Hamden Implements Spending Freeze

Hamden halts spending on nonessentials By Michael Bellmore mbellmore@nhregister.com / Twitter:@bandango HAMDEN — Mayor Scott Jackson and Finance Director Sal DeCola implemented a spending freeze on nonessential items to “ensure a balanced budget” for this fiscal year. “When you have the type of infrastructure that a municipality maintains, you can have good years, you can have bad years, but you always have to project for the bad years. “For example: snow. Two inches of snow will cost us $50,000 to plow. So you always have to maintain reserves that will allow you to seamlessly address those issues,” Jackson said. “We didn’t know before last month that we would be expending overtime on police services to protect schools. Now we are, so we have to adjust course to accommodate that,” he said. Notice was sent to all department heads that even purchases approved by the Town Council for this fiscal year may no longer occur. Jackson said throughout the year, every dollar is watched, but during a spending freeze, all expenditures are subject to another level of review. Announcement of the spending freeze followed a series of recent belt-tightening actions taken by Hamden officials. Earlier this month, the town announced a move to restructure two departments. Curt Leng, chief administrative officer, wrote in a press release the position of “deputy assessor” has been cut, saving the town $70,000. Two positions at the Library Department were eliminated, a librarian and technical assistant. Library Director Marian Amodeo said this was the result of an offer for early retirement packages. “None of our services have had to be curtailed. We’re working with staff to reassign tasks to provide the best customer service we can.” Amodeo said. “We’re moving along.” The position of “business manager” for the Library Department has been changed. The job description has been adjusted and starting salary reduced. The three staff cuts will save the town $110,000. Amodeo said preserving the library business manager position was crucial to the library system. “After all, we are a three building library system,” Amodeo said. “And as such, we have myriad financial tasks on a daily basis.” Leng also said two more departments are being looked at for reorganizations —the mayor’s office and Economic and Community Development. “The word of the day is savings, and wherever we can try, department by department, to either downsize or reorganize with the existing staff in a way that saves money, we’re going to propose it,” Leng said. The town added to its bottom line through the sale of a building to Tri-Star Realty, owner of the restaurant Eli’s on Whitney. The move to sell 2384 Whitney Ave. will bring $200,000 to Hamden. Leng said the building was purchased by the town for the Memorial Town Hall project four years ago. It was used for a staging area and office space during the project, but, with the end of the project near, it is no longer needed. Eli’s Restaurant Group Operations Director Shawn Reilly said the plan is to raze the building and construct an addition to Eli’s. The kitchen will be housed in the new addition, creating room for more seating and, Reilly said, hopefully new jobs, too. Michael Bellmore can be reached at 203-789-5282. Follow him on Twitter @bandango

Hamden Trash and Recycling and More

HAMDEN CURBSIDE SERVICES FOR 2013 Mayor Scott D. Jackson would like to wish Hamden residents a happy and healthy 2013 and take this opportunity to remind citizens about their curbside services for the upcoming year. Christmas tree pickup is underway and residents are encouraged to place their trees at their curb for pickup as soon as possible to expedite the process. While it costs taxpayers nearly $70.00 a ton for refuse disposal, there is no disposal cost for recycling. The Town continues to operate a single stream recycling program, with all recyclable items to be placed in a single container. The comprehensive recycling policy is available on the Town's website (www.hamden.com>Governments>Department>Solid Waste & Recycling). Residents are asked to put recycling out every other week on the night before their scheduled refuse day to ensure timely pickup. Residents can find their recycling week, and the week to week schedule on the Town's website. There are six holidays that will affect your refuse and recycling schedule for 2013. Refuse and recycling pickup are delayed by one day for the remainder of a week following these holidays. The 2013 holiday dates are as follows: Memorial Day - the week of May 27 Independence Day - the week of July 1 Labor Day - the week of September 2 Thanksgiving Day - the week of November 25 Christmas Day - the week of December 23 New Year's Day - the week of December 30 A printable version of the schedule is available on the Town's website as well. Semi-annual bulk trash pickup occurs for residents in April and October. Residents are kindly reminded to think first about donating gently used items to local charities before putting them out for bulk trash pickup. Residents may also bring bulk trash, with proof of residency, to the Transfer Station, located at 231 Wintergreen Avenue. The bulk trash policy can also be found on the website. Lastly, residents are reminded that spring leaf pickup will occur in late April and early May. The Department of Public Works would like to remind residents of the requirement to bag all of their leaves and yard waste. Only those residences where all occupants are physically unable to bag their leaves, and have provided the necessary documentation, may rake their leaves to the curb. This greatly speeds up the process for the Town and allows all residents to have their leaves and yard waste picked up in a timely manner. Look for more detailed information on the leaf pickup procedure as the time nears. Questions regarding any of the refuse, recycling or bulk trash policies may be directed to Solid Waste and Recycling Coordinator Pamela Roach at proach@hamden.com or by phone at (203) 287-7021. Questions regarding curbside leaf bagging exemption eligibility can be directed to Patty Lujick, Paralegal in the Town Attorney's office at (203) 287-7050. As always, visit www.hamden.com for the latest Town updates and follow us on Facebook at “Town of Hamden” and on Twitter via @townofhamden.

Van Halen Wins Classic Rock Awards

VH Wins Comeback of the Year

Been Away ...

I've been away from the blogging world for a while - focusing instead on the social media - both my own (mostly Town, sports, music news and politics) and the my job. The tools are amazing. I'm glad that Blogger allows for the easy Twitter feed on the side of this page so that whenever I'm not posting often with official blogging the page is still updated with thoughts and ideas. E-mail me at curt.leng@yahoo.com to talk about anything from politics to Van Halen. Happy Saturday.