1:57Good evening, everyone.
1:58Like to wish everyone happy new year.
2:00Like to call this City of Harford Court of Common Council meeting to order for today, January twelfth, twenty twenty-six.
2:09Clerk, can you please call the roll?
2:23Councilman Hernandez.
2:35President, you have a quorum.
2:38Let us all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
2:53Liberty and Justice for all.
2:58We also broadcast our broadcasting live on HPA TV.org, Channel 96, or on Frontier Comcast and Channel 6032 on Frontier Communications Channel.
3:09Uh Madam Majority Leader, you have the floor.
3:12Through you, Council President, I make a motion to approve the minutes of the December eighth, twenty twenty-five council meeting.
3:19Motion has been made and promptly second.
3:22Any discussions hearing us saying none.
3:24Clerk, can you please call the roll?
3:25On the approval of the minutes.
3:30Councilman Hernandez.
3:38And Councilman Thomas.
3:41Thank you, Madam Majority Leader.
3:44Through you, Council President, I make a motion to move the eight following items to the consent calendar.
3:49Item five point one, Mayor Avru Lampalam with accompanying resolution, uh confirming the appointment of Nelki Maldonado to the Fair Rent Commission.
3:57Item five point two, Mayor Avru Lampalam with accompanying resolution authorizing the City of Harford to purchase the property located at 341-345 Main Street.
4:07Item 5.3 Mayor Avru Lampalam with accompanying resolution confirming the appointment of Edison Silva to the Harford Parking Authority Board of Commissioners.
4:24Item 5.5 Mayor Ivar Lampalam with accompanying resolution confirming the appointment of Angela Aikenberry to the Hartford Parking Authority Board of Commissioners.
4:32Item 5.7, Mayor Avru Lampalam with accompanying resolution approving the recommendations of the Capitol Region East Coast Greenway study.
4:40Item 5.8 Mayor Avru Lampalam with accompanying resolution confirming the appointment of Brandon Bess to Historic Preservation Commission.
4:48Item 5.9, Mayor Avri Lampalam with accompanying resolution confirming the appointment of Kerry Shea to the Historic Preservation Commission.
5:00Item 5.11, Mayor Avril Ampalam with accompanying resolution confirming the appointment of Kyle Anderson to the African American and Black History and Culture Commission.
5:06Item 5.13 Mayor Avril Lampalam with accompanying resolution confirming the appointment of Kathy Herms to the African American and Black History and Cultural Commission.
5:18Item 6.1 Council President TJ Clerk.
5:21Councilman Miley Rosado, Councilwoman Marilyn Rosetti, Majority Leader Kelly Bilderu, Resolution establishing City Council rules.
5:28Item 6.2, Council President Clerk, Councilwoman Rosado, Councilwoman Rosetti, Majority Leader Biladu, Resolution Establing Council Committees.
5:38Motion has been made in property second on consent calendar items.
5:43Clerk, can you add my name to 6.1 and 6.2?
5:50Any other discussions?
5:52He's adding his uh name to 6.1 and 6.2.
5:55Any other discussions?
5:57Hearing us saying none, Mr.
5:58Clerk can you please call the roll?
5:59And the consent calendar items.
6:02Council President Clark?
6:05Councilman Hernandez?
6:10Councilwoman Rosetti.
6:19Madam Majority Leader, you have the floor.
6:21So you, Council President, I make a motion to receive the following items.
6:24Item 3.6, Operations Management, Budget, and Government Accountability Committee.
6:29Communication discussing discharge of the following resolution of the Harvard Court of Common Council for reviewing and amended handicapped parking policies and meter charges in collaboration with the Harford Parking Authority and Disability Rights Organizations.
6:43Item 4.1 Planning Economic Development and Housing Committee report discussing resolution to confirm the appointment of Nelke Maldonado to the Fair Rent Commission.
6:52Item 4.2 Planning Economic Development and Housing Committee report discussing resolution authorizing the city of Harford to purchase the property located at 341-345 Main Street.
7:04Item 4.3 Planning Economic Development and Housing Committee Report discussing resolution confirming the appointment of Edison Silva to the Harford Parking Authority Board of Commissioners.
7:15Item 4.4 Planning Economic Development and Housing Committee report discussing confirming the appointment of Edison Silva to the Harford Board of Assessment of Appeals.
7:24Item 4.5 Planning Economic Development and Housing Committee Report discussing resolution confirming the appointment of Angela Aikenberry to the Harford Parking Authority Board of Commissioners.
7:35Item 4.6 Planning Economic Development and Housing Committee Report discussing amending Chapter 18 Section 18-20 of the municipal code of the city of Harford for the purpose of extending the time period for the filing of rental license applications for owners of buildings with four to nine dwelling units.
7:55Item 4.7 planning economic development and housing committee report discussing resolution approving the recommendations of the Capitol Region East Coast Greenway Study.
8:06Item 4.8 Planning Economic Development and Housing Committee Report discussing resolution confirming the appointment of Brandon Best to the Historic Preservation Commission.
8:15Item 4.9 Planning Economic Development and Housing Committee Report discussing resolution confirming the appointment of Carrie Shea to the Historic Preservation Commission.
8:26Item 4.10 Planning Economic Development Housing Committee Report discussing resolution authorizing the sale of 10 Albany Avenue, 18 Albany Avenue, and 1441 Main Street to the Harford Foundation for Public Giving.
8:40Item 4.11 Health and Human Services Committee report discussing resolution confirming the appointment of Kyle Anderson to the African American and Black History and Culture Commission.
8:50Item 4.12 Planning and Economic Development and Housing Committee Report discussing postponement of ordinance amending chapter 18, Article IX, Section 18-11 of the Municipal Code of Hartford to provide adequate relocation services to displaced tenants.
9:06Items 4.13 Health and Human Services Committee report discussing resolution confirming the appointment of Catherine Hermes to the African American and Black History and Cultural Commission.
9:17Item 4.14 Planning and Economic Development Housing Committee Report discussing postponement of resolution directing the Department of Public Works to evaluate and reconfigure bike lanes to support small business viability and multimodal study.
9:34Motion has been made in property second on received items.
9:37Any discussion on the received items?
9:39Hearing the saying none, Mr.
9:40Clerk, can you please call the role?
9:42On the received items, Councilman Biladu.
9:47Councilman Hernandez.
9:53Councilwoman Surgeon.
10:00Madam Majority Leader.
10:03So you council President, I make a motion to refer the following items.
10:06Item 3.1 and 3.2 both go into the planning, economic development, and housing committee.
10:13Item 3.1, Mayor Avru Lumpalam with accompanying resolution confirming the appointment of Grace Brangwin to the Harford Housing Authority Board of Commissioners.
10:23And item 3.2 Mayor Avril Lumpalam with accompanying resolution confirming the appointment of Joanne Guzman to the Harford Housing Authority, Board of Commissioners to the Labor Education Workforce and Youth Committee.
10:39Item 3.3, Mayor Avru Lumpalam with accompanying resolution to accept grant funds from the State of Connecticut, Department of Economic and Community Development.
10:48Item 3.4, Mayor Avru Lumpalam with accompanying resolution authorizing the city to accept grants from the Connecticut State Department of Education in support of the Department of Families, Children, and Youth.
11:00And item 3.5 to the operations management budget education budget and government accountability committee.
11:07Item 3.5 Mayor Avril Ampalam with accompanying resolution to approve a tentative agreement for a successor collective bargaining agreement between the City of Harford and the Hartford Firefighters Association Local 760.
11:22Motion has been made in property second on the referred items.
11:26Any discussion hearing is seeing none.
11:29Clerk, can you please call the roll?
11:30On the referred items.
11:31Councilman Billeter.
11:37Councilman Hernandez.
11:39Councilman Micktham.
11:43Clerk for the record.
11:44I am recruiting myself from 3.1 and 3.2 since I work for the Harper Housing Authority.
11:59And Councilman Thomas.
12:01Referred items pass.
12:04Madam Major Leader, you have the floor.
12:06Through you excuse me, Council President, I make a motion to postpone the following items.
12:11Item 5.10, Mayor Avru Lumpalam with accompanying resolution authorizing the sale of 10 Albany Avenue, 18 Albany Avenue, and 1441 Main Street to the Harford Foundation for public given.
12:235.12, Councilmember Josh Mickham, an ordinance amending chapter 18, Article IX, Section 18-11 of the Municipal Code of Hereford to provide adequate relocation services to displace to displace tenants with a public hearing being held on Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 at 7 p.m.
12:43Item 5.14, Assistant Majority Leader Clerk with accompanying ordinance amend the display of flags.
12:50Item 5.15, Councilwoman Rosado and Councilman Gale with accompanying ordinance, Chapter 6, Section 6-15, limitation of the number of dogs and cats, and item 5.16, Mayor Aru Lumpalam with accompanying ordinance amending chapter 7 of the Harford Municipal Code.
13:09Motion has been made in property second on postponement items until January 6th.
13:16Any discussions on postponed items?
13:19Hearing or saying none.
13:20Clerk, can you please call the roll?
13:22On the postponed items, Councilman Billadu?
13:28Councilman Hernandez?
13:38And Councilman Thomas.
13:40Items are postponed.
14:30Madam Majority, do you have the floor?
14:33Through you, Council President, I make a motion to withdraw item 5.17.
14:38Resolution of the Hartford Court of Common Council for reviewing and amended handicapped parking policies and meter charges in a collaboration with the Harford Parking Authority and Disability Rights Organizations.
14:52Motion has been made in the property second.
14:54And is my understanding that the makers of the resolution are agreeing to withdraw this item?
15:04There is no vote that is required for this.
15:06Madam Vajor Leader, you have the floor.
15:08So your council president, I make a motion to move item 5.6 for action.
15:13Mayor Avril Ampelam with accompanying ordinance amending chapter 18, Section 18-20 of the municipal code of the city of Hereford for the purpose of extending the time period for the filing of rental license applications for owners of buildings with four to nine dwelling units.
15:33Motion has been made in property second.
15:35Councilman Mitchell.
15:39So this is folks will know this is our our rental licensing agreement, which has gone into effect in in waves based on the number of units in the different buildings.
15:50This is the last tier, the four to nine unit landlords.
16:15And I'm sorry, I don't remember the exact number, only 37% complied.
16:21They got, I believe, two notices is what we were told by uh Director Rothschild.
16:27And so we are leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table here.
16:33They are all subject to a thousand dollar fine.
16:35They all got notice.
16:36They are all operating small businesses where they ran out between four and nine units per building, so maybe more per landlord.
16:43Um they just ignored the law.
16:48They just said, you know what?
16:50And I heard in committee, Councilman Gale said that maybe this was a little bit confusing, that the process of registering is complicated, and I'm sympathetic to that, but also business owners in a regulated industry have to follow the rules.
17:04And we made the rules and they didn't follow them.
17:07And now we want to leave three or four hundred thousand dollars on the table.
17:12Uh and I think we all know we could use three or four hundred thousand dollars, and we could stand to remind landlords that they're in the business of making money off other people's basic needs, and if they don't follow the rules, it costs them.
17:25And instead, our response is no, no, just kidding.
17:28Take your time, no big deal.
17:31Which I guarantee you is not the approach that these landlords were will take when it's the thousand dollars owed to them by their tenants that's late.
17:40So I just don't know why.
17:44And I remind my colleagues too that this city is 75% renters.
17:49That doesn't mean it's 25% landlords.
17:51It means it's 25% property owners, which means that the percentage who are landlords who are voters who are residents of the city is even lower.
17:59So we're bending over backward.
18:00We're saying no to money we could use, we need to help this class of people, which mostly doesn't live here, and mostly makes its money off the people who do live here.
18:11And I don't understand it, and I would love anyone here to explain to me why we are so committed to the well-being of mostly out of town landlords and so allergic to helping the tenants who suffer for their profit.
18:42Yeah, let me just um reiterate some of the comments I made at uh at committee.
18:50As Councilman Mickdom just explained, this is a new ordinance.
18:56This is not anything historically that folks have understood was their responsibility.
19:04This is quite different from your basic housing code issues that everybody knows you're supposed to be compliant with.
19:13We as a council initiated the ordinance several years ago.
19:18Um, and as was mentioned, it's a tiered ordinance, so it started with the biggest landlords, and now it's gotten down to smaller landlords.
19:26And I do take a little exception to the insinuation that all of these people are money hungry uh business people.
19:35I think we don't really have any statistics as to how many of them actually live here in Hartford or close by, and how many of them are not really big business owners but are small.
19:46Uh we're talking about a lot of four family houses here in Hartford.
19:52And I recited at committee my own personal experience because I happened to be a part owner of a four-family house in Hartford, and I could not get my way through the online application.
20:00And I recited at committee my own personal experience because I happen to be a part owner of a four-family house in Hartford, and I could not get my way through the online application, and I raised that in committee and said this you know this is not the easiest thing in the world.
20:12Um and I can understand uh uh folks' frustration with it.
20:17So uh it did seem like it was not an unreasonable thing to do as opposed to trying to hit people with a thousand dollar fine.
20:24Uh some of whom could probably afford it, but not all of whom could afford it, not all of whom are um uh you know I I don't think it's appropriate for us to say that that you know uh all of our landlords in the city of Hartford are uh you know totally um uh totally immune to the concerns of their tenants.
20:46I think we have a lot of very good landlords in the city who do try to provide some very good housing.
20:52Um so in any event, um I don't think this is unreasonable to provide a delay uh so that uh there can be better better information given.
21:02I think this is what we discussed in committee was to make sure that there was better information given that they go back and look at the online application so that it's uh perhaps uh made a little bit more understandable.
21:14Um we can get our landlords in compliance with this rather new uh landlord licensing ordinance that we have passed.
21:29Councilman Michel it's not that they're all I'm not saying that all of the landlords are immune to the concerns of their tenants.
21:40I'm saying that they are far better placed to bear the burdens of the enforcement of this law than their tenants.
21:47And if they are operating a building with between four and nine units, and they don't have a thousand dollars on hand.
21:56I'm concerned about their business practices, and two, I will remind Councilman Gale and my colleagues of something that even those of us who aren't lawyers have probably heard said many, many times, which is that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
22:13And here no one is saying that they were ignorant of the law.
22:16We're just saying that maybe the law is confusing.
22:18These are folks who have like applied for mortgages and got them, probably applied for second mortgages and home equity loans and things like that.
22:26I I it's not that they're all bad people, but I do think they are not entitled to the city's largesse when the purpose of this whole law is to bring every landlord into compliance and to elevate the needs of our tenants who have far fewer resources and need our help much much more as a matter of policy.
22:48We should just not be doing favors to landlords because as a group, they're not doing favors to our residents.
22:59Any other discussion?
23:03Clerk can please call the roll.
23:05Action item 5.6 as amended, Cosmo Biladu?
23:09Council President Clark?
23:12Councilman Hernandez?
23:28Clerk, Madam Majority Leader.
23:30So you council President, I make a motion to go into uh executive session to discuss the potential resolution of the case.
23:38David O'Keefe, first city of Hartford, ETAO.
23:41And the case Anthony Guardino versus City of Hartford.
23:46Motion has been made in property second, then to internal executive session.
23:49Clerk, can you please call the roll?
23:51Councilman Billative?
23:59Councilwoman Rosato?
24:03Councilwoman Surgent?
24:05And Councilman Thomas.
24:11We are now at entered to executive session.
24:14And we will be back momentarily.
57:08We're now reconvening from our executive session.
57:11Uh Madam Major I'm sorry, Mr.
57:13Clerk, can you please call the roll?
57:14Councilman Bilardew.
57:20Councilman Hernandez?
57:38Madam Majority Leader, you have the floor.
57:41Through you, Council President, I make a motion to come out of executive session.
57:48That's what I'm saying.
57:48But there wasn't a it wasn't a formal formal motion.
57:55So we gotta do it again.
57:56Yeah, motion has been made made in property second to come out of executive session.
58:02I apologize again for jumping the gun.
58:04Clerk, can you please call the role?
58:13Councilman Hernandez.
58:15Councilman McDonald.
58:21Councilwoman Surgeon.
58:32We're calling the motion.
58:34Madam Majority that you have the floor.
58:36Through you, Council President, I make a motion to approve the resolution of the case of David O'Keefe versus the City of Hartford ETAL and the resolution of the case of Anthony Guardino versus the City of Hereford.
58:49Motion has been made in the property.
58:50Second on the executive uh session items.
58:54Hearing using are we going to take them together or are we going to make them separate?
58:58Yep, that was we're gonna do one than the other, right?
59:02You want to retract your motion?
59:04I retract my motion and I will make a move uh new motion to approve the resolution of the case of David O'Keefe versus the City of Hartford ETAO.
59:14Motion has been made in property second for executive session number one.
59:20Hearing was saying none, Mr.
59:22Clerk can please call the roll.
59:23Executive session item seven point one.
59:30Councilman Hernandez.
59:36Councilwoman Surgeon?
59:44So you council President, I make a motion to approve item seven point two.
59:49Resolution of the case of Anthony Guardino versus City of Hartford.
59:53Motion's been made in property second.
59:58Clerk Clerk, can you please call the roll?
1:00:00Item seven point two.
1:00:02Councilman Billadu?
1:00:03Council President Clark?
1:00:06Councilman Hernandez.
1:00:08Councilman Mickdom?
1:00:09Councilman Rosado.
1:00:11Councilman Rosetti.
1:00:14Councilman Surgeon?
1:00:17Councilman Thomas.
1:00:21Thank you, everyone for tonight.
1:00:22Since we have no other business to discuss, this council meeting is now adjourned.
1:00:27Thank you very much.
1:00:29Take care of the country.
