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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Danbury Budget Ad Hoc Committee Meeting – Health, Human Services & Public Safety – April 13, 2026

Meeting Portal — Monday, April 13, 2026

BodyDanbury, Connecticut

SessionMeeting Portal

DateMonday, April 13, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 1:52:40

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:00

My name is Frank Salvatore.

0:02

I am the chair of this ad hoc budget committee meeting.

0:07

It is uh 1801, and I'm now a minute late, and I want to call this meeting to order so we can move through this swiftly.

0:18

This is the budget ad hoc meeting for the health human services and public safety budget, which totals 58,507,263.

0:32

With me up here at the dais is Councilman Lugi Ardano, Councilwoman Claire Jabor, Councilman Paul Rotello, and Councilman Mike Henry.

0:46

In the front of us, we have the mayor, Roberto Alves, his chief of staff, Taylor O'Brien, Dan Garrick, and Dan Garrick's uh number right hand and left hand people, Kara Pronty and Joanna Stirk, not to be confused with Stark.

1:14

And all of you in the audience, I thank you for coming in uh tonight.

1:20

Uh here's the goal.

1:22

The goal is to get through 16 departments in an expedient manner.

1:28

I'm going to ask for the um ad hoc committee's indulgence to allow me to get um people out of here a little earlier who may need to get out of here earlier um and also kind of flip it so we do the smaller departments first.

1:48

And yes, unfortunately, Chiefs.

1:51

I'm gonna have you guys the fire department, police department are gonna go last.

1:54

And I know Chief Rittenhauer just was that the high side?

1:59

No.

2:01

Um more than likely.

2:06

So at least not until after we approve the budget, right?

2:12

They pass the budget.

2:14

So what I'd like something about being there prior to been there done that.

2:21

Um what I'd like to do is I would like to go first with health and human services.

2:29

So, Fernanda, I'm gonna have you come to one of the podiums.

2:34

The health and human services budget is found on budget book page 188.

2:42

And basically, I will open it up to the members of the committee to ask their questions.

2:52

Once their questions have been exhausted, I will open it up to ex officio.

2:57

Um, please remember uh put your remarks through the chair to the person, and if there's somebody else that you need to ask a question to make sure you call them up to one of the podiums if it's not just the department head.

3:12

Okay.

3:13

All right.

3:17

Fernando, welcome.

3:18

Thank you.

3:20

So uh I see you're asking for about a 2.79% increase over the last year's adopted budget.

3:32

And I don't find anything that I am really concerned about.

3:40

So I just want to ask the question is there anything that is not in this budget that's going to prevent you from doing anything, or does your budget also take into account grant revenue?

3:55

It does not take into account the grants that we are awarded.

3:59

Um but yes, we with this budget, we can um run the department effectively in the next fiscal year.

4:07

And my last question is about I because I didn't figure grants were in here, but knowing the climate and the volatility with the grants that are out there.

4:19

Um do you have any contingency plans being put together in the background just in case somebody from DC or God forbid even Harford because they'll have money pulled uh pulls any funding on you?

4:37

We do.

4:38

Um we usually keep our per capita funding.

4:42

Um we use that last, so that's a state um uh allocation for Danbury.

4:49

We usually leave that as our last resort so that if we need to shift um employees from one grant source to per capita, we have that ability to do that at the last minute.

5:00

Um so it's sort of our rainy day fund.

5:03

Cool.

5:04

I think I kind of went out of order because aren't I supposed to say to Dan?

5:07

Dan and your team, do you have anything you want to bring up about the budget?

5:12

I have nothing to add.

5:14

Oh, perfect.

5:14

I didn't go out of order.

5:17

Uh sure.

5:18

Council.

5:20

Uh up front.

5:21

I have a question about the uh homeless shelters.

5:24

Um how are we doing with the funding on that?

5:28

We currently have exhausted the small cities uh funding, which was uh 300,000 um until the end of December and then 124,000 until the end of April.

5:43

So that has been exhausted.

5:44

Now we have the Department of Housing funding that is 230,000 annually.

5:52

Um which which line item uh would uh that will most likely not be on here, I believe.

6:02

Uh councilman I can help.

6:04

Yeah, that's uh from the state grant for funding.

6:08

No, that's not uh that's from the state grant, so you're not gonna find that in here.

6:14

I would also share that.

6:15

We do have a uh organization that runs our shelters for us that can go out and apply for separate grants, which they do often, so that would not be in the book.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Fiscal Sustainability████████████████████████24%

Public Safety████████████████████████24%

Engineering And Infrastructure████████████████16%

Technology and Innovation███████7%

Records Management██████6%

Homelessness█████5%

Procedural███3%

Consumer Protection███3%

Emergency Management███3%

Summary of Proceedings

Danbury Budget Ad Hoc Committee Meeting – Health, Human Services & Public Safety – April 13, 2026

The Danbury Budget Ad Hoc Committee, chaired by Councilman Frank Salvatore and including Councilmen Lugi Ardano, Claire Jabor, Paul Rotello, and Mike Henry, met on April 13, 2026, to review and recommend the Health, Human Services, and Public Safety budget totaling $58,507,263. Mayor Roberto Alves, Chief of Staff Taylor O'Brien, Finance Director Dan Garrick, and staff were present. The committee aimed to efficiently review 16 departments, starting with smaller ones and saving Fire and Police for last.

Discussion Items

Health and Human Services (Fernanda Carvalho)

Budget request proposed a 2.79% increase over the previous year. Carvalho confirmed the budget adequately supports department operations and does not include grant revenue. She noted a contingency plan using per capita state funding as a "rainy day fund" if federal or state grants are cut.
Homeless shelter funding: $300,000 in Small Cities funding exhausted end of December, $124,000 through April; now $230,000 annually from Department of Housing (state grant, not in this budget). A separate organization runs shelters and can apply for additional grants.
Eviction line item ($124,000? unclear) covers storage of personal belongings for evicted individuals; items held 30-90 days then auctioned. The department works to prevent evictions, but some still cycle into shelter.
Grants on page 191 (about $227,000) fund specific programs: CIFC (Head Start), Danbury Youth Services (summer workers), and Center for Empowerment and Education (formerly Women’s Center).
Two positions (community health program coordinator funds) reclassified to social services specialist and health program assistant.

Elderly Services (Susan)

Elderly Transportation is an allocation to the Housing Authority (no questions). Elderly Services budget: 1.61% increase, adding one FTE program assistant to support the breakfast meal program (not Meals on Wheels). Funds adequate for current and future programs.

Consumer Protection and Weights & Measures (Taylor O'Brien)

Tom Nickel retired; rehiring for weights and measures specialist. Discussed whether electric vehicle charging ports will be inspected—not currently on list, but may be handled by state DCP. No other questions.

Veterans (Director Hayes)

Budget with 1.61% increase, stable. Director Hayes stated he could operate with less. Hometown Heroes banner funded separately.

City Center (Sean Stillman)

2.17% increase; three FTEs plus a part-timer hired last year. Stillman reported 1,500 service requests last year, nearly half proactive, and on track to exceed that in 2026. New ordinances (health/zoning driven) will help enforcement of blight and other violations. Parking violation revenue goes to general fund, but blight fees ($20,350) are tracked separately on revenue page 48.

Community Services (Melissa Stern/Taylor O'Brien)

$330,000 budget; pass-through grants to Downtown Council (City Center PILOT), United Way (social services grant process – $352,400 with $30,000 admin fee), and Danbury PAL. Grantees must report quarterly per April memo.

Animal Control (Lieutenant)

$371,000 budget (1.56% increase); three FTEs (two animal control officers, one secretary), no part-time staff. Adequate for services.

Airport (Mike Safranic)

Stable budget; FTEs at three. Major achievements: $9M in federal funding over five years, including $4M for new runway, lighting upgrades, vehicles, taxiway. Budget preserved despite inflation; doing more with less. Subscription membership line item ($45? actually covering calibration of LPV approach system); access control system subscription used for update last year. Usage statistics: flights equal takeoffs/landings (246 each); trending up 20% in last three months despite snow. Airport revenues (leases, tie-down fees) exceed expenditures; revenues from Red Lobster/Olive Garden leases ($300K/year), new hangar project ($5M, added to grand list). Three electric VW ID.4s obtained via grants (free); used for inspections and as security vehicle. Special Police Officer Esteban retired after 46 years; backfill being sought.

HART (Taylor O'Brien)

$800,000 budget (5% increase) for operational support; advertising revenue goes to HART, not city. Bus shelter replacements on Federal and Mill Plain roads; pilot program for new transportation hubs stalled, but Kennedy shelter upgrade being discussed.

Building Inspector (Jim Shuler)

$820,000 budget (0.78% increase), eight FTEs. New AI code review software (user accounts cost extra; bulk in IT budget) aims to reduce redundancies, not replace jobs. City-wide AI policy in final legal review. Records: digital since October 2019; prior records mixed paper/electronic. FOI requests consume 60-70% of secretary’s time. Scanning project piloted with grants; expensive. No statute of limitations on FOI requests; some records cannot be destroyed. Ordinance changes increased building department fees (initial $100 application fee). Building activity remains strong: on track for 9,000 inspections this year (up from 7,900 last year). Revenue increases due to fees but ebb and flow.

Emergency Management (Matt Cassevecia)

$300,000 budget (4.14% increase). Contractual services increased 36.4% to cover possible loss of EMPG grant. Rental real estate line item for debris management program land lease and AT&T tower lease for police/fire communications. No FTE changes.

Ambulance Fund (Matt Cassevecia)

$5.34 million (1.79% increase); zero-based budget funded by net revenue ($4.7 million) and fund reserves. No FTE changes. Line items adjusted to balance.

Emergency Services Dispatch (Chief Lownsbury)

$3.24 million (2.58% increase); same staffing, no changes.

Fire Department (Chief Lownsbury)

$23.88 million (5.86% increase). Adds three lieutenants and one captain in preparation for Station 27; firefighters already on line. Attrition will require backfill. Vehicle maintenance line reduced by $50,000, offset by capital funding for new vehicles. Cleaning services jump removed; deep cleaning to be handled separately. Well-prepared for EV fires (two EV blankets donated, FDNY observed training). Chief does not recommend banning EVs from parking garages at this time.

Police Department (Chief Rittenhauer)

$23.88 million (5.86% increase). Adds five new officers; one clerk typist position converted to intelligence analyst/coordinator for data analysis and real-time crime center. Overtime projected at $2.5 million (based on 3-year average of $2.6M and 5-year of $2.4M); as hiring fills to 175-180, overtime should trend down (but takes a year for new hires to impact). Professional services increased for drug screenings (20% per state mandate) and psychological evaluations. Training budget increase for academy startup (Danbury hopes to run its own police academy; space being evaluated by POST Council, revenue possible from other towns). Mayor confirmed interest in permanent capital space for future. Mental health crisis intervention training included in regular training budget. Dignitary protection detail (mayor’s detail) has one primary and alternates; total cost to be provided.

Key Outcomes

Motion: Councilman Salvatore moved to recommend to the full City Council approval of the Health, Human Services and Public Safety budget of $58,507,263 as presented in the mayor’s budget. The motion was seconded by Councilman Ardano and passed unanimously by voice vote with all committee members in favor.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:00 PM after nearly two hours. The budget recommendation will be forwarded to the full City Council for final action.

Meeting Transcript

My name is Frank Salvatore. I am the chair of this ad hoc budget committee meeting. It is uh 1801, and I'm now a minute late, and I want to call this meeting to order so we can move through this swiftly. This is the budget ad hoc meeting for the health human services and public safety budget, which totals 58,507,263. With me up here at the dais is Councilman Lugi Ardano, Councilwoman Claire Jabor, Councilman Paul Rotello, and Councilman Mike Henry. In the front of us, we have the mayor, Roberto Alves, his chief of staff, Taylor O'Brien, Dan Garrick, and Dan Garrick's uh number right hand and left hand people, Kara Pronty and Joanna Stirk, not to be confused with Stark. And all of you in the audience, I thank you for coming in uh tonight. Uh here's the goal. The goal is to get through 16 departments in an expedient manner. I'm going to ask for the um ad hoc committee's indulgence to allow me to get um people out of here a little earlier who may need to get out of here earlier um and also kind of flip it so we do the smaller departments first. And yes, unfortunately, Chiefs. I'm gonna have you guys the fire department, police department are gonna go last. And I know Chief Rittenhauer just was that the high side? No. Um more than likely. So at least not until after we approve the budget, right? They pass the budget. So what I'd like something about being there prior to been there done that. Um what I'd like to do is I would like to go first with health and human services. So, Fernanda, I'm gonna have you come to one of the podiums. The health and human services budget is found on budget book page 188. And basically, I will open it up to the members of the committee to ask their questions. Once their questions have been exhausted, I will open it up to ex officio. Um, please remember uh put your remarks through the chair to the person, and if there's somebody else that you need to ask a question to make sure you call them up to one of the podiums if it's not just the department head. Okay. All right. Fernando, welcome. Thank you. So uh I see you're asking for about a 2.79% increase over the last year's adopted budget. And I don't find anything that I am really concerned about. So I just want to ask the question is there anything that is not in this budget that's going to prevent you from doing anything, or does your budget also take into account grant revenue? It does not take into account the grants that we are awarded. Um but yes, we with this budget, we can um run the department effectively in the next fiscal year. And my last question is about I because I didn't figure grants were in here, but knowing the climate and the volatility with the grants that are out there. Um do you have any contingency plans being put together in the background just in case somebody from DC or God forbid even Harford because they'll have money pulled uh pulls any funding on you? We do. Um we usually keep our per capita funding. Um we use that last, so that's a state um uh allocation for Danbury. We usually leave that as our last resort so that if we need to shift um employees from one grant source to per capita, we have that ability to do that at the last minute. Um so it's sort of our rainy day fund. Cool. I think I kind of went out of order because aren't I supposed to say to Dan? Dan and your team, do you have anything you want to bring up about the budget? I have nothing to add. Oh, perfect. I didn't go out of order. Uh sure. Council. Uh up front. I have a question about the uh homeless shelters.

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