Danbury Ad Hoc Committee Meeting on Small Cities Grant Amendment – April 27, 2026
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Danbury Ad Hoc Committee Meeting on Small Cities Grant Amendment – April 27, 2026
An ad hoc committee of the Danbury City Council met to consider an amendment to an existing resolution for the Connecticut Department of Housing Small Cities Grant. The Health Department requested approval of an additional $90,000 in funding and an extension of the funding period from March 31, 2026 to August 30, 2026. The committee heard background on the grant and unanimously approved the amendment.
Discussion Items
- The meeting was called to order at 6:02 PM by the chair, who noted that the ad hoc committee was reviewing a Small Cities Grant from the Connecticut Department of Housing, originally awarded in 2024.
- During the December 2025 City Council meeting, the council had approved accepting an additional $124,000, bringing the total at that time to $304,000. The Health Department is now requesting an amendment to accept an additional $90,000, for a total of $514,000, and to extend the funding period to August 30, 2026.
- Director Fernanda Carvalho of the Health Department explained that the Connecticut Department of Housing notified them of additional available funds for shelter operations and management, and the department agreed to use them. She also noted a typo in the resolution ("206" instead of "2026") and corrected it.
- Councilman Michael Flanagan expressed support, calling it "free money" and a "no-brainer." Councilman Michael Henry asked about the aggregate amount, and it was clarified that the original $304,000 and the $124,000 had already been fully spent.
- The chair acknowledged the presence of several council members, corporation counsel, finance staff, and an ex officio council member.
Key Outcomes
- The committee unanimously approved a motion to accept the additional $90,000 in funding and to extend the funding period to August 30, 2026. The motion was made by Councilman Flanagan, seconded by Councilman Henry, and passed by voice vote with all in favor.
- The meeting was adjourned at 6:08 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, let's see. 602. I'd like to call this ad hoc to meeting. It's a uh to order this meeting to order. It's a ad hoc on a review of the Connecticut Department of Health Small Cities grant. There's also an amendment to this that we will deal with tonight. So to start, um, the background is that um during the December 2025 city council meeting, the council approved the health department's request to accept additional funding in the amount not to exceed 124,000 dollars from the state of Connecticut Department of Housing, um small cities grants, and this is uh a grant that's distributed through the Connecticut State Department of Ump. Um the Department is uh the Health Department is now requesting an amendment to this existing resolution and the contract with the Connecticut Department of Health to extend the funding date from March 31st, 2026 to April 30th, 2026, and also I believe there's a change in the amount, or did I say the amount not to exceed 124,000? For the new request, uh 90,000. Another 90,000. Okay. Um so we will um start with that. Um we'll open with that. And um, I would just like to talk a little bit. The small cities grants is uh available to municipalities the size of Danbury and serve to supplement, I think existing programs within the city. And I know from um uh managing a nonprofit in the outdoor public recreation space. Uh this is a busy time sometimes for grant writing as fiscal years end and some available funding is available becomes available because it hasn't been spent on certain items. Um so I'm just suggesting that this might be what happened here with this particular grant, and so I just would like you to elaborate on that. Uh that is correct. We received notification from the Department of Housing that they had additional funding available in the amount of ninety thousand dollars, and they asked if we would be able to use these funds for shelter operations and management, and we said yes. Um and the uh so uh subsequently we also requested to extend the funding period until August uh 30th. And there's actually a typo on the resolution now that I see it, it says 206, it's supposed to be 2026. Um so I just wanted to make that yes, uh August 30th, 2026. Um that's why we are requesting um to apply for the or accept the additional funding and then extend the funding period. So there's two things we're um additional funding at 90,000 and then also to extend the um the period to August 30th, 2026. Okay. Um that's the questions that I have. I will defer to council members. I'll just say thank you for the free money. Yeah, no, I mean what you know, this should have been a no-brainer and just take all you can get. And I realize I was remiss in mentioning that members of the ad hoc who are here include councilman um Mike Flanagan, Councilman Michael Henry, Tracy Norris Corporation Council, and Fernanda Carvalho, the director of um the Department of Health. And also with us is Taylor O'Brien from the mayor's office, and um ex officio councilman John Laughinghouse, ex officio president count uh council president Peter Buzade, and ex officio Michael McAllister. Um I'm sorry, Bill William McAllister uh councilman, and also around the table we have um Vyasnu from the Health Department and Director Garrick from the Finance Department and Kara Prenti as well from the finance department. Um sorry about that. Sorry for not noticing that earlier. And Councilman Henry, you have questions? Uh quick question to the chair. So there's a the first line, the aggregate amounts is about to exceed 300,000. Is that just something additionally you can go up to that number? So that was the original award um from back in 2014 uh 24. Um since then we had the additional funding in the amount of 124,000, and then now there's additional funding in the amount of 90,000. The 300,000 and the 124,000 have already fully been spent. Okay. Thank you. No questions. So the total um the total then award to Danbury over since December, July and December would be over 400,000, right? $414,000. $480. The total, including this one is $514,000. $304,000.
openpublica.com