[0:00] Recording in progress.

[0:05] » Good evening.

[0:09] Today is Wednesday, August 12th, 2026.

[0:12] The time is 7:05. I'm going to call the

[0:16] regular RTM August meeting to order. I

[0:19] will turn it over to the town clerk to

[0:20] do roll call.

[0:55] » Better?

[0:56] >> Yes.

[0:57] >> Okay.

[0:59] DeGrasse and right?

[1:04] Doughty? [snorts]

[1:05] >> Here.

[1:07] >> Dutton?

[1:09] Fitzgerald?

[1:12] Fox?

[1:13] >> Here.

[1:15] >> Frickman?

[1:18] Garner, A?

[1:19] >> Here.

[1:20] >> Garner, M?

[1:22] >> Here.

[1:23] >> Gibbs?

[1:26] Hume?

[1:27] >> Here.

[1:29] » Kenniston?

[1:32] Massett?

[1:33] >> Oh.

[1:34] >> Here.

[1:36] >> Yes, sorry.

[1:37] >> Okay. Kenniston

[1:40] and Massett are here.

[1:42] Matter?

[1:43] >> Here.

[1:45] >> McElroy?

[1:46] >> Here.

[1:47] >> Norman?

[1:48] >> Here.

[1:50] >> Norris?

[1:52] Aubrey?

[1:53] >> Here.

[1:55] >> Parella?

[1:56] >> Here.

[1:57] >> Peterfroyne?

[1:59] >> Powers came.

[2:01] >> I'm here.

[2:02] >> Powers S.

[2:03] >> Here.

[2:04] >> Pulaski.

[2:05] >> Here.

[2:06] >> Spoden.

[2:07] >> Here.

[2:09] >> Thackston.

[2:12] >> Here.

[2:14] » Thompson.

[2:15] >> Here.

[2:17] >> Umholtz.

[2:19] >> I'm here.

[2:21] >> Watson.

[2:22] >> Here.

[2:23] >> Weaver.

[2:26] Wells.

[2:27] >> Here.

[2:28] >> Whitney.

[2:30] >> Here.

[2:32] >> Woods.

[2:32] >> Here.

[2:34] >> Zelsolka.

[2:35] >> Here.

[2:36] >> And moderator, Umholtz.

[2:38] >> I'm here.

[2:39] Got 30.

[2:40] >> I have 30.

[2:41] >> All right, we got a good count.

[2:44] 30 members present. There's a quorum.

[2:47] We'll move on to moment of silence,

[2:48] salute the flag. Flags are behind you,

[2:50] one in front.

[3:03] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[3:06] United States of America, and to the

[3:09] Republic for which it stands, one nation

[3:12] under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[3:16] justice for all.

[3:18] Thank you.

[3:19] All right.

[3:21] Next item is approval of the minutes for

[3:22] our July 8th, 2026 meeting. The meeting

[3:26] minutes

[3:27] draft was given to you with this

[3:30] agenda packet. If there are any

[3:32] additions,

[3:34] revisions, omissions, or whatnot, um

[3:39] please state them now, or else we'll

[3:41] approve the minutes as given to us by

[3:43] the town clerk's office.

[3:46] >> 2026.

[3:48] >> All right.

[3:50] Okay, meeting uh move are approved for

[3:53] July 8th. Um we now have 31 members

[3:56] present. Sugra Fenwright has arrived.

[4:01] Okay.

[4:03] All right, public petitions. This is the

[4:04] portion of the RTM agenda where RTM

[4:06] welcomes comments from the public. Each

[4:08] presentation should be limited to no

[4:09] more than 5 minutes or less as directed

[4:11] by the moderator and if possible submit

[4:13] written comments.

[4:15] Presentation should be limited to

[4:16] matters pertinent to the town of Groton.

[4:18] The matter moderator or members through

[4:20] the moderator shall ask questions only

[4:21] in order to clarify the speaker's

[4:23] presentation. Responses may be given by

[4:25] the moderator and or by the town

[4:27] manager. Individuals should state their

[4:29] name and address for the record. Are

[4:30] there any

[4:32] No one signed up. Anyone online?

[4:35] >> No.

[4:35] >> All right, we're going to

[4:37] close public petitions.

[4:39] Proceed to communications.

[4:41] Uh just to let you all know that uh

[4:43] representatives Morgan, Cadden, and

[4:45] Fitzgerald um

[4:47] identified that they would not be in

[4:48] attendance this evening. Uh does anyone

[4:50] else have any communications?

[4:54] All right, and I know we just had a

[4:57] pretty massive storm

[4:59] a week ago Monday. I just want to thank

[5:00] all of our first responders, public

[5:03] works, uh Board of Ed, uh public works

[5:06] people, um

[5:07] parks and rec folks that have worked

[5:09] hard to try to make sure that we stayed

[5:11] safe during that storm as well as

[5:13] maintaining all of our roadways after

[5:16] the storm which had a lot of down trees

[5:18] and flooding in certain areas with

[5:20] disabled vehicles and whatnot. So,

[5:22] again, thank you to all that have

[5:24] uh helped to keep our community safe.

[5:28] Moving on, we've got our town manager's

[5:30] report. So, I'm going to turn unless

[5:31] this Oh, Representative Wells, I

[5:32] apologize.

[5:33] >> I wasn't sure where this went in, but I

[5:35] think it's a communication.

[5:36] >> Yes, sir.

[5:37] >> I was uh at the hairdresser's getting my

[5:39] hair cut and I mentioned about appearing

[5:42] at a talking to Brenda and telling I got

[5:45] at the bridge opening and then um,

[5:48] this a middle-aged woman said, "Wow, I

[5:50] saw that bridge. It's fabulous. That's a

[5:52] wonderful bridge." And then, Brenda

[5:54] says, "Where is it?" She says, "I don't

[5:55] know."

[5:56] >> [laughter]

[5:57] >> And I couldn't tell them how to get how

[5:59] to get there.

[6:00] >> Yeah, and that's the Quaker Hill bridge,

[6:02] you

[6:02] >> Yeah, the Quaker Farm bridge.

[6:03] >> Okay. Yep.

[6:04] >> Anyway, so, anyway, so, the reviews are

[6:06] good from people who didn't know where

[6:08] it was.

[6:10] >> Okay, and then, for for those that don't

[6:11] know, and I might be I'm I'm gearing it

[6:14] towards how I get there from the disc

[6:15] golf or transfer station. If you go

[6:18] directly across Flanders Road across 184

[6:21] and head down the hill,

[6:23] you you run into it on the right-hand

[6:25] side. That's That's the bridge that has

[6:27] been rebuilt. Looks very very good.

[6:30] So, thank you again for our our our

[6:32] folks for building that up.

[6:34] All right, any other communications?

[6:37] All right, I'll turn it over to Town

[6:39] Manager Bert, uh, for his report of the

[6:41] town manager.

[6:43] >> Good evening. Uh, first, the financials.

[6:45] Now, we are in that time of year where

[6:47] we've

[6:48] got where we've we're past the end of

[6:50] the fiscal year and now running paying

[6:52] all the bills, so, just take this

[6:54] information with a grain of salt.

[6:55] There's a lot of bills still to be paid.

[6:58] The preliminary fund balance as of June

[7:00] 30th, '26, unaudited, is approximately

[7:03] 46.1 million, which is 27.8% of the FYE

[7:07] '26 general fund adopted adjusted

[7:09] budget. As I said, there's still bills

[7:11] to be paid. I I think, for instance,

[7:13] Board of Ed still has about 2.8 million.

[7:15] I'm sure much of that will be, uh, paid

[7:17] out eventually.

[7:19] The approved fund balance applied to FYE

[7:21] '27 budget is 1.6 million. The general

[7:24] contingency budget is set at 300,000.

[7:28] And the capital reserve fund balance as

[7:30] of June 30th, '26, is approximately 7.2

[7:32] million. However, much of that is set to

[7:34] be used for this upcoming year.

[7:37] Uh, few updates. Uh, affordable housing

[7:39] trust fund, you may have remember we had

[7:41] allocated funding recently for a mobile

[7:43] home housing rehab program that should

[7:45] be up and running in the next couple

[7:47] weeks and planning will get the notices

[7:49] sent out to people. There's already a

[7:51] list of people interested in that for

[7:52] mobile home repairs.

[7:54] Uh athletic field update the Fitch High

[7:56] School the there were some should be

[7:58] some soil boring work going on this week

[8:00] there and then we're going to have kind

[8:02] of an official kickoff with the

[8:04] engineer uh next late next week.

[8:08] Let's see uh

[8:11] Pavement indexes

[8:13] updated. I think the last time was 2019

[8:15] that we updated the PCI index the

[8:17] pavement index. That's what we use to

[8:19] decide which roads to pave. Those were

[8:21] rerun recently and um

[8:24] they're on our website but I know

[8:26] planning is working on a more robust

[8:27] website where you can It's going to be a

[8:29] pretty neat where you can have a map you

[8:30] can turn on and off see what the 2019

[8:32] index number was compared to the new one

[8:34] and kind of see how roads are faring

[8:36] over that time period. That should be

[8:37] live if not now soon.

[8:40] Uh Gary stole my thunder on Quicker Farm

[8:42] Road bridge. Um

[8:45] Uh route 1 117 sign which I get asked

[8:48] for a lot. There's always another issue.

[8:49] They They have the sign in they were

[8:51] going to put it in they had it marked

[8:52] out. There's a major gas line right

[8:54] there. So now they're looking at

[8:55] options. So still in progress and Sutton

[8:59] Park is going very well. The The skate

[9:01] ramp is really neat if uh if you've seen

[9:04] the photos online and I'll send you a

[9:05] couple photos. And the veterans rep

[9:08] position is

[9:10] uh out I um out accepting applications

[9:14] and that that closes August 17th and

[9:16] that is it.

[9:18] >> All right. Thank you town manager Bert.

[9:20] Uh Representative Thompson, do you have

[9:22] a question for the town manager?

[9:27] » Thank you. Just a quick question. Have

[9:29] you had any applicants for that

[9:30] position?

[9:31] >> I don't see we don't

[9:33] uh

[9:34] we HR keeps them until the closing date

[9:37] so we won't see them until after that.

[9:38] So, I hope. But

[9:40] >> Thank you.

[9:41] >> How how long is the posting open for?

[9:42] >> Oh, yeah. How long is the posting open

[9:44] for? Do you know?

[9:45] >> is the final day.

[9:46] >> Okay. So, yeah. We should be able to get

[9:48] an update.

[9:49] >> interested out there, go to our website

[9:50] under departments under human resources

[9:53] and jobs.

[9:57] » Okay. Any other questions for town

[9:58] manager?

[10:02] All right, great. We're going to move on

[10:03] then. Uh economic development, do we

[10:05] have anything this evening?

[10:06] >> No.

[10:07] >> Okay.

[10:08] All right. Report of the superintendent

[10:10] of schools. Uh I'm going to turn it over

[10:12] to uh Superintendent Austin

[10:14] uh for Groton Public Schools. Uh if you

[10:16] haven't received it, I believe there's a

[10:18] handout here. Did you get this?

[10:21] Rep Degraffenreid, I'll give you mine.

[10:24] » And I've got I can get others, too.

[10:34] I'm going to pass you mine when I'm

[10:35] done.

[10:36] I'll use it as my cheat sheet first.

[10:40] All right.

[10:41] Um

[10:42] I hope everybody's having a really good

[10:44] summer. This has been a very busy summer

[10:46] for Groton Public Schools, and I just

[10:48] figured instead of giving you a report,

[10:50] I'd take you for a little walk-through

[10:52] of our buildings and the the great

[10:54] accomplishment. Sam Kilpatrick and Tom

[10:57] Bingham and the team um I have to say

[11:00] Clint Dr. Clint Kennedy and Shannon

[11:03] Weigel, while she goes and gets the

[11:05] grant, she doesn't only do that, she

[11:06] ensures that we're following up on

[11:08] things, and she helps project manage

[11:10] some of this, and she's worked so hard

[11:12] this summer. As have the whole custodial

[11:14] and maintenance team,

[11:16] um and it's been fabulous. So, we have

[11:19] quite a bit going on. When you open up,

[11:21] you see the robotics, and I'll be

[11:22] talking about the T-Mobile grant and

[11:25] some of the support that they're going

[11:26] to give us in supporting robotics. We

[11:29] took the old wood shop, and we created

[11:31] the robotics shop. And we actually have

[11:34] a new military science teacher who does

[11:37] robotics and is very excited. And his

[11:40] goal was to get 50 students in military

[11:42] science and guess what? He's got them

[11:45] already. He's been working at a STEM

[11:47] camp and it when it when we get that

[11:49] magic number 50, guess what happens?

[11:51] Guess who pays for military science?

[11:54] Federal government, even the PE teacher.

[11:56] So, I'm feeling really pretty good this

[11:58] summer, but he has been wonderful,

[12:01] um Mr. K and um

[12:03] so, you see the robotics being um really

[12:06] taken and cleared out and we put we

[12:09] followed the charter and we worked Tell

[12:11] me the gentleman that we worked with at

[12:13] the town.

[12:14] >> Oh, Joe Cerella.

[12:15] >> Joe Cerella has been so helpful and so,

[12:18] we put it up for auction and there

[12:19] actually some funds came through, about

[12:21] $8,000. So, that went to the town. And

[12:24] so, um that was terrific and now the

[12:27] robotics is nestled into the the old

[12:29] wood shop and they still will do some

[12:31] woodworking. There's still things for

[12:32] them to do woodworking with. Um so,

[12:35] we're very excited for them and then

[12:37] we're imagining that that field, which

[12:39] is going to be supported by T-Mobile and

[12:42] a few others that I've been talking

[12:43] with, um will be right outside. There's

[12:46] a garage door in the wood shop robotics

[12:49] shop and it would be placed right out

[12:52] there, you know, um based on course our

[12:55] fire marshal's

[12:57] expertise. And then I think the next

[12:59] page is on the summer STEM camp. We've

[13:01] had several camps. We've had it for

[13:03] elementary. The one that you see here is

[13:05] at Groton Middle School and it was

[13:07] really run by our robotics aluminum

[13:09] falcon robotics teammates and they're

[13:12] you know, sophomores, juniors, seniors

[13:15] and they were wonderful. A couple of the

[13:18] Ledyard um robotics team that I happen

[13:20] to know, they're my grandsons. They've

[13:22] been going to the camp and they were

[13:23] also there. So, it was really the older

[13:25] kids who mentored them And um I shout

[13:29] out for Ben Moon who is our STEM

[13:31] coordinator for putting this together.

[13:33] It was so well received and we had quite

[13:35] a few eighth going into ninth graders

[13:37] who got very interested in taking a

[13:39] robotics class and and joining the team

[13:43] when they get there. So that's good. A

[13:45] big thank you to Electric Boat and the

[13:47] US Navy. Those machines came in on

[13:50] riggers. You couldn't believe it. I had

[13:51] videos. I had pictures. I was on a

[13:53] little bit of a vacation but I kept

[13:55] getting pictures showing me how it was

[13:57] coming in. They are like some of the

[13:59] state of the art machines and our kids

[14:02] and the community will be able to use

[14:03] these machines and have viable jobs. We

[14:06] had 10 kids at Fitch High School before

[14:08] they graduated who had a job at EB. And

[14:11] that was double double that was a

[14:12] factorial number from what we've had in

[14:14] the past. So I just keep seeing this

[14:16] grow and it's going to be wonderful. I'm

[14:18] hoping in the evening that we could you

[14:20] know with a teacher we could do adult ed

[14:23] and maybe invite some members of the

[14:24] community in who would like to learn on

[14:27] the machines. So that will be the next

[14:30] part of the dream.

[14:31] And then you can see the pictures of

[14:35] you know under the dream this is still

[14:38] the old auto shop. Anybody in here was

[14:41] in the auto shop when you were at Fitch

[14:42] High School? Did anybody take anything

[14:44] in the old auto shop? It would became

[14:46] really just a a big container filled

[14:49] with junk. You know we we keep too many

[14:51] things we shouldn't be keeping. So it's

[14:53] been a great year for purging. Things

[14:55] that are unnecessary. And then our Mary

[14:58] Morrison is ready to go. I am super

[15:01] excited. We've been doing walk-throughs

[15:03] with our board.

[15:04] You see the cleaned out classroom and

[15:07] then you see one with the furniture in

[15:09] there ready to go and and our

[15:11] playground. And all of this thank you to

[15:13] the office of

[15:15] you know early childhood and

[15:18] 1.7 million dollars and that will keep

[15:20] us rolling with um, going into next year

[15:23] and we're just hoping that those um,

[15:25] endowment funds continue. It's looking

[15:28] pretty promising, so. But, because we

[15:31] have that, parents don't have to pay

[15:33] anything. There's no other pre-K like

[15:36] this. I mean, if you go to the

[15:37] Friendship School, parents have to pay.

[15:39] It might be on a sliding scale, but they

[15:41] have to pay. So, um, and we have other

[15:43] places where they have reduced fees,

[15:46] too. So, um, and we're going to have an

[15:48] early childhood of actually Tree House

[15:51] program before and after school with

[15:53] child care for kids where that will be

[15:55] on a sliding scale. So, if you have fit

[15:57] working families, there'll be an hour

[15:59] and a half before school starts and an

[16:00] [clears throat] hour and a half after

[16:01] that they can have their children there.

[16:03] So, parents, we have a lot of parents

[16:05] who are, you know, getting second jobs

[16:07] because of this opportunity, which is

[16:09] great. Ribbon cutting, I'll let you know

[16:12] once we get all the kiddos in there and

[16:14] everybody. Um, we're going to be

[16:16] inviting dignitaries and you're some of

[16:19] our dignitaries and you've supported us

[16:21] in all of this, so we'll let you know

[16:22] the date for both, um, Mary Morrison

[16:24] Early Childhood Center and also for, um,

[16:27] the Machine Shop. I'm sure Congressman

[16:29] Courtney will be there with us. So,

[16:32] thank you so much. I just can't thank

[16:33] you enough for all of your support in

[16:36] getting this to come true. It really

[16:38] takes a community, you know.

[16:40] So, thank you.

[16:42] >> All right. Did Does anyone happen to

[16:43] have a question for, uh, Superintendent Austin? All right,

[16:47] I'm going to just take them

[16:49] names. Powers, S, Weaver.

[16:53] All right.

[16:54] >> Thank you, Superintendent Austin.

[16:56] A quick question. The, um, the total

[16:58] amount of money that we have for

[17:00] renovation, has it been all used?

[17:04] >> We have done the first grant and that

[17:06] was 600,000.

[17:08] And then the second grant came in at

[17:10] 1.150,000.

[17:13] >> So, that's 7

[17:14] >> 750,000.

[17:15] >> 50, yeah.

[17:16] >> Has Has all the funds been expended to

[17:18] fix the school? Okay. And they've been

[17:21] done. Has the work all been done in the

[17:22] building, Peter?

[17:23] >> I'd say the work is 90% 99%

[17:26] >> Great. So, for the those that can't hear

[17:28] at home, the work is 90% done and the

[17:30] majority has been expended

[17:33] and are waiting completion for the

[17:35] finishing touches. Is that correct?

[17:37] >> Yes, we welcome the kids back on

[17:39] September 1st for meet and greet with

[17:41] their parents.

[17:42] >> Okay. So, we have a full amount of we

[17:43] have 10 classrooms. So, we have a full

[17:44] amount of we have 10 classrooms.

[17:46] >> come to school on the 2nd of September.

[17:49] And I can hold 180, so we hold a few

[17:51] slots for special needs kids who might

[17:53] be moving into the area. And it's their

[17:56] balanced classrooms just like at the

[17:57] elementary school with, you know, um

[18:00] [clears throat]

[18:00] >> I'd love to go see everything.

[18:01] >> Oh, I really want you guys to. It we

[18:03] will definitely do so. Yeah.

[18:06] And then because it it had, you know,

[18:08] anytime a school is left and of course

[18:10] we've had Ernie there with um food

[18:12] services and we've had Jeff there with

[18:15] uh um

[18:16] with Treehouse, but it's not like this

[18:19] whole building has been brought back to

[18:21] life. When I walked through with the

[18:22] fire marshal, he said, "They just don't

[18:24] build them like this anymore, Susan."

[18:26] And he's right, you know? And these

[18:29] buildings were meant to last and but

[18:31] just giving it the facelift, the

[18:32] refurbishing, making sure everything is

[18:34] safe and having HVAC and air quality and

[18:37] all that checked out. It's a good thing

[18:40] and it's just been brought back to life

[18:41] and it shines. It really shines. So.

[18:45] >> Thank you. Uh Representative Weaver

[18:46] followed by Norman.

[18:50] » Thank you, moderator. I just have a

[18:51] follow-up question from the last

[18:52] meeting, two actually. So, the first one

[18:55] is um we had spoken about the robotics

[18:57] field and you said that you had gotten

[18:59] $50,000 from T-Mobile and then I just

[19:02] think I heard you say that you were able

[19:04] to get another 8,000, but you said the

[19:06] total

[19:07] um additional expenditure that you

[19:09] needed was 200,000. If you don't get

[19:11] those funds, will you be seeking them in

[19:13] the next budget cycle? That's the first

[19:15] question.

[19:16] Second question is relative Second two

[19:18] questions are relative to the program.

[19:20] That's excellent. It looks beautiful, by

[19:21] the way. Um I was just wondering, you

[19:23] had said that you were going to need I

[19:25] believe 12 staff members, and I noticed

[19:27] on the site that you've been trying to

[19:29] hire paras. How are you doing at hiring

[19:32] the staff to fill that? And what is the

[19:34] parent-teacher ratio? Lastly, in the

[19:37] last meeting you had said that you

[19:38] presented the budget proposal since the

[19:40] funds are only for 1 year to the Board

[19:43] of Education, and I respectfully asked

[19:46] if the budget and the budget plan

[19:48] proposal for how those funds are going

[19:49] to be expended can be shared with the

[19:51] RTM. Thank you.

[19:53] >> Boy, I don't know where to start with

[19:55] that.

[19:55] >> start with the first one. It was the

[19:56] >> [laughter]

[19:57] >> robotics expenditure.

[19:59] So, I know um

[19:59] >> Yes, for the field. So, I am in

[20:01] communication. Shannon, of course, is

[20:04] our wonderful grants um coordinator, and

[20:08] we've been talking to groups in the

[20:10] state level and at the federal level to

[20:13] be able to support that $200,000. It

[20:15] would not come before you. I'm really

[20:18] determined to make sure we get that. Um

[20:22] we are looking for space in the interim,

[20:24] like gym space or space that they can

[20:26] rock and roll with that robot in

[20:28] between. But we really we really have

[20:30] this idea in mind, and it would you

[20:33] know, we're not intending to bring it to

[20:35] >> [clears throat]

[20:35] >> So, the goal right now is to look and

[20:37] search for grants through the grant

[20:39] coordinator, and uh

[20:41] >> Yeah.

[20:41] >> it is optimistically

[20:43] >> Yes.

[20:44] >> stated that it's not going to be in the

[20:46] budget to try and find the field money.

[20:49] We're going to find it somewhere else.

[20:51] All right. The next [clears throat] one

[20:52] was

[20:53] >> actually was for the equipment that was

[20:55] sold goes to the town. And then John

[20:57] will decide how that comes out. Yeah.

[20:59] >> All right. And then the next one was

[21:01] paras uh hiring process on paras. How

[21:03] are we looking on hiring paras?

[21:05] >> We

[21:06] >> actually had two or three additional

[21:08] classrooms that we had to add

[21:11] outside of what we budget for.

[21:13] >> altogether?

[21:14] >> 10 classrooms altogether, but we had had

[21:16] eight.

[21:16] >> Eight originally, yeah.

[21:17] >> Yeah. So, it's the addition of two

[21:20] teachers, the Paris that go with them,

[21:23] um

[21:24] some other different positions like the

[21:26] nurse and the nurse's aide and the

[21:28] secretary. And those are all afforded

[21:31] within

[21:32] the operating costs. And the first

[21:35] operating budget was 600,000 and then

[21:37] the second one came in at

[21:39] >> The total operational

[21:41] grants that they received are 975,000.

[21:44] >> I well

[21:47] While I respect and appreciate that, my

[21:48] clarification question was, so obviously

[21:51] you're expecting 163 out of 170

[21:54] students. You had initially quoted 12

[21:56] staff members and you're quoting the

[21:58] 975,000.

[22:00] I was the part and parcel question was,

[22:03] how many of those staff members have you

[22:05] hired? How many are outstanding? And

[22:08] because there's an assertion that we may

[22:10] or may not get the funding for the

[22:12] center next year,

[22:14] I asked if you had the budget and if you

[22:16] presented it. You said you presented it

[22:18] to the board and I think that it would

[22:19] be a really good idea if you could

[22:21] consider presenting that budget to our

[22:24] town council and the RTM so we can look

[22:26] at how those funds are going to be

[22:27] spent.

[22:28] >> Yeah, we have the budget for that. We

[22:29] can send that out to you, no problem.

[22:31] >> And what is the parent-teacher ratio?

[22:33] >> Parent-teacher

[22:34] >> teacher-student ratio, my apologies.

[22:36] >> to 18 and we're probably at about

[22:39] >> You said 173.

[22:41] >> And it's 173 students. So, it and we

[22:44] have a little bit of a waiting list. So,

[22:46] we're just kind of waiting to see. We're

[22:48] double-checking to make sure everybody

[22:49] who signed on is there and making sure

[22:52] we didn't miss anybody. So, um

[22:55] >> And and so, Superintendent Austin, we're

[22:57] fully staffed on teachers for the early

[23:01] childhood learning center. We're still a

[23:03] little light on the paras. Is that

[23:05] correct?

[23:05] >> I don't I think we're pretty good with

[23:07] the paras, too. I there might be one or

[23:10] two more that we have to hire, but I

[23:12] think we're we're in a good place with

[23:14] them.

[23:15] Um

[23:16] >> For the whole school or just for the

[23:17] center? Cuz I know

[23:18] >> For the center. For the whole school,

[23:20] we're actually doing better than we've

[23:21] done in a long time. With COVID, it was

[23:23] really hard. But we are really close to

[23:27] our our number, like within a handful,

[23:29] maybe six, seven. So that's really good

[23:32] >> The advertising has been really good for

[23:34] that lately.

[23:34] >> Good. Good. And they're so valuable.

[23:37] They're just worth their weight in gold.

[23:38] And

[23:39] >> And honestly, Representative Weaver, I I

[23:41] forgot the third one.

[23:42] >> That was it.

[23:43] >> Oh, okay. I did have a moment.

[23:45] >> My only question is is how soon could

[23:46] the budget be presented to the town

[23:48] council and the RTM just to review?

[23:52] Um could you

[23:53] >> I mean, I can send it out tomorrow. Or

[23:55] no, not tomorrow. Friday. Or we'll we'll

[23:58] talk about it. Shannon has it. Shannon

[24:01] has it.

[24:02] Shannon's going to take her daughter to

[24:04] college.

[24:04] >> specifically for the budget of the early

[24:06] childhood learning center. Is that

[24:08] correct?

[24:10] >> spending.

[24:10] >> Where that money had went. Okay.

[24:11] >> We've got that. That's easy to give you.

[24:14] >> Thank you very much.

[24:14] >> All right, thank you.

[24:16] Representative Norman.

[24:22] » My questions are so much less intense.

[24:25] >> [clears throat]

[24:25] >> My first one wasn't sorry if this is not

[24:28] necessary, but um

[24:30] I had some questions from folks around

[24:33] for donations of whether it's school

[24:34] supplies or books particularly for the

[24:36] early childhood center. Is there a place

[24:38] to drop that off or a person that folks

[24:40] should reach out to if they're

[24:41] interested in making

[24:42] >> It's really not necessary. We actually

[24:45] have banned books who every summer gives

[24:47] to Groton Public Schools because I

[24:49] answered the call and say yes, we want

[24:51] your books. And we send our library

[24:53] media specialist and they boxes and

[24:55] boxes of books. And this year we asked

[24:57] for the donation to come to make a

[25:00] library at the early childhood center.

[25:01] >> So you're getting supplies for older

[25:03] >> all the supplies that's all in the

[25:05] grant. Now there might be chances when

[25:08] you have families that are with a

[25:09] teacher and they say we'd like to donate

[25:11] this or that. They can work that out

[25:13] between in the classroom if there's

[25:15] something that they want to do.

[25:16] >> Work with the teacher if there's

[25:17] something that they do.

[25:18] >> And then could you give me I missed the

[25:19] last meeting I'm so sorry a little more

[25:21] context on the robotics field and what

[25:24] that is that you're looking for? Like is

[25:26] it a literal field?

[25:27] >> It's a you could call it a STEM robotics

[25:29] field. It's a full-size field like the

[25:31] size of a basketball court all enclosed.

[25:34] >> Got it.

[25:34] >> used at Fitch High School for lots of

[25:37] things but during robotics season it

[25:39] would be for the robotics team.

[25:40] >> and so

[25:41] >> And it's indoors. Yep.

[25:43] >> And so you're looking for a location.

[25:44] >> We We know the location. We just have to

[25:47] make sure it's right with the fire

[25:48] marshal and with Mr. Burke and

[25:51] >> [laughter]

[25:52] >> And um but and we need to get the funds.

[25:55] >> Okay, got it. So that pays for the

[25:57] location for the

[25:59] >> doesn't. The location is Fitch High

[26:01] School so

[26:01] >> Got it. It's just setting up the

[26:04] location

[26:05] >> for the robotics

[26:06] >> Right.

[26:07] >> fights? Or is that Is that what it's

[26:08] going to be like?

[26:10] >> [laughter]

[26:10] >> I don't know.

[26:11] >> battle bots.

[26:12] >> know that's what I was thinking.

[26:13] >> that's what I was thinking too battle

[26:14] bots.

[26:15] >> Yeah and and just like our sports teams

[26:18] you know our kids invite other they

[26:20] [clears throat] they get competitions

[26:21] they actually call it coopetition in

[26:23] first robotics. And they can have robots

[26:26] and their friends come over. They

[26:27] actually did this at Pleasant Valley

[26:29] when they had all that space in the gym.

[26:31] >> cool. Someone just showed me a picture.

[26:33] You should like see if you could rent it

[26:34] out for dog agility training when you're

[26:36] not using it for robotics. Like people

[26:38] might spend a lot.

[26:40] Okay that's it. I'm done.

[26:42] >> something every time I come here.

[26:44] >> [laughter]

[26:45] >> And and Superintendent Austin just to

[26:47] clarify for the folks

[26:49] >> [snorts]

[26:49] >> the the robotics field is still about

[26:51] 200,000 short from

[26:54] >> being

[26:55] built. a thing yeah or approved so we

[26:58] can

[26:58] >> That was an AI generated image.

[27:01] >> Oh, okay.

[27:06] » Uh is there any other questions from

[27:08] membership? Yes, Representative Fox.

[27:13] » Um I'm looking at the pictures of this industrial equipment that it

[27:17] that EB is giving I guess giving us

[27:20] that. And that looks really great.

[27:22] That's that's that would be a great

[27:23] experience for the

[27:25] students that get the opportunity to

[27:27] practice on those things.

[27:29] Well, one of the concerns I have is is

[27:32] that heavy-duty equipment is has some

[27:34] dangers associated with it. Do we have a

[27:37] corresponding safety program that goes

[27:39] along with the use of this and is there

[27:42] a is there a criteria being established

[27:44] for supervision of of kids using this machinery?

[27:47] >> a great question. That's absolutely the

[27:50] first part of the course any course and

[27:53] um we work with YMPA the state

[27:55] organization which is the manufacturing

[27:58] curriculum offered by the state. The

[28:01] person who we've hired was a Fitch

[28:02] Falcon himself and he coaches football

[28:05] but he's been at EB working in machines

[28:08] and he's also getting specialized

[28:09] training to start the class because EB

[28:12] also supports us with the training of

[28:14] the teachers. So, it is just hands down

[28:18] just such a marvelous opportunity. I saw

[28:20] another school that had a welding

[28:22] situation Joe Courtney sent it out all

[28:25] proud of it. I said he's got to come

[28:26] over here. So, when we have the the

[28:29] ribbon cutting I I really will make sure

[28:31] you all get invitations and come and see

[28:34] any any other time too when the kids are

[28:36] in there you know if you're interested

[28:38] in that we can go and look but safety is

[28:40] number one absolutely. And our robotics

[28:42] team is the same way. They wear the

[28:44] safety glasses at all times. Um so, the

[28:48] kids get the message pretty quickly and

[28:50] it's a good lesson to learn.

[28:52] >> Yes.

[28:54] Representative Thompson.

[28:56] >> Thank you, Mr. Moderator.

[28:58] Is the Fitch robotic Ted, is it the same

[29:02] robotics that we used to be involved

[29:04] with?

[29:05] My husband provided

[29:07] the robotics team about 3 years ago with

[29:11] all the pamphlets for the OSHA

[29:13] guidelines, for regulations and safety.

[29:17] That might be something maybe somebody

[29:18] can dig up somewhere.

[29:20] >> Yeah. Yep, we'll do.

[29:22] And that's same thing with robotics.

[29:23] That's kind of the first part of any

[29:25] course and it continues all the way

[29:27] through the course.

[29:29] It as the necessary ingredient.

[29:32] >> Are

[29:33] >> [clears throat]

[29:33] >> Superintendent Austin, are our students

[29:35] leaving

[29:37] Fitch if they're taking any of these

[29:38] trainings with OSHA 10

[29:40] certification at all or

[29:42] >> I will look into that.

[29:43] >> Okay. Um, that might be something

[29:45] >> Yeah.

[29:47] >> spitballing some stuff to have that OSHA

[29:49] 10 training cuz a lot of

[29:51] um

[29:52] folks in the industry uh

[29:54] look highly at at them having that. And

[29:56] there might be grants

[29:58] OSHA 10.

[29:59] might be grants out there

[30:01] >> [laughter]

[30:01] >> to to to have somebody come and train uh

[30:04] whether it be through uh state

[30:05] Department of Labor or something to that

[30:07] nature. So,

[30:08] >> We will look into that. Thank you.

[30:09] >> And

[30:10] I think that's all I had. Does anyone

[30:12] else have a question for the

[30:14] Superintendent?

[30:15] Um, I'd like to thank you uh

[30:17] Superintendent Austin for coming and

[30:19] giving us all this information. I know a

[30:20] few terms back we had

[30:23] asked for a bit more uh communication

[30:25] and and I and I cannot appreciate it

[30:27] enough through you and the uh the the Board of Ed uh to um

[30:32] uh come down and and give us an update

[30:33] and then answer questions and follow

[30:35] whatever.

[30:35] >> it. I really am.

[30:37] Thank you.

[30:38] >> All right. Appreciate it.

[30:39] All right. And I'm going to

[30:41] go out of order so we can get them out

[30:43] of here

[30:44] um if if that's okay. John, you don't

[30:47] mind. Oh,

[30:49] we good with that?

[30:51] Um I'm going to I'm going to recognize

[30:52] uh

[30:53] Chair Chase if we can get through those

[30:54] accounts, so we can get them out of

[30:55] here, and then we'll uh finish up with

[30:57] those other accounts if you don't mind.

[30:59] We have uh some some grants to approve

[31:03] this evening.

[31:14] » Thank you, Mr. Moderator. The uh

[31:16] Representative Town Meeting Education

[31:17] Committee met tonight, Wednesday, August

[31:20] 12th, 2026 at 6:30 here at the

[31:23] Thrive 55. In attendance were

[31:26] Representatives

[31:27] Jackie Massett, Christine McElroy,

[31:29] Francis Whitney, Pantea Umres, myself,

[31:33] uh Grant Coordinator Shannon Weigel,

[31:35] Superintendent Susan Austin, and Clint

[31:37] Kennedy, the Director of

[31:39] Technology. And the first grant that we

[31:41] did was the 2026-624

[31:45] T-Mobile Hometown Grant BOE

[31:47] resolution

[31:49] um

[31:50] for the Aluminum Falcons Robotic Team.

[31:53] And the resolution accepting the

[31:55] T-Mobile Hometown Grant for the Board of

[31:57] Education. Now, therefore, be it

[31:59] resolved that the Town Council hereby

[32:01] authorizes acceptance of the $50,000

[32:04] T-Mobile Hometown Grant, authorizes Town

[32:07] Manager John Burt to sign any necessary

[32:09] documents for said grant, refers the

[32:10] item to the RTM per rule 6.5.3, and that

[32:14] was 5-0-0.

[32:16] >> All right, and you move that real quick.

[32:18] >> Oh, I so move.

[32:19] >> Second.

[32:19] >> All right, good.

[32:21] Thank you. Moved by Chair Chase,

[32:22] seconded by uh Dean Shinbrot, so we can

[32:25] talk about it now.

[32:27] Is there anything else to add to that?

[32:30] And again, it's a it's an it's not

[32:32] There's no local matching funds. It's grant. It's just part of our

[32:36] process to go through the RTM and

[32:38] approve it. Um so there really isn't

[32:40] much else to it. We kind of discussed

[32:42] this prior to

[32:43] >> to get it started in the foundational

[32:45] work, the circuitry, and that kind of

[32:46] thing. Now [clears throat] for the next

[32:48] big part.

[32:49] >> All right. Anyone online or in the dais

[32:52] have any questions or comments on this

[32:54] main motion on the floor?

[32:57] All right. Seeing none, I'll call for a

[32:59] vote on 2026-624

[33:01] T-Mobile Hometown Grant uh in the amount

[33:05] of $50,000. All those in favor, please

[33:07] say I.

[33:07] >> I.

[33:10] >> Is there anyone opposed?

[33:13] Any abstentions?

[33:16] All right. Motion carries unanimously.

[33:17] We have 32 members present, so it's

[33:20] 32-0-0.

[33:21] All right. Thank you.

[33:24] >> Uh the next one is 2026-648

[33:26] USDA Farm to School Implementation Grant

[33:29] BOE Resolution.

[33:31] The resolution authorizing acceptance of

[33:32] the USDA Farm to School Implementation

[33:35] Grant. Now, therefore, be it resolved

[33:37] that the Groton Town Council hereby

[33:39] authorizes the acceptance of the USDA

[33:41] Farm to School Implementation Grant in

[33:43] the amount of $100,000, authorizes Town

[33:46] Manager John Burt to execute all

[33:48] documents and refer the item to the RTM

[33:51] per rule 6.5.3.

[33:55] >> So moved.

[33:55] >> I so move.

[33:57] >> All right. Motion was moved by Chair

[33:58] Chase, seconded by Powers S

[34:01] uh for the amount of $100,000 for item

[34:04] 2026-648.

[34:07] All right. Is there any uh discussion on

[34:08] this that you'd like to share with the

[34:10] group?

[34:11] >> That was a 5-0-0 vote.

[34:13] >> Okay.

[34:13] >> Um there is a match that for this grant

[34:16] and they I was told that it was already

[34:17] in the current budget. And 1/3 of this money goes to salaries, 1/3 to

[34:23] large equipment such as refrigerators,

[34:25] which are $12,000 apiece, roughly. And

[34:29] 1/3 goes to programming, um

[34:31] professional development, supplies, etc.

[34:34] >> Okay. And and again, in the resolution

[34:36] it tells you what the matching grant was

[34:38] or or the money that was required. It

[34:40] was $42,684,

[34:42] which was approved by this group

[34:46] for the uh the fiscal year of ending in

[34:49] '27. So, if there's any questions, we

[34:51] could open up the floor for discussion

[34:53] on this.

[34:56] Anyone?

[34:57] All right.

[34:59] Seeing none, I'll call for a vote on

[35:00] 2026-648 USDA Farm to School

[35:02] Implementation

[35:06] Grant. The amount is $100,000.

[35:09] All those in favor, please say I.

[35:10] >> I.

[35:13] >> Anyone opposed, please say no.

[35:16] Any abstentions?

[35:18] One abstention.

[35:19] Uh so, it passes 1 uh 31-0-1

[35:24] abstaining, Perella.

[35:26] All right. Thank you very much. Uno mas.

[35:30] >> The next one, 2026-647

[35:32] Department of Emergency Services and

[35:34] Public Protection Grant BOE Resolution.

[35:37] authorizing acceptance of the

[35:39] Department of Emergency Services and

[35:40] Public Protection DESPP Grant. Now,

[35:44] therefore, be it resolved that the

[35:46] Groton Town Council hereby accepts the

[35:47] Department of Emergency Services and

[35:50] Public Protection DESPP Grant in the

[35:53] amount of $191,030

[35:55] for the Groton Public Schools.

[35:57] Authorizes the Town Manager, John Burt,

[35:59] to execute any and all documents

[36:01] necessary and to refer the item to the

[36:03] RTM per rule 6.5.3.

[36:06] I so move.

[36:07] >> Second.

[36:08] >> All right. Motion was moved by Chair

[36:09] Chase, seconded by Representative Adams

[36:12] for of $191,030.

[36:19] All right. And I open up the floor for

[36:21] discussion on this.

[36:22] >> This one also has a match of $47,758,

[36:25] which has already been budgeted.

[36:28] >> All right. And And what was the vote

[36:29] total on this one?

[36:30] >> Oh, 5. I mean, five

[36:32] to zero to zero. I'm sorry.

[36:34] >> All right. I open up the floor for any

[36:36] discussion on this, Representative

[36:37] Weaver.

[36:38] >> I was just wondering, could you just

[36:39] give a brief overview of what the funds

[36:41] will be used for?

[36:42] >> Sure.

[36:43] >> [clears throat]

[36:43] >> Hi, Clint Kennedy. I'm the tech

[36:44] director. Um we wrote this in '23,

[36:48] submitted in '24. It was put on hold for

[36:50] a while, that's why you may see some

[36:51] earlier dates. We were very excited 6

[36:53] months ago when it resurfaced. Um

[36:56] there's It really is in kind of two

[36:58] parts. It's It's adding protection

[37:00] locally to our network and our end-user

[37:02] devices.

[37:03] Um and the second piece is engaging in licensing with a SOC. It's called a

[37:08] security operations center. There are

[37:11] those out there. It's

[37:12] I guess the best analogy is if you own a

[37:14] castle, it's a provider you ask to come

[37:16] in and build a moat around it. So, it's

[37:18] a really an early warning um opportunity

[37:21] or or or engagement so that as

[37:25] um

[37:25] we see cyber attacks happening, other

[37:27] bad actors in the area, um we get some

[37:30] early warning before it actually comes

[37:32] in. Um I'm on a few of the boards at the

[37:34] state level, and we're actually

[37:36] discussing how this can be implemented

[37:38] through the Connecticut Education

[37:39] Network, which is a public-private

[37:41] partnership uh that really that provides

[37:43] internet access for all 169 um

[37:47] municipalities and school districts and

[37:49] so forth. We're hoping that this will

[37:50] become an offering, a lower-cost

[37:52] offering.

[37:53] This grant would cover our access to a

[37:56] SOC in the interim. No promises that CEN

[37:59] will have this, but the hope is that

[38:01] this would be a bridge so that we would

[38:02] have a far lower cost through the CEN in

[38:04] the future. Um I always, when I write

[38:06] these, I want to keep in mind, am I Am I

[38:09] adding to the burden of an operating

[38:10] budget and so forth? But this was really

[38:12] that part of this particular grant we

[38:14] wrote was as a bridging agent to get to

[38:16] it before we get that low-cost solution

[38:17] through the state.

[38:19] >> Follow-up question. So, how long will

[38:21] these funds cover What period of time

[38:23] will these funds cover? And if we don't

[38:25] get them, will they be in the next

[38:26] cycle, fiscal cycle?

[38:27] >> From the distributor [clears throat] of

[38:29] this grant, we have to until November of

[38:32] 2028 to use these funds.

[38:34] >> Wow.

[38:35] Great.

[38:36] >> Yeah, they kicked it down the road a

[38:36] little bit because they made us wait for

[38:38] a while, so.

[38:39] >> Thank you so very much.

[38:40] >> Yeah, sure.

[38:41] >> All right. Any other questions for this

[38:44] main motion on the floor?

[38:49] Okay. Seeing none, I'll call for a vote

[38:51] on 2026-647,

[38:54] Department of Emergency Services and

[38:57] Public Protection Grant in the amount of

[38:59] $191,030.

[39:02] All those in favor, please say I.

[39:04] >> I.

[39:06] >> All those opposed, please say no.

[39:09] Any abstentions? One abstention.

[39:12] So, motion passes, 31-0-1

[39:16] abstention. That's Perella.

[39:18] Okay.

[39:21] Just add the Just need to move the

[39:23] minutes, please.

[39:24] >> I'd like to move to to accept the

[39:26] minutes of tonight's meeting.

[39:27] >> Second.

[39:28] >> All right. Motion was moved by Chase,

[39:30] seconded by DeGraffenreidt, to move the

[39:32] minutes. Any questions on the minutes?

[39:35] All right. Seeing none, all those in

[39:36] favor, please say I.

[39:37] >> I.

[39:38] >> Opposed, please say no. Abstentions?

[39:42] All right. Motion carries unanimously,

[39:43] 32-0-0. Thank you, Chair Chase, and

[39:46] thank you, Board of Ed. Appreciate you.

[39:49] All right. Moving on

[39:53] to our other committees,

[39:55] uh Finance. Chair Powers, yes. You got

[39:58] something for us here?

[39:59] >> I sure do.

[40:00] >> All right.

[40:00] >> We had a meeting tonight. It started at

[40:02] 6:00. Representative Chase was late.

[40:05] Representative Shinall was excused. Uh

[40:08] our new business was the Community

[40:10] Collective Grant Resolution. I'd asked

[40:12] Representative Gardner to read that into

[40:14] the

[40:15] record tonight, please.

[40:16] >> [clears throat]

[40:17] >> Resolution authorizing acceptance of a

[40:19] community connectivity grant for the

[40:21] Groton Crosstown Greenway Wayfinding

[40:23] Project.

[40:26] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the

[40:27] town

[40:29] that the Groton Town Council hereby

[40:30] accepts the community connectivity grant

[40:32] in the amount of $141,791

[40:37] and authorizes the town manager to

[40:39] execute all documents necessary to

[40:41] implement the Groton Crosstown Greenway

[40:44] Wayfinding Project and refers the item

[40:46] to the RTM per rule 6.5.3.

[40:51] >> So moved.

[40:52] >> I got it.

[40:52] >> All right. Motion moved by Gardner M.

[40:56] Seconded by Zizulka.

[40:58] I open up the floor.

[41:00] >> Well, it was pretty straightforward um

[41:06] as far as the grant was concerned.

[41:08] >> All right. And what was the vote? What

[41:10] was the vote?

[41:10] >> was 6 to 0 to 0.

[41:12] >> All right. Are there any matching funds

[41:14] that are required in this?

[41:16] >> I don't believe so.

[41:20] » Town Manager Burt?

[41:21] >> Regarding the grant, there was already some money budgeted, 60,000 I

[41:25] believe.

[41:26] >> Okay.

[41:26] >> In advance. [snorts]

[41:27] >> That was Was that a CIP? Was that a CIP

[41:30] or was it a Just Okay. All right. So,

[41:33] there was already money allocated

[41:34] through a CIP in this fiscal year's

[41:37] budget that we already approved for this

[41:39] project. Um I happen to watch the Town

[41:41] Council meeting and this is just trying

[41:42] to tie in

[41:44] a hiking trail that basically goes all

[41:48] the way around the town of Groton. So,

[41:50] that if you wanted to hike from my house

[41:53] and go back to my house, you could find

[41:56] the

[41:58] outer perimeter of Groton uh through

[42:01] these waypoints. Uh we also have

[42:02] Director Barry here um in case any

[42:05] anyone has any questions.

[42:06] >> We talked about the greenways and the

[42:08] bikes and the different signages and

[42:10] things [clears throat] like that. And I

[42:11] mean, Marcus here, we talked a little

[42:12] bit about the emergencies and the

[42:14] different classifications of bikes

[42:16] between pedestrians and and cycles and

[42:18] >> Okay.

[42:19] >> Representative Weaver, do you have a

[42:20] question?

[42:21] >> I guess this is probably random silly

[42:23] question, but the connectivity, of

[42:24] course, if you're going to be connecting

[42:26] paths through the woods, is this to pay

[42:28] for the clearing and the creation of it?

[42:31] >> I don't think all areas are

[42:33] trails, is that correct?

[42:35] >> What does What does the funds cover

[42:36] again?

[42:36] >> This is uh

[42:38] there will be no new construction

[42:40] covered under this. This is

[42:43] uh essentially we're creating a

[42:44] wayfinding plan for

[42:47] uh existing sidewalks, roads, and paths

[42:50] and things like that. It's to

[42:53] um

[42:54] improve connectivity through better

[42:57] signage, so that people feel more

[42:59] comfortable getting from point A to

[43:01] point B. This crosstown trail starts

[43:04] over in the city and actually goes all

[43:06] the way over to Mystic. Uh

[43:09] yeah, and we're utilizing We have worked

[43:12] with

[43:13] uh Avalonia, Groton Open Space. We're

[43:15] working with the city, the town, and

[43:18] we'll be working with the state to get

[43:19] all the signage uh along this entire

[43:22] route, so that people feel more

[43:23] comfortable being out and not getting

[43:26] lost because of a lack of signage.

[43:30] >> So, the predominant cost will be the

[43:32] creation and placement of the signage, I

[43:34] would say.

[43:34] >> Yes, that is correct.

[43:35] >> Thank you so much.

[43:36] >> Yeah.

[43:38] >> I have just one question. Director

[43:39] Avery, can you do us one favor and just

[43:41] tell us about the master plan that we

[43:43] had together? This is all part of that

[43:45] plan.

[43:45] >> Uh sure. So, in 2022, we did a um

[43:50] a recreation master plan. We updated the

[43:52] previous master plan, which I think was

[43:54] done in 2009.

[43:56] Um part of that master plan was a

[43:59] recreational needs assessment. So, and

[44:01] this was a statistically valid survey

[44:04] that um

[44:06] we sent out and got over 400 responses

[44:09] back and you know, one of the questions

[44:12] was future needs of the community and

[44:15] um,

[44:16] one of the highest future needs was

[44:18] better connectivity to parks, open

[44:21] space.

[44:23] Um, so this

[44:24] uh, this particular project aligns with

[44:27] what the community said they wanted

[44:30] uh, in 2022.

[44:33] >> Thank you.

[44:34] >> Yeah.

[44:34] >> Okay.

[44:36] Are there any other questions on this

[44:37] main motion?

[44:41] » Make I make a motion to move 141 back.

[44:43] >> already did

[44:44] >> Oh, you did already?

[44:45] >> Yeah, we already did that. M. Gardner

[44:47] did that, so we're good. Um,

[44:49] any other questions before I call the

[44:51] vote?

[44:53] All right, seeing none. Uh, I'll call

[44:56] for a vote on 2026-584

[44:59] community connectivity grant in the

[45:00] amount of 141,000

[45:03] $791.

[45:05] All those in favor, please say I.

[45:06] >> I.

[45:09] >> Is there anyone opposed?

[45:11] Any abstentions?

[45:13] All right, motion carries unanimously

[45:14] 3200. Thank you.

[45:16] >> Thank you, Director Barry.

[45:18] Next one on the list was 2026-672

[45:22] the Deep River Conic Bridge Neighborhood

[45:24] Resilience Hub Planning Project. Uh,

[45:27] Representative Pulaski, could you read

[45:29] that into the record for me, please?

[45:33] » Resolution to enter into an agreement

[45:36] with the Connecticut Department of

[45:37] Energy and Environmental Protection

[45:39] CTDEEP

[45:41] to accept the Climate Resilience Fund

[45:43] Grant. Resolved that the Groton Town

[45:46] Council accepts the Climate Resilience

[45:48] Fund Grant in the amount of 250,000,

[45:53] enters into contracts with CTDEEP for

[45:56] said grant, and refers the item to the

[45:59] RTM per rule 6.5.3,

[46:02] and be it further resolved, John Burt,

[46:05] the town manager, is duly authorized to

[46:07] enter into the and sign said contracts

[46:10] on behalf of the town of Groton. John

[46:13] Burt currently holds the title of town

[46:15] manager and has held that office since

[46:17] May 2017. The town manager is further

[46:20] authorized to provide such additional

[46:23] information, execute such other

[46:25] documents as may be required by the

[46:28] state or federal government in

[46:30] connection with said contracts and to

[46:32] execute execute any amendments,

[46:34] rescissions, and revisions thereto. So

[46:37] moved.

[46:39] >> Second.

[46:40] >> All right.

[46:42] » Yeah, we got one revision, right?

[46:44] >> Okay. Uh all right. Pulaski moved it.

[46:48] Gardner M seconded it. I'm going to make

[46:51] an an amendment to that motion to change

[46:54] the

[46:55] uh wording under be it further resolved

[46:57] since instead of saying since May 2017,

[47:00] it should say July 2017. So, that's the

[47:04] typo.

[47:05] Is that all right?

[47:06] >> Yeah.

[47:07] >> Okay. So, now we we can chit-chat. All

[47:09] right, go ahead. Oh, did Wait, did

[47:10] anybody second my amendment?

[47:12] >> Second.

[47:13] >> All right. Uh seconded by

[47:15] Aubrey. Thank you. Okay, so now we have

[47:17] the amended motion on the floor.

[47:20] >> So, we talked about the different areas

[47:21] of the resilient program. We talked

[47:23] about uh funding for Fort Hill Homes, uh

[47:27] the community center, urban heat

[47:28] environment. There's different things

[47:30] that went on with the discussion and

[47:32] Director Reiner's here to

[47:34] give us any further discussion on it.

[47:35] >> Okay. I open up the floor if anybody has

[47:38] any questions for Director Reiner.

[47:40] Representative Weaver.

[47:42] >> As with the others, I think it's

[47:43] important because this is videotaped and

[47:45] a lot of people can't be here. Could you

[47:47] just give a brief overview of what the

[47:48] funds will be used for?

[47:49] >> Sure.

[47:50] Thank you. John Reiner, Director of

[47:51] Planning Development and Public Works.

[47:53] So, this is a planning grant. It's a

[47:55] $250,000 grant. There's no matching

[47:58] funds required. And this will allow us

[48:00] to look at how we can design our

[48:02] community center, which we've already

[48:03] put a number of CIP dollars into it that

[48:06] we awarded in this current budget year

[48:10] as a resilience hub. So that is

[48:11] something that will allow us to look at

[48:14] having a cooling station for people, a

[48:16] heating station for different times when

[48:18] climate might not work well for us,

[48:20] having backup power there, as well as

[48:23] also making that accessible indoors and

[48:26] outdoors for people in the community.

[48:28] Again, that's a center that we're

[48:29] already putting a lot of focus into.

[48:31] This was an item that was called out in

[48:33] both our climate action plan as well as

[48:35] in our plan of conservation and

[48:36] development. And anytime that we look to

[48:39] do these policies and plans, we do our

[48:42] best to try to find grants to do that,

[48:44] and that's what we did in this instance.

[48:47] >> Follow question. I know we were looking

[48:49] into something with the community center

[48:51] and using a portion of that space in

[48:52] something. A proposal went forward as

[48:55] for us the cooling center or type thing

[48:57] for our community. Has that been moved

[49:00] in it is that being in consideration

[49:02] with this as well? Cuz I had to put this

[49:03] worry, you said that.

[49:05] >> Yeah, so one of the

[49:07] design portions of this is looking at

[49:09] our community center as a heating and

[49:11] cooling center.

[49:12] >> Okay, thank you very much.

[49:14] >> You're welcome.

[49:15] >> All right, any other questions on the

[49:16] main motion on the floor?

[49:22] Very well.

[49:24] Seeing none, I'll call for a vote on

[49:27] item 2026-672

[49:30] DEEP Pequannock Bridge Neighborhood

[49:34] Resiliency Hub Planning Project in the

[49:36] amount of $250,000.

[49:39] All those in favor, please say aye.

[49:40] >> Aye.

[49:43] >> All those opposed, please say no.

[49:46] Are there any abstentions?

[49:48] Motion carries unanimously on the

[49:50] amended figure on the uh the amended

[49:53] motion on the floor.

[49:54] >> Yes.

[49:54] I just want to make sure I say that.

[49:56] All right, great.

[49:58] Continuing on, sir.

[50:00] >> Uh uh 2026-673-2

[50:04] reallocation of ARPA funds resolution.

[50:06] Uh Representative Norman brought it

[50:08] forward. I ask her to read the

[50:09] resolution into the record, please.

[50:17] » Resolution amending the allocation of American Rescue Act Plan Act funds

[50:23] and establishing an automatic

[50:24] contingency reallocation to the Sutton

[50:26] Park revitalization project.

[50:29] Um

[50:32] Be it resolved that the Grafton Town

[50:34] Council hereby approves the following

[50:36] adjustments to the town's ARPA funding

[50:38] structure and refers the same to the RTM

[50:41] per rule 6.5.3 reallocation of $200,000.

[50:46] The $200,000 ARPA allocation previously

[50:49] designated for the housing

[50:50] rehabilitation and home buyers

[50:52] assistance program is hereby rescinded

[50:54] and reallocated directly to the Sutton

[50:56] Park revitalization project cover

[50:59] documented bid overruns and automatic

[51:02] contingency catchall. Any and all

[51:04] additional excess ARPA funds returned to

[51:06] the town from previously obligated

[51:09] projects to December 31st, 2026 shall

[51:12] automatically be reallocated to the

[51:14] Sutton Park revitalization project for

[51:16] upward cost adjustments without

[51:18] requiring further council action. And

[51:20] may it be further resolved that John

[51:22] Burt in his capacity as town manager be

[51:25] and hereby is authorized and directed to

[51:27] execute on behalf of the town any

[51:29] necessary administrative amendments,

[51:31] interagency agreements, or documentation

[51:33] required to confirm these updated ARPA

[51:35] obligations.

[51:37] >> That motion passed committee 6-0-0.

[51:39] >> Can we just move that real quick?

[51:41] >> So moved.

[51:42] >> Second.

[51:43] >> All right, motion was moved seconded by

[51:45] Chase. Sounds good. All right. All

[51:47] right, we can open it up.

[51:48] So, we've talked about the insolution

[51:50] insta-

[51:51] installation of lights,

[51:53] curving. We talked about

[51:55] funding and over the you know, the money

[51:57] over overage

[51:59] that we had for the project. We

[52:01] discussed you know, what's the use it or

[52:03] lose it play that we return it or we use

[52:05] it and this is

[52:06] an allocated fund for the ARPA funding.

[52:09] Rep-

[52:10] Director Reiner is here for any other

[52:11] questions.

[52:13] Representative Weaver.

[52:15] >> So,

[52:16] thank you, moderator, and thank you.

[52:18] [clears throat] Um

[52:19] my obvious question is is because when

[52:21] we do project planning as always and

[52:23] various things over the years,

[52:25] we come into these overruns. So, I guess

[52:29] I would like to know like what the

[52:30] actual project was initially bid for and

[52:33] what was the cause of the overruns? Was

[52:35] it materials, products, labor? And

[52:38] although this is being taken away from

[52:39] home buyers program, which we're having

[52:42] all this growth in Groton, which is

[52:44] going to inhibit people who aren't aware

[52:47] of how to do that and to come here. So,

[52:49] we're kind of inhibiting growth in one

[52:52] area to pay for overruns of a project

[52:55] that was perhaps bid on appropriately in

[52:57] the first place to the tune of almost a

[52:59] quarter of a million dollars. Can you

[53:00] please explain how that happened?

[53:03] >> Sure. So, all of our projects are bid

[53:05] appropriately. Um

[53:07] >> Well, I meant competitively. Sorry.

[53:08] >> It was bid very competitively and we are

[53:11] seeing this on basically every project

[53:13] that we bid now. We do estimates, we

[53:15] work with architects, we work with our

[53:16] design engineers, with our team and

[53:18] projects are consistently coming in

[53:20] significantly over what the estimated

[53:22] cost is because there's a shortage in

[53:24] construction, materials, labor,

[53:26] everything you mentioned, it's it's

[53:28] higher than we expect and what the

[53:30] previous cost was. I mean, we're seeing

[53:32] houses in neighborhoods sell for a lot

[53:34] more money than any of us think that

[53:35] they're worth. So, um unfortunately,

[53:37] there's not a lot we can do about the

[53:38] cost overruns that we have. We would

[53:40] love to spend this money on the housing

[53:43] program that we initially

[53:45] wanted to. The problem is we cannot find

[53:48] the consultants and the people to

[53:49] actually help us process those and spend

[53:52] that money. So, this is either a use it

[53:53] or lose it and if we don't spend this

[53:55] money by December 31st of 2026, we lose

[53:58] it. The federal government made some

[54:00] changes to how we can spend ARPA money,

[54:03] which this falls under, and said the

[54:05] excess money we can't start a new

[54:06] project. We can only take that extra

[54:08] money now and reallocate it to a project

[54:11] that was bid previously and had money

[54:14] allocated to it prior to December 31st,

[54:17] 2024 that had cost overruns. And the

[54:20] only eligible project that we had under

[54:22] that was Sutton Park. So, for example,

[54:26] Representative Powers who brought it up

[54:28] in the bid that we received for Sutton

[54:30] Park, we received a bid that included

[54:33] the cost of buying the lights, but they

[54:34] left out the cost the $200,000 cost of

[54:37] installing the lights. So, that's

[54:39] something that we will be able to do

[54:40] with this, as well as additional things

[54:42] like curbing, [clears throat]

[54:43] >> [snorts]

[54:43] >> some sidewalks, and other improvements

[54:45] that we had to cut out of the bid in

[54:47] order to get it to the budgeted amount

[54:49] that we had. So, we will be able to put

[54:51] things back in that we had to cut out of

[54:53] the project so we can get those things

[54:55] done.

[54:56] >> That's very informative and it makes

[54:57] complete logical sense why you made the

[54:58] decisions. So, lastly, because I'm sure

[55:01] all of the people that want to utilize

[55:02] Sutton Park have these cost overruns

[55:04] changed the end date and the

[55:06] reoccupancy, do you have a scheduled

[55:07] date when it'll be available back to our

[55:09] public?

[55:10] >> Um I believe uh too bad Mark Berry left.

[55:13] Um I believe right now we're shooting

[55:15] for it's going to be late spring of '27,

[55:18] early summer '27.

[55:20] >> Thank you very much.

[55:21] >> You're welcome.

[55:23] >> Great. Any other questions on the main

[55:25] motion on the floor?

[55:28] » Moderator, we have 30 in attendance.

[55:30] >> Yes. Yeah, uh

[55:32] Representative Zizalka informed me he'd

[55:34] be leaving so we're at 31.

[55:36] >> Um

[55:37] we're at 29 then.

[55:39] >> What what happened?

[55:39] >> We lost um

[55:42] Baxton and um Red

[55:44] >> Oh boy.

[55:44] >> Sizolka, so we're at

[55:46] 29.

[55:47] >> Who who else did we lose?

[55:49] >> Um

[55:49] >> Baxton, oh and Ambrechts, okay. I

[55:51] apologize.

[55:53] All right, let me get that number right.

[55:56] We're at 29.

[55:58] Ambrechts

[56:00] and Baxton, 29, okay. Thank you.

[56:05] All right,

[56:06] uh seeing no hands, we're going to call

[56:08] for a vote on 2026-673

[56:11] reallocation of ARPA funds resolution

[56:15] and that's in the amount of $200,000.

[56:20] All those in favor, please say aye.

[56:22] >> Aye.

[56:24] >> All those opposed, please say no.

[56:28] Are there any abstentions? All right,

[56:30] motion carries 29-0-0.

[56:34] Okay.

[56:34] >> Okay. The last but not least.

[56:36] >> Last one.

[56:37] >> 2026-612-2,

[56:39] the Groton Heights property transfer

[56:42] agreement with the Bill Memorial

[56:43] Library. I'd ask Representative Chase to

[56:46] read into the record the resolution,

[56:47] please.

[56:48] >> Thank you. Resolution authorizing

[56:50] property transfer agreement with Bill

[56:51] Memorial Library.

[56:53] Uh res- be it resolved that the town

[56:56] approves the boundary line and easement

[56:58] agreement with the Bill Memorial Library

[56:59] and authorizes the town manager to make

[57:01] minor non-substantive revisions

[57:05] and execute all documents necessary to

[57:07] effectuate the property transfer and

[57:09] related easements and be it further

[57:11] resolved, acceptance and transfer of the

[57:14] property from and to the Bill Memorial

[57:16] Library and to the easements

[57:18] uh and the easements to the state of

[57:20] Connecticut is referred to the

[57:22] representative town meeting pursuant to

[57:25] rule 6.5.3. I so move.

[57:27] >> Second.

[57:28] >> All right, uh moved by Chase, seconded

[57:31] by Adams for the motion on the floor for

[57:35] 2026-612.

[57:39] » Uh basically the committee asked a few

[57:41] questions. It passed 6 to 0 and nothing

[57:43] to 0. And was more about the land swap

[57:46] and the

[57:47] >> Yes.

[57:47] >> I actually have a diagram and a drawing

[57:49] that

[57:49] >> Yep. And I know we spoke of this several

[57:52] times over the past few years. There was

[57:54] a

[57:55] In order to

[57:56] I'll leave it over to town manager Bert

[57:58] to give the little bit of description

[57:59] here.

[58:04] Up there. There we go.

[58:06] >> Okay. Just familiarizing you with where

[58:09] we're at. We're of course uh

[58:11] You see at the lower part of that aerial

[58:13] photo where the uh monument is.

[58:16] Just north of that you see Groton

[58:18] Heights and that long sidewalk heading

[58:22] west there.

[58:23] So everything

[58:25] if you can see it, everything within

[58:26] this yellow box, this parcel is all part

[58:29] of the Groton Heights parcel.

[58:31] This is owned by Bill Memorial Library

[58:33] including this offshoot here. Now this

[58:35] has been leased this section right here

[58:37] has been leased to the town since I

[58:39] believe 1992.

[58:41] Uh

[58:42] For several years the town has been

[58:44] working with Bill Memorial Library.

[58:45] They're interested in swapping this

[58:47] piece here to the west of Groton Heights

[58:50] for this piece here for the north which

[58:52] when you look at it looks like it's

[58:53] already part of the Groton Heights

[58:55] property cuz we've leased it for so

[58:57] long.

[58:58] With the Bill Memorial Library and this

[59:00] is a This is 0.52 acres down here and

[59:02] this is 0.41 acres up there. It'd be an

[59:05] even swap. Uh the Bill Memorial Library

[59:08] has a grant and opera grants to do an

[59:10] outdoor education space. They want to do

[59:12] some landscaping here, make sure no

[59:14] development happens between the library

[59:16] and the monument, and do some outdoor uh education space.

[59:21] So what we're looking for is approval

[59:23] just to accept uh

[59:25] the this property to the town.

[59:29] >> And then give them the other piece.

[59:31] >> Yes. The that's that's not part of this

[59:33] piece. I mean, it is, but the approval

[59:36] is only for the

[59:37] >> It's only for that piece.

[59:39] >> already been approved for the lower

[59:40] piece.

[59:40] >> Would we have to do another one, uh,

[59:42] eventually for that other piece?

[59:45] >> No.

[59:45] >> Okay.

[59:46] >> It's just an easement.

[59:47] Okay.

[59:49] >> No, not we're we're swapping. We had

[59:51] already had previous approval to sell

[59:53] the property, but [clears throat] we

[59:55] have to have approval to accept any

[59:56] property over 10,000 in value. So, the

[59:59] that north piece is assumed to be over

[1:00:01] 10,000.

[1:00:02] >> Understood. And that's all part of

[1:00:04] that's all charter.

[1:00:09] >> [clears throat]

[1:00:09] >> Yes, for the charter.

[1:00:13] » Don't mind me.

[1:00:15] All right.

[1:00:17] Any other questions? Main motion on the

[1:00:19] floor, Representative Weaver.

[1:00:21] >> So, a simple question. Since it's a land

[1:00:23] swap and it's only like a matter of an

[1:00:25] acre, so it won't really change taxes or

[1:00:27] assessments that much.

[1:00:28] >> Well, neither of them are taxed right

[1:00:30] now.

[1:00:30] >> Oh, they're not?

[1:00:31] >> No.

[1:00:31] >> Oh, okay.

[1:00:33] Thank you.

[1:00:33] >> All right. Any other questions? Main

[1:00:35] motion? I have, uh, Representative

[1:00:37] Watson.

[1:00:38] >> Yeah, yeah.

[1:00:40] uh I I seem to recall years ago

[1:00:43] there was a uh a paper road through Groton Heights property. Is that

[1:00:50] still part of on the deed or whatever?

[1:00:53] >> Yeah.

[1:00:53] >> Kind of between

[1:00:58] » Yeah.

[1:00:58] >> It was It was on the Groton Heights

[1:01:00] property about where the line ends up

[1:01:03] where that piece we leased forever. I

[1:01:06] think seem to seem to remember there was

[1:01:07] some kind of

[1:01:08] uh, paper driveway or something there

[1:01:11] that was in the in the deed. Is that

[1:01:13] still going to stay there?

[1:01:15] >> There There is a paper driveway all the

[1:01:17] way across from Bill Memorial Library.

[1:01:19] It's approximately where that drive into

[1:01:22] Bill Memorial is

[1:01:23] and it goes across um

[1:01:25] I anticipate at some point uh

[1:01:28] removing the paper street.

[1:01:32] >> Okay, that would that's my question

[1:01:33] because that would be in

[1:01:35] >> it's not needed right now, but it is in

[1:01:36] progress.

[1:01:38] >> Okay, thank you very much.

[1:01:41] >> Yes, Representative Massett.

[1:01:43] >> I

[1:01:44] Oh, excuse me. I will be abstaining from

[1:01:47] this vote. I sit on the board of Bill

[1:01:50] Memorial.

[1:01:52] >> Thank you for declaring that.

[1:01:54] Any other questions about the main

[1:01:56] motion on the floor?

[1:01:59] Very well, seeing none, I'll call for a

[1:02:01] vote on 2026-612

[1:02:03] Groton Heights property transfer

[1:02:05] agreement with Bill Memorial Library.

[1:02:07] All those in favor, please say I.

[1:02:09] >> I.

[1:02:12] » All those opposed, please say no.

[1:02:15] And one abstention, Massett.

[1:02:18] >> Yes.

[1:02:18] >> All right, so that motion carries

[1:02:20] 28-0-1.

[1:02:22] Thank you. I'll just need a motion to

[1:02:24] approve the minutes, please.

[1:02:25] >> Yeah, we we adjourned at 6:25 and uh

[1:02:30] Representative Norman O'Flaherty

[1:02:32] make a motion to accept our minutes to

[1:02:34] the meeting, please.

[1:02:35] >> Second.

[1:02:36] >> All right, motion was moved by Powers as

[1:02:38] seconded by Weaver to approve the

[1:02:39] minutes from the Finance Committee from

[1:02:41] this evening. All um any questions?

[1:02:44] All those in favor, please say I.

[1:02:46] >> I.

[1:02:47] >> Any opposed, please say no.

[1:02:49] Any abstentions?

[1:02:51] All right, motion carries unanimously

[1:02:52] 29-0-0. Thank you, Director Rynder, for

[1:02:55] uh coming on down this evening.

[1:02:57] All right, are there any other committee

[1:02:58] reports?

[1:03:01] Um again, this is this is August and I'm

[1:03:04] just throwing this out to our um

[1:03:06] our folks in Community Development and

[1:03:08] Services. We still have that active

[1:03:09] referral related to uh finding a student

[1:03:12] liaison, so uh just keep it on your

[1:03:15] radar that school is almost starting. I

[1:03:16] don't want to say that out loud or else

[1:03:19] it'll, you know, happen too quickly, but

[1:03:22] if if you guys can think about meeting

[1:03:24] or speaking and reaching out. Do you

[1:03:25] have any updates on

[1:03:26] >> Yeah, just a quick one. I

[1:03:28] um

[1:03:29] we had a phone call to the

[1:03:30] superintendent um

[1:03:33] today and she's been so busy, so we will

[1:03:35] be meeting soon when the school starts.

[1:03:38] >> Great. Thank you.

[1:03:39] All right. Just want to keep it on the

[1:03:41] radar so we can find somebody

[1:03:43] fresh and ready to go for the school

[1:03:45] year. Add more on their plate, right?

[1:03:48] Okay.

[1:03:49] Uh any other committee reports or

[1:03:51] referrals? All right. I don't see any.

[1:03:53] Liaison reports. Do we have any liaison

[1:03:55] reports?

[1:03:56] Nothing. All right.

[1:03:58] Any budget discussion? Item K, budget

[1:04:01] discussion.

[1:04:04] Yes, Representative Aubrey. Just grab

[1:04:06] the microphone if you don't mind,

[1:04:07] please.

[1:04:13] » Uh I just wanted to mention that uh for

[1:04:15] your

[1:04:16] for the town's night out

[1:04:18] uh we we got the beautification

[1:04:21] committee got a call from the recreation

[1:04:24] director, Mr. Barry, who was here

[1:04:26] tonight.

[1:04:27] And uh as you enter

[1:04:30] the park where they were having

[1:04:31] everything, it looked pretty bad and a

[1:04:34] bunch of us got down there from the

[1:04:37] beautification meeting and committee and

[1:04:39] got it cleaned up. So,

[1:04:41] working together.

[1:04:43] >> Thank you. And thank you to you and the

[1:04:45] other folks that went out there and and

[1:04:47] cleaned that up in preparation for

[1:04:49] that night out. Um

[1:04:51] >> There was nothing to say about anything

[1:04:53] that was

[1:04:53] >> got to You just got to rip those weeds

[1:04:55] on out. Just pull them out, roots and

[1:04:56] all. Root to stem, okay? Um

[1:04:59] one other thing and I know one of our

[1:05:01] former members of the RTM is now a town

[1:05:04] councilor.

[1:05:05] Good, he brought it up. There is a need

[1:05:08] throughout this town for folks to help

[1:05:10] clean up certain areas of town. We're

[1:05:12] all from seven different districts.

[1:05:15] I am willing to help out anybody in any

[1:05:17] district

[1:05:18] pulling out weeds, digging a hole,

[1:05:20] putting a plant in, watering it up. Um

[1:05:23] if if you know of an area that is in

[1:05:25] distress that needs some assistance,

[1:05:28] send an email to me or the town manager

[1:05:31] or the town clerk and we'll we'll work

[1:05:33] on trying to get a group of folks. It

[1:05:34] usually only takes about an hour and a half tops to to get like some

[1:05:39] real good work if you had

[1:05:42] a good amount of hands to do it. Um and

[1:05:46] I I I

[1:05:47] hope that we could all get together and

[1:05:49] just kind of keep adding to the the

[1:05:51] beautiful Groton that we have here. Um

[1:05:54] there's a lot of adopted areas that

[1:05:56] we've taken on whether it's Town Hall

[1:05:58] Annex

[1:05:59] um down near Poquonnock Plains Park, the

[1:06:02] police station um even at

[1:06:05] the Town Hall so we can all get together

[1:06:07] and just do that.

[1:06:09] Yes.

[1:06:10] >> Jeez, I should never stop cuz then I

[1:06:12] forget.

[1:06:13] >> I should have just kept rambling, huh?

[1:06:15] >> Yeah. I'm going remember, remember, Yeah, forget it.

[1:06:19] >> I [laughter] apologize. I

[1:06:21] stole your thunder right there.

[1:06:23] All right. Well, you could you could

[1:06:24] talk if it comes up in other business

[1:06:25] right now, we can talk about it there. I

[1:06:27] mean unless there's some other budget

[1:06:29] discussion. Was there any other budget

[1:06:30] discussion?

[1:06:31] Bef-

[1:06:32] Was there budget discussion or can we

[1:06:33] move it to other business,

[1:06:35] Representative Chase?

[1:06:37] >> I have a

[1:06:38] liaison report for the Town Council.

[1:06:40] >> Oh.

[1:06:41] All right.

[1:06:42] Well, we kind of we kind of buzzed right

[1:06:44] through there. So, let's let's wait

[1:06:46] until other business and then we'll go

[1:06:47] for it.

[1:06:49] Representative Chase, we're at other

[1:06:51] business now. So, you can go for it.

[1:06:53] >> [laughter]

[1:06:55] >> I didn't make you wait that long.

[1:06:57] Okay.

[1:07:00] Thank you.

[1:07:00] >> The Town Council met on August 4th and

[1:07:03] they had a lot of stuff on their agenda

[1:07:05] this week. It was um, miscellaneous

[1:07:08] I mean last week sorry, miscellaneous

[1:07:10] regional committee appointments LL HD

[1:07:12] and aquarium regional water district RPB

[1:07:15] resolution Harbor Management Commission

[1:07:18] reappointments.

[1:07:19] Committee connectivity grant T-Mobile

[1:07:23] hometown grant BOE USDA farm to school

[1:07:26] implementation grant BOE Department of

[1:07:28] Emergency Services and Public Protection

[1:07:30] grant BOE

[1:07:32] USWA collective bargaining agreement new

[1:07:35] lead talk telecommunicator job

[1:07:38] description golf professional job

[1:07:40] description updates non-union wage range

[1:07:44] updated CDBG program income reuse plan

[1:07:48] 2026 CDBG small cities grant climate

[1:07:52] action plan endorsement grant Knights

[1:07:54] property transfer agreement with Byram

[1:07:56] River Library

[1:07:58] DEEP Byram River neighborhood resilience

[1:08:01] hub planning project and the

[1:08:03] reallocation of our budget funds.

[1:08:05] >> All right.

[1:08:06] So again, most of the things that we

[1:08:08] dealt with this evening

[1:08:11] was what they dealt with last um,

[1:08:14] last meeting.

[1:08:15] Representative Ober.

[1:08:17] >> Came back into my mind.

[1:08:20] What I wanted to mention that in the

[1:08:22] very near future the beautification

[1:08:24] committee is going to be doing a

[1:08:25] presentation.

[1:08:27] And we're going to show the before and

[1:08:28] after of the areas that we've been

[1:08:30] working on. Because I I don't think most

[1:08:33] people understand right now the

[1:08:35] magnitude of what we're really taking

[1:08:37] care of and what a difference it's made.

[1:08:40] So we wanted to share that so that

[1:08:42] everybody would uh,

[1:08:44] maybe even become more interested in

[1:08:46] coming out and working with

[1:08:47] >> Great. We we'd love to have you. Are you

[1:08:49] going to come here or is beautification

[1:08:52] All right. So whenever that comes up

[1:08:54] we'll make sure that we share that

[1:08:55] YouTube video link with the RTM so that

[1:08:58] they'll know

[1:09:00] uh, what you guys are up to.

[1:09:01] >> Appreciate that very much.

[1:09:02] >> My pleasure.

[1:09:03] Any other other business, Representative

[1:09:05] Weaver?

[1:09:08] » Yes, actually, it's, um, because it's

[1:09:11] relative to our town and the town

[1:09:13] safety,

[1:09:14] of course, our Groton forum has like

[1:09:15] 12,000 members and we always have people

[1:09:18] that are disgruntled about one thing or

[1:09:20] another. So, I just want to say, in

[1:09:21] light of the recent election for the

[1:09:23] primary, in the entire state of

[1:09:25] Connecticut, only 33,000 people showed

[1:09:27] up. So, if you want your voice and

[1:09:28] choice to matter in the actual election

[1:09:31] in November, please make sure you're

[1:09:32] registered to vote and actually go vote

[1:09:34] to make your voice count and heard. So,

[1:09:37] secondly, on the forum, because I'm a

[1:09:39] homeless advocate, there's also been

[1:09:41] some uncompassionate comments about the

[1:09:43] homeless people in our area. Our poverty

[1:09:46] rate has grown to 20% in New London and

[1:09:48] 10% in Groton. People have to be aware

[1:09:51] that we do not have any shelters during

[1:09:53] this time and it's not just due to

[1:09:55] addiction, it's due to homelessness,

[1:09:57] it's due to mental illness, families

[1:09:59] with domestic violence. So, if you can't

[1:10:01] be compassionate and understanding, you

[1:10:03] have a choice to look away. If you want

[1:10:05] to help, that's your choice as well.

[1:10:07] It's all about what you feel comfortable

[1:10:09] for. Hand-in-hand with that, if you

[1:10:10] don't feel comfortable, you can pick up

[1:10:12] the phone and call someone for

[1:10:13] assistance to get assistance for that

[1:10:15] person or to be evaluated. So, I just

[1:10:17] wanted to put that out there. Thank you

[1:10:19] very much.

[1:10:20] >> Thank you. Um, and

[1:10:22] piggybacking off of what you just said,

[1:10:24] Representative Weaver, I'd like to thank

[1:10:25] the, uh, Town Clerk's office for all the

[1:10:27] hard work they did to organize and and

[1:10:29] get that primary going as well as

[1:10:32] register our voters, uh, so that we had

[1:10:34] that primary and it went quite smoothly.

[1:10:36] We had early voting going on now,

[1:10:39] absentee ballots going out. Um, I also

[1:10:41] like to give a shout out to our City

[1:10:42] Clerk as well because they have to also

[1:10:44] maintain, uh, that location as well. So,

[1:10:47] just want to pass that along.

[1:10:49] >> Lastly, the biggest complaint now is the

[1:10:51] announcement of the traffic cameras. I'm

[1:10:53] so thankful to our city and town for

[1:10:55] finally considering those because of the

[1:10:57] speed limits and the two fatalities that

[1:10:59] just happened this last weekend. People

[1:11:01] need to be mindful about where they are,

[1:11:04] that what's around them in their

[1:11:05] surroundings, and they need to go slower

[1:11:07] because it only takes a moment to end or

[1:11:09] change a life. Thank you.

[1:11:10] >> Sure. Um

[1:11:12] and I we don't have speed cameras yet in

[1:11:14] the town, but we're we're working on

[1:11:18] doing that we've Again, I'm just

[1:11:20] speaking as a city councilor.

[1:11:22] We've approved the speed cameras in the

[1:11:25] city and we're having four of them. Two

[1:11:27] are going to be on Clarence B. Sharp

[1:11:29] Highway in both directions. One's going

[1:11:32] to be on Mitchell Street and one's going

[1:11:33] to be on Thames Street. Um

[1:11:37] I don't usually get out very much around

[1:11:38] 2:00, but it

[1:11:40] I can only I can only describe it as

[1:11:43] Frogger.

[1:11:44] All right, and most of us in here know

[1:11:45] Frogger. And whether it's cars zooming

[1:11:48] in and out or people going running

[1:11:50] across the street, it it is a highly risky proposition to go

[1:11:57] out at 2:00. So, I usually wait until

[1:11:59] 5:00 or go out earlier than that, but um

[1:12:02] I I've I've spoken directly with with

[1:12:05] our city mayor to try to increase

[1:12:07] our uh

[1:12:09] signage if possible, if there's grants

[1:12:10] available. We're working with uh

[1:12:13] EB or Pfizer to try to increase that so

[1:12:15] that we have those stop for pedestrians

[1:12:18] because it is a law. If you're at the

[1:12:19] stops if you're at the crosswalk,

[1:12:22] you need to like all drivers need to

[1:12:24] stop.

[1:12:25] And again, that's that's very common in

[1:12:27] Switzerland. Like if

[1:12:29] I went there years ago, but if you're

[1:12:31] anywhere near it, it's an automatic

[1:12:33] stop. There's no sign, there's no

[1:12:34] nothing. It's it's just basically

[1:12:36] ingrained on you, and hopefully we get

[1:12:37] to the point in in our culture where,

[1:12:40] you know, if you see anyone even

[1:12:42] remotely close, you're already yielding

[1:12:44] uh the road to them. So, hopefully we'll

[1:12:46] get that, too.

[1:12:48] Any other other business?

[1:12:51] All right. Seeing none, I'm looking for

[1:12:54] one motion.

[1:12:58] » [laughter]

[1:12:58] >> All right. Motion moved by Power,

[1:13:00] seconded by Adams for adjournment. All

[1:13:02] those in favor, please say I.

[1:13:04] Opposed, please say no. Motion carries

[1:13:07] unanimously. Thank you all for coming.

[1:13:09] Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Groton Representative Town Meeting - 8/12/26

Transcript