rebrand a little bit in the interest of time we're gonna get started because there is a special city council meeting and this committee has quite a agenda ahead of it my name is Frank Salvatore I am the councilman from the third ward and also the uh chair uh chair of this ad hoc committee um to my right I have uh Diane Lepine member of the committee to my right I have Mike Henry and Mark my right you're right sorry yeah I'm out of it left right I'm always I tell my granddaughter left all right and Mark Corey member of the um of the public Alan Boyce senses regret he is um out of commission and could not make the meeting tonight um around the the room I have ex officio members I have Lugiardano I have Ryan Hawley I have Andrea Gartner I have Ben Chianese and I have Candace Fay in the room and obviously esteemed members of the um commissions and alliances so uh when your alliance comes up you can um you can uh state your name and who you're here with um I would like uh motion to allow the chair to move the agenda around as needed second motion made second all in favor say aye all right okay reason I'm doing that is because I'm gonna take the still river alliance first is there any member of the Still River Alliance here please uh you know state your name uh that's Ruby I'm the chair of the Still River Alliance Commission all right and the Still River Alliance Commission has submitted uh quite a bit of document or some documentation to us and I believe the committee has read through it um and so I'm our whole purpose here is to see if the um commissions and alliances are serving the public need and what we need to determine is to either reestablish them to consolidate them to modify them or terminate them that is our only purpose here I know you all want more money that's a left out of the room all the way to the end of the hall in her office you can start with her but we're not gonna we're not gonna talk about needing more money we want to talk about what your uh you what your commission or alliance does for the public good and if you feel it should be continued so my first question to you uh for the still river alliances I notice it doesn't meet regularly but it seems to me that the entire role that you have for this commission is actually keeping the greenway open effectively that's true yes okay was there any other thoughts for this alliance when it started well the originally it was an ad hoc it was not a city commission um that was built to uh Jack Kazahowski put it together uh it was a regional group um the trail was built and after it was built um a lot of the people who were involved kind of drifted away so it was it they're kind of went in went into kind of maintenance mode um but we're we continually we also had educational programs which were funded by grants from local businesses um unfortunately they've kind of moved away and so we've lost that funding so we haven't been able to do the educational component for a number of years now but the uh maintaining the trail is the biggest uh biggest function making sure that um uh we that we have contract in place which was challenging to keep the trail mowed and open and also to take care of uh trees when they come down uh to find either we do it ourself or we've got some great help from the city in the case of some larger trees um you know to to keep the keep it as safe as possible um but uh we're not asking for more money we were um we got an increase last year and we're we're good with that so no complaints at all there um it's it's really if we had more resources we could do more things but the uh basic function is keep the trail open and we're we've been doing that even though it's just two of us although we have one potential person who wants to join uh I don't know where they are in my queue tailor but they're um there's one person who's submitted a uh letter so much okay great um I'm gonna open it up to the members of the ad hoc the chair how long is the the trail you maintain it's about a mile same course look at that great mice

Uh I don't know where they are in the queue, Taylor, but they're um there's one person who's submitted a uh letter.

So we can say how much okay, great.

Um I'm going to open it up to the members of the ad hoc.

The chair.

How long is the the trail you maintain?

It's about a mile.

Same question.

Look at that great minus nickel.

Do you have another one?

No follow up.

Okay.

Yes.

She you had a follow-up.

No follow up.

No follow-up.

Through the chair.

Is that all Danbury or is that part Brookfield?

All Danbury.

Okay, so Brookfield takes care of that that's completely separate.

And Brookfield maintains, you know, the town of Brookfield maintains their own trail.

They don't have you know a separate commission at all as far as I know, but the the city folks actually do the mowing and all that, whereas we we have to contract it out.

Okay.

Um, so I saw in your questionnaire that you thought it would make sense to combine with I've been an advocate for combining for a number of years.

Umbers of people, not just on this commission, but on uh conservation commission and uh some other commissions.

It's dwindling getting people involved.

So I think uh combining it would have uh some would not be a bad bad thing.

In the case of um the conservation commission and the still river commission, the funding for maintaining the still river is in the conservation commission budget.

We don't have our own separate line, and that's because when we were founded, we weren't a commission, we were uh ad hoc.

So they put the money in there, and then they made us a commission, but we never they never split the money, so which has been fine because we work hand in hand with conservation commission anyway.

So it's but combining it would be I I think smart.

Okay, thank you.

Good.

First of all, thank you for your efforts over the years.

It's a great task that uh you take care of.

Is the head of the trail behind the Marriott?

That's do we have really three entrances, but there's a uh an entrance behind the Marriott, which leads directly to a kayak launch area, but the main trailhead is behind the Kimchuk building.

Um that there's a history wall there and picnic tables and all that stuff, and it attracts a lot of people from that industrial park there.

And and the city has uh uh access to all those property along the trail, it's owned.

They have an easement, yes.

There's an easement for for the uh for the trail.

I will say that one of the challenges we have is that the trail runs directly behind Lowe's Theater.

There's a homeless encampment on Lowe's Theater property directly adjacent to the trail, and because of that, it really deters people from traveling that, and um so we uh that's a challenge for us because I I took a group of volunteers uh a couple years ago, uh high school kids to clean the trail, and they saw one of their classmates living in the homeless camp.

And it you know, so we we can't do that anymore.

You know, we can't bring groups down there and can't prevent, but uh but I'm sorry, I'm diverting.

Oh, sorry question, but that's a challenge, and uh it's not uh problem for us, put it that way.

Thank you, Ms.

Tower.

What's your operating budget per per annual?

Oh it's buried in the conservation commission numbers, so as far as cutting.

We did get an increase last year, um, and we didn't ask for an increase this year.

Um but it's really just to maintain to do uh four mowings per year on the trail.

You have your own equipment or you know it's contracted actually.

Okay, so go follow up and ask you.

Yep.

Okay, that's good.

All right, nothing else.

Uh also for the record, uh, President Peter Bazade is now uh in the room.

Uh so be good.

Uh any ex officio members have any questions the chair.

I know you mentioned about membership of the commission.

How many members do you currently have?

Uh two, including myself.

And what's your quorum?

Well, we have honest what's the max?

Is it oh I think there could be uh seven or eight.

So you don't make quorum right now.

No, we well, we can't we we meet just to do things, so we're the two of us, we get together and take care of business, but so we would call that a meeting, but we don't sit down on a official meeting.

So none of your actions are that's right.

So the conservation commission, as you mentioned, to the chair, kind of runs the whole deal.

Um as far as expenses go, is mowing and all that.

They have to approve the expenses since you can't be that.

It flows out of their yeah, similar, yes.

One more question, if I may.

How long has it been that you had two members?

A couple years that's really defunct at this point with two members.

Well, yeah, if you want to, yes.

Thank you.

But the two members are taking getting the work done for the back.

Any other ex officio members?

Any other ex officium members?

Uh thank you through the chair.

Um, so what is your thinking behind the is there anything more behind the combination of the two commissions?

Um, advocating that for a while.

I I brought it up for a number of years to uh at this uh meeting several times.

I brought it up to uh our mayors over the years.

Um and um, you know, I've never heard much pushback to the concept, but the actual make it happen.

We haven't quite got to that point.

Um she's gonna make the motion to get someone.

It just seems like all the commissions struggled to have volunteers.

And my my personal thinking is that maybe with a larger vision.

Um I even regardless of what the name is, might attract more diverse group of people.

Like I don't want to just work on the Slow River.

I'm interested in this, but if you had um a larger group, uh maybe even a new name that could think of inspire people to join.

That wouldn't just be targeted on one specific area.

Um I think if there's some opportunity there.

Budgetary wouldn't make much difference, I don't think, except that budget time want to put the budget together.

But um yeah, I would um I would like to uh offer that we have that going up.

Um with the Still River the struggle it's been, I mean it must feel like your Sisyphus, right?

You just keep pushing up this this big rock up the hill.

But in the context of um the the planning work that Westcog is now undertaken with the Western Connecticut Trail Project includes the Still River in that planning.

So I think it would be um important to keep the mission active, but I think it makes a lot of sense to combine them in some way and maybe have along the lines of that broader effort of the Western Connecticut Trail Project, and also included.

I think more people are just um ecologically minded and would welcome an opportunity to volunteer if that was if the combining was able to make that happen having no other ex officios requesting the committee's ready to make a motion motion to combine the Still River Alliance Commission with the Conservation Commission.

Second motion made and second to combine the Still River Commission Alliance, uh Still River Alliance Commission with the Conservation Commission.

Any remarks?

That's uh an ordinance to create that.

I don't think you can make a motion to combine without changing the ordinance.

According to the GERC, um we can we could re-establish, we can combine or whatever.

We say it's it's a more detailed opportunity.

But it's so we it has a year.

Yeah, it has a year, and that's when they'll have to redo the ordinance and all that because it doesn't terminate immediately.

No, it begins a year countdown starting in June, because all these commissions and alliances are approved through June 30th, and we're getting this done.

Do I have that right, Corporation Council?

Yes.

Okay.

So all right.

Any other remarks?

Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, vote so ordered.

Thank you.

All right, moving to the top of the agenda back with number one, the Stanley Lasker Richter Memorial Park Authority.

Um this is an authority that was obviously every one of these has city ordinances that are in uh play.

And I will invite the chair to speak and introduce themselves to the committee.

I don't know, you all thank you all for your time.

I am Pete Susinski, the chairman of the authority at Stanley we asked for Richard Park.

And who can I actually with Leroy Biggs?

And I actually would have Eloy Diggs, a member of the authority, and our newest member, Lu Giordano, who is also a member of the employees.

Represent Richter Park, who has been which has been established through a deed from the Richter family to the city, codified an ordinance to establish the authority to operate and maintain the park for recreational uses.

We continue to do so.

We're much more than a golf course.

Everyone has a tendency to focus on Richter Park as the golf course, recognized nationally, certainly a very strong economic driver for this community.

We're much more.

They call it the Northeast right now, and I think they're starting to branch out a little farther than that, but uh extremely popular and great venue for the community.

Richter Arts Association also operates out of the Richter House and puts on some uh great programs, quartets, uh theaters, small type theaters, art shows for the community.

They have a small niche group of patrons that come in on a regular basis, uh catering largely to our senior citizens, and they try to maintain a zero fee admission cost for the their uh attendants.

We also have the cafe on the green restaurant as a tenant who serves obviously Northern American cuisine in there.

The course also holds hiking trails in there, which is one of the reasons Mr.

Giordano has taken up residence on our authority, but four hiking trails that are widely used up there.

We also have converted two tennis courts to now have two pickleball courts, two tennis courts, and a small little outdoor basketball court as well that's in there.

We operate on a budget of about two and a half million, which will push three million dollars during the course of the year.

Uh at full-time summertime premier golf season, we operate with 51 employees, six full-time employees who are 12-month employees, and then 45 part-time or seasonal employees that come in.

We pride ourselves on hiring our local, our local children, not children, but our local kids to come in and work, and we've had great success in the people that have come here.

In fact, if you look at Richter's hierarchy of full-time workers, our golf pro is now our general manager as well, is a homegrown Danbury native, very successful in the Gulf Gulf at Danbury High School, uh, completely turned around an attitude at Richter Park.

Our assistant pro, you might recognize the name Stratton.

Uh, Ryan Stratton is a former police officer in Fairfield, also a Danbury resident and golf star in his own right, but is the grandson of some of you might remember Buzzy Schratten, who was a firefighter for years and ended up in the uh building department as a building inspector.

Our our new member Ryan Joey McGuell, who the McGuell name is very well known here as well.

His grandfather was uh Larry McGuell, who was also a building inspector, and father is Captain Mark McGuell and the fire department.

He's a wonderful technically oriented kid.

But these are people who come through and start cutting grass and just continue to develop as they come through.

And one of our goals is to develop our our our clientele and develop our employees as well at Richter Park.

We've had great success with that.

Funding we're not going to discuss tonight.

It's always an issue, but I will say that that this administration and previous administrations have done what they can to assist Richter Park with Capital Endeavors, which is where our our finances are most needed.

We've changed some operational points over the last four years, which which I've been involved with the help of the authority to streamline some of the expenses that are there.

We've knocked out two full-time employees by consolidating the golf pro and general manager.

We saved on a general manager's salary.

We also knocked out our full-time mechanic, and we've shared duties with existing staff and a part-time part-time mechanic as well.

And that seems to have eliminated uh some of the previous problems we've had in one particular year, going back about five years or so ago.

We actually needed a bridge loan to make it through the winter to keep the lights on, you might remember.

Uh, combined with those cuts in and staff and savings and salary.

We've also tailored our winter rates so that we now have events during the winter where we're getting bonuses for people who sign up for the year early, and it's helping us uh sell more gift cards in the winter, which carries us through the winter months without pressure, so to speak, on our operational budget.

So we're we're in good shape from an operational budget standpoint.

We're continuing on the mayor's desk and tailor working, try to find out grant opportunities and other opportunities for funding that are out there.

We do have some pressing needs that everyone is working on right now, and uh things are good.

We're we're thriving at Richter.

We've made the the community more accessible to it.

We've gone to great lengths to make the Richter House, the musicals at Richter accessible to those which are mobility challenged.

Uh we actually have cart paths now that people who are mobility challenged can get out and enjoy.

Not as much in the winter time where the golf season is going on, but the other day I saw a couple with a walker walk in on a path that was cleared of snow.

The Richter House was renovated, was completed this past year.

Uh, that now has a uh handicapped bathroom inside and a lift for those with mobility challenges.

There was not a bathroom on site for those individuals who had mobility issues.

Uh, we've also, through the concession stand that is outpacked by the musical stage, have two handicapped bathrooms as well.

So people don't have to use a porta potty anymore.

Uh we we joke a lot and we say that for 30 years I worked in the city of Danbury, and I'll be known as the guy who brought bathrooms to Richter Parks.

He's using a port of you.

But uh we're doing well.

Our men's club thrives, our women's club thrives, our seniors are thriving at Richter Park.

We do over 25 charitable events out there where churches and other benevolent associations come in with golf outings to raise money for themselves, and they do well.

Our veterans have now got a discounted rate as they come in, not only for veterans, but those who are serving active duty as well in our military get a discounted rate at Richter Park.

Uh, we hold tournaments for disabled veterans as well during the course of the year, as well as events for food banks and other charitable organizations that that need assistance.

We go out of our way to do what we can do.

We're also the home of both of our high schools, three of our high schools at least, for the golf teams that are out there and enjoy some time on the course as well.

So it's a very community-minded organization with 51 employees, three million dollar budget, bigger than most departments in the city, but really a nice family and a nice good atmosphere for people to grow up and enjoy.

Thank you.

Uh in my research, you guys probably one of the the most active commissions or you guys or authorities.

You guys have had like 79 meetings since your last re-establishment, and uh so that comes out to about two per month, it seems, if that if I'm doing my calculations right.

Um we meet once a month.

Once a month, actually, uh we would be meeting tonight, but we're going to meet tomorrow night.

Third Tuesday every every month.

And uh, we've never failed to have a quorum established.

We have seven full-time members, two alternates, and even with those members who uh do kind of spend their snowbird lives in Florida or down south.

We still are able to have a quorum, and we have very active memberships involved.

Okay.

I don't have any questions.

I don't see any issues there.

Uh councilwoman.

For the chair, I just want to say that it's a fantastic place and that we're super lucky to have that here in Danbury.

Um, I did go see the Little Mermaid in the summer, and I think the whole improvement of the stage and the lights and the you know concession was just made a huge difference, and I think that was one of the best shows that I've seen, especially that little guy flounder is amazing.

Well, so it's a great thing.

Thank you for working so hard on it.

This year we have seven years.

Thank you for the real bathrooms.

This year is 1776 is on the agenda and uh very popping.

Hasn't hit the headlines yet, but those are the two main shows.

Our teenage development crew, uh, they'll be putting on their own production as well, as well as the smallest of our our theatrical agents that are out there.

They'll be doing fairy tale theater again as well.

Thank you.

Quick pressure for beat counselor.

Uh increasing your fee schedule this year at all, or the fee schedule?

Yeah.

Fee schedule fees are going up by probably a couple dollars per golfer, and that will spread across uh not only our regular golfers or resident golfers, but it'll also impact seniors.

We've gone up a little higher on non-resident golfers.

Uh non-resident golfers on the weekend will be paying about 105 dollars around now for golf and a cart, which is about 20 dollars more than a resident will pay on the weekend.

Our seniors during the week will pay 57 dollars with a cart.

Our regular residents will pay about $76, I believe, during the the week.

Uh it's difficult.

You can imagine with 51 employees, and most those 45 are on minimum wage, and that minimum wage going up has had severely budget, certainly.

But you do get a bucket of balls.

Sorry.

You get the bucket of balls.

That may be going to follow up for how do we compare it to other municipalities as far as I'm sorry.

How do we compare to other municipalities in the most?

We do um compare our rates to other municipalities.

Uh Richter Park is a little bit of an enigma because we are a municipal golf course really without any municipal aid except for capital budgets.

I give you an example.

We are probably going to be $86 for a non-resident on or for a res for a resident on weekends, will be about $86.

Uh I'll never compare us for town of Greenwich, but Greenwich at the at the GRIF because they are so heavily financed by the town.

Their residents, last time I checked, were paying for about $15 around with our cart.

But again, they are in an operating line of the budget, they're funded fully for the capital budget, and their employees are on the town's payroll as well.

No, no follow for me.

No following.

No good.

Just quickly through Chair Chief.

Like to call him Chief.

Yeah, it's just Pete now if you highly call him Chief.

Chief Harold is here as well.

Um but um you do a fantastic job up there.

And I think you can't compare Danbury's Richter Park to other public courses because Richter Park is a diamond in the rough when it comes to golf.

And it's one of the nicest venues that you can play at a public course, and even compares a lot of private courses.

So dollar for dollar, you're getting way more than what you're paying for, in my opinion.

I think most people that play there would agree on that.

I I appreciate that mark.

And our new groundskeeper, uh Nick Morterra, again, a name that you're probably very familiar with in town.

He he's taken the course, he actually started his career as a as a groundskeeper at Browns front in Greenwich, went to Yukon, got his degree in curved turf management, came back when the opening for our groundskeeper opened up last year, literally blew the competition out of the uh the water, and partially because he's homegrown.

I mean, he's a Danbury native, he's vested in the community.

Uh you probably remember his father, Jay Morterra is actually the our animal control officer former police officer.

But the I just can't describe how he's turned the place around.

We actually were noted nationwide as one of the top 10 park courses in the country this past year, and we're consistently in the top 10 of Connecticut of courses that are out there.

But the track of land and the effort that they put into this golf course is tremendous, and you're right.

It is it's tough to compare us to anybody out there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, I'll go around the room.

Any ex-officials have questions.

Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion motion to re-establish the Richter Park Authority for three years to June 30th, 2029.

Second.

Any remarks?

Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Opposed?

Vote so ordered.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Conservation commission.

Good night.

Good night, Chief.

Hello.

Can you tell it with this call?

Hi Kim.

Good evening.

Good evening.

You can uh tell us about the conservation commission really quickly.

And uh basically when I was volunt about the thing, um it was a little bit more than what it is now as far as the mission was to go out and potentially look for land and have the city purchase it and you know stuff like that.

Open space.

Yeah.

Um I haven't necessarily been on top of that as far as for the conservation commission.

Our main focus, similar to the Still River, is to keep the open spaces accessible via uh passive recreation, hiking, um, and making sure all the trails are mowed and upfront.

A lot of the times with all these storms, there's some culverts and some rivers and trees fall down, and it in the past it's been kind of difficult to figure out exactly who to call.

We have a lot of volunteers that we can call, and we're kind of self-sufficient in our areas, but um we've had success also in the past with Bear Mountain because one year, I think it was after hurricanes.

I don't know, there's been so many.

Um but they fixed the culverts and I didn't fix them well enough, and they got washed out like the very like almost the same year.

But happy to say that second time they've been withstanding a lot more.

Um I'm definitely on board with the combining because the parts of this position that I feel that I'm not that capable of doing well.

I think other people are capable of doing well.

Um and just to have a little bit more uh someone to I guess help with the budget, because that's I don't have a city, so it's hard for me to get in and out of that.

Um but the the local people that use all the parks that that I always bump into, everybody's happy.

We did get a new um uh landscaper, not landscaper, but some guy that does the the trails.

We lost a real an excellent uh contractor, and we got a new contract who's who's very good, but he's like twice or three times as much, and he was like the only one that did.

So that's why our budget got almost doubled because he was the only one to do it, and they have to the trails have to be maintained, so um that I guess is about all we're seeing.

Basically, Ed and I both eds we all we meet either in person over the phone at other you know, legal scout projects and discuss things.

Um so we we haven't necessarily been meeting per se once a month like we used to here.

Um we have to get some more volunteers, um and almost I mean, I'd almost like to see the goals almost re-established, just so that like we were saying about renaming the commission to open it up and to have more broad and so people can volunteer with what they feel comfortable with.

Like I'm happy just to make sure all the trails are mowed and open and everybody's happy.

If somebody likes doing budgets, they can make sure all the budgets are you know, met and stuff like that.

Just a little bit more of a tune.

I could just yeah, I wanted to hack on.

Thank you.

Um, so the mayor's in favor of this as well, this consolidation and um maybe even potentially looking at like Kenosha Commission next year because we're looking at three people.

Yeah, three people who are super volunteers, uh, but we do need a little bit of a rebranding to get some other folks on board.

Uh one thing that we do have um now is uh leader and um uh well we appointed uh director of our creation who is a very strong believer of trail systems and uh has looked for different grants that could help support.

So connecting you all um will be really helpful.

I know Ed has good experience with the budget, so hopefully that covers a lot too.

Not that your budget is too complicated, but we'll work with you every year as we do.

Um, but yeah, I'm absolutely in favor of this.

I think um even working together, we have a sustainability commission.

Ryan Holly's in the room, so I wanted to shout that out as well.

That I think there's a lot of efforts that happen in Danbury that if this commission did form a new kind of branding and revitalize the policies and and made it you know something we could promote.

We have a lot of people that could be interested.

Just right now, it's it's you know, it's stagnant.

So um I'm happy to work with if it's gonna be the conservation commission, or if we come up with a different name, happy to help kind of re-establish our branding on this website and put out sort of that message to get people on board with joining it.

So yeah, I think it's like how do you get people like put a sign up at the parks?

Like and Sean probably would too, yeah.

I mean, Rachford, once you guys get in touch, he'll be excited about it, and his assistant director's a big trail uh person.

So that's been part of uh some of the work that they're trying to do over there to get it uh to get those out there and share the message.

So yeah, I think there's a lot of hope here is if we do this.

So I I mean we we had conversations before.

I've been kind of reading the notes from previous uh GERCs, and you know, I I think the whole river, though the whole reason we put Still River under you guys was to create that that consolidation, but I think we did we really do need to go one step further.

Um we also have uh the Lake Lake Kenosha Commission does not meet regularly, but it serves a purpose as well, too.

So I I think we're gonna have an interesting um recommendation towards the end here.

But I'm glad to see that you're open to this this possibility.

Because everybody wants to help, but it's like it'd be so much more efficient if each person knew exactly what to do.

And again, none of these are mandated by state statute from what I could tell, but obviously when they're created, they're written into the city ordinances, so those those get impacted.

So anything that we do obviously is gonna have corporation council a little busy trying to, you know, if we consolidate two or three uh uh commissions, it's gonna have to be one new ordinance uh for that new commission.

So there's gonna be a lot of work uh when it comes to consolidation as well, too.

But I think we really need to have you know you guys who are the subject matter experts for each of these commissions come together and say what can we do?

And and that's what I'm I'm looking forward to as we move forward.

Um the ladies before gentlemen, do you comments or questions, Councilman?

No, not really.

I think well, I guess to the chair.

So I guess you guys really haven't been able to um you haven't really been meeting it.

You just don't really have it.

Uh uh, I mean basically we just make sure the lawn gets mowed.

I'm asking, so you need a restart, right?

New people or some just need to restart.

Yeah.

There's a couple people that are still interested, and there's um there's a couple of new people that are interested too that have a lot more experience in the part that I don't have much experience in.

So just for the record, I mean we went back, it's 2017 or 2018 is the last time that you formally met, and that was way before COVID.

So we would meet, but I wouldn't put it on the type up the minutes because I wasn't allowed because I was the chair, and but there's nobody else to take minutes, so you know.

I just say too, like everyone does need re terms reviewed, obviously, but we it would not make sense to do it in a piece where you can't meet anyway.

So we're waiting for this.

So I think uh once we get it all together, we can't.

I mean, there's some people that are so strict with all that stuff.

Yeah, I mean, upnight, that's we'll find you a nice secretary.

Mr.

Corey, uh through the chair, uh and thank you very much for your presentation.

Um, so how how many properties are is the conservation commission overseeing?

Is it three?

There's Bear Mountain, Still River, Farrington, Old Quarry, and there's like the West Vic Westmans that's kind of up in the air, that property.

Um, and the widow property.

So we don't so who who's in who's the responsible party if there's an incident there that involves city services?

Like, who do they go to?

Public works, does it go to the police department?

If there's an incident at Farrington Park.

The public like a public safety incident.

I mean, who's in yeah?

I mean, there's a lot of things going on in these properties.

So it's past the city property.

I mean, if there's a public safety incident, the police respond.

It's not it's public property.

So yeah.

We're doing it.

Yeah, um, basically let me speak for Mark Second.

If there's a problem, usually we try to take care of I know I've been maintaining the old quarry nature center for about 50 years now.

Uh with the chainsaw, uh weed whackers and stuff.

It's a serious book on that.

They appointed me as the park.

So I patrol it.

If there's campers there, I ask them to kindly take yourself up and leave.

Uh what we're in need of, uh we need to work closer with the city.

Meaning the parks in recorks.

Um tree department.

I'm getting old and uh I I can't do as much as I used to do.

But with the parks, if there's something down, we usually take care of it.

But we're at the point now where we would like to be able to call the tree department public works itself.

And the conservation commission is very important.

And here's why we have all this open space land.

And the city of Danbury, as you know, is being grown so rapidly.

But what we don't take in consideration is all the animals that have been living, and they're being pushed out of their homes.

So these parks that we have are necessary.

And what I personally like to see the trails maintain, uh, so people can walk through, appreciate what God put on this land and let us be the caretakers of uh it it's important to keep this land for passive use, and we're trying.

We got some new members that I think will come on, but I I like to I know Kevin uh we'd like to work together and maintain these parks and keep it as open space.

Uh thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ed.

If we just the follow if you don't mind.

So just for instance, Farrington Woods, I don't know if it's a mile in the city of Dammer into Brewster, it's a three-mile trail to Brewster.

But who, you know, there's a lot of people coming and going on those trails during the day.

Is there anybody from the city that's patrolling that trail?

There's a police officer that lives on the property and all the parks.

We have to but are they are they are they patrolling the trail during the day?

Uh I mean if they're not working, yeah.

They're not controlling.

No, it's that's why we have them live there though.

We have leases with people in the middle of the year.

And Bear Mountain has a police living on these.

You know, because you know a tree falls down on the trailer.

Public's reporting it.

If they call me, then I call the city of Danbury, or I'll have my husband and my son go out and do it.

Okay.

Or there's a couple of neighbors that you know, and again, technically you're not supposed to have chainsaws.

Well, it's a big responsibility to make that.

Thank you.

I'm gonna go there, but I want to keep this moving along because we do have a meeting at 7 30.

Um the these are members of a commission that are keeping the trails both still river, the quarry.

Are they covered if something happens, God forbid?

Yeah, I see.

Uh they hire out contractors, that's what we pay for.

So the city of Denver pays contractors who are have insurance that they provide to them.

I mean, they are not asked to make sure.

Yeah, but they are not asked to use materials or equipment to do maintenance work.

They hire out, which the city pays for you'll see that in your budget in April.

Thank you.

Ex officios.

Quick question.

Um, so we're talking about the future of um what this commission might look like.

And one thing I think about is the marger trail.

Would that fall into this purview possibly?

Um that well, the dog parks there.

So that's like a whole other can of work.

I mean, granted, Bear Mountain is kind of like a dog park also.

But um that might be like more.

Yeah, it could be something decided by the council if I could just interrupt like we don't have a budget for that or a scope to get that.

We know it's passed, but if we do, we'd have to see what a budget would look like to maintain it.

That's gonna be a large thing.

Yeah, I think I I would look at our parks department, but uh first for second time.

Did I did you have your hand up?

Yeah, councilman.

I'm I'm hearing a uh um kind of a common theme uh, you know, with the with the trails because uh what I'm experiencing at Richter as well, uh the maintenance is a real issue, and um I think it it would be really great if we could uh have like a centralized uh um place where we you know we can just call in, you know, uh call in someone to uh to do that maintenance.

And right now, um, you know, we're sort of running everything through Sean Rashford, and then uh and then he has to he doesn't have any staff really that can go out on the trail, so he'll have to call Tim Nolan, and then you know, and then things are gonna have to go through that chain.

Uh that's exactly what happens to me all the time.

That's I don't I don't know who to call.

Now each other.

You mentioned uh, you know, who's is anyone walking the trails.

I walk those trails like almost every day.

Yeah, either Farrington or Richter Park.

And um and uh I I see a lot of stuff that needs maintenance uh in both places, and um Farrington Woods has had some uh trails that uh are essentially closed right now.

They're not even uh passable at this point.

So uh the main trails are, but uh um some of the uh uh side trails are are not so it's something that we could you know really benefit from you know uh having a centralized uh um but again the Richter Park Authority oversees the trails and I believe maintains a budget for that.

Do they not?

No.

And there are budgeting.

Your budget is for the golf course maintenance.

It's not for the maintenance.

Oh did they put you on to clear their budget is for all the as the board member, yeah.

That's we could discuss that more with the budget.

Okay, I'm gonna go around the room.

Anybody else I'll entertain a motion?

Motion to re-establish the conservation commission for one year to June 30th, 2027, with the request that the conservation commission, still River Alliance Commission, and Lake Kenosha Commission work together to further consolidate and recommend a single entity to serve the city.

Most of the mayor and second any remarks, just to let you know, Lake Commotion Kenosha Commission comes up next year, and we felt that it would be appropriate to kind of have the three entities.

So we're not terminating, and this is why we didn't make a motion for how long Still River Alliance, because it's automatically extended under the Commission, Conservation Commission.

But now you have a year to work on a plan to present back to us for next year's GERP committee to review and then re-establish whatever goes on from there, and obviously any ordinance work that has to happen.

So that's why that was uh that done that way.

Any other remarks?

Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Opposed, vote so ordered.

This is gonna be environmental impact commission.

Good evening, Mr.

Chairman, members of the board.

My name is Larry Leeman.

I'm the environmental enforcement officer for the for the city of Danbury, and uh DEIC's um liaison, not a liaison, but I'm their staff member.

Okay, I'm their staff member this year.

Um we don't have a budget.

Okay, so I I don't I'm not asking for one at this point.

I mean, we uh you are, but that's okay.

Um we don't we don't have a budget.

I've we've done 30.

We use usually you have 40 wetland permits a year, about 20 violations a year.

Um, and that obviously changes with what I see when we go out there.

Um this past year we did a bunch of flood resiliency projects.

We got the still river cleaned up behind Toyota.

That was a log jam that was there that was massive.

Okay, I got the I got Stu Leonard's and Toyota to do that cleanup.

Also, also we did the Rogers Park flood control, which we don't think that um the with the work that ended with GPW and what with the wetlands agency.

We um we don't think that the affordable house or the housing the senior housing that's down there is going to get a shot like it did when we had that last storm.

So that's you know, so those are the kinds of things that we're doing.

Um I've done hundreds of erosion control inspections a year.

I mean, this is what we do.

Um currently, currently the commission for the first time is reviewing its regulations and fee structures since 1992.

Okay, so and we've been meeting every two weeks.

Um the commission meets uh twice a month.

Um as and it is also the commission is also mandated by the uh by statute.

And I'll answer any questions that you might have.

My name is Jeff Harold.

I'm a member of the commission.

I'm the only member who's able to attend tonight.

Um pile on with him.

Um formed since 1992 when we were 72 originally formed by state law.

Um he had to have a commission that meets our uh mission statement.

Um and we're in place since then with that.

We've rewriting our uh policies and fee structure um to bring them up to a more common le level than they have been.

The policies themselves were generally uh far beyond their due date.

Um and uh so we've had to rewrite a bunch of those, and those are in the process now.

And I'm not really gonna ask for a budget, don't worry.

Um, but we need money.

Thank you.

Okay.

We want to re-ex, we're gonna re-esta uh establish you, so we are gonna move you uh ahead.

It's gonna be three years, as I I mentioned before, but I will open it up for questions.

Any questions from the committee?

Mr.

Corey, you're the only uh paid employee for the city environmental inspections.

Yes, sir.

Um and I'm with the health department, and I have other duties besides the environmental duties.

I also have public health duties that I have to do as well.

Um I'm spread very, very thin.

Um, but we get it done currently.

We have a huge, another big project, another 10 lot subdivision that came in that re-established itself from 20 years ago.

And it's going to it's it's just starting that process again.

Um there's a lot of the and as well as all of the I've been working with amphenol or with there's been with Westcog and wanting to do something with Amphenol.

There's a lot on my plate to get it done.

And yes, I am the only person that does it, and I am at every meeting, and I provide staff um comments for everything that comes before the commission.

And it does come out on weekends because I've had to call them a number of times.

I do it all the time.

Thank you.

Bet you wish you didn't have that number in your phone.

You're right.

Um it's okay.

That's what the job entails.

Okay.

Any other questions from the committee?

Uh ex officia councilman she leases hand go up.

I do the chair as a former chair of the EIC.

I understand the importance of this commission back 22 years, 24 years ago.

Importance back then, it's even tripled that today.

Absolutely.

The amount of um open space has been diminished.

The need for wetland has grown tremendously to protect it.

Um so it does need the resources in order to do it.

It's getting more and more complicated today through changings in zoning.

Remember the EIC sometimes is the last form of defense to protect our open space.

So the need is there.

Um as far as budget.

I do try to get a budget when I was the chair, and I wasn't formed back then.

You're a part of the planning and zoning department.

You fall under them.

So your money comes out of the planning zoning, not the health department.

So your money is as you might exactly is a very convoluted chain of finances, though.

It is correct.

Yes.

Well is training, training, training to go to the training they have, which isn't central to that is the problem.

Correct.

So it's important.

I think three years is probably not enough.

It should be a permanent myself because it's that important.

So as much help the council can give you.

You just gotta hopefully you'll communicate that as much as you can.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Okay.

Any other ex officios?

Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion.

Uh motion to re-establish the environmental impact commission for three years to June 30th, 2029.

Second.

Thanks for made and second.

Any remarks?

Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Opposed.

Most awarded, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, the Danbury Museum and a historical society authority.

And I knew Jeff, why did you even get up?

We'll sit over on this side.

All right.

Do your do your best.

One minute elevator.

Yeah, I see that.

Actually, you got three and a half minutes.

Before your 7:30 meeting time.

No, you can go ahead.

On behalf of the Danbury Museum, I'm here with Jeff Harold, who is the museum board president and Sergey, who also is friends president.

So the Danbury Museum in five minutes or less is we keep the history alive.

We preserve, we protect, and we explain how our city has grown and changed.

And we do it to educate, we do it to promote tourism, uh, we do it to promote economic viability in the lower Main Street corridor, and we do it because it is a mission of the museum as a nonprofit governmental entity to make sure that our history is available to the general public as often and in as many ways as we possibly can.

So we do that through exhibitions, we do it through uh conversations, uh, through research, uh work with the Danbury Public Schools and myriad other organizations uh that we see on a yearly basis.

We are also the home of uh several entities uh who continue to meet at the museum and promote goals of inclusivity uh throughout the Danbury community.

We saw 17,000 people uh in person last year.

Uh we reach over a hundred thousand persons through social media each month.

The Danbury Museum is a vibrant and vital part of the Danbury community, and we are thrilled that you allow us to continue to do the work that we do.

Um all of the materials at the Danbury Museum are held because people, like the people in this room, actually nine people in this room have done this, have donated items, and your donated archival materials and material culture pieces inform how we understand history.

It is truly a community museum that has been uh we have been gifting items from this community to the museum for more than eight years, although we have been a part of the city family since 2008.

How longer version I don't think anybody up here would argue that the public benefit is there and that it needs to be re-established, so I can tell you it's going to be re-established.

So questions council uh ad hoc members ex officios hearing none, uh entertain a motion motion to re-establish the Danbury Museum and Historical Society for three years to June 30th, 2029.

Second, motion may and second and any remarks.

Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Opposed, vote so ordered.

Thank you.

Is anybody here from the Danbury Main Street Partnership?

Thank you.

Thanks so corporation council.

We need your uh console here.

This committee actually was not uh it was uh re-established for one year in 2022.

2023, it was not brought up, but somehow a scrivener's error gave it life until 2026.

So it's back here again.

We want to set this on its path for termination.

So last year the committee did something called a no take no action, which started the uh the sunsetting the committee, which means if we take no action, it ends this June.

And then they have a year to ramp down, and they officially terminate June 2027.

Yes.

So if we take no action, then that's where we're going.

But I'm verbalizing this for the record so people know that.

Um motion to take no action uh regarding Danbury Main Street Partnership.

Second.

Motion may and second to take no action.

Any remarks?

Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Opposed.

Votes are ordered.

And this is an update.

An update for the Danbury Housing Partnership.

It is ending its one-year termination uh ramp up.

So by uh June 30th, 2026, the Danbury Housing Partnership will be terminated officially.

We need to know if there's anything that we need to recommend for ordinance changes because the partnership is in the city ordinance.

Okay.

Uh, do I need a motion to bring this to the council as a whole?

No, because it automatically has to go to public hearing first.

We'll have to put something up to the first time.

And basically, by virtue of each of the motions, those are the motions that come back to the council, correct?

No, you can.

You could recommend the um corporate.

So recommend an ordinance be presented to remove it.

Or an amendment to the ordinance be presented to remove it from the court of order.

Yeah.

So we didn't help you uh recommend that the Danbury Howley Partnership be removed from the city of Demory Code ordinances.

That's okay.

Right, and then we'll see why.

So say what she says because to remove the Danbury Housing Partnership from the City.

From the City of Danbury, no one knows.

I should be in second any remarks.

Not all in favor say aye.

Opposed.

Let's go.