Two street issues brought before council

City council approved over $300,000 in repairs to Southeast Fourth Street

At a recent meeting, Milford City Council heard information about two street issues in the city. The first was related to the West Shores development and the second was on Southeast Fourth Street between Marshall and Fisher Streets.

“We put this on the agenda. There are issues with West Shores and the paving of the roads. All of you are aware of it. We discussed it in Executive Session. It is a legal matter at the moment, so I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to have discussion in public, simply because anything we say can be used,” Mayor Todd Culotta said. “So, I wanted to use this opportunity to give the public an opportunity to comment in a public session, to have it heard and recorded. So that’s why I wanted to put this on here.”

City Solicitor David Rutt explained the rules for public comment before Mayor Culotta opened the floor for questions or concerns. No one in council chambers spoke nor did anyone attending the meeting online.

“We give an opportunity for the public to speak. Now as council people, especially in the first ward, if you still get comments from folks, please bring them,” Mayor Culotta said. “Like I said, it’s legal matter and legal matters as we know are discussed in Executive Session. If there’s ever anything to vote on or anything like that, it’ll be done out here.” Councilwoman Madula Kalesis, who represents Ward One, commented that she had received many comments from her constituents about the issue.

The next discussion was related to Southeast Fourth Street near the entrance to Fortunata’s Bakery. City Engineer James Puddicombe explained that the street had basically crumbled as it did not have any stone underneath.

“So, what we’re proposing is to remove the road that’s there, put in some stormwater catch basins, in the process replacing a water main that’s in that section of road. Dig out the road, put stone, and build the road back up properly,” Puddicombe said. “In order to do that, we’re proposing to just amend the contract to the streets contractor we have already since they were the low bidder. In total, we’re proposing to set aside $355,753 for the total repair.”

In litigation which does not allow council to talk publicly about it, Milford City Council opened the floor to public comment regarding street paving in West Shores

Puddicombe stated that the cost of the repairs would be split between water reserves in the amount of $91,995.75 and Real Estate Transfer Tax (RTT) in the amount of $263,757.38. Puddicombe also stated that city crews had gone out to make a temporary repair, but there was concern that winter weather could lead to those repairs failing. Councilman Jason James asked if because this was not in the budget would this mean another project would be eliminated or pushed to another year.

“I can address the question of whether or not it was in the budget and whether other projects were crowded out. No, this was not in the 2025 CIP or capital budget. It did not crowd out other projects, but it consumed that thin slice of water reserves that remained available for other projects not already spoken for,” Lou Vitola, Finance Manager, said. “For RTT, while it did consume a significant portion, there’s still available reserves in RTT, should some other kind of emergency arise, but, but no other projects had to be crowded out at this time to be able to work these into reserves.”

Puddicombe explained that staff often shifts road projects around when they find one that has deteriorated more than expected.

“So, this road will be shifted in, and roads that are maybe not in as bad condition or don’t have as many utility issues will actually be shifted out. With that said, the water main that needed to be replaced would fall under one of our capital lines anyway, and would be in need of replacement,” Puddicombe said. “So, it would have been in an out year, but it would have been done in the next five years either which way. So, it’s just a matter of recent angling those next five years in the capital plan, and then by the time we end the year, we hope to be back balanced again.”

City Manager Mark Whitfield pointed out that this project was funded in 2023 and 2024, explaining that there are streets projects that have not started yet, so this change would impact those approved in 2023 and not necessarily those approved for 2025. Councilwoman Katrina Wilson asked if this was routine, to approve changes like this with the same company.

“It is. I think if you already have a contract that was publicly bid for a competitive project, you can extend that project to include additional work and doing either an amendment or change order for that additional work,” Whitfield said. Councilwoman Wilson stated that she just wanted to make sure the city was not too focused on one company over another.

Councilwoman Kalesis questioned why the city was now paying for a repair that seemed to be the fault of a contractor who did not adequately construct the road initially. Whitfield stated that the road was completed more than 20 years ago, and it is likely that when it was constructed, the work met specifications at that time. Puddicombe confirmed, stating that when he says the road was not constructed properly, he meant by today’s standards. Councilman Dan Marabello asked if the city had steps in place to be sure this did not happen in the future and Puddicombe indicated that streets are inspected at each stage of construction to be sure all standards are met.

“Some of questions already got answered, because I also read it as Madula did that this project, they messed up, and we’re fixing it. So, I think it’s important to kind of be content writing these things, because some people do pay attention. And when I read this letter, what it looks like is, we were working through a project and it went wrong, and now we’re paying over $300,000 to fix it,” Councilwoman Lori Connor said. “So, that doesn’t really look good, but now knowing that that was 20 years ago, and we’re fixing it, that makes a lot more sense, and it looks a lot better on paper than this did. And I also was going to ask, what procedures do we have in place to make sure that this doesn’t happen again? That you already answered.”

Councilwoman Nadia Zychal requested that when this road construction was underway, that the city have consideration for the parking lot at Fortunata’s Bakery.

“They have a lot of customers with mobility issues, so parking is kind of important,” Councilwoman Zychal said. “Just be sure there aren’t any forgotten barrels in front of their business for months on end.”

Council approved the expense unanimously.