Candlelight Committee Meeting on December 20th

The Candlelight Committee met on Thursday, December 20th at the Foxon Rec Center. There were some lively discussions regarding demolition and commercial development of the property. Paul Hongo, Director of Administration and Management, for East Haven told the committee that the environmental analysis is proceeding and that demolition will start as soon as possible after it is completed.

Take a look at the video of that discussion:




A member of the public made a suggestion that the Candlelight property and some adjoining properties be commercially developed as the best use for the property. Doc Schlagel took exception to the gentleman's suggestion and a heated discussion of commercial versus public use ensued. Here is a short video of a part of the exchange between the gentleman and Doc:

Mayor Bloomberg Meets with Newly Elected Mayors

On Thursday, December 20th, Mayor Michael Bloomberg welcomed newly elected mayors from the region to a meeting in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg wanted to impart information about innovation he used in NYC. For those of you interested in using technology to bring services to residents who are not aware of the NYC 311 system it is worth exploring. There is a link to Mayor Bloomberg's remarks at the end of this posting. Mayor Capone Almon attended the event with other mayors to learn more about how to make the Town of East Haven's government more responsive to its citizens.

From Mayor Bloomberg's Press Release:

MAYOR BLOOMBERG WELCOMES 13 NEWLY-ELECTED MAYORS FROM THE REGION TO NEW YORK’S CITY HALL FOR A WORKING LUNCH

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today welcomed 13 newly-elected mayors from across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to New York's historic City Hall for a working lunch to discuss the challenges they all face as city leaders and to share information on the successful approaches New York City has taken to overcome these challenges.

"We've learned so much as we transformed New York over the last six years by using accountability and innovation, and by investing in the future," Mayor Bloomberg said. "Whether you're the mayor of 18,000 or 8 million people, the goals are the same: clean streets; strong schools; a robust local economy; open and accountable government and, above all, safe neighborhoods. I welcome the chance to share our success in those areas with other mayors, and to hear about their own particular strategies and challenges."

Here is a link to the video of the remarks after the luncheon:

Remarks from Mayor Bloomberg

Town Council Meeting - December 19, 2007

The Town Council met this evening at the Senior Center at 7:30. The meeting lasted around 25 minutes. The mayor showed up to give some welcoming remarks to the newly elected Town Council. She discussed some of the things she has been doing since taking office and some of the things she wants to do.



The remainder of the meeting was short and had 5 items. One item was to reauthorize the Mayor to enter into an agreement with the HazWaste Center at the Regional Water Authority. Three hearing dates were set for the January 8th meeting. All three of those hearings involve transfer of funds among accounts. The final item was the removal of authority over the Small Cities Grant checkbook from the last administration and giving the authority to this administration.

New Town Website

It looks like there is a new town website on the horizon. The developer will be John Gauld of Nearhome, LLC who did the current site for the Maturo administration. The mockup of the East Haven site is very similar to the City of West Haven's website.

Here is a link to the mockup.

Here is the West Haven site.

Here is a statement of understanding from the website developer (it is on the mockup site but I am not sure how long that will be available so I am reproducing it here):

Letter of Understanding from John Gauld - Nearhome LLC

December 10, 2007

Overview of an E-Government Structure
Stated simply, electronic government (e-government) is the use of information technology to support government operations, engage citizens, and provide public services. E-government can support more streamlined and responsive service, wider public participation, and more cost-effective business practices at every level of government. It ranges in complexity from basic access to official information to radically redesigned public processes. However, while e-government offers the opportunity to innovate, it also presents substantial policy, management, and technology challenges. Effective e-government initiatives require a realistic and comprehensive view of these challenges as well as a compelling vision of the benefits

Notes from the December 10, 2007 Meeting with Paul Hongo of Mayor Capone-Almon's Office, East Haven, CT 06512.

In response to a phone call by Paul Hongo, John Gauld visited with him in the Mayor's Office in East Haven to address the website issues.

John explained the history of his envolvement with the municipal site ( www.townofeasthaven ), as well as some other municipal sites:

www.easthavenpolice.com
www.easthavenrec.com
and www.easthavenfiredept.com

During the discussion, John outlined a plan to upgrade the East Haven sites. He outlined the three things necessary to implement the plan.

First: Create an overall design layout that is professional looking and easy to update,as well as designed to be easily augmented with new major sections, without making the site look cluttered and disorganized.

Second: Determine the content areas and actual content that needs to be included in each menu topic display. Recreate an aspect of the original plan that unifies all the municipal sites in one network.

Third: Determine who are the players that can contribute updated content on an ongoing basis. Develop a second website which contains a bulletin board format with individual login and password for each individual who will contribute some of the overall content. Set up a procedure to insure that the Administrator (Paul or his designee) can review content before it is posted on the site.

The original contractual arrangement with Nearhome LLC provides for ongoing maintenance and updating of the existing structure. It does not provide for a total revision of the structure and function of the site. There would be a one-time charge for this service, in the amount to be determined.

Part 2

After receiving a phone call from Paul Hongo, during which he questioned John Gauld about any recent changes that might have been made to the site, John requested a second meeting to inform Paul about aspects of the current set up and structure of the sites involved, including a second commercial site (www.easthavenconn.com) that was established many years ago as a community gateway, working in tandem with the official municipal site. ( www.townofeasthaven.com). Information not directly under the control of the municipality could be included in the municipal gateway site and then linked with a disclaimer that explains that the gateway content is not directly under the control of the town, but linked as a service to the muni site.

John reported to Paul some information gleaned from a discussion with Alan Olenik, Information Technology Manager for West Haven. Other municipalities have created sites that range from very basic to very sophisticated and it seems an appropriate activity to discuss with several of them the successes and failures of their efforts.

John and Paul agreed that the current site should be cleansed of information no longer meaningful.

Paul agreed to create a general outline from the lists of possible content to be included in a revised East Haven site.

John and Paul discussed a basic strategy to upgrade the East Haven site in three general steps. The first would include "static" content and general information. The second would include slightly more sophisticated and interactive programming. The third part of the revision strategy would include some data base driven functions that would enable visitors to the site to perform transactions such as registration for programs and payment of taxes, among many other operations.

The additional cost involved would occur in three general phases and would be determined by more detailed specifications to be developed by Paul and John.

Candlelight Committee (Updated)

The Candlelight-By-The-Sea Committee met last night at the Foxon Community Center. The meeting started at 7:00 PM and was attended by Mayor Capone Almon and a crowd of approximately 25. There was a good discussion for an hour. Mayor Capone Almon told the assembled audience that the first priority was to demolish the building as soon as possible. An environmental study has determined the building has asbestos and lead. A second study is underway to determine how much hazardous waste is present before a plan for the demolition can be completed. Her goal is to have the demolition completed before the summer beach season starts.

The next meeting of the Candlelight-By-The-Sea Committee will on December 20, 2007 at 7:00 PM at the Foxon Community Center. Further meetings will be held every other Thursday at locations to be announced. The plan is to have meetings throughout East Haven in order to allow more public participation in determining done with the property.

Update:Here is some video where the Mayor talks about the status of the building and her plans for the committee and the property.



Update #2:Here is a link to the full Committee meeting. It is probably too large for dial up but should be fine for any broadband connections:

Full Candlelight Committee meeting

Ethics Reform

Mayor Capone Almon has announced a new gift policy and an intention to create a commission to overhaul the Town's Ethics Policy.


Here is a link to a diary on MyLeftNutmeg about municipal ethics which mentions East Haven. There is also a link to a Common Cause report that ranks towns and cities in Connecticut on their ethics policies from 1 to 10 (1 being worst, 10 being best). East Haven is at the bottom with a 1. I hope everyone in East Haven gets behind these reforms and does not stand on the sidelines carping.

Mayor Appoints Deputy Director of Town Affairs

Here is a link to the New Haven Register story by Mark Zaretsky.

Paul J. Hongo Jr. of Trumbull, former President of CWA Local 1298 was appointed to the new position of Deputy Director of Town Affairs. This position will be similar to the position of Director of Administration and Management formerly held by Art DeSorbo. I am heartened to see the Mayor reaching out beyond East Haven to find the best talent for Town government.