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Meriden council adopts consent calendar, approves several budget transfers; city manager announces new planner and voting info
Summary
The council adopted the consent calendar, approved resolutions to solicit a personal property audit and several intra-department budget transfers (building inspectors, public health nursing coverage, public works salaries/memberships), and heard a city manager report announcing a new assistant city planner and early voting dates.
Meriden City Council adopted the consent calendar and approved a set of budget adjustments and administrative actions during its regular meeting.
City Manager Brian Daniels announced Arthur Newberg as the city's new assistant city planner and detailed municipal election preparations: an anonymous gun buyback is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 1, at 30 Butler Street (9 a.m. to noon) with tiered payments depending on weapon type; early municipal voting dates and times were published and absentee ballots must be received by the city clerk by 8 p.m. on election day to be counted. Daniels emphasized use of a camera-monitored, handicap-accessible ballot drop box at City Hall.
On motions and votes: the council adopted an amended description of agenda item 13 to align the city's sealed-bid threshold with state law (raising the threshold to $35,000 pursuant to City Charter section 8-1(c) and state statute), then approved the consent calendar by voice vote.
The council also approved a resolution to solicit proposals for a citywide personal property audit so staff can identify unreported taxable personal property; the resolution allows the city manager to seek bids and evaluate contingency-fee proposals. Councilors discussed protections to ensure nonprofit exemptions are preserved during any audit.
Other adopted budget transfers included a $70,000 transfer to purchase third-party building inspector services while the planning department is short-staffed; a $15,000 reallocation in Health & Human Services to pay per-diem public health nurses for planned and unplanned absences (the director clarified this is not an ongoing $15,000 annual request); and a $20,000 transfer within Public Works to cover MME salaries and meeting/membership accounts (split $10,000 salaries, $10,000 meetings). Councilors requested follow-up on the engineering department's overtime lines to clarify expenditures.
These items were adopted by voice votes and recorded as approved during the meeting. Council also set procedural items and announced upcoming community events, including a Veterans Day ceremony on Nov. 11 and a community "Trunk or Treat" on the Meriden Green.
