Good evening.

We like to call this again.

All right.

Good evening.

We'd like to call this Court of Common Council public comment meeting to order for today, January twelfth, twenty twenty six.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Also streaming live on Facebook and HPA TV YouTube channel.

Thank you for joining us today.

Public comment shall be conducted in accordance with the following procedures.

Each person wishing to address the council thereof shall, upon recognition by the presiding officer, give his his or her name, and if he or she represents a group, shall in addition state for the record the name and address of said group or organization and shall limit his or her remarks to three minutes.

All remarks shall be addressed to the council as a body and not as an individual member thereof.

If anyone addresses the council in in the individual capacity, they will be redirected to address the council as a whole by way of warning by the presiding officer.

Any person making personal impertinent or slanderous remarks or who becomes boisterous while addressing the council shall be forthwith barred by the presiding officer from further audience at said meeting, unless permission to remain is granted by two-thirds vote of the council members present and voting.

During the public comment, there should be no debate by the council, although questions may be asked by the council to persons making such a presentation.

Our first uh speaker is Peter Little, and our timekeeper for this evening will be Councilman Gale.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Uh I'm here today to continue uh speaking about what I've been raising with the council uh with City Hall leaders and with the Civilian Police Review Board over the last several sessions, several meetings, namely the failure of the CPRB, the Civilian Police Review Board to forward its findings of sustained misconduct, its sustained findings of misconduct from 21 2021 to 2024 on to the chief of police for review and possible administration of discipline.

It just uh is an issue that will not sleep.

Uh and I'd like to say a couple of things tonight.

One really two things, both relate to the power of data.

We uh as members of the public find it very hard to know whether or what exactly happened to the findings of sustained misconduct that the CPRB over those four years realized there were approximately 75 individuals, residents of Hartford, um from outside Hartford, who filed complaints, took it upon themselves to go through the somewhat taxing process of being interviewed and um scrutinized for their own integrity and uh reliability, and yet despite the CPRB, these nine volunteers who quite faithfully, month after month gathered to review the misconduct cases that were presented to them, despite them finding approximately 75 officers had committed misconduct, it appears that those findings weren't forwarded.

So it's very hard to know the data.

What happened to that the data?

Why was it not forwarded?

And indeed, as uh Mayor Aralumpalam stated in November to investigative reporter Sam Smink at Channel 3.

Is it true that the large the vast majority of those cases receive some form of discipline through the internal affairs process that the HPD maintains as a matter of course?

So we as citizens as residents are really without the necessary data.

So this week we are filing FOIA requests.

I should say, on behalf of I'm re here representing American Justice Project.

American Justice Project is filing freedom of information requests to obtain that data.

And we will analyze it and we will report to the community independently of the CPRB and independently of the HPD, independently of the council, because frankly, over so many years, the community has been disappointed by the city's uh efforts to create out an effective police oversight mechanism.

So that's one point of data.

The other point of data is uh concerns well, I'll leave it there for now.

I think that's enough for tonight.

Just to say that we are proceeding with our efforts to put up a public dashboard on what we call the forgotten.

75, these 75 individuals who we don't know whether they have received um justice, frankly.

They were promised justice.

We don't know.

We have no way of knowing whether they received justice.

I spoke to Liam Brennan about it, I've spoken to Joe Lopez about it.

They hem, they haw, they say, Well, let's just look forward.

We're not just gonna look forward, we're gonna look backward, and we're gonna report.

Thank you.

Mr.

Little.

Can you say for the record your address?

My address um 42 Kenmore in Bloomfield.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Paul Mata.

Paul Mata, one Linden Place, suite 104, Harper Firefighters Local 760.

Good evening, Council President, members of City Council, and members of the community.

My name is Paul Mata, and I'm here to speak on behalf of Local 760.

Tonight, we are here asking you to vote in favor of a union contract that we truly believe is fair and sustainable agreement, not only for our members, but for the city of Harvard and the community that we proudly serve every day.

This isn't this has not been an easy road for us.

Over the past year, our members have remained patient, professional, and committed while working through this process.

Throughout this fight, we never lost sight of what matters most, continuing to serve the citizens of Hartford with dedication, safety, respect, even while advocating for a contract that reflects the value of the work that we do.

The approval of this contract represents a major step forward for the Hartford Fire Department.

For too long, firefighters in the busiest department in the state were amongst the lowest paid.

While doing some of the most demanding work, our crews have handled record-breaking call volumes and responded to some of the most challenging structure firefighters, structure fires in Connecticut's recent history.

Under under a pay scale that didn't reflect our true value of the sacrifices, this agreement deserves a long overdue wage increase, protects jobs, benefits, and begins to correct that imbalance.

While we are pleased to reach an agreement and establish a productive working relationship with the city, we also recognize that this is just a starting point, and there is still important work ahead to continue improving conditions for our members.

This agreement represents a balance.

It's recognized the hard work and sacrifices our members have made while also respecting the fiscal realities of a long-term sustainable for the city.

We believe it strengthens our workforce, improves morale, and ultimately leads to better services for the people of Hartford.

A stable, supported workforce is essential to a strong city.

I also want to take a moment to sincerely thank the members of this council.

Your willingness to listen, engage, and stand with us throughout this process has not gone unnoticed.

Your support during the past year has meant a great deal to our members, and we appreciate the time and effort many of you have put into helping us move forward to a fair resolution.

We would also like to thank the community for standing with us, supporting us throughout this past year.

Your encouragement, your understanding, your solidarity means more than we can express.

And is a reminder, our members as why we are proud to serve the city.

Local 760, local 760 has always been here and will always be here to serve the citizens of Harvard.

We live here, we work here, and we care deeply about the city's future.

The support we receive from both the council and the community during the past year reinforced our commitment to Hartford.

On behalf of the membership, thank you for standing with us.

Thank you for your continued partnership, and thank you for considering a yes vote on this agreement.

That's up.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, Shelley Davis.

Good evening, Mr.

President and members of the Council.

Shelley Davis, Harvard Federation Pair Educators, Local 2221, 85 Bunkingham Street, Harvard, Connecticut.

I stand before you tonight in a dual capacity.

As a paraeducator who sees the daily faces of our students, as the labor leader protecting the people who make this district run.

The good news is that the Hartford Public Schools and our superintendent have listened.

Over the holiday break, vents were cleaned, the heat was fixed, and holes were patched.

We are truly grateful.

This shows that when we prioritize our buildings, we can prioritize our people.

However, we cannot make a mistake as a patch for a permanent solution.

While the heat may be on, the roof still leaks every time it rains.

We are living under a pause that is nothing more than plan neglect.

It threatens the very foundation of our schools.

We are told to wait for a five-year plan, but I ask you, which five years of a child's life are we willing to sacrifice?

As a labor leader, I see a city choosing stagnation over investment.

We need a budget that reflects our values.

Beyond the moral obligation, I see a massive financial failure unfolding.

Our school buildings are deteriorating.

Every day we pause maintenance at Moylan and other schools, the buildings become a liability.

We are playing a dangerous game with state reimbursement money, putting millions at risk.

It is physically irresponsible to let a million dollar public asset rot while waiting for a spreadsheet to balance.

This isn't just a school, it's an economic infrastructure of Hartford.

Between federal cuts in the city pause, we are asking our children to succeed on a ghost ship.

You cannot pause the child's health, and Mole does not wait for a finance fiscal report.

A safe dry classroom is non-negotiable, and we are asking for a baseline of dignity that allows education to actually happen.

We must prioritize people over spreadsheets.

Our students are worthy, our staff is worthy, and the city of Hereford is worthy.

I ask that we stop this pause, protect our investment, and maintain and fix the schools in this city of Hertford.

Our children deserve that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Bridget Prince.

Probably about 10 minutes ago.

But I will add, I will add to uh to what Shelley Davis said, and and I sincerely appreciate it because this has been a humanitarian pursuit.

I guess that's probably the best way to describe it.

Um again.

In my experience, if the renovations were going forward as the state approved, as the city council approved, as a board of education approved, as the public stood behind it, we wouldn't even be in this situation right now.

So again, um I want to I want to echo the sentiments of everybody who spoke on December 8th.

Um I I think this mayor's commitment and his focus and his values do not represent the people of Hartford.

I'm speaking as somebody born in Hartford from the North End of Hartford, advocates in Harvard, has family and friends, has uh history and a future in Hartford, Connecticut.

So I'm speaking uh under all of those umbrellas.

Um I think for the mayor to sit and say we're not gonna spend money because what if, and I'm I'm actually almost quoting him for verbatim, but if in 20 years we decide that we're not going to um use the school buildings as schools, we have to pay the state of Connecticut back.

Nobody's talking about 20 years, you're talking about 2025 and 2026.

So I have my assumptions of why the mayor is doing what he's doing, and I don't think it has anything to do with education.

Personally, I think it has more to do with uh the assets of Harford, the the buildings, maybe the land, and maybe other relationships that he has, but it has nothing to do with the children because if that mattered, he will be operating and denial.

He wouldn't stop trying to, he wouldn't stop something that was already set in motion before he came.

So he comes here and he's using sovereign sovereign power to sit there and say, I don't want that.

Let's get the public together and to see what happens.

Does the public know that this is the conditions that their kids are uh going to school in?

And and in that specific classroom.

Does the public know that?

But now he wants to do uh surveys to try to cover up for decisions that he made that in my opinion have nothing to do with education.

So I'm hoping that you fix the problem, you know, you then you become part of the solution and not perpetuate the problem with the mayor.

Thank you.

Ms.

Burns, thank you.

Can you uh for the record please state your address?

Uh 41 by Well Rhodes Harford.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Elaine Hatcher.

Uh good evening, everyone.

Uh honorable council, our honorable town clerk, and our honorable community residents that are here and on the air.

Um I came because first I wanted to thank council person Kelly Belladu and Town Clerk, Eric Lusa for stepping to the plate and helping me get Spring Grove cleaned up.

If you want to take a ride by Spring Grove, you'll see that it's really um it's really in pretty good condition now.

We still got a lot to do, but it's in excellent condition.

And as of today, Chief Till was out there working, so we're coming along, and maybe by the spring everything will be fine.

The other my other issue was about the encampment, but I spoke to Maryland, so I'm gonna let that slide.

But I want to know what's going on with McCook with the RFP.

It went out in November, the bids came back in November 2023, the bids came back in November, I mean in January 2024.

They had something in March, and nothing has been done since then.

Because a lot of those people in that encampment, even though they got drug issues and whatever, they are homeless veterans.

I still have homeless veterans sleeping in Spring Grove Cemetery, and other people that are sleeping there.

So I really need the I really need you to talk to the mayor or whoever it is that's holding up this RFP to get McCook turned into the facility that they wanted it to be.

They wanted to have medical on the first floor and veteran housing on the other floors.

And I don't think that's out of the realm that it can be done.

We have too much development going around in the city of Harford right now that nobody can afford to live in after they finish development.

And we have too much development in the city of Harford that it's halfway done.

There's places on Main Street and there's places on Albany Avenue, they start and they stop.

So I think, and I'm asking you to please consider the McCook RFP, because our veterans gave their lives, a lot of them for our country, and a lot of them came back damaged.

And they're the ones that you see around here with a lot of these drug habits, and and it's just not fair.

As a community, we should not be so inhumane to people that have no place to live.

And I had one other issue, but I guess oh, I know what it was.

I don't even know how I forgot.

A colour.

The City Harvard employees need a cola.

And I concur with I think that you need to pass the whatever you need to sign for the uh firefighters because they've been out, they have been without a contract, they've been without a raise.

We haven't had a raise, uh, the retirees haven't had a raise in 18 years, and the cost of living keeps going up.

And now, and the insurance keeps going up.

A friend of mine called me the other day because January insurance went up.

Her insurance is so much now, she's gonna have a problem paying her mortgage.

So I I know, and uh the Madam Treasurer, I've spoken to her several times.

I think there's a way we can get a raise, but I think that she needs to also step to the plate.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Joe Young.

Happy New Year.

Um, I just wanted to voice my support for the mayor's investigation into the events at the rally on Thursday.

I was I was at the rally, and um I I don't think it's right what happened.

And um I think that the city council should uh uh launch its own shepherd investigation and to have the uh ICE agents uh prosecuted for uh the assault that that they basically uh committed on people.

And um I think that the city council should uh uh launch its own separate investigation and to have the uh ICE agents uh prosecuted for uh uh the assault that that they basically uh committed on people and um and then they left, but um I support the fire department because I work with the fire department uh uh on a regular basis, and uh the ability to sacrifice your own life so that other people can live there as I mean besides members of the military that that's a pretty short list of uh people that uh uh uh are able to do that.

So I I support 100% the uh contracts that they're asking for, and I uh hope that that's approved too.

So um that's all I have for now, I guess.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Young, can you say for the record your address?

It's um 117 McKee Street, Manchester.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Alyssa Peterson.

Good evening, Council Alyssa Peterson 297, Grandview Terrace.

Last week I sent a draft example of what is known as a bill of discovery regarding council's failure to follow city charter regarding investigations of members or staff.

I did not hear from any of you, I heard from corporation counsel instead.

I do not share his perspectives and believe I am on firm ground to go to court next month to obtain orders forcing investigation of certain counsel.

No resident should have to go to such an extraordinary length.

Your sworn responsibility to conduct investigations is clearly cited in our Hartford Charter.

The council or any committee thereof, when so authorized by the council, shall have the power to investigate the official conduct of any department of the city government or of any officer or employee thereof.

This is not discretionary.

Such a charter duty is for prohibited conduct, also defined by charter for neglect or dereliction of official duty or incompetence or dishonesty or incapacity to perform official duties or some delinquency materially affecting the officer or employees' general character of fitness for office.

I'm going to remind this council of how it hired an attorney to draft documents and speeches to relentlessly pursue termination of a Hartford police detective for his one dumb deadpool joke text.

You doubled down, love getting on TV, loved seeing your quotes in the news.

Now, however, when publicly confronted with over 250 texts, many of them sexual, what do you do?

You promote the author to be our council president.

Well, that was enough for me.

Hence the bill discovery I drafted to go to court if necessary.

It also addresses the alleged conduct of three other council members.

This is a disgrace for Hartford.

We are one of 50 capital cities.

No city in the U.S.

does this.

Plus, with the congressional primary coming up, this sexual harassment story now has new legs because of a congressional primary.

Sir.

You have to address the council as a body.

I I have addressed the council.

All of this happens on former Mayor Bronin's watch.

He is similarly guilty for helping this long-lasting cover-up, which resulted in the city paying over $250,000 in legal fees and settlement.

Certain counsel has become beholden to one another for your cover-ups.

This cannot go on.

Either find a way to follow charter or a superior court will help order you to do so.

I've given you 30 days to take action on your own.

The sign behind me is one I used a year ago and a half to a year and a half ago to stand in front of the Hartford Convention Center at a democratic function.

They are clear.

This council and this party needs to stop the fraud and secrecy that perpetually occupy headlines about our undeserving city of Hartford.

Thank you.

As a reminder, please address the council as a body, not individual capacity.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Mr.

Michael Downs.

Thank you.

I was uh call away at another uh union meeting.

I'm uh Michael Downs, 74 Rosemont Street in Hartford.

Um among other jobs that have in the city are as uh president of the Hartford Federation of Substitute Teachers.

And so uh I am uh in favor of uh the uh contract signing of uh the various contracts that are uh that are up for uh issue uh this evening and uh in the near future.

I'm uh definitely uh supporting that.

And uh I also don't support uh people uh who uh uh uh don't follow union contracts and union rules, such as uh uh the director of uh of uh recreation.

But I have uh addressed that quite uh quite enough.

Uh but I do think that there are some contracts, the firefighters contract and uh a few other contracts that are uh long overdue.

I know that the uh contracts uh 1716 contract is uh is up for renewal uh or up for uh approval and uh uh I certainly uh support that being a member of 1716 as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Uh since we have no other speakers who have signed up, uh this public comment is now adjourned, and we will reconvene uh for seven o'clock at for our council meeting.