February 18, 2015
City considers infrastructure panel
The city Common Council delayed action Tuesday on a proposal to form a committee to look at long-term solutions to the city’s aging infrastructure.
Aldermen agreed there is a need for such a committee but expressed doubt about the city’s ability to fund any plans.
City officials agreed that the city needs to start planning ways to mend problems like City Hall’s leaking roof and renovating or rebuilding the fire station on Court Street.
Mayor Brian Tobin told the council that he thought it important for the city to look at problems like the City Hall’s leaking roof and determine what the best solutions are.
He suggested a committee be formed to solicit information from city departments to assist in planning ways to address the issues. The recommendations would come back to the council, which would decide whether to approve them, Tobin said.
Alderman Clif Dutcher (R-5th Ward) said he agreed it could be good to examine the city’s buildings to see if they are being used in the most efficient way, adding he thought the city needed a new fire department headquarters.
“Maybe it is time to look at the buildings we have and the people who meet there,” he said.
Alderman Carlos Ferrer (D-6th Ward) said after the meeting he would like the community to look at how it could better use its resources while meeting the needs of the city’s departments. The city fire and police departments all could be transferred into one large building along with city hall offices, but that would mean footing an additional cost of creating a new building as well as dealing with the trouble of finding a large enough parcel, he said.
“In the city, there’s not enough real property to do something like this,” Ferrer said.
Expanding existing buildings instead would carry the cost of such expansion as well as the need to renovate those buildings, he said.
Other aldermen expressed concerns about financing such projects or carrying them out past the planning stage.
Alderman Tom Michales (R-8th Ward) said similar committees were formed in the past, but any changesrecommended always were stopped by an inability to finance them.
City Director of Administration and Finance Mack Cook said the city is paying off its debts now without incurring more, making it possible to borrow for other projects without increasing the burden on taxpayers.
“As long as we can wrangle the finances, I see a future for it,” Ferrer told the council. “But otherwise, no.”
Officials tabled the resolution because Aldermen Kathryn Silliman (D-2nd Ward), Linda Ferguson (D-7th Ward) and Kenneth Dye (D-3rd Ward) were absent, and the other aldermen wanted to have them present to talk about the matter.
Alderman John G. Bennett Jr. (D-4th Ward) told the council having the missing members present before voting on the resolution would provide better discussion of forming such a committee.
The resolution is expected to bediscussed at the Common Council’s next meeting March 3.
In other business, the council voted to modify a part-time zoning officer position to a full-time position and to conditionally appoint a city employee to the position.
Zoning Officer Robert Rhea will be working full-time for the city following his passing of Civil Service Department requirements. Aldermen Bennett, Ferrer, Michales, Dutcher and Julie Bird (D-1st Ward) all voted in favor of the resolution.
Rhea had been working part-time for the city following former Zoning Officer Bruce Weber’s retirement in June.
The city already allocated $42,000 to cover a salary increase for the position that currently pays $22,000 annually.
Rhea also was appointed to coordinate efforts to reduce flood insurance rates through a Federal Emergency Management Agency program.
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