New Haven alder body advances multiple grants and legal budget moves including $1M violence-prevention award

At a meeting of the New Haven Board of Alders, members considered and moved forward multiple grants, budget transfers and contract actions, including a $1,000,000 grant from the Connecticut Department of Public Health for the New Haven violence prevention initiative and a Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection materials‑management grant to build a food‑scrap sorting facility for compost and biogas production.

The board heard staff explanations and committee recommendations on the items and moved several on the consent calendar or to discharge from committee so the city could meet external deadlines. City staff and committee chairs described the DEEP grant as a way to divert food waste — said to make up 20%–25% of household trash in the remarks — and to create compost and biogas. The Public Health grant was described as a public‑health‑approach award to increase capacity for the New Haven violence prevention initiative.

Members also discussed and sought authorization for multiple legal‑services actions. Corporation Counsel requested authorization to increase a legal services agreement with the firm referenced in the transcript as “virtual Moses and Devon,” raising the maximum compensation from $99,000 to $198,000 for fiscal 2024–25. Separately, a motion to discharge a finance committee item would, if approved, transfer multiple salary‑account balances totaling $1,005,000 to the corporation counsel legal services budget and amend a set of existing legal services agreements, with the transcript listing several firms and contract names in that discussion.

The board was told that a bioscience cluster grant application would fund public‑realm infrastructure improvements — promenades, bike and pedestrian paths, and streetscape upgrades — aligned with other local projects including Union Square and the State Street redesign; city directors Michael Friscatelli and Dean Mack were cited as having presented on that item to the city services committee.

Other items moved on the consent…