Council Names Members to Stanley Park Trust
By Celeste Roche | Correspondent at January 29, 2024 | 6:15 pm | Print
Appoints Compensation Committee to Study Elected Appointed Salaries
A slate of trustees for the Stanley Park Trust Fund was approved Wednesday night during the Common Council meeting. Trustees will be Paul Catanzaro, Richard Judd, Tobias Freeman, Darlene Clark and John Stout.
The Fund was established “pursuant to the requirements set forth in the Stanley Park Deed of Gift” from 1927. Trustees are to serve as executors of the Fund in cooperation with the City Treasurer. Money in the Fund is from sale of a portion of Stanley Park to Costco; any interest earned on the money is to be used only in the “development and maintenance of Stanley Park.”
“The trust is to manage the sale of the interest on the property’s $4.1 million of the purchase of the land from Costco,” said Mayor Erin Stewart. “They will be meeting quarterly and the money can only go back to the Stanley Park system.”
Costco will build the store on 15.49 parcels of land on Hartford Ave. Three holes on the Stanley Golf Course would be moved to a part of Newington that the City purchased. That will change the Red Nine part of the golf course and change the park.
Costco held its groundbreaking ceremony in September and will bring over 200 jobs to the City.
The trustees were approved 13-1 with no discussion. Alderman David Defronzo was the lone dissenting vote.
As required by the Charter, the Council appointed alderpersons to the Compensation Committee. They are charged with researching present salaries for municipal employees in neighboring and comparable cities. Appointed were Alderpersons Willie Pabon, Carlo Carlozzi and Emanuel Sanchez.
“By charter every two years we set up a committee to study salaries of our top officers and our council,” said Carlozzi. “We will do a study of other towns to see how our City compares and report back to Council.”
Also sent to committee was a proposed amendment to the code of ordinances. The purpose is to increase fees for mobile food establishments, public swimming pool licensure, re-inspections and to add a late charge for delinquent fees.
The City of New Britain Board of Health approved the increased fees to be consistent with permit fees in other municipalities
All licenses to conduct, operate or maintain any food establishment shall be issued for a period of one year beginning July 1 and ending June 30 of the following year, except that any license issued after July 1 of any year shall expire as of the June 30 following the date of issuance of such license.
The Council meeting also closed and re-appropriated two existing LOCIP accounts into a new 2015 LOCIP project entitled “New Britain Stadium Roof Replacement”. The New Britain Stadium roof is 19 years old, currently leaking in several areas, and is in desperate need of repair.
Additional LOCIP money will supplement the existing funding at a cost over $100,000
Of note, Alderman David Defronzo submitted two petitions calling for reports on recent and any possible future hire of external legal services by the City’s Corporation Counsel. He asked that both the cost and justification be detailed and reported to members of the Common Council.
