---
1. AVOID
CUTS TO MUNICIPAL REVENUE
Cutbacks to towns and cities are
a shift of burden from the state level to the local level.
Please don't pass legislation that forces up local property
taxes. That tax has enough pressures already.
Maintain
Town Aid Road (TAR), Local Capital Improvement Program (LOCIP),
and Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) funding,
as these are very valuable resources for municipalities.
As
for the real estate conveyance tax, the 2003 increase in this
tax for municipalities from 0.11% to 0.25% was scheduled to
revert back to 0.11% on 6/30/07. That deadline was extended
to 6/30/2008 then to 7/1/2010, then most recently to 6/30/2010.
Please make the 0.25% figure and the extension permanent.
And
as for HVCEO, it serves as a shared municipal department for
intertown planning and cooperative approaches. It has received
a state grant thru CT OPM since 1971. This state support was
cut by 80% for FY2010. Please raise HVCEO to a lesser cut.
---
2. SUPPORT POSITIONS OF THE
HOUSATONIC RESOURCES RECOVERY AUTHORITY
1. Producer Responsibility for End
of Life Paint Management Legislation:
This is HRRA's
number one legislative priority for the year. Passage of such
legislation will save the municipalities in our region approximately
$45,000 per year, money that they are now spending to dispose
of oil-based paint and stain brought to the five household
hazardous waste collections held each year in the region.
It would also make proper disposal of not only oil-based paint
but also latex paint much easier and less time consuming for
the public.
HRRA has taken a leadership role working with
other municipalities and regions in the State, with DEP, with
the National Product Stewardship Institute, with the newly
formed CT Product Stewardship Council and with the National
Paint and Coatings Association (NPCA) to ensure that legislation
is introduced in the 2010 session that would require paint
manufacturers to create and fund a paint recycling and end
of life management program for all post-consumer architectural
paint and stain sold in the State.
The NPCA on behalf of paint manufacturers is in support of
this legislation, hoping to develop a standard program that
would work across many states. We have also sought and expect
to gain the support of CCM, COST, the CT Recyclers Coalition,
DEP and the CT Retail Merchants Association.
This is win-win legislation. Municipalities
will save money. More paint and stain will be disposed of
in an environmentally appropriate manner. Disposal of paint
and stain will be easier for residents.
There will be no cost to the State. And the paint producers,
who will pay for the program, are in support.
2. Program Review
and Investigation
Committee Recommendations:
HRRA has closely followed and provided input to and public
hearing testimony for the Program Review and Investigation
Committee’s comprehensive study of Municipal Solid Waste
services in the State.
The Program Review staff will make specific recommendations
to the Committee in December. HRRA will be watching those
recommendations closely and providing input at public hearings
as the opportunity arises.
Once the PRI committee decides what legislative agenda it
will pursue with regard to solid waste in the 2010 session,
HRRA will review and contact the state representatives and
senators from our region if the Authority has strong feelings
one way or the other about any of those proposals.
3. Railroad Operated
Transfer Stations:
HRRA supports anything the
Legislature can do to address the problems created for the
region's solid waste management system and for the Town of
Newtown and residents of Hawleyville as a result of the expansion
of the Housatonic Railroad's transfer station.
We understand that federal preemption makes legislative action
unlikely, but still want to ask for the record that legislators
from our region support any possible legislation or other
state action that supports the Town of Newtown's efforts to
protect the environment and the quality of life for Hawleyville
residents from the Housatonic Railroad transfer station operations.
---
3. STOP CT DPH MASS DISPENSING AREA CHANGES
Reconfiguration by CT DPH of emergency mass vaccination
and dispensing areas (MDAs) will diminish voluntary base,
level of commitment and community resilience and is not warranted.
These municipal combinations are currently being well used
for H1N1 Influenza Vaccine distribution.
HVCEO
mayors and first selectmen support the following statement
of objection from area health directors to CT DPH:
The
Directors of Health in the Housatonic Valley Region have significant
concerns about the preliminary MDA reconfiguration presented
to date in meetings with CT DPH. The current boundaries are
newly established and are working well.
CT DPH's current
mass vaccination and medication dispensing
area multi-town groups are shown above. Districts 05, 06,
07 and
08 work well now - no need to revise group boundaries.
It
is important to note that within DEMHS Region 5, only the
MDAs in the HVR are impacted by the proposed reconfiguration
- all others within Region 5 have remained intact. Our well
developed infrastructure for mass vaccination and dispensing
clinics at the local level will be compromised with the proposed
changes.
The major reason for our success in building public health
emergency response teams within our communities is the development
of a broad and committed volunteer base. This has been fostered
and fully supported by the fact that emergency response begins
(and ends) 'locally".
Key
alliances have been formed across response disciplines in
our communities, often without any financial incentive. In
large part this is due to the support of the chief elected
officials in the Region, who remain vested in the MDA configuration
that is in place.
We are convinced that changing the current MDA configuration
will diminish our volunteer base, level of commitment, and
ultimately community resilience - the cornerstone of effective
emergency preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.
The
projected reductions in public health preparedness funding
should not drive the reconfiguration, but rather any changes
should be based on needs identified at the local level
to improve the effectiveness of delivery of countermeasures
in a public health event.
Emergency
multi-town mass vaccination clinic.
Within
Greater Danbury, we believe the proposed reconfiguration will
in fact impede and complicate mass dispensing efforts due
to factors such as our congested roadways, strong local vs.
regional affiliations, and lack of regional agreements for
use of volunteer personnel and POD facilities. We cannot envision
the benefits of the proposed realignment of MDAs in the HVR.
The reconfiguration also excludes Danbury as a major city
in the state of Connecticut requiring its own MDA. It is important
to us, as a cohesive regional planning committee, to support
the recognition of Danbury as a city with population estimated
to be over 100,000 persons when its undocumented residents
are included.
And
due to its many unique socioeconomic characteristics, we feel
strongly that the City of Danbury must maintain its status
as a distinct MDA to best serve the mass dispensing needs
of its residents in an emergency.
We
are optimistic that we will reach agreement on a MDA configuration
that meets the needs of DPH as well as our planning region.
Communications
on this matter are welcome via Donna M. Culbert, MPH, PE,
RS, Director of Health, Newtown Health District and Chairperson,
Housatonic Valley Region Public Health Emergency Planning
Committee, (203)
270-4291.
---
4. REGIONAL TRAINING
FACILITY FOR FIRE PREPAREDNESS
There
are nine designated “State Regional Fire School”
training facilities in Connecticut, but none near our area
(Torrington, Waterbury, Fairfield).
The City of Danbury is seeking such a designation for its
Plumtrees Road training facility from the Legislature. Surrounding
municipalities are already using the Danbury training facility
- ten different communities during 2009.
There is an obvious mutual advantage for area fire departments
to work together. Danbury’s policy is to expand such
regional cooperation after the state designation of regional
training facility is obtained.
HVCEO is in full support of the state designation and supports
enhanced cooperation between fire departments.
Danbury Airport hanger fire in 2007
News Times photo
A regional
training facility would allow all the fire departments in
the area to have a better working relationship. Danbury Fire
Chief Geoff Herald has stated that this on-going cooperation
will save each municipality both time and money.
Some practical advantages of the state designation are that
state grants for capital improvements and training programs
may be received, and state training teams are more available
for visits to our area.
---
5. SET DIRECTION ON
TICK BORNE ILLNESS ISSUES
The
HVCEO Tick
Borne Illness Task Force meets monthly on third
Wednesdays. The group is composed of municipal advocates for
tick control and health department staff.
THANK
YOU LEGISLATORS!
Signing
ceremony on 7/16/2009 at Brookfield Town Hall as
Governor Rell endorses legislation validating treatment of
chronic Lyme Disease. The act offers physicians additional
legal protections when treating long term sufferers.
The
Task Force is eager to assist you with Lyme Disease related
information and legislation. Task Force recommendations relevant
to state government are:
--- Overall,
direct state agencies to take a more active role in informing
the public on how to prevent tick borne diseases. Develop
measurable goals:
1.
For a statewide tick-borne disease prevention and early symptom
detection program.
2.
To increase the knowledge of and compliance with the five
recommended
behaviors that have been scientifically shown to prevent tick-borne
disease.
3.
To increase awareness of early symptoms detection.
4.
To reduce tick-borne diseases.
5.
To reduce tick populations.
--- CT
DPH funded the development and dissemination of a unified
Lyme Disease Prevention and educational program in 2008. This
low cost program, named BLAST,
gives busy people five points they can effortlessly remember
and employ to help them prevent tick-borne illnesses.
BLAST
- which stands for, Bathe,
Look, Apply
repellent, Spray
the perimeter of the yard, and
Treat pets - is easily adaptable to a variety
of “teachable opportunities” including schools,
pharmacies, senior centers, workplaces, health fairs, and
wellness seminars.
This program
is based on the most current research on prevention completed
in Connecticut by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment
Station, Yale Emerging Infections, and the 2008
Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior Study prepared
by the CT DPH.
BLAST is designed for statewide distribution and is ready
for delivery throughout Connecticut.
--- Educational
curriculum materials need to be made available to schools.
The Greenwich based Time
for Lyme organization has developed a comprehensive,
well-researched curriculum for schools and is available to
state officials.
--- CT
DPH regards deer as the province of the CT DEP, even though
deer are central to the spread of tick disease. But deer management
at CT DEP regards health education as the province of the
CT DPH.
Ask these
agencies to work together and set tick borne disease prevention
goals. As part of this coordination, designate a single state
office as the primary contact on deer tick issues.
--- Connecticut
should position itself to be one of the major recipients of
funding from federal HR 1179, the proposed “Lyme and
Tick Borne Diseases Prevention, Education and Research Act”
which will provide resources to tick illness states.
--- To
become familiar with what tick illness prevention groups and
resources are located in your district, see this
listing maintained by the Task Force.
---
6. IMPROVE RAIL PASSENGER SERVICE
Conn DOT has initiated Phase II of a study of passenger service
potential on the Danbury Branch Rail Line from Norwalk through
Danbury to New Milford. This Conn DOT effort has its own rail
study web site.
It
will be important for elected leaders to show interest in
this planning process if we are to obtain results. The goal
is incremental, staged service expansions, not hugh dollar
outlays up front.
Please
support better rail service at upcoming CT DOT public outreach
meetings and thereafter.
--- 7. PRESERVE VAUGHN'S
NECK IN CANDLEWOOD LAKE
This 710 acre parcel in New Fairfield and New Milford
is the largest contiguous tract of Northeast Utilities property
on Candlewood Lake.
If the property were to be developed, then the recreational
and aesthetic quality of Candlewood Lake would be greatly
reduced, affecting property values as well as the enjoyment
of thousands throughout this Region and beyond.
Pristine Vaughn's Neck, the central
feature of
Candlewood Lake, located in New Fairfield and New Milford.
Through a voluntary agreement NU will provide public agencies
and land trusts with the right of first refusal if this key
property is ever up for sale. State funding for a conservation
restriction may be the answer.
--- 8. I-84 TOLL PROPOSALS MUST ADDRESS IMPACTS
A rallying point for tolling interests, a major
statewide tolling study, was completed for Connecticut in
2009.
Should Greater Danbury's upcoming I-84 reconstruction include
a retrofit to enable one or more toll booths to fund capacity
improvements? Alternatively, can the area avoid toll options
and compete for funds thru traditional channels?
HVCEO
has prepared a fact
finding report documenting the impacts of tolling I-84
in our area. The research is to assist in determining the
HVCEO position on tolling and to provide information to legislators
and others.
Dramatization
of a theoretical toll barrier location in Danbury
(inside circle) east of I-84 Exit 6 (not taken from CT Tolling
Study).
---
9. USE NEW REGIONAL PLAN
AS INPUT TO LEGISLATION
Key information on affordable hosing needs, economic
development overview, water supply issues and future growth
areas has been updated and consolidated in the new 2009 Housatonic
Valley Regional Plan.
This
information will be useful as input
to some draft legislation, and for understanding how some
legislation may affect us.
--- 10. MODIFY 8-30G TO REALISTICALLY
ADDRESS AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Modifications
to State Statute 8-30g are needed to more realistically and
effectively address the issue of affordable housing in the
Region:
- Reduce massive density increase.
- Better mixing of moderate cost and market rate units.
- Improve the accuracy of the statistical formula by including
privately owned affordable units.
- Stimulate accessory apartment development.
Details
on these policies start on page 65 of the Greater
Danbury Housing Market Assessment.
|
