Catherine Avalone/The Middletown Press Middletown Mayor Dan Drew in his office at city hall.
MIDDLETOWN >> It?s been a little over a year since Mayor Dan Drew took office, and he touts cost savings for the city as his most significant accomplishment so far.
The settlement of more than 32 pieces of litigation ? two lawsuits between the city and the Board of Education and more than 30 grievances and labor board charges ? will save the city money, he said.
?One of my campaign promises was to end the conflicts between the city and the BOE, and we did it,? Drew said.
Both Drew and school board Chairman Gene Nocera said the settlements between the city and the school board side will save the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Drew also pointed to the senior tax relief program enacted recently, giving seniors a choice between a tax freeze, tax deferral, or tax credit. The program is expected to significantly help seniors on a fixed income.
?The lawsuit settlement and the senior tax relief program I?m particularly proud of,? he said. ?They were campaign promises I made.?
Drew is quick to point out that the accomplishments he made were not made by him alone.
?No mayor can ever do anything alone,? he said. ?The city council, the city work force, residents, and stakeholders do things together, a lot of positive things happen involving good people doing good work... It?s those people, not me.?
Council Minority Leader Phil Pessina and councilman Joe Bibisi, both Republicans, are ?true servants? who provide bipartisan support on the Common Council, Drew said.
?I appreciate that,? he said of the minority members. Continued...
Labor disputes and senior tax relief were also matters former Mayor Sebastian Giuliano contended with during his two terms in office. Unlike Drew, however, Guiliano as a Republican had to fight members of the opposite party on the council, trying to get things done. Guiliano said he spent one term arguing for a settlement in one of the cases against the school board.
In the end, though, Giuliano said the recent settlement agreement reaffirms his contention that the city was in the right when it came to the hiring of part-time employees for the school district.
Giuliano said he attempted to settle grievances when he was mayor, but the Board of Education and employees wouldn?t settle. Likewise, Giuliano said he too pitched a senior tax relief program while serving as mayor, which went unsupported by the Common Council.
If it had passed back then, ?seniors could be benefiting from it now,? Giuliano said.
Energy efficiency was also among Drew?s initiatives during his first year.
Among them was a contract renegotiation with Honeywell expected to save the city $1.5 million over the next 15 years, and $127,000 just this year.
Drew also worked with a local solar company to provide major energy savings generated by solar power, which he says will eventually save Middletown about $400,000 per year. He also established to C-PACE program in Middletown.
C-PACE, or the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program, allows commercial and industrial property owners to finance energy-related improvements to their properties by offering low fixed rates and longer repayment periods than traditional loans.
Efficiency in government was also a priority of Drew?s, prompting him to form a task force to streamline government. The task force?s work has since been completed and the city is beginning a massive reorganization effort expected to save taxpayers millions of dollars, Drew said.
Among the initiatives was an incentive package offered to directors and managers who are part of the Teamsters bargaining unit. The task force also recommended eliminating duplicative services. Continued...
The city would offer two options to directors and managers under the proposed program: up to a five-year credit on their pensions or a $40,000 incentive payable over two years.
Sixteen upper level managers expressed interest in the plan, including four from the education board, one from the sanitation department, one from the fire department and 11 from the city workforce whose salaries are drawn from the general fund.
Drew said the task force recommended that the incentives come out of the general fund rather than the pension fund because it would cost less since the pension fund accrues dividends from investments.
Drew also reduced contributions to the employee pension fund, saving taxpayers about $800,000, and he closed an $8 million budget gap in the 2011-12 city budget.
Giuliano said the $8 million budget shortfall may have been closed on paper, but Drew and the Common Council are relying on appropriations from the general fund instead.
?The budget is not an honest one to begin with,? he said. ?To say you closed the deficit, you need to know what happened at the end of the year.?
Giuliano said budgets are proposed and adopted in the month of April, but the fiscal year ends June 30.
?We won?t know what actually happened until June 30, when you can see the expenditures and the receipts, what we actually did,? he said.
Drew said he also reduced police overtime for a savings of $100,000 and settled a police contract arbitration for a savings of $150,000.
Among Drew?s other initiatives, he secured the conveyance old Mile Lane Army base to the city, property appraised at about $1.5 million, opened trade with Shandong Province, China (Connecticut?s sister province in China), and in June, hosted large delegation from Shandong interested in doing business in Connecticut. Continued...
While Drew may have secured the conveyance of the Army base, Giuliano said he initiated the transfer back in 2006, when an Army officer from the office that disposes of U.S. Army property approached him and asked if the city was interested in the property.
Properties are first offered to the municipality where the property is. Municipalities can have the property for free, or buy it for the market value, depending on the project proposed for the site.
?Coincidently, the city and state were looking to build a regional training facility for firefighters... when the Pentagon showed up, it was a perfect solution ? the property wasn?t on the Grand List,? he said, referring to other properties the city and state were eyeing for such a project.
There was one catch, though. The property was contaminated.
?Before they can transfer the property, the contamination needed to be remediated,? Giuliano said. ?But there was virtually no contamination.?
The contamination at the property is deep in the soil, officials have said, so it is not suitable for residential use.?
?I got a hold of DeLauro, Larson, Dodd, Lieberman and told them the problem and asked them to move it up or put it into a bill,? Giuliano said. ?Drew took a trip to D.C. to talk to the delegation, but the work was done before he moved to Middletown.?
And Drew?s trip to China was put into question by some city officials. Councilman Pesinna asked Drew to draft a report on the trip as well as the likelihood or potential for Chinese businesses to set up shop in Middletown, questioning the benefit of the mission.
Pessina said Drew never gave him the report he requested, but he did have an opportunity to meet the Chinese delegation when they traveled to Middletown over the summer.
?I was impressed,? the councilman said. ?I still don?t know if anything will become of it, but I was satisfied that the delegation was serious about considering Middletown.?
Drew was involved with expanding youth summer employment along with the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce and Workforce Alliance. In years past, the program was sponsored by the chamber. The city began to contribute funding for the program last year.
Drew worked to secure $1 million in federal funding for biking/walking path and lobbied to have the Trees of Honor Memorial for Persian Gulf War veterans locating to Middletown. He also added downtown parking and increased parking revenues.
The Common Council approved $1.6 million for parking improvements last October, with about $1.2 million in bonds for two of the projects. One is for renovations and improvements to the Kid City lot, the Russell Library lot and the Hubbard lot, the Main Street and Court Street lot, the Melilli lot, the Liberty Square lot and the Liberty Street lot, as well as construction of a new lot on King Avenue.
Drew also brought back fireworks to the city by requesting funds be restored to do so and secured the donation of 196 trees to replace those destroyed in Hurricane Irene and Storm Alfred.
Drew participated in finalizing the deal for membership in the Mattabasett Sewer District, a processed that had dragged on for 16 years.
Source: http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2013/02/04/news/doc511049918dbb4652267528.txt
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