Council Mulls Resident Notification

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA
June 19th 2024

RICHMOND – At a meeting that lasted less than an hour, the Town Council considered additional means of notifying residents of upcoming votes and other issues requiring their participation.

With Town Council President Mark Trimmer absent, Tuesday’s  meeting was chaired by council Vice President Richard Nassaney.

The most immediate issue is the housing needs survey, which is now available on the town’s website, but council members and others had questions about how it could be made more accessible.

Town Planner Talia Jallette read a statement, prepared by the Planning Board and the Affordable Housing Committee, explaining that studies will be conducted on a range of topics: land use and land use regulations, transportation facilities, public facilities such as recreation areas, utilities, schools, fire stations, police stations, blighted areas including areas designated for redevelopment, rehabilitation, conservation, housing and the development of housing programs.

Also included in the studies will be environmental and natural resource protection, protection from disasters, the preservation of historic sites and buildings and economic development.

“To this end,” Jalette explained, “the Planning Board and the Affordable Housing Committee agreed on a housing needs survey. The purpose of this survey is to gauge public opinion on a variety of housing-related topics.”

Will People Participate?

Councilor Helen Sheehan said that simply posting the survey online was not enough and said she felt the town should do more to encourage people to take part.

“I would like all the people in the town to have access to the survey, and I think only a very small percent of people who live here go onto the website,” she said. “So, will we mail it to people?”

Jalette said there had been a discussion of including the survey in property tax bills.

Sheehan said she paid her tax bill once a year, not in quarterly installments, so she would be unlikely to receive the survey.

She suggested the town might, instead, consider a bulk mailing, which would go to all residents.

Councilor Michael Colasante asked Town Administrator Karen Pinch about distributing the survey.

“I think, if you put it in the tax bill, you’re going to hit every corner in town,” she said. “I think that’s probably the way to go. Even if you only pay your taxes once instead of quarterly, you’re going to get the bill and it’s going to be in there, so I think it’s perfect timing for that right now.”

Jalette noted that the survey would also be available to people who do not reside in Richmond.

“We want to be able to capture that data as well,” she said.

Louise Dinsmore, President of the “Forgotten Taxpayers” political action committee, noted that very few residents had signed up for the town’s “Notify Me” system, and asked the council to add an item to a future Town Council meeting agenda regarding the possibility of bolstering the town’s efforts to notify taxpayers of upcoming votes and other matters.

“We need to do a better job as a town of notifying people about issues that are going to affect their pocketbooks, their taxes,” she said.

Pinch responded,

“We have in past years, put information in the tax bill about signing up for Notify Me,’ and we let them know that’s how you find out about things like that, so, we would try to twist people’s arm but unfortunately they’re not receptive, and I’m not sure why, but I’m just hesitant to spend money on another method when we have a method that people just aren’t taking advantage of.”

A New Sign and Moving the IT Department

In other business, Pinch requested and received council approval to award the $15,386 contract for the electronic portion of a new sign outside the Town Hall to Graphics Unlimited of Connecticut.

The council previously approved the allocation of $25,000 of the town’s American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay for the new sign.

Pinch said she had already awarded a contract for $3,600 for the construction of the faux wood component of the sign.

“It looks like wood, but it’s not, actually, it’s a lot better,” she said. “We’ve also purchased granite pillars, so it will be similar to the sign at the police station, and I did post a bid for an electronic portion of the sign to go under the wooden sign.”

The low bidder was Graphics Unlimited, of Connecticut.

The council also approved Pinch’s request for $19,138 of ARPA funds to move the Information Technology department to a less crowded space in the Town Hall.

Benches

Richard Nassaney asked the council to approve his request for memorial benches, honoring the service of three deceased citizens: Dick Millar, Pat De Bernardo and Retired Police Chief Neil Place. Nassaney pledged a personal donation to the project.

“This was put on back in ’21, and it was never acted upon and to not recognize these three individuals is, to me, a disservice to them,” he said.

Councilors discussed the possibility of asking students in the construction program at Chariho Tech to design and build the benches, and Nassaney suggested that Richmond Troop 1 Scouts might want to take it on as a project.

Councilor Samantha Wilcox said the project had waited long enough.

“I just think, given that we’ve waited so long, I know that this has been passionate for Vice President Nassaney for a while, so …without further delay, I think that would be preferred,” she said.