fully staffed schools They deserve access to support services. They deserve opportunities that prepare them for the future, not limiting them created by budget fall short lines. And our educators who show up every day with dedication and heart deserve the resources necessary to meet the needs in front of them. I have given my entire professional life to this city. I have seen that what New Britain can do when we invest in our youth, I have also seen the growing strains when we do not. This is not sustainable. Tonight, I am asking you to make a choice, a choice to prioritize education, a choice to invest in our students, a choice to recognize that our schools are not a line item, they are the foundation of our community's future. There is no more to cut without harming the very students we are all here to serve. Please fund our schools in a way that reflect their importance, Thank you for your time and for your commitment to the city of New Britain. Thank you Mr. Cole. Our next speaker is Leticia Manguao. Leticia. Tell me how badly I did that. Good evening Common Council members and those in attendance. My name is Leticia Manguao and I am the grandparent of Sebastian Castillo who attends North End Elementary School. I am very concerned with the one point six million school district budget cut that has been submitted for consideration. We are already at an eight point eighteen point nine million deficit. This additional cut in funds will be detrimental to the education social emotional well-being of our students. This will this will cause cuts in education in staff sports programs arts special education field trips and other specialized services that are vital to the educational development of our youth. What message are we sending to our youth if this is passed. We want you to succeed attend every day complete your work be prepared focused but yet but yet you will not have the same services supports and resources that you had before. We are already struggling financially. How can we possibly decrease funds. My grandson has attended North End for five years. and he will be graduating and entering middle school. If it was not for the staff and services that he has received he would not be where he is today. This is a school that greets each student as they walk through the door and they know each student's name from the administrators to the custodians. They demonstrate their love care and value each and every child. I am amazed at their dedication and commitment to not just educating the students but encouraging engagement in activities and nourishing the friendships that they have developed. With the cuts that we are facing smaller schools like North End could be closed and that will be a huge disservice to the staff students parents and the entire community. I live in that community and I know firsthand the harm that will cause. I'm a property owner. I pay taxes and I value the town of New Britain. I also work. at an agency here for 25 years and I know the needs of our community. I know you are faced with a difficult decision but think about the impact those decisions will have in our school district and the progress we have already made. Let's not go backwards. Let's move forward and continue to make those strides achieve our goals and put the students first. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you Leticia. Our next speaker is John Christopic. Christophe 292 Linwood Street. Good evening and thanks for this opportunity. I feel like this is going to be a commercial break. A great job repaving Walnut Hill Park last year. What happened to the traffic signs? Speed limit, one way, bicycles on a certain part of the road. My wife told me that the city doesn't have money to replace them. Where are the old ones. Recently I went to a water board meeting. The city has collected four and a half million dollars in the clean water fund since it started in August of 2022. I want to know how much of that is going towards the Allen Street project. At this meeting, I heard two stories. One where a citizen owed over $25,000 for a leak at his house. A sadder story was a daughter whose mother, for whatever reason, hadn't paid her water bills for some time, quite a long time. She was making payments of $700 a month, $8,400 for the year, and it only reduced the principal by $2,500. That's that 18% interest. Isn't there some mechanism at the water department where they would notice something like this and maybe reach out and try to find out, hey, what's going on here? instead of just letting it accumulate. There's a new apartment complex in Farmington on the other side of Batterson Park, the Olmstead, the Kotovitas brothers. This is what they said about their project. We are developers and construction managers and owners. We think of it as a building, a very large home for ourselves. So you take pride in the details and pay attention to the quality of the work. We're not just building it fast as possible, getting it leased and then running off. Retaining the clientele is really important. Maybe some of the developers in downtown New Britain should take heed. And, oh, on politics. I don't think it is Governor Lamont's minions who should be worried. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kristapic. Our next speaker is Ann Speier. Anne Spire 13 Audubon Street. I'm a homeowner I'm a retired teacher I've been an advocate for education longer than some of you dear people have been here. Some of you knew me when you were students. So I'm here to speak tonight in support of additional funding for education in the proposed budget. Yes I agree with moving the special fund monies for the school district back into the education budget. It's the responsibility of the Board of Ed to allocate education funding not to have a special fund controlled by the mayor's office. I agree with that move. The funds will now be considered part of the base of education funding when they set the next MER. In time it will benefit the schools. However that time is not measured in months. It won't happen by July. It'll be years down the road before we see that benefit. So meanwhile. I toured home school today. This building is spacious it's well planned it offers a lot of improvements as to educational space. But I kept thinking will we have the staff the teachers and the paras to run this school to be here or are we going to have empty classrooms all over the place. Beautiful. But will we be able to use this if we can't increase the budget. If we can't afford teaching staff. If we can't afford paras we cannot run a school district that takes care of our kids no matter how many beautiful rooms we built. So while I believe this budget is built on the best projections of the mayor's office more accurate than some I've seen in previous years I might say I ask that you as members of the Common Council search through it. You've done it before other years. Question the priorities. Question whether funds can be found. to at least increase the education funding by at least another million dollars. This is far from filling the hole that the millions that passed flat funding has left. But one every dollar counts. It will be used. It won't be tucked away somewhere. It'll go to the kids benefit. The teachers will make sure of that. Two it will start us in a new direction a direction that supports our schools and that we become the people who say yes education needs funding whatever we have to do that is our number one priority our children. I know that as always we're waiting to hear what the state has to offer and indeed our mayor has been at the capitol talking to the governor about our need for help. I hope that every person here tonight including ladies and gentlemen of the Common Council will call the governor's office and say These are the needs of New Britain and our schools desperately need you. Our kids need you. For many years one more thought guys I've suggested a small tax increase. I don't think we can do it in this economy. It's too hard out there right now. So it means look at the budget work it through. I came tonight rather than on the 28th it is of the proper budget hearing so that you could start now. You need time to do this. The budget is complex I know that. But our kids need it. And it's in your hands. Thank you. DIRECTOR DEWOLF. Thank you Ms. Meyer. Our next speaker is Tamika Perkins. Tamika. Did I say that right. No. TAMIKA PERKINS It's okay it's not you. I have crazy handwriting. My name is Tamisha Perkins. I live at 335 South Main Street. I am a parent. I grew up in this town. I have three kids that go to school in this town and I just want to speak a moment. I am here tonight to urge you to prioritize and strengthen the educational budget for our district with the focus of protecting special education service and the peer educational who make exclusive learning problem possible. Sorry. Budget reductions may appear to offer short-term relief but the long-term consequences like staff layoffs reduced services and potential school closings one could be the one my kids go to which is North End. We profoundly harm students families and the community. Nowhere is that is this more more impact more immediately and lasting than in special education. Students who rely on special education services require most importantly consistency as well as individual attention and trained support staff. Peer educators are essential to the system. They provide one on one and small group assistance help intimate IEPs and assure the students with device diverse learning needs can access the same educational opportunities as their peers. Reduction though this workforce undermines not only the student's outcome but also legal and ethical obligations to provide equal education. Cut to special education services and school closures would shift the burden onto already strained teachers families and external systems. This can lead to larger classrooms diminish instructional quality and increase burnouts among education educators. If we invest in these service it will straighten the entire district. It would improve students achievement support teachers intentions and foster a more inclusive and effective learning environment. I ask you to protect funding for special education programs and preserve peer education position positions and avoid school closings that disrupt vulnerable students populations. I am asking you to explore substantial funding situations that protect prioritize students needs over short term cost savings. An investment in education especially for students who need additional support and an investment in our community's future. Every student deserves the opportunity to succeed and every education deserves the resources to help them get there. Me as a parent I grew up and raised in New Britain. I graduated through New Britain schools. I have a daughter that just graduated two years ago and just graduated college and got her so she is in I.T. I got three little ones. And North End is a very good school. New Britain is a very good town. And I want to see my kids get the same education that I got. And I know the pandemic and COVID kind of pushed us back but New Britain's getting back on its feet. New Britain is we're on the map and we need to stand behind our kids. And what I'm asking is to please stand behind our kids and give them the education they rightly deserve. Thank you. DIRECTOR HERSEY- Thank you Ms. Perkins. Our next speaker is Danielle Palmerlow. Danielle. Good evening. I just came here today like most people to advocate for our children and for the budget. I'm not a parent but I am a product of New Britain. I do work in the school district. I went to three schools my whole life, all three of them were in New Britain. I recently had a interaction on Facebook and I just wanted to read to you guys that interaction and maybe give you a different perspective to think about the budget from. So there was a comment that was put up on a post that said, The spending on schools continues to increase while the results continue to decrease. I then responded person's name that is untrue. The baseline for the educational budget has been the same since 2020 as far as I could see on the CSDNB website from doing my research. That's six years even though the cost of living goes up every single year and class sizes get bigger every single year. But the baseline for our children's education remains the same. New Britain students receive about 17,000 per student per year, while the state average is about 23,000 per student per year. Meaning our district, our kids, are severely underfunded. I asked him, is this what you call increase in spending? This is where I'll ask you to take a different look at it. If we relate this to the real world, if you guys spent six years in your job and you showed up every day, you did your job every single day with improvement, you're meeting your quota, right? Yet your boss continues to keep you at a flat pay rate. Would you feel appreciated? You'd probably feel undervalued. You'd probably want to fight for a raise or Look for a different job right. Now add on to it the fact that they require more from you every day. They require more from you more tasks are put on your plate more responsibilities are put on your plate yet your pay rate remains the same. Would you still do it. I don't know many people that would. A lot of people would either look for another job or fight for a raise. And right now our kids don't have the option to. simply walk out and look for another job. They can't shop for another school district. They are where they are. Our only other available option is to fight for a raise. And that's what most of us are doing here today is trying to fight for a raise for our kids to secure their education and to help them succeed and be upstanding members of not only this community but this state. You never know where education can take them. We need to give them the chance. Thank you. Thank you, Danielle. Our next speaker is Lara Bolke. That's one out of four, Laura. Good evening, honorable members of the New Britain Common Council. My name is Lara Bolke. I live at 85 Settlers Knoll in New Britain. I mean in Newington excuse me. I grew up in the great city of New Britain in the 70s and 80s. However my brother and I attended city schools. Our mother was a teacher here for her entire career and our father worked at CCSU. I've always been proud of this background. It shaped me into the lifelong educator I am today. I have served New Britain schools since 2004. Currently I serve as the district coordinator of 612 curriculum and as president of Local 51 the administrators union. I'M HERE TODAY BECAUSE I'M ALARMED. WE ARE AT A FINANCIAL CROSSROADS WHERE REMARKABLE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS ARE BEING THREATENED BY A LOCAL FUNDING MODEL THAT'S NO LONGER ROOTED IN REALITY. AS YOU KNOW, THE SUPERINTENDENT REQUESTED AN $18.9 MILLION INCREASE OVER LAST YEAR'S CITY ALLOCATION. I KNOW HOW STARTLING THAT NUMBER IS, BUT IT'S THE BARE MINIMUM NEEDED TO MAINTAIN CURRENT SERVICES. THE MAYOR'S PROPOSED BUDGET NOT ONLY DENIES THIS REQUEST, but through a series of accounting shifts actually decreases our allocation from the city by over 1.5 million from last year. This isn't just flat funding, it's a retreat. The bottom line, by failing to meet even last year's minimum allotment, this proposal leaves us millions in the red. Tens, a deficit of this magnitude cannot be managed through efficiency. It will result in massive catastrophic impacts on the 10,000 students and families we serve. New Britain is proving it can succeed despite being historically underfunded. Our staff and students have achieved incredible green shoots. You've heard of these, of success. In academic gains, we've successfully eliminated turnaround status at several elementary schools this year. New Britain high school students earned college credit for 640 courses last year, a $1.17 million savings for our families. Howell's Academy was named a 2025 Connecticut Blue Ribbon School. These gains are fragile. At the middle school level, where progress is hardest won, this shortfall threatens to balloon class sizes to 30 students and force the elimination of content-specific teachers, the arts, and vital support staff. I understand that the state may allocate an additional $8 million to our schools to address funding inequities. While that is a necessary step, it's not a hall pass for the city to do less. State aid is meant to supplement local investment, not replace it. A garden unwatered cannot grow We've pruned every easy item from our budget. We're now down to the roots. I urge the Common Council to step up and recognize its responsibility. Please protect the progress our community has worked so hard to achieve. When the NEASC team visited New Britain High School just a few weeks ago, they were impressed with everything the team had accomplished. I got this quote from Damon Pierce, who's in the back, the principal at the high school. Their comment was, you are doing great things here. We can only imagine what you could do if you had the resources. Let's imagine that together. Please endorse a budget that reflects reflects the true cost of educating our children so the future of New Britain remains secure. Thank you for your time and your commitment to our schools. DIRECTOR HERSEY- Thank you Lara. Our next speaker is Myrna Cuevas. SPEAKER 2 Good evening my name is Myrna Cuevas. from 97 Bassett Street in New Britain. My daughter is a fourth grader at North End Elementary. She's on a 504 plan for reading and math. I'm here tonight because I believe in responsible spending. I pay taxes here and I don't want a dollar wasted. I want contracts reviewed, I want administrative costs scrutinized, and I want every state dollar, alliance, ECS, All of it used efficiently. If there's blow cut it. Taxpayers deserve that. But responsible spending also means we fund the things that keep a school system running. For my daughter running means the reading specialist who works with her three times a week. It means the math intervention teacher who makes sure her 504 accommodations are just aren't just paper they're actual help. It means the para in her classroom who can redirect her when she gets overwhelmed so she doesn't lose the whole session. Superintendent Gasper said the mayor's budget is seventeen eighteen million before what the district needs to avoid cuts. He said that gap means larger classes size and losing reading and math coaches and para professionals. Those are the exact people my daughter relies on to access her education. If they go away her 504 plan becomes a list of promises we can't keep. I know the city is under pressure. I know taxes went up. I feel it too. But New Britain already spends about six thousand less per student than the state average. And the first cuts always hits kids like mine. So I'm asking you for the responsible middle. One, fund the staff who are in classrooms with our kids. Teachers, reading, math intervention, paras, counselors. Two, use the state increases we did get to offset the local share, but don't use them as an excuse to go backwards. Three, give us accountability. Report back every quarter, class sizes, services delivered, progress for kids on 504s and IEPs. If the money isn't working well, be the first to say so. We'll be the first to say so. I'm willing to pay my share for a school system that works. I'm not willing to pay for waste, and I'm not willing to watch my daughter lose support because we called 1% increase fiscal responsibility. Responsible spending means funding North End at a level where my daughter can actually learn and then making sure those dollars don't do those dollars do not job. Please don't balance this budget on the backs of kids who already need extra help to keep up. Thank you. DIRECTOR HERSEY- Thank you Myrna. The next speaker is Lucy D'Onofrio. Good evening. My name is Lucy Donofrio, and I live on 145 Bassett Street in Wheaton. I'm here tonight as a mother of a third-grade student from North End, asking you all with the heart to provide the funding and support this school needs to keep serving our children. Our children are already caring so much in this world. They hear, they fear, and certainly stress around them every day. They need one place that stays safe, steady, and full of hope. For many of them, that place is the school. The school is more than a building. It's a children, learn, grow, making friends, and feel loved. It's where teachers know their name, understand their struggles, and help them believe in themselves. When schools do not have the resources they need, children are the ones who suffer. They lose opportunities, supports, and the chance to achieve. Families feel the burden, too. I ask you tonight to think. Not only with the minds, but with the hearts. Behind every number is a child. Behind every decision is a family. Behind the school is a community that needs you to stand with them. Please invest in our children. Fund the programs, staff, and resource that help them succeed. Keep hope alive for our children. Give them the chance, safety, and future that they deserve. Thank you. Thank you, Lucy. That's all the names I have on the list. Is anybody calling in? Last four numbers, please. Caller 7069, name and address, and the floor is yours for three minutes. Next? Not responding? And no more calls? Thank you, sir. All right, does anybody else wish to speak to the council who didn't sign up? Anybody else? My name is Julia Ainslie. I'm a lifelong resident of New Britain. I live at 327 Steel Street. This is my son Roman. Say hi Roman. I'm here as a parent of three children in this district. Tonight I'm not here as a number. or a line in a budget. I'm here as a mother asking you to see my children. Because the proposed school budget cuts are not just numbers on a page. They represent real lasting consequences for families like mine and for the entire community. When you talk about cutting over a million dollars from our schools, what I hear is this, fewer supports, fewer services, and fewer chances for children like mine to succeed. My son has profound autism. He relies on specialized support every single day. Support that helps him communicate, regulate, and simply navigate the world around him. These supports are not optional. They are not extras. They are a foundation of his ability to learn, to grow, and to have independence in his future. And here is the reality. When the funding is cut, children like my son are the ones who feel it first and the hardest. What does that look like? It looks like less individual attention. It looks like overstretched staff. It looks like less safety. It looks like less progress. For a child like mine, it doesn't just slow progress. It can erase it. Skills that have taken years of patience and consistency can disappear overnight. I need you to understand that this is not hypothetical. This is not abstract. This is my child's life, my children's life in our district. And it's not just my child. These cuts will ripple through every classroom. larger class sizes, fewer resources, and less support for teachers who are already doing everything that they can. This affects every student in this town, every family, and the future of our community. We say we value education, we say we support children, but those words mean nothing if they are not backed by action, especially when it is difficult. I understand that budgets are complicated. I understand that decisions are not easy. But I'm here to say, do not make these decisions at the expense of children who have no voice in this room. Do not make these decisions at the expense of children who are already working twice as hard just to keep up. Our children shouldn't have to bear the burden of adults playing Monopoly. Because once these supports are gone, the damage cannot simply be undone. Please, protect their education and protect their future. Thank you. Thank you for speaking. Does anybody else wish to address the council? Come on up. I am Amanda Glowicki 57 Miriam Road of New Britain. I come to you as a New Britain resident a parent of two children in our elementary schools and a district employee. I am asking the Common Council to please reconsider the flat funding and instead provide a meaningful increase to the Board of Education budget. The more I think about it our school district budget is more the more I realize is not just about funding academics. It's about everything we offer our students. It's about our sports, our music, our arts, and the programs that we give many children a reason to even show up, belong here, and shine. Every single day, we ask our students to show up for their classes, their teams, their performances. We ask them to give their best effort, to have pride, to work together, and to represent our city with heart, and they do each and every day. They show up under the lights on the field. They show up on the mat, pushing themselves to be stronger. They show up in uniforms, on stages, and in parades. bringing home championships, awards and recognition. They make our city proud. Our cheerleaders just won a state championship. Our athletes are breaking barriers including home of the top female wrestler in our state. Our band shows up year after year representing us with excellence and pride. These are our students and they show up for our city. It is time for us to show up for them. I see firsthand both at home and at work the progress our schools are making. Our students are improving gaining confidence and being given opportunities that truly matter for their futures. Their work is something our community should be proud of. But I am deeply concerned about what happens next if funding does not keep up with these needs. A loss of funding will directly impact our classrooms. It means fewer resources less support and ultimately larger class sizes. Larger class sizes do not just make it harder for students to learn, they also place an incredible strain on our teachers, who are already working tirelessly to meet each and every child's need. I am especially worried about our special education students. These children rely on consistent, individualized support to succeed. Without adequate funding, those supports are at risk. When that happens, we are not just showing progress, we are failing to provide the education every child deserves. Right now, our district already ranks near the bottom in local per pupil funding. Continuing this pattern, excuse me, continuing this pattern sends a message that our students' success is not a priority. We cannot expect strong outcomes while investing at one of the lowest levels in the state. Without proper funding, the very opportunities that inspire, motivate, and connect our kids, that connect our kids could disappear. And once they are gone, We do not just lose programs, we lose pieces of what makes our schools and our community so special. Our students are making progress, but progress requires support to continue. If we do not invest now, we risk undoing the gains that have been so hard earned. I urge you to break the cycle of flat funding and commit to a budget that truly supports our students, our teachers, and our schools, our children, my children, and their futures depend on it. Thank you for your time. Does anybody else wish to address the council? Come on up. Good evening Christina Soto 22 O'Donnell Road. I come to you as a proud 24-07 paraeducator works in the key program for children with profound autism as a parent fifth grader at Holmes and a Gaffney preschooler also in the key program. I wrote something down, but I don't think it felt adequate. As parent educators, we are getting more and more work put on our load. We have less, especially due to the loss of COVID funds, but I love my job and I'm willing to do what I have to do for my students because I love my students and I want them treated the way I would want my children. We cannot afford to lose staff. We cannot afford to lose services. There's already a shortage in speech pathologists. My daughter was without one for about half a year last year. Not saying this is a fault but without money to hire these people what are we going to do. Our BCBAs are short stuff. We have two in the district for how many schools the high school the middle school the elementary school. How can they take care of all these kids more and more coming in to specialized programs whether it be Bridges Key or just in the gen ed setting who need special education like my daughter. who's in fifth grade at Holmes. She wouldn't be where she is right now with her autism if it wasn't for the dedicated staff, paraprofessionals, support staff to guide her there that looked out for her. She started out in Key and Gaffney and now she's going to Pulaski. She's in band, she's in chorus. She has a future because of these people. We cannot lose these services. We've been flat funded for how many years? How are we going to play catch up. You know. I'm sorry. We need these people to work in our district. We need good people. We need people to look out for our students because they deserve it. I'm tired of people talking about New Britain. I'm always one to support New Britain to stand up for New Britain. We lose money if we lose you know the people that make our schools important. What are we going to do. We can't go back to when I first moved here in 1996. Remember how Arc Street was remember it was not a good place to live but because of policies because of the school system I believe that we've grown further from that and I want to see that track continue. I want my son to have the same opportunities she did. He was homebound at first last year because there's not enough paras. Imagine a tutor coming to your your house For a preschooler that needs in-depth speech OT services, he needs to be in a social setting. How many students are going to get left behind because we just don't have the amount of classrooms, paras to take care of these children. This is the most vital time in their life when they're young. Thank you. Thank you for speaking. Does anybody else wish to address the council? Good morning everyone how you doing Miss Vargas. My name is Tyrone Richardson I live at 9 Warbler Circle in Bloomfield Connecticut. I am the academics and accountability officer for grades 6 through 12 for New Britain. I've been here for the last four years of my educational career. I've been a educator for over 28 years most of my time spent in Hartford as a resident student teacher coach principal. assistant superintendent and where I am now. And so I've seen a lot of budgets come and go and seen a lot of systems come and go and I want to make two points and I probably want to use all my time. One is I've never seen a superintendent be as transparent and thorough with the budget as our superintendent has. He is going through every single bit of our finances and our staffing and our resources and inflation and been extremely transparent using data COMPARING US TO OTHER DISTRICTS TO SUPPORT OUR PROPOSED BUDGET. SO THERE IS NO FLUFF IN THERE. THE SECOND POINT I WANT TO MAKE IS I KNOW WE'RE TALKING A LOT ABOUT THE STUDENTS AND WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO MISS BY HAVING THESE BUDGET CUTS. BUT MYSELF AND A FEW OF MY COLLEAGUES OVER THERE HAVE THE VERY, VERY UNFORTUNATE TASK OF MEETING WITH ABOUT 50 STAFF MEMBERS FROM TEACHERS, to support staff to administrators and letting them know that they may receive a pink slip tomorrow. Right. And some of their names are going to be public and some of the positions might be public. And it's been hard this week. It's been extremely hard seeing some of our staff members who work extremely hard who come to work every day who put a lot on the line for our staff and our students and I work 6-12. So I'm dealing with middle school and high school. I deal with the alternative schools. I see our teachers bust their behind. I see our administrators bust their behind. And it's been very challenging for me and my staff members to have to make, you know, have these conversations with folks. And I just want you guys to know that we all know that teachers are regular people too. They have lives, they have families, and to have those discussions with them tomorrow, that they will possibly receive a pink slip is just gonna be heartbreaking. So I hope that we can come to some agreements about what we're doing and it doesn't all fall on you. This is federal level, this is state level, and also the local level when it comes to educating our students. We need a better way to figure it out. But thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. Anybody else wish to address the council? Anybody else? One more time, anybody else? Seeing none, that concludes this portion of public participation. It's now 8.07 p.m. I'd invite any other person to remark briefly on what they've heard. Alderman Smedley. Thank you. Just want to stand and recognize the incredible support that's here from the district administrative team tonight. I'm a colleague with all of you and I stand as a council member and employee of the school district for a very long time to say thank you for coming out to advocate. It is grossly obvious that the mayor's proposed budget is not going to work for the school district and the minority caucus myself and the four the four of us in the minority caucus intend to make suggestions to the majority caucus that we hope they understand will make a minor impact towards helping the school district with the resources they need. Mrs. Spire visited Holmes Elementary School today and during that tour she made some very good points and asked some really good questions and she made a very good statement to be honest with you. And I'm going to tell you another short story that relates to what she said. Smith Elementary School is next to be renovated. It is going to be the building of buildings that we are renovating. We're building an early learning pre-K center there. By doing that we have to follow rules for pre-K and kindergarten education and that involves a bathroom in every single classroom. There's a point to my story. We are adding thirty five new bathrooms to Smith Elementary School on top of the fifteen that will be renovated in the primary building. That's forty fifty bathrooms that will exist. We don't have the custodial staff for that and the mayor's proposed budget cuts funding by one point six million. It doesn't math up. So. Like I said we intend to make suggestions supporting a different budget for the school district and I ask that you all as administrators keep the momentum invite your parents to the April 28th meeting. It's right here in this chamber at 630. This council needs to hear more of the similar stories that we heard tonight. More of the reason why the school district needs to be funded correctly. I encourage you to encourage your parents and yourselves email this council. Email the mayor's office. All of our email addresses are on the city website. Continue to reach out and advocate because that is the only way that there is going to be any change is if you continue to put the pressure on. This room is full tonight and it is fantastic. There's people sitting on the floor. Keep that for the April 28th meeting and keep it for our committee meetings. The committee meetings will also be listed on the city's website. Hold these elected folks accountable. Hold us accountable. hold the mayor accountable for his campaign promises to support and provide more funding for education. Thank you. We should speak. Other one, Scott, and then, sorry. Other one, Scott, go ahead. Peace and love, everybody, first. And John, I want to start off with you because you gave us that little commercial break. The water... I know firsthand what it's like to get that unexpected water bill and I do think that that is something that we need to look into on how we can help support people when that's happening. So thanks for coming out and sharing what you witnessed at the meeting. I missed that one. I try to get there as much as I can. And then I want to address everybody else here. Thanks so much for all of you for coming. Your voice matters. Thank you to the principal and other people who work in the schools the Board of Ed I see some Board of Ed people here. Thank you guys for coming. I want to and neighbors and residents but I want to specifically thank people who work in our schools right now. Thank you for what you're doing with our children. It's it's extremely important. Thanks for showing up for them today. I agree with all of you. Our future is our children. When we provide preventive care and programs and the necessary staff we see positive future. We see a reduction in the school to prison pipeline. We see a reduction in the so-called and I've heard it here in New Britain High freshman repeaters. Failing is not an option. I couldn't believe it when I heard that because I just couldn't. Learning does not just happen in our schools. Our kids need to get out. They need to experience things. So I heard that Principal Pierce is here. Thank you so much for helping me out and assisting and planning a field trip for some of our kids this week. We went to the capitol and our mayor came and spoke with the kids there and supported the trip. So I thank him so much for being there and he does care deeply about our children and the education. I raised a child here in New Britain and I remember fighting for her just like many of your parents that were here today. Services that she needed for special education. I witnessed it. I witnessed her school getting closed because of funding and the struggle that she had after that. I don't want to see that happen to any other child. That's part of the reason why I'm standing here today in this position. Our children need us to protect them. and guide them to a positive future. I'm sure we will all sit down and work on the educational budget. For many years the education here in New Britain has been flat funded which makes me extremely unhappy. We have to do better. Last term we tried to pass a budget that would help support education. It was vetoed. We have to prioritize. And I really pray that we will sit down and figure out a way to do that. Also working with our governor and the state level because we need some help and support in our desperate hour right now. This moment we need help. Our kids need us. So that's pretty much all I wanted to say. And I just want you to know and also I forgot I left out the kids. Thank you so much for, most of them left already, but hopefully they'll see that I'm thanking them for being here, and I hope that this was a learning experience for them to be here. It's important for us to bring our kids to stuff like this. They need that experience, that one-on-one experience. So thank you guys, and peace and love. Thank you all. All the women, applause. First I want to say thank you to everyone who came out tonight who spoke up and who continue to advocate for our children. Your voices do matter. I also want to be fair and clear. Our mayor has has been a strong advocate for education. He has brought millions of dollars into our school system in the past recent years and that investment matters. He is fighting for our children and I do not believe we should lose sight of that or lose hope in the direction he is working toward. Please understand this budget before us is a proposal. It is not final and that means we still have responsibility and an opportunity to get this right. I share your concerns. I am deeply concerned about what happens if we do take a cut into education. As a councilwoman and more importantly as a concerned parent and grandparent and a proud product of New Bren and its public school system. I cannot stay silent on the need for increased funding in our schools. This system didn't just shape me it shaped my children as well and now I'm watching it play a critical role in my granddaughter's life. That's three generations who have depended on the strength of our schools and I know firsthand what's at stake if we allow that foundation to weaken. My granddaughter struggles with anxiety something many of our children are facing today. There are days when even going to school gives her physical pain. But because of the support systems in place, the counselors, the educators, the staff who understand her needs, she is able to walk through those doors and make it through each day. So I have to ask, what happens if those services are cut? Are we really prepared to push families into impossible choices like homeschooling? Not because they want to, but because the system can no longer support our children. Our children deserve more than just education on paper. THEY NEED SOCIALIZATION, INTERACTION, AND A SAFE ENVIRONMENT WHERE THEY CAN GROW EMOTIONALLY AS WELL AS ACADEMICALLY. WE ARE FORTUNATE TO HAVE PHENOMENAL TEACHERS, DEDICATED ADMINISTRATORS, HARD WORKING CUSTODIANS, CARING CAFETERIA STAFF, COMMITTED PRINCIPLES, AND INVALUABLE PARA-EDUCATORS. THESE ARE NOT EXTRAS. THESE ARE ESSENTIAL. AND WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE EVEN ONE OF THEM. THIS IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS. THIS IS ABOUT PRIORITIES. If we truly believe in the future of our community then we must prove it by investing in our children today. I urge this body to find a way and any way to please allocate more funding to education because when we invest in our schools we invest in the stability health and success of every family in the city. Thank you. Thank you Alderman. Any other members briefly want to address the council. Alderman Simpson. Thank you Alderman. I just want to first thank everybody for coming out here tonight. I know you guys have lives. I know it's busy. I know the world's falling apart. But I know you're here, so thank you. I do share the concern about education funding. It wasn't that long ago that this body, the Board of Education, many other elected officials were debating my education. I know the paper shortages that our schools go through. having to turn out the light and not being able to afford to forget. Sorry. I remember seeing the buckets on the first floor of Smalley Elementary catching the rain from the roof through the other floors. I was a student of Gaffney, Vance, Smalley, North End, Slade, EC Goodwin, and UConn Hartford. I have only public education to thank and that comes with investment, right? These kids have higher obstacles than I did to obtain an education, one that's promised to them. And I didn't have to miss out on the fundamental reading, writing, and math skills that our students did because of a pandemic. We don't overcome that without investment. We look at our middle schools struggling today they were elementary school students during the pandemic. No wonder we're struggling. I will say that fully funding the 18 million dollar asks comes with the likely fact that our residents the mayor council board of ed tenants taxpayers many of you need to answer the same question. Can I have taxes or rent go up. If it's yes by all means we need to know. We are accountable to you. We must answer this question together because if we raise that number beyond what our budget can actually afford and I'm talking our household budget not the city budget. We risk pricing our students out of their own homes and with it their school. That entire 18 million plus ask probably comes with a tax increase, an increase that could match the mayor's contribution 18 times forever. Not some band-aid that we have to debate next year and never honor again. And so that being said, I'm focusing on recommendations for this budget that give us some options and outline some clear priorities. By paying no more dollars than the mayor's proposed budget, I'm working towards one that fully funds the public library and one that at least levels education spending keeps our utility costs as a municipality down and honors our debt obligations. We are fighting an uphill battle and a shovel is not going to dig us uphill but walking this road together will. I also want to address some of the other topics that people spoke about tonight. Increase in ECS funding, absolutely, that makes our jobs easier, that makes your lives less harder, dare I say easier. People like to live near successful services, right? We had somebody come and say, if we divest from our schools, this will lower our property values. And it's a shame that I have stood in higher education institutions to see professors go against that notion. as if people don't move here or Southington or Avon or our neighbors without regard to the public school system. The folks who do that aren't in the public school system or they're not in ours yet because not everybody comes here for education. People come here for housing too. So I will gladly stand behind our students today simply because yesterday I had to stand in front of them. And that's it. Thank you. Thank you, Alderman. Do any other members have a word to say about what they've heard tonight? Any other? Alderman Ortiz Luna. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I did come prepared today because I was expecting a full house. So thank you for everyone being here. I know that you guys care deeply about the children and the future of our schools and so do I. I went to New Britain schools went to Deloreto I went to Slade Middle School. My daughter also went to Smith Elementary School and she went to Slade. Now I have my son that's at Deloreto. And I understand the struggle especially having a child that. NEEDS EXTRA SUPPORT JUST TO GET THEM THROUGH THE DAY IN SCHOOL. SO I UNDERSTAND AS A PARENT. AT THE SAME TIME, YOU DESERVE HONESTY AND A PERSPECTIVE ON THE BUDGET PROCESS. THE SUPERINTENDENT CHOSE TO CREATE FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY BEFORE THAT PROCESS HAS EVEN PLAYED OUT, SCARING FAMILIES, ALARMING EMPLOYEES, AND SUGGESTING WORST-CASE OUTCOMES BEFORE DISCUSSIONS ARE COMPLETE IS NOT THE RIGHT PATH. WHAT THE MAYOR PRESENTED IS THE FIRST STEP, NOT THE FINAL WORD. THE PROPOSED BUDGET INCREASES THE MBR, WHICH STANDS FOR MINIMUM BUDGET REQUIREMENT, BY ONE MILLION, CREATING A NEW RECURRING FUNDING FLOOR for our schools and moving away from the one time patches. Let me state this for the record and make it very clear. The mayor and the Common Council are continuing to work to secure additional funding for our schools. We are actively partnering with our state delegation and state leaders but we are doing so with a firm understanding that the answer cannot simply be to place a massive new tax burden on families seniors renters and homeowners of the city. Our fiscal year closes on June 30th 2026. In September if the city has a surplus the mayor will review that surplus to give money to education. So let's reject the fear and focus on the facts. And let's remember that supporting education and respecting taxpayers are not opposing goals. This council will review the budget have discussions with the Board of Education which that will happen on May 7th and the city will continue working to identify additional support in any way that protects both our students and our taxpayers. Thank you. Thank you, Alvon. Any other members want a word? Seeing none. Oh, I'm sorry. President Santiago, to my right. President Santiago, to my right. President Santiago, to my right. President Santiago, to my right. 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President Santiago, to my Every time and again this product of individuals that came here and spoke that were product of the city that graduated from the school system and they came back as paras, teachers, principals and every year and this year included I will be doing the same thing. We go through the budget. We go to slim things up. Even with the mayor being as as as as transparent as he can be about the budget. I mean I know this could be some spots that we could try to slim off. And I always redo. I was just even discussing some ideas right here while we're just listening to individuals speaking. My mind's always been clicking, always about the parents, always about the teachers, especially about the students. For me, I always been about making sure the kids stay off the streets because I was one of those products. And, you know, I know how hard it was, and I'm sorry to be, to run the streets at 15 years old, you know, 16 years old, not knowing what was the next day was my bed at. still doing the things I had to do to survive. And, yes, I made mistakes in my life. But you know what? I did have individuals that came around that were supportive, that helped me understand there was life more than the streets. And that's one of the main reasons why I am where I'm at right now. Because there was individuals that trusted me, they encouraged me, and helped me do the things that I did and saw a vision that there was more life than just the streets. So being that each day I come here and I speak, it's all here. Because I know how these students are struggling. I know from, my wife also works in the school system, and she talks about how the students are not being able to have all the needs, and they're trying. And I see how remarkable Jefferson has been trying to lift these kids. And I've seen my kids going through Jefferson, Smalley, Chamberlain, Slater, Slate, again. You know they didn't go to New Bern High. They all went to E.C. Goodwin which is still a New Bern. I still claim as a New Bern school because majority of the kids in there are New Bern residents. So that being said every time I look at these kids I look at them as my own. I look at them as I want them to do the best. I want them to be invested in too. And again we will look at the budget because again it's not the final budget like we always say every year. And we will go through it. And at the same time I was with the mayor multiple times where we're at the governor's office pleading that they would be support given from that side. And they have been. The delegate has been working on it. Every single time they have a moment. They're talking about there's numbers coming in. Again, that's not a patch and it's not a fix. We definitely have to ECS. We have to look at that formula because, again, you know, between the federal government and everything that's coming down is all the circle effects. And obviously as a city, We have to support all every individuals. At the same time you know we we all work together. I try to work together with everyone to make sure that we have something here that's that's representing the city. So at the end of the day we do have the fifth is fifth to sixth and seventh is our budget conversations with all the directors and also the seventh is our the Board of Ed meeting. The 28th absolutely I would love to see this. I would love to see more parents, more visions, you know, and more ideas. Because that's what helps us look at things in a better perspective. But at the end of the day, I love that you guys are here. Please come. And I wish you guys come more often, please. But, you know, thank you. Thank you, Alderman. Seeing no other hands raised. Oh, Alderman Barrero. Good evening, everyone. I want to thank you all for coming out tonight. I'm glad to see a lot of individuals who are citizens of the city who have students or are teachers in the city who also support our students. I was born and raised here. Went through all the schools here in New Britain. Not all the schools but you know Slade Middle School, Delabretto Elementary and Eastie Goodwin as well. I do have a son who graduated from New Britain High School last year. And I also have another one who is currently in E.C. Goodwin including a young one who eventually will be in the school system. So I do understand how important it is for the funding for this education. I'm all for it. I also want to take time to thank those individuals who came here with their special needs kids. I know it's not easy not only to deal with that in the school system but to bring them out in society where they're constantly judged. But I appreciate their time and their experience here with us. I do urge them to continue coming here. And as Mr. Richardson also said I'm all for sports as well as a scholar athlete from my year of graduation. I know it's important for the students to stay in sports to keep them occupied to keep them off the street and to hopefully keep them in a good environment as we are here currently. So I support it fully, and again, I just want to thank you guys all for coming out. Sorry. I do want more individuals to show up for the 28th to show some more support. The more support, the better we are here in our city to get that funding that is needed. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Alderman. Alderman Gibson good evening. I get the pleasure of working with a great group of people. I work for the district. I know how much their jobs mean to them. I know how much they mean to the kids and I know how much the kids also respect and love them. I get to see it every day. I get to see the work that is put in. I get to see the effort that is put in and I over the years as it was stated before COVID hit us in an unimaginable and put us in an unimaginable position. But I see the progress. I see the work that is done. This budget yes it definitely needs more funding and I hope and I will believe that more funding will come. But I just wanted to get up and say that I'm glad to work in this district. I'm glad to be on this council and I'm glad to support each and every one of you. The parents the teachers the administrators the kids the parents. I'm a parent of a recently graduate from CCSU but she went to New Britain High School got her necessary credits to go on to college. and actually graduated in three and a half years at CCSU. The school district is well deserving of funding that it needs to be able to continue and to succeed. And I think what a lot of folks do not see what is not seen on a daily basis that that is the true grit that that that is worth every single dollar that needs to go into this budget for education. So I hope that we will come to a. compromise or a solution to better put our education in our school district in a better position to help our kids become successful. Thank you. Thank you Alderman. You should speak more often. I think that concludes Alderwoman Vargas. Go ahead. I just really want to thank all the 19 people that came up tonight to talk on behalf of all the children all the wonderful children in our great city. We have great great educators. I've heard all of you speak about all the schools that your children attend all the services that your children are dependent on. And I was I wasn't going to talk because I get a little emotional when I talk about my daughter but You know my daughter has gotten to where she is because of the services that were provided to her in New Britain and I'm I always say I'm thankful. You know I heard a lot of North End parents speak. You know she started at North End there was some reshuffling during her years. Then she went to Vance. They were able to manage the same teachers that she had. So it was a smooth transition. I know that took work. And thankfully you know she didn't regress but I you know she received special ed services and again she's 23 years old right now and I would not I cannot thank I cannot thank the school system enough for where she is right now. I want everyone to know that I have read every single email I have read and opened up every single letter that I have received and I have written down all of the 19 people that spoke today and I want to say thank you. because we're all your voices are being heard. You can count on me to really fight for as much as we can as we possibly can. As we know as we all know we're all struggling you know trying to make ends meet. And you know our mill rate is this is hasn't gone up. Thank God. Now we have to find other ways to make this happen. So please continue to show up. Please continue to share your voices. bring the kids we need to see the kids because at the end of the day that's our future. So thank you. Thank you all. I think all the all the people have spoken on what we've heard tonight. I just conclude by saying public participation matters. You proved it tonight. As my colleagues reminded you on next Tuesday at 630 we'll have the public hearing on the municipal budget. We're spending a good part of May reviewing the mayor's proposed budget. On the 7th, we'll be scrutinizing Dr. Gasper's proposed school district budget to look at, to make sure every dollar is used in an appropriate manner. And we look forward to hearing from you next week. and continuing to participate in this process. That concludes public participation. It's 836. The regular meeting will begin shortly. Councilmembers, please find your seats. I call to order the April 22nd, 2026 regular meeting of the Common Council. The time is now 8.48 p.m. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll. Yes, Your Honor. Alderman McNamara. Here. Alderwoman Scott. Here. Alderman Simpson. Present. Alderman Smedley. Present. Alderman Malinowski. Here. Alderman Gibson. Here. Alderwoman Delania. Here. Alderman Santiago. Present. Alderwoman Barbosa. Here. Alderwoman Vargas. Here. Alderwoman Maldonado. Here. Alderman Centeno. Present. Alderwoman Ortiz-Luna. Here. Alderman Borrero. Present. 14 present, Your Honor. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk, for the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Gracious Father, we thank you for this day and for the opportunity to serve the people of New Britain. We celebrate this weekend's opening of the New Britain Little League. Bless the children with joy, teamwork, and growth, and may the coaches, families, and volunteers be guided by patience, encouragement, and a love that builds confidence in every child. And as we celebrate Earth Day, we are reminded that we are stewards of all you've created, renewing us a commitment to care for our environment and protect the resources entrusted to us so that future generations may inherit a world that reflects your beauty. And we also want to lift up the mayor and the common council as they prepare to make decisions on the twenty six twenty seven budget grant them wisdom and clarity and give them the understanding to navigate challenges with fairness and the heart to serve all especially those who are often overlooked. May all decisions be made here today serve the greater good. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Okay so I would like to call up Art Simonian for the Matabas district budget presentation. How are you sir. and Danny Salerno as well. And all three serve on the Mattabasset District Board. I'll try to keep it relatively high level in the interest of time, but we do this every year for all the communities that we serve. We kind of give you an understanding of what goes into the Mattabasset budget and how it impacts the city of New Britain. We do this as a courtesy. Our budget's already been approved and adopted by our board. But we'd like to touch on some of the highlights so you guys understand what goes into the Mattabasset system. Just for everyone's benefit, in case you don't know, Mattabasset District is a clean water facility. It's actually a sewage treatment plant, better known to most people. It's located in Cromwell, Connecticut. It serves New Britain, Berlin, Cromwell, Middletown, and parts of Rocky Hill and Newington. It was formed in 1968, mostly by the charter members, City of New Britain, Berlin, and Cromwell. When there was some environmental issues back in the 50s with the sewage treatment plant, they used to discharge in Willowbrook on Christian Lane from the city of New Britain. So we were formed and as a result of that, the plant was built. We do not own any of the collection systems, the sewage collection piping. We just have one single trunk line that runs about nine miles from Christian Lane through Berlin, through Cromwell, into Mattabasset system. And then obviously we treat the wastewater before it discharges into the Connecticut River. We have to meet all our permit numbers. And we're one of the third largest plant in the state of Connecticut and also one of five plants in Connecticut that has what's called an incinerator to burn the solids and sludges. Other states do not have that luxury and have to pay to have it trucked out of state or out of the country. Just want to touch on some highlights. On our budget this year, we did have a pretty significant increase in our overall budget of about 17.7%. On the plus side, we are able to use some of our reserves to offset a 93% increase in capital. We do have some pretty significant capital increases coming. So by offsetting that capital increase, We're able to reduce the operating debt and debt service budget to about 5.6% increase. And New Britain benefits from the city of Middletown joined our district fully back in 2019. They closed their treatment plant. When they came, they paid a $13 million essentially buy-in fee. And New Britain gets credits on their assessments every year. And that tails off in the year 2030. And so far by Middletown joining the district, New Britain benefit about $9.1 million since they joined. This year's credit for New Britain is about $600,000 off of your assessment. And New Britain is currently paying about 29% of our debt service and your reserve capacity, which is essentially what percentage of the plant you have reserved for your flows is about 41%. So you're paying less. than what your reserve is, which is a good thing. And that's really due to the joining of Middletown to the district back in 2019. Your assessments this year are increasing slightly. It's about 3.6% or about 270,000. Last year, I believe the increase was about 0.3%. This year, it was up a little bit because of our capital projects. and also because the interest rates are a little bit lower, so our revenues were down. As a comparison, the Berlin community, which is next door, is getting about a 9% increase, Cromwell about a 2% increase, and MDC about a 2.8% increase. So we try to be relatively responsible in terms of our budgets. We are using a pretty healthy amount of our reserves, but we're still in pretty good financial shape with that as well. New Britain over the last number of years has averaged, there is a spreadsheet called a budget comparison, hopefully in your package, but you averaged about a 3.2% increase over the last about eight or nine years, so relatively small. One of the things that drives your assessments higher or lower is your flows and your five-year average flows. I know New Britain has done a pretty good job with your New Britain FLUSH program, it's called, AND THAT HAS MADE SOME SERIOUS HEADWAY, WE FEEL, IN TERMS OF YOUR FLOWS. SOME OF THE OTHER COMMUNITY'S FLOWS WERE GOING UP THE LAST FEW YEARS. YOUR FLOWS ACTUALLY WENT DOWN A LITTLE BIT, YOUR FIVE-YEAR AVERAGE FLOWS. AND WHAT THAT REALLY SAYS IS THAT YOU'RE DOING A GOOD JOB REMOVING THOSE FLOWS THAT GET INTO THE SEWER PIPES THAT DON'T BELONG. YOUR STORM WATER, YOUR CATCH BASINS, ROOF LEADERS, YARD DRAINS. things like that that don't belong in the sewer system they belong in the stormwater system so by separating that you you decrease your flows and that helps us out in terms of our capacity and also helps you guys out in terms of your annual assessments so that's kind of the plus side of what you're doing I just want to let you know that program whatever I know it started a number of years ago it has made some progress already in terms of the numbers And hopefully that'll continue because the more you can reduce those numbers, the better your budgets will be, your assessments. And again, we have John Dunham is here in case he wants to maybe highlight a few things. And then obviously we could take any questions that you may have. And we will try to set up a tour too sometime very soon. Thank you, Art. Yeah, I'll be very brief. You know, the major driver in the increase is part of our capital program, and we don't bond. We bond for the major upgrade that we did for the plant, which was $100 million, but most of our projects are pay-go. We pay as we go. So over the next two to three years, we have a couple of projects on the trunk line that are going to run about $2 to $2.5 million a year. So that's kind of driving that increase, and so hopefully that'll... that'll drop off a little bit more in the future, but construction costs keep going up, so don't have my crystal ball, we'll see how it goes. But we are cognizant of the costs, and we have a finance committee that each member town is a member of, and that finance committee approves the budget and reviews it. So, thank you. Thank you, is that? That's it, yeah. That's it for your presentation? Yes, sir. Do we have any questions from any members on the council? Alderman Simpson. Alderman Simpson. Thank you. Could you explain, I'm seeing on what page is this? Page two. Could you just go into a little bit of detail about the relationship New Britain has with, I'm assuming this parenthetical is Farmington? Sure. So part of Farmington actually discharges into the New Britain system. If you go up past Target and on the left-hand side where Pizza World used to be, now there's a Chili's. That area there is actually in Farmington, but because of its proximity to the New Britain system, that part goes into the New Britain sewer system. Target Store is actually in New Britain, so that's already included in the New Britain flows. But that small section of Farmington actually discharges through the New Britain system. So we assess Farmington. I think it's about $15,000 directly. They pay that, and that comes off of your... your flows, essentially. Mr. All set? Any other questions? Seeing none, thank you, sir. Mr. All right, thank you. Have a good night. Mr. Okay, so today, as we recognize Earth Day, I want to take a moment to reflect on what it means for our city and the role each of us play in protecting and enhancing our environment. Earlier today I had the opportunity to be out in the community alongside residents and local partners promoting tree planting and sustainable practices. It was truly encouraging to see the people engaged and committed to making our city greener and healthier. These actions while simple carry a lasting impact on our neighborhoods and in our future generations. I also want to recognize our strong partnership with the New Britain roots. Their work continues to make a meaningful difference by expanding access to green spaces supporting urban agriculture and empowering residents to take part in environmental solutions. This Friday April 24th from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Willard DeLaureto atrium at CCSU they will be hosting an event to promote their tree giveaway program disputing this this distributing 100 trees to city residents. That's great. I believe it was a hundred and fourteen thousand dollar grant that they received. I encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity and pick up a free tree. In addition Alderwoman Candace Scott along with the North Oak NRZ will be hosting a community cleanup and it will be Saturday April 25th from 10 a.m. to 12 noon beginning at the North Oak substation I encourage residents to come out and be part of the effort and to keep our city clean and welcoming. At this time I would like to shift our focus to another important recognition. April is sexual assault awareness month a time to stand in support of our survivors and to reaffirm our commitment to prevention education and healing. I would like to recognize the incredible work of the New Britain YWCA sexual assault crisis service. who continue to play a critical role in empowering survivors promoting healing advancing a safer more supportive community for all. We are proud to present them with a proclamation in recognition in recognition of their dedication and impact. I also want to thank Alderwoman Candace Scott for her leadership and assistance in helping facilitate this recognition. With that we will now move on. Do you have people here from the Y? Yes go ahead. So I just wanted to say this resolution which we'll read later is extremely important. Last night Mayor Sanchez and I attended the take back the night at CCSU and I want to also thank the woman's center which she was here earlier. I think she had to leave. I was really happy to be there last night and I thank you guys for putting that together as an alumnus of CCSU and LPC and an alderwoman and also a sexual assault survivor. I want to say that I what I said last night that you you are not alone. I believe you and whatever happened to you it is not your fault. It is a collective commitment to train children from a young age to not be ashamed to speak up. Adults need to listen and support. Most sexual assault is from a familiar person that we know. But that is all the more reason for us to support every survivor and thank them when they share their story. We need to teach everyone that consent is not an option it's mandatory. SACS at the YWCA has worked hard tirelessly to educate and prevent and support survivors. I know this firsthand. I worked with you guys many moons ago and as an advocate you get out there you get that call it's the middle of night you go. You go to the hospital you're there through the rape kit and it's quite the experience being there with someone in that moment. You keep survivors safe you talk to the police and DCF and make sure that they know how to communicate with survivors which is extremely important and we need to do more work around that. You help survivors in these moments and one of the things that people don't think about you provide clothing. No one really think you wouldn't think about that but when. when you're assaulted and you go to the hospital you have to you lose your clothing you have to give it to the kit. So they provide clothing for survivors and make sure they get a ride home. You have the 24 hour phone hotline and I'm just so thankful that you guys do all that you do. And I want you to know that we appreciate you and I'm quite sure that there are many many many survivors right here in New Britain. The other thing that you guys provide is free counseling. Many survivors here that have benefit from you from what the work that you do and I'm just happy that we're able to acknowledge that today. So I think you guys should come up and because we appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you to the council and to the mayor and I echo all of the gratitude that came for Alderwoman Scott to who really helped put this on the agenda for tonight. You know, she mentioned a lot of what we do, but I just sort of want to reiterate. Our program is a member center of the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, and so we provide free and confidential services to folks who've been impacted, both directly and indirectly, right? Violence has ripple effects across our communities, and it impacts so many people. Our services are broad ranging. We have a 24-hour crisis hotline in which folks are answering that phone 365 days a year. We provide short-term crisis counseling. We go with survivors to the hospital, to the police station, to the courthouse. We run support groups out of our offices and in partnership with other agencies. And we do a lot of community and prevention education. Sexual violence exists in the dark. It exists when survivors are silenced and they're not able to speak out about what happened to them. And so resolutions like this, acknowledging Sexual Assault Awareness Month, supporting our program, really centers survivors and their healing. And it makes spaces where they are safer. And so I thank you all. I don't think I even introduced myself. My name is Alyssa D'Amato. I'm the program director for the Sexual Assault Crisis Service. I've been involved in this work since 2018. I started as a volunteer. And I can't explain to you how much it matters for folks to recognize what's happening and to to point out the impact of that. So I thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you all so much. Thank you. With that, we will now move on to the minutes. Alderman Santiago. Alderman Santiago. Thank you, Your Honor. I make a motion to accept the minutes of the regular meeting of January 28th, 2026 and April 8th, 2026. Second. Second by Alderman Ortiz Luna. Okay. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, nay. Motion carries. I just have a point of order. There should be discussion. Oh, no, I'm sorry. Never mind. I withdraw. Alderman Santiago for any amendments. No amendments, sir. No amendments, okay. Madam Clerk for petitions. Yes, Your Honor, there's one petition. to improve the traffic safety during school drop off and pick up at Vance Elementary School. Okay, referred to Board of Police Commissioners. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Alderman Santiago for the consent agenda. Thank you, Your Honor. I make a motion to accept the consent agenda of A, B, D, and E. Second by Alderman Borrero. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. Alderman McNamara. Yes. Yes. Alderman Scott. Yes. Alderman Simpson. Yes. Alderman Smedley. Yes. Alderman Malinowski. Yes. Alderman Gibson. Yes. Alderman Delernia. Yes. Alderman Santiago. Yes. Alderman Barbosa. Yes. Alderman Vargas. Yes. Alderman Maldonado. Yes. Alderman Centeno. Yes. Alderman Ortiz-Luna. Alderman Borrero 13 yays. Thank you Madam Clerk. Alderman DeLegna Alderwoman I'm sorry. Thank you Mayor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item C. Second. Second by Alderman Smedley. So this pertains to monthly checks that the council should be receiving every month. We are in the month of April now, and I haven't seen anything up until this point. I also have a question as to why it's not, this month isn't included in our packet. I understand it may be cumbersome, but can we at least get an electronic copy? Alderman Santiago? Yes. Due to the ordinance, it does say it requires for us, the council, to get the report in which it is in the council's chambers. The book is there. If you really look, it doesn't have an agenda. If you look at every single go back, it has been, the report has been set every month would be in the front, in the chamber's office. Well, maybe I should be talking to somebody in finance. Is somebody in finance here? No, I don't think there's one. No. Okay. Corporate counsel, could you? I don't know if I can help, but I can try. Yeah, I mean, if it's in an electronic copy, I don't see why we can't get it emailed to each of us. And I don't know what Alderman Santiago, are you saying it's in the council chambers? Correct. The copy of the reports are in the chambers in the binder. Every month the finance does bring it to the chambers. I can ask, so yeah, I guess I'm requesting, I would like to see it every month in an electronic copy, include it with our agenda. I think that's open and transparent. Just the link. Yeah, at least the link, yes. I can find out if that's possible. Okay. Thank you. So you'll look into it? You're welcome. Yes, I will. Okay. Are you okay with that? Yes. Okay, thank you. Alderman McNamara. Mr. Yes, the report is here. It is available in the council office. It's your office, too, all the way in Delernia. But I'm striving to have it included in the agenda in a more readable format. Just as we received a general fund budget from the mayor that is now, I think, much clearer and easier for all the people and the public to understand, I'd like us to see this report included in the agenda in a more readable format rather than an Excel spreadsheet with additional information. And I think we're working we need to work towards that. DIRECTOR HERSEY- Any further discussion. Okay. So we have to vote on this one. Okay. So all those in favor say aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Mr. Mayor point of order related to the agenda. We had requested to pull item 13. Does that require that we amend the agenda to pull item 13 off or are we just going to skip it. Alderman Santiago. Yes the requirement is going to be we're actually going to follow through with 13. Okay Alderman Scott. item number one. Thank you Your Honor. I'd like to accept and adopt item number one. Second. Second by Alderman Santiago. This is for a certificate of location approval for 7 24 Allen Street. We had a zoning committee meeting April 14th 2026 and unanimously voted. accept this recommendation for the for the Motorsports LLC auto repair shop and auto sales. They seek granting a certificate of location approval to allow the state DMV insured the motor vehicle dealers license for property known as 724 Allen Street in New Britain. And I just want to say this is a property has been historically used for automotive since I think 1948 and we appreciate you and we appreciate you having your business here in New Britain and we wish you the best of luck. Thank you and I accept I urge adoption. Thank you all the women. Any discussion. Okay seeing none all those in favor say aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. Alderwoman Vargas for item number 2. Thank you Your Honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number 2. Second. Second by Alderman Gibson. Thank you. This is a resolution for certificate of location of approval for 724 Allen Street to his honor and the Common Council of the City of New Britain. Whereas the zoning subcommittee at a special meeting on April 14th had a unanimous vote accepted and referred to the Common Council with a neutral recommendation. Item number 37042. Oh wrong one. Next page. Everybody awake. Certificate of location. Okay let's start this again. I make a motion to. Okay. This is a certificate of location for approval for 46 Washington Street. Whereas the zoning subcommittee at a special committee on April 14th by unanimous vote accepted and referred to the common council with neutral recommendation item number 37118 New Britain muffler LLC auto repair shop seeking granting of a certificate of location approval to allow state DMV insurance issuance of a motor vehicle dealer's license for property known as 46 Washington Street. And I urge adoption. And that's the correct one. Thank you. Thank you. Making sure everybody's awake. Any discussion. Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Alderman Sipson for item number three. Thank you Your Honor I rise to make a motion to accept and adopt item number three. Second by Alderman Barrero. This resolution is applicable to the Water and Sewer Department's administration building over at 1000 Shuttle Meadow Avenue and essentially it's a it's a retaining it's a resolution which would retain our current service provider in the expense of twenty one thousand five hundred and twenty five dollars and this is for the installation and testing of a of electrical work to one of our generators at the plant. And this helps keep our water clean. Keeps it running. Keeps New Britain up. So I urge adoption. DIRECTOR DEWOLF. Thank you Alderman. Any other any discussion on this item. Alderwoman Delaney. DIRECTOR DELANEY. Yes I have a couple of questions. I guess this would be would this go to Mark or or. Oh okay. DIRECTOR DEWOLF. No Patrick. DIRECTOR DELANEY. We have someone from. Hi. DIRECTOR DEWOLF. Good evening Patrick. So my understanding is this is an older generator being moved from the old public works building to the water department? Yes, correct. And how functional is that generator? How old is it? I'm not exactly sure the age of the generator, but it is fully functional. We made sure of that before we did it, instead of purchasing a brand new generator for it. Okay, so the cost, this cost of $21,525, is that a breakdown? Is there a breakdown of materials and labor? Is that just labor? There is a breakdown. I'm not sure if you got it with the package. I did not. But there is a breakdown of its wiring, its running conduit, and then the installation of it. Okay. And is there any warranty on the labor? Just the normal year warranty that you would get from any service. What's the life expectancy? Of the generator? Yeah. That I'm not very sure of. That is not there. They're just doing the wiring. This is just for the wiring portion. The generators already are. So I'm assuming there's not a lot of hours on it. I'm not exactly sure how many hours are on it. Okay. And have we lost power often? We lose power regularly. We're on the end of a system. So our crews have to come in in snowstorms. They have to come in hurricanes. So we lose power. We need to have power there that we don't have. And we haven't had it to this point. Are all our other city buildings, do they all have generators? I can't answer if they all do. Our main plant does, but that's the drinking water plant. This one does not. Okay. Mayor, is there some way I can find out which buildings have generator associated and which do not? Your Honor, point of order. At this point in time, we're only talking about this resolution. If you want to speak about that one, you have to. It's about generation. I should be able to ask that question. Point of order is we're speaking about this resolution. If you would like to speak on that one, you would have to write a resolution petition. I disagree with that, but I should be able to find out. That should be a question I can post. I'm just saying at this point in time, we're speaking about this resolution. Thank you. That's it, I guess. Okay, Patrick, I think you're out. Unless anybody else has any questions for Patrick? Patrick, you're going to have to come back. Sorry. Alderman Barbosa. I'm sorry. I just have one question. What would be the cost for a brand new one? We did not price that out, but I'm sure double what we're talking about right now. Thank you, Alderman. Alderman Simpson, did you have a question for Patrick? Yes, if I can. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry to have you get your steps in. You are getting your steps in. So just a quick question. the work that's being done, right? We have a generator in position A, we need it in position B. The labor that's being done is taking that generator, moving it to another spot, laying down the power lines, the conduit, to then just have it operate in another spot, right? The generator's already been moved. We moved the generator. What this is for is to run the conduit, run the wiring hookup, And the transfer switch run it to our facility. We're going to put the generator into place and put the pad down for it. And then they're going to do all of the wiring. So it's a combination of in-house work and the electrical work. We can't do the electrical work. This is for the electrical work. I do have to commend the labor distribution there. And just to touch on a point from my colleagues, if this generator goes down, right we can still move it that wiring that conduit is still there correct? Correct. Thank you. Marriage adoption. Questions for Patrick. Okay CNN you may sit down sir. So all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. Alderman Malinowski for item number four. Thank you your honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item 4. Second by Alderman Santiago. And the state of Connecticut's Department of Public Health water drinking drinking water regulations require that the Public Works Department Utilities Division prepare a water quality report every year. And this resolution authorizes the Public Works Utilities Division to retain Gemini Group Consulting LLC to configure, print, and mail, and the purchasing agent to issue a purchase order in the amount of $15,772 for the 2025 annual water quality report for the water permit, and I urge adoption. Thank you, Alderman. Any discussion on this item? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. Alderman Gipson for item number five. Thank you, Your Honor. Make a motion to accept and adopt item number five. Second. Second by Alderwoman Vargas. This is to repair and maintenance for repairs and maintenance service to the elevator at Shuttle Meadow Water Treatment Plant. This resolution authorizes the Public Works Utility Division to retain Schindler Elevator Corporation and the purchasing purchasing agent to issue a purchase order for the work in the amount of eight thousand three hundred ninety two dollars and thirty eight cents and I urge adoption. Thank you, Alderman. Any discussion on this item? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. Alderman McNamara for item number six. Thank you, Your Honor. A motion to accept and adopt number six. Second. Second by Alderman Simpson. This is expenditure 17,449 dollars and 37 cents to repair a circulation pump and filter piping updates. While I at one time wanted to be a plumber, it goes into great detail on the work to be done in the resolution. I have no questions on it and I urge adoption. Thank you Alderman. Any discussion on this item? Alderman Dallin. Yes, I have a couple of questions. Okay. Okay, you may proceed. I was reading it. Of course, I don't understand everything. I find it interesting though that it's mentioned here that we are reusing older parts. Are we confident that those older parts are going to hold up? Yes. The pump that's going to be reused is going to be rebuilt. There's been a long ongoing problem here with the pump failing, the pool going down. It had to do with just the original reuse of the filter plant from the old pool to the new pool. It's oversized for it. I did have an expert, two experts with me looking at this. And they're quite confident that we need to throttle back the water pressure on it to maintain the pressure in the pump so that it stops failing. It's basically cavitating the water, and it's chopping up the impeller, and it falls apart. Okay. So is this work guaranteed somehow for us? Yes. Okay. And if I can ask this, I'm deviating a little bit from – from Stanley Quarter to Willowbrook. We're having a problem with the Willowbrook pump too, aren't we? I know there was a question in the CBDG, someone was asking for money to help the pump over there. Yeah, that one's pretty old and it's looking for a major upgrade over there for the filtration plant as well. So would our money be better spent fixing that? The money to spend on A.W. Poole right now would be required just so that we could make it through the season without it going down. There's a longer term plan being worked on for Willowbrook pool. Okay so this is just going to get us through one season. Well hopefully it's going to get us through many seasons. This repair at A.W. Poole right now. Well because you did say there was a guarantee in the works. Correct. Okay thank you. Alderman Santiago. So this goes into my profession, this is what I do. And I did take the walk through and what the requirements were and the need for the parts to kind of, what happened was the flow of water from the filtration system they have is causing more pressure onto the pump. And so what happens is it's breaking down the pump. So what they're doing is they're just, releasing some of the flow of the water too so that it doesn't cause more strain to the pump. So which would allow the pump to last a lot longer than basically every two years or so to replace an impeller or things like that. So this is basically we're saving money by doing what we're doing now. Because I think I'm not correct, every year we're putting thousands and thousands of dollars. Yeah, it's my understanding that a pool usually doesn't make a full season on an impeller. gentleman I talked to deals with a lot of commercial pools that runs this same pump and they get four or five full seasons running 365 days a year out of their pumps because it's put together properly. Any other questions? Alderman Smedley. Sorry, thank you. Was the work for this pump repair publicly bid? It was gone through the contractor that we've been using for the last three years. Okay, so was the work for this project publicly bid? No. Okay, this exceeds our spending threshold without a public bid. I'm sorry. Again, I'm just asking, but I know that we have, Public Works does have a threshold, like as I recall, $50,000 does go without being bid. Correct, that's for the, oh, I'm sorry. I'm not sure what this was. This was just asked. That's for the on-call list of contractors who are approved, so I guess my follow-up question would be then, is CT Custom Aquatics on the on-call list? They're on our approved vendor list, and we're looking to make them our sole source provider. So are they on the on-call bid list? The city has two separate purchasing situations. One, there's a bid threshold of up to $7,500. If anything's over that, it needs to be publicly bid. The second would be if the contractor is on the on-call engineering list, which is an approved list of vendors that was voted on by this council for up to $35,000 worth of funding. 37.5. 37.5, correct. So does anyone know, are they on the on-call list? Point of information? Were these funds in a DPW account previously authorized, do you know? I know Mr. Moriarty is here. Yes, it was in a previously funded fund. Thank you. Under procurement standards, it doesn't matter if the funds are there and approved. It's the process of hiring the contractor. So there's no quid pro quo. So I would motion to table this until we can determine whether or not the contractor is on the on-call list. If there's a motion to table. I second. Seconded by Alderwoman DeLegna. All those in favor say aye. Opposed nay. Motion carries to table item number six. Okay, Alderwoman Luna for item number seven. Thank you, Your Honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number seven. Second. Second by Alderman Barrero. This is regarding public bid number 4223 for the Recreation and Community Services Department and it's to enter into a contract and issue a purchase order for First Student Inc. of New Britain, Connecticut. for the 2026 summer bus transportation for the Recreation and Community Service Department at a daily rate of $252.50 per bus and $72 per hour for any additional buses needed per the terms and specifications of this bid and I urge adoption. Thank you all the women. Any discussion on this item? All the women in the learning. Okay, is someone from Park and Rec here? Mallory? Yes. Good evening, Mallory. Through you, Mayor. Hi, Mallory. Hi, good evening. There's no info here on how many buses or how many days in use. Yeah, so it's five days a week for seven weeks for the summer camp. Okay. Minus a four day week for the week of 4th of July. So quick math is 34 days. Okay. Okay. And it is six, six routes per camp. So 12 routes altogether, four buses for AW, four buses for Willowbrook. And they, each bus does two trips. So there's six stops at each. So eight, eight buses. Eight buses total. Okay. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions for Mallory? Seeing none. Thank you Mallory. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. Alderman Alderwoman Luna for item number 8. Thank you Your Honor. I would like to make a motion to accept and adopt item number 8. Second by Alderman Santiago. This is a another public bid for the Recreation and Community Service Department and it is to grant Queen Ice Queen Ice Cream of New Britain Connecticut the concession rights for Chesley Park Martha Hart Park Asgood Park Washington Park Willow Street Park Walnut Hill Park and Willow Brook Park and to grant Two Brothers Ice Cream LLC out of Waterbury Connecticut the concession rights for A.W. Stanley Park the Stanley Quarter Park in accordance with the payment terms and specification of this bid and I urge adoption. Thank you all the women. Any discussion on this item. Seeing none all those in favor say aye. Oh Alderman Smedley. Thank you. Does anybody have a copy of the bid responses because they weren't attached to the agenda. I'm sorry. Okay. Okay Mallory can you email it. Okay. Any other questions. Okay. So all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. Alderman Borrero for item number nine. Thank you your honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt resolution number nine. Second. Second by Alderman Ortiz Luna. This resolution is in accordance to the city code ordinance chapter two article eight division four section two dash five three one. The purchase order requests support services information technology division conjunction with the city of the city health department of annual subscription of ten thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars. just to give you guys some information. They pretty much take care of documents, manage cases across the program such as immunization, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, and communicable diseases, et cetera. The purchasing agent is hereby authorized to issue a purchase of $10,860.60 to Patagonia Health Inc. of Atlanta for one year service. I urge an I urge adoption. Thank you Alderman. Any discussion on this item. Alderman Smedley. Thank you. Is there a term for our contract with this software company. Does anybody know Mr. W maybe. John. Hi John. Hello Mayor. Council through you Mayor. So this is. This is a yearly subscription. Everything's typically now a subscription as a service fee. So this would be for one year starting, I believe, in May. Caleb Cowles is here. He's on vacation, so I'm speaking on behalf of that. I do have a whole page and a half if you would like me to read about it. I'm familiar with the fact that we've had it for quite many years since 2017, as noted in the resolution. But I just wondered if there was a contract that allows us to just renew it, usually. When you have a subscription service, there's a contract for three years, and we might go to bid for another service, because it is quite a pretty penny. No existing contract, it's just a subscription of the service, we're on a yearly basis for this. Interesting. Okay, thank you. Alderman DeLern here. Yes, thank you, through you, Mayor. I don't know if you can actually answer this for me. I guess we're required to have this through the health department? WITH THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT? YES, I KNOW IT'S REQUIRED THROUGH THE, YES. I WAS JUST WONDERING IF WE'RE DUPLICATING SERVICES WITH SOMETHING THAT THE STATE OFFERS AS WELL. AND I REALIZE THAT MIGHT BE A QUESTION FOR CALEB. YES, EXACTLY. WOULD YOU HAVE INFORMATION ON HOW MANY STAFF ACTUALLY ACCESS THIS AND USE IT? IT WOULD BE THE ENTIRE DEPARTMENT OF THE BUILDING HEALTH DEPARTMENT. I can read his original submission for resolution. I told him he had to downgrade it a little bit. No, that's not necessary. Thank you. No problem. Thank you Alderwoman. Anybody else? Discussion? Alderwoman Scott. I just want to say it may be quite a pretty penny but it's much needed for wellness. It's a health You know so I just wanted to make that statement. Thank you. Thank you for coming out. Thank you Alderman. Alderman Smiley for the second time. Thank you. I do agree it's well needed. However it may be an illegal contract renewal without publicly bidding it. Any other questions. Seeing none. How we're presenting this to the council is the sole source resolution sole source product just the. That's what makes us compliant with the... Alderman McNamara. Yeah, that was my question. Certain items are sole source items, and this is a specialized subscription. I think directing it to Caleb at the appropriate time would be good, but there are sole source items that... preclude the normal bidding process, $7,500 and up. Alderman Smith. Thank you. I'll just remind the council that sole source purchasing requires very distinct, or has very distinct guidelines in its procedure. And I'm just questioning the validity of a contract that's just being renewed here without it saying it's sole source or that it was publicly bid. Thank you, Alderman. Alderman Simpson. Through you your honor. Alderman Smedley can you walk us through those specifications. I don't have the exact wording but it is listed in our city ordinances and our purchasing agent is familiar with that as well. I do recognize that this is a needed necessity in the city but I'm just worried about the administrative side of how we're renewing and why we're renewing with the same company all the time. Do you have like. chartered number, ordinance, reference? If you search a muni code for purchasing procedures or procurement, it's easily findable. Okay. Your Honor, may I ask for a recess so we can just check these out? A recess? Just a couple minutes. Okay. Is there a second? Okay. Second by Alderman Barbosa. So we'll go into recess. All those in favor for a recess, say aye. All those opposed nay. We'll go into recess. This is about to be my bed in a minute. Council, can you take your seats, please? Okay I'll call the council back to order. It is now 9.49 p.m. And we are still on item number nine. Alderman Simpson. Thank you your honor. Just based on our findings I would like to rise to make a motion to actually table this item. There's just a section here that says something needs to be in writing and I just haven't seen that writing. That's really the source of this. That's according to our ordinances here. Is there a second to table? Second. Second by Alderman Smedley. All those in favor to table item number nine say aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. No. So, one no. Item nine gets tabled. Alderman Barbosa for item number ten. Copy of contract as well. Motion to table item number 10. Second by. Point of order Your Honor. Does the motion have to be made before it can be tabled. Yes. Yes. Did I make the motion. No you have to make a motion to accept the resolution and then you. Oh yeah and I make a motion to accept and. No. To accept resolution number 10. Second by Alderman Luna Ortiz. Your Honor before you make the table let's get the information for it first before we do that. So could we ask about. Yes. This is a resolution THAT AUTHORIZES THE USE OF BEACH PARTY BALLOONS PAINTED YOU AS THE SOLE SOURCE VENDOR FOR THE KIDS ZONE AND RELATED ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES. OKAY. AT THE CELEBRATE NEW BRITAIN FESTIVAL IN THE AMOUNT OF $14,570, FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN THE CELEBRATE NEW BRITAIN EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT NUMBER 001417001-5901. I URGE ADOPTION. Any discussion on item number 10. Okay. All those in favor on item number 10 say aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. Sir Mayor. Point of order. The motion was to accept. Do we need to change the motion to accept and adopt. It was just to accept and adopt. The initial was to accept and adopt. I heard motion to accept and then you said let's discuss the information so. No she said resolution number 10 because I correct. Except resolution 10 we didn't use the word adopt therefore it is not adopted. There can be no action if it's not adopted. Director Harris I make a motion to accept and adopt resolution number 10. Second. Second by Alderman Santiago. Any discussion. Seeing none all those in favor say aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. Alderman Malinowski for item number 11. Just before without making this more confusing. To me it sounded like we just accepted and adapted the resolution with no motion to table. No table. She wasn't tabling it. Did it? I was a sole vote against it. To accept and adapt. Is there a way we can rewind or something? There was no motion. She initially was going to table but then she made the motion and then they decided not to table it. So they made a motion to accept and it was voted on and Alderman Smedley raised an issue. So it was remade as a motion to accept and adopt and that has been approved. Okay. So that last resolution just went through with no table. Okay. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number 11. Second by Alderman Smedley. And this is a motion that honors the life and service of Alden Russell. The City of New Britain remembers Alderman Alden Russell who served from 2021 to 2025, a devoted public servant, advocate, and friend whose energy, passion, and care touch every corner of our community. Alden worked tirelessly for those who needed a voice by supporting the recovery community, people experiencing homelessness, and individuals with special needs as well as the families who support them. He always showed up for the community attending events engaging in discussions asking questions making sure no concern was overlooked. Alden was a proud and active parent to his daughter Courtney and his son Xander sharing that role alongside his wife Julie supporting students and families in the Consolidated School District in Britain including programs like New Britain High School Golden Hurricanes Marching Band and the NBHS Parents Music Association. always modeling the kind of engagement and commitment we hope to see in every parent. Alden's warmth, humor, and steadfast dedication made him a trusted friend, a fierce advocate, and a guiding presence for all who knew him. His legacy will live on through those who loved and those whose lives were touched by his work and his heart. And recognizing that Alden loved what he was doing and remained dedicated to his community to the very end, we extend our deepest condolences to Julie, Xander, and Courtney and his family and celebrate a life well lived with courage compassion and purpose. Now for now therefore be it resolved that the City of New Britain honors Alden Russell for his service his integrity and his unwavering commitment to the people of New Britain and I urge adoption. Thank you Alderman. Any discussion. Alderman Smedley. Thank you Your Honor. I rise to obviously respect Alderman Alden Russell as a. a giant in our city. Alden could approach anybody, any group of people. Alden would often visit the homeless encampments. He would visit with people in Central Park. He would visit our city businesses. He would visit our schools. Alden was a true, true great person. and will forever be remembered by this council and by this city and our caucus and I'm sure all the rest of you also offer our condolences to Julie and his family as they continue on with their grieving process. So thank you for allowing us to recognize Alderman this evening. Thank you Alderman. Any other. Seeing none all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed name. Motion carries. Alderman Scott for item number 12. Thank you Your Honor. I rise to accept and adopt item number 12. Second by Alderman Ortiz Luna. So this is for Sexual Assault Awareness Month for April. And I just want to say peace and love. Sexual Assault Awareness Month calls attention to the fact of sexual violence impacts every person in the city of New Britain. Rape sexual assault and sexual harassment harm our community. Statistics show one in five women and one in six seven men will be raped at some point in their lives. And I just want to say that the men's statistic is usually not as high because we don't get they don't get reported as much. Child sexual abuse prevention must be a priority confronted the reality of six boys and one out of four girls will experience sexual assault. Young people experience heightened rates of sexual violence and youth ages 12 to 17 were two and a half times more likely to be victims of rape sexual assault. Our online communities have been increasingly increasing this important problem of abuse and online harassment cyberbullying exploitation and we need to be making sure that we have consent intervening when harmful things are happening promoting healthy communities respect inclusive and safety of sexual assault occurring. And it's it's also child abuse prevention month And as we're working towards trying to help with our mental health here in the city with it being the mental health year the city of New Britain encourages all residents community leaders organizations to practice in efforts to protect every resident who lives in the city of New Britain education advocacy and community engagement. And I wanted to point out we forgot to mention there is a walk at CCSU next week on the 29th and I would just like to urge adoption to this important topic. DIRECTOR HERSEY- Thank you all the women. Any discussion on this item seeing none. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. Alderwoman DeLernia for item number 13. Mayor, I had asked that item number 13 be pulled from the agenda. Cisco approved that. Alderman Santiago. I didn't approve it because it was actually already under the agenda. So we would have had to amend it, which again was an approved amendment. No. You never said that to me. You said there was no need for an amendment. You had approved to pull it. I did not say that. You did. I did not say that. I did not say they needed to be amended because I never answered the question. You answered, you agreed to pull this. There's no reason to have this on the agenda. Yes. Your Honor, you have to. Your Honor, point of order. Don't we have to accept the motion, accept and adopt it, and then we can enter discussion? And then discuss it. Okay. I'll make a motion to accept and adopt number 13. Is there a second? Second. Second. Second by Alderman Smedley. Now again I had asked that this be pulled. Siskel did agree. I think others may have heard that as well. Alderman Luna. Thank you your honor through you. I want to I want to make a motion for a strike all amendment and to replace to replace with the language provided. Second by Alderman Barbolson. Your Honor. Alderman Smedley. What language provided. We don't have anything on our desk. There was no amendment to the agenda. I motion the table. The clerk has the amendment. Motion to table. Second. There is a motion to table and there was a second. I'm sorry just point of order your honor. This is on a motion to strike all and replace the substitution not the. Not the item yeah. I'll withdraw my motion at the table until we vote on that. Until we vote on this. Okay. Alderman Luna, do you want to? We have a second. So we're in discussion. We had a second to it. Give everyone a little moment to read it. through you Your Honor. So the amendment was done just because I mean it's been more than 60 days that the vacancy in Ward 2 has Elderman position has been vacant and we need representation in that ward. So that's the reason why we decided to amend it to put an elder person in that ward that can represent Ward 2. Thank you, all the women. All the men, Malinowski. Thank you, Your Honor. Through you, if I could ask Corporation Counsel, how does, I'm assuming that this person does not intend to caucus with the Republican caucus. Does that affect minority representation on the council? Microphone, please. Eventually, you know, I figure it out. So in regards to the, and Alderman Smedley got our response. Actually, he emailed our office and got the response in regards to that, but I'll repeat it just for everyone's purpose. That question was asked to the Corporation Counsel earlier, and the chart is very clear that it has to be, number one, the same party unaffiliated in this particular case as Jarrell. And it has to be from the same award. which this complies with. But the charter is silent as to who that person caucuses with. So there's no mandate that that person caucus with either the Rudd caucus or the Democratic caucus. Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you, Mr. Corporation Counsel. One more question, too. For the purposes of the election, Jarrell was nominated by the Republican Party. So for the purposes of the election, he was elected as a Republican. Does that have any effect on this decision? Mr. I would ask corporate counsel, though. Mr. I mean, I'm technically still a Democrat, but nobody thinks that, so. Mr. The Rudd Caucus itself is not Republican. It's a mix of Democrats, independents, unaffiliated, and Republican. So that statement is incorrect. He ran with the Republicans. but he's still unaffiliated. And to fulfill the obligation of the charter, you have to find someone who's unaffiliated in the same district, and that's what's being done here today. Okay. And just a closing remark. You guys already have a super majority. You need to take one more seat from us. Thank you very much. All the women, Scott. Oh, all the women, Delania. You know, I object to this. You're circumventing... the vote, the voters who elected to the minority party. You know, this is, you're pulling a fast one here that's I think going to be obvious to many people that are watching this. Vacancies shouldn't be filled by, shouldn't fill the vacancy to balance the power, which is what you're doing right now. And how is this person going to caucus with us? Is that a question? When somebody answered that. Corporate counsel. Alderwoman, as I stated earlier, there's no requirement for any elected official to caucus with any party. There's no requirement whatsoever in the charter. That person can choose to caucus with the Rudd caucus, if that's what you're calling it, or they can choose to caucus with the Democrats, or they can choose not to do either. There is no requirement in the charter to make someone caucus with anyone. You may want to stay there. But let's see this as it is. It's a political move. The majority party is circumventing what the voters chose during the past election. They're putting in the person who they want. All I can tell you, Alderman, is this complies with the charter. 100%. Alderman McNamara. I can recall long before I was on the council, the precedent for this was the election of Representative Sanchez to the state legislature and there was a vacancy. And the majority party at the time conducted interviews, solicited applications, and per the charter, the person had to be a Democrat. And there was a view in the minority caucus, the Democrats at that time, had chosen another individual, and that was that was circumvented at the time, just to make the point that the charter is silent on what, who filled the vacancy, what caucus they choose to, or is the Corporation Council, it could be Angus King from Maine, neither party. That's correct. Thank you. All the women Barbosa. Oh well can't Scott was first. Go on go on. DIRECTOR RIVERA- You know with all respect there may be differing views on this appointment and that's what this is all about. But at the end of the day it's been 60 days. You haven't come up with a candidate. Ward 2 is down a person and we have someone who meets other qualifications that are required. We need to move forward. New Britain needs us. And this is just another obstacle that's keeping us from moving forward. So I'm in favor of this resolution. Thank you all the women. All the women. Scott. I just want to say peace and love because it seems like there's a lot of tension right now. I just. We're still grieving the loss of our colleague and we just shouldn't wait. Our constituents don't deserve to wait. We just we can't wait we need to fill this seat. We've taken long enough and we have a candidate and it doesn't matter like who he caucuses with. He's an independent and he's replacing an independent. And that's all that matters it's not a political gain it's serving our community. The seat needs to be filled and we need to move a little bit faster and I can recall a time when there was a replacement and there was a political gain back when Manny Sanchez went to the state level That was a political gain but I don't see this as one because we have a candidate and you're not presenting us with one. So you're trying to take back this resolution. But we need to move forward with this resolution tonight. So thank you and peace and love. Everybody stay calm. Your Honor. Alderman Santiago. I move the question. Question has been moved. Second. Second. Second by Alderwoman Barbosa. And we vote. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, nay. No. Party in line. Party in line. Motion carries. Mayor, you just have to vote on the underlying motion now. The motion to amend first. Correct. Okay, now we will vote on the amendment. The item number 13 as amended, is there? Your Honor, motion for a short recess before the final vote. Okay, we'll give you a couple minutes. Thank you. Recess at 10-12 p.m. Council members, back to your seats. I'm calling the meeting back to order at 10.15 p.m. Mr. Mayor. Alderman Smedley. Thank you. Just two quick things. First, I find it incredibly disingenuous that your party would make this non-transparent move. The public still doesn't even know the name of the person, first of all. We lost Alderman Hargraves and then our team, thanks for the compassion, lost a second member of our team. So yes, it has taken us a little bit longer than the 60 days provided by the charter. But the charter also says that the process can start over in another 60 days, which we're in. Secondly, I'd like to ask- Mayor, point of order. I believe that the question was moved and thus- No, the amendment was moved, sir. Right. Correct, we're now at the- But you have to vote on the, excuse me, Alderman. With all due respect, you have to vote on the amendment in order to have any further discussion in regards to the motion. We didn't vote on the amendment? I believe we did. We did. No, we didn't. No, we did not. He asked for recess. You moved to end, you moved to move, motion to move the question and that was voted on. And then I don't recall a vote on the amendment. I apologize. I said you had to vote on the amendment and then there was a request for a recess. That's correct. Right. So you didn't vote. So you move to the question. No. No. Move the question. Move the question and the discussion with respect to the amendment. So you have to vote on the amendment and then you're going to have your back to the motion as amended. And that's what Attorney Rivera was saying. Then you can have discussion. I agree. You're correct. Okay. So we will vote. on number on item number 13 on the amendment. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. Nay. Motion carries. Now on the item number 13 as amended. Your honor. Councilman Smith. Thank you. My previous comments stand. I'm not going to repeat them. Through you sir to corporation counsel. with a question related to the state statutes and how they, I guess, behave with our city charter. So, in your knowledge, could there be a state statute that supersedes the city charter or our ordinances? Well, not that I'm aware of, number one. And number two, the charter wouldn't be in existence as it is presently if it violated any state statute. Okay, so I'm specifically questioning State Statute 9-167, specifically the last sentence, which states, any person whose candidacy for election to an office is solely as the candidate of a party shall be deemed to be a member of the party of which such person is a candidate. I'm going to repeat to you, that's the same question you asked in your email, and I'm going to repeat to you the same thing, and that is this particular resolution, as amended, complies with our charter thus complies with state statute? That was not the question in my email. The question in my email was specifically related to the actual party affiliation of the person we wanted to appoint. However, I believe our interpretation of this state statute is that this would govern how the minority party representation would be followed through within that the other person would have to then caucus with us and couldn't caucus with the other party. I understand your question, but that's not correct. I don't agree with that assessment. Thank you. Thank you. Alderman McNamara. I'd like to speak to the resolution that I believe is on the table now that nominates Colin Osborne, a Green Street resident, an unaffiliated voter who has experience on the council previously from Ward 2. And I think he can well serve the residents of Ward 2, no matter which caucus he chooses to join or whether he chooses to be an independent voice on the council. And I would support this because of the reasons cited, given the season we're in, in terms of we need a full team on board to do the city's business. Thank you. Thank you, Alderman. Your Honor. Alderman Santiago. Call the question. The question has been called. Is there a second? Second. Second by Alderman Santiago. So now we will vote on the resolution as amended. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. No. Motion carries by party line. Your Honor, I just have to vote no on this. I'm unsure about the state laws here. That's all right. I'm sorry. Yes, nothing against the man. He's fine. Okay, so may I have, oh, we swear. The clerk's here? The clerk's here. Do we, we can swear them in? Okay. Mr. Osborne? Madam Clerk. Your Honor just a point of order again. Things are moving quickly. I believe there was a motion to call the question again and you voted on that. Did you vote on the motion as amended. Yeah we did vote on. They took two votes. Okay. I'm sorry. I heard a motion to move the question and a second and a vote on that. I did not hear. vote on the. So so we have to vote on the number 13 as amended. That is correct. Well the original motion you amended it. Now you have to make a final vote on the motion as amended. As amended. Okay. We'll go back to it. So back to item number 13. All those in favor as amended item number 13 say aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries by party line. So now we can bring Mr. Osborne up. Please raise your right hand. Out of order. We're out of order over here. Do you, Colin Osborne, having been appointed to the Office of Ward Alderpersons for the City of New Britain, solemnly swear that you will faithfully and honestly perform the duties of the Office of Ward Alderpersons for the city of New Britain to the best of your judgment and skill, so help you God. I do. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. Motion to adjourn. Second. Second by Alderman Ortiz Luna. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. The meeting is adjourned at 10.23 p.m.