Welcome to the regular meeting of the Common Council for December 10th, 2025. It's 7 p.m. And as always, we begin with public participation. I wanted everybody, on this day in 1948, the United Nations declared the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So it's an important day in terms of the times we're living in. The speakers have three minutes. You state your name and address for the record. I'm going to read from the list. If anybody's calling remotely, they'll also be recognized. And so we'll begin. First name is Aram Ayalon, former alderman. Good evening, everybody. I'm happy to see you all. I usually would sit right there to listen to the public participation. I put in for each one of you the resolution we had from 2019. And so on October 2019, the city council passed unanimously with five Democrats and two Republicans co-sponsoring the first ever climate change emergency declaration among Connecticut municipalities. We're number, we're the first. The declaration was written based on a hearing that we held prior to the meeting with experts from UConn, from Trinity College, from Connecticut Institute of Resilience and Climate Adaptation, from the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, the Connecticut Green Bank, and the Blue Earth Compost. And some of you were there. Some of you were there and voted for it. The reason why I'm bringing up this is because the New Britain residents are suffering from increasing extreme weather events, causing increased flooding, like the Allen Street Basin. We have long, hot summers that are requiring ever increasing utility costs. for air conditioning, increasing air pollution, resulting in more health issues compounding by the increasing health costs. Furthermore, New Britain's own development has left the city more vulnerable to floods and heat. If you can remember, Costco had a beautiful huge trees before they got cut down. The public work center near DeLoreto took off some more available place for water. Artificial turf in sports fields, reduced permeable surfaces, and so on. In addition, the city have been losing a lot of its trees and not being replaced. Another reason why I'm bringing this declaration today is that the Trump administration is scaling back all the US commitment to combat climate change. So now, ever before, it's up to us for the city and for the states to make up for what the federal administration is not doing. So this 2019 declaration, I think it'd be a good start, a blueprint for the new mayor, and for the city council to go about. Here are some highlights from that declaration. You can read it on your own. Number one is establish a task force. A joint task force should have the department in there, the city council representative, city commissioners. If you may, Chairman, if I finish just this for quickly. So to come with a plan. take steps to reduce carbon pollution by starting with the fleet. Today you are voting for 10 vehicles that are gas eaters. And I know some of you who know me, I always raise it up. It's time to find hybrids and electric. Creating a municipal composting program and so on. I will be willing to participate in any task force and make my contribution. Thank you very much. Thank you, Aram. Mr. Ayalon. Next person on the list. Actually, I have something that says Hartford County Audit. Is there somebody who answers to that? Okay. Name and address for the record, sir. My name is Jonathan Figueroa. I live at 40 Chestnut Street, New Bern, Connecticut. Good evening, Mayor Sanchez, members of the council, members of the public. Everyone knows me as Hartford County Audit. YouTube activist, independent journalist, and advocate. And I'm a New Britain resident. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I'm here to raise three concerns I believe directly impact public trust, civil rights, and accountability in our city. First, police civil rights training and accountability. I have personally witnessed and many residents have experienced interactions where constitutionally protected activity such as asking questions in public buildings, filing FOIA requests, or conducting lawful business is treated as suspicious or disruptive. This is deeply concerning. Respectfully, I want to ask what concrete steps in the city taken to ensure New Britain police officers receiving ongoing training on civil rights, First Amendment order activity, and de-escalation in public spaces? I also want to raise concerns about internal affairs investigations being handled entirely within the same department. Even when officers act in good faith, internal only investigations can undermine public confidence. Independent or external oversight options should be considered to strengthen transparency and trust. Second, a follow up on public safety enforcement. I previously raised concerns regarding puff and go smoke shop and the alleged illegal distribution of marijuana. I provided video evidence and asked that the matter be reviewed. I am here tonight to respectfully ask for an update on the status of that investigation and what enforcement steps if any are being taken to protect public health and ensure compliance with state law. Third. A specific incident involving civil rights in the public library. A resident, go by the name of Jose Cruz, was trespassed and arrested from a public library while engaging in a lawful activity, including submitting a FOIA request. I was firsthand a witness. I did not observe harassment, threats, or disorderly conduct. I also possess video evidence and statements from on-site security supporting that conclusion. To date, I have not been contacted by officers to provide my witness statement or evidence. I respectfully ask white witnesses and available video evidence have not been reviewed and what steps are being taken to ensure a fair and complete investigation. Just a little bit more time, please, if I may. OK. My goal tonight is not to attack anyone, but to advocate for policies that protect civil rights, promote accountability, and restore trust between the community and law enforcement. I appreciate Mayor Sanchez's recent comments regarding the information of a Blue Ribbon Task Force and hope these concerns will be meaningfully addressed as part of that process. Thank you for your time and for allowing me to speak. THANK YOU, SIR. THANK YOU. MY NEXT SPEAKER IS KELLY KNAUS. HELLO, HOW ARE YOU DOING? MY NAME IS KELLY KNAUS. YOU GUYS KNOW ME VERY WELL. STATE YOUR ADDRESS, KELLY, JUST FOR THE RECORD. 29 CEDAR STREET. I'M CALLING YOU IN REGARDS OF A POLICE REPORT THAT I'M ALSO A major issue with it because, you know, my head was cracked open feeding a breakfast at 8 o'clock in the morning with 60 people witnessing it and my priest and all my vestry members, okay? So I have 60 witnesses that watched me get my head cracked open and almost get killed. So I have six friends that did a police report in front of me and handed it to the police department. During my assault, I was repeated slamming against the concrete surface, giving me traumatic brain injury. Due to the severity of this injury, I was medically put on social security. Since this date of my assault, I have repeated and lawfully attempted to obtain the official police report and investigation documents and related records regarding this incident. Despite my rights under Connecticut law, I have been considerably denied access and ignored and otherwise obstructed by the official of the New Britain Police Department. These records are essential for me to pursue a civil right action concerning handling and investigating a potential suspicious matter. I'm sorry, I can't read good because of my brain injury. Refusal to release these public document records raise concern that potential or eternal consideration may exist that have shielded my investigation to individuals responsible or otherwise preventing proper disclosure of my police report. I dressed up in Santa Claus and I went to the police department with all my witnesses and I don't have any of those witnesses on any police report. My police report says that I refuse to give a statement So therefore, I have six witnesses that I brought to the police department. And I was kicked out. And I was kicked out. And you lied to Santa Claus. You're going to get coal in your stock and all you guys. All of yous, okay? God bless you. Love you all. Thank you, sir. Next speaker I have is Venancio Amparo. Did I say that correctly? Yes. Thank you. Good evening. Name and address for the record. The floor is yours. Yes, my name is Venancio Amparo, as I just said. and I live in 465 Meadow Street. The address I put over there is a little convenience store that my wife has. I say my wife because I'm the one who opened the store, but I had a brain aneurysm, and I end up that I cannot work like that anymore. So here's what happened. The reason I'm here tonight is because I've been followed by the city in a bad way because at 430 West Main Street at A&B Mini Market, that little store, I opened it seven years ago, and it passed to my wife because I'm not allowed to work anymore like that. But I still go to the store. since I've been walking, because I was not able to walk before, and talk. Now I can try. So I've been going to help my wife. Whenever she want to buy something, she don't drive, so I go with her. And I've been getting tickets just to bring something in the store. So I don't understand how the city gave a permission to have a business, and you're not allowed to bring your stuff to the business. That's the matter I have. Today, as a matter of fact, I came to pay a ticket. Not to pay it. I came to a hearing on the third floor. And the guy who take care of me over there did something that is not right. By the way, do you guys understand what I'm talking right now? Because my English maybe is not good. It's fine, sir. You can see my facial, everything. You can tell that I'm Spanish. And he says to me at the end, oh, if you have any complaint, go down to the second floor today, tonight, because there's a hearing where you can come and bring whatever you want to bring. You know why he said that to me? Because he says they speak Hispanic. Hispanic. It means that he's racist. And I don't understand how the city has someone working with people. Over here we got black, Hispanic, Polish, all kinds of race. How are you going to be racist? That's not right. That's the only thing I can say. And the other, oh well, about the store. If the city doesn't want, if the city don't want that store there, The only thing they got to do is pay what we pay for the store and get us out of here. Because before, I'm sorry, can I get like 30 seconds more? Before I had a store in Derby, Connecticut, in Sonia, Meriden, and I never was treated the way I've been treated in New Britain. And there's a guy over here. He used to work downstairs with the mayor. And he can tell you guys how many times I come over there because it was not even a parking. They gave me. You can wrap it up now. Yeah. Okay. We get your, you made it very clear. Yes. So, you know, if the city, like I say, I don't know, but if the city doesn't want us over here, just pay whatever we pay for the store. Get us out of here. We go somewhere where they can love us. I got a lot for everybody because there's a guy who made me walk and talk. His name is Jesus Christ. So excuse my language if I'm going too high, but I feel very upset when you bring city. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. We still have public participation. And let's hear from the next speaker, who is Lynette Macaruso. Hi I'm Lynette Macaruso and I live at 45 Park Place in New Britain and I just want to give my endorsement to a declaration or something like this declaration about climate change and the need I think to get people excited about it here in New Britain every man woman and child could really give a hand to having cleaner air, cleaner water, cleaner soil, and feeling like they're part of a mission to make New Britain cleaner and greener. I've been saying that for a long time. I think this first statement, the first whereas out of the 11 whereases is whereas on November 23rd, 2018, the federal government issued a climate study detailing the massive threat that climate change poses to the American economy and underscoring the need for immediate climate emergency action at all levels of government. Well, that just went poof, right? Because our federal leaders now think climate change is not even a word that you can utter. And meanwhile, over these past seven years, pollution has only increased. It's increased everywhere, but it's increased in New Britain. And I think It's time to face reality that the federal government isn't going to help us anymore and take it on ourselves. I think these hard hitting problems with pollution can best be dealt with by hard hitting New Britain people. And by that I mean I think we need to conduct our own study. And there might have been you might have knowledge you people on the council and on commissions you might have knowledge of prior air quality studies that have been done. And I seem to have heard, and this could only be, you know, a rumor, that the air quality in New Britain does contribute to higher rates of asthma among children. We need to find that study and look at it. But first of all, we have to get agreement from a group of people that represent every sector of New Britain. And the K-12 curricula needs to be updated to include what you as a young citizen can do to help reduce pollution. And with this air quality study I'm just thinking tell people you're going to do it and get them excited about it. Use TikTok use Facebook get the word out. New Britain is going to tackle its its environmental problems and make it better and you can help and then get started with that. But I agree with Aram that it's an all hands on deck possibility. It can be very exciting. It can be very positive. And we'll all learn about science and we'll all breathe a little easier and a little cleaner. Thank you for listening to me. Thank you Ms. Margaruso. Next speaker I have is Alberto Duarte. Good evening. My name is Alberto Duarte and I live at 119 Willow Street, New Britain, Connecticut. The reason why I'm here is I had a young woman, Mallory, from Parks and Rec a couple months ago that had asked me how can we keep the Willow Street Park safer. Now I handed out my proposal, hopefully to everybody on the panel. So I'm going to start. Number one, gotta keep safety in mind when designing the park. Two, lay out the ability to make visitors more comfortable to navigate. The park is a major factor contributing to visitors feeling safe. Consider adding easy, recognizable landmarks or reference points to help people find their way. Number three, here's the key takeaway, vandalism and loitering after hours. To avoid that, You need to increase public visibility in the park. It can discourage vandals, as can creating a city park that welcomes families or another strategy is to educate your community about the consequences of vandalism. Number four, install good lighting in the park facilities like the playgrounds and restrooms. You should also have motion-triggered light sensors in some areas. Perform regular inspections, and I put self-explanatory. Six, keep things clean. Seven, put up clear signage that promotes easy navigation for visitors and improves city park safety. Signage displays the rules of the park. Number eight, consider a surveillance such as AI recognition. It senses behavior and nervousness in real time. 9. Install emergency buttons like they have in colleges. 10. Have a security service patrol the park for illegal activity and to notify the Britain Police Department of illegal activity. 11. This is my dream all these years. Erect a building for family activities like movie nights, and other recreations and have rules implemented. 12, to start that, we need an LLC to get different sponsors in our community to get involved. 13, do fundraisers. 14, also have community meetings. So what I'm thinking is, like right where the HRA building is, I would like to have a rec center over there for everybody in the neighborhood because summertime people are afraid to go down to the park for various reasons. So thank you very much and I hope this gets passed. Thank you Mr. Duarte. It's all the names I have on the list but let me make a call for anybody in the audience who wishes to speak to the council. Anybody wishing to speak. Anybody else? None in the audience. Is anybody calling in? No calls. That concludes the public participation. At this time, we give all the persons an opportunity to briefly remark on what they've heard from the public. Alderwoman Scott. Hi everybody. Peace and love. Thanks so much for you guys for coming out. I like seeing all the happy faces. So Figueroa I think was the first one. I I agree. We need to look in. Oh wait you weren't the first one sorry. Aram you're first. Aram thanks for coming out and thanks for sending us all that information. I appreciate it and I think that we should definitely sit down and look more into helping out our environment and I like the plan that you guys had back in 2019. I hope that we can all agree on looking into that. And because the flooding is a huge issue throughout the city and trees will help prevent flooding and trees also help our environment. So we really we need to replace our trees when they're getting old and and make sure that we're replanting them. so that we can help our environment. And so I hope that we'll look more into that resolution that was already, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We just get to go ahead and run with this and figure out. Thank you so much for coming out. You live in my word and I'm concerned about some of the things that you said. I am a huge human rights activist and to hear some of those things, especially when our alderman said earlier, ironically, that this is the anniversary of civil rights or something, right? So it's really sad with what's happening in this country today to hear some of those things. And I hope that we can sit down and talk and figure out what we can do to help you and support you and make everybody feel safe. And Kelly, thanks for coming. I hope that we can possibly figure out a way to help support you as well on your concerns. So somebody, the person after that on West Main Street. I didn't catch your name. Yeah, so I want to, I do want to sit down and talk with you as well because I'm really sorry that you're experiencing what you're experiencing. And I think you're saying that you have a business and I am a strong advocate for small businesses, especially multicultural businesses. So I don't want you going anywhere. And so I want to help support you and make you feel safe and make you be able to have help support you to make your business sustainable in this city because that's what we're supposed to be doing with small businesses. We're supposed to be helping and maintaining and keeping you here not telling you to go somewhere else. So I'm sorry that you feel that way right now but let's try to sit down and figure out how we can help support you. And who's after that. And so the businesses and then Lynette. Thank you so much for coming and hello and yes let's clean up and let's get our environment clean and yes there are studies because I'm a mental health provider there are studies that connect asthma with learning you know learning the environment affects everything mental health or physical health. So it's really important that we have a clean that we are helping to clean our keep our air cleaner our environment cleaner because our kids are not healthy when you know we want to raise healthy children in our neighborhoods. So let's let's work on that. And Alberto I want to thank you first of all because I see you out there doing community work out here like picking up the bottles doing different things like that. So thanks for doing all that and you see a lot that's happening in our neighborhood. And I know you gave me the list a couple of times and I know you did a lot of work on that. And so yes so I think we should. work on cleaning and we'll look over your list and hopefully we can connect with the N or Z on thinking to work on some of the things that you have there. So thanks so much for coming and I think I got everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other Alderman. Any other Alderman. Alderman. Alderman Smedley. Thank you, sir. I'll be brief. I just wanted to rise to provide some supplemental information to what Mr. Ilan spoke about this evening with the climate change. Just to give you guys some factual information, this past summer we planted 89 trees, 89 trees at Osgoode Park. The year before, we planted 30 trees throughout the east side area, and the year before that, 20 throughout the west side area through a grant program. And those are just free planting of trees in our parks and in different areas. In addition to that I want everyone to remember and consider that when we renovate a school building we do work to make it a leads building which means that it complies with most of the green energy rules and regulations for new construction which also requires that we reduce the impervious area on those properties. And for instance home school will include a brand new green real field not turf we don't do turf fields on our school renovation projects. But in addition to that, those school building projects also include new tree plantings throughout the campuses as well. In addition to that, green energy, we continue to put solar installations on all of our new buildings and look for ways to reduce our utility utilization. So we are continuing to meet the request of that climate change that we all unanimously voted for. And we still plant trees. Thank you. Thank you. Seeing no other Aldermen who wish to remark, This concludes the public participation part of the meeting at 7.31. Our regular meeting will begin shortly. Good evening. I call to order the December 10, 2025 regular meeting of the Common Council. The time is now 7.40 p.m. Mr. Clerk, will you please call the roll. Alderpersons McNamara. Here. Scott. Here. Simpson. Here. Smedley. Smedley. Malinowski. Here. Hargraves. Here. Gibson. Here. DeLernia. Here. Santiago. Here. Barbosa. Here. Sanchez. Vargas, Maldonado, Centeno, Ortiz-Luna. Fifteen members present, Your Honor. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, may we all rise for the invocation, which will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Let us pray. O God, our Heavenly Father, as we celebrate the holidays with our families, neighbors, and friends, we give thanks for the fond memories of Christmas and holidays past of the loved ones that may no longer be with us. Protect those who keep New Britain safe. and to those who provide services for the less fortunate in our community. We ask this in thy name. Amen. 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. Alderman Santiago for any amendments. No minutes, Your Honor. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, any petitions? There are four petitions, Your Honor. Alderperson Smedley, DeLernia, Gibson, Malinowski, and Hargraves asking for the appropriate party to provide a timeline and details on hiring a new council administrative aide. Was that in council? Yeah. Okay. So send that to the council office. Alderman Smedley and DeLernia, for a complete list of all city new of New Britain job positions, civil service, or appointed that have been frozen for the 90-day period. That would go to the Human Resources Department. Alderman Smedley for the appropriate department to provide information on the Allen Street project status. And that would go to the Public Works Department. And Alderman Smedley and Delurnia for a complete list of all members of the Mayor's transition team, including their names, titles, and roles. And that would be referred to the Mayor's office. That's all, Your Honor. Thank you. Alderman Santiago for the consent agenda. Thank your honor. I make a motion to accept a consent agenda of item A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. So motion made by Alderman Santiago and seconded by Alderman Sanchez. Mr. Clerk please call the roll. Alderpersons McNamara. Aye. Scott. Aye. Simpson. Yes. Smedley. Yes. Malinowski. Yes. Hargraves. Yes. Gibson. Yes. Delernia. Yes. Santiago. Yes. Barbosa. Yes. Sanchez. Yes. Vargas. Yes. Maldonado. Yes. Centeno. Yes. Ortiz-Luna. Yes. Fifteen in favor, Your Honor. Motion carries. We will move on to the first item on the agenda, Alderman Scott for item number one. Thank you, Your Honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number one. Second. Secretary Alderman Hargraves. This is our season's greetings and we rejoice with our families and during these holiday season is a time of the year for us to reflect on our traditional values and what is truly worthwhile in our lives. Families and friends gather to reflect on the past and look forward to a hopeful new year. So let it be resolved that the Common Council of New Britain that the Common Council sincerely expresses our wish for a holiday, a peaceful and loving and a hopeful and joyful and happy, happy, healthy, prosperous new year to all of the citizens in New Britain. And also let it be resolved that we wish all of the citizens of New Britain a happy winter solstice, a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, and a happy Kwanzaa. And I don't want anyone here in New Britain to feel that you're alone. We are all family here in New Britain. So I urge adoption of this. Thank you Councilwoman. Any questions or comments? Okay seeing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. Motion carries. Item number two Alderman Santiago. Thank your honor. I make a motion. to accept and adopt item number two. Second. Second by Alderwoman Barbosa. Barbosa. Thank you, Your Honor. Um, this is for the ad addition, uh, timeline for the petitions for, uh, for our res- our petitions for the City Council for submission to, uh, to the Clerk. Um, also, I would like to make, make a motion to amend Section 10-1, as provided to all members in the documents before you. That part, it was also an add-on in which I read it. Let me read it. Section 10-1 would be... Sorry, excuse me, Your Honor. All right. In which right here, for the amendment is, any table items shall not be carried over to a new session of a... COMMON COUNCIL. IN ADDITION, RECONSIDERATIONS OF AN ITEM IS ONLY IN ORDER DURING THE SAME SESSION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL THAT THE ITEMS TO BE RECONSIDERED WERE VOTED UPON. THIS PERTAINS TO RESOLUTIONS THAT ARE TABLED OR THAT WERE VOTED ON PRIOR TO THE ELECTIONS. BUT WHAT HAPPENS IS THAT WHEN WE HAVE A NEW SESSION, A NEW TERM, Those are items that some people would consider would think would be able to consider but we don't have those members might not come back to the council so this is just one clarification that we had sent to corporate council for some you know wording and they sent these recommendations and I urge adoption. Is there any other. I'm sorry I urge amendment. Is there any other section in there? No that's the one for that part but that was amended as of 10-1. Okay so any questions or comments. Any questions or comments on the amendment? Alderman DeLerner. Through you to Alderman Santiago. I question the need, we just approved the standing rules most recently at our last committee meeting so I'm wondering why the change now and if you can explain the basis for why we're doing this. Thank you. Through you Your Honor. Proceed. So we did accept the rules in the beginning, but obviously through all the things of transitioning and everything that's going on, due to the fact that we don't have a supervisor, an administrative supervisor at the point in time, we're considering the new person that will come in. It's given a chance to be able to kind of adapt to everything that's going on, and at the same time, petitions, it takes a lot of paperwork. Everyone thinks it's just a quick write-on. No. Whoever the person is has to write it up, has to report it to the... clerks or committees has to do, there's a lot more things to it than just a quick pen and a paper. So this was just give some time for the person that's going to be stepping in, you know, to be able to get used to everything and adapt to what our system is. My understanding is it's worked fine in the past and at what point is this new person going to be brought up to speed? How long is that going to take? Governor Santero? To be honest, I can't tell you until we find a person and actually have them sit there and talk. Because I can't tell you how the person is going to work out until we hire them. So sorry to say that. And then previous, there were some times, too, there were some games played about the petitions. They wanted to hold off to the last minute. We did it before. It was back and forth, some games they were playing. I'm trying to cut the games. I'm trying to be straight up forward about things. So this way, the people have a chance, opportunity to see the things as they go, not just games that are being played. So this is just, like I said, transparency reasons. Any any other questions. Alderman Smith. Just a point of parliamentary figure. Do you want to vote on the amendment and then continue the discussion because I do want to continue discussion. So OK seeing all in favor of this amendment say aye aye all opposed say nay nay. Motion carries. Any further discussion on the amend amended amendment. Yes sir. Alderman Smedley. Thank you Your Honor. Through I just have a few questions for our council administrative supervisor Jessica Gerritano if I may through you Your Honor. Was is that a no she's not going to answer questions or. No no I have a question for Miss Gerritano. related to petitions? Correct, which is related to the petitions. They're trying to change the standing rules related to the petitions, correct? The petition procedure? Point of information to help you out Mr. Smedley? I'd just like to read the amendment on petitions which is Section 5.1 that it asks that any petitions be submitted the day before the regular council meeting by 8.15 a.m. That's correct. And the intent of that is transparency. It is so that there will be a written statement for the council to see. It may not be hopefully posted to the public ahead of the meeting. So the intent is transparency so everyone can see a petition. If a member of the public wants to come down and comment they can. So it's it's mainly to President Santiago's point creates a reasonable time for everyone to see it plainly in writing and for the public to respond to it. I have no question about that. And we discussed the same thing in leadership. I do have a question through you Mayor to Mr. Yaratana though if I may. And I'll say the question ahead of time. I just want to inquire about how many petitions during your time as council aide supervisor did you have to file paperwork or do anything related to the petitions beyond helping type a petition up for a council member who may have asked you in advance? Was there any formal process that you took part in as part of filing petitions with the clerk's office? Through you, Your Honor. Corporate counsel. I'm sorry I'm having trouble hearing you as well. The question is well taken. We're going to have to look that up and get back to you on that. Okay so Ms. Gerriton is present. She can't answer that question. She doesn't have the information available to her right now. She worked in the position for more than 14 years. Your Honor this is all the information that I have. We will follow up on it. Okay. All right. And I'll await the follow up if I may continue. So I just I have some real concerns about creating a stop gap in the petition process because essentially it's an avenue and a catalyst for us as council members who've been elected by the citizens of New Britain to bring concerns forward to the council publicly, right? So there may be a chance or a time where a citizen has a concern and they bring it to a council member and for instance in November and December we have one meeting a month, right? So if I don't make the Tuesday deadline to get that petition and I now have to wait a month for the next meeting to bring something of concern up to this body. So that's my first concern. My second concern is, what's next? Are we going to require the public to have to stop into the mayor's office to file their questions and their statements to be reviewed prior to public participation? Because that's essentially the same thing, right? The public walks up to the podium and asks their questions, and then they get a response within a timely manner if it requires a response. Same thing. The petition process, all their people submit a petition, handwritten or typed to the clerk of the city the clerk reads them aloud publicly at the meeting so that they can't be censored or changed or altered even though tonight all the words didn't get read aloud in our petitions but then moving forward it's a one to two week response process which we accept and we understand so it's not a gotcha process that we're looking for it's just the continued transparency and to say that there's a process required that takes time that a new council aide or supervisor will have to learn I don't buy it for one minute I really don't. I'm aiming to keep this process transparent by allowing us to continue to submit petitions live at any meeting. Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you, Alderman. Any other comments on Alderman? Not to prolong this, but the last term, as a newly elected member, I was discouraged from filing petitions for information, you may recall, and said just call the department head. Correct. Which you do both things, I think, which I support, filing petitions. But I don't think you can have it both ways in terms of, on the one hand, on one day discouraging petitions from being filed, which I was, and now putting a reasonable timeframe so that it can be put in writing with clarity for all to see, to respond to. And also, there's always exception. If there's an emergency or something else, there are always exceptions to our regular order. Thank you. Any further? Alderman Smedley. Thank you, Mayor. Through you to my colleague, Alderman McNamara. I don't believe we discouraged you from filing petitions. I believe what we discouraged was the repetitive request for information that was easily obtainable by calling a department head or e-mailing a department head that you could then share publicly if so required as an elected official. Any further discussion? Alderman. I just want to move to move the amendment we're voting on is that it? Okay thank you. Alderman Scott. All the way in Vairosa. I just want to say that allowing the time frame to be changed only allows promote only promotes transparency and public access. Posting petitions ahead of time gives the residents a chance to review what will be discussed attend the meeting and participate when appropriate. This protects the community's right to be informed. I don't think petitions should be a last minute thing. I think they need to be. properly reviewed, properly submitted so that the public can get it all together on the agenda. It shouldn't be a surprise someone shows up, there's a petition put in and the public doesn't know about it and it's discussed in a meeting and a resolution is created and it's passed and no one knows about it except for the person who put in the petition. I think it's a discouragement to the public and I think it's an unfair move to the public to try and slide in a petition last minute in my opinion. Alderman Scott. I agree with our Alderwoman that this does promote transparency and having it in writing is good to have it in writing for the public similar to the resolution process that there is a time limit that you can put it in. And I don't think that there's any reason that we can't address concerns that the public has whether it be in writing or not like you can still call and address your concerns with the department head or talk to our mayor there's ways to go about that if there is an emergency it doesn't have to be in a petition form to do that so I think there's no reason that we shouldn't be able to do it this way so that there's a time limit to having it in writing and I also do agree with our other aldermen that we were discouraged to put in petitions before in the past and there wasn't clear transparency even when calling department heads and such so I just, I think that there's nothing wrong with doing this so that our public knows when we're putting something in writing and we're still going to be responsible for addressing concerns ongoing. Thank you. Thank you. Alderwoman Delernia. Again I want to comment on thinking that you were discouraged in the past. I know as a former commissioner on the police commission we oftentimes would get redundant petitions that have either been answered in the past or could have easily been answered by the chief if a phone call was made. So I really ask that you not state being discouraged. I don't think that was the case at all. Thank you. Thank you Aldewan. Your Honor I move to call the question please. Okay Aldewan calls the question. All in favor of the item as amended. Oh yes there was a second. All those in favor of the item as amended say aye. All those opposed say nay. Party line motion carries. Alderman Sanchez for item number 3. Thank you Your Honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number 3. Second. Thank you. This resolution is for amending resolution 3 6 5 7 5 dash 2 to authorize Mayor Bobby Sanchez to negotiate and execute a ground lease between City of New Britain. New Britain Housing Authority and JHM Group, and it reads as follows. To his honor, the Mayor and the Common Council of the City of New Britain, they undersigned their leave to recommend the adoption of the following. Whereas on September 25th, 2024, the Common Council approved Resolution 36572-2, which authorized Mayor Erin Eastwood to negotiate and secure a ground lease with the New Britain Housing Authority and JHM Group and any document related thereto in accordance with the terms outlined in the resolution. Whereas the City of New Bruns, New Bruns Housing Authority and JHM Group have been negotiating the terms of the ground lease but have not finalized nor executed the document on November 11, 2025. Mr. Bobby Sanchez was sworn in as a mayor of the city of New Britain, and whereas Resolution 36575-2 needs to be amended to authorize Mayor Sanchez to negotiate and secure the ground lease with the New Britain Housing Authority and JHM Group, and resolve that Resolution 36575-2. everybody amended to authorize Mayor Bobby Sanchez to negotiate and execute on behalf of the City of New Britain a ground lease agreement with the New Britain Housing Authority and J.H.M. Group and any documents related thereto in accordance with the terms outlined in the resolution and I urge adoption. Thank you Alderman. Any questions or comments? Alderman Simpson. I have a, I think a point of information on the prior resolution. Did we vote to call the question, or did we vote to just pass as amended? Mayor, point of order. Thank you, Alderman. You're absolutely correct. The mic. You're absolutely correct. You voted on the, to move the question, but you didn't vote on the amendment. so you'll need to go back to take care of that. You can finish this one here and then go back to that one. Okay. Thank you, Corporation Counsel. Any other comments on this? No? Okay. Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Now going back to item number two. And that's to vote on the on the amendment. Do I get a second. That would be. Item as amended I'm sorry. Second by Alderman Sanchez. Okay. Do we have any further discussions. No. Oh cool okay all those in favor of this item amended say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Nay. Party line. Party line motion carries. Okay item number four Alderwoman Sanchez. Thank you your honor I make a motion to accept and adopt item number four. Second. Seconded by Mr. Santiago. Thank you this resolution is FOR THE AMENDING RESOLUTION 36576-2 TO AUTHORIZE MAYOR BOBBY SANCHEZ TO NEGOTIATE AND SECURE A COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN CITY OF NEW BRANCH, NEW BRANCH HOUSING AUTHORITY, AND JHM GROUP. AND IT READS AS FOLLOWED. TO HIS HONOR, THE MAYOR AND THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW BRANCH, THEY UNDERSTAND BY LEAVE TO RECOMMEND THE ADOPTION OF THE FOLLOWING. WERE ASKED ON SEPTEMBER 25, 2024, The Common Council approved Resolution 36576-2, which authorized Mayor Erin Eastwood to negotiate and secure a cooperation agreement including an amendment to the existing 2012 cooperation agreement to remove the reference to the unpleasant apartments with the New Brewer Housing Authority and JHM Group and any document related thereto in accordance with the terms outlined in that resolution. Whereas the City of New Britain, New Britain Housing Authority and JHM Group have been negotiating the terms of the cooperation agreement but have not finalized, not executed the document. And on November 11, 2025, Mr. Bobby Sanchez was sworn in, was sworn in as a mayor of the City of New Britain. And whereas Resolution 36576-2 needs to be amended to authorize Mayor Sanchez to negotiate and execute the ground lease with the New Britain Housing Authority. Any questions or comments Alderman McNamara. Could I ask Ms. Woody to to come up and and answer a question. This was authorized a year ago in September I believe. But as the amendment as the resolution explains the agreement between JHM housing authority and city did did not get done. As I recall, this was a phase one, just phase one. Ms. Woody, there'll be other parts of this project coming forward in the near term? The project has five phases. Pardon me? The project has five phases. We're tearing down 251 units and we're replacing it with 333 units. Instead of moving all 188 people out of Mount Pleasant at one time we divided it into four phases to limit the disruption to the families. Families that are currently living in Mount Pleasant will be moved into the vacant units as people move out while keeping those units vacant so the people can move into those so that children don't have to switch schools and medication everything else can stay the same. So one of five. This is one this is one of five. Thank you. Thank you Ms. Winnie. Any other questions or comments. Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Item number five Alderwoman Barbosa. Thank you your honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number five. Seconded by Alderwoman Sanchez. This resolution is for the federal highway safety funds of nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine dollars and thirty six cents. overtime for the click it or ticket program to support seatbelt law enforcement efforts during the holiday season. I urge adoption. Any questions or comments. Okay seeing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Alderman McNamara for item number six. Thank you your honor. Make a motion to accept and adopt number six. Seconded by Alderman Luna. This is a regular report from the revenue collector, formerly tax collector, on refunds, abatements, corrections, with funds going back to the taxpayers. It's in the amount of, total amount of $28,680 for this report, and I move adoption. Any questions or comments? Okay seeing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Item number seven Alderman Vargas. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number seven. Seconded by Alderman Simpson. Thank you Your Honor. Whereas the City of New Britain uses ESRI Enterprises GIS software to maintain a database of vital information related to police, fire, EMS, assessor's office, building planning and development, and public works department. And the public works department seeks to engage ERSI with the existing software provider to provide the support services outlined in the submitted proposal for a fee of $16,720. And this funding is available from the engineering professional services account. And I urge adoption. Thank you Alderwoman. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Item number eight, Alderwoman Ortiz Luna. Thank you Your Honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number eight. Second. Seconded by Alderman Santiago. authorize a purchase of two wind storm blowers for the New Britain Parks and Communities Services Department from Snow White Power Equipment in the amount of $22,384. Funds are available and I urge adoption. Thank you Alderwoman. Any questions or comments? Alderman Hargraves. Thank you, Your Honor. First, there's no New Britain Parks and Community Services Department. It's the Recreation and Community Services Department. But also, I spoke to the director of the Recreation and Community Services Department, and they said it's not for her department. So I'm just curious. I don't know if Mr. Moriarty knows what exactly this department is for. Let's see. No, I don't know. I assume based on the resolution that it was for those community services, I know what they're replacing, but I do not rate this resolution. Yeah, I was informed that it's neither for the golf course nor the cemetery, and that would be the only things that the Recreation and Community Service Department would need. So I don't know what department this is for. Actually, I mean, it probably is miswritten. I mean, from our fleet manager. I mean, these are basic units that we use at the golf course, in parks, on trails. I mean, they're basically just lead blowers or for multi-use trails where we blow off debris from a trail. Could use them in a downtown area. They're just a stand-on blower. And these two are replacing two that we use in parks and roadways. Yeah, so for that resolution, why it's written about community service and parks, I'm not sure. So do we know who submitted this resolution? I don't know if it was written by the purchasing agent and according to our fleet manager. I'm not sure. There's a fleet manager. I'm not sure. I just don't, I don't understand how we can pass this. I don't know all the answers to the questions. Alderman Santiago. I can get a resolution pretty quickly, but. Your Honor. Alderman Smithley. The resolutions have to be submitted through your office, correct? So does Ms. Jarretana know who submitted this resolution? corporate counsel. Jack. Piper. Okay. Jack Piper. Did you get that. So is Mr. Piper here? No. I move that we take this resolution until we have further information and can update it. Okay so we'll table this. Motion. All in favor to table item number eight say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Alderwoman Barbosa for item number nine. Thank you your honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number nine. This is regarding the purchase of a 2026 Ford F-150 for the Public Works Department Utilities Division Water Department to replace a 2015 Ford F-150 that was damaged due to an accident not at fault of the city employee. And I urge adoption. Any questions or comments on item number nine? Alderman McNamara. Just just a comment. I recognize the need to these vehicle purchases, but I think it was a year ago. I think the council can expect a report a new report on efforts to be have conservation and and move toward vehicles that have a less of a carbon footprint. And I think that's incorporated into the plan and is it Mr. Piper? that provides that? Yes. Yeah. So I look forward to seeing that report, but I'm supportive of the resolution tonight. Any other questions or comments? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Item number 10, Alderman Ortiz Luna. Thank you Your Honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number 10. Second. Second by Alderman Sanchez. This is to authorize a purchase of one new 150 Ford pickup truck for the New Britain Public Works Department in the amount of forty two thousand seven hundred fifty one dollars and ten cents. Funds are available and I urge adoption. Any questions or comments. Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Item number 11 Alderman Barbosa. Alderman Malinowski. Thank you your honor. I make a motion to accept and adopt item 11. Second. Second by . And this is to purchase two new vehicles for the facilities and energy department, one of which being a new 2026 Ford F-250 truck in the amount of $57,846 to replace a 2009 GMC pickup truck. And the second one is a 2026 Ford Explorer in the amount of $36,140. And this will be a new vehicle added to their fleet. And I believe there was a placeholder for account number, so the item has to be amended, but I urge adoption. Your Honor. Alderman Santiago. I'd like to make a motion to include the account number, which is provided to the members of the document, which is Second by Alderman Sessions. Which is 2-5-5-3-1-5-0-5-5-5-7-4-1. And there is the amendment. Any questions on the amendment? Alderman Hargraves. Thank you, Your Honor. If I may, through John Delgadillo. Is he still in the room? I don't think John Delgadillo, I don't think he's here. He was here earlier. I just want to make sure that the correct department is listed here. I'm not sure if these vehicles are actually for the facilities and energy department. So I wanted to clarify, do you know, Mark? Yeah, they are. 130, which is the Explorer, is a replacement vehicle for John Delgadillo specifically. It's the vehicle that's replacing Did you guys – I think you guys got copies of the issues for all the vehicles. 130, let's see. It's replacing a vehicle 19 years old. Transmission is in need of replacement. Estimated repair costs on that repair is $6,500. Yeah, it's also having other codes showing the transmission overheating while it's driving. Yeah, the amount of repair costs are exceeding the value of the vehicle. The vehicle's been brought to JanGras Ford multiple times and they have not been able to fully diagnose the issues. The other vehicle that's listed in this one is a primary plow unit used in property management. It's 17 years old. It has a vehicle life cycle of 10 to 12 years old. And the repair costs also exceed the value, so. Thank you for that additional information. We didn't have that in our package. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Alderman. Any other comments or questions? Okay, so this is as amended. All those in favor say aye. Aye. As amended. As amended. All those opposed say nay. I'm sorry, Your Honor. Your Honor pointed out that we're still under the discussions of the amendment. So we're still on that. So any other questions on the amendment? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Now discussion on as amended. Any questions? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Item number 12 Alderman Centeno. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number 12. Second. This resolution is in reference to purchase of two 2026 Ford police interceptors for the police department through the public works fleet division and I urge adoption. The total cost is $142,500 and I urge adoption. Thank you Alderman. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Motion carries. Alderman Centeno for item number 13. I make a motion to accept and adopt item number 13. Second. Second by Alderwoman Luna. Also on this resolution is for the purchase of another Ford Explorer for $44,491.79. Three of them, I'm sorry. THREE OF THEM, AND FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. AND I URGE ADOPTION. THANK YOU, ALDERMAN. ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? NONE? SEEING NONE. OKAY, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, SAY AYE. AYE. ALL THOSE OPPOSED, SAY NAY. MOTION CARRIES. MOTION TO ADJOURN. MOTION TO ADJOURN. SECOND. SECOND BY ALDERMAN CENTENO. OKAY, ALL IN FAVOR, SAY AYE. AYE. ALL THOSE OPPOSED, SAY NAY. Motion carries, meeting adjourned at 8.21 p.m. Thank you.