Common Council Special Meeting - Questions to Directors Workshop - September 8, 2026
Common Council Special Meeting - Questions to Directors Workshop - September 8, 2026
The Common Council held a special meeting at 6:00 p.m. on September 8, 2026, prior to the regular 7:00 p.m. meeting, to conduct a Questions to Directors workshop. Council members posed questions to several department heads regarding agenda items, including a tax-exemption ordinance for Middletown Youth Soccer, a housing code complaint at 142 South Main Street, an internship grant for trail guide updates, and a proposed classification study by Baker Tilly.
Discussion Items
- Tax-Exemption Ordinance for Middletown Youth Soccer (Agenda Item 11b): Councilman Lafredo and Councilwoman Blackwell questioned Assessor Damon Brush about a lease agreement between PNC Bank and Middletown Youth Soccer. The lease included a pass-through taxation clause, which led to the bank being assessed property taxes. The city determined the bank owned the property, but Middletown Youth Soccer, as a nonprofit, would be exempt if it owned it. The proposed ordinance would exempt the property from taxation, refund taxes already paid by the bank, and require annual affidavits from the soccer organization. Councilwoman Blackwell asked about the legal basis (Connecticut General Statute 12-81B).
- Housing Code Complaint at 142 South Main Street: Councilwoman Blackwell questioned Director ELAC about mold testing in a unit (2C) that had over 30 gallons of water intrusion. Director ELAC explained the city does not perform indoor air quality testing due to lack of enforceable standards, instead focusing on mitigating the source of moisture. The August 11 inspection found the window sealed. Councilman Lafredo further asked Director of Health about state laws on mold in schools vs. rentals; the Health Director confirmed the city can take enforcement action based on visible conditions but not on air quality numbers. Councilwoman Blackwell also asked Chief of Staff Covat about roof repair timeline, who stated the property management expects completion by end of October.
- Internship Grant for Trail Guide Update (Agenda Item 9A): Councilwoman Fulton questioned Director Kazakowski about a grant-funded planning internship to update the Middletown Trail Guide. The internship is one year, starting as soon as the grant is confirmed, and will involve mapping, field investigation, public outreach, and writing.
- Proposed Drive-Thru Restaurant (Agenda Item 9A): Councilwoman Blackwell asked Director ELAC whether the tenant is Chick-fil-A; the director confirmed no public announcement has been made and could not confirm. A credit union tenant (Dutch Point) was publicly announced.
- Baker Tilly Classification Study: Councilman Lafredo and Councilwoman Hart questioned Personnel Director Richardson about the status of the classification study. Richardson outlined four options: accept one of three financial options from Baker Tilly (low, mid, high) or reject the study entirely, keeping the current 20-year-old plan. If accepted, impact bargaining with unions would follow. Richardson noted that union 466 refused to meet during the process. Council members requested further details on job descriptions and financial impacts.
- Prohibition of Smoking on Public Property: Councilwoman Hart asked Director ELAC about public notification for a future ordinance on tobacco and cannabis smoking in public spaces. Director ELAC clarified the item is not on the current agenda but will be reviewed by the Board of Health and the Common Council at a later meeting.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken during the workshop.
- The council is expected to consider the tax-exemption ordinance for Middletown Youth Soccer at the regular meeting.
- The Baker Tilly classification study requires a council decision before January 2027; the personnel director will provide further briefings.
- Roof repairs at 142 South Main Street are slated for completion by the end of October.
- The smoking ordinance will return to the Board of Health and then to the council at a future meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you again, everyone, for being our questions directors, our first meeting before the regular meeting at seven. And uh if for housekeeping, uh who is online on line? Uh there are three department heads, but no council members. No council, okay. Excuse me. Uh Tom Tony Gennaro and Darnell Ford. Very good. We'll keep track. All right. So now I'm gonna have our council core read the call of the meeting, please. The chief of police of the city of Middletown greetings. By authority of the state of Connecticut, you are hereby commanded to summon and notify Vincent Shay Lafredo, Jeanette Blackwell, Darnell Ford, Grady Faulkner Jr., Kelly Sweeney, Anthony Mangifico, Linda Salafia, Anthony Eschennaro Sr. Jonathan Polino, Leslie Spitola, Shine Fulton, Ava M. Hart, members of the Common Council of the City of Middletown to attend a special meeting of said common council for the purpose of holding the questions to directors workshop on department agenda items for the regular common council meeting. Said meeting shall be a hybrid meeting to be held in the council chamber of the municipal building in said city and remotely via WebEx at Join A Meeting, event 2335-736-1261 on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026 at 6 o'clock p.m. Here of fail not but make due service in return to the clerk of said city three hours prior to the time of fixed meeting. City of Middletown, August 25th, 2026, attested by Honorable Eugene Pinocera, Mayor. City of Middletown, September 3rd, 2026. I hereby certify that I have delivered an attested copy of the foregoing order and attached agenda of the common council meeting to each and every council member named above via electronic mail, attested by Chief of Police Eric M. Costa. All right, thank you. Thank you. And now we'll open up questions to directors, and I'll go back and forth uh so we make sure we connect with Councilman Ford and Gennaro. Who would who would like to uh be the light up ours questions directors, please on any agenda item? Uh councilman uh Lafrito and Blackwell, please good evening, thank you, Your Honor. Um item number um 11b, which is coming back to the council uh this evening, uh an ordinance that was considered at a prior meeting. Is Damon available? Good evening, Damon Brush Assessor. Good evening. Um at the time we initially considered uh this particular item. Uh I know that myself and I think all of our colleagues uh by stand to be corrected, did not have a copy of a lease agreement uh between uh the youth soccer folks and uh the bank. Okay. So do you had a copy of that? You consider the copy was provided, yes. Yes, and you considered all the terms and conditions set forth in that particular agreement? Yes. Okay. So from that particular agreement, uh there's noted that uh the the bank in this question in the in the actual document that the bank uh the lease and the uh youth soccer vote signed off on specifically. There was a paragraph dealing with taxation. Yes, there was. And and what did that paragraph say? Essentially, it was that any taxes that was incurred by the bank would be passed through uh and added to the lease payments um by Middletown Youth Soccer. Okay. And um did the youth soccer before they when you reviewed the packet of documentation that was provided to us, including the lease and the correspondence between youth soccer and uh the bank. Uh did the youth soccer indicate to the bank that they were a nonprofit. Did the youth soccer indicate to the bank that they were a nonprofit? They did. They actually filed additional paperwork which waived sales tax on the installation for the field, but again, sales tax is not a municipal tax, and so that was waived for them for that purpose, but because the property was owned by the bank, the city assessed it to the bank. Okay. So it was so the City of Middletown never sent a tax document to youth soccer.
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