001So, welcome everybody. I'd like to call to order the town council meeting of uh Monday, April 6th. And to begin, I'd like to ask Naen if you'd like to lead us in the pledge of >> allegiance >> to the flag >> to the republic for which it stands for. >> All right. Thank I don't believe we have any presentations or recognitions this evening. >> Correct. >> So why don't we go right to our public hearing public hearing on the town council proposed budget for the fiscal year 2026 2027. He would raise the vote on. >> A public hearing will be held on Monday, April 6, 2026 at 7:05 p.m. in the town hall annex council chamber 1 Monteth Drive, Farmington, Connecticut on the town council's proposed budget for the fiscal year 2026/2027 dated at Farmington,
002Connecticut this 17th day of March 2026. Kathy Aonsky, town manager. >> Thank you. Good evening. >> Good evening. Tonight I present for you the review of the town council's proposed budget for fiscal year 2627. The town of Farmington follows a detailed budget process. The process begins with the town manager developing a proposed budget based on department departmental request projected revenues and long-term financial planning. This budget is then reviewed by the town council which holds public hearings to gather input from residents. After deliberation and potential revisions, the town council adopts a recommended budget which is then presented to the public. Following tonight's public hearing, the town council's recommended budget is sent to the annual town meeting on Monday, April 20th at 7 PM. Farmington residents then have an opportunity to approve or reject the budget in
003a townwide referendum on April 30th. Budget workshop actions. During budget deliberations last month, the town council added the following items back into the budget. $86,000 to the police patrol full-time account for a patrol officer. $71,533 to the highway operations account for a maintainer one. $48,467 to the benefits and other account for benefits for two additional employees. $320,000 to the highway and grounds capital account for the purchase of an additional dump truck. $75,000 to the town manager's capital account for a website redesign. $50,000 to the town manager's capital account for a townwide survey including questions related to sidewalks, $20,000 to other revenue, $400,000 to fund balance for a total of um $800,000. The following reductions were also approved by the town council during last month's budget workshops, including $60,000 from the capital improvements plan in the
0041928 town hall building account. The $7 million bond question for renovations and improvements to the town hall annex was also removed for from consideration. Expenditure summary summary. I will now review the town council's proposed budget. The general fund budget includes the proposed spending for the town for the school system for debt service and for capital improvements. The budget is broken down into three categories. Expenditure grand list and revenues which are used to develop a tax rate. The total proposed budget for fiscal year 2627 is 143,244,394, an increase of 6,478,962 or 4.74 above the current budget. Town operations by category. The proposed town budget is 37,738,588, an increase of 1,297,428 or 3.56 above current expenditures. This includes general administration with an increase of 2.96% public safety, an increase of 5.52%. Public works, an increase of 6.25%
00525% community service an increase of 5.7% recreation um an increase of 42.77% and other a decrease of 0.52%. Some areas to note in the budget. This budget includes the establishment of a new special revenue fund for public safety regional dispatch center. Under this structure, the operating budget will fund $1,196,526 towards a regional dispatch center, while the remaining expenditures will be supported through the grant funding from the state of Connecticut and contractual payments from the towns of Avon and Burlington. This restructuring resulted in a $564,118,000 reduction in the town's operating budget. Beyond the uh positive financial impact, the formation of the regional dispatch center provides significant operational benefits. It generates cost savings for the town of Farmington, expands dispatch uh dispatch staffing capacity, enhances technology through Avon state core radio system, and improves coordination among police,
006fire, and EMS agencies. Overall personnel costs townwide have increased due to due to the current job market, increased contractual obligations and an effort to attract and retain employees. The registar voters account has increased due to a due to the governor's election in November and reflects new salary levels for the registars. The personnel services account covers salary adjustments for non-unized employees. This account has decreased as all unionized employees have collective bargaining agreements in place for next year. The contractual increases are shown in the full-time personnel accounts in each department. The full-time account in the uh patrol operations budget includes funding for an additional police officer. The fulltime account in the highway and grounds includes funding for an additional highway maintainer 1. The public buildings 1928 town hall account has increased significantly as only four months of
007expenditures to operate and maintain the new town hall were included in last year's budget. The contribution to the Farmington Library uh is $3,150,049, which is a 3% increase above the current budget levels. Utility accounts have an overall increase of 4.69%. The full-time account in the fire operations budget includes a promotional position as a supervisory firefighter, which was a result of the Department of Public Safety restructuring. The police fleet account funds two uh new 24-hour patrol vehicles. This is a continuation of the police department's fleet management program. The calls for service in the fire department have increased, resulting in higher contractual payments to the volunteer departments. The recreation services account has been increased as line items associated with the administration of recreation services were transferred in from the recreation fund. Additionally, accounts were added for the
008operation of the splash splash pad and pickle ball courts at the Westwood's recreation complex. Expenditure by object. This budget is further separated by object which salaries, benefits, supplies, equipment, contractual and utilities. The decrease in salaries is.98%. The decrease in benefits is 0.53%. There is an increase of 1.64% for materials and supplies. There is a decrease of 10.05% for equipment. The increase in contractual is 21.51%. And lastly, there's an in there is an increase of 4.69 69 for utilities. The propos the proposed total town general fund appropriation is 37,738,588, which is a 3.56% increase above the current budget. Debt service. The debt group of accounts includes appropriations to make principal and interest payments on the town's long-term debt obligations. The total amount proposed for fiscal year 2627 is 13 million985,252 an increase of 268, uh,981 or
0091.96%. The funds will pay for a lease financing obligation, clean water fund loan repayments, and the principal and interest due on the town's existing bonded debt. Funds are also included for an interest payment on a debt uh plan, a debt issuance plan for later in 2026. The debt proceeds will be used to pay the expenses associated with the building of the new Farmington High School, the renovation of the 900 wing to the board of education offices, replacement of the HVAC systems at the police facility, senior center, and highway garage, and renovations to the 1928 town hall building. Special services. The refuge collection budget includes the cost of collecting and disposing of solid, bulky, and hazardous waste generated by town residents and the town's landfill obligations. The budget proposes a 1.88% or $5.20 increase to the
010user fee. The annual fee will be $281.20 per household. General fund cash appropriations. the town's uh capital improvement policy and the town strategic plan were the policy guidelines that were in the forefront when formulating the CIP. The PO the proposed general fund appropriation to support the first year of the capital improvement plan is 4,237,000. There are two bond questions in accordance with our financial forecast. Bonding large projects equipment on an on a consistent basis and adhering to our capital improvement policy enables us to fund our capital needs. Summary of capital projects year 1,150,000 board of education general fund which will be outlined uh later this evening 3,87,000 to the town's general fund projects which are outlined on the screen. This brings the general fund projects total to 4,237,000. Summary of other funds year 1. The
011capital projects shown on the screen are being funded by other funding sources and not through the general fund or taxpayer dollars. These funding sources include donations, state dollars, and user fees totaling $215,000. Funds will be used for the replacement of the siding on the English Gable Barn at Tinty Barn, banking funds for future purchases of a dial ride buses, upgrades and repairs to town housing, including the Mountain Road apartments and town farm road home, and the replacement of an aiator airator at Westwood's Golf Course. Summary of LOIP funds year one. The capital projects shown on the screen are being funded by the state of Connecticut local capital improvement program LOIP grant and not through general fund or taxpayer dollars. LOIP funds totaling 290,000 will be used to update the plan of conservation and development, replace
012the police department building security cameras and parking lot improvements at the Westwoods Recreation Complex. The summary of two bonding questions. There are two bond questions. 14,339,152 for board of education K through4 HVAC projects. It is anticipated that the town will receive 31.79% reimbursement by the state of Connecticut and $4 million for road reconstruction. Uh expenditure summary. The total proposed fiscal year 2627 is 143,244,394, an increase of 6,478,962 or 4.74% above the current budget. I will now call on the superintendent of schools to present the board of education's budget. Thank you. Good evening, members. Oh, hear me. Yep. Good evening, members of the Farmington Town Council and members of the Farmington community. Uh this evening, I present to you the 2026 2027 board of education's recommended budget. I'll begin with our mission statement which speaks to
013the commitment we make uh as a school district and community to enable all students to achieve academic and personal excellence. Just as a strong financial portfolio requires a clear strategy, the budget development process is guided by our district's vision of a global citizen and supports our core beliefs, theory of action, equity framework, framework for teaching and learning, and the board of education's visionary goals and priorities. Together, this framework acts as our investment thesis, ensuring every dollar spent is strategically allocated and moves us ever closer to our goal of developing global citizens who are engaged collaborators, empowered learners, and disciplined thinkers. The dividends realized by our community's past investments are evident in the exceptional performance of our students and are highlighted here. Farmington continues to experience marketleading returns and is a model of excellence in education
014both in Connecticut and beyond. Our success includes data points which demonstrate our strong performance on state and national assessments, top school rankings both here and nationally and holistic achievement by student clubs in the performing arts and on the athletic fields at the highest levels. With these guiding principles and goal for continued success in place, our budget development process unfolds. Our team works through the process of establishing priorities, building from the ground up or practicing zerobased budgeting, then considering proposals and making refinements. This resulted in a reduction from initial proposals of roughly1,187,410 which would have made today's recommended budget begin at 5.9%. Throughout the process, we explored cost-saving strategies, including replacing expensive external contracts with internal professional positions, negotiating a long-term lowfixed rate for the supply of electricity, and leveraging federal rate programs. And as always,
015our team met numerous times to review and revise and prioritize and ensure fiscal responsibility to uh to sustain high returns. This year's budget targets specific growth areas, demonstrates a responsiveness to students needs, and enhances high quality teaching and learning practices across the district. The major drivers for the 2627 operating budget can be summarized as shifts. In student services, we continue to respond to the evolving needs of our students through strategic shifts in staffing, programming, and services. Furthermore, these proposals align with this year's legislative recommendations for special education. I will highlight the exact recommended recommended shifts when reviewing the 100 series staffing in this budget to appropriately fund our self- insurance policy and remain responsive to evolving medical trends. A 9.42 increase in health care and benefits is recommended. Inflation costs impact every organization's budget. However,
016we continue to see cost increases well above 3% across supplies, equipment, and services. The shifts made in this budget allow us to strengthen learning environments and maintain program quality despite rising costs. Our people are our greatest assets. The budget supports contractual increases while retaining our highquality educators. It represents responsive staffing shifts linked to fluctuations in enrollment in certain grade levels and changes in student needs and required services. And finally, in technology, hardware, and license costs continue to increase. The budget continues to ensure that our district has the capacity, infrastructure, software, and equipment necessary to meet the academic and business needs of a highly competitive K12 institution. In addition to these major drivers, this budget maintains and advances academic excellence, promotes continuous improvement, supports contractual increases, is responsive to student needs, addresses significant cost increases and
017state and federal legislative mandates, and maintains class size in accordance with board of ed policy. Here we see the total proposed Farmington School District budget of $86,858,554 representing a 3,617,571 or 4.35% increase over the previous year. Presented here is a high-level overview of each series found in the operating budget. This overview represents the changes from last year to this year's recommendations. Next, I will share an overview of each series found within our 2627 recommended budget. The first budget driver is salaries, the 100 series, which is an overall recommended increase of roughly 4%. The 100 series accounts for 66% of our total budget and reflects negotiated contract obligations for all staff. Shown here is an overview of one of the major drivers of the 2627 budget. These staffing shifts represent movements based on enrollment changes and
018continued need to boost support to our special services department. These shifts include a reduction of roughly seven positions at the elementary level based on current enrollment projections, the addition of a supervisor for special services to boost leadership within the department, the addition of a care team member who is a certified teacher that specializes in behavioral and mental health support for each school. This addition will also meet new state a new state statute requiring school districts to provide job embedded support into the special services department. And finally, the addition of a part-time speech and language pathologist and school psychologist to respond to the growing need for services within these areas. It's important to note that these shifts will move current part-time staff members to full-time positions. Overall, these changes lead to a reduction of 4.3 staff
019for the coming school year. Shown here are our non-certified staff shifts. A goal for special services for our special services department is to move away from contracting staff from outside agencies to hiring our own Farmington employees. These moves, though costneutral, should help ensure less variability and long-term costs while improving consistency and quality of services for our students. The next budget driver is the 200 series or employee health benefits. The 200 series accounts for 15% of the overall budget request. This account covers 100% of expected paid claims, administrative costs, and employee life insurance. The 9.59% increase is driven by overall market trends and derived from recommendations made by One Digital, our insurance broker. Services is the next budget driver. This series accounts for 16% of the total budget request and includes an overall increase of 1.2
02028%. This account reflects contractual obligations in transportation, electricity, special services, consultation, and tuition costs for outplace students. Also covered within this series are major facilities projects, summer school programming, professional development costs, and technology software systems. The 400 series or supplies accounts for roughly 3% of the overall budget request. The 2.42% recommended increase covers all instructional materials necessary to support the curriculum as well as the supplies utilized by our maintenance and custodial staff. Finally, this account provides for facilities rentals for programs like swimming and ice hockey. The 500 series or equipment represents roughly 1% of our overall budget requests. This account provides for both facility and technology equipment requests. The 16.6% increase is driven by the rising costs of technology hardware such as Chromebooks, which are part of our life cycle management process. Finally, the 600
021series, which also accounts for less than 1% of our total budget requests. This series provides for memberships and professional organizations that support staff, school, and district improvement efforts. The 600 series also includes the town of Farmington's negotiated liability, umbrella, and motor vehicle insurance for the district. You'll notice an overall reduction of three and a half% thanks to a savings of roughly $15,000 for our insurance coverage. Here is a final view of the board of education's recommended budget by series for the 2026 2022 school year. Next, I'll provide an overview of our capital budget requests for the 2627 school year. capital budget was presented in detail to the town council during their February 24th meeting. The board of education's recommended capital improvement budget is 1,150,000 with an additional request of $14,339,152 bonded for HVAC projects at
022our four elementary schools. The capital improvement budget process is developed to address both short and long-term projects that help us to maintain and and improve our facilities and operations. Recommendations for the capital plan come from our K8 facilities review, feedback from schools and head custodians, our 10-year security review, our district's all hazard safety and security plan, and the tools for schools report. This slide provides a more detailed view of our proposed HVAC project at each elementary school. A little hard to read, but uh these costs assume a multi-year phase in discussions have been ongoing regarding potential cost savings should the district move forward with multiple projects in one fiscal year. This final capital improvement slide shows our 7-year plan for improvements. In summary, the 2627 Farmington Board of Education recommended budget shifts staffing resources and
023adds leadership to a department that continues to experience an increase in complex cases and a need for more comprehensive programming and support. retains current programming preK12 and maintains class sizes within board of ed policy. Most importantly, this budget continues to provide marketleading returns for the investment made by the Farmington community, ranking us 131 out of 166 districts in pure pupil expenditure, spending $2,68 less per pupil than the state average. On behalf of the board of education and our school community, I thank you for your attention this evening and your thoughtful review of our recommended 2026 2027 budget. And I will now turn the presentation back to our town manager, Kathy Blonsky. Thank you. The grand list. The grand list is broken down into three categories. Real estate, personal property, and motor vehicles. The real estate
024account shows a 1.31% increase. The personal property account shows a 4.49% increase. And the motor vehicles account shows a 4.99% increase. In summary, the grand list increased by 1.75% or 79,495,840 for a total grand list of 4 bill614,312,982. Some areas to note the real estate. The increase in the net taxable real estate is from apartment construction and development, residential development and medical office construction. Personal property. The growth in personal property was mainly from utilities and commercial businesses. Revenues. I've broken down revenues into nine categories. Other property taxes, license and permits, fines and penalties, interest, grants, service charges, other Westwood's contribution, and fund balance. In summary, the proposed non- tax revenues are 17,315,500 I mean I'm sorry 17,315,974 or a46% decrease over the current year. Some areas to note, state and federal grants have increased from
025last year. Based on the governor's budget, the town is projected to receive an additional $25,722 in state and federal grants. The Westwood's contribution account includes a $325,000 contribution from the Westwoods Golf Course to the operating budget to help support golf course maintenance expenses. Other revenue includes $764,473 in payments from the other major users of the wastewater treatment plant. These payments represent their share of the cost of the wastewater treatment plant upgrade project completed in 2019. Interest income is projected to be lower by 440,000 or 31.65%. Proposed tax and mill rate. The proposed general fund budget will require a property tax rate of 27.55 mills, which is an increase of 93 mills. In other words, $100,000 of assessed value equals $2,755 in taxes. Based on the tax rate of 27.55 mills, the average residential assessment will
026see an increase of $28120 in their taxes. Conclusion: The annual town meeting is on Monday, April 20th, 2026 at the Farmington High School auditorium and on Zoom. Please be aware that only those attending the meeting in person will be able to at will be able to ask questions. The referendum is between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 30th. Thank you. Thank you, Kathy. I would now like to open up the floor to any questions for public comment on the budget only. Is there anyone in chambers who would like to make a comment about the budget? Will we please step up to the podium and give us your name and address? And you're welcome to make any comments. You've got five minutes. >> You won't be >> No, no worries. >> Hi, my name
027is Tom Serval. I live at 171 Main Street, Farmington. And the question I have is to the superintendent. Um, and he did very nice presentation. My question is, we're eliminating some elementary school school teachers. >> Do we project a a much smaller class coming in for from elementary schools? That's why the numbers going down. >> Good question. So, it's uh we have move up data. So, essentially every >> Excuse me. Excuse me. We're just here to listen to comments. We don't >> Oh, I'm sorry. That's okay. >> No, the microphone. >> Oh, microphone. You need to speak to the microphone. Sorry. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. >> You can speak >> so they can they can hear. Sorry. >> Uh yeah. So, uh we we do anticipate some uh decline in certain grade levels. Generally speaking,
028we move up the numbers from like kindergarten to first grade, second grade to third grade, so on and so forth. Um we've experienced uh some decline in like the kindergarten grade levels the last couple of years. And so that's accounting for part of that. But sometimes we just see fluctuations in a certain grade level. You lose a few students, you go down at a certain school. Um and just part of responsible budgeting would mean we'd go down the number of teachers in that grade level. We still maintain um very competitive class sizes in all of those. We have a formula that we use. So we aim for somewhere around 19 students per class based on that formula. >> Okay. So, our projection is to still keep the same number of elementary schools just just uh
029um lower some of the teachers. >> This is the number of teachers per grade level. Yes. Yep. >> Thank you very much. >> You got it. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Tom. >> Are there any other questions in chambers? >> Is there going to be open mic night tonight? >> Uh if you want to talk about the budget at the moment. >> No. Uh, is there going to be one later? >> There will be for a public comment later on. Yes. >> You're welcome. >> Good evening. Tim Kelly, 62 Westview. I think we missed an opportunity to give Farmington taxpayers a breather this year uh before homeowners face the pain of a property reval impact in the next budget cycle. The average homeowner property taxes have already gone up more than 20%
030over the past four years and most of you played a direct role in that. The $8,000 average tax in this presentation must include some small condo units. Every homeowner I know is paying 9,000, 12,000, sometimes 15,000 a year in taxes. It's unfortunate here because you really got served up a cupcake year in this budget cycle. The Grand List, our biggest revenue generator, was up twice as high as usual, which yields over $2 million in additional revenue. Uh, Farmington School is our biggest cost center, has seen significant enrollment decline of over 3% during this two-year period. So, that would be about uh 2% in the current year, another 1% in our coming school year. and our debt payments are basically flat for this coming fiscal year and u we won't be so lucky in the future.
031I've been town for 35 years. I'm not sure when we've ever had such a uniquely advantaged position before. Maybe the town manager can tell us the last time the moon and stars lined up like this in Farmington. I was a little surprised that with more than 25 years of combined BOE experience now sitting on the council that we were not able to help our new superintendent who only had 60 days on the job find any cost savings in a school system with total spend of over $und00 million. Not much value add. I'm sure there is someone who could make a case for every line item in the proposed budget. Uh today in Farmington our student teacher ratio is 10 to1 which is about 20% better than the Connecticut state average and we have one adult
032employed by Farmington schools for every five students. On the municipal side looks like you put 800,000 of rainy day funds into this budget plan in order to balance it. Given the scenario we faced, I'm not sure what rainy day we are addressing here. As you know, the state is rolling out a plan to distribute up to 150 million surplus revenue to town coffers as additional ECS funds. Since Farmington is the 35th or 36th largest town out of 169 Connecticut, our fair share of these expected funds should be enough to balance the budget. And we will likely do better on our interest income as well since rates are not projected to fall much more. So, I I appreciate Joe's conservative fiscal approach here. Um, I would strongly suggest that we not allocate fund balance dollars into
033this proposed budget, but instead increase the ECS revenue line by 800K. This maintains fiscal integrity and budgetary discipline and lets us keep our powder dry for the following year when we will really need it. because the following fiscal year brings obviously the property reval pain, spiking debt payments, and you know, potentially an economic downturn, which at some point we're due for. So, I hope you will take this recommendation and adjust the plan tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you, Tim. >> Does the council have any questions for me? >> I do not know, but thank you for being here and for talking to us. Are there any hands online, cat? >> No hands raised. >> All right. Going once or twice. I know there were uh there was a letter that came in late. Uh >>
034that's the next one. >> That's next. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. >> You just close the >> All right. We'll just close the public uh comment and we'll go on to our next item which is new items. I don't believe we have any new items. >> So now we will open up the floor for uh public comment on anything that you want for the town. >> Open mic. >> I'm sorry. I get very nervous. I can't read stuff because I have dyslexia. When I read stuff, I sound really bad, worse than I do when I normally talk. Um, >> your name and your address and you've got five minutes. >> One question. Would I be possible to use a computer to speak, read a document off? Oh, you mean to open it and read off your
035>> If I read it off, it'll be broken up and possibly incoherent. >> I don't mean to open the computer and press play on something. >> Play on Yeah. >> Can we do that? >> I'm here. I'm verifying this is mine. >> Can we do it? I mean, I don't >> Would you put >> Will anyone be able to hear it because it's got to go into the record online? >> Here on the microphone and it's your >> you're putting right your stamp behind it, right? your >> Yeah, >> of course. >> Okay. >> Is it five minutes or or less? >> It's less than five minutes. >> Okay. Just asking. >> The problem is is I wasn't prepared to go that fast because I thought the other parts were going to go faster. >>
036Sorry. >> And so your name and address? >> My name is Mark Krell. That is M A R K R E L L at 155 Judson Lane. of course, Farmington, not New Jersey. So, okay. Um, it'll probably be repeated in the sentence what I have here. hopefully everything will go all right and babbling will stop. Give me a second. And it, you know, I'm not afraid of the time because it should be only a minute. Okay. I was just asking you might want to bring the microphone closer to the There you go. Yeah. Thanks. >> I can sometimes say haven't had success the first time. Of course, you probably already computer Microsoft Word is against me today. I apologize. >> Plus, my computer doesn't want to open that screen. Of course, that that menu. I
037had uh deposited brought in a couple letters to the town manager's office for the next for the town meeting and the the meeting on the 28th in reference to Judson Lane. And of course, this stupid computer is never what you want it to be. >> What do you got? Some kind of thing in here that makes it so hard to do this? Kathy, you were she was trying to get down the budget. >> I know it's the budget again. Oh, well, I'll read it. I'll I'll take my time. But, okay. As a resident in Farmington, I believe that it's my responsibility to speak out when an ordinance has longterm consequences to property owners. I have submitted two letters to the town manager's office. One for the town meeting on the 20th and one for the
038town meeting on the 28th. I mean the town council meeting 28th. My my first excuse me in my first experience with what which was 25 years ago under chapter 169 of the town ordinance. It authorized access to benefits, assessments to benefits. It did not only apply to sidewalks, it also applied to roadways. And knowing I know you do not believe it, I've seen it on the construction of the Judson Lane School Road. The town council member suggested assessment for benefit involving three private property owners and the town. Unfortunately, shortly after that meeting, one of the most senior property owners passed away. Fortunately, the proposal was set aside and never brought back up. The metal road. While the metal road project is presented as a publicfunded and ordinance ordinance positive to the town ability to impose
039ongoing maintenance and obligations of the potential future benefit assessment on the actual property owners. ers, it still exists. And because it's in the assessment, if something goes wrong with the sidewalk on the property or the road in front of the property, you can be assessed for benefits. These obligations are open-ended and non-consensual creating ongoing uncertainty not only financially but mentally and emotionally. The residents who must plan around future devel um determinations they cannot control. I respectfully asked the council to consider my letters and the long-term uh possibility of revisiting chapter 169 to revamp it to add more property owner input. >> Thank you, Mark. >> Thank you very much. >> Appreciate it. Is there anyone else in chambers who would like to make a public comment? Seeing none, I'm checking to see if there's any
040online. >> There is one hand raised online. >> Alrighty. >> We have Barry. Barry, I just need to unmute. >> Hello, Barry. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. Could you give us your full name and your address, please? >> Are you able to hear me? >> Yes, we are. >> Okay. Sorry about that. And you know, I went I went to uh Walmart to uh and someone asked me if I wanted to get Frontier uh internet >> and uh the guy, it was a kid. I I could find it hard to believe that he would know this, but he said that they're waiting for the town council to approve Frontier Internet to be allowed in into Unionville. >> Excuse me, Barry. Before we continue, you're welcome to, but could you give us your name
041and your address, please? Oh, sorry about that. Uh, 30 36 West View Terrace. >> Your last name Barry. >> Unionville. >> Your last name Barry. >> Auad. A gu a D O. >> Thank you very much. All right. Please continue about uh your comments. >> Yeah. And and uh you know they asked me if I wanted Frontier Internet. They and there was a kid like I said, you know, I didn't believe that he would know this, but he mentioned that the town council has to approve Frontier Internet to be installed. I'm paying over $300 for Xfinity and I'm trying to save a little money. I'm I'm a retired senior citizen on on Social Security, so I'm trying to save money wherever I can. >> Sure. And if can someone look into that to see if
042that's true and possibly approve it, if that's if that's, you know, if that's uh able, >> I would be happy to have someone look into that for you. >> Uh thank you. And you know, one one one other thing I was thinking about with the with the with the school. >> Yes. you know, you know, uh I I don't I don't have any children or grandchildren in Farmington, so I I you know, I understand school is important, but I'm just wondering if special services could be charged to the families that are using it to try and lower lower the lower the school taxes. I don't know what any of these special services might be, but you know, maybe a little bit more could be applied to the uh families that that are going to the
043going to school >> to try and save a little little money for the uh for the homeowners. >> Anything else? >> I think I think those are the two things that uh I had on my mind >> for today. Anyway, >> I appreciate it. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> Are there any other hands online? >> No other hands. >> Okay. Um that being said, we did receive one letter which uh we will add to the minutes of this meeting so you can read them there if you'd like to read them. And thank you very much. Let's close public comment. And now we will move on to the reading of the minutes. I make a motion to approve the town council's I'm bringing the wrong thing. I make a motion
044to approve the March, 2026 regular town council meeting minutes. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Approved unanimously. Number two. I make a motion to approve the town council meeting minutes from March 11th, 2026. >> Second. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I number three. >> I make a motion to approve the town council March 12th, 2026 meeting minutes. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> approved unanimously. Thank you very much everybody. So let's go into the report of the town manager. >> So you have the written report um in your packet. One thing that is included is the quarterly reports. I'd like to have a little bit of discussion about um some six-month look ahead. Um we also have the Memorial Day parade coming up and that's
045going to be in uh Farmington this year. And we're gonna quickly just show the website for the Farmington Avon America 250th celebration. So I don't know if you have any questions on the quarterly reports. Maybe we could start there. >> Very detailed. Good. Good to see things that are happening. >> Okay. Um so I tried to put together a six-month look ahead. Um, and so it's not everything that's going to be on every town council meeting, but we tried to just go through starting at this meeting with the public hearing and uh looking at our strategic plan and our goals and backing everything out. We also have two um events, a couple events. We have the um ribbon cutting for the 1928 building and we also have the ribbon cutting for the Westwood Splash Park
046and the pickle ball courts and we have the Memorial Day parade. So, I don't know if this if this looks good to everyone, uh, if they wanted to have any changes. I did put in here that I did update the strategic plan based on some of this, changing a couple of things from priority two to priority one and things like that. Um, so we can so I don't know if there's any comment on that. >> No, I think you followed most of what we had talked about. Yeah. >> Any questions? >> Looks good. >> Okay. Good. All right. Perfect. >> All right. And Cat, maybe you could just show quickly uh Brian and the committee, the 250th committee have been working hard on the website. We'll just quickly just show they've been meeting quite a
047bit, right, Brian? Your your group and everything. And uh they put together the website and they're looking for sponsors and things like that. So, let's see. >> Just need to get the right site. My apology have it right here. I think we also include Did we include a flyer in our packet, too? I think we also included the flyer for Friday, June 26 from 400 pm to 9:30. >> And you would think I would have this up before we started the meeting. >> I think if you go to our regular um web page, Cat, you can pick it up from there, too. Oh, there it is. Kad if you want to just so just shows our website and just kind of just flip through it quickly. You can become a sponsor. We're looking for sponsorship
048opportunities and then it shows the event location. We're looking for uh the homepage. It has some of the different information, the location, the shuttles, the vendors, the volunteers, the questions and answers, the uh the fireworks, the food trucks. So, I think the staff worked hard on getting this all together, and I think it looks pretty good. So, >> let me know when I can add a couple of >> Go right ahead. I just wanted to thank you for introducing this because I was hoping to show it, but uh I this is a great collaboration of what Farmington and Avon are doing together and both towns are going to be represented together and I'm suggesting that number one you consider coming of course being a sponsor if you can because there are going to be lots
049of opportunity to speak to your community and do something for your community. One of the things we're really hoping to do is to highlight and feature a lot of the nonprofits and community service groups that we have in Farmington. And we're encouraging you to find out a little bit about them and how you can contribute and communicate with people in the communicate in the community and how you can engage with them, which is going to be nice. Also, as we get more community groups presenting at the uh at the event, we hope you'll come back and look at to see where people are who what people are coming and what programs we're going to have. We're going to have also have an an antique car show which is going to be quite fabulous. We have
050cars coming from all around the state uh to uh present and it's going to be cars through the decades >> which is going to be a lot of fun >> and a lot of performing uh groups as well. There might even be a flash mob but I can't tell you about that. >> So So thanks Cat. And just I wanted to just make sure everyone did for the town hall ribbon cutting is uh Thursday May 14th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. So, just for the public, too. So, we have that going on. And that's that's it. >> I make a motion to approve the town manager's report. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I. >> Unanimously approved. Thank you. All right. I don't believe we have any unfinished business. So, let's
051go on to new business. I make a motion to approve the town council's recommended budget for fiscal year 2026 2027. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Approved unanimously. Next item. >> I make a motion that the attached resolutions item 1 through eight be forwarded to the annual town meeting with a recommendation that they be approved. >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I >> opposed. Passes unanimously. >> I make a motion to approve the warning for the May 4th, 2026 second town meeting and the May 14th, 2026 referendum. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Um, just for clarity for anyone watching, this is if the referendum does not pass. Correct. >> Correct. Any other comments or discussion? All in favor? >> I I >> opposed. Passes unanimously. >> I make
052a motion to award bid number 377, maintenance and repair of police vehicles to Farmington Motorsports of Farmington, Connecticut in accordance with their bid proposal dated March 25th, 2026. >> I'm going to set this one out just for the sake of it. second. >> Any further discussion? >> Go out of here. >> You should state on the record while you're introducing yourself. >> I will state on the record that I'm going to recuse myself from this one to I have family ties to motorsports. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> So, this uh motion is to contract with a vendor to provide maintenance and mechanical repair services for all town police vehicles. The award would be for the period of July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2027 with the option to extend the contract for one additional
053year. The town would have the right to terminate the contract at any time based on lack of funding or unsatisfactory performance by the vendor. Farmington Motorsports has been servicing town police vehicles for many years. They're local, provide reliable service, and have been very accommodating to the needs of the police department. Um, this contract is is going to exceed $50,000. Therefore, it requires town council approval. >> Any further discussion? >> Okay. All in favor? >> I >> Okay. Opposed? We have one recusal and six yays. >> For the record. Thank you very much, everybody. >> I make a motion to approve the elementary school ventilation upgrades and improvements project. Not approved. Sorry. I make a motion to recommend the elementary school ventilation upgrades and improvements projects to the town plan and zoning commission for a report
054under section 824 of the Connecticut state statutes. >> Second discussion. >> This is our bond question that has to go to the TPZ for an 8-24 report. >> All right. Any further discussion? >> All in favor? I. >> Anyone opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Item six. >> I make a motion to establish a town council ad hoc technology committee to oversee the modernization of the municipal website and to provide strategic foresight regarding emerging technologies. >> Second >> discussion. >> So you can see that this is our website and this is my uh draft charge for it and it would be basically website upgrade oversight. So the committee would look at the website traffic and look at high volume areas on the website to determine how to make this information more accessible. Review uh
055a redesign, review uh emerging technologies, provide recommendations regarding formal platform selection design and hosting and provide guidance on the transition. The second part of the charge would be the mass communication system and that would be to identify and evaluate and determine the best use of mass notification and critical event management tools everbridge and potential deployment of a 311 system. Provide a recommendation regarding any changes to the mass communication system. The group would also work with department heads to work on their communication needs. Work with our senior communication specialists to align our overcommunication goals with objectives. ensure that our technology investment aligned with our long-term goals and we the provide uh count we'd provide updates to the town council and then give a final recommendation to the town council on the ad hoc findings for approval.
056So I think that I thought hit pretty much what we were talking about. >> Absolutely was it. Yeah, this is one of the items added to the strategic plan. So nicely done. Is there any other further discussion about this? Just real quick, Brian, on the redesign includes like ADA compliance and all that would be just >> Yep. >> Oh, and then we probably should >> Yes. I was going to do I was thinking a second motion to name the members. >> Yeah. Okay. >> So, we have to vote on this one first. >> So, we're going to vote on this first, but then we do the members. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, all those in favor of uh establishing the ad hoc committee, >> I I >> opposed passesly. And now we're going to appoint
057the following members to this board. >> I make a motion to appoint the following members to the ad hoc committee. Bruce Pski, town council member. Keith Vert, town council member. Cat Kruski, assistant town manager. Brian Rush, IT manager. Todd Hodgejman, IT support specialist and other town staff as needed. >> Second. Further discussion? >> All in favor? >> I opposed. passes unanimously. Thank you very much and thank you everyone who's going to contribute to the committee. >> I make a motion to approve the attached revised 2026 2028 strategic plan town manager goals. >> Second discussion. >> So this was based on the town council's proposed budget. I'm recommending that the 2628 strategic plan be revised to reflect the changes made. I've also uh shifted the priorities for your consideration which we talked about in the town
058manager report. >> Any further discussion? I >> I just want I know we've talked about it before, but I just want to say I very much appreciate the new format and I think it's much more user friendly and thank you to everyone in your office, Kathy, who worked on it. >> Great. Yeah, it does does be much easier. >> Yes, it's easier to update. So, >> great. It's been better. >> Yeah. All in favor I passed >> unanimously. Thank you very much. Item J eight. >> I make a motion to approve the following Americans with Disabilities Act ADA policy and grievance procedure. >> Second discussion. >> So these in April we have a bunch of uh items that we approve every year. So there's no changes to what uh we've had from the year before,
059but they have been reviewed by uh Nancy Parent and our um human re uh Nancy Parent. And so the next five or six items, and this one is the Americans uh with Disability Act procedure. >> Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Item nine. I make a motion to adopt the following fair housing resolution for the town of Farmington and to authorize the town manager to sign and distribute said resolution. >> Second >> discussion. >> Yes. April is fair housing month. >> Any further discussion? All in favor? >> Opposed? >> Passes unanimously. Thank you all. Item 10. I make a motion to adopt the Farmington Equal Employment Opportunity Program and Affir affirmative action plan for the town of Farmington. >> Second >> discussion. >> There's been
060no changes, but this is our equal opportunity program and affirmative action plan. >> Any other discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Passes unanimously. Thank you all. Item 11. I make a motion to adopt the compliance with title six of the civil rights act of 1964 statement for the town of Farmington and to authorize the town manager to sign and distribute said resolution. >> Second. >> No changes. >> Any other discussion? All in favor? >> I oppos. >> Passes unanimously. Thank you. Item 12. I make a motion to adopt the following fair ha fair housing policy statement for the town of Farmington and to authorize the town of far the town manager to sign and distribute said resolution. >> Second >> discussion. >> Uh there was no changes recommended. >> All right. Any further
061discussion? >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Passes unanimously. And just thank you for doing all of these for us and keeping us, you know, up to date with all of these. Thank you, Kathy. >> No problem. Item 13. >> I make a motion to approve the property tax refunds listed below. >> Second. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Passes unanimously. Thank you. Item K1. Do we have any appointments? >> No. >> All right. We have no appointments >> except for we should talk about uh K24. Okay. >> The independent auditor. >> Yeah. >> Yes. I make a motion that the firm of PKF O'Conor Davies LLP of Weathersfield, Connecticut be appointed as the town's independent auditor for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2026. >> Second. >> Any discussion?
062>> So, as you know, by state statute, the town council each year must appoint an independent accounting firm to audit the town's financial statements. The appointment of an accounting firm to audit the town's 2526 financial statements must be made by June 30th, 2026. There are two options available to the town council regarding the appointment. We could go out for an RFP to look for uh new auditors or the town council can extend the contractual relationship with PKF Okconor on a year-to-year basis. Staff requested a quote from um the auditors um and their responses attached for reference. The cost of the audit for fiscal 2425's town uh financial statement was $18,57. I think at this point um you know we've talked about it a little bit that you know I think it is good practice to
063go out for RFPs but it is a a long process to get the auditors up to speed and even though I think we've had them Joe how is are they about eight eight years now or so about eight years I think we we're happy with them I think that I mean unless the council feels otherwise I think an extension would probably be what we would recommend but it's obviously the council's decision. >> Okay. any further discussion. I >> I I think it's warranted to consider an RFP within the next couple of years to avoid getting too comfortable with the auditor. Um but having been on the ad hoc committee that appointed that selected PKF Okconor Davies, I can say the pickings were few and far between. Um, and I think right now they've been doing
064a good job and I I would agree with reappointing them. >> Okay. So, all all in favor of reappointing our current auditor. >> I >> oppose. >> Passes unanimously. Thank you everyone. Believe we have no executive session. So, why don't we move on to reports of committees and liaison? >> Anything from the 1928 building? >> We had our meeting in March. I mean, it the the project uh up at the new town hall. Uh the 1928 building is really coming to a close. It's got a punch list. Um the contractor and the subcontractors are are aware of the punch list and they're going to they're going to work on as kind of weather permits. Now with the fact that there was some temperature related work that couldn't get accomplished but is uh you know is
065scheduled to be done in in April. Obviously we have an event in May to uh to dedicate the building. Um and I would say the paperwork the administrative side of things is probably 90% complete. So I mean it's wrap it up. >> That's wonderful. >> Yeah it's wrap it up. That's >> Thank you. >> Ad hoc fire station. Uh we had a meeting in March uh and it's one of the goals that uh in her quarterly report that she put uh the town manager. We're at a point now at the next meeting we should be able to uh put forward a charge, retire the ad hoc committee and then get into the full committee for the building committee for the for the firehouse station. >> Correct. >> Excellent. The Avon Farmington America 250th celebration. I
066pretty much gave my report a little minute ago when we were looking at the website. So I encourage everyone to come out and join us and please be a sponsor. It's a wonderful event. >> Board of Ed. >> Yeah. Hi Brian. No updates. They meet tomorrow and after tomorrow I believe they only have four more meetings left this year. >> Wow. Wonderful, Bill. Thank you. >> And the ad hoc sidewalk. Missed that one. >> Oh. Uh and then the ad hoc sidewalk committee. Happy to share that that we have come to a point where we're going to uh put ourselves on pause and then our next step is to come out and uh uh include questions about sidewalks in our next town townwide survey which will be going out probably next year I would imagine.
067>> Yeah, it takes quite a bit of time but >> takes some time but we're putting that together, right? >> Yep. Yep. We're gonna Well, we're going to probably create a committee to you know a survey committee and I think what did I say? We're talking about that in >> sidewalks in May in May and June. Yeah. >> So, we'll be we will be talking more about sidewalks, but we're going to be asking the public what you would like to see in terms of sidewalks. So, that will be part of the survey. And next is our uh conservation and inland wetlands. >> Conservation inland wetlands um has it's an update on things I've raised last I mentioned last time. Um there is a public hearing scheduled for April 15th for the refueling station that's been
068proposed on Phineamin Road warehouse and refueling station. Um there are concerns about vernal pools and wetlands. So that it's a regulated activity and a public hearing is required. Uh there's they are continuing till the next meeting the review of the senior active adult housing on Planeville Avenue. I know at the last meeting Bill asked the exact location. It's between Tanark and Snowberry um across from the Memorial Forest. It's proposing 18 single family homes. Um and staff continues to review the plans. They're hoping to address it at their next meeting. And the at the last meeting, they also approved new batting cages at I AR to go um in the back on the grass. Um, so there'll be some batting cages added for little league use and for school and they are returning to in-person meetings.
069So the next meeting will be here in town hall and as a reminder um and that was in the wetlands and conserva the conservation commission also met and discussed the green efforts cleanup on April 25th. So I'm squeezing that reminder in as well. And the during the conservation commission meeting, they reviewed the environmental resources inventory from 2005 that was used as part of the last um plan um plan of conservation and development process. Uh and this is a a report that identifies important water, wetland, upland resources in Farmington. It is hundreds of pages long. The executive summary is close to 70 pages. Um but this will once again be provided to TPZ as part of the plan of con as TPZ reviews the plan of conservation development and works through that process. Um they disc
070they discuss the cost of doing this and that it will likely they will likely not be preparing a new inventory given the time and effort involved. But they are continuing to look at it and it will be used during the next process. That's all. >> All right. Thank you. Economic development. >> Our next meeting is this Wednesday, April 8th. Um we did not have a meeting in March. Um uh Rose was out for a little while, but u back and uh we we're convening on Wednesday, April 8th. >> Very good. Thank you. Um Farmington High School Building Committee. >> That's Bill. >> Bill. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Apologize, guys. Uh, no updates. No updates. Uh, the uh I think we reported on it last time. Uh, so nothing new. >> All right. Any update on
071When is the uh uh ribbon cutting there? >> Oh, no. Never mind. I'm sorry. Wrong wrong. >> No, but there's going to be a meeting in Well, there's going to be a meeting in June, though. Uh, Brian, that will be the final meeting of the building committee. Uh, right now the finance committee is going through the invoices. uh kind of kind of short short circuit that process to be more efficient. Uh so I would say, you know, based on all the conversations we've had, my understanding is the intent is for it to wrap up sometime in June. >> All right. Thank you. Town planning and zoning. >> Couple of routine items. Um Carrier Group uh was in front of them uh for a one-year extension for their project on Mora Road and the option to
072build three model homes and that was unanimously approved. Um, further to what Patty was saying, the batting cages are being installed uh by public works and uh at the baseball field. Um, and the plan of conservation and development as as Patty also mentioned. So, every every 10 years it's a complete rewrite. The RFP has been prepared. It's out. uh they're due back I believe the 1 of uh May and then a subcommittee has been established of town staff and TPZ members to review that uh select a vendor with the idea that the proposal would be in front of us here at council for our June 2nd meeting for uh approval. >> That's it. >> Wonderful. Thank you very much. Any other committees or reports? >> All right. Thank you. Let me finish with a a
073quick report of the town council chair. I just want to say number one, thank you to everyone on the council and on the staff for getting us through a very arduous but productive budget cycle. I think we have a wonderful budget. We'll leave it up to the town to agree with us or not. And I just want to say also thank you to everyone for um our work that we have coming up in the future on addressing our uh strategic plan. and and thank you to the town for scheduling a whole six-month plan for getting that underway. So, we have a plan, we got a process, and we have the people in place to get this done well. So, I want to thank everyone for making this happen as efficiently as it has been, and
074we hope to continue that. Now, with all that work aside, it is time for the town to celebrate. I want to just remind everyone of the town hall ribbon cutting on May 14th. Uh the Westwoods Recreation Complex ribbon cutting. Uh bring your swim shorts. uh the Memorial Day parade in in Farmington on May 25th at 10:00 a.m. and also as I continue to share the Avon and Farmington 250th celebration on June 26th, Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. I hope to see you all there. That being said, I want to say I hope you all had a very happy Easter, a very happy Passover, and a happy spring. And go Yukon. >> Hello. All right. So, do I have a motion? >> I make a motion to adjourn the April 6th town council meeting. >> Second.
075>> All in favor? >> I >> Thank you everybody. Have a good evening.