[0:01] 2026 minutes order at 7 p.m., hello everybody. If we can get started with a pledge of allegiance, a good French

[0:12] off, you don't mind, leading this in the pledge.

[0:24] United States of America, and

[0:27] to the public, which stands on nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:37] Excuse me. For your remains standing, I'll ask Councilman Frank Salvatore to lead us in prayer, please.

[0:42] Please.

[0:44] Sir God, we seek your help with our fears today, bless this meeting with your divine intelligence

[0:50] and help us make the best use of our own.

[0:54] We are on a diverse opinion here, yet we wish to mend our differences and reach agreement

[1:00] satisfactorily.

[1:01] So please share a little of your wisdom with us and help us to do your best.

[1:06] By all means, sir, thank you for your heavenly pleasure.

[1:10] Amen.

[1:11] Madame

[1:16] Legislative Assistant, D-Roll, please.

[1:20] Coelho.

[1:21] Here.

[1:22] Flanagan.

[1:24] Present.

[1:25] Holly.

[1:26] Lapine.

[1:28] Salvatore.

[1:30] Salvatore.

[1:30] Usade.

[1:32] Gartner.

[1:33] Present.

[1:34] Fay.

[1:35] Henry.

[1:38] Wallace Smith.

[1:40] Present.

[1:40] Spain, Michael.

[1:42] Here.

[1:43] Giordano.

[1:44] Here.

[1:44] Jibor, Ritelo, Chinesi, Dwayne Perkins,

[1:51] Britain, McAllister, Robinson, Laughing House,

[1:59] Dennis Perkins, 20 present, one absent.

[2:04] Thank you.

[2:05] We have a calendar of events that is posted,

[2:08] but before I read through those quickly,

[2:10] I do want to scroll over some life events here.

[2:14] here we have for the month.

[2:15] We have Happy Birthday to Councilwoman Mia Spain-Rykel, September 6th, Happy Birthday Councilwoman.

[2:26] We also have Councilwoman Candace Face, September 13th, Happy Birthday Councilwoman.

[2:34] Don't usually do this, but I gotta do a special shout out to somebody who's here all the time

[2:37] with us.

[2:38] Sean, I believe your birthday is this month as well, 28th.

[2:40] On the 28th, Sean Hatch, Happy Birthday, sir.

[2:46] All right, we have September 4th, the Brazilian Independence Day flag raising here at City Hall,

[2:50] hosted by New American Dream Foundation, 10 AM.

[2:53] September 5th, the Embry Farmers Market continue through the 11th, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the green.

[2:58] September 5th through 6th, the Brazilian Festival at the City Center, 12 to 10 p.m. both days.

[3:03] September 6th, the Dambry Police Cadet, Steele's and Wheels Car Show, but it's a great event, great time.

[3:08] The Embry Railway, not the Embry Rail and Museum, excuse me.

[3:12] This is over at the Roger Spark, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Memorial Drive.

[3:16] We will switch this and make sure it's not like that on the City website.

[3:18] September 11th ceremony this year is a Friday.

[3:22] We will be moving this earlier.

[3:24] It will be at 10 a.m., not in the afternoon.

[3:27] It's a 25th anniversary, so we know a lot of folks are going outside of the city to the

[3:31] city for this one.

[3:33] If you're around, please join us.

[3:35] September 15th, a Mexican Independence Day flag raising hosted by the Dambri Mexican

[3:39] Cultural Center, 10 a.m.

[3:41] Dambri City Hall.

[3:42] September 18th, this is the stand-down 2026 hosted by Connecticut Veterans Affair and the

[3:47] the Danbury Veterans Affairs Office, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Danbury War Memorial.

[3:52] I ask that any of you who are involved with the veterans, community, no veterans,

[3:56] ask them or let them know to go to this.

[3:59] Danny Hayes can provide more information and reach out to him.

[4:02] Flyers, we can help as well.

[4:03] It is a great event that shows just a tremendous amount of resources to the veterans in our state.

[4:10] Successful every year, so please help promote this event.

[4:13] September 24th, the Old Timers Association Awards make it hosted by the

[4:17] Danbury Old Timers Association. To get tickets for this one, you can email Frank

[4:22] Acre at Frank Acre at sbcglobal.net6bmambroomcolondale.

[4:27] September 24th, the Vietnam Moving Wall ceremony hosted by the

[4:30] Danbury Council of Veterans, 10 a.m. Danbury War Memorial, September 26th to 27th, the

[4:35] Irish Festival hosted by the Greater Danbury Irish Cultural Center. This one is

[4:40] Saturday, 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. This one will be at the Irish Cultural

[4:47] Center, not on the green. And if you need any more, any more questions you want to help

[4:52] want to volunteer, sign up. You can reach out to one of the charities there. I'm sure they

[4:56] can guide you in the right direction, right Sean? All right. Thank you.

[5:00] October 1st, purple flag raising for domestic violence awareness. The Center for Empowerment Education is the host for this here at City Hall, 4 p.m. City Hall Heritage Plaza. October 3rd, Afghanistan Iraq War Memorial Monument anniversary hosted by the Denver Council of Veterans, 10 a.m., the Denver War Memorial at the Memorial itself. October 3rd, the plant and harvest fair hosted by the Denver

[5:24] then regarding clubs, use me 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Hatters Park, that is the calendar of events.

[5:32] The first 30 minutes of this meeting is hosted for the expression of views of resident

[5:38] or taxpayers of the city on views, on matters before this council today.

[5:44] I ask that you use either microphone on each side and just state your name clearly for

[5:48] the record.

[5:49] Are there any members of the public wishing to speak?

[5:51] Any members of the public questions to speak? Mr. Gucker?

[5:59] Ken Gucker, 89 paid in Aram Road, and I would like to speak on item number five on the agenda.

[6:06] Item number five, the Marjorie Trail project, is something that has been near and dear to my heart for quite some time.

[6:14] This was the dream child of my childhood doctor when I grew up in New Fairfield, Dr. Rostemberg.

[6:21] work, who back in the 70s thought it was really a positive thing to have people go outside

[6:28] and recreate. Now, sadly, it took COVID to realize he was ahead of his time and how important

[6:36] that is.

[6:39] Once I got into the legislature, one of the first acts that I did was establish

[6:45] to establish the Marjorie Trail as a concept.

[6:49] It was a bipartisan concept.

[6:53] It was myself, Richard Smith, then the representative from New Fairfield and

[6:59] Senator Kushner, the three of us making up the New Fairfield delegation at the time.

[7:06] But we weren't the first ones to really come up with this idea of the bipartisanship.

[7:10] This has been a project that was supported by Senator Mike McLaughlin beforehand.

[7:17] And even the former mayor, Mark Bowton, who also felt it the worthy of putting this concept into the open space binding package that we all voted on a very long time ago.

[7:30] So this has been a positive project for the community.

[7:33] This has been something that people have been asking for.

[7:37] So that drove myself as then the new state rep to lobby and work up in the legislature to secure funding for this project.

[7:48] At the time through two different bonding packages secure $2.3 million as a total.

[7:55] That then got the wheels rolling as far as really having a good hard look at this concept.

[8:01] But the Marjorie Trail Advisory Committee was put together with members of both New

[8:07] Fairfield and Dambry and if any of you haven't looked at your packet, this will be a project

[8:12] or a trail that would start at the Dambry Dog Park at Marjorie Reservoir and go along the,

[8:19] I would say the eastern side of the Reservoir along the Route 37 corridor going into downtown

[8:26] New Fairfield.

[8:27] So by partnering with our brothers to the north and holding over 15 public hearings, I don't

[8:36] think we've ever held 15 public hearings on anything in this city.

[8:43] And looking at the testimonies from individuals testifying on the desire to have this.

[8:50] And not only doing that, we put together an interactive website that allowed the individuals

[8:55] from both communities to go on, they look at the project and put in their comments and all of

[9:00] those comments will be part of the package that you will see today. But those comments, 80% of

[9:07] those comments were in favor of this project. The community wants this project. This will be the first

[9:15] paved, flat level, multi-use trail in the entire city.

[9:23] We have a lot of support from DOT to get this

[9:26] project done because the OT would like nothing more to get people off of traversing the dangerous

[9:33] Route 37 corridor. It's an economic driver. It brings people into the community. I can't tell you

[9:40] how often we go to other communities to recreate with our dog and walk these trails to see how many

[9:48] people say this would be great in Danbury. When people go out to Brookfield, they use as an example

[9:55] Look at the economic development that has popped up around that trail.

[10:00] So, this is an economic driver as well. And third, like my old doctor said, being outside in the fresh air is good. Anything that we can do to get families and kids and others to go out and recreate outside in the fresh air, to witness nature firsthand, and really look at this treasure that we have in Danbury that is so clouded and not seen from the

[10:29] road because of the evasive plants and the other things that are in there.

[10:34] This is a great project.

[10:36] I urge the council to move this on down the road to our next step.

[10:43] Many people, when I go to the Danbury dog park at Marjorie Reservoir, ask me every single day.

[10:49] One is the trail starting because we would love to be able to walk to Newfair,

[10:59] but actually go for a walk, go for a walk with your family, go for a walk with your pets, and really experience the greater outdoors.

[11:07] So thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[11:10] Pudders, thank you, Mr. Gokker.

[11:12] Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

[11:14] And Chief Riddinhar, I think Mr. Riddinhar, if you're coming up to speak in public.

[11:22] Good evening everyone, Patrick Riddinhar, I met the Embiary resident.

[11:28] As you all know, I also currently serve as the Chief of Police in this great city.

[11:32] I'm speaking in support of item number 10 on the agenda, which will allow applicants who are permanent residents or docker recipients to submit applications to be damn very police officers.

[11:44] First, I want to clarify how this issue came to the table.

[11:49] During our recruitment sessions earlier in this decade, and I'm talking about around 2018, 2019, 2020, I had been asked by more than a few people if they could apply to be a police officer.

[12:02] if they had legal status, but were not citizens.

[12:06] The answer was always, unfortunately, no, even though they seemed

[12:10] like otherwise qualified candidates.

[12:13] Some were pursuing higher education at Wescon.

[12:17] Others were working at local businesses

[12:19] and some even owned their businesses.

[12:22] Every person who inquired expressed the desire

[12:26] to serve this great community.

[12:28] It wasn't until the end of 2023 that I heard the police officer's standards and training council may have removed the US citizenship requirement for police officers in the state.

[12:41] Post is the governing body for all police officer certification in Connecticut.

[12:47] I then reached out to the post administrator and when I say late 2023, I'm talking a couple days after Christmas.

[12:55] and learned the citizenship requirement had actually been removed in 2020, and that permanent legal residents were eligible to be police officers in the state.

[13:06] Post council then went further in 2025 and now allows DACA recipients to be police officers.

[13:14] Permanent legal residents are already allowed to carry firearms with a permit and in a 2024

[13:22] letter to the police executive research forum, the federal bureau of alcohol debacle

[13:27] firearms and explosives has a pine that DACA recipients can legally carry firearms in the

[13:34] course of their employment as police officers.

[13:38] Permanent residents and DACA recipients come from all over the world.

[13:43] Central and South America, Africa, as well as Europe, Asia, and our neighbors to the

[13:49] North Canada.

[13:50] Dan Berry has them all.

[13:52] That's what makes this city great.

[13:54] So why should we not take advantage of this opportunity to potentially increase our

[13:59] pool of qualified applicants?

[14:02] It has already been said by others that permanent legal residents serve in our military and

[14:07] in other public safety related professions.

[14:09] most notably firefighters and emergency medical services they can also serve as

[14:15] armed security guards and as of today even though we like to be innovative here in

[14:21] Dan Berry and we like our police department to think outside the box we can't

[14:25] take credit for this one as of today at least 30 municipal or state police

[14:32] agencies in Connecticut already allow permanent legal residents and DACA

[14:37] recipients to apply to be police officers.

[14:40] All applicants will still have to successfully complete a very robust screening process.

[14:47] That includes a polygraph, psychological exam, medical and drug screen, and a thorough background

[14:53] check that includes a check of both public and law enforcement only databases.

[14:59] So it's a B.

[15:00] Be clear, this is not asking you to lower our hiring standards. This is simply asking you to allow our hiring eligibility with the eligibility requirements set forth by our governing body, which is the post council. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Rittenhauer. Any other members of the public wishing to speak? Any other members of the public? Good

[15:29] evening. My name is Michelle Coelho, and I reside at 47 East Lake Road in Danbury.

[15:34] Thank you for the opportunity to be heard.

[15:36] I want to begin with what should unite all of us, respect for men and women of the

[15:41] Danbury Police Department, and a commitment to the safety of every resident they serve.

[15:46] As a daughter of immigrants who came to this country seeking freedom and opportunity, I value

[15:51] what America offers and the responsibility to uphold its laws.

[15:56] Back in April, I ask for transparency about the proposal tonight, my position is clear.

[16:01] Any changes should strengthen our police department without sacrificing standards, readiness, or response time.

[16:09] Before Dambray moves forward, I'm asking for clear answers.

[16:15] Second, what federal legal authority permits, legal authority permits a DACA officer to possess and carry a fire arm, and what restrictions apply.

[16:29] Has Corporation Council put that analysis in writing?

[16:34] Are there clear department policies including for emergency callbacks?

[16:39] DACA provides temporary protection and does not provide permanent immigration status.

[16:45] If an officer's work authorization is interrupted, who covers that assignment?

[16:51] How will the city maintain staffing and response times?

[16:54] that alone just happened in LA in June of this year with two officers who had

[16:59] applied months in advance for their qualification. It did not come through. So

[17:04] there was an interruption with their service. Has the police union been

[17:10] consulted about these operational consequences? How have its concerns been

[17:16] addressed? The legal requirements, department policies and staffing plan must all

[17:21] work together. We can respect DACA recipients and insist on a program that is lawful and

[17:27] dependable. Our police department needs consistency, stability, and readiness. Our residents need

[17:34] reliable protection. Our officers need reliable backup. That means planning for interruptions

[17:41] before they happen.

[17:44] If the answers and the safeguards are ready, present them before you vote.

[17:49] vote, if they are not postponed to vote, before you authorize this change, show us how

[17:55] it will strengthen public safety and maintain the consistent, reliable service the

[17:59] Ann Berry residents deserve.

[18:02] Thank you for your time.

[18:04] Thank you, Ms. Quella.

[18:05] Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

[18:07] Mr. Reefberg.

[18:11] Good evening, Mayor, City Councilmembers.

[18:15] Larry Reefberg, Lawrence Reefberg, Six Irvy Drive.

[18:21] I don't go by any other name, I have no pseudonyms, I have no pen names.

[18:30] When I text an email and write and speak, it's Lauren's Reefberg or Larry Reefberg for

[18:39] the record.

[18:41] So I want to talk tonight about item number 10, the amendment to the ordinances to allow

[18:46] DACA and green card holders to apply and become

[18:50] Denver police officers.

[18:56] The iconic phrase I want

[18:58] you has become part of the American culture

[19:03] symbolizing a call to duty and patriotism.

[19:08] I want you this iconic image of featuring

[19:12] Uncle Sam pointing directly to the viewer was

[19:16] first used during World War I and has since

[19:19] has been turned into a rallying cry for military recruitment.

[19:25] I want you, says the American Armed Forces, six distinct service branches under civilian

[19:33] leadership, the U.S. Army, the mainland combat military police force, the U.S. Marine Corps

[19:42] A rapid response force specializing in amphibious and ground operations.

[19:47] The U.S. Navy protects waterways, global sea lanes, and aviation operations at sea.

[19:53] The U.S. Air Force controls airborne operations, strategic bombing, and air defense.

[20:00] The U.S. Space Force manages operations and satellite defenses beyond Earth's atmosphere, and the U.S. Coast Guard handles maritime law enforcement, port security, and rescue missions. I want you, those branches of the military say they want DACA recipients. They want green card holders. Not if you're not qualified.

[20:29] not if you don't meet the standards, but given the opportunity to serve, they want those individuals to have that opportunity, and the chief could not have said it better this evening.

[20:46] The Dambury Police Department wants those individuals as well, but only if they're qualified

[20:54] and only if they meet the standards necessary with a plan in place because if someone right

[21:02] now becomes disabled on the job, there's a plan in place or if someone is called to an emergency

[21:11] or in a car accident, there's a plan in place as there is for the fire department which allows for DACA and green card recipients and EMTs and other security positions as the chief has articulated and explained both this evening and at the subcommittee level at the council.

[21:39] Don't do it because the United States government does it, or other communities in our state do it, or other states do it, do it because it is the right thing to do to attract qualified individuals to serve in our community, those that want to serve and those that are qualified.

[22:05] So please, when it comes time to vote on item number 10, please vote yes, something that you'll be hearing me say a lot more about for the next couple of months.

[22:22] Thank you very much.

[22:23] Thank you, Mr. Reefberg.

[22:25] Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

[22:27] Any other members of the public, Mr. Chen?

[22:36] A little short of the Mr. Reefberg.

[22:38] Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, members of our City Council. My name is Justin Chan.

[22:46] Life Long Danbury resident. Many of you guys may know me, but-

[22:49] Your address for the record please.

[22:51] Yes, 27 Hickory Street.

[22:56] So this morning, I woke up to some ads from the Republican town committee urging supporters to come here and oppose item number 10.

[23:05] I think for a group apparently so concerned about who exactly is qualified to work for

[23:10] of the city, I did find it a little ironic

[23:12] that they relied on AI to make their ad.

[23:16] But truth is, after what we witnessed in our city

[23:19] the past week, I find it extremely disgusting

[23:24] to hear people advocate in denying

[23:27] our most disenfranchised members of this community

[23:30] the opportunity to serve.

[23:32] When we go to a doctor, it doesn't matter

[23:34] what their nationality is.

[23:37] It matters what they can do to help you.

[23:38] When you go to your place of worship, you don't allow your faith to be impacted by whether

[23:44] or not your fellow believer or the members of the clergy are citizens or documented, regardless

[23:50] of their immigration status, none of that matters.

[23:53] So I find it hard to understand why it would be unacceptable to allow DACA recipients, green

[24:03] car holders, the ability to apply for the police, and as our Commissioner of Police indicated,

[24:11] I think it also raises a question if you oppose item number 10, what type of standards there

[24:17] are in hiring our police department? Because it's not as though someone simply walks in a city hall,

[24:24] fills out an application, and by virtue of being an undocumented immigrant, they simply get the badge.

[24:29] I'm a public defender, I've seen cops from all over the state and honestly, I respect

[24:35] the hell out of Danbury cops the way that they treat our citizens is incredible with respect

[24:42] is something to admire.

[24:45] I don't believe that this department would allow unqualified applicants to come in here and

[24:51] simply take up the responsibility of being a police officer simply because they're an illegal

[24:56] immigrant.

[24:56] It's a much more rigorous process and for you to think that

[25:00] That's all that it requires. I, I just can't imagine what would give you that impression. So I also think that when it comes to the party who's opposing this, the, the idea that you come here and you constantly advocate for a safer community that you want more police officers and all that, why would you want to shut off an entire portion of our population? And it is our population because this is what makes Danberry

[25:29] so magnificent. It's our immigrant population. Why would you prevent them from wanting, from

[25:36] aspiring to serve in the police department? You talk about more safety than give more people the

[25:43] opportunity to apply. It's simple as that. The proposal is not just about fairness. It's practical.

[25:52] It strengthens our department. It expands our recruiting pool. It demonstrates what kind of city

[25:57] the dam berry intends to be, and it should be one that does not govern through fear or cruelty,

[26:03] but leads with confidence in its own community.

[26:06] Thank you for my time.

[26:08] Thank you, Mr. Chan.

[26:09] Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

[26:12] Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

[26:14] Mr. Robinson.

[26:21] Alfonso Robinson, seven Melrose Avenue dam berry.

[26:28] let me start with the easy stuff. I have number 15, the collective bargaining agreement.

[26:38] Now if I am correct, this regards to individuals who work at City Hall.

[26:49] And I can tell you

[26:51] with somebody who has reported on this

[26:54] and videotape countless Democrats on this stuff.

[26:58] Going back as far as Gary Dunn-Cowvis,

[27:01] the Democratic candidate for mayor in 2009,

[27:05] every single candidate for mayor,

[27:08] including the current mayor,

[27:10] every single Democratic town committee chair

[27:14] has talked about the four-day work week at City Hall,

[27:20] saying that because the city hall is closed on Friday it's a lot of business

[27:26] people come down here and there they come down here not knowing that city

[27:30] hall is closed and they're unable to do business on that day and we've and I

[27:36] can tell you again because I've been around long enough to talk to a lot of

[27:39] enough people on the Democratic side that we they have always talked about oh my

[27:45] I got it marked but once we get marked but not it there.

[27:49] We're going to open up that city hall the five days a week again.

[27:54] And here is the unique opportunity to do that with this collective bargain agreement.

[28:01] And it's not been done.

[28:04] And I think for people who listened to the commentary and to the pledges to open up city hall

[28:14] again for five days a week we need to understand why and again maybe I'm wrong I don't know but

[28:20] maybe I'm wrong but I think this agreement pertains to that why are we not talking about

[28:26] opening up city hall to five days a week opening up on Fridays I think we are deserves an

[28:34] explanation in regards to why that's not happening and for people to especially democrats who

[28:43] campaign on this, I can pull out the video footage, I got a pretty big hard drive, I have all the footage, and you need to explain, now you're in a position, now you're the majority, now you're super majority with the mayor.

[28:56] You need to explain why this agreement does not include opening up city hall for five days a week. We need explanation for that.

[29:10] In regards to the Marjorie Trail,

[29:14] hopefully you'll send it to an ad-out committee immediately.

[29:19] Because I think that we need to talk about why it took so long for this to get to your hands.

[29:28] And if some of the conduct that was done by certain members of the committee.

[29:34] We need to have an examination and talk about some of the actions that were done

[29:38] And in regards to this, I'm not going to say yes or no to that, but I think of many

[29:44] other walk-in trails that are more beneficial to the people who have said it to Dan Berry.

[29:49] In this particular trail, but I'll leave my comments on that to a later time.

[29:56] F2D

[30:00] Item number 10 regarding undocumented immigrants becoming police officers, DACA recipients becoming police officers, yes, yes, of course.

[30:14] I will say this, if somebody who has first started his site is paced based upon the topic of immigration, you got on the stand, I started back in 2005.

[30:28] and the very first reason, the only reason I started this site,

[30:34] I had many other things to do during that time period.

[30:36] But I started that site because of the topic of immigration,

[30:39] and it didn't make a whole lot of sense.

[30:41] And a lot of things I heard from the government about immigration

[30:45] in this area never, ever, ever made any sense.

[30:49] Never made any sense.

[30:52] The damn barrier 11 case never made any sense.

[30:54] violence.

[30:55] ICE access never made any sense.

[30:59] The parade ordinance which is still in effect and shame on you guys for not repealing

[31:04] that thing, never made any sense.

[31:07] The volleyball ordinance never made any sense.

[31:10] For me, it was straight up a racist and disgusting act upon our certain demograph of rape population.

[31:24] that did not deserve that.

[31:29] Immigrants in this community contribute to this city so much and I will always, always

[31:37] be a supporter of all immigrants in this city.

[31:40] My track records speaks for itself and

[31:46] I will say this, based upon current events right

[31:51] now, I've talked to many mayors, many past mayors.

[31:56] Now you all have told me one thing, the view leader in this area is not about what you're

[32:03] doing day after day, it's about how you react to certain events that come upon you,

[32:09] that you have no idea it's going to hit you.

[32:12] Every single mayor I've talked to you from Dyer, Airquad, Bowton, it's not about what you're

[32:19] doing, it's about the unexpected circumstances and the things that make you have to be a

[32:27] leader. You have to rise through the occasion of certain moments.

[32:34] And I'm just saying that you have

[32:38] to rise to the occasion when it comes to this particular topic. And do what is right.

[32:47] And forget

[32:48] what people are saying or the public opinion. You do what's in your heart is right.

[32:55] That's my family

[32:56] taught me.

[32:59] And if you look up my family, it's pretty deep. But I'm telling you, you do the right

[33:04] thing within your heart is right. And this thing right here, this this ordinance is just the beginning.

[33:11] It's a lot of other things we have to correct in this city because of past mistakes.

[33:19] The undocumented immigrants in this city have been demonized enough.

[33:29] We have to make a change.

[33:33] We have to come together as a society in this area. Those ice raves don't do anything.

[33:39] everything. Everything in the last 20 years. And these topics right here, the allow DACA

[33:48] recipients to become police officers?

[33:52] Come on. It makes no sense. It makes no sense to

[33:55] be against this. It makes no sense for all the stuff that's going on. And we all notice

[34:00] we have to correct the wrongs and move forward as a society. We should all think about that.

[34:09] Okay, if we don't, we can keep repeating the same mistakes we've made in the past.

[34:15] Thank you for your time.

[34:18] Thank you, Mr. Robinson.

[34:20] Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

[34:22] Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

[34:24] Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

[34:26] Ms. Hagler?

[34:33] Good evening.

[34:34] My name is Lorraine Herger.

[34:36] I live at 45 Southern Boulevard in Danbury.

[34:40] I would like to make a comment on the vetting process.

[34:43] We've heard several people say there will be a robust complete vetting process, but all I have heard is that databases will be checked in the United States, which we know are basically safe and are done according to plan.

[35:00] So, when people come here, whether they have been documented or not, many of them come from countries with broken systems. They're corrupt, it's easy to bribe in those countries, easy to change your identity, easy to say you weren't a gang member when you are and things of that nature. So, I think before any vote should be taken, that I'd ask may or else to have a committee get together.

[35:27] and document just exactly how you are going to vet these people.

[35:33] I don't think it's enough for somebody to stand up here and say,

[35:36] oh, it's going to be a robust vetting process. That's not enough.

[35:40] As dampery citizens who are entrusting our lives to our police,

[35:45] I think we are old more than that.

[35:48] And I would like to see that happen before any vote is taken

[35:52] because I think that's a very important part of it.

[35:55] And I think the public is owed that.

[36:01] My personal opinion, only citizens should carry guns and arrest citizens.

[36:06] But I think we're beyond that point right now.

[36:10] So that would be my suggestion.

[36:12] I don't think we should hand away the process.

[36:14] It should be given to the public and decided, thank you.

[36:19] Thank you.

[36:20] Any other members?

[36:21] Mr. Santos.

[36:24] There, Farley Santos, I reside at 27 Westview Drive.

[36:30] Many of you know my story and so I just will repeat it for those who don't.

[36:35] I will.

[36:37] My family immigrated here when I was seven years old in 1996.

[36:43] The little that I knew of the country that I was born in is now a distant memory given the

[36:50] fact that I've lived 30 years in this country.

[36:52] history. The first class I attended here was second grade at King Street Primary. Mrs.

[36:59] Geisner's class. She's still teaching by the way.

[37:05] And when we arrived here, my dad said

[37:07] something to us in Portuguese that I will repeat in English now. This isn't our home land,

[37:13] but it is now. We need to love it. We need to respect it. We need to give back to it because

[37:21] he knew that America was the land of promise and opportunity for so many and many generations

[37:30] that came before us.

[37:36] I grew up loving this country. I grew up loving this city. I sat

[37:38] in one of these seats in third grade and I heard the then mayor say that this was the people's

[37:44] house and that all people were welcome in the city of Danbury. Over the last week we have seen

[37:50] the city be terrorized, I will agree with Mr. Robinson.

[37:57] Immigrants aren't as bad as people say they are, or that they like to type on social

[38:03] media and post on people's pages or comment that they're just all bad people.

[38:11] I don't consider myself a bad person.

[38:16] I went to Henry Abbott Technical High School, and for a very short moment, I wanted to be

[38:22] a police officer.

[38:25] And a guidance

[38:27] counselor that many of you know, Mr. Art

[38:29] Hadad sat me down in his office and

[38:32] said, son, you can't be a police

[38:34] officer. You're undocumented.

[38:38] And

[38:38] there goes a whole life that I had

[38:42] sort of planned out for that short

[38:43] moment. But guess what? You can do. If

[38:47] you really want to serve your country,

[38:49] you can give back through the military.

[38:52] Let that sink in. I couldn't be a cop, but I could go fight a war.

[38:59] I was right in the

[38:59] middle of the Iraq war, and I decided not to go. It's the biggest mistake I've ever

[39:05] made in my life. I should have served. And so I decided to serve in other ways, and you

[39:12] all know, ran for Board of Ed, sat on this council. I'm a state rep now.

[39:19] But I think about

[39:19] all the other children that have that similar story like mine and I have

[39:25] someone in my family right now she came to this country she was three years

[39:29] old my niece she's in her 30s now she has two little kids beautiful she's a

[39:37] DACA recipient I wasn't because I was a generation before that there was no DACA

[39:42] when I or the mayor were growing up she works in our community works at a law

[39:48] firm is talented, distinguishes herself,

[39:54] and you're telling me she couldn't be a police officer she chose to?

[40:00] Contrary to what some say or write on social media, it isn't filling out a piece of paper and saying, hey, I want to have a green card. I want to become a U.S. citizen. It's not that easy.

[40:14] And it isn't that easy to become a dambry police officer either. No one could have explained it better than chief ridden hour. He answered all the questions right there.

[40:26] Someone doesn't just fill out an application and decide to be a cop, ask any other ones who serve ably and are standing in the back right now.

[40:32] Now, the rigorous background check, everything else that they have to go through before they

[40:40] can come before this council and get approved by you.

[40:45] The notion that immigrants are inherently bad people because their immigrants is disgusting.

[40:54] It's despicable.

[40:57] And people who feel that way should be ashamed for themselves.

[41:03] Item number 10 starts to write the wrongs that past administrations have landed on this

[41:12] city.

[41:13] It

[41:16] starts to tell the immigrants who live in this community, who give back to this community,

[41:20] the same people who are picking up your silverware at the diner, who are handing you your laundry

[41:25] at the dry cleaners, the folks who are cutting your grass and building your stone walls, because

[41:31] you don't mind calling them for that,

[41:34] telling them that they belong here too.

[41:36] You know why?

[41:37] Because they've built this city, this state, this country, just as much as you have.

[41:44] And so, I urge every single one of you to dig deep into your own morality and realize

[41:50] that we have made mistakes as a city.

[41:53] Past administrations have made mistakes.

[41:55] I've heard those passionate speeches by some members of the council who are here tonight

[41:59] standing up for immigrants.

[42:03] But I want you to think of my niece when you make this vote, not about me, but think about

[42:06] her.

[42:08] Three years old, she came to this country.

[42:10] No choice.

[42:12] She came.

[42:14] She has no fundamental recollection of another nation.

[42:18] She loves America.

[42:19] She's giving back to this country.

[42:21] And simply because she's a DACA recipient,

[42:23] she shouldn't be able to serve this city.

[42:25] That's the only city that she's ever known.

[42:30] I urge you to deep inside you to find dignity, morality,

[42:34] for those people as we look to continue building

[42:36] this police department.

[42:38] And I won't go through the list of all the other police departments

[42:41] in places that they can work right now,

[42:43] Including the Connecticut State offices and state police, fire departments, right here at City Hall, they could work.

[42:53] It's just common sense, avail yourselves of it, please.

[42:58] Thank you.

[42:59] Thank you, Mr. Santos.

[43:01] Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

[43:03] And that's the police, and then you, sir.

[43:05] Apologize.

[43:10] Name is Mr. Rodriguez, 23 George Street.

[43:14] Just want to comment on item number 10.

[43:15] And I just want to say I hope that this council could delay the vote on the heels of a terrible

[43:26] week for our city.

[43:27] It's a very divisive topic, obviously, just because not everyone's here, but in the days

[43:32] of a very divisive issue and right now based on what I was saying is it's a very divisive

[43:42] issue.

[43:42] and based on the terrible week we had in this city,

[43:48] I feel that there should be a pause and a delay to this vote

[43:51] because right now this is a very sensitive issue,

[43:56] a decisive issue, and there's no urgency to get this passed.

[44:03] So I just asked the city council to reconsider

[44:05] just to holding off because like I mentioned,

[44:08] it was just a terrible week.

[44:09] We were still reeling emotionally,

[44:12] Mentally, from what transpired, and if there's a vote, I just think it would just divide us more, thank you.

[44:20] Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez, apologize, I said it or not, still before.

[44:23] Sir?

[44:26] Are you a property owner in town?

[44:27] Are you a property owner in town?

[44:29] I apologize, the rules don't allow, sir.

[44:32] Any other members of the public question to speak?

[44:34] Ms. Yagish?

[44:36] Jan Maria, Jaygish, one co-chilled drive, Dan Berry.

[44:40] I'd like to speak to item number 10.

[44:44] DACA recipients are already people who have been living and contributing here.

[44:48] And as Representative Santos said, many of these people do not know any other place but the United States.

[44:55] This has always been their home.

[44:57] They...

[45:00] A DACA recipient isn't simply someone who has arrived recently and is all of a sudden seeking a position as a policeman or a police woman. Many have lived in the United States for years and were brought here as children and supporters can argue that someone who has gone through the same education lived in the community and wants to protect that community may actually have valuable local knowledge. It could improve recruitment and diversity. We are a very diversified city, one of the beauties of living in Danbury.

[45:28] A police department that reflects the community can potentially improve communication and trust,

[45:34] particularly with immigrant communities.

[45:38] Danbury's own human resources department says its recruitment goal is to establish diverse and talented eligibility lists.

[45:46] I have to laugh when people talk about, well, they're not an American citizen, but they're protecting us.

[45:53] When I lived in Okinawa, Japan, on a military base, the people that stood at

[45:58] the guard at the gatehouses that let the soldiers in, or the Marines in, or whatever, okay,

[46:05] they were Japanese citizens.

[46:08] They were not even American citizens that were guarding our gates in Okinawa, Japan.

[46:15] It seems to me that if they hear, if the same standards to become a police officer apply,

[46:22] why you are looking for people that are going to have to meet the rigorous background checks,

[46:28] the examinations, the physical requirements, all the standards that the city deems necessary.

[46:35] And I would hope that we could put our faith in our police department and our city to make sure

[46:41] that those standards are met and that we can add some valuable people to our department.

[46:47] Thank you.

[46:49] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[46:50] Any other members of the public looking to speak?

[46:52] Any other members of the public looking to speak?

[46:54] Any other members of the public looking to speak?

[46:56] See, and then we will close public speaking.

[46:58] Thank you.

[46:59] Now call on Councilman Peter Buseid for the minutes, please.

[47:04] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[47:05] Mr. Mayor, I move we receive the Council minutes from the preceding meeting on August 4th.

[47:10] We have a reading of those minutes as all members of copies and copies aren't filed with the legislative assistance office.

[47:16] and approve those minutes as they're presented.

[47:20] Motion is made seconded by Councilman Dwayne Perkins.

[47:22] Council, any remarks on the minutes, any remarks?

[47:24] Any remarks?

[47:25] Seeing none, I will try your minds.

[47:27] All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

[47:29] Any opposed?

[47:30] The ayes have it, vote is so ordered.

[47:32] Councilman Salvatore, the consent calendar, please.

[47:34] Consent calendar for September 1st, 2026.

[47:37] Item number five, move to receive the communication

[47:40] and accept the report as received.

[47:43] Move that a workshop be scheduled

[47:44] between the City of Dambury City Council, town of New Fairfield Selecman, and any city and town departments, the mayor and or first Selecman deemed necessary to meet with the consultant, Barton and Lo Judas.

[47:59] Item number nine, move to receive the communication and accept the donation of $1,000 from Jowdy Cain Feanor at home on behalf of the DPD, CCU, ice cream truck, and direct the legislative assistant to send the note of banks on behalf of the city.

[48:14] Council. Item number 12, move to receive the communication and approve the resolution

[48:21] as presented. Item number 13, move to receive the communication and approve the resolution

[48:27] as presented. Item number 14, move to receive the communication and approve the resolution

[48:33] as presented. Item number 15, move the reading of the ad hoc

[48:39] minutes as all members have copies and copies are on file with the legislative assistance

[48:44] in office, as well as accept the minutes as presented, and ratify the funding NUNC Pro TUNC.

[48:55] That is your consent calendar.

[48:57] Your motion, Councilwoman Gartner.

[48:58] Yes, thank you, Your Honor.

[48:59] I move to accept the consent calendar as presented.

[49:03] Motion is made, seconded by Councilman Dwayne Perkins.

[49:05] Council are there any remarks?

[49:06] Any remarks?

[49:07] Any remarks?

[49:08] Seeing none, I'll chart your minds.

[49:08] All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

[49:11] Aye.

[49:11] Move your eyes, habits, vote is so ordered.

[49:14] Item number one, please.

[49:19] Communication, appointment to police detective.

[49:22] Dear council members, I hereby submit for your confirmation the appointment and promotion of police officer Joseph Ulstrand to the position of police detective with the Danbury Police Department.

[49:35] Before entering law enforcement, he spent several years working in a higher education administration.

[49:40] holding positions as a director of admissions and an associate director of

[49:46] admissions and multiple colleges and universities. He also earned a master's

[49:51] degree in organizational management and human resources from Manhattanville

[49:56] College. The Dambury Police Department hired him as

[50:00] As a police officer on October 26, 2020. In the time since, in addition to his role as a police officer, he has been entrusted with several specialized roles, including field training officer, crisis intervention, technician, and evidence technician, each requiring a distinct set of skills and a high degree of reliability. His contributions have not gone unnoticed. He was presented with the exceptional police service award in April 2023.

[50:29] Additionally, he was awarded the Chiefs Achievement Medal and named the department's

[50:34] officer of the year in 2024. Furthermore, he has earned the rank of number two on

[50:39] the Detective Police Officer eligibility list. He has earned his appointment through

[50:47] his demonstrated performance and dedication. Given the strength of his record, I am confident

[50:52] that he will serve with distinction in this new role. I am proud and honored to submit

[50:57] that his confirmation for this well-deserved promotion.

[51:00] Thank you for your consideration,

[51:02] sincerely, Roberto Alves-Mayor.

[51:04] Thank you.

[51:05] Council, it's your pleasure.

[51:09] Councilman Flanagan.

[51:10] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[51:12] I move to receive the communication

[51:13] and confirm the promotion of police officer,

[51:16] Joseph Alstrom, to the position of police detective

[51:20] with the Danbury Police Department.

[51:22] Motion has been made second by Councilman Frank Salvatore.

[51:25] Council, are there any remarks?

[51:26] Any remarks? Any remarks?

[51:28] see none. I will try your mind. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

[51:32] Any opposed? The ayes have it. The vote is unanimous. Congratulations, sir.

[51:40] If you'd like to come up and say a few words.

[51:51] This is a great honor. I look forward to the next step in my professional career and

[51:55] I look forward to serving the people of Damberry as I've been doing previously and

[52:00] tackling this new role as a detective. So thank you for your confidence in me and

[52:04] I won't let you down. Thank you.

[52:05] Congratulations, well deserved item

[52:13] number two, please.

[52:17] Communication, appointment to the police detective.

[52:20] Dear council members, I hereby submit for your confirmation the appointment and promotion of police officer Don Drey Perkins to the position of police detective within the Dambary Police Department.

[52:32] Prior to beginning his career in law enforcement, he proudly served his country for six years as an infantry man in the United States Army.

[52:41] and experience that instilled in him the discipline, leadership and commitment to service that have defined his career ever since.

[52:49] He was then hired by the Dambury Police Department on April 8, 2021.

[52:54] In the years since, in addition to his role as a police officer, he has taken on a range of specialized roles that reflect both his versatility, expertise, and the trust placed in him by the department.

[53:06] These roles include field training officer, evidence technician, and a member of the Western

[53:12] Connecticut Regional Emergency Services Unit SWAP.

[53:16] He ranked number one on the detective police officer eligibility list, which further

[53:21] confirms his readiness for this promotion.

[53:24] Based on his record of service, leadership, and achievement, I am proud and honored to submit

[53:29] his confirmation for this well-deserved promotion.

[53:32] Thank you for your consideration, sincerely, Roberto Alves-Mayor.

[53:36] Thank you, Council, with your pleasure.

[53:38] Councilwoman LePine.

[53:40] Thank you, Your Honor.

[53:42] I move to receive the communication and confirm the promotion of police officer,

[53:48] Deant Dre Perkins, to the position of police detective with the Dambury Police Department.

[53:54] Motion has been made, and I don't know if I can do this, but it's been seconded by both Dwayne and Dennis Perkins.

[54:11] I just want to say Deandria I have no news since you were an even younger man probably close to 20 years if not more. I'm so grateful that the City of Dambra has been able to keep you and I'm not surprised that you ranked number one on the detectives test. So congratulations. This is a very well for well-deserved.

[54:30] Is there a promotion?

[54:32] Thank you.

[54:33] Councilman Perkins, Dennis Perkins.

[54:35] Thank you, Ms. Mayor.

[54:37] Adyandra, congratulations on your appointment.

[54:40] Dan Berry's is privileged to have you,

[54:43] and I wish you the best of luck on the position.

[54:46] Congratulations once again.

[54:48] Thank you.

[54:49] Any other remarks?

[54:50] Any other remarks?

[54:51] Any other remarks?

[54:52] Seeing none, I will try your minds.

[54:53] All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

[54:56] Just so easier, any opposed?

[54:57] The eyes have it, the voter's unanimous comment.

[55:00] Congratulations, Officer Perkins.

[55:10] Thank you for the mayor, and thank you to everyone on City Council. I'm looking forward to keeping serving the public in this new position. I'm glad to be here in Damier, still so. Appreciate you guys. Thank you. Congratulations, Officer Perkins.

[55:27] I think people are going to miss you, crawling on their houses, staying there for a day or so waiting for people, but we'll find a place for that too.

[55:38] Item number three, please.

[55:41] Communication, appointment of entry-level police officers.

[55:45] Dear council members, I hereby submit for your confirmation the appointment of the following

[55:50] individuals to the position of entry-level police officer with the Dambury Police Department.

[55:56] Mr. Alexis Ortega Gonzalez holds a bachelor's degree in criminology from Western Connecticut

[56:02] State University.

[56:04] He has been working as a technology specialist at a department store and previously worked

[56:08] as a sales associate at a computer store.

[56:11] Additionally, he served as a volunteer firefighter in Danbury.

[56:15] He is fluent in Spanish, and he is ranked number eight

[56:18] on the entry-level police officer eligibility list.

[56:21] He is currently attending the police academy.

[56:24] Mr. Matthew Restrepo-Gallo holds a bachelor's degree

[56:28] in business administration from Western Connecticut State University,

[56:32] and he is currently working as a mortgage customer service representative

[56:36] in a bank.

[56:37] He previously worked as a substitute teacher and as a soccer coach.

[56:42] He is ranked number 15 on the entry level police officer eligibility list and is currently

[56:47] attending the police academy.

[56:49] I am very proud and honored to present to you these exceptional candidates who will

[56:53] serve the city well with their wealth of experience and skills.

[56:57] Thank you for consideration of these appointments, sincerely for Burtle Alves Mayor.

[57:02] Thank you, Council.

[57:03] What's your pleasure?

[57:06] Thank you, Your Honour, I move to receive the communication and confirm the appointment of Alexis Ortega Gonzalez and Matthew Restrepo Gallo to the position of entry-level police officers for the City of Danbury Police Department.

[57:24] Motion has been made and seconded by Councilman Ben-Chanese.

[57:27] Councilor, are there any remarks?

[57:29] Any remarks?

[57:30] Any remarks?

[57:31] Seeing none, I will try your minds.

[57:32] All those in favor signify by saying aye.

[57:35] Aye.

[57:36] Any opposed?

[57:37] The ayes have it.

[57:38] It passes you names.

[57:39] Congratulations.

[57:39] These gentlemen are getting ready now to go to the Academy in a couple days, I believe.

[57:43] So they are not here.

[57:46] Hope, after you get hired here, but congratulations to them.

[57:48] They're going to be watching here, so let's

[57:54] item number four, please.

[57:58] Communication, appointments to Sustainable CT.

[58:02] Dear City Council members, I hereby submit for your confirmation the selection of the following individuals

[58:07] to serve on Dambury Sustainability Team as part of Dambury's membership in Sustainable CT.

[58:15] Valentina Jimenez, Vita Gonzalez, and Melissa Jimenez.

[58:21] Ms. Valentina Jimenez has lived in Dambury her whole life and is a proud constituent

[58:26] happy to give back to a community which has helped her and her family thrive.

[58:31] She is a first-generation college graduate having received her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry

[58:36] 22 at the University of Hartford on a full tuition scholarship. She currently works in energy

[58:43] efficiency and plans to use her skills as a sustainable CT fellow in 2021 at the Western Connecticut

[58:51] a Council of Governments to help sustainable damber get its certification.

[58:56] Ms. Vidag on Caldas is a Western Connecticut State University student, pursuing biology

[59:02] with a concentration in ecology.

[59:05] She grew up in Dambury and wants to help the city become more sustainable and environmentally

[59:09] friendly for everyone.

[59:11] Ms. Melissa Jimenez is an outreach coordinator at an Energy Efficiency Consulting Group.

[59:17] She grew up in Dambury and has a background in applied economics and a passion for community

[59:21] engagement, advocacy, and sustainability. Prior to her current role, she worked with the

[59:27] Connecticut Roundtable on climate and jobs, where she supported climate and economic

[59:32] justice initiatives through policy research, coalition building, and public advocacy.

[59:38] Melissa is passionate about connecting with communities and creating meaningful impact

[59:42] throughout region relationship building. Sincerely, Roberto Alves-Mayor.

[59:47] Thank you, Council. What's your pleasure? Councilman Jabor.

[59:52] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm here to receive the communication and confirm the appointments

[59:56] of Valentina Jimenez, Fida Gungalviz, and-

[1:00:00] I'm Melissa Jimenez, to serve on Dambury's sustainability team. Motion is made, seconded. I think I'll call Councilman Benciani's first. Council, are there any remarks? Any remarks? Any remarks? Councilman Hawley, please. Thank you, runner. So I'm the team lead for the Sustainable Dambury team. And I just wanted to shout out that Valentina Vida and Melissa have greatly contributed to successfully applying for our bronze certification on August 15th.

[1:00:29] They were putting the work in to get the application submitted, so I just want to get much out and recognize that.

[1:00:36] Thank you, Councilman Holley.

[1:00:38] Council, any other remarks?

[1:00:39] Any other remarks? Any other remarks? Any other remarks?

[1:00:41] You know I'll try your minds. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

[1:00:45] Any opposed? The ayes have it. The vote is so ordered.

[1:00:48] 5 is on consent. Item number 6, please.

[1:00:54] Communication, conveyance and release of water main easement at 113-115 Millplane Road.

[1:01:00] Dear Mayor and Council members, the attached request from Anthony Mizzouco on behalf

[1:01:05] of Equity 1, Northeast Portfolio, LLC seeks your consideration and approval of completion

[1:01:12] of the previously authorized conveyance of water main improvements and the related easement

[1:01:17] transaction affecting the property.

[1:01:20] Thank you very truly yours, Robin Edwards, Deputy Corporation Council.

[1:01:24] Thank you, Council.

[1:01:25] What's your pleasure?

[1:01:27] Councilman Gerrano.

[1:01:29] Thank you.

[1:01:30] Your Honor, I move to receive the communication and send this for reports back from the City Engineer and Planning Commission.

[1:01:39] Which is very second by Councilwoman Gartner. Council, any remarks? Any remarks? Any remarks? Any remarks?

[1:01:43] Any none? I'll charge your minds. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed?

[1:01:47] The ayes have it. The vote is so ordered. Item number seven, please.

[1:01:51] the city's.

[1:01:53] Communication license agreement.

[1:01:56] Dear city council members, the license agreement for the city property on 125

[1:02:01] mill plane road is expiring on 1031 26.

[1:02:05] The current licensee is in good standing with the city and wishes to enter into a new agreement.

[1:02:10] I hereby submit a new three year license agreement for your approval.

[1:02:15] Thank you for your attention to this matter sincerely.

[1:02:17] I believe Roberto Alves mayor.

[1:02:19] Council with your pleasure.

[1:02:23] Council with your pleasure.

[1:02:25] Councilman Salvatore, thank you.

[1:02:28] Councilman Salvatore, thank you.

[1:02:31] I move to receive the communication

[1:02:33] and send this to an ad hoc committee.

[1:02:35] Motion to be made to send to an ad hoc.

[1:02:37] That vote is so ordered, ad hoc will consist

[1:02:41] of Councilman Peter Busei and the chair.

[1:02:43] Councilman Mike Flanagan and Councilman Michael Ollo.

[1:02:50] Item number eight, please.

[1:02:57] members. The license agreement for the city property on 123 Millplane Road is

[1:03:04] expiring on 1231-26. The current licensee is in good standing with the city and

[1:03:11] wishes to enter into a new agreement. I hereby submit a new three-year license

[1:03:16] agreement for your approval. Thank you for your attention to this matter since

[1:03:19] Ms. Earley, Roberto Alves-Mayor.

[1:03:22] Thank you, Councilor Wichor, pleasure.

[1:03:24] Councilwoman Robinson.

[1:03:25] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:03:26] I move to receive the communication and send this to an ad hoc committee.

[1:03:30] Motion made to an ad hoc committee.

[1:03:32] The vote is so ordered, it will consist of these same ad hoc.

[1:03:34] Councilman Peter Buzetti in the chair.

[1:03:36] Councilman Mike Flanagan in Councilman Mike Coelho.

[1:03:40] Nine is on consent.

[1:03:41] Item number ten, please.

[1:03:46] Organises and report amendments to ordinances section 22-19 through 22-30 police department.

[1:03:57] Councilor Peter Rise, minutes.

[1:03:58] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:04:00] I move that we were reading the public hearing minutes.

[1:04:02] As all members have copies, copies are in file with the legislative assistance office, as

[1:04:07] well as accept those minutes as presented.

[1:04:10] Motion is made seconded by Councilman Paul Ritello.

[1:04:13] Council, this is on the reading of the minutes.

[1:04:15] any remarks? Any remarks? Any remarks? Any remarks on the minutes?

[1:04:20] Seeing none, I will try your minds. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Any opposed?

[1:04:26] The motion passes. Council, what is your pleasure? Councilman Laughinghouse?

[1:04:31] I move to receive the communication and approve the resolution as presented.

[1:04:35] Which is made seconded by Councilwoman Gartner. Council, are there any remarks? Councilwoman Faye?

[1:04:40] I

[1:04:44] move to split the question between permanent legal residents and DACA recipients.

[1:04:49] Seconded.

[1:04:49] Data ordinances were in.

[1:04:52] Seconded.

[1:04:53] There's been a motion made seconded to split the question to split between legal.

[1:05:00] Any permanent resident and DACA recipient into two separate ones? Are there any remarks on the splitting of the question? Any remarks? On the splitting of the question? Well, I would like to speak in favor of the split. I think we're missing my concern, I should say. I think we're missing a distinction between permanent legal residents and DACA recipients. DACA is really

[1:05:29] it's just an exercise of prosecutorial discretion that defers action. That's what it stands for,

[1:05:37] deferred action, right?

[1:05:41] And that's different than someone who resides here in the United States

[1:05:46] as a permanent legal resident. So in my opinion, they are two separate classes of persons

[1:05:55] for hiring purposes.

[1:05:57] Thank you.

[1:05:58] Council are there any other remarks?

[1:06:00] Any other remarks?

[1:06:01] Any other remarks?

[1:06:02] Seeing none, I will try your minds.

[1:06:04] All those in favor of splitting the question

[1:06:06] at the main motion, signify by saying aye.

[1:06:11] I believe that is two.

[1:06:13] All those opposed?

[1:06:15] Aye.

[1:06:16] The ladies have it, the motion fails.

[1:06:18] Back to the regular motion.

[1:06:20] Council are there any remarks?

[1:06:21] Any remarks?

[1:06:22] Councilman Chienese, please.

[1:06:26] Thank you, Your Honor.

[1:06:28] I know when Chief Ritt and Hour came up, he answered a lot of my questions.

[1:06:31] So thank you, your comments were, I believe, right on point.

[1:06:35] So thank you for coming up and sharing those thoughts.

[1:06:39] But my only question, as I think I explained earlier to you, was the only distinction between

[1:06:45] a citizen and a DACA candidate would just be an applicant, or be a checkbox on the application

[1:06:53] to my correct in that.

[1:07:02] That is correct that the the application and we use a another party police

[1:07:09] app which is where you apply for police officer jobs throughout the state. The application would

[1:07:16] only ask are you a US citizen permanent legal resident or DACA recipient and they have to answer yes or

[1:07:24] know. If I may, your honor. And through that whole process of application background checks,

[1:07:32] there would be no indication whether that candidate is a DACA legal resident or U.S.

[1:07:38] citizen. There would be no mention in any of the training. So they wouldn't be just to call

[1:07:42] out that I'm a DACA resident. They wouldn't be called out but human resources does have to verify

[1:07:48] that they do meet that requirement. But no, they wouldn't be singled out like we wouldn't have

[1:07:53] some sort of database or something that says, oh, you know, you're different now.

[1:07:57] So you wouldn't know the difference between the US citizen or not?

[1:08:00] All I know is that they qualify human resources processes, the applications, civil service

[1:08:05] approves the applications and all I would know is that they meet those minimum qualifications.

[1:08:10] Thank you, Chief.

[1:08:10] And one more question, Your Honor.

[1:08:11] Yes, sir.

[1:08:12] And maybe to HR, but you may know the answer to this as well.

[1:08:16] When is the next police exam that has not been announced yet?

[1:08:20] But we have currently, we have three people that are under active background investigations

[1:08:26] right now after that.

[1:08:28] This list will be exhausted, so probably will be within the next two to three months that

[1:08:35] we would be posting again, doing another recruitment for entry level.

[1:08:40] You know, unfortunately, as I said earlier, this is a very competitive process between withdrawals

[1:08:48] taking offers from other police departments and people not even clearing the backgrounds because of, you know, whether it's a fail polygraph psychological or just too much baggage in the background, we lose about seven out of every eight candidates.

[1:09:03] So it's a very difficult process to get through. It's very thorough. We want to make sure that we have qualified people that are here to serve this community.

[1:09:12] Thank you, Chief.

[1:09:14] Thank you, Anna.

[1:09:14] Again, I think this is a good ordinance and I will be supporting it.

[1:09:18] Thank you.

[1:09:19] Thank you.

[1:09:21] Councilman Hawley, please.

[1:09:24] Thank you, Renner.

[1:09:25] First, I want to thank Chairman Jobber and who chair of this committee.

[1:09:29] Way back in April, April 28th.

[1:09:31] I cannot believe that was four months ago.

[1:09:32] We have been working on this ordinance.

[1:09:34] There's one thing I wanted to offer to the public record is back at that ad hoc committee meeting.

[1:09:38] I asked a simple question.

[1:09:39] Both to our police chief and to our HR director.

[1:09:43] would anything in this ordinance negatively affect your departments or the way

[1:09:49] that procedures are done or the processes are bringing people on or affecting

[1:09:54] any kind of capacity standards. And they both agreed. No, it would not be

[1:09:58] impacting their departments in a negative manner.

[1:10:00] So I just wanted to offer that for the public record and just say that I believe this will be a impactful ordinance that will be rightening the path for our community and be a good thing for our community overall. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Holley. Council, are there any other remarks? Any other remarks? Councilman Flanagan. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a comment. I have a friend who works in a neighboring police department as a civilian employee. And he tells me that very often that department has to call Dambri because they don't have any bilingual

[1:10:30] officers. So they call here because they know we do. That department is trying to fix that.

[1:10:38] So it's another service that these folks bring. They speak maybe two or three languages

[1:10:44] instead of just English. And we speak 40 languages in the school system here. So having

[1:10:51] police officers who can speak to folks in their own language, to me just makes a whole lot

[1:10:57] a sense. I just can't imagine voting against this. Thank you, Your Honor.

[1:11:01] Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Jabora. I believe you had your hand up.

[1:11:06] I did. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just briefly, I will know I heard a lot of commentary today,

[1:11:11] and I've read some of the commentary online, and some of it has been quite frustrating,

[1:11:16] because a lot of the commentary that's been coming forward has to do with immigration status.

[1:11:22] However, while some of it may be well placed in some of the concerns, for example, I heard

[1:11:30] some today about vetting processes from other countries, if people are born in other countries,

[1:11:35] I heard nobody make any complaints about people who are naturalized U.S. citizens.

[1:11:40] These complaints were only specifically directed to individuals who are lawful, permanent residents

[1:11:45] or docker recipients.

[1:11:47] Why is there a distinguishment that way, but not a distinguishment if you become a U.S. citizen?

[1:11:51] and naturalize rather than born here

[1:11:53] the upper threat citizenship.

[1:11:56] So that was very, very frustrating for me to hear today.

[1:11:59] Our background checks are very, very thorough

[1:12:02] for police officers.

[1:12:03] I will note that I routinely advise people

[1:12:06] on what will and will not come up in a background check.

[1:12:08] And I will tell you that police departments,

[1:12:12] certain state agencies and federal agencies

[1:12:14] are the one things that I discuss on a daily basis

[1:12:17] when anyone is talking about what will come up

[1:12:18] on a background check.

[1:12:19] And for those, it's literally everything.

[1:12:22] Every single skeleton in a closet is coming out, so the amount of vetting that is going

[1:12:32] through everybody who's becoming a police officer is absolutely stranding this.

[1:12:36] And what's even more frustrating that I have seen, especially because we've discussed

[1:12:40] ice so much today, is that ice officers now do not have a vetting process.

[1:12:44] us. In fact, they are now accepting basically anybody with a $50,000 bonus check, which is

[1:12:50] absolutely frustrating because I'm not seeing similar discussor frustration at people

[1:12:58] who are actively kidnapping people who have not committed any crimes or have not done

[1:13:03] anything to harm our community off the streets from bus stops in front of daycare centers in

[1:13:11] in front of their own children, creating unspeakable levels

[1:13:14] of trauma, that commentary has been absolutely silent.

[1:13:18] However, when it's people actively hoping

[1:13:20] to serve our community and make our community safer

[1:13:23] and better, that is all of a sudden

[1:13:25] where I'm hearing commentary.

[1:13:26] And that is incredibly frustrating to hear

[1:13:29] because I am a child of immigrants.

[1:13:31] My parents came here fleeing civil war.

[1:13:34] I work every day with immigrants.

[1:13:36] And there is nobody that I've ever found

[1:13:38] that has a stronger love of America than most immigrants because they know where they came from,

[1:13:44] and they know that the American dream is live and well for them, no matter how

[1:13:52] at least in my perspective misguided that is because I watch it every day, absolutely falter

[1:13:58] and crush people's spirits when they're talking to me and crying and telling me but we came here for an

[1:14:04] American dream, what is happening.

[1:14:06] So I challenge everybody that if you are making commentary

[1:14:10] to question who we are hiring as our police officers,

[1:14:13] I would like to hear that same questioning happen

[1:14:16] to our federal officers that are kidnapping people off the street.

[1:14:19] Because many of them are people who actually

[1:14:21] will not pass police officer background checks.

[1:14:24] In fact, many have been unmasked as individuals

[1:14:28] who not only would no longer pass,

[1:14:30] but have just honorably discharged.

[1:14:32] I think that the topic is our ordinance and DACA and lawful permanent residents.

[1:14:39] I think Council of Major Board has taken this pretty far field and your honours given

[1:14:43] are quite a bit of leeway to do so I just like to come back to the topic.

[1:14:50] My point is I think everybody should discuss this equally.

[1:14:54] I think at this point, post has come out with standards saying that this is acceptable and

[1:14:59] We shall include

[1:15:02] They're allowed to serve our country. They're allowed to defend our country abroad. Why should they not be allowed to defend our citizens domestically? Thank you.

[1:15:15] Councilman Dwayne Perkins, I believe you had your hand up earlier or might put you in the spot.

[1:15:21] Thank you, Councilman.

[1:15:22] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:15:24] Chief Rittner, this is real quick, I understand everything that's going on here, rights that

[1:15:33] individuals have on the job, off the job, the finite market of this population, I get all that

[1:15:40] stuff.

[1:15:40] I can understand why people are concerned about it, but we have been talking about there

[1:15:45] the rigor of the application process so far.

[1:15:49] And I wasn't really expecting you to put these numbers out

[1:15:52] there, seven of eight, pretty much don't make it through

[1:15:56] the, is that the entire application process?

[1:15:59] That is correct.

[1:16:01] Like I said, it's a very competitive process.

[1:16:04] Most of our applicants apply for numerous departments.

[1:16:08] So between those withdrawing from the process for whatever

[1:16:12] reason between those who have accepted employment somewhere else because another department got to

[1:16:19] them before we did and between those who are eliminated through our process because they failed

[1:16:26] the polygraph they failed the psychological the information that we uncovered in that in those

[1:16:32] background checks is makes them unsuitable to be police officers here we run about seven out of eight

[1:16:40] failed, not making it through our process. So we only hire about one out of every eight to ten people.

[1:16:46] I wasn't expecting that. So, you know, this is just another reason why what do we do?

[1:16:53] We increase our pool of qualified applicants. That's what we're trying to do.

[1:16:57] And I think a lot of it comes down to opportunity.

[1:17:00] This is correct. Thank you, sir.

[1:17:03] Thank you, Councilman. I'm just going to go down line here. Councilman Britain.

[1:17:05] Thank you, Your Honor.

[1:17:09] I'm not going to continue to belabor the point here.

[1:17:13] We heard all of the questions from Chief,

[1:17:15] even at the ad hoc committee.

[1:17:17] It's legal, it's allowed, it's been recommended,

[1:17:21] and I think there's no reason from a legal or practical point to vote

[1:17:26] know against this, but I just wanted to kind of dovetail onto that

[1:17:30] by saying that now I think this council,

[1:17:33] what we have here tonight is an opportunity.

[1:17:36] I think, you know, although this definitely wasn't planned to be on the agenda on the end of a federal invasion of immigration officials in

[1:17:46] Danbury, because we've been working on this for months, but I do think it's timely and I think this vote tonight sends a message to our

[1:17:53] immigrant community at large that you are welcome in Danbury. And I can tell you that from my perspective in the Army, when you put on your

[1:18:03] uniform, nobody cares whether you are born here, whether you are a DACA recipient, whether

[1:18:08] you are a permanent resident. Nobody cares. You put on that uniform, you are the same as

[1:18:11] everybody else, you are part of the same mission. The same goes for the police department.

[1:18:16] There are no classes of police officers, there's no DACA recipient officer, John Doe, there's

[1:18:22] no permanent resident officer, John Doe, citizen John Doe, you are officer, John Doe in the

[1:18:28] and I think this council tonight can, like I said, send a message that to our immigrant community on the end of what was a terrorizing week for our neighbors.

[1:18:42] And, you know, representative Santos and his comments really, you know, struck me because, you know, some of you know, I like to run, I run around.

[1:18:53] was run around Rodgers Park the other night.

[1:18:56] Beautiful evening, not one single person at Rodgers Park on the playground.

[1:19:01] You tell me when the last time Rodgers Park was not packed on a weeknight in August,

[1:19:08] I have never seen that.

[1:19:10] And not every single immigrant in Denver is an undocumented immigrant,

[1:19:14] which a lot of people like to say on social media with a lot of people like to throw out there

[1:19:19] and hide behind their keyboards and completely pass around

[1:19:23] and, you know, infect the rest of the community

[1:19:25] with this misinformation.

[1:19:28] Immigrants are welcome in Denver

[1:19:29] and I think that's what this council can send tonight

[1:19:31] by voting yes on this.

[1:19:32] There is no reason to vote against this.

[1:19:34] And if you do vote against this,

[1:19:36] I truly question your moral compass

[1:19:39] and I sincerely hope that everybody votes yes.

[1:19:45] So thank you, Your Honor.

[1:19:46] Thank you.

[1:19:49] Councilwoman Robinson.

[1:19:50] Thank you, Your Honor.

[1:19:51] And I just want to mirror what some of the folks up here said, but I also think that

[1:19:55] even if there wasn't the history or what had happened in our community.

[1:20:00] The last several weeks, even if that didn't happen, I think that this is something that it's timely. I think this is very clear what we're trying to accomplish here. And this is not lowering the standards of our police force. We've heard very clearly from our chief of police. We know how vigorous the process is. We know what the training and the vetting that has to happen to be a police officer. And I was just looking at the officers that we had

[1:20:29] bios on earlier today and thinking there's some amazing candidates that are out there

[1:20:37] and the things that these folks have accomplished, and not to be little, the experience of those

[1:20:41] up here in the day is, but I know I wouldn't probably qualify to be a police officer.

[1:20:47] It is an immense responsibility. I think if we had received those letters for those officers

[1:20:54] in front of us tonight and there was say a sentence in there about them being

[1:20:58] citizens. I think that belittles what it is that everybody brings to the table.

[1:21:04] So I think you know there is a lot of emotion running high but I think this is

[1:21:08] very very simply about qualification and this is not changing the qualification to

[1:21:14] become a police officer in the city of Danbury. This is really about taking the

[1:21:19] best candidates for the job and having that pool available. I think putting

[1:21:24] on what somebody is or what you believe somebody is based on their status.

[1:21:30] These are people that are legally and lawfully able to be here

[1:21:34] and they want to be part of this community and anybody that wants to take that oath

[1:21:38] and serve and protect and put their life on the line

[1:21:40] and their families on the line to become a police officer.

[1:21:44] I just think it takes all of us to step back to look at what we have protecting our community

[1:21:48] And it's the right thing to do, it's a moral decision, whether or not we're all emotionally

[1:21:54] high this week.

[1:21:55] I think that we just need to think about that.

[1:21:57] Thank you.

[1:21:58] Thank you.

[1:21:59] Councilman Lafinos.

[1:22:01] Okay.

[1:22:01] Councilwoman Gardner.

[1:22:02] I was just trying to go down the line there, that's why it's okay.

[1:22:06] Thank you, Your Honor.

[1:22:08] I think that the sort of purgatory-like status that are assigned to DACA recipients definitely

[1:22:15] it definitely illustrates the problem of our countries and the broken system that we have.

[1:22:20] But what we can do in Danbury is, to the point of the chief is to broaden the pool.

[1:22:27] And the implication of how much this pool will be broadened is really, it's not so much, right?

[1:22:35] There are less than 3,000 DACA recipients in the state of Connecticut.

[1:22:40] That pool is not growing because that designation is not given anymore.

[1:22:43] The average age of a Connecticut DACA recipient is 32.

[1:22:48] And the average age of people applying to be officers is 26.

[1:22:54] But the pool also goes 22 to age 30.

[1:22:59] The DACA recipients in the state of Connecticut age group is from 19 years old to 45.

[1:23:08] There are people in this age group that are going to not really apply to be police officers.

[1:23:13] Currently only 1% of the available, or docker recipients apply to be police officers.

[1:23:24] So of this pool, if you were to use a 22%, which is kind of what the amount of people in the population that apply to be police officers,

[1:23:33] you would get a pool of 650 in total, which is more than a pool of 30 with only the 1% applying,

[1:23:40] because laws like this aren't ordinances like this aren't in place.

[1:23:44] So even with the application of this, the pool grows really kind of incrementally,

[1:23:49] but probably enough to help bridge a gap that we have here in our own city.

[1:23:55] And with this ordinance, I feel Dambry would be a more attractive place for

[1:23:59] a pool of this small candidates and that would aid our city.

[1:24:04] Thank you.

[1:24:05] Thank you, Councilman Garner.

[1:24:07] Councilman Levinhouse.

[1:24:08] I just want to two things, I just want to mend my original motion, I called this a communications and Dean ordinance, so I just want to clarify that just for the record.

[1:24:18] The other thing is I spoke pretty passionately about this last night in our caucus group.

[1:24:22] And the one thing I wanted to highlight tonight is I don't think it's been talked about.

[1:24:25] I know several other points in the chief.

[1:24:28] Kind of hit a lot of the talking points is when I went back and looked at this, why is the positive influence?

[1:24:34] or right for the City of Danbury is the case studies that I was able to find.

[1:24:40] And the case studies pretty much pointed to that when these candidates came on board,

[1:24:44] the positive influence that it had directly on the community,

[1:24:47] and reaching folks that necessarily are police or the police in that community,

[1:24:53] weren't able to reach, was a 360.

[1:24:56] Some of the adjectives I found, you know, in speaking to some of them.

[1:25:00] All of these officers and some of these recruits were positive mindset, youth oriented, you know, a team player, dedicated, those are all adjectives. I feel that we would benefit greatly here in the city of Danbury, which is part of the reason why I felt the need to speak about it on the caucus and tonight. So I definitely am in favor. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Lifehouse. Council, any marks on this that Councilman Fay?

[1:25:24] I'm sorry that I feel the need to say this, but I do plan to vote no.

[1:25:28] And I am not, anti-immigrant, I am not a racist.

[1:25:33] My concerns are simply from a practical consideration for all of the reasons actually

[1:25:38] stated by Councilwoman Gartner about the small, small pool of persons that this will apply

[1:25:44] to.

[1:25:45] And in this climate to know that that DACA status could be revoked at any moment, I do not

[1:25:53] not believe it to be in our city's best interest to spend thousands and thousands of dollars

[1:25:58] sending anyone to post to attend our police academy to be removed from Danbury, from

[1:26:08] Connecticut, from the United States.

[1:26:11] It's like training someone who tells us, thanks for paying for my training, Danbury, but

[1:26:15] I'm going to go over to Bethel now.

[1:26:18] Those are my concerns, they're very practical considerations.

[1:26:21] It's not an anti-immigrant stance by any means, and it is exactly why I want to

[1:26:28] split the question, because I think there is a nuance difference, it's actually not

[1:26:32] so nuanced between a legal resident and someone who is protected under DACA.

[1:26:38] I have a sister-in-law who was under DACA.

[1:26:41] I understand who this impacts, and I again agree with all of Councilman Gardner's statistics

[1:26:48] that I think this is signal-virtuing at its best.

[1:26:55] Thank you, Councilman Faye.

[1:26:57] Council, any other remarks?

[1:26:58] Councilman Ratella?

[1:27:05] Thank you, Your Honor.

[1:27:07] Through the chair, too.

[1:27:08] Sheep Reddinella.

[1:27:15] Sheep, we've heard a lot of emotions tonight,

[1:27:17] and I'm not gonna go down that road.

[1:27:20] I think my record on emotions is pretty clear

[1:27:23] on the immigration issue going back 30 years in the city,

[1:27:27] but I do have some queries about procedural

[1:27:31] or practical effects.

[1:27:33] To begin with, the Council of Police Officers that has approved this is not a legislative

[1:27:44] body.

[1:27:44] It's not the legislative body of the state of Connecticut.

[1:27:47] Is that correct?

[1:27:49] They're not the legislative body of what?

[1:27:50] I mean, the body of what?

[1:27:51] I mean, the body of what?

[1:27:51] The status of the group that's approved this.

[1:27:54] The governing body.

[1:27:55] Post here.

[1:27:56] Post is the, it's under the State Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection,

[1:28:03] but it is responsible for all police officers certification in the State of Connecticut.

[1:28:09] What happens is individual municipalities hire police officers, but we really cannot serve

[1:28:15] as police officers until we're certified by the State of Connecticut and that responsibility

[1:28:21] is under post.

[1:28:21] So,

[1:28:26] again, this is not an elected body of legislative officials in the state of Connecticut

[1:28:31] chosen from 169 cities and towns.

[1:28:34] No, it's a legislative appointed body by the state, understood.

[1:28:40] And they can change their mind, or once they've done something like this, is it sticky?

[1:28:45] Is it sunset?

[1:28:46] Is it, you mentioned they did it something in 20, then they did it in 24, 25, and then

[1:28:53] I mean, just recently they did something else.

[1:28:55] Correct.

[1:28:56] And in 2020, they allowed permanent legal residents.

[1:28:59] And in 2025, they further extended it to DACA recipients.

[1:29:04] And this process is proceeded like it would be in the legislature

[1:29:08] with public hearings and public notices and things like that

[1:29:11] or not, how does that work?

[1:29:12] That I'm not aware of, but I do know that their council meetings

[1:29:15] are open to the public.

[1:29:16] OK, so it's not a state statute done in a particular way

[1:29:22] the state legislature does, it's not that, these are appointed by the state, but it's not a state legislative state.

[1:29:28] They are appointed by the state and it's usually the state just as if you look at the police accountability bill.

[1:29:35] The state legislature usually puts the burden on post to come up with policies, et cetera.

[1:29:45] I understand that's a way that the state generally operates for a lot of things.

[1:29:50] I don't want to say a lot of things like this.

[1:29:51] This is pretty unique, but police powers in general, specifically.

[1:29:55] But the state does have these policies where they have a group that like a standing...

[1:30:00] Yes, correct. That's relatively normal. Okay, ICE has in the past, and we'll probably again arrested DACA, people holding DACA status. This is not an unknown thing. This is not even a rare thing. The ICE has gone after people to hold DACA status. What are the plans going to be? We're going to have, let me get to that in just one second.

[1:30:28] Again, you mentioned that the ATF

[1:30:35] alcohol tobacco and fire arms that they still call it has

[1:30:39] opined that people with DACA status, I think you were talking about DACA status.

[1:30:45] That is correct.

[1:30:47] That should be or could be or will probably be allowed to carry fire arms.

[1:30:52] No, that they are allowed to carry fire arms in the performance of their duties.

[1:30:57] Correct.

[1:30:58] But ATF is essentially a bureaucracy, that's not a federal law, am I correct in that?

[1:31:04] It's sort of like the post thing, this is a separate group that is charged with creating these regulations but it's not the government itself.

[1:31:13] It is a branch of the government, it's a bureaucracy basically.

[1:31:16] Correct, I would assume so, I can't dispute that at this particular time, I don't have stuff in front of me.

[1:31:23] Okay, so the post thing is not a statute, and the ATF thing is not a law.

[1:31:30] Post is the standard that we all go understood, we're just talking about the status of the legal status upon which this is based.

[1:31:45] The carrying guns is an opinion by ATF, and the post is a suggestion of this body that's been formed by the state of Connecticut to create policy, but again, these two things are not lost.

[1:32:03] But you agree with that.

[1:32:05] No.

[1:32:07] Not really.

[1:32:09] You think they are a law?

[1:32:10] Yeah.

[1:32:11] Okay.

[1:32:11] All right.

[1:32:13] I made the defer later to corporation council to answer that question more fully since it is actually our attorney.

[1:32:20] Okay.

[1:32:20] Let's get to DACA now.

[1:32:22] And the arrest that ICE has been conducting.

[1:32:30] What plans does the city of Danbury have if this were to pass tonight?

[1:32:35] And we have armed DACA members on the street who are then confronted by ICE and told the stand down, get arrested, what are these armed Danbury police who are sworn police officers with guns going to do if they themselves are being faced with arrest by ICE in Danbury.

[1:32:58] Do we have a plan for that?

[1:33:01] Is it a reasonable if ISIS arresting DACA people, is it reasonable assume that they might

[1:33:06] arrest DACA people who are police?

[1:33:09] Maybe at home when they're not armed because apparently ATF says they can be armed on the

[1:33:14] job, but maybe that's the turn the weapon in, or perhaps even in the course of their duties

[1:33:19] on the street.

[1:33:20] What suggestions will you have to the rank and file to your officers if they are then confronted

[1:33:27] to stand down, to stand up, to do what?

[1:33:31] Or do you think that that's such a rare occurrence?

[1:33:33] It's not even worth discussing.

[1:33:34] I don't see a scenario where that would happen

[1:33:38] if you have officers that are on duty

[1:33:40] and the performance of their duties

[1:33:41] that I don't see that happening.

[1:33:44] And, you know, and in other cases,

[1:33:46] I mean, if an officer gets arrested for any reason,

[1:33:49] we have a procedure in place, you know,

[1:33:52] until that is adjudicated.

[1:33:56] Okay, so the advice to officers would be if they were confronted by ICE in a situation that might lead to arrest to cooperate.

[1:34:08] Absolutely, okay, all right, thank you, that's all I have, you know, thank you.

[1:34:14] Thank you, Councilman Rathalla, Councilman Chienese.

[1:34:18] Thank you, this is more of a housekeeping, there's since Councilman Laff and House changed his motion, I think he needs to restate it.

[1:34:26] What will you say to motion?

[1:34:27] I was going to ask him to do that instead of the amendment.

[1:34:29] So when we get ready for that, I'll ask the councilman to reinstate the motion.

[1:34:33] Thank you, we state the motion as an ordinance.

[1:34:39] Council, are there any other remarks on this topic?

[1:34:42] Any other remarks?

[1:34:44] Councilman Cuello, please.

[1:34:47] His side, a question for the chief.

[1:34:56] You noticed this guy didn't realize any of it's an exercise, right?

[1:34:59] Yeah.

[1:35:00] I didn't say a thing. I sit here. I got to walk too. So, if you could just clarify a couple things, with regard to a councilwoman phase question, excluding the vote, there is a difference between a permanent legal resident, with regard to allowing to have a concealed carry permit, say, right? Now, off duty, not talking about on duty, aren't permanent legal residents allowed to obtain a concealed carry permit?

[1:35:29] That permanent legal residents are allowed to obtain a permit, but if they're police officers,

[1:35:36] sworn police officers, they really don't need it.

[1:35:40] And so, but second part of your question.

[1:35:42] The second part is then our DACA recipients allowed to have concealed carry permits.

[1:35:48] This was asked at the ad hoc with Councilman Mike Henry, and the answer is they are allowed

[1:35:55] to carry while they are on duty, but they are not allowed to carry while off duty.

[1:36:01] Unless we have a policy in place that says that requires off duty carry.

[1:36:07] Do you see that being a conflict?

[1:36:09] Because I think the potential for exposure to the city is my concern because I could see the

[1:36:24] with them because there's a lot that don't there and there's a need they feel they have right and I got it

[1:36:31] So the question I have is is the exposure the city could face in that instance, right?

[1:36:35] I know there was some there was talk about all sergeant would give it to him in the field and et cetera and I guess that

[1:36:41] question may not be directed to you right now as much as corporation counsel but my concern would be in that

[1:36:47] instance where say off duty to maybe being recalled to duty not having that weapon you know

[1:36:54] Or in the midst of being off duty is our exposure as a city has that been looked at well

[1:37:00] if you're if you're recalled to duty then you would be issued your weapon

[1:37:07] I'd like to hear corporation council kind of a fine on that if you can jump on the microphone corporation council, please

[1:37:14] Yeah, can we just please use your microphone sir?

[1:37:18] Microwave

[1:37:19] I'm like you're asking if there's any exposure or liability to the city by letting DACA recipients use the firearms that the

[1:37:28] that the governing body and the federal government already said they can use between

[1:37:33] off-duty and on-duty, that transition period, right? Now obviously we can agree to disagree with it after the federal election.

[1:37:39] That's a fair question, councilman. Right, one around duty, fair question.

[1:37:42] We're not arguing that point. Yeah.

[1:37:44] My point would have the firearm off-duty and the city's what would happen during that transition.

[1:37:47] There's no transition. The firearm would be locked in the police department.

[1:37:52] Second, councilman Robinson. Go ahead.

[1:37:54] clear face because I understand we don't require police officers to carry weapons off to

[1:38:00] it as a party don't require it but you're you're positing a hypothetical but many do so well true

[1:38:08] but it's not a requirement yeah um you're positing a hypothetical that an officer off duty could get

[1:38:18] into some please use that microphone so everybody can hear you and all your off-duty could uh get

[1:38:24] into some kind of a confrontation involving the use of the pistol, people can have their pistol.

[1:38:30] Is that up there, summary of your-

[1:38:32] There's a, and when it comes to hypothetical, right, there's a lot of different scenarios.

[1:38:38] And I'm not going to sit here and profess to know that I know all of them.

[1:38:41] All I just know is that there is a potential.

[1:38:44] And has that been looked at in our exposure, because the last thing you want to do is, you know-

[1:38:48] So yeah, it's been looked at in the sense that any officer who does something that, you

[1:38:56] know, could give rise to a lawsuit, you know, negligence, assault, et cetera, they enjoy

[1:39:01] governmental immunity if they're acting in a discretionary way.

[1:39:05] So that would be the first defense.

[1:39:08] There's also qualified immunity under section 1983, if someone were to bring an action under

[1:39:14] section 1983.

[1:39:15] So I'm not saying that an officer or the city could could never be held liable in that kind of confrontation, but there are certain laws in place that would be triggered by the governmental immunity doctrine.

[1:39:32] And I guess if I could follow up on that, one of my questions would be maybe to the chief if there's an anti-corporation council, if in fact something like this did arise, do we have a policy in place where you guys are the experts, right?

[1:39:48] So I'll defer to you on this, but the question lies that an officer checks in his weapon, you know, when he's off duty, maybe it's a half hour away, gets called back.

[1:39:58] I don't have time to go to the...

[1:40:00] Police station, I'm going to go to the scene wherever it may be, because we need backup. I mean, have we looked at that, you know, because I mean, in cases of emergencies, there are emergencies and you have to respond, right? So I just would, I'm thinking about the exposure part of that. I understand what you're saying, but, you know, if you're called back, then it's to respond to headquarters to make sure, first of all, you know, what you're responding to, and, you know, you would be issued your weapons. So, I don't

[1:40:29] I don't see it as any different than the officer who chooses not to carry off duty and may have to go home and get their weapon, you know, if for some reason they were, you know, had to, you know, respond to something so or or were called back to work.

[1:40:46] Okay, thank you.

[1:40:52] Councilman Robinson.

[1:40:53] I just wanted to clarify, and I think I'm not sure if what I was following from Councilman

[1:41:00] Kuala's question was totally answered.

[1:41:03] But I think the question really is, is there any liability or responsibility for the

[1:41:07] city of Danbury if an off-duty officer does not have their weapon on them in something

[1:41:13] happens?

[1:41:14] And I think that's really the question, if they're off-duty and they're not carrying a weapon,

[1:41:20] Is there any liability to the city of Dambury that that officer doesn't have his weapon on him?

[1:41:26] No.

[1:41:29] But I mean, if an officer is on duty, we have a responsibility, the city of Dambury is responsible for that officer's actions, whether or not they have their, but if they're off duty.

[1:41:40] Just like now, I believe the answer is no, correct chief?

[1:41:43] If an officer is not required to carry, there's no, the inquiry requirement for that.

[1:41:47] That's what I wanted to clarify the question that we're not open to liability because an officer's off duty.

[1:41:53] and whatever they do in that off-duty capacity,

[1:41:56] whether they have a weapon or not is irrelevant.

[1:42:04] Thank you.

[1:42:06] Councilman Faye, please.

[1:42:09] Also, through the Chair of the Corporation Council,

[1:42:12] there would be liability on the city

[1:42:14] if any officer used their duty weapon elsewhere

[1:42:19] in the commission of a crime and any other set of facts.

[1:42:23] So in this circumstance,

[1:42:25] We are we are taking persons who otherwise cannot carry a weapon they cannot hold a firearms permit

[1:42:32] They're given a duty weapon and if they leave the station with that duty weapon and do use that in some all-mawful manner

[1:42:39] That could expose the city since it's our weapon that we issued to them correct

[1:42:45] If they use it in some unlawful manner

[1:42:50] You know you get into the issue of did they act outside the scope of their emergency?

[1:42:55] Employment was their actions wanted and willful. Yeah, so there's there's a number of scenarios

[1:43:02] And again, I don't want to speculate on a particular situation. No, I'm not asking you to speculate

[1:43:09] It's it assume it's it's unlawful. It's it's want and it's reckless, right? It's it's beyond the scope of their employment

[1:43:15] If you're reckless if you act recklessly and willfully and want to know you don't enjoy

[1:43:20] the provisions of the indemnification statute.

[1:43:23] Okay.

[1:43:24] Thank you.

[1:43:24] Any police officer.

[1:43:25] Any police officer.

[1:43:27] Any police officer.

[1:43:29] Council, are there any other remarks?

[1:43:32] Any other remarks?

[1:43:33] Any other remarks?

[1:43:34] Before I close, we will let the majority leader,

[1:43:37] Salvatore, make the final comments.

[1:43:39] Okay, and I'll keep these brief, which some people are saying he's never brief.

[1:43:45] We heard tonight a citizen asked for us to hold off because this is a device of situation.

[1:43:52] Seriously, I think it would be more of a problem for us if we did hold it off.

[1:43:56] I think the city is looking for us to do something.

[1:44:01] And believe it or not, I hope you have your video on, but we're on the same side on this one.

[1:44:07] Okay? We have to be on the right side of the argument, I believe we are when we pass this.

[1:44:14] We have to have the ability to write the wrongs, okay?

[1:44:21] The chief said everything.

[1:44:23] He answered the questions, it opens up the pool.

[1:44:26] I had the pleasure after the public hearing of meeting a city of Danbury resident who is a

[1:44:39] And wanted to know if she should wait, or if she should take the job in Norwalk because she had passed the test there, passed everything to become an officer, and I said it's gonna take some time, and I believe she did end up becoming a Norwalk police officer enough from wrong, I hope she can become the damn police officer she wanted.

[1:45:01] In the end, it's the right thing to do. We're worried about police officers with guns. Let me ask you a question. I'm a respiratory therapist by trade. I work in a hospital. Have you ever looked up at the doctor who might be a licensed resident who or a doctor recipient and asked them, do you have your papers? Or no, you're going to say save me. Police officer that comes has been vetted and has been trained.

[1:45:30] And I remember what my uncle went through in the police academy many years ago.

[1:45:35] It's not a simple way to become a police officer.

[1:45:38] They do all the work.

[1:45:40] Your city of Danbury Fire Department.

[1:45:43] You don't ask that firefighter who's crawling up the ladder to get you out of the building if they're a resident.

[1:45:50] No, save me.

[1:45:52] Let's do the right thing, people.

[1:45:54] Let's vote yes, vote yes now.

[1:45:57] I call for a roll call vote.

[1:45:58] Thank you, Council.

[1:46:01] Council, come in laughing now.

[1:46:02] If you don't mind restating the motion, please.

[1:46:06] I move to receive the ordinance and approve the resolution as presented.

[1:46:12] Do I need to do that?

[1:46:14] Third time.

[1:46:15] I apologize.

[1:46:17] That's okay, apologize.

[1:46:18] No, it's, we had to change it.

[1:46:20] I move to receive the communication of the ordinance and approve the resolution as presented.

[1:46:24] take resolution out. I move to receive the ordinance and approve as presented.

[1:46:32] I give it perfect. Thank you. Seconded by Councilman Chiennes. All right, Council, I will try your minds. We're going to go for a roll call vote here.

[1:46:40] Kuehle. No.

[1:46:43] Flanagan. Yes.

[1:46:45] Holly. Yes.

[1:46:47] Lapine. Yes. Salvatore. Yes.

[1:46:51] Busei, Gartner, Faye, Wallis Smith,

[1:47:05] Spain Raquel, Giordano, Jabor, Routello,

[1:47:12] Hello,

[1:47:18] Jeanne Easy, Dwayne Perkins,

[1:47:23] Britten, McAllister, Robinson,

[1:47:29] Laughing House, Dennis Perkins,

[1:47:38] 18 yes, two noes.

[1:47:42] The eyes have it, the vote is so ordered, thank you all.

[1:47:47] Item number 11, please.

[1:47:58] Resolution Purchase of Taylor Farm Property.

[1:48:02] Dear council members, in 2008, the city of Danbury acquired the development rights to the Taylor Farm on Great Plane Road,

[1:48:11] as well as to several adjacent parcels of property owned by the Taylor family.

[1:48:17] As a result of that acquisition, the use of the properties was limited exclusively to agriculture, farming, and open space.

[1:48:24] In addition, as part of the transaction, the city acquired the right to buy the properties

[1:48:29] at 50% of their remaining fair market value should the tailors ever decide to sell.

[1:48:36] On June 25th, 2026, the city received a revised notice that Donald A. Taylor, Jr. wished

[1:48:43] to sell two of these parcels owned by him and located at 44 through 55 and 78 great

[1:48:51] plane road.

[1:48:51] I have reviewed this proposal and recommend to you the acquisition of 49 through 55 great plain road.

[1:48:59] On the other hand, since 78 great plain road is unrelated to the tailor farm itself, I do not propose that the city purchase it.

[1:49:08] According to the letter from Mr. Taylor, the city has until November 15 to make a decision about this potential purchase.

[1:49:16] Very truly yours, Roberto Alves-Mayor.

[1:49:18] Thank you, Council, what's your pleasure?

[1:49:23] Councilwoman Meaghan.

[1:49:25] Thank you, Mayor.

[1:49:26] I move to receive the communication and send this to an ad hoc committee.

[1:49:31] The motion has been made to move this to an ad hoc.

[1:49:33] The ad hoc shall consist of Councilman Frank Salvatore in the chair.

[1:49:37] Councilwoman Diana Pine and Councilman Michael Ollo.

[1:49:44] 12, 13, 14, and 15 are on consent.

[1:49:48] Item number 16, please.

[1:49:51] Mr. Mayor, I move we waiver reading of the reports as all members of copies and copies

[1:49:55] are on file at the legislative assistance office, as well as we accept-

[1:50:00] Let the reports as they're presented. Motion has been made, second by Councilman Dwayne Perkins. Council, are there any remarks or questions for our department heads? Councilman McAllister.

[1:50:14] Thank you very much, Your Honor. I'd like to start with the police chief. I'm sorry I'm going to add to your workout tonight, Chief. So,

[1:50:26] Chief, earlier tonight, I found it very difficult not to comment on item number 10.

[1:50:32] And because of my extensive family background and public safety.

[1:50:37] But what I would like to say to you and roll us over to Chief Lownsbury and

[1:50:45] Matt, your self as director of EMS, is a department head of a busy department.

[1:50:52] I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the help that the city of

[1:50:59] But the surrounding departments, because of the diversity of the people they have employed there, the fact that daily we call for interpretations of so many different languages, and knowing that we have somebody coming right away from a neighbor in community, they could pick up a child.

[1:51:19] I get emotional about this and tell them that mommy's going to be okay in their native language and that person that's picking them up and telling them that looks like them, they can relate to it instead of an old white guy like me and make them feel good about the fact that somebody's going to make their life better.

[1:51:41] Alright, you do that. She flounders very does that, math does that. Hopefully I do it the right way, but it was hard for me earlier, not to say anything about that.

[1:51:53] The fact that we can bring this, these type of positive people into our employment, and not only serve the city of Dambray, but serve the surrounding communities in a way that I can't even begin to tell you.

[1:52:10] results in positivity on a daily basis, I'm not sure how I can best express that.

[1:52:18] But having you up here to receive my plaudits and Chief Loundsbury and Matt Keshevekia, I want

[1:52:26] everybody to know that this is something that happens every single day, sometimes many times

[1:52:32] each day, that we have people that can come and help us, that can relate to the individuals

[1:52:38] that really need our help because they can relate to that person that's standing there,

[1:52:44] holding on to them and making a better day and a better part of their day, at that particular

[1:52:51] point, time does not go on well. So Chief, thank you. Thank you.

[1:52:55] Chief Lownsbury and Chief Cazverky, thank you.

[1:52:57] Thank you, Councilman McHolster.

[1:53:00] Councilman Chines?

[1:53:02] Thank you, Toronto. If I'm not too much, if you can sit down, you look tired.

[1:53:08] Sure, somebody else will call you up.

[1:53:11] My question is to the tax assessor, if I may.

[1:53:22] Again, I just want to thank you again for all your hard work that you did regarding the

[1:53:26] senior credit.

[1:53:27] And I'm still getting a lot of positive comments from this for the administration and this

[1:53:33] council for passing the senior credit.

[1:53:36] And I think this is the second year that we did it.

[1:53:39] And I think it's a lot smoother than the first year we did it.

[1:53:41] But my question really relates to the firefighters,

[1:53:46] volunteer tax credit, which this council in the mayor also supported.

[1:53:51] And we passed this year.

[1:53:53] And again, I had all positive comments on it,

[1:53:55] the hard work your department did, and kudos to you.

[1:53:59] Because again, you really went above and beyond to make this successful.

[1:54:03] So my question is basically, can you just tell us how that process work?

[1:54:07] Was this smoothly, as I have led to believe,

[1:54:10] or there's some hiccups that we should at least fix?

[1:54:13] No, it was actually quite easy for me.

[1:54:15] I received a spreadsheet from Councilman Salvatore

[1:54:20] and we were very easily able to put it into our system.

[1:54:23] I got it in a timely manner.

[1:54:25] We were able to put it in.

[1:54:27] We had one slight hiccup might need to be reviewed.

[1:54:32] The system only lets you abate up to 75% of the real estate bill.

[1:54:37] We didn't figure that out until afterwards.

[1:54:39] the system automatically cuts it off so after bills went out, I just simply moved

[1:54:44] there over to the motor vehicle bills. Other than that, I thought it was easy. I don't know of Councilman

[1:54:52] Salvatore agrees. I don't know. Again, I got the listing. I don't know what they did.

[1:54:57] And I just say, I'm the Secretary of...

[1:55:00] The volunteer fireman's council, so that's why she got the sheet from me. But yeah, it was very easy. Once the volunteers gave us all the documentation, passed it on to the city. And everybody saw it in their, their text bills when they opened them in July. Again, thank you. Thank you for all the hard work you did. Again, it was a great program, and I got nothing but praise. So thank you. Good job, Donna. Thank you, Councilman Shinnis. Councilman Jibor.

[1:55:30] I guess I can. Oh, I think I lost the chief. No, he's here. Okay. No, he's outside. All right. Well, I can start with the Antonio to start with the Antonio. You almost got away this time. I'm sorry.

[1:55:42] All right. I forgot it. Tony, take a second. Take a second. I could take to both of you at the same time. It's regarding the same thing.

[1:55:52] Yes.

[1:55:52] or not, I guess we're peace-mailing it, now that we're done with the Franklin Street Extension

[1:55:58] Bridge project, I just really wanted to thank you very much for all of the time and effort

[1:56:04] you and your officers expended in trying to keep our community safe. I know it was very difficult

[1:56:11] to reroute the detour and make sure all our children stayed safe, especially as they access the

[1:56:17] community pool, that's in the neighborhood. So I just really wanted to commend you on all of the additional enforcement assistance you guys provided.

[1:56:27] Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you, Councilman. Do you still need Antonio? Is that for the same thanks?

[1:56:32] No. Antonio, come on in.

[1:56:33] It's the same place.

[1:56:35] In a different phrase.

[1:56:40] Antonio, thank you so much for finishing the bridge early.

[1:56:43] We greatly, greatly appreciated it for those of you that haven't seen it.

[1:56:47] There was a very lovely press release that was put out and the bridge looks beautiful.

[1:56:51] That road is gorgeously paved and I'm greatly appreciative that there is now a sidewalk that

[1:56:56] exists, that did not previously exist.

[1:56:58] And for anyone that's ever driven that road, not only was it tight and dangerous, but there

[1:57:02] was always people walking back and forth to the little sort of like senior center that's

[1:57:09] down on the other end of that bridge.

[1:57:10] So I'm very grateful that it's open and upgraded.

[1:57:14] So thank you for all of your time and effort in getting that done ahead of schedule.

[1:57:19] Thank you, I appreciate it, and I want to thank all the council members that reached out to my department.

[1:57:25] Several residents that reached out to thank us on the effort that we're able to get that bridge completed prior to school opening.

[1:57:34] So and the weather cooperated, so thank God.

[1:57:37] Thank you.

[1:57:38] Thank you.

[1:57:39] Councilman Cuello?

[1:57:41] No, I think Councilwoman Jebore covered it, so thank you Antonio.

[1:57:47] Council, any other remarks, comments, any other remarks, comments, any other remarks

[1:57:50] or comments?

[1:57:51] Councilman Calister.

[1:57:55] At the end of the night when we thank all of our department heads for the excellent leadership

[1:58:03] that they show to the City of Danbury and the accountability that they show to the members

[1:58:08] of the City Council.

[1:58:09] So, but I have to say that in the past week, with what we experienced there in the city,

[1:58:15] the one department had that we did not bring up and ask question or give plot as to needs

[1:58:24] to have that, in my opinion.

[1:58:26] And it's this guy right here, Mayor Alves, the leadership of this guy showed this week.

[1:58:31] Unbelievable.

[1:58:32] Unbelievable.

[1:58:33] Thank you.

[1:58:36] Thank you.

[1:58:37] Joey and I represent the fourth ward and everybody knows the fourth ward is heavily heavily

[1:58:44] immigrant all right include my family all right and

[1:58:49] what I saw this week

[1:58:52] parents crying at the bus stop come on you know uh

[1:58:58] Joey talked about running through Rogers Park the other night um so did I

[1:59:02] Joe was right, there was nobody in Roger's Park Saturday night.

[1:59:07] The immigrant community that shares their faith with me were not at 5 o'clock mass

[1:59:12] on Saturday night.

[1:59:14] I walked mainstream for two hours Saturday night and I was the only one.

[1:59:21] I did it for two hours, but the stability that has arisen from what we went through, I

[1:59:29] I just can't say enough of the support and the guidance that came out of City Hall, and that's all I want to say.

[1:59:35] Thank you, Your Honor, thank you.

[1:59:37] Thank you, but that was a community, we're just a part of it.

[1:59:44] Council, are there any other remarks?

[1:59:46] Any other remarks in the remarks?

[1:59:48] Seeing none, I will try your minds, all those in favor.

[1:59:50] Signify by saying aye.

[1:59:53] Any opposed?

[1:59:53] The ayes have it, the vote is so ordered, I hear by extend all committees, and we'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

[2:00:00] So moved and seconded by council. I'm sure while the Smith, all those in favor, signify by saying aye.

[2:00:05] Aye.

[2:00:06] Ayes, have it, buddy.

City Council Meeting 09.01.2026

Agenda

Transcript