MINUTES ADOPTED AS PRESENTED 07/06/2010
ENFIELD TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING
JUNE 21, 2010
A Special Meeting of the Enfield Town Council was called to order by Chairman Kaupin in the Enfield Room of the Enfield Town Hall, 820 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut on Monday, June 21, 2010. The meeting was called to order at 5:34 p.m.
ROLL CALL – Present were Councilmen Bosco, Crowley, Dumont, Edgar, Kaupin, Keller, Kiner, Lee, Mangini and Nelson. Councilman Hall was absent. Also present were Town Manager, Matthew Coppler; Assistant Town Manager, Daniel Vindigni and Town Clerk, Suzanne Olechnicki; Town Attorney, Kevin Deneen
NORTH CENTRAL DISTRICT HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Present from North Central District Health were William Blitz, Director
Mr. Blitz reviewed the District’s annual report as follows:
- Building activity is down throughout the District
- Inspections of massage parlors, nail salons, barber shops, tattoo parlors
- Respond to complaints related to housing, trash, rodents, insects, sewerage, water quality, etc
- Inspect bathing beaches, i.e., Crystal Lake and Shaker Pines Lake
- 381 inspections done in 150 food facilities
- Oversight of 77 temporary permit events, including the Fourth of July Event
- Inspection of 20 public swimming pools on a regular basis
- Inspection of hotels/motels
- Inspection of 18 day care facilities
- Sponsor Health Education Programs
- Inoculation clinics, i.e., H1N1 campaign
- Oversight of communicable diseases
- Lead testing in children
- Permits for on-site sewage disposal systems
- Oversight of issues with private well water supplies
Mr. David Skoczulek, Vice-Chairman of the board, spoke about technology improvements underway at the District. He explained they’ve upgraded all their data bases. He noted their website should be up and running during July. He explained they wanted to also create something that could produce trending and quality assurance reports. He noted they will put together a quality assurance committee to review and follow-up on things. He stated they want to have the ability to get e-mail through the website as well. He noted they will have to have a Microsoft certified audit to review their system to be sure they have the integrity and security needed for this website. He stated this website could have a newsletter which will keep all the towns updated on their progress so they have as much transparency as possible.
Councilman Mangini stated it appears a lot of progress has been made. Mr. Skoczulek stated the biggest portion of their effort is just about to come to fruition, especially that part which Enfield is most concerned about, which is the transparency and the quality assurance.
Mr. Blitz stated they’ve already created charts for the website, which will provide updates on things getting done. He noted he checked with all the other health departments across the state, and this District is far in advance of them in what they are doing. He stated they are being visited by Torrington Valley Health District on Wednesday of this week because they’re very interested in seeing what this District is doing.
Councilman Nelson questioned if the District believes they’ve made improvements to the development side of the District, i.e., septic systems, wells and site plan review. He noted he is only hearing about the website. He questioned where personnel is finding the time because things on the building side are exactly as they were, and nothing has changed. Mr. Blitz stated everything is going to be electronic, and there will be ticklers which will indicate something has to be acted upon. He noted this will be a shortcut in all processes. He stated there will be vast improvements shortly.
Councilman Nelson acknowledged they may be doing great things for the website, however, he believes nothing has changed. Mr. Blitz requested specific instances so that he can provide details to the Council as to how long it took to address something and why it took that long. Councilman Nelson stated the District has every file, and they should go through their own files. He stated he’s not only talking about Enfield. He noted he’s aware of something being tied up in Suffield and a subdivision going in East Windsor has been tied up. He noted it’s not just one builder or one town. He stated his belief things are exactly the way they’ve been. He stated taking care of the customer should be the first priority.
Chairman Kaupin requested Councilman Nelson provide some specifics. Councilman Nelson stated he shouldn’t have to because the District can pull this from their own files to see what the District’s employees are doing. Mr. Blitz stated the website will allow people to see the exact status of an application.
Mr. Blitz stated he will provide for the Council a review of every application over the past couple months with a time line. Councilman Nelson pointed out he is also talking about other towns. He noted the problem is not isolated to Enfield. He stated it’s all the builders who have to go to the Health District. He noted this isn’t the way to do things if they are going to make Enfield development friendly for big business.
Mr. Blitz stated he will provide specifics because he does not agree with Councilman Nelson’s generalities.
Mr. Skoczulek stated when the District laid out this improvement plan, they told the Council what they were going to do, and the initial response was everything is working better, and they didn’t hear a negative. He added everyone supported what the District was going to do from a technology standpoint, but now they’re hearing there’s been further slippage.
Chairman Kaupin requested Mr. Blitz provide the information before the Council’s July 6th meeting.
Councilman Bosco stated he would also like to hear about the good reports as well.
Councilman Crowley stated he was impressed with the inspector who recently did an inspection for the high school banquet. He acknowledged good things are going on.
Councilman Crowley questioned if there’s any type of video or class that shows a restaurant what they need to do. Mr. Blitz stated every restaurant has to have an employee with a Qualified Food and Operator Certification (QFO), and they have to go through a series of classes, and they have to get a national certification. He pointed out this is a State requirement.
MOTION #950 by Councilman Nelson, seconded by Councilman Bosco to go into Executive Session.
Upon a SHOW-OF-HANDS vote being taken, the Chair declared MOTION #950 adopted 10-0-0, and the meeting stood recessed at 6:08 p.m.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Executive Session of the Enfield Town Council was called to order by Chairman Kaupin at 6:09 p.m.
ROLL-CALL – Present were Councilmen Bosco, Crowley, Dumont, Edgar, Kaupin, Keller, Kiner, Lee, Nelson and Nelson. Also present were Town Manager, Matthew Coppler; Assistant Town Manager, Daniel Vindigni; Town Clerk, Suzanne Olechnicki; Town Attorney, Kevin Deneen; Director of Human Resources, Steven Bielenda.
Personnel Matters, Pending Litigation and Real Estate Negotiations were discussed with no action or votes being taken.
Chairman Kaupin adjourned the Executive session at 6:54 p.m. He reconvened the Special Meeting at 6:55 p.m. and stated during Executive Session, Personnel Matters, Pending Litigation and Real Estate Negotiations were discussed with no action or votes being taken.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION #951 by Councilman Mangini, seconded by Councilman Nelson to adjourn.
Upon a SHOW-OF-HANDS vote being taken, the Chair declared MOTION #951 adopted 10-0-0, and the meeting stood adjourned at 6:56 p.m. |