The New Britain Common Council held its regular meeting on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, beginning with public participation at 7:00 PM and the regular session at 7:23 PM in Council Chambers at City Hall. All 15 aldermen were present. The meeting included a Mayor's veto override vote, several resolutions, and a major infrastructure contract award.
Meeting adjourned at 8:46 PM.
I want to welcome you to the October 9th meeting of the New Britain Common Council. It's time for uh public participation. It's now 7 p.m. Uh that's just the speakers to remember to state your name and address for the record. Speaking time limit is three minutes. Uh recognize the names on our list. And uh also if anybody is calling in remotely, or anybody else in the room that wants to be heard. Our first name is Mr. Frank Chase. Frank Chase, 24 Roxbury. We purchased 24 Roxbury Road in 1973 with a healthy dry basement and a flood-free property. Our property in our neighborhood is not the same today. Over the years, as responsible homeowners, we've made every effort to mitigate our flooding damage and losses. The compromised outdated and undersized storm sewer systems in the Allen Street Basin and in the Hampton Eaton sub basement basin were first identified 30 years ago by Director of Public Works Joe Corelli. These systems have been ignored, neglected, and mismanaged by elected and appointed city officials for decades. Over 50 properties are flooding in the surrounding neighborhoods, including the retention pond. Ten floods since July 4th, 2023. The unhealthy contaminated water contains bacteria, fecal matter, fat, smote oil, grease, etc. The cause is undeniable, the effects will be catastrophic if the flooding is allowed to continue. Weston Simpson engineers reported the state of the infrastructure is at crisis levels. Regardless of the age of our structures, needless wear and tear in and around our structures is accelerated by this out of control flooding water from our compromised storm sewer systems. The flooding is not an act of God. Our city officials are responsible for this neglect, mismanagement, and damage to our properties and structures. If our memory serves us, the city auditors were concerned about unused money sitting in various subaccounts. Why was this money allowed to languish in these sub ac subaccounts hidden from our constituents? Back in 2013, the current mayor was elected and had seven million dollars had a seven million dollar cardinal engineering plan ready to go for the Allen Street project. Nothing happened. Okay, now where was I? Director Perigini spoke regarding sudden fiscal surpluses, appropri approximately sixteen million. If our memory serves us, the city auditors were concerned about unused money sitting in various subaccounts. We were told by city officials in no uncertain terms the city had no money to spare for our storm sewer systems. Why was this money allowed to languish in these sub accounts hidden from our constituents? Back in 2013, the current mayor was elected and had a seven million dollar cardinal engineering plan ready to go for the Allen Street project. I'm gonna keep going. Nothing happened. Now we have an updated $14 million plus cardinal engineering plan waiting for implementation. This updated plan cannot be lost in the fiscal shuffle again. Two small paragraphs left. This fake transfer was eventually rejected by Peregini. This administrative debacle prior to an election is concerning all of us to this day. City officials demand accountability, credibility, and transparency from their constituents. We do not receive the same courtesy from our city officials. No more gotcha moments. What about isms? It's time for all of us to look into the mirror and ask ourselves is this who we want to be? It's not the time to throw up your hands. It's the time to step up and roll up your sleeves. Meanwhile, our neighborhoods will continue to flood. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.