Ansonia Aldermen voted unanimously Tuesday to put $18.3 million in borrowing on the November election ballot to finance several capital purchases and the building of a new police station.
The vote came after an hourlong public hearing that prompted the Aldermen to tweak the proposal in a handful of ways — including a possible new location for the police station.
Background
The city was poised to hold a referendum on roughly $6 million in projects in the summer, but Aldermen opted to delay the vote with a view to pursuing a higher bond rating and revising the plan, which was met with heavy criticism when first unveiled.
In the meantime, Aldermen refined the list of projects, and added a proposal to borrow $12 million in federal money to build a new police station to replace the current cop shop — a repurposed school building built in 1894.
The plan totals $18,295,000, broken down as:
- $1,565,000 for the Board of Education
- $510,000 for culture-recreation
- $215,000 for infrastructure
- $1,035,000 for public safety
- $12,080,000 for the new police station
- $720,000 for public works
- $1,015,000 for roads
- $1,155,000 for vehicles
Financial advisers hired by the city have said that with debt payments for a number of prior bonding projects coming off the books, the city can afford to borrow more money to fund the capital improvements without raising taxes
In addition, Ansonia recently received a bond rating upgrade, which allows the city to borrow money at lower interest rates.
Public Officials: We Need These Things
A public hearing on the capital plan drew about 60 people to the high school auditorium Tuesday.
The hearing began with several public officials saying the projects are needed and asking Aldermen and voters to support the borrowing.
Police Chief Kevin Hale said the police department’s headquarters at 2 Elm St. is “substandard.” He said residents who are skeptical of the need for a new police station can see for themselves — if they can find parking anywhere near the building.
Ansonia Rescue Medical Services Chief Jared Heon pointed out that the ARMS’ vehicles to be replaced under the capital plan are all at least 14 years old.
“These are needs,” Heon said. “We need these items.”
Fire Department Chief Scott Trembley said city firefighters have been operating on a “shoestring budget” for 20 years, and that the borrowing would finance things like backup generators, new radios, and protective gear.
Click the play button below to listen to the hearing.
Concerns
Several people — many of them leaders in the local Democratic party — raised questions and concerns about the proposed borrowing.
Tarek Raslan, for example, said he was “conflicted” about the plan. While he didn’t doubt the needs stated by officials earlier, he said the city should use its rainy day fund to finance some of the purchases.
He also said the city should consider a proposal he made to put the new police station in the old Ansonia Copper & Brass offices on Liberty Street.
After he first took office in 2013, Cassetti proposed putting a new police station on Olson Drive, as part of the redevelopment of the former Riverside Apartments property.
David Knapp, the chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, said the city shouldn’t be borrowing money to pay for vehicles.
He also said the city should provide more details about a $500,000 line item to relocate the senior center.
The senior center is on the ground floor of the city-owned Palmer Building at 153 Main St. The capital plan envisions using $500,000 to renovate part of the city-owned ATP Building next door (497 E. Main St.) and moving the senior center there.
Knapp’s senior center concerns were echoed by James Hubbard, the chairman of the city’s Commission for Elderly Services, who said Mayor David Cassetti outlined the possible senior center relocation with the commission but didn’t follow up further.
Dr. Julienne Dudzis, a podiatrist who rents space in the Palmer Building, said the city shouldn’t be spending any money to move the senior center to the ATP Building because it is currently in negotiations to sell the buildings to a developer.
Former Town Clerk Elizabeth Lynch asked why the city didn’t do more to bring people out to Tuesday’s meeting.
“We get robocalls to come to the Memorial Day Parade, to come to Rock the Valley. There’s lawn signs all over the city for those events,” she said. “Tonight you have an event that’s going to change the lives of everyone in the city and no one’s here.”
Tara Kolakowski, who served as chief of staff to Cassetti’s predecessor, James Della Volpe, questioned whether the city had permission to build a police station on Olson Drive, saying the land is controlled by the federal government.
“Are we putting the cart before the horse?” she asked.
Ansonia Housing Authority Vice Chairman Edward Norman said later that the feds would be OK with a police station being built there.
Saleh Hanaif said that the city’s Aldermen had “dropped the ball” by not giving the Board of Education $2 million in new funding during this year’s budget discussions, and urged voters to vote “No” on the proposals come November.
Changes, Reaction
During a special meeting after the hearing, the Aldermen made a handful of adjustments to the proposal.
They inserted language saying that the new police station could be built at a location other than Olson Drive.
They also took away $30,000 earmarked for “building security upgrades” at the current police station to instead be used to buy an automatic chest compression machine for ARMS.
At Trembley’s suggestion, they also tweaked the language of the proposal to include the purchase of $50,000 in hydraulic rescue tools, like the Jaws of Life.
After the meeting, Cassetti said voters should vote “Yes” Nov. 8.
“You have three choices. Do nothing and let the city decay, or go out and do all this work and raise the taxes on the residents, or go out to bonding, and bonding’s the way to go,” he said.
He dismissed most of the opposition during the hearing as political — and pointed out the Della Volpe administration asked voters to approve $330,000 with a view to making Olson Drive “open space,” but were shut down by federal housing officials, who said open space was never an option on Olson Drive.
“It’s definitely politics,” Cassetti said. “They (Democrats) had a hand in it for 14 years. I remember them saying Olson Drive was going to be a park. That was not true.”
Chief Hale said after the meeting that he isn’t adamant about any particular location for the new police department — just that it be located more centrally than its current location.
He said police will soon be announcing opportunities for residents to tour the Elm Street police station to see for themselves the need to relocate.
