SPRING GLEN CIVIC ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING

SEPTEMBER 5, 2019, SPRING GLEN SCHOOL

CALL TO ORDER: 7:12 by Bob Pattison

VOTE ON BY-LAWS: By law changes were reviewed orally section by section by Bob
Pattison. Question from Christine Esposito regarding dues price setting, member also questioned
terms of President and Vice President, she is concerned about the lack of mailing. She is
opposed to same. John Morrison questioned dues timing which may affect election if members
paid at the door and “took over the vote”. Response from President was that residents who
became members at the last minute are still members of the community and have a right to vote.
Reviewed the By-laws on the process of electing an executive board, which has been written into
the laws. All members were given chits to vote. 24 members voted in favor and 3 voted against.

ELECTION OF NEW OFFICERS:

President: Denise LaFromboise; Vice President: Michele Helou: Treasurer: Heather Wainwright;
Secretary: Elaine Dove; Media Coordinator: Bruce Crowder; Past President. Vote passed
unanimously.

New President, Denise LaFramboise, was introduced. She thanked everyone for their vote. She
is excited to take a leadership position again. Challenges of finances and interest in the
organization are paramount.

OLD BUSINESS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS:

● TREASURER: Heather reported that $4,068, current is $8480. Matured $5,084 in June.
We are doing a lot of belt tightening. We are changing website to Google, which is much
cheaper than our current website.

● TRAFFIC: Bob reviewed traffic, we have been working since 2017 to get traffic calming
on Haverford St. Residents have gone to extensive effort to get traffic calming
measurers in place, but to no avail. Bob has written to the Mayor regarding the efforts
 and no resolution has been put in place. Vera Morrison stated that a letter from residents
would be helpful if sent to the Commission. 55 residents signed a letter to the
Commission a year ago and nothing has been done. Slow response to the need has been
noted. Sarah Clark has been instrumental in trying to push this issue. She mentioned that
Cory , councilman, has been helpful. Meetings start at 5:45 and are held at Thornton
Wilder. Another member mentioned that Ardmore St. has a lot of commercial traffic.
Bob suggested getting other residents involved. Karlen Meinsen suggested a
subcommittee be started. Denise welcomed this effort. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.

● Minutes of June 11, 2019 meeting were posted. Vera motioned to approve and Chris
Esposito seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

● Bob reported on tree planting situation. They made a proposal to have residents plant
small trees and then get them to grow. Civic associations in Hamden were contacted,
Tree Commission and Public Works were all on board. Everyone was on board to plant
trees by street to get a bigger impact. Recently, someone in Town complained that
residents would be planning and not Town employees. This means this program cannot
go forward. PW union states that they can only plant trees, but the green strip must be
maintained by residents. Residents could plant trees, but not officially by civic
associations. Vera Morrison raised issue of liability of an individual planting a tree and
then getting injured and suing the Town. Cory O’Brien mentioned that even volunteer
work by residents can still be grieved by the PW union. Discussion of union and how
this affects union members of PW. Discussion continued about issues related to union vs.
resident/civic association members and tree planting. Westwoods does not want trees,
but other areas of town need trees, but residents may not be interested in planting. Curt
Leng spoke about the civic association buying trees can plant trees BY HAND, no
machinery involved, in the tree strip. There are 100 trees available and there is a deadline
by the Tree Commission and request must be made by Sept. 15. To get a tree, go to the
Town website, go to Tree Commission page and find tree request form. PW will deliver
and plant tree, but the resident MUST water and care for the tree.

NEWBUSINESS:
● Reminder to vote on September 10​th​.

● HIGH MEADOWS INFORMATION MEETING will be held at RidgeHill School at 6

p.m. to talk with residents about how to use that property. Economic Development is in
charge of this event.
OPEN DISCUSSION:
● Stocky Clark, a member of the Association, voiced his concern about the finances of the
Town. He is concerned about the lack of transparency, but from his NY state
government experience, he knows about obfuscation of budget issues. He feels there is a
difficult road for government workers and he has great respect for them. He suggested an
open and honest dialogue of our situation. He questions why there is the lack of
transparency. We are the worst in the State in financial status. It is not new that towns
kick the can down the road, so he has some ideas. A few colleagues of his put together
some finance guidelines. He would like to see a spirit of best practices and good
actuarial methods to address our financial issues. He feels that we need to address this as
soon as possible. See the following suggestions, which he would like to see citizens
consider and get their elected officials to discuss.
Hamden Pledge
The Hamden Pledge has been developed by a group of Hamden has been developed by a group
of Hamden residents with extensive experience in municipal finance and
governance. The Pledge is designed to provide a minimum framework to
promote Town fiscal integrity and solvency. Please consider supporting it and
making it a condition of your support for any Mayoral candidate.
I hereby pledge as Mayor of the Town of Hamden, that I will:
▪ Develop a 5-year plan within 3 months of assuming the position showing
future revenue and expenditures. This plan will include strategies to
increase future revenues and decrease expenses. I will report quarterly on
progress against plan, i.e. on any variance between projected and actual
expenses and revenues.
▪ Mandate that the Town budget will include a minimum of 100% of the
actuarially required contributions to the Town’s pension plan on an annual
basis and will further make all payments of bond principal as they come
due without restructuring the debt obligations.
▪ Not use borrowed funds to meet current operating expenses.
▪ Provide specific justification for any budgeted revenue figure that
represents a more than 5% increase from the most recently available actual
total revenue for that item.
▪ Stipulate that any contract agreement will not include a COLA (Cost of
Living Adjustment) in excess of any increase in the CPI for our area.
 ● Heather Wainwright raised the issue of Waite Street bridge repairs. No one from was
able to respond to this or had any information regarding the plans that have been rumored
but not confirmed.
● Chris Esposito mentioned that people have approached residents for money for gas, but
this seems not to be legitimate as the requester does not show for gas at the station when
it is arranged by the donor. She suggested that residents watch out for such scams.

ADJORNMENT: Chris Esposito made a motion to adjourn and Heather Wainwright seconded it
at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Elaine Dove, Secretary Spring Glen Civic Association