Agency staff outlines proposed citation-and-fine ordinance, cites $1,000-per-violation cap

At its Aug. 5 meeting the Aquifer Protection Agency discussed draft ordinance language that would let the city use a citation-and-fine process alongside the agency’s existing show-cause administrative hearings.

Alexis, who presented the draft, described a flowchart showing the agency’s current path — notice of violation, staff orders and a show-cause hearing — and a parallel citation path that would route citation contests to a hearing officer instead of to the agency itself. "It's, dollars 1,000 per per violation," Alexis said when describing the fine amount set in the aquifer-protection statute.

Under the draft, Alexis said, a respondent would have 10 days to contest a citation before the hearing officer, who would hear testimony, determine liability and assess any fine; the agency’s staff-order enforcement file would continue in parallel and entering the citation process would not require restarting the agency’s order. Alexis said the draft would need to conform to the city’s existing chapter 30c citation-hearing code and to Connecticut state statutes (the transcript cites section 7-152c and the aquifer statute referenced as 22a-354).

Alexis told members the agency is currently in a five-year reregistration cycle and that the ordinance committee of the city council was likely to discuss the proposed ordinance around Sept. 15 (the chair referenced a related meeting date in mid-September). She also said she and the law department are continuing to refine specific language, including confirmation that each day a continuing violation can be treated as a separate violation subject to the statutory maximum fine.

The presentation closed with members invited to ask questions; the agency did not take a formal vote on the ordinance itself and the committee-level review was described as the next step.