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Hartford City Council Meeting Summary - Jan 26, 2026

Council Meetings — Tuesday, January 27, 2026
BodyHartford, Connecticut
SessionCouncil Meetings
DateTuesday, January 27, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
0:10

Virtual meeting to order for today, January 26, 2026.

0:17

Uh, my name is Council President TJ Clark, and we are joined by uh our time on the city clerk, Eric Lusa, our majority leader Kelly Billadu, uh Councilwoman Shilby Surgeon, Councilman Gale, Councilman Alex Thomas, Assistant Majority Leader, Alex Hernandez, our Corporation Council, Jonathan Harding, Councilwoman Marilyn Rosetti, Councilwoman Nelly Rosado.

0:41

Um we are broadcasting live from HVATV.org, channel 96, Comcast Xfinity, Channel 6032 on uh frontier communications, which is now joined by Verizon.

0:54

Um we also are streaming live on all of the HBA TV platforms.

0:59

Uh with that being said, uh Mr.

1:01

Clerk, can you please call the role, please?

1:03

Councilman Bildew.

1:04

Here councilpresident Clark.

1:07

Here councilman Gail.

1:11

Councilman Hernandez here.

1:14

Councilman Mickdom.

1:16

Councilman Rosado.

1:19

President.

1:20

Councilwoman Rosetti.

1:22

Here.

1:23

Councilwoman Surgeon.

1:25

Here.

1:26

Councilman Thomas.

1:27

Here.

1:29

You have a corner, Mr.

1:30

President.

1:32

Thank you, Mr.

1:32

Clerk.

1:33

Uh let us um all if you're able to stand or uh let's recite the pledge of the case.

1:43

Budget leading to the flag, the United States.

1:48

And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible liberty and justice for all.

1:59

Thank you very much.

2:00

John.

2:02

I'm sorry, sir.

2:03

Okay.

2:04

Councilman just joined us.

2:06

Yes, I'm here.

2:08

Thank you, Councilman.

2:10

Good evening.

2:11

Um with that being said, uh, Madam Majority Leader, you have the floor.

2:16

Through you, Council President, I make a motion to approve the minutes of January 12th, 2026 council meeting.

2:23

Second.

2:25

Motion has been made in the property second on approval of the minutes of January 12th, 2026.

2:30

Are there any discussion?

2:31

Hearing or saying none, Mr.

2:32

Clerking, please call the roll.

2:33

And the approval of the minutes, Councilman Biladu.

2:36

Yes.

2:37

Council President Clark?

2:38

Yes.

2:39

Councilman Gale.

2:40

Yes.

2:41

Councilman Hernandez.

2:43

Yes.

2:44

Councilman Mickdom.

2:46

Yes.

2:47

Councilwoman Rosado.

2:49

Yes.

2:50

Councilwoman Rosetti.

2:51

Yes.

2:52

Councilwoman Surgeon.

2:54

Yes.

2:55

Councilman Thomas.

2:56

Yes.

2:57

Motion passes.

3:00

Thank you, Mr.

3:00

Clerk.

3:01

Madam Major Leader, you have the floor.

3:03

Through you, Council President.

3:05

I make a motion to move the following items to the consent calendar.

3:09

Item 6.1, Mayor Avru Lampalam with accompanying resolution to approve a tentative agreement for a successor collective bargaining agreement between the City of Hartford and the Hartford Firefighters Association Local 760.

3:22

Item 6.3 Mayor Avery Lampulam with accompanying resolution authorizing the sale of 10 Albany Avenue, 18 Albany Avenue, and 1441 Main Street to the Hertford Foundation for public giving.

3:34

And item 7.3, Councilman Gale and Councilwoman Rosado.

3:38

Resolution calling for a report to council from the administration as to the effect of the revaluation of the grant list as of October 1st, 2026.

3:49

Specifically the assessor.

3:51

Second.

3:52

Motion has been made in property second on uh on the consent calendar items.

3:56

Are there any discussions on these three items?

3:58

Hearing us saying none, Mr.

3:59

Clerk, can you please call the roll?

4:01

Councilman Belladoo.

4:03

Yes.

4:04

Council President Clark.

4:06

Yes.

4:06

Councilman Gale.

4:08

Yes.

4:09

Councilman Hernandez.

4:11

Yes.

4:12

Councilman Mickdom.

4:14

Yes.

4:15

Councilman Rosado.

4:16

Yes.

4:17

Councilman Rosetti.

4:18

Yes.

4:19

Councilwoman Surgeon?

4:21

Yes.

4:22

Councilman Thomas.

4:23

Yes.

4:24

Motion passes.

4:26

Thank you, Mr.

4:27

Clerk.

4:27

Madam Majority Leader.

4:28

You have the floor.

4:29

Through you, Council President, I make a motion to receive the following item.

4:33

Item 4.1.

4:35

Operations management budget and government accountability committee report discussing resolution to approve a tentative agreement for a successor collective bargaining agreement between the city of Hartford and the Harford Firefighters Association Local 760.

4:50

Second.

4:51

Thank you.

4:52

Motion has been made in property second on the received item.

4:55

Any discussion on the receive items?

4:57

Any discussion hearing or seeing none.

4:59

Mr.

4:59

Clerking, please call the roll.

5:00

On the received items, Councilman Bildu.

5:03

Yes.

5:03

Councilman Council President Clark.

5:06

Yes.

5:07

Councilman Gale.

5:08

Yes.

5:09

Councilman Hernandez.

5:11

Yes.

5:11

Councilman Mickdom.

5:13

Yes.

5:14

Councilman Rosado.

5:15

Yes.

5:16

Councilman Rosetti.

5:17

Yes.

5:18

Councilwoman Surgeon.

5:20

Yes.

5:20

And Councilman Thomas.

5:23

Yes.

5:24

Motion carries.

5:26

Thank you.

5:27

Um, Mr.

5:28

Clerk, Madam Juliet, do you have the floor?

5:30

So Council President, I make a motion to refer the following items to the labor educational workforce and youth committee item 3.1, Mayor Aru Lampalam with accompanying resolutions authorizing the city to accept grant funds from the state of Connecticut Department of Children and Families.

5:48

An item 7.2 resolution affirming the oversight authority of the Court of Common Council and requesting a statutory informed presentation from the Hartford Board of Education regarding science of reading compliance educator training and kindergarten literacy evaluations and two operations management budget and government accountability committee item 5.1 Mayor Aru Lampalam with accompanying ordinance amendment of section 32-18 of the municipal code to extend the elderly tax relief program also has a public hearing on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 at 7 p.m.

6:28

Second motion has been made in property second on the referred items.

6:32

Any discussion on the inferred items?

6:34

Any discussions?

6:35

Hearing us say none, Mr.

6:36

Clerk, can you please call the roll?

6:38

On the referred items, Councilman Billard.

6:40

Yes.

6:41

Council President Clark.

6:42

Yes.

6:43

Councilman Gale.

6:44

Yes.

6:45

Councilman Hernandez.

6:47

Yes.

6:48

Councilman Nickdom.

6:49

Yes.

6:50

Councilman Rosado.

6:52

Yes.

6:52

Councilwoman Rosetti.

6:54

Yes.

6:55

Councilwoman Surgeon.

6:56

Yes.

6:57

Councilman Thomas.

6:59

Yes.

7:00

Pass.

7:03

Thank you, Mr.

7:04

Clerk.

7:04

Madam Major Leader, you have the floor.

7:06

Through you, Council President, I make a motion to postpone the following items.

7:10

Item 6.2, Councilwoman Mickdom, an ordinance amending chapter 18, Article IX, Section 18-11 of the municipal code of Harford to provide adequate relocation services to displaced tenants.

7:23

Item 6.4 Council President Clark with accompanying ordinance amending display of flags.

7:29

Item 6.5 Councilwoman Rosado.

7:32

Councilman Gale with accompanying ordinance, chapter 6, section 6-15, limitation on the number of dogs and cats.

7:40

And item 6.6, Mayor Aru Lampalam with accompanying ordinance amending chapter 7 of the Hartford Municipal Code.

7:48

Second.

7:50

Thank you.

7:50

Motion has been made and property second to postpone those items or any discussion on the postponement of these items.

7:56

Any discussions?

7:57

Hearing a saying none, Mr.

7:58

Clerk, can you please call the roll?

8:00

On the postponement.

8:01

Councilmobility.

8:03

Yes.

8:04

Council President Clark.

8:05

Yes.

8:06

Councilman Gale.

8:07

Yes.

8:08

Councilman Hernandez.

8:09

Yes.

8:10

Councilman Mickdom.

8:12

Yes.

8:12

Councilwoman Rosado.

8:14

Yes.

8:15

Councilman Rosetti.

8:16

Yes.

8:17

Councilwoman Surgeon.

8:18

Yes.

8:19

And Councilman Thomas.

8:21

Yes.

8:22

Items are postponed.

8:24

Thank you, Mr.

8:25

Clerk.

8:25

And our last item, Madam Major Leader, you have the floor.

8:28

Through you, Council President, I make a motion to take action on item 7.1.

8:33

Councilwoman Rosetti.

8:35

Council President Clerk and Majority Leader Villadu.

8:38

Resolution establishing membership and initial structure of the City of Hertford sister cities program.

8:46

Second.

8:47

Motion has been made and properly seconded for 7.1 for up for discussion.

8:52

Is there any uh discussion?

8:57

Any discussion?

8:58

Any um, yes.

9:00

Uh sorry, I couldn't get to my hand raising.

9:02

Councilman President.

9:04

What why is it on action?

9:07

Where's the dispute?

9:09

Um, well, there was a request uh for this to be placed on action, so that's why this is on action.

9:16

Well, I guess I would I would follow up then and ask all my colleagues who's against us and why.

9:23

Well, I will call councilwoman surgeon.

9:26

She just raised her hand for comment.

9:27

Councilwoman surgeon.

9:29

Sure.

9:29

Uh thank you.

9:30

Um Test President.

9:32

The reason why I asked to put the item on action, um, is a couple of years ago, the sister city program over the last several decades has been stagnant.

9:44

And um, we started this program back up again two years ago when the Irish delegation came.

9:50

Um, you know, I was council president at the time and started working with um councilwoman uh rosetti in putting this back program back together again.

10:08

Limited input from someone like myself who has a little bit uh knowledge base on the program going back uh several years.

10:17

The appointees to the um the initial um initial uh what is it organization?

10:28

Um, you know, is filled with uh staffing.

10:31

Um there's individuals who has been part of the City City program that has been involved in the community for years, uh, and um you know was never asked to sit back around the table again, and I have received uh complaint on that.

10:47

So I will did not want to vote for this item because I disagreed with the way the initial program was put together.

10:59

Does that answer your question, Councilman Michael?

11:02

I think it does.

11:03

Thank you.

11:04

You're welcome.

11:06

Any other discussion?

11:10

Any other discussion?

11:12

One more time.

11:13

Any other discussion?

11:15

Hearing us saying none.

11:16

With that being said, Mr.

11:17

Clerk, can you please call the roll?

11:19

And item 7.1, Councilman Bildu.

11:22

Yes.

11:23

Council President Clark.

11:25

Yes.

11:25

Councilman Gail.

11:27

Yes.

11:28

Councilman Hernandez.

11:30

Yes.

11:31

Councilman Mickdom.

11:33

Yes.

11:34

Councilman Rosetta.

11:36

Yes.

11:37

Councilwoman Rosetti.

11:38

Yes.

11:39

Councilwoman Surgeon?

11:41

No.

11:42

Councilman Thomas.

11:44

Yes.

11:45

The item passes.

11:48

Thank you, Mr.

11:49

Clerk.

11:49

Uh, since we have no other business to discuss, uh, this council meeting is now adjourned.

11:54

Uh, just wanted to let everyone know that City Hall will be open tomorrow uh for its normal operation hours.

12:00

Uh hope that you all are staying safe.

12:02

Harvard Public Schools are closed for tomorrow.

12:04

Uh, so please stay safe and digging out your cars and your driveways.

12:08

Uh and again, have a good night.

12:10

This meeting's adjourned.

12:11

Take care until next time.

12:13

Good night.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████79%
Community Engagement███████13%
Education Policy█████8%
Summary of Proceedings

City Council Meeting Summary - Jan 26, 2026

This virtual meeting of the City of Hartford held on January 26, 2026, convened at 00:21:44 UTC. Council President TJ Clark presided over the session, which included the approval of previous minutes, the unanimous adoption of items to the consent calendar, the referral of several resolutions to committee, the postponement of specific ordinances, and the approval of a resolution establishing the Sister Cities program despite one council member's objection regarding the selection of appointees.

Consent Calendar

  • Item 6.1: The council unanimously approved a motion to approve a tentative successor collective bargaining agreement between the City of Hartford and the Hartford Firefighters Association Local 760.
  • Item 6.3: The council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the sale of three properties (10, 18, and 1441 Albany Avenue; and 1441 Main Street) to the Hartford Foundation for public purposes.
  • Item 7.3: The council unanimously approved a resolution calling for an administrative report on the effect of the revaluation of the grant list as of October 1, 2026, specifically regarding the assessor.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No formal public comment period was recorded in this specific transcript segment; however, Councilwoman Surgeon provided a statement to the floor during the discussion of Item 7.1 regarding the process of selecting program appointees.

Discussion Items

  • Item 7.1 (Sister Cities Program): Council President Clark inquired why the item was placed on action. Councilwoman Surgeon raised her hand to comment and stated she disagreed with the item not due to the program itself, but due to the process of selecting the initial appointees. She expressed that the program had been stagnant for decades, revived two years prior with an Irish delegation, and that she felt excluded from the new organizational structure. She noted that long-time community leaders involved in the program were not consulted. She stated she could not vote for the item because she "disagreed with the way the initial program was put together."

Key Outcomes

  • Minutes: The minutes of the January 12, 2026, meeting were approved unanimously (9 Yes, 0 No).
  • Consent Calendar: Items 6.1, 6.3, and 7.3 were moved to and approved on the consent calendar unanimously (9 Yes, 0 No).
  • Received Items: Item 4.1 (Budget and Government Accountability Committee report on the Firefighters' agreement) was received unanimously (9 Yes, 0 No).
  • Referred Items: The following were referred to the Labor, Educational Workforce, and Youth Committee unanimously (9 Yes, 0 No):
    • Item 3.1: Authorization to accept grant funds from the CT Department of Children and Families.
    • Item 7.2: Resolution affirming Council oversight regarding the Hartford Board of Education's science of reading and kindergarten literacy compliance.
    • Item 5.1: Ordinance amending Section 32-18 of the municipal code to extend the elderly tax relief program (Public hearing scheduled for Feb 17, 2026).
  • Postponed Items: The following items were unanimously postponed (9 Yes, 0 No):
    • Item 6.2: Ordinance providing adequate relocation services to displaced tenants.
    • Item 6.4: Ordinance amending display of flags.
    • Item 6.5: Ordinance limiting the number of dogs and cats.
    • Item 6.6: Ordinance amending Chapter 7 of the Hartford Municipal Code.
  • Action on Item 7.1: The Resolution establishing the City of Hartford sister cities program membership and initial structure passed with a vote tally of 8 Yes, 1 No. Councilwoman Surgeon voted "No," citing disagreement with the selection process for appointees.
  • Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned with a notice that City Hall would remain open while Harvard Public Schools were closed for the following day.

Meeting Transcript

Virtual meeting to order for today, January 26, 2026. Uh, my name is Council President TJ Clark, and we are joined by uh our time on the city clerk, Eric Lusa, our majority leader Kelly Billadu, uh Councilwoman Shilby Surgeon, Councilman Gale, Councilman Alex Thomas, Assistant Majority Leader, Alex Hernandez, our Corporation Council, Jonathan Harding, Councilwoman Marilyn Rosetti, Councilwoman Nelly Rosado. Um we are broadcasting live from HVATV.org, channel 96, Comcast Xfinity, Channel 6032 on uh frontier communications, which is now joined by Verizon. Um we also are streaming live on all of the HBA TV platforms. Uh with that being said, uh Mr. Clerk, can you please call the role, please? Councilman Bildew. Here councilpresident Clark. Here councilman Gail. Councilman Hernandez here. Councilman Mickdom. Councilman Rosado. President. Councilwoman Rosetti. Here. Councilwoman Surgeon. Here. Councilman Thomas. Here. You have a corner, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Uh let us um all if you're able to stand or uh let's recite the pledge of the case. Budget leading to the flag, the United States. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. John. I'm sorry, sir. Okay. Councilman just joined us. Yes, I'm here. Thank you, Councilman. Good evening. Um with that being said, uh, Madam Majority Leader, you have the floor. Through you, Council President, I make a motion to approve the minutes of January 12th, 2026 council meeting. Second. Motion has been made in the property second on approval of the minutes of January 12th, 2026. Are there any discussion? Hearing or saying none, Mr. Clerking, please call the roll. And the approval of the minutes, Councilman Biladu. Yes. Council President Clark? Yes. Councilman Gale. Yes. Councilman Hernandez. Yes. Councilman Mickdom.

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