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Middletown board forwards Coe Avenue pump-station replacement to city council, cites $3M bonding route
Summary
The Middletown Water Pollution Control Authority voted unanimously to forward a Coe Avenue pump-station replacement plan to the city council, citing a state 'Norwich' method that allows up to $3,000,000 in water-and-sewer projects without referendum; staff said state funding could cover roughly half the cost.
The Middletown Water Pollution Control Authority voted unanimously to forward a replacement plan for the failing Coe Avenue pump station to the City Council for bonding. Director Joseph Fizzino described repeated equipment failures — a sealed water line letting go, a pump loss that was rebuilt by a vendor, and a failed transducer that put pumps on fixed speed and reduced pressure to higher zones — and said staff installed a spare pump to restore service temporarily.
Fizzino said state law allows a bypass of referendum for some urgent water-and-sewer projects, describing the so-called "Norwich method": "We can go up to $3,000,000 for a water and sewer projects," he said, and noted the department plans to bond the full amount with the expectation that grant funding would reduce the town's net share. "So even though it's for 3,000,000, it's really only gonna cost us 1,500,000," Fizzino said when discussing the department's successful 50% grant application for this project. The board approved a motion to send the proposal to bond counsel and the council; Fizzino said he will work with bond counsel and attend council caucuses as needed.
The board's action was to forward the project to the council for the necessary supermajority vote the statute requires. No final council vote or financing schedule was set in the meeting minutes; Fizzino said the proposal will next go to bond counsel and then to council.
