Rebuttal to Mayor Stewart’s Comments Flooding Concerns In New Britain

1) Mayor Stewart noted; the city has applied for numerous grants and requested funding through our state delegation yearly for the last 10 years and so far, we have not been successful in it being awarded.

2) Mayor Stewart noted; there is no construction budget allocated for the Allen St. Project right now because it is irresponsible to allocate funds to a project of which you do not know the total cost of.

Here are the facts:

The semi-final plan estimate provided by Cardinal Engineering 10 years ago to complete the Allen St. Project was $6.9M. The Mayor used this preliminary number $6.9M for 10+ years to support her requests for funding. Now the Mayor refuses to allocate funds for the Allen St. Project because the final total cost is unknown. These inconsistencies are troubling.

State Officials report that they have delivered a huge surplus of funds to New Britain which were used for other city projects even though the Mayor says the Allen St. Project 2 Oak St. to Beacon St. is the most pressing need.

The state allocates funds to municipalities to do the projects that the Mayor and the Council prioritize. There are no specific project earmarks from the state. Over the past 10 years, the required Allen St. storm-sewer upgrades have NOT been prioritized and have NOT been funded by the Mayor and Council. Therefore, our critical neighborhood continues to flood!

State Officials report that there are no scheduled distributions from the FEMA-DOT grant programs at this time. The Mayor has applied for $14M from these programs in years 2022 and 2023.

In 2023, the Mayor approved the transfer of $4M from the General Fund to the Public Works Account for the Allen St. Project. We have asked many times for an update regarding the status of this money. To date, no response from the Mayor. The Mayor has the power to move the money from account to account with little or no oversight. Where is the $4M now? See the attached documentation.

$56M of ARPA Funds were sent to the city for vital infrastructure improvements. 20 expenditures and projects were identified by the Mayor. Not 1 dollar for the Allen St. Project, even though the Mayor says the Allen St. Project is the most pressing need. This is irresponsible! It seems the Mayor is being disingenuous when it comes to the funding for the Allen St. Project. This is why we remain skeptical regarding the Mayor’s intentions. See the attached documentation.

As noted, the semi-final plan estimate provided by Cardinal Engineering 10 years ago was $6.9M. In today’s dollars, we estimate the new cost will be closer to $10M-$12M (Mayor Stewart indicates the new cost will be closer to $7M-$8M) to complete the Allen St. Project. The Mayor and Council officials must plan for the Allen St. Project funding now. This is the responsible approach if our elected officials are truly serious about restoring our quality of life as the Mayor noted in her recent campaign literature.

We are grateful that the engineering planning work is moving forward for the Allen St. Project. To date, the Allen St. Project is not adequately funded. The new $20M Public Works Operations Center was paid for with bonding money. We have learned that the PWOC will come in under budget. Where is this surplus money? The new $2.7M Stanley Golf Course Reception Pavilion has a bonding component completed by our city officials. Funding ingenuity is required for the Allen St. Project as our city officials have successfully completed for other higher profile projects.

In the Weston-Sampson narrative regarding Funding Needs for the Allen St. Project: “The City would require multiple allocations across multiple fiscal years in order to accumulate the funding to complete the project, while the state of the infrastructure is already at a crisis level”. Mayor Stewart has failed to accumulate the funding in the city’s Capital Improvement Program. In fact, the city continues to kick this project down the road while our neighborhood continues to flood! In Mayor Stewart’s own words, the Allen St. Project 2 Oak St. to Beacon St. is the most pressing need. See the attached documentation.

This is not about the cost; this is not about the complexities; this is not about the magnitude of the Allen St. Project. It’s about having the courage to step up and fund this project and complete it. Asking the engineers to complete their final planning is the easy part; funding the project and executing the plan is the challenging part. We are asking our elected and appointed city officials to stop kicking this project down the road. Fund and complete this project! 30+ years of city neglect and mismanagement must end now.

The city has funding and funding sources to complete the Allen St. Project but the Mayor is unwilling to allocate the money. Re-evaluating ARPA Fund allocations combined with bonding money are viable options for our city officials to include in their funding plan. These are fiscally responsible funding options for the Allen St. Project. Now is the time for this crucial planning.

As we have detailed for you, the evidence and the facts are revealing. Our skepticism is justified based on Mayor Stewart’s failed funding efforts thus far. The reality is simple; the Mayor has failed to obtain new funding and has prioritized available funds for other higher profile projects.

The storm-sewer system upgrades along Allen St. from Oak St. to Beacon St. is our most pressing need. The outdated, undersized, deteriorating mains must be upgraded and the cross connections must be corrected. The system overflows with unhealthy, contaminated flooding water which continues to threaten our properties and structures. Our property values have declined by 15%. Our engineers report the Allen St. storm-sewer system is at crisis levels. Elected and appointed city officials; Where is the money for our most pressing need?

THE CAUSE IS UNDENIABLE…
THE EFFECTS WILL BE CATASTROPHIC IF THE FLOODING IS ALLOWED TO CONTINUE!

Thank you.

F&S Chase