Marlborough Barn was originally assessed at $390,549.60. The WPCA agreed to settle their lawsuit for a drastically reduced $300,000.00. NRBZ properties was originally assessed at $90,405.00. The WPCA agreed to settle for less than half that amount at $40,000.00.

Combined, these settlements reflect over $130,000.00 in over assessments by the WPCA. One wonders how much less these assessments would have been if the commercial properties had pushed their cases to trial. One may also wonder just how grossly inaccurate are the assessments levied on other businesses in town, if these two businesses alone were able to recoup $130,000? It’s unfortunate that more property owners in town did not stand up for themselves and appeal their assessments.

With respect to the remaining five residential property lawsuits, the WPCA has not offered or been receptive to settlement offers. I have been told by a third party, that they have been under the false assumption that all five cases would be heard independently, possibly believing that the plaintiffs lacked sufficient determination to fight five separate trials. The WPCA is misinformed, and all five cases have been re-consolidated. There will not be five separate trials (sorry to burst your bubble, boys.)

Also, to date, the WPCA has failed to provide their property appraiser’s reports to the plaintiffs, leading one to believe that such reports do not presently, nor have they ever, existed. I find it interesting that the WPCA was able to determine that all the residential properties in the lawsuit equally benefited by a fair market value increase of $12,000, without conducting any appraisal at the time the assessments were levied. In fact, even more interesting is that their own appraiser has yet to justify that amount, and provided a lower number of $8,000 (to which the WPCA is now bound, in my opinion) at a pre-trial conference last October.

How the WPCA expects to go to trial and collect $12,000 in assessments from four of the five plaintiffs, when the WPCA’s appraiser has admitted the benefit to four of the five properties is only $8,000 is beyond me. But, nothing the WPCA has done has made much sense to me. Why would that change now?

The WPCA hits again! My husband and I are trying to refinance our house. In doing so, Fannie Mae has told us that we either need to have the WPCA sign a subordination agreement agreeing to come in second in line to Fannie Mae for the Sewer Benefit Assessment, increase the amount we want to refinance (which would cause the interest rate to be 1% to 1 ½% higher, our monthly payments to be more and require us to have an appraisal done for $300 to $400) or that we need to pay it off in order to finalize this refinance.

I went to the Tax Collectors office to inquire about getting a Subordination Agreement signed. I was told WPCA or any town department will not sign Subordination Agreements for any reason. I then went down the hall to speak with Peter Hughes. He told me that that was correct, the WPCA or the town will not sign Subordination Agreements. Of course, I couldn’t just walk away and say ok. I told him that first I was forced to hook into a sewer system that was not necessary, that I knew I couldn’t afford and caused a financial burden and now he’s telling me the town will not subordinate to allow us to refinance our house to decrease the financial burden they caused. He said the WPCA Board voted not to subordinate months ago and I should talk to the Board if I had anymore questions or concerns.

I then put in a call to Jack Murray. Again I was told the WPCA will not subordinate for any reason. I explained that Fannie Mae would not allow a refinance without it unless the Sewer Benefit Assessment was paid off or the amount of the mortgage was increased causing the interest rate to be higher and having an appraisal done. He said the WPCA will not subordinate. They are in first place and are not willing to take the risk of being second in line to get paid if something should happen.

He suggested we try to get a mortgage through someone other than Fannie Mae. He obviously does not know me, I do my homework. We can get the best rate, terms, etc. through Fannie Mae. I told him that by not signing Subordination Agreements they could possibly be setting people up to get sued if they can’t refinance to pay bills, cause people to have to claim bankruptcy, prevent a child from going to college or a number of other serious situations that could be avoided and if going through Fannie Mae was the only way they could qualify for a mortgage they couldn’t even refinance to lower their interest rate or reduce their monthly payments. He again repeated that the WPCA doesn’t sign Subordination Agreements.

So in summary, the WPCA has forced us to hook into a sewer system we didn’t need or want, caused us to incur expenses we couldn’t afford, caused us a financial burden AND now they are preventing us from refinancing our house (at the best rate/terms we can get) to lesson the financial burden they caused and are preventing us from being able to do any business with Fannie Mae for the next 20 years, all because they are not willing to take a risk that would amount to less than $12,000.

It amazes me that I own a house but a few towns people, because they sit on a voluntary Board, have the power to decide that I can’t use Fannie Mae even though Fannie May would be the most beneficial to me and they have the power to prevent me from refinancing for 20 years if I could only go through Fannie Mae.

Today, it was opened.

Nonetheless, I knocked on the door framing and stuck my head into the room, then slowly walked in.  There was Cathi in her office, having a conversation with someone (whom I couldn’t see and wasn’t any of my business to see, anyway.)

Cathi put her discussion on pause and came out into the office’s reception area, to greet me with a smile.  I said, “What’s going on here? The First Selectman’s door is opened.  I must be in the wrong building.”  Cathi replied, “All the doors are opened here.  It’s a new administration.”

I handed Cathi my letter, shook her hand, and congratulated her again on her new position.  We exchanged a few pleasantries then Cathi thanked me for dropping by, and I left.

There’s nothing like having the First Selectmen open to talking to people, and open to talking to me — and smiling.  Is this Marlborough?  I’m so glad I got to know here during budget “war” a few years back.

As I left Town Hall, I felt differently than I’ve felt previously.  It was strange.  I felt optimistic.  That’s a strange thing to feel when leaving Marlborough’s Town Hall.  I’m not accustomed to it.

“Finally, the ‘black’ cloud over town is gone,” I thought.  “Oh, that’s good. Black, as a double entendre. I have to write that one up in the blog.”

Georgette wanted to let me know that she is not leaving town, and not going out of business.  She’d much rather get back to running her business than clarifying whether she’s leaving town.   Therefore, I’m conveying this information to everyone who reads the blog, so that you don’t have ask her about it anymore.

While Georgette said that the sewer “is a mess”, and she doesn’t disagree with Elliot on the effect it’s having on businesses, the Marlborough Bakery is doing just fine and she has no plans on taking it out of town.

Updated 11/14/11 5:50 PM: The BOS agenda is up and available here.

The meeting started late as the board was in an “executive session”, meaning they were discussing the lawsuits. Once the meeting started, chairman Jack Murrary moved around on the agenda to maintenance items like approval of minutes and public comments (there were none at this point). We then all sat there for several minutes waiting for Peter Hughes to give his report.

Hughes eventually arrived, and began reading off a status report on various items. Flow at the pump station was at 29,000 gallons per day, down from last month. Power outages during the Alfred storm required pumping of the grinder pumps on Lake Ridge, Cheney, and Denler. Hughes said at the WPCA will seek reimbursement from FEMA, as they did for Irene. The cost of pumping the grinder pumps during Irene was $3,000.

Bixoide treatment was cut down to twice a week, from daily, last month. A resident called and complained that the odor had reappeared so they’ll be going back to a daily treatment.

My thoughts — I’m unclear why Peter Hughes is telling the WPCA what they’re going to do. There were no motions to change any of this. Nothing from the board on motions to seek FEMA reimbursement, nor to change the bioxide treatment. How does Peter Hughes have the authority to just go off and do these things?

Hughes related that the Village Green Plaza will be connecting next week. The defunct Marlborough Tavern and the Marlborough Bakery buildings are in the process of connecting now. The bakery will need to install a grease trap, but the WPCA will not be ordering them to do so now (there’s Peter telling them what to do, again). Instead, they will let the Chatham Health District go in and tell the bakery whether they are compliant or not, and then it will be up to the WPCA to enforce the grease trap requirement. Per Hughes, Connecticut State law as of July 1st, requires that a business like the bakery have a grease trap installed.

The topic of discussion then changed to forcing connections for residents who have not connected, and not appealed their connection order. Very telling here was the fact that the board agreed to table this topic until they could discuss this issue with the new Board of Selectmen. That gives us all a clue as to who (Black) may have been the driving force behind these guys being so rigid over the last four years.

Also tabled, in lieu of discussions with the new board and for reports from another town on their regulations, was the discussion of changing the WPCA’s regulatory definition of  “user”. The WPCA wants to change the definition to include a person who has been ordered to connect, but has not, and has not appealed. That means, they want to charge usage to someone who isn’t actually using the sewer.

At this point, my mind began an internal dialogue to the effect of, “Are these guys serious? How many more lawsuits do they want? Don’t they know everyone can appeal the usage charge every time it’s set or revised? Why would they want to do this?” My mind then responded, “For money. They have a budget deficit of $53,000. They want to try and suck money out of people who can’t afford to connect, for usage. That will make them connect, too.” “No surprise there, ” was the internal response.

Public comments were then taken. I asked the board how and why they felt that redefining their regulatory definition of a “user” to include people who are not connected to the sewer was fair, and accurate? To be honest, I’m not clear on their reply, if there was one. I believe the response was something to the effect of that they want to change the regulations to define a user as someone ordered to connect, not appealed that order, and hasn’t connected. Yeah, I know that already, but how is that right or fair? Well, I already know the answer. It isn’t fair. They’re broke and need money. See the previous paragraph.

First Selectman elect, Catherine Gaudinski, then spoke about the previous evening’s Board of Finance meeting, at which Robert Elliot came before the board, upon direction from Peter Hughes, and discussed the dire straits in which he finds himself due to the sewer.

Murray responded that Elliot did not relay the full story. According to Murray, Hughes told Elliot that the WPCA had no money to assist him, and that the BOF was the place to bring his concerns. I found this explanation plausible and likely true. It does not, however, address the fact that Elliot is in his current state of affairs solely due to the decisions of Jack Murray, Bill Black, Peter Hughes, and the rest of the WPCA. Facts are facts, folks. The guy is at the end of his rope, solely because of the funding decisions made by the WPCA. It’s just like Murray to skip that part of the problem, and pawn the whole thing off on some other board. Actually, it’s more like Black to do that, but Murray is pretty good at it, too.

Resident Stacey Francoline then spoke, quite forcefully, about the inequity of not forcing people along Joe Asklar’s extension to connect, while forcing the rest of us to do so. She wanted clarification on why these people would not receive a “benefit” assessment bill. She wanted to know why they weren’t being forced to connect. She stated that the fact that the rest of us have been hit with a $12,000 bill, have been ordered to connect, and have to pay for usage shows a disparity in treatment.

WPCA member Bill Lardi responded that since there was not outlay by the WPCA and the necessary equipment for those properties to connect was not in place, they could not order connection, nor assess a benefit. Honestly, this does make perfect sense to me. However, I do feel that it’s unfair to the rest of us.

Sec. 7-264 of the Connecticut General Statutes give the WPCA full power to borrow money from the town in the form of a “Temporary Note”, to finance construction costs of the sewer. Repayment of that note comes directly from usage charges. I’m not sure why the WPCA doesn’t know this. They could install grinder pumps and the necessary piping to connect these properties, then include those costs in the usage fees for those properties.

Francoline, continued stating that the WPCA has a $53,000 deficit and they have a perfectly good source of revenue available from the properties on the Asklar extension. Discussion then became more heated, and I had difficulty following it. Suffice it to say, the WPCA made no indication that they plan on doing anything with the Asklar properties, and Stacey felt this was a disparity in treatment of the “Phase 1″ residents.

Personally, I think everyone should be left alone unless they want to connect. I think the WPCA should approach the properties on the Asklar extension and ask them if they want to connect. If they do, they could borrow money from the town for whatever equipment is necessary, then pay it back from usage charges. No “benefit” assessment would even be necessary. But, I’m certain Murray doesn’t know any of this. I wonder if he’s ever read the statutes at all, other than what I’ve conveyed in my letters and blog (Jack is a subscriber to this blog, by the way.  Hi, Jack!)

With that, the meeting ended. At this point, I see a glimmer of hope for change. Two important issues were tabled in lieu of the new BOS. I think this new BOS will not be as heavy handed as Black’s, and we may start seeing some compromise, finally, from the WPCA.

Attorney Robert Elliot

I expect to hear Elliot state everything he did last night at the Board of Finance meeting — but this time, he’s talking to the board directly responsible for putting him on the brink of bankruptcy.

It should be interesting to hear Peter Hughes lead the WPCA’s responses, if any, to Attorney Elliot.  With Black now gone, will Hughes and this board actually reach out to a business owner whom they’re in the process of financially destroying, or will it be more of the same lack of response?

It may be too soon to tell, as the new Board of Selectmen hasn’t been sworn in yet, and hasn’t met with the WPCA.  It’s likely they WPCA will continue on their path of indifference at this juncture.  I expect that attitude to change, soon, though.

I urge the sewer district residents to go to tonight’s meeting as a show of support for our town.  Elliot may not be everybody’s favorite guy, but, if he throws in the towel, I think we’ll be able to call ourselves a ghost town.

Last night’s BOF meeting was mostly Attorney Robert Elliot addressing the board.  Elliot is the largest property taxpayer in Marlborough, and owns many properties in town, including the Dunkin Donuts plaza, and the adjacent plaza where the now defunct Marlborough Tavern and Marlborough Market lie vacant.

Before the meeting started, causal conversation with members of the board included First Selectman Elect Cathi Gaudinski stating that she was looking forward to her new position.  She will take office on Monday, November 14th.  Cathi stated that she had not spoken to exiting First Selectman Bill Black yet.  She went to town hall earlier in the day, but was told that Black had left Town Hall by 11:00 am, and had left his keys there and his office was mostly empty.  A computer specialist was there doing something with Black’s computer, which the board believed was setting up new email addresses.   Cathi spent her time at town hall signing papers in preparation for the transition.

It appears to me that Black is gone for good at this point.  He left his keys, and Friday is a holiday, so I expect that’s the end of him.  In typical Bill Black fashion, he didn’t have the courtesy to advise his replacement on the current affairs of his office.  Everything has to be a mystery, or a twisting of the facts with Black.  That’s okay.  Cathi, Dick, and I’m sure Mike are smart.  They’ll be able to figure out what’s going on.  Good riddance, William (that is your real name, BTW).

The BOF meeting officially started a little late.  In attendance were alternate Pasquale Amodeo for Cliff Dennis, Evelyn Godbout, Dick Shea, and Cathi Gaudinski.  Robert Elliot, myself, and Ken Hjulstrom were initially the only public members.

The BOF moved quickly down the agenda to Robert Elliot.  Elliot opened, stating that Town Planner Peter Hughes recommend that he come before the BOF. Elliot stated that he has attended many WPCA meetings and his cries have fallen on deaf hears.  He said that Hughes told him that the BOF can restructure the sewer funding, and that’s why he was there.

Elliot then opened with, “The sewer has been devastating to the businesses in town.  They cannot afford these sewer charges.  In fact, not a single tenant has paid me toward the sewer.”  Elliot proceed, stating that he has begged the WPCA to use water meters to measure flow, instead of the EDU measurement.  “The EDUs assigned by the WPCA to the businesses in town bear no resemblance to the actual usage,” he said.

Elliot then cited the defunct Marlborough Tavern’s $25,000 sewer benefit assessment for this year alone, stating, “That is why they left. “  He then stated that he has recently had to refinance his retirement assets to pay the town $139,000 in taxes and sewer fees.  $79,000 alone was for the sewer expenses.

Elliot stated that he recently had  a new tenant ready for the vacant Tavern.  This prospect has a business in Glastonbury and pays $1,000 a year for their total sewer charges.  This prospect wanted Elliot to pay for all the Marlborough sewer fees, and build an addition.  Elliot said that he’s not able to cover all of those costs and has lost the prospective tenant.

He continued, stating that he has lost 13 tenants since the sewer was built.  His wife is actively recruiting new tenants and they have replaced some.  Elliot said  that he believes (I do not know what he believes) has heard that the Marlborough Bakery is next and will be moving out of town.

Bluntly, said Elliot ,”I will have to file bankruptcy if this continues and something is not done.“  He said that Hughes told him that of the 7 lawsuits, there was an agreement to settle for 25% less than the assessment (this is not true for the residential properties — I have no information on whether this is true for any of the commercial appellants.)  “Perhaps something like that can be done with my situation,” he said.

Elliot said  that with businesses leaving, and other business replacing them, the EDU calculations are no longer applicable.  He said that the former gym, which is now a dance studio and an office, was assessed 10 EDUs by the WPCA.  The new tenants have no showers and would use no where near the amount of sewer capacity as the gym.  Elliot stated that Hughes agreed and would change the EDUs to 2.5.

“But he didn’t, ” continued Elliot, “so I asked him about it and he said he would change it next year.”  Elliot said that a full year of 10 EDUs times $400 per EDU is “a nice chunk of change.”

BOF member Dick Shea interjected, stating that Hughes has no authority to make that change.  That would be the responsibility of the WPCA.  Elliot countered, stating that Hughes has been the sole agent of the WPCA.  No one else has responded to him.

Elliot closed, stating that he was here on behalf of the business owners, and not here on his own behalf.  “It’s a serious, serious situation and these plazas will be empty soon if something is not done.”

As Elliot concluded, Gaudinski thank him for coming before the board and appreciated the seriousness of the situation, however, the Board of Finance is not the right board to address these concerns, and she was unclear why Hughes told Elliot to do so.  She thinks that the new administration will need to get together with the WPCA and discuss these issues.

Pasquale Amodeo stated that he was one of the appellants against the WPCA, and said there was no 25% settlement reached on his case, or any of the other residential cases (I’ve covered this in great depth in a previous post.)  Gaudinski stated that it may have been one of the commercial suits that had reached a settlement, but there was no way of knowing at the moment.

Elliot then spoke again, stating that the huge sums of money requested by the WPCA is destroying the town, and he hopes the new administration can do something about this serious problem.  He then thanked the board for their time, and left.

Dick Shea said that he was concerned with town staff stating the things they could do, but did not have the power to do.  Evelyn Godbout was concerned that the Board of Finance has no real power to do anything regarding the sewer, but the Board of Selectmen may have the power to better address this issue with the WPCA.

Gaudinski said, “Things need to be unraveled at Town Hall.”

Dick Shea commented that he was astounded by the misinformation given to the townspeople by town hall employees and the WPCA, regarding all aspects of the sewer.

“Conversation between the boards, including the Board of Selectmen is needed, and that has been missing,” said Gaudinski.  Godbout said, “That has been sorely lacking in town.”

Gaudinski stated, “That’s going to change. It’s a new era in town now.”

“It boggles my mind that you would support her, and that more sewer district residents didn’t come out and vote,” stated the caller.  I stated, “I can only make decisions on information I have.  I have never heard Cathi state anything other than what I just told you.”

The conversation continued along these lines.  Other topics were discussed. The conversation was interesting enough. Eventually, it ended with the caller stating, “I just wanted to call because it boggled my mind that you would support her.  Time will tell which one of us is right.”

After the call, I was still confident in my decision to support Cathi… but the call, and an anonymous letter I received last month had planted the seeds of doubt.

So, to clear up the issue, I sent Cathi the following email:

Cathi,

I received a phone call from someone who told me I’ve made a huge mistake in supporting you.  This person claims that you’ve publicly stated that you are fully in support of expanding the sewer to the vacant business park.

I conveyed to this person that my impression was that you are in favor of expanding the sewer to the commons, but only with a developer commitment, which would including picking up most, if not all, of the resulting expense.  I stated that you were not in favor of expanding to a vacant business park, nor a vacant commons without firm commitment from a developer.

Can you clarify your position on this issue?

Thank you for your time!

I didn’t receive a written reply from Cathi by the end of the day.  I figured she was probably busy with preparation to take office on Monday and / or busy getting ready for the BOF meeting that night.   I knew I was going to the BOF meeting so if I didn’t get a response by email, I’d just ask her that night.  And, that’s what I did.

Cathi stated that she was not in favor of expanding the sewer to the vacant business park.  She stated that she was not in favor of doing anything with the business park, except selling it.  She also stated that she would be in favor of expansion to the commons area, but only with a developer commitment to pay for at least the new pump house.  She stated that the neighborhood across from the commons has old homes on very small lots, with bad septic systems, so it would be beneficial to them to have the sewer available.  And with them on the sewer, flow would increase, which could eliminate the odor problem and bioxide treatment expense.  But, she’s not in favor of the town expanding the sewer to that area without a developer agreeing to pay a large part of the expense.

Interestingly, Cathi also stated that she believes the commons has just put in a new septic system.  She thinks this happened right after “Phase 2″ was voted down by the BOF.  She’s not sure why they would even need the sewer at the property if they have a new septic system, and she’s not sure if the property owner even told the town they were going to replace the septic, or why (if that was their plan) they didn’t give a more firm commitment to developing the commons for “Phase 2″ to get past the BOF for a public vote.

She stated that there are a lot of unknowns right now, as she hasn’t taken office yet, and it will take some time to unravel all of these issues.

So, there you have it.  I stand by my vote.  I think Cathi’s position makes sense.  I also think that the resident who called me should volunteer for the WPCA.  There are openings right now, and that person would make a great addition.  Regulations can be changed to allow optional connection, funding changes, etc.

I surmise that Elliot will be speaking to the BOF regarding his loss of revenue from these defunct businesses (primarily due to excessive sewer expenses) and either asking for help, or warning that he is on the brink of financial ruin.  For clarity, this is only my opinion, and I have no knowledge that he is in dire straits, financially, or that this is why he’s listed on the agenda for tonight.

I will attend this meeting, as I’m more than curios to hear what Attorney Elliot has to say.  I think it is fortuitous that Cathi is still BOF chair, and can take whatever information Elliot conveys along with her to her job as Marlborough’s First Selectman.

If I were on the BOF, I would request that WPCA chairman Jack Murray, and Town Planner, Peter Hughes attend the meeting to explain to Mr. Elliot (should my guess be correct) why they’re running him into financial ruin, and turning Marlborough into a ghost town.

The meeting is tonight, 7:00 PM at the Elmer Thienes-Mary Hall Elementary School Library.

Update: 11/9/2011 1:35 PM:  It has been brought to my attention that Elliot has been on the agenda for several WPCA meetings and has missed them all.  It is entirely possible he will not attend this BOF meeting as well.  I still plan on going, in case he does.