 |
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
INTRODUCTION
The Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) is
a voluntary public body maintained by ten municipalities in
western Connecticut. These 10 neighbors are Bethel, Bridgewater,
Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Redding,
Ridgefield and Sherman. HVCEO was founded in 1968.
Board members are the ten chief elected officials in the area, two
mayors and eight first selectman. They meet monthly to supervise
regional planning efforts, conduct workshops, and exchange information
to improve municipal management. Economies of scale are obtained
in the provision of some specialized governmental services,
such as census data management. Similar regional groups operate
in the 14 other regions of Connecticut.
This text reviews the origins, history and accomplishments of the
HVCEO to date. This information is a resource for any discussion
on how HVCEO might best serve the area in the future.
BEFORE 1960
In Connecticut as elsewhere, history shows that requirements for
human settlement always include needs greater than those met
by the locality. This means that a single community will have
a vital interest in the broader geography that surrounds it.
In early Connecticut the use of counties was the response to the
need for some form of substate unit. These units still exist today.
Unfortunately, these time honored regions are of little value
for modern regional planning. Connecticut's metropolitan development
patterns did not follow county boundaries, thus the municipal
units within counties are not good groupings of common interest.
The boundary of the Housatonic Valley Planning Region was deliberately
drawn to cross a county line; 8 municipalities in northern
Fairfield County were linked to two in southern Litchfield County.
Together, the 10 communities have more in common with each
other than if they had remained with their Colonial era county.
By the 1920's and 1930's academic experts and promoters of good
government were extolling the virtues of regional approaches to
public issues. It was then that the first regional planning organizations
went into operation around the country. In Connecticut during these
decades the approaches to regional planning included voluntary
regional planning associations with no official status, single
purpose regional entities for water supply, and the development
of regional plans by state agencies.
The real birth of Connecticut's modern regionalism arrived in 1947, when
the General Assembly passed the first regional planning enabling
act. Then, as today, any decision to participate remained entirely
with the municipality.
Any regional planning organization that chose to form was directed by
the new statute to systematically address the complex modern interactions
of physical, economic, and social variables with a broad process
known as "comprehensive planning." It was believed that
governmental decisions would then be on a sounder, more cost effective
basis. The landmark 1947 statute also called for regional plans
to be "based on studies of physical, social, economic
and governmental conditions and trends and shall be designed
to promote with the greatest efficiency and economy the coordinated
development of the region within its jurisdiction and the general
welfare and prosperity of its people."
In 1948 the first new region under this law went into operation;
New Haven and its suburbs joined together for comprehensive
planning within what is now the South Central Region.
In the 1950s interest in regional approaches grew. By 1955 the General
Assembly felt the need to take action to prevent the implementation
of the 1947 law from proceeding piecemeal. A supplemental statute
that year gave geographic structure to the municipal grouping
process by requiring planning regions to make use of boundaries
approved by the State.
The work of defining these regional boundaries then commenced. The
State made extensive statistical studies of the strength of inter
municipal ties. The key criteria for regional boundary definition,
strong inter municipal relationships, led to the designation
of boundaries for 15 regions, including the boundary for our
own Housatonic Valley Region. Municipal ties in the Housatonic Valley
and elsewhere were rated by state studies of variables such
as readership of daily newspapers, direction of commuting patterns,
destination of phone calls and suburban usage of central hospitals.
The state made a tentative definition of the Housatonic Valley planning
boundary in 1958. This included the current 10 municipalities
but also Washington and Roxbury. The boundary definition process
was requested by the Chamber of Commerce of Danbury, which
was the first to promote the process in this area. In 1959
the Capitol Planning Region (Hartford Area) became the first
region to be organized under the boundary structure authorized in
1955. Capitol was followed by the Central Naugatuck Valley
(Waterbury Area) in 1960. The other 12 regions got their organizational
start at various times in the 1960's.
1960 TO 1970
The Danbury Chamber of Commerce continued to take the lead on regional
planning in this area, working with the Connecticut Development
Commission which was responsible for the study of regional boundaries.
The Danbury Chamber maintained a regional planning committee during
the early 1960's to assist local governments with information on
this issue. Between 1960 and 1970 the Housatonic Valley Region was
the fastest growing of all 15 regions, with an almost unbelievable 56%
population growth rate in that decade alone, compared to a
healthy 20% for Connecticut as a whole. It is not surprising that
planning and growth issues were hot topics in the Housatonic Region
during the 1960's, as they remain today.
How to proceed with regional planning in the area became one of
these controversial issues. The key concern was that local autonomy
in planning and zoning not be compromised. In 1966 Danbury and Redding
led the way by formally voting for a regional planning agency to
be created. However, under Connecticut statutes a regional planning
agency is composed of appointees rather than elected persons. This
one factor became the key sticking point.
Bethel, New Fairfield, Newtown and Ridgefield rejected regional
agency membership for this reason, preferring instead to have elected
representatives on the new body. Influential editors and citizens
opposed appointed officials because they would be remote from the
people. The drive for regional planning was then redirected towards
a council of elected officials format. This statutory structure
would mandate that elected officials be in charge and answerable
to the voters as to the management of the new regional planning
process.
Five municipalities had agreed to this revised course by late 1968,
enough to make the HVCEO legally operational. These were Bethel,
Brookfield, Danbury, Newtown and Ridgefield. Brookfield was the
acknowledged leader of the process. Redding, an early backer, endorsed
the revised arrangement and joined in 1970.
After a series of informal sessions the first meeting of the new
Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials was held on December
18, 1968. Staff services were provided by Arthur Harris of Brookfield
as Executive Secretary. The monthly meeting date chosen was the
third Friday, a tradition still in effect today. A luncheon format
was selected to minimize the time commitment of busy chief executives,
again a practice remaining today.
The states regional boundary designation for New Milford, Bridgewater
and Sherman was still tentative as of 1968 so those communities
did not join HVCEO then. Most other regions in Connecticut were
operational with boards of appointees by this time. While HVCEO
had been one of the last regions to become active, the delay had
led to a more democratic format. Minutes of the first two meeting
show topics such as Route 7 improvements, cooperative maintenance
of municipal vehicles, and legislative lobbying on the minds of
local officials.
In the late 1960's the flow of federal dollars to local governments
was greater than now. Many federal agencies were making grants to
municipalities, and most included extra points in their grant scoring
criteria if the community participated in regional planning. To
provide this certification was an important function for HVCEO in
its first year.
It was the large grants to municipalities for public water, sewer
and open space from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD), that became a big problem for HVCEO. Each HUD grant required
that the municipal improvement funded be part of a regional plan,
but, HUD did not accept a council of elected official as a suitable
group to undertake preparing such a plan. Suddenly the recent agreement
as to the organizational format for HVCEO was in danger of unraveling
and back in the news. Late in 1969 the Connecticut Attorney General
formally ruled that the state statute upon which HVCEO's creation
was based was not broad enough to also qualify the Council as a
regional planning agency, the designation needed by HUD. As large
grant sums were in jeopardy, this issue became a dominant HVCEO
agenda item.
But other activities by the new organization were moving forward,
such as lobbying for road improvements. By late 1970 HVCEO had established
a legislative agenda and a meeting with the area's legislative delegation
had been held. From then on, meetings of municipal and state elected
officials would be organized by HVCEO at regular intervals, currently
twice per year. After rotating their meeting locations among town
halls and motor inns, the Council moved into its first permanent
office.
This was the Old Danbury Library at 256 Main Street in Danbury.
Here HVCEO would remain for 13 years until 1983. The difficult grant
issue with HUD was then resolved; the area's legislative delegation
won approval for specialized legislation for HVCEO. With the signing
by Governor Meskill of Public Act 67 in April of 1971, HVCEO could
keep its council of elected officials' format and also satisfy HUD
that it was clearly authorized by the state to carry out regional
planning.
HVCEO then quickly applied to HUD and received certification as
an area wide planning agency, a necessary step to make communities
eligible for federal sewer, water and open space grants. A
pending federal grant to Ridgefield for sewer construction and to
Redding for open space acquisition were the immediate fruits
of this effort. As well as grants to municipalities HUD also
made grants to regional planning organizations for their general
planning activities. This grant program ran from the early 1960's
to about 1980. The other 14 regions in the state used these
grants for years but HVCEO never applied, fearing federal involvement
in sensitive home rule issues.
Only one other regional planning organization in Connecticut at
this time had its municipal chief elected officials as the board of
directors; the HVCEO and the Capitol Region had mayors and
first selectmen in control. It is interesting to note that by 1997,
six additional regions, now 8 out of the 15 rather than just
2, have converted to direct control by local leaders.
Although it may not have been foreseen in the mid -1960's, the
controversy over HVCEO's board structure during its formation put
the area on the right side of what would turn out to be a popular
trend towards elected, rather than appointed, leadership for regional
planning.
The HVCEO had one Chairperson throughout its formative years. This
was Brookfield First Selectman Wesley Kennan, for three terms
1968-69, 1969-70 and 1970-71. Monthly meetings continued with
issues including the creation of a management authority for Candlewood
Lake, relations with the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission
in New York City, and, with great regularity, the seemingly
insolvable problem of solid waste disposal.
1971 TO 1975
The early leadership by Brookfield First Selectman Wesley Kennan
continued into these years. He and other chairpersons during
the 1971-1975 period were as follows:
1971-72 Brookfield First Selectman Wesley Kennan
1972-73 Bethel First Selectman Chad McCollam
1973-74 Ridgefield First Selectman Joseph McLinden
1974-75 Bridgewater First Selectman Henry Becker
By 1971 Council discussions of Candlewood Lake issues were bearing
fruit. HVCEO prepared a model ordinance for municipal participation
in a Candlewood Lake Authority. This ordinance was then enacted
by the five communities surrounding the Lake, Connecticut's largest.
During the 1970's the HVCEO office served as the evening meeting
place for the volunteer members of the Authority, now housed in
Sherman.
HVCEO negotiations late in 1971 with the U.S. Economic Development
Administration made municipalities in the area eligible for funds
from that body. A visible regional project completed in cooperation
with police chiefs during 1972 was the purchase and installation
along state roads of blue directional hospital signs. The locational
plan would be updated in 1990 and remains in place today. In the
early 1970's, what would become a long term relationship between
HVCEO and the federal U.S. Census Bureau was started. The Census
Bureau asked that the division of the area into neighborhood statistical
units and other geographic management chores be undertaken by local
persons, rather then by Census personnel unfamiliar with the area.
HVCEO members also preferred that this work be done under local
scrutiny.
They then made HVCEO the census date center for the area rather
than burden each town with gearing up for this specialized task.
An agreement with the Census Bureau has been maintained since that
time. Agenda topics at third Friday monthly meetings continued to
be wide ranging, including solid waste, water supply, insect control,
road improvement priorities, authorization for a housing study,
and the setting of qualifications for municipal directors
of health.
Also each month, as part of a national federal grant review system
the Council would inspect and comment upon all federal grant applications
filed from within or affecting the Housatonic Region. From time
to time some of these reviews would become controversial. A side
benefit was the ability for each community to see what the others
were applying for. Managing this A-95" federal notification
system was a prominent monthly agenda item until it was phased out
nationally in 1982.
Also at this time, HVCEO meeting minutes show that there was much
effort to work against the proliferation of new substate social
service agencies and the uncoordinated regional boundaries proposed
for them.
In 1971 the northern part of the Housatonic Valley regional boundary
was finalized by the State to include Sherman, New Milford and Bridgewater.
Bridgewater and New Milford then became members of the HVCEO in
1972. This left New Fairfield and Sherman as nonmembers but within
the State defined planning region encompassing 10 municipalities.
In order to cope with the complexity of both modern municipal management
and infrastructure development, processes which demand specialized
bases of information, the Council in these years began to direct
resources toward the preparation of technical studies. Publications
were beginning to be produced on a regular basis and would become
a mainstay of Council services from then on. Those completed during
this period were as follows:
2/71 THE REGIONAL
PLAN
4/72 WATER MANAGEMENT STUDY
12/72 HOUSING IN THE REGION
10/73 POPULATION, HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION
7/74
UNION WAGE COMPARISON REPORT
8/75 OPEN SPACE AND
RECREATION PLAN
Since its inception in 1968 HVCEO had met the mandate of a Connecticut
statute that required regions to provide municipalities with site
plans and other pertinent data for all proposed subdivision and
zone changes near their borders, along with opportunities to comment
on those proposals. This process would continue from these early
years through the history of the HVCEO, receive an administrative
streamlining in 1983, and remaining active today.
In mid 1971 David Mackenzie replaced Arthur Harris as staff director.
He would hold this position until his resignation in late 1974,
after which Jerome Foster was appointed to the position. Another
new regional entity, the Danbury-Bethel Transit District, had been
created by local ordinances in those communities in 1972. From time
to time the Transit District received staff support from HVCEO.
This relationship now grew until the HVCEO was providing regular
part time staffing for the District. A federal requirement for
grants for bus equipment, creation of a Transit Development Program,
would be completed and endorsed by HVCEO in 1977.
Periodic workshops for members and municipal staffs were being held
on topics of the day including the new wetlands management law,
federal flood insurance rules and OSHA. During this period the most
difficult issue facing HVCEO members individually as well as a group
was the dilemma of solid waste management. Seven landfills were
still operating in the Region, but new environmental laws challenging
their existence were forcefully applied by the State. HVCEO had
numerous meetings with the CT Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA)
and the CT Department of Environmental Protection CT DEP) on this
topic. In 1974 proposals for the private construction and operation
of a regional solid waste system were solicited and received. However,
CRRA and CT DEP gave mixed signals on how HVCEO's resource recovery
satellite system would fit into the emerging state plan, and thus
there was no sound private investment possible to implement a regional
waste disposal plan at this time. The press followed these developments
closely.
Regardless of who was at fault it was HVCEO that received heavy
criticism for failing to solve the increasingly urgent solid waste
problem. The idea of creating a regional resource recovery authority
was raised then but was ahead of its time; such an authority would
not be created by HVCEO until 1986.
Regional boundaries in Connecticut received important federal recognition
in 1974 when HVCEO and the other regions were designated by the
Governor and the U.S. DOT to receive transportation planning responsibilities
and veto power over federally funded transportation projects slated
for their area.
This new role for HVCEO was part of a national effort to delegate
parts of transportation funding authority back to the local level.
This important transportation planning and programming responsibility
has remained with HVCEO from 1974 until today and is a feature at
almost every Council meeting. Since transportation project impacts
were often regional, the federal DOT was seeking substate districts
appropriate for metropolitan transportation planning. Connecticut's
well planned regional geography was found to fit the federal need
very nicely.
From 1974 on the Council establishes priorities for the expenditure
of federal moneys received annually for upgrading capacity on major
local roads. The Council's technical traffic and transit planning
became a precondition for eligibility for federally funded highway
and transit improvements in the area.
Also in 1974 the governor selected the boundaries of the 15 planning
regions to be the logical units for regional housing councils, voluntary
groups which would address housing issues. HVCEO provided staff
support for the Housatonic Valley Regional Housing Council into
the 1980's when the state dropped the process. Still, planning regions
were retained by the state housing agency as the units for substate
housing planning. By August of 1975 the HVCEO agenda was bulging.
The members decided then that they had enough business to meet twice
per month. This practice continued for 7 years until the once per
month schedule was restored in 1982.
Guests from state agencies describing their grant programs were
frequent visitors to HVCEO meetings. Votes on federal grant reviews
continued. The small towns of New Fairfield and Sherman remained
as nonmembers during this period, their leaders attending occasional
meetings as observers.
An HVCEO consultant's report comparing municipal union employee
wages and benefits was first authorized in 1974. This research enabled
each community to negotiate wages reasonably and equitably and provided
a much needed comparative tool for management. Under Connecticut
law this report is not a public document and is reserved for use
by municipal negotiators.
Due to its utility this analysis became a fixture on the Council's
annual research calendar, continuing to the present day. A separate
non-union wage comparison report was added in 1985 and produced
annually thereafter until its cancellation in 1996.
Since it was now receiving a transportation planning grant each
year, HVCEO was able to give considerable attention to the needs
of the Danbury-Bethel Transit District. A part time professional
director for the District was housed in the HVCEO office. An HVCEO
marketing study for bus transit devised the new name of "HART",
the Housatonic Area Regional Transit District, a name change that
went into effect shortly thereafter. HVCEO technical studies led
to the incorporation of existing elderly and disabled transit
services into HART, including a large inter town system run
by the Red Cross. This allowed for coordinated maintenance
of vehicles and other savings. HART membership climbed from
the original two communities to eight. HART then acquired a
full time staff and moved out of the HVCEO office to its own
office next door.
Then as now, federal rules keep the two organizations in close touch;
HVCEO as the official transit planning and fiscal review agency
and HART as the transit operator.
1976 TO 1980
Lobbying on the part of HVCEO during the middle and later 1970's
contributed to Route 7 Expressway construction in Brookfield and
the development of a second campus for Western CT State University
in Danbury.
Jerome Foster resigned as staff director in early 1977. He was replaced
by James Grehan in the middle of that year.
Then there was a major dispute with the Tri-State Regional Planning
Commission over the improvement of I-84 on Danbury's West Side;
federally financed infrastructure that would allow Union Carbide
Corporation to move out of New York City. Back then HVCEO's transportation
veto power was shared with Tri-State.
New York's representatives to Tri-State threatened to veto the I-84
work, then Connecticut's proposed to kill the planned Westway in
Manhattan in retaliation. HVCEO was in the middle of a huge bureaucratic
battle that only after several months of high level wrangling, including
the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, was resolved in Connecticut's
favor.
At this time the bylaws of a variety of organizations were citing
HVCEO as a source of board appointees. These included the Area Agency
on Aging, the Health Systems Agency, the Kings Mark District, CT
Solid Waste Advisory Board, Emergency Medical Services Council,
and other groups.
Leaders of HVCEO were as follows during these years:
1975-1976
Ridgefield First Selectmen Louis Fossi
1976-1977 Bethel First Selectman Francis Clarke
1977-1977 Brookfield First Selectman Mike Walrath
1977-1978 Newtown First Selectman Jack Rosenthal
1978-1979 New Milford First Selectman Clifford Chapin
1979-1980 Redding First Selectman Mary Anne Guitar
Forty-four percent of all population growth during the decade of
the 1970's in Connecticut's 169 cities and towns occurred within
just the 10 municipalities of the Housatonic Region! Not surprisingly,
planning issues remained hot topics in the area and at HVCEO.
In 1977 the Council began to maintain a detailed list of groups
and individuals who received HVCEO reports and services. This was
found to come in handy when the question of what do you do for my
community came up. This local assistance list has been kept continually
by the staff since that time and is released every six months.
It was in 1978 that Connecticut first made use of HVCEO and the
other planning regions for water resource based environmental planning.
HVCEO and the other regions were designated for area wide
water pollution control planning by the U.S. EPA and the CT DEP.
This was to be a creative period of detailed water resource planning,
precise enough to be of use to municipalities. A new environmental
constituency was brought into HVCEO's regional planning process
with frequent and well attended evening meetings. The results are
still reflected in aquifer protection, soil erosion and other municipal
ordinances dating from that period.
Like the issue of solid waste, concern over the adequacy of public
water supplies had been an early priority of the Council. This was
reflected in the creation in 1979 by the legislature of the Western
CT Water Supply Council, the product of lobbying by HVCEO and four
other nearby planning regions.
This new group provided the public input to a major U. S. Army Corps
of Engineers study of water supply issues in the Housatonic Basin.
It was also a focal point for joint action during a drought in the
late 1970's. As this area was the most concerned region the organization
was housed at HVCEO. It remained active until 1984 after which it
was replaced by the legislature with a permanent water supply planning
mechanism, the Housatonic Water Utility Coordinating Committee
in operation today.
There was considerable federal and state initiated social services
planning during these years and HVCEO members kept informed about
it at HVCEO meetings. One organization, Danbury Area Unified Social
Services, actually received HVCEO funds for part of its operation
for several years. However, this type of funding was to be discontinued,
with HVCEO contributions to other organizations limited thereafter
to only those with closely interrelated regional activities.
At this point HVCEO had already had one big dispute with the Tri-State
Regional Planning Commission, over I-84 improvements on Danbury's
West Side. Another now occurred. The new HUD inspired Tri-State
land use and housing plans included radical language; Tri-State
was to police the pace at which subsidized housing was developed
in area towns. Distant Tri-State was even to keep an inventory of
local vacant properties suitable for such use. HVCEO strenuously
objected to these new plans. There was a great deal of press and
the issue became a big story. Hundreds of persons attended a regional
evening meeting in Danbury on the subject. Other parts of Connecticut
began to show dissatisfaction with Tri-State.
The publicity generated played a major role in Connecticut's eventual
withdrawal from that Commission. After the withdrawal, HVCEO was
no longer required to share its federal transportation project programming
powers. The pace of HVCEO research accelerated during the 1970's,
as evidenced by the following releases:
7/76
UNION WAGE COMPARISON REPORT
7/76 SHEPAUG RIVER FOR WATER SUPPLY
11/76 20 YEAR SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL PLAN
7/77 REGIONAL ECONOMIC TRENDS
7/77 UNION WAGE COMPARISON REPORT
8/77 TRANSPORTATION GUIDE
12/77 TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
12/77 CENSUS DATA BY ENUMERATION DISTRICT
3/78 FREQUENTLY USED STATISTICS
6/78 BOARDMAN ROAD AREA DEVELOPMENT PLAN
7/78 POOTATUCK AQUIFER STUDY 7/78 UNION
WAGE COMPARISON REPORT
2/79 HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR SEPTIC SYSTEM
3/79 HART LOGO AND MARKETING PROGRAM
7/79 A POLICY FOR GROUNDWATER PROTECTION
7/79 WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
5/79 EROSION AND SEDIMENT SOURCE INVENTORY
4/79 INDUSTRIAL GROWTH AND WATER QUALITY
8/79 PROJECTION OF POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT
9/79 BUS SHELTER LOCATIONS
3/80 NONPOINT WATERSHED ASSESSMENTS
7/80 UNION WAGE COMPARISON REPORT
10/80 GROWTH CAPACITY WITHIN LOCAL ZONING
1981 TO 1985
Connecticut's 15 regional planning organizations were reassessed
in 1983 by the Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Planning
and Development. The Committee's findings were favorable, stating
that "there is no question that the regions have become uniquely
utilitarian means of fulfilling essential functions for municipalities
large and small... They are widely accepted mechanism through which
towns voluntarily join together in solving common problems... Regional
agencies can play increasingly important roles in accomplishing
certain goals more effectively and economically than any other existing
means."
The election of HVCEO chairpersons during the early 1980's saw the
following members lead HVCEO:
1980-81 Brookfield First Selectman Norman Brown
1981-82 Bridgewater First Selectman George Canfield
1982 Danbury Mayor James Dyer
1983 New Milford First Selectman Clifford
Chapin
1984 Redding First Selectman Mary Ann Guitar
1985 Brookfield First Selectman Kenneth
Keller
Starting in 1981 HVCEO offered its new growth management and transportation
plans in a slide show format. From then on several shows would be
arranged each year on request for governmental, institutional and
business groups. Also starting in 1981 HVCEO would annually fund
local and inter municipal traffic studies of important corridors
and development areas. This specialized assistance continues today.
Also In 1981 the HVCEO entered a major regional controversy when
it proposed to predict the economic impact of a regional shopping
mall being considered for the area. Specialized expertise was flown
in from Washington, D.C. The resulting study was the top headline
and had an impact on the final decision.
The year 1981 saw regional discussions of the need for more high
school technical training, an insurance seminar, how to cooperate
for septage disposal and the development of a sound technical argument
for the widening of I-84 thru central Danbury. The 1971 regional
growth plan was thoroughly updated and released this year.
In 1982 for the first time an agenda item for public comment was
included at each meeting, a feature that has remained in place since
that time. A resolution was passed in support of creating a regional
tourism commission, an entity that is active today.
In 1982 the Council formed the Housatonic Purchasing Committee to
allow joint municipal bidding procedures. HVCEO employed a part
time person to administer this process. It worked well in saving
small sums on minor items, the savings about equaling the cost of
the coordinator's salary. However, agreement could not be reached
on specifications for larger items such as a group bid for new police
cars. An effort to coordinate fuel oil purchases was also not successful.
As there was insufficient funding for the greater staff support
needed to make this process accelerate, and the current level of
effort was only breaking even, the group purchasing process was
terminated by HVCEO in 1986.
The Council by this time was providing active support for each community
when it updated its municipal plan of development. Draft local plans
were reviewed with the intent that all HVCEO planning research to
date would be made available to improve the draft plan. This
form of assistance continues today.
Planning for a very ambitious project, one location at which to
dispose of septage tank pumpings from several towns, began in 1982.
After almost two years of study, funded by a CT DEP grant, with
much public involvement and by inter municipal agreement, Danbury's
septage disposal station was expanded for regional use by six of
Danbury's neighboring communities.
In 1982 it became clear to Danbury that the HVCEO's office space
in a City building on Main Street would be needed for the City's
own office space expansion.
As a result in 1983 the HVCEO office moved to the Old Town Hall
in Brookfield where it has remained since. A 1984 Council report
explained in layman's terms how local commission members could better
understand traffic impact reports prepared by developers, and thus
be better able to protect the public interest. This HVCEO report
caught
the eye of Federal Highway Administration officials
who printed it in the thousands for distribution nationally, an
honor to HVCEO. This and other publications of the period:
1/81 ZONING FOR LOWER COST HOUSING
2/81
RESOURCES FOR LOWER COST HOUSING
5/81 A STATUS REPORT
ON RETAIL GROWTH
6/81 TRAFFIC VOLUME TRENDS
7/81 UNION WAGE COMPARISON REPORT
8/81
REGIONAL GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN
9/81 MANAGEMENT
STUDY FOR MAMANASCO LAKE
12/81 PLANNING FOR PARKING
4/82 REGIONAL
TRANSPORTATION PLAN
6/82 TRAFFIC FLOW IMPROVEMENT
STUDY FOR RT. 25
6/82 HVCEO AGENDA FOR ACTION:
THE TIP
4/82 PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN RIDGEFIELD
4/82 TRAFFIC STUDY FOR THE BE-BK-DN BORDER
7/82
UNION WAGE COMPARISON REPORT
7/82 TRAFFIC FLOW STUDY
FOR ROUTE 7 SOUTH
11/82 1980 CENSUS DATA SUMMARY
12/82 RESOURCES FOR DECISION MAKING AT HVCEO
4/83
FARMLANDS INVENTORY
6/83 AN EVALUATION OF HART BUS
SERVICE
8/83 THE UNTAPPED MARKET FOR RAIL SERVICE
7/83 UNION WAGE COMPARISON REPORT
8/83
TRAFFIC FLOW IMPROVEMENT FOR RIDGEBURY
9/83 REGIONAL
SEPTAGE STUDY
10/83 GROWTH FORECASTS FOR MUNICIPALITIES
2/84
HOW TO LIMIT TRAFFIC CONGESTION
6/84 TRAFFIC FLOW
IMPROVEMENTS FOR BOARDMAN ROAD
6/84 ADVICE FROM
AN EXPERT ON ZONING PROCEDURES
6/84 POLICIES FOR
BUS MAINTENANCE
7/84 UNION WAGE COMPARISON REPORT
8/84 COMMUTER TRAVEL PATTERNS
8/84 TRAFFIC
FLOW NEEDS FOR RT. 202 IN BROOKFIELD
2/85 ROUTE
7 NORTH TRAFFIC STUDY
2/85 HART DATA BASE AND ROUTING
STUDY
6/85 WATER RESOURCE ATLAS
6/85
RESOURCE RECOVERY FEASIBILITY STUDY
7/85 UNION AND
NON-UNION WAGE COMPARISON REPORTS
10/85 IMPLEMENTING RESOURCE RECOVERY
10/85 MILL PLAIN ROAD TRAFFIC STUDY
10/85 SPECIAL TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS
Executive Director James Grehan took ill during 1984 and passed
away at the end of that year. Early in 1985 Jonathan Chew, an HVCEO
employee since 1976, was promoted to that position.
A recommendation for the relocation of the HART bus depot was made
by HVCEO and implemented in 1985. This new central stopping point
for the HART bus system, on Kennedy Avenue in Danbury, was
then evaluated for upgrading into a formal bus center by an HVCEO
technical study released in 1986. HART would build upon that study
with much of its own work and formally opened the new central
bus depot there in the early 1990's.
Resource recovery planning, the most controversial of regional topics
and not solved by HVCEO in earlier years, intensified in 1983. Two
feasibility studies were completed by HVCEO in 1985 and by 1986
the long envisioned regional authority to address this matter had
been created; the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority in operation
today. This group would from now on have its own institutional life
and history. Legally, HVCEO could not have been the vehicle to implement
the disposal plan now needed. Most HVCEO members became board members
of the new resource recovery group, thus wearing two regional hats.
After much press and controversy, inevitable for the subject, HRRA
did successfully implement a long range 26 year solid waste disposal
plan, and a regional recycling system as well. HVCEO "nursed"
this new institution along in its formative period by making its
staff part of its own for several years, absorbing the task of maintaining
its administrative mechanisms. After June of 1992 the HRRA was fully
on its own administratively, except for being housed in the HVCEO
office and sharing HVCEO support staff. This proximity reduced overhead
costs for both organizations and the arrangement remains in place
today.
During this period new HVCEO Route 7 traffic studies were used by
legislators to obtain multi-million dollar appropriations for existing
Route 7 improvements in New Milford, Redding and Ridgefield. A Bethel
rail station relocation plan by HVCEO was completed late in 1986.
A new Bethel station, based on the 1986 HVCEO plan, opened to the
public in 1996.
At this time the HVCEO staffing structure was set at two full time
professional persons, to be supplemented with part time support
staff. This staffing pattern remains unchanged today.
1986 TO 1990
Leaders of HVCEO during this period were as follows:
1986 Ridgefield First Selectman Elizabeth Leonard
1987 Bridgewater First Selectman William Stuart
1988 Bridgewater First Selectman William Stuart
1989 Bethel First Selectman Clifford Hurgin
1990 Ridgefield First Selectman Sue Manning
Up until 1986 HVCEO has operated with eight municipal members while
conducting planning for a State defined region of ten municipalities;
New Fairfield and Sherman were only observers. This changed with
the formal membership of New Fairfield in 1986. Sherman was next
with membership approved by town meeting vote in 1987.
Regional water supply problems had always been an issue for HVCEO,
and for several years the legislatively created Western Connecticut
Water Supply Council had been operating and holding its meetings
in the HVCEO office. HVCEO then lobbied with others for a comprehensive
statewide water supply planning process, modeled after the much
praised system in use in the State of Washington. The Housatonic
Region then received the first designation in the state to proceed
with the new process. An update by HVCEO of its water supply data
base in June of 1986 was timed to coincide with the convening of
the new group. The enabling statute gave HVCEO a vote on this new
board.
The new water supply planning group was head quartered at HVCEO
and a $100,000 regional water supply plan for our area was completed
in 1988. Known as the Housatonic Water Utility Coordinating Committee,
the group still meets at the HVCEO office with Council staff serving
as secretariat. Also during this period, HVCEO was pulled into a
grass roots environmental trend. In 1984 Ridgefield was the first
municipality in Connecticut to sponsor a household hazardous waste
collection day for its residents. The other nine communities in
the Region soon followed.
The provision of this service was seen as logical for an inter municipal
approach; communities would jointly fund the service, one date to
serve all would facilitate advertising, and with more towns involved
the crews of volunteer workers would be easier to obtain. HVCEO
then became coordinator of the inter town record keeping with
its staff attending all collections, a role it retains day.
Earlier in the 1980's HVCEO had presented a traffic projection to
Conn DOT justifying the widening of I-84 from 4 to 6 lanes in Danbury
between Exits 4 and 7. This widening was completed by Conn DOT in
1988 and HVCEO took a share of the credit. Publications during this
period:
6/86 NEW DIRECTIONS FOR WATER SUPPLY
PLANNING
6/86 TRANSIT IMPROVEMENTS FOR DOWNTOWN
DANBURY
6/86 BUS SERVICE TO THE DANBURY MALL
7/86 UNION AND NON-UNION WAGE COMPARISON
10/86 REGIONAL BUS TRANSIT PLAN
12/86 BETHEL RAIL STATION RELOCATION STUDY
12/86 UNDERSTANDING THE QUALITY OF WATER
4/87
PREPARING FOR HAZARDOUS MATERIAL SPILLS
6/87 THE
FUTURE OF I-84
6/87 USING THE SPECIAL PERMIT
7/87 UNION AND NON-UNION WAGE COMPARISON
10/87 1987 DATA BOOK
10/87 ELDERLY AND DISABLED TRANSIT COORDINATION
10/87 BETHEL CENTER TRAFFIC PLAN
2/88
REGIONAL HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT
7/88 UNION AND
NON-UNION WAGE COMPARISON
12/88 EXPANDING HART BUS SERVICE
2/89
ACTION PLAN FOR TRAFFIC ACCIDENT REDUCTION
7/89
UNION AND NON-UNION WAGE COMPARISON
10/89 HART PULSE POINT PLAN
10/89 DANBURY MAIN STREET TRAFFIC PLAN
12/89 DANBURY WATERSHED PROTECTION PLAN
3/90
PLANNING WITH THE PAST
7/90 UNION AND NON-UNION
WAGE COMPARISON
10/90 BUS TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The proposed regional septage disposal system, in planning for several
years, went into operation in 1988. It served the 7 of the 10 members
with a need; Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield,
Newtown and Redding. A twenty year inter local agreement runs
from 1988 to 2008. HVCEO retained an annual role in the coordination
of the administrative system.
The mainstay of the Council, its monthly meetings, continued as
usual. Topics were ranging widely across the spectrum of municipal
management. Paramedic services, NU storm response problems, and
many other issues of the day were dealt with as a group rather than
individually. In 1988 a regional housing needs assessment was completed
by state law by all 15 planning regions using the same methodology
at the some time.
HVCEO also applied to DEP for funds to prepare a water supply watershed
protection plan for Danbury. The plan would be finalized by HVCEO
in 1990 and appropriate zoning amendments for the protection adopted
by Danbury in 1993. On another environmental issue, local hazardous
materials management plans were coordinated regionally by an ad
hoc HVCEO committee.
In 1989 a Danbury Main Street signalization study was completed
by HVCEO, a proposal for the first fully integrated progressive
signal system in the Region. This planned improvement was successfully
funded thru Danbury's lobbying and went into operation a few years
later. During this period emphasis in regional lobbying was placed
on the reform of binding arbitration laws, with some success. Multi-town
bidding of municipal employee health insurance was studied by a
consultant in some depth, followed by a decision not to pursue it.
On an occasional basis in the past, the Council met with area legislators
to discuss issues affecting the Region. This coordination process
was put on a more formal schedule in 1990, with the convening in
January of that year and in the January of each year thereafter
of an Annual Elected Leaders Luncheon. At this session HVCEO members
present to area legislators a legislative agenda approved the month
before.
1991 TO 1995
HVCEO continued with its ongoing coordination and planning
activities in the early 1990's. There were varied agenda items,
meetings with key officials, and the continued production of research
of value to the area. A Housing Resource Fund for local use was
created in 1991. Cooperation with the Great Danbury Chamber's leadership
training program through the provision of slide presentations was
initiated. A digital computerized approach to municipal map inventories
was first discussed during this period. A comprehensive technical
report on the topic would be authored by the staff and released
in 1993.
Late in 1991 the Commissioner of the CT Department of Economic Development
visited HVCEO to promote regional approaches to assisting local
economic development. As most areas in this country and abroad were
now marketing themselves as regions rather than as municipalities,
Connecticut was interested in following suit. The state proposed
to fund a regional source of expertise for ongoing local efforts.
These years were also a period of strong lobbying against state
funding cuts to municipalities. In 1992 a new grant program, the
federal transportation ISTEA Enhancement Program, began to be coordinated
through HVCEO. Funding for historic bridge repairs, rail station
renovations and downtown sidewalk upgrading then went forward in
the area.
In 1993 the Council organized annual sexual harassment prevention
training for newly hired municipal supervisory employees. This would
be conducted regionally each year thereafter with the New Fairfield
First Selectman as a qualified trainer volunteering her services.
Also that year, the state commissioner of education visited HVCEO
to speak on the upcoming state required educational diversity planning,
to be conducted on a regional basis. A presentation was made
to HVCEO by the Greater Danbury AIDS Task Force.
Having established headquarters for the Housatonic Water Utility
Coordinating Committee and then the Housatonic Resources Recovery
Authority within the HVCEO office, the Housatonic Valley Economic
Development Partnership was now added. Sharing of overhead and support
staff by the three regional groups avoided duplicating costs. By
late 1994 the Council's computerized geographic information system
for producing governmental maps was up and running. Municipalities
were offered help in creating their own systems, including Sherman,
New Fairfield, Danbury and Ridgefield.
In 1995 a new role for HVCEO and the other 14 regions of the state
was proposed by the governor; administration of regional block grants
for human services and property tax relief. HVCEO expressed concerns
over the practicality of this proposal as did most of the other
regions, and it was not implemented by the legislature.
Varied topics of discussion for members during 1995 included boat
launch access to Candlewood Lake, a Route 7 Expressway policy reassessment,
how to duplicate Danbury's Internet community bulletin board, and
a review of finances at the Housatonic Valley Tourism Commission.
The largest traffic study ever attempted by the Council, of Newtown's
I-84 Exit 9 area, was authorized.
Municipal leaders who were elected to chair HVCEO during this period
included the following:
1991 Brookfield First Selectman Bonnie Smith
1992 Danbury Mayor Gene Eriquez
1993 New Fairfield First Selectman Cheryl Reedy
1994 Redding First Selectman Henry Bielawa
1995 New Milford Mayor Liba Furhman
Multi-color land use inventory maps for all ten communities had
been completed in 1991. In 1995 these would be converted to digital
electronic format as part of HVCEO's new electronic mapping system.
Publications of the period:
1/91 USING ZONING
POWER IN THE 1990'S
3/91 LAND USE 1990
6/91
BROOKFIELD-NEW MILFORD ROUTE 7 PLAN
7/91 UNION AND
NON-UNION WAGE COMPARISON REPORTS
10/91 HART FARE STRUCTURE STUDY
10/91 1992 DATA BOOK
4/92 LOCAL TRAFFIC
ACTION PLANS
9/92 UNION AND NON-UNION WAGE COMPARISON
9/92 NEW MILFORD'S ROUTE 7 BYPASS
9/92
SEWER SERVICE IN THE REGION
10/92 RAIL TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
11/92 1993 DATA BOOK
4/93 GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS PLAN
7/93
RT. 6 TRAFFIC PLAN
9/93 UNION AND NON-UNION WAGE
COMPARISON
11/93 REGIONAL WATER RESOURCES & SUPPLIES
11/93 NEW FAIRFIELD & NEWTOWN BUS SERVICE PLANS
12/93 BUS TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
12/93 1994 DATA BOOK
7/94 COSTS AND BENEFITS
OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
9/94 UNION AND NON-UNION
WAGE COMPARISON
10/94 I-84 EXITS 5 & 6 TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT PLAN
10/94 SWEETHART OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS
12/94 DANBURY-BROOKFIELD FEDERAL ROAD PLAN
1/95
1995 DATA BOOK
10/95 HART MARKET RESEARCH STUDY
10/95 BOARDMAN ROAD TRAFFIC PLAN
10/95 PICKETT DISTRICT ROAD TRAFFIC PLAN
12/95 ROUTE 25 ACCESS MANAGEMENT
11/95 UNION AND NON-UNION WAGE COMPARISON
1996 TO 2000
The year 1996 saw the intermunicipal coordination of drug testing
services for municipal employees, a land use permit coordination
workshop, and intermunicipal communication by local American with
Disabilities Act coordinators through the Danbury ADA Commission.
A municipal permit fee inventory report was released. A regional
bicycle route plan was approved. Municipal leaders elected
to chair HVCEO during this period included the following:
1996 Sherman First Selectman Anthony Hapanowich
1997 Newtown First Selectman Robert Cascella
1998-99 Bridgewater First Selectman William Stuart
2000 Sherman First Selectman Donna Tuck
Computerized mapping technology was rapidly spreading from HVCEO
to the municipalities during these years. Curb cut management plans
prepared by HVCEO's consultants were adopted by zoning commissions
in Bethel for Route 6, New Milford for Route 7, Newtown for Route
25, and Redding and Ridgefield for Route 7.
After presentations to local planning commissions and various changes,
HVCEO's state required advisory regional growth management plan
was approved in April of 1997. Also during 1997, HVCEO led the fight
to oppose the abandonment of rail passenger service in the area,
met with the Commissioner of CT DEP to air communication problems,
heard a presentation by the Housatonic Valley Tourism District regarding
its new strategic plan and toured the DATAHR Rehabilitation Institute.
The Council's first web site became operational late in 1997.
Publications during this period include:
2/96
ROUTE 37 TRAFFIC PLAN
6/96 PASSENGER RAIL TO NEW MILFORD
8/96 SURVEY OF MUNICIPAL PERMIT FEES
10/96 REGIONAL BICYCLE PLAN
10/96 ROUTE 7 DN-RI-RE CURB CUT PLAN
12/96 1997 DATA BOOK
4/97 REGIONAL GROWTH GUIDE MAP
6/97 BETHEL ROUTE 6 ACCESS MANAGEMENT PLAN
9/97 NEWTOWN I-84 EXIT 9 PLAN
3/98 NEW MILFORD BRIDGE STREET TRAFFIC PLAN
11/98 BUS TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
11/98 NEW FAIRFIELD CENTER BEAUTIFICATION PLAN
2/99 1999 DATA BOOK
1/00 SPECIAL PROJECT REVIEW FEES
A major initiative during 1998 was lobbying for Conn DOT to undertake
an I-84 deficiency study. Such a document is a federal requirement
before ramp and main line capacity improvements can be made. The
effort was successful, with this new planning work at $750,000 the
largest transportation planning project ever in the Region. This
Conn DOT study, with significant citizen input, was begun during
1999 and is continuing into 2000.
The federally required Regional Transportation Plan was revised
and readopted during 1998. Other 1998 board activities included
a presentation by Metropool, the area NAACP, the Connecticut Conference
of Municipalities, and setting priorities for the Conn DOT streetscape
enhancement program. A new letterhead logo made its debut at the
end of the year.
A major issue late in 1998 was HVCEO involvement in shaping the
sale by the Connecticut Light and Power Company (CL&P) of Lakes
Candlewood, Lillinonah and Zoar. This was a critical issue for seven
of the ten HVCEO municipalities. CL&P staff attended numerous
HVCEO meetings, HVCEO staff attended evening meetings with citizens,
HVCEO obtained Intervenor status at the Department of Public Utility
Control (DPUC) and provided testimony, HVCEO brought its concerns
to Governor Rowland and received his support. There was also
a flurry of special meetings and intense contact with legislators.
The final result was a favorable ruling at DPUC and in 1999 the
successful development of a conservation easement for Candlewood
Lake and state funding for its purchase. The final Council meeting
of 1999 was set aside solely as a ceremony to transfer title and
celebrate this landmark event.
The setting of policy for the federal license renewal of the hydro
power projects was also a major activity in 1999, carrying over
into 2000 as draft FERC hearing testimony was being prepared. Guests
at HVCEO meetings during 1999 included representatives of the Danbury
Hospital Pediatrics Department, the Connecticut Department of Administrative
Services, Northwest Connecticut Emergency Medical Services Council,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, CT OPM and CT DPUC speakers
on energy deregulation and account aggregation, and the Danbury
Domestic Violence and Response Task Force.
Looking ahead, we can expect that the HVCEO will continue with its
traffic and transit planning programs, both systems that are regional
in nature. Lobbying for I-84 improvements will start. We can expect
that HVCEO's digital mapping expertise will continue to assist local
digital map development. The future of utility company lands looms
as an approaching dominant issue. Since research and communication
are needed to cope with the complexities of modern municipal management,
as we pass thru the year 2000 the Council can be expected to continue
to direct resources towards needed technical publications, coordination
efforts, and lobbying activities.
Municipalities will continue to use the organization as a regular
forum on municipal management and cooperative planning. The charge
in 1968 remains the goal of the group today; to make the Housatonic
Valley Region a better place in which to live, do business and visit
through coordinated planning and cooperative approaches.
|
|
|
About the HVCEO