Shelton to invest in police vehicles
SHELTON — The city is putting more money into its fleet of police vehicles.
The Board of Aldermen, at its meeting Thursday, unanimously approved spending an additional $58,817 — in addition to the $150,000 already spent on the purchase of new patrol cars — for updated lighting and radios for the vehicles.
Overall, the city spent $125,732 on four Dodge Durango vehicles from Northwest Hills Automotive LLC, with $47,200 to fully outfit the vehicles; $13,765 for four Motorola radios; $19,060 for four Panasonic Toughbook 33 computers; and $3,060 for required police department logos for each of the vehicles.
These funds — as well as the $150,000 was approved at the aldermen’s June 11 meeting — will come from aldermanic bonding.
The board also approved $25,000 to cover Sheltonbased Civil 1 Inc.’s professional engineering fees. Civil 1 was the latest firm retained by the city to review all submissions to the Inland Wetlands Commission related to the Towne Center at Shelter Ridge application.
According to its invoice, Civil 1 reviewed all public hearing materials, including exhibits and hearing transcripts; attended commission meetings related to the application; and prepared a peer review report on the proposal.
Developers of the proposed Towne Center at Shelter Ridge project have pulled their application from the Inland Wetlands Commission.
Attorney Dominick Thomas, representing the developers, made the move on Oct. 1, two weeks after Civil 1 presented its review highlighting several areas deemed incomplete. Thomas, in a letter to commission Chairman Gary Zahornasky, said the developers intend to refile after meeting with Civil 1 engineers to discuss the firm’s findings.
In the letter, Thomas stated the developers were unable to respond to the issues raised in the Civil 1 report because the public hearing — which had been open for more than a year — had been closed before Civil 1 was hired.
The withdrawal does not affect the Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of a Planned Development
District for the project, which calls for 375 one- and twobedroom units in a building that is to be three stories facing Buddington and six stories facing Bridgeport Avenue based on the topography. The site would also include more than 300,000 square feet of retail space and more than 3,000 parking spaces along 121 acres at the intersection of Mill Street and Bridgeport Avenue.
The aldermen also voted to pay $1,406.25 to Teodosio Stanik LLC, the city’s corporation counsel. Among the fees covered with this approval included the firm’s work on the recent fire truck purchase ($750) and the lawsuit filed against the city by Durham School Services, the district’s former bus operator.
Durham School Services, in a suit filed in March, is suing the city for some $200,000 for breach of contract. Durham School Services was the city’s bus operator through June 30, 2019, when the city took over the school district’s student bus transportation.
The aldermen also approved $1,177.50 for assistant corporation counsel Thomas Cotter.