Tuesday, February 28, 2017


BOARD OF SELECTMEN
MEETING MINUTES
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2017
DRAFT
 
Attendance:  First Selectman Derrylyn Gorski, Selectman Clark Hurlburt, Selectman Donald Shea
Visitors:  Town Attorney, Kevin McSherry, Fran Doba
 
First Selectwoman Gorski called the meeting of the Board of Selectmen to order at 7:30 p.m. The meeting was held in the Selectmen’s Conference Room of the Bethany Town Hall.
 
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
First Selectwoman Gorski called for a motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting of January 9, 2017.  The motion of approval was moved by Selectman Hurlburt and seconded by Selectman Shea.  The minutes were approved on a unanimous vote without change.
 
TAX REFUNDS
Selectman Shea moved the motion to refund to Arkady L. Gordon for the sum of $42.42, Kristine Sullivan for the sum of $50.06 and for Patricia Glazer for the sum of $157.22, for a grand total of $249.70, all for overpayment of taxes.  The motion was seconded by Selectman Hurlburt.  The vote taken was unanimous.
 
PLANNING GRANT APPLICATION
First Selectman Gorski indicated she reached out to Hiram Peck for information on this grant process but was not able to speak with him as of yet.
 
CORRESPONDENCE
There was no correspondence to discuss at this time.
 
COMMISSION APPOINTMENT RECOMMENDATIONS
Selectman Shea recommended two (2) candidates for appointment to the Inland Wetlands Commission.  Robert Huxley (R), and Alexander Westphal.  First Selectman Gorski will provide the contact information to IW Chair, Alexandra Breslin.
 
POST MEETING NOTE:  PER WILL BRINTON, ALEXANDER WESTPHAL IS NOT A REGISTERED VOTER IN BETHANY.  FRAN DOBA NOTIFIED THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN VIA EMAIL.
 
AMITY SCHOOL BUDGET
First Selectman Gorski told the board that, at last week’s BOF meeting, Chairman John Grabowski reported that the Amity BOE budget seemed to be holding steady at 2.86% increase.  She was concerned so she attended tonight’s ABOE Finance Committee meeting to voice her opinion about the potential budget increase.  She shared with the group that Governor Malloy told the COST members that while he was able to protect funding to the municipalities in past, it is getting more difficult to do that now. During the presentation she learned that the proposed budget has been reduced to 2.07% over last year and that Bethany’s contribution will actually be about $90,000 less than last year due to reduction in student enrollment.  She said she emphasized to the Finance Committee that, clearly, based on the results of the referendum in December, Amity taxpayers will support infrastructure maintenance and so Amity should go to the towns to approve costly maintenance projects rather than funding them in the operating budget. 
 
ADJOURNMENT
At 7:46PM Selectman Shea moved to adjourn the meeting.  Selectman Hurlburt seconded the motion.  The vote taken was unanimous.
 
Respectfully submitted,
 
 
Frances K. Doba