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[0:26] I'm going to call this meeting to order.
[0:27] Selectmen meeting, July 1st, 2026, at
[0:31] 4:30 PM, at the Community Center on 46 Church Street.
[0:36] Item number one, to consider, and if appropriate, approve the
[0:40] Board of Selectmen minutes
[0:42] from June 17th, 2026.
[0:45] I'll move it.
[0:46] Second. All those in favor?
[0:48] Aye.
[0:48] Aye. Item number two is executive session for tax
[0:52] appeals, and item number three is to consider if appropriate,
[0:56] approve proposed settlements of pending tax appeals.
[0:59] We have none, so we're going to
[1:01] just move past those
[1:05] items.
[1:06] Item number four, to consider and act upon the
[1:10] recommendation of the tax collector and tax assessor
[1:14] to approve a refund of motor vehicle late fees paid pursuant to
[1:17] Connecticut General Statute
[1:20] 12-129, based on an administrative
[1:24] address record error affecting
[1:27] issuance of a tax bill.
[1:29] Motion to approve.
[1:30] I second.
[1:32] All those in favor?
[1:33] Aye.
[1:33] Aye. Motion carries. To consider, and if appropriate,
[1:37] approve a request from Jennifer Aquino, assistant town
[1:41] engineer, to waive the bid for permanent pavement patches
[1:45] on call service pavement
[1:49] parches,
[1:50] the name of the company, I assume, Pavement Parches, on-call services,
[1:54] and award the contract to William M.
[1:57] Leyden Construction at the following prices:
[2:00] asphalt patch per square foot at $7.46,
[2:05] asphalt curb at
[2:07] $13.47, asphalt
[2:10] sidewalks
[2:12] at $6.44,
[2:15] and asphalt aprons at $6.44.
[2:19] All of those are square foot prices.
[2:25] Good afternoon.
[2:27] Hello, Jen.
[2:27] Jennifer Aquino, assistant town engineer, before you today for a
[2:31] request for a bid waiver.
[2:35] I'm sure you're aware William Leyden Construction has been our on-call paving
[2:38] contractor since I've been in this role.
[2:42] The last bid we did was a fiscal year '20 bid.
[2:45] They were the low bidder for that.
[2:47] For four years following that, as allowed by contract, they extended their
[2:51] bid with no cost increase.
[2:54] In fiscal '25 and fiscal '26,
[2:58] they extended their bid with a requested 3%
[3:01] escalation, which was awarded by the Board of Selectmen during those two fiscal
[3:05] years. The company has once again requested to extend their
[3:09] contract, and have asked for a 3% escalation,
[3:13] which results in the pricing that First Selectman Brooks just went over.
[3:18] When reviewing their request, we take a look at a lot of factors, and
[3:22] one of those is
[3:24] DOT's weekly asphalt monitor, which I gave you a
[3:28] copy of with the package. That lists the
[3:31] average cost of asphalt for
[3:35] every year
[3:37] for these contract years. I broke it down with just per year.
[3:39] So the average cost, there's the high and the low is there, but the average is what
[3:43] I was looking at when determining whether or not this was advantageous for
[3:47] the town to continue this contract.
[3:50] As you can see,
[3:52] from the time that our bid was put out and they won their original
[3:56] award, there's been
[3:58] over a 34% increase in asphalt prices.
[4:01] So I thought it was prudent of us to entertain the
[4:05] request with this minimal increase of 3%
[4:10] in order to keep this contract going.
[4:12] I called around a couple of different towns.
[4:14] They're seeing significant price increases with their recent bids.
[4:19] And we're like, "Wow, you're getting a really good price for what you're
[4:23] getting."
[4:25] So I'm here before you today for this request.
[4:27] And I think one of the key points with this particular
[4:32] type of work that we do, this is asphalt patches that we do,
[4:35] curbing, driveways, sidewalks, different items that we use
[4:39] from the town's perspective for our work, but this also
[4:43] includes work when a homeowner has work done and has a
[4:47] water connection done or sewer connection done.
[4:49] This pricing is what the homeowner is directly charged for the repairs
[4:53] that the town does.
[4:55] From our contractor, they put a bond up when they get the excavation permits.
[4:59] Our contractor does the repair work to ensure that that's done to our standards,
[5:03] and then we pass that cost directly on to the homeowner.
[5:05] So this isn't just the town's project. This is also direct cost to homeowners.
[5:09] So it's kind of prudent for us to try and keep those costs as low as we
[5:13] can. And I definitely feel that if we were to go out to bid this year, the cost
[5:17] would significantly increase.
[5:19] We were seeing costs in the $10 per square foot at the
[5:23] time this bid was done in fiscal '20 by the other contractors that
[5:27] didn't win. So I can only assume that that would be
[5:30] significantly more than the pricing that they've offered us for this
[5:34] contract again.
[5:38] Any questions? Any other questions?
[5:39] Jen, thanks for your due diligence on this.
[5:41] I think it's
[5:43] excellent, and I would agree to move forward.
[5:46] I'm good.
[5:48] They do good work. Can I get a motion?
[5:49] I'll make a motion to approve.
[5:50] Second. All those in favor?
[5:52] Aye.
[5:52] Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you.
[5:54] Thanks, Jen.
[5:59] Okay, item number six, to consider, and if appropriate, approve
[6:04] A request from Blaise Levitan, Board of Ed Chief Operating
[6:08] Officer, and Brendan Letty, Board of Ed Facilities Director, to waive the
[6:12] bid for fiscal year '26, '27 electrical
[6:16] projects at Branford High School, and authorize the work to be
[6:19] performed by McMillan Electric using the pricing and terms
[6:23] as identified in contract 7214 between
[6:27] McMillan J. Orris LLC and the town of
[6:31] Greenwich, dated February 8th, 2028.
[6:37] Hey, everybody. How's it going?
[6:38] 2020, sorry.
[6:38] Yeah.
[6:39] 2020.
[6:40] '22.
[6:41] '22.
[6:41] '22. Yep. I know there was an addendum in there.
[6:44] Yeah, so good afternoon, everybody. Good to see you.
[6:47] Never great following Jen,
[6:51] but
[6:52] we will try our best.
[6:54] So we're back before you with a fairly similar request.
[6:57] And just for the public's background that's watching, we came
[7:01] here in February for a bid waiver under the same
[7:05] contract for a very specific project at the high school to do the
[7:09] switchgear.
[7:10] At the same time, we were working with the
[7:14] town administration on the solar project at the
[7:18] high school, and we ended up shifting gears from in
[7:22] front of the meter to a behind-the-meter approach that's now well
[7:26] underway, and that drives a lot of other decisions.
[7:30] So that project that we came before you to upgrade all of the switchgear
[7:34] this summer was put on hold and will now be part of a
[7:38] larger
[7:39] project that will be looped in with the cogen,
[7:43] and HVAC system replacement, as well as the
[7:46] solar.
[7:48] And so that way we can do some more engineering, building committee project.
[7:52] What we're doing instead,
[7:54] hopefully this summer, would be all of the ancillary
[7:58] electrical components in the building instead, so that we can still stay on
[8:02] schedule for electrical upgrades overall.
[8:04] They'll still be done in tandem. And so
[8:08] we're looking to really basically similarly issue an
[8:11] award under the town of Greenwich contract pricing,
[8:15] for the high school for the year, with the bulk of those
[8:19] projects being specifically completed
[8:22] this summer. Brendan is going to mention a
[8:26] few of those high-level projects. I also put them in the memo.
[8:30] For checking on pricing, so McMillan is based
[8:34] out of Stratford, Connecticut, and they have
[8:37] had a very competitive contract we attached.
[8:41] We have the approval from both
[8:43] the town of Greenwich,
[8:45] and McMillan to use this
[8:48] town contract. They still comply with all of our own
[8:52] insurance and our terms as well, but they've honored the pricing.
[8:56] We included in here the alternative, too,
[9:01] with the state contract that they have.
[9:03] That's the piggyback for electrical pricing for all
[9:07] towns to piggyback on, and we are obviously
[9:10] substantially lower per hour than the
[9:14] state contract.
[9:16] The Greenwich project, it's not like it didn't go through a competitive bid process
[9:19] as well. So it went through a competitive bid
[9:22] in Greenwich and this price is very
[9:27] strong. Brendan's looked around with other
[9:31] opportunities, similar to what Jen was just mentioning about
[9:35] people who are honoring prices from basically that are built on a
[9:39] base of 2022,
[9:41] instead of this escalation that you've really seen in the last few years.
[9:44] So we're able to take advantage of that.
[9:47] And so that's the logic behind the request in a
[9:51] summary. For additional context, that
[9:56] switchgear project
[9:58] that we were going to do this summer, the nice thing is, is by pivoting it and
[10:02] tying it to the HVAC and
[10:06] the
[10:08] power system of the building, we're able-- Typically, just
[10:12] replacing switchgear on its own because it's
[10:16] old and no longer at its useful life is not an
[10:19] eligible reimbursable expense in the school construction grant project,
[10:23] but HVAC and core mechanical systems are.
[10:26] And what we've been doing is working with our professional team to really
[10:30] line up
[10:32] including it so that it can be justified as part of that bigger renovation on
[10:36] the HVAC. So that portion of the project we
[10:39] anticipate to be now, since we're going to do it connected
[10:43] to and make the case that it's part of the power system, specifically of the
[10:47] building, and it powers the core HVAC components that we'll be
[10:50] replacing. We'll be able to get the state reimbursement on the
[10:53] non-priority grant back on top of doing it.
[10:57] So there's actually a two-step benefit, so it really connects
[11:00] the behind-the-meter approach that First Selectman Brooks
[11:04] has led, which is working out.
[11:07] Overall, the timing and everything hopefully will sync up well, and
[11:10] then we're able to lump that into that bigger project for the
[11:14] 37% reimbursement rate back on that, too.
[11:17] So
[11:18] I don't know if you want to give any additional context about this specific project
[11:22] and what they're doing at the high school.
[11:23] No, as Billy said, we're working on a lot of projects this summer.
[11:26] A lot of these projects that the electrical team is focusing on are
[11:30] improving safety, security,
[11:34] and then core
[11:37] teaching elements, in our kitchen, in our CNA program.
[11:40] We're addressing some of these much-needed electrical upgrades in those areas.
[11:46] We've looked around. It's hard to beat a $68 an hour
[11:51] electrician these days.
[11:53] So he just partially answered the question.
[11:57] You did look around already, so everyone knows four different pricing.
[12:01] This was still the best pricing.
[12:03] Well, state contracts just says it's $80 an hour according to the presentation.
[12:07] Right. I often found, unfortunately, using state contracts in the past,
[12:11] that they're higher than-
[12:12] Right
[12:12] ... we can get otherwise. So it
[12:15] seems to be convenience
[12:17] For us to look at state bids sometimes, but they are not-
[12:20] Right
[12:20] ... the best prices.
[12:20] I agree. That's a good comparison. Is that $80 based on a prevailing wage?
[12:24] Do you know, Brandon?
[12:25] It is.
[12:25] It is.
[12:26] Yeah.
[12:27] Yeah.
[12:27] But we have had
[12:30] other electricians in the building.
[12:31] We've had other costs even on smaller projects where we may
[12:35] have a general contractor working.
[12:38] They're going to hire their own electrician. They're not being $68 an hour.
[12:41] Right.
[12:41] So oftentimes we're bringing in even McMellen.
[12:43] We may have a general contractor to frame out an area, build something, and then
[12:47] we're bringing in our own electrician just to save that money as well.
[12:50] Yeah.
[12:50] Now, right now,
[12:53] because obviously
[12:55] you're trying to get this done this summer,
[12:57] are they already in the building doing other work where they can just transfer
[13:00] over?
[13:02] We only got a two-month window here, and this is kind of late for
[13:06] us
[13:07] to be approving a bid waiver. But I'm assuming you had to wait for funding
[13:11] anyway.
[13:12] But this is going to be able to get done in this time period, the project you
[13:16] want-
[13:16] Yes
[13:16] ... by us doing this tonight?
[13:18] Yes.
[13:18] Okay.
[13:19] It's not necessarily late. It was a little bit of back and forth between the state
[13:23] contract and how we were finding the funding.
[13:27] So we've gone through, both with myself, our technology
[13:31] director, our director of security, which is where a lot of these projects are
[13:34] coming from. We walked the building with McMellen. They took a list.
[13:37] They provided several quotes for us.
[13:40] And now their main foreman is on vacation this
[13:44] week for the 4th of July holiday, and then they are dedicating, essentially
[13:47] starting next week through the end of the summer, they will have electricians on
[13:51] site nearly every day.
[13:52] That's what I was looking for. They're ready to go.
[13:53] Ready to go. On site, they have material all ready to go.
[13:56] They have a material list. They've run through everything. Yep.
[13:58] Thanks.
[13:59] Yeah.
[13:59] I like the way you piggybacked on Brandon's spot. I would like to move this.
[14:02] Second.
[14:04] All right. All those in favor?
[14:06] Aye.
[14:07] Thanks, guys.
[14:08] Aye.
[14:08] Thanks. Appreciate it.
[14:08] Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
[14:09] Much obliged.
[14:12] Good to see everybody.
[14:13] Take care, boys. Have a good holiday.
[14:14] See you. You too, man.
[14:17] Peace. Not much space for my computer.
[14:21] Okay, item number seven, to consider, and if appropriate, approve a request
[14:25] from Gino Carano, acting superintendent
[14:28] WPCF, to waive the bid for the purchase of two
[14:32] replacement 45-horsepower flight
[14:35] submersible dry pit pumps for the Damascus Road pump
[14:39] station and award the contract to Fleet Pump and Service Group,
[14:43] Inc., in the amount of $128,390.
[14:48] Just to give you guys background, this is similar to last month or
[14:52] two weeks ago, we did the same thing.
[14:54] This is the rest of those pumps in that pump station.
[14:59] It's replacing
[15:01] pump to pump. So getting multiple pricing makes no
[15:05] sense because you want the same pump doing the same job.
[15:09] I'm good with it. You did-
[15:10] I am, too
[15:10] ... due diligence last month.
[15:12] Yep. I'll move it.
[15:13] I think we should just move it.
[15:14] Okay. All those in favor?
[15:15] Aye.
[15:16] Aye.
[15:16] All right. Motion carries.
[15:18] Thank you very much.
[15:18] Thanks.
[15:19] Item number eight, green use, to consider, and if appropriate, approve a
[15:23] request from the Society of Nepalese in America for
[15:27] the use of the town green on July 18th,
[15:30] 2026, to hold the Nepal Festival,
[15:33] Nepal Day Parade from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
[15:38] This-
[15:40] I'll move it.
[15:40] I'll second.
[15:41] Any discussion?
[15:43] All those in favor?
[15:44] Aye.
[15:45] Aye.
[15:45] Motion carries.
[15:47] Item number nine, correspondence. We have none.
[15:50] Item number 10, other. Is there anything else
[15:54] to come before us?
[15:56] Okay. Item number 11, adjournment.
[15:58] I'll move it.
[15:58] Can I get a motion?
[15:59] Second.
[16:01] All those in favor?
[16:02] Aye.
[16:03] Aye.
[16:03] We're adjourned.
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[16:11] Watch town meetings and other videos on demand at
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