Anonymous said... HRA Comments by NB Alderman Jamie Giantonio...
I have the utmost respect for HRA and the services they provide. Sitting through the CDBG grant process you see all the lives this agency touches and the great services they offer to our residents. However- a deal was negotiated for HRA to pay a below market price for a property, in exchange for 25 years of taxes and 25 years of not asking for exceptions. Taking that into account I felt at least the spirit of the deal should be honored- I was open to discussing a reduced tax rate but the rest of the common council did not feel the same.
I voted on the issue what I felt was best for the citizens of New Britain as a whole and was the sole no vote in a 10-1 approval. As far as I was concerned this issue was a done deal. The first I heard of this possible CPOA lawsuit was when the NB Herald Reporter Mr. Robert Storace called me and asked me for a quote. My comments about a "long legal process" came from discussion I had with attorneys PRIOR to me voting on this HRA item.
When I am actually given advanced notice about an item that will be on our agenda (in the case of this HRA vote I had a whole 5-6 hours) - I take the time to fully understand the item before voting on it. In this case I sought the opinion of several attorneys (Including getting the thoughts of an attorney that works in the NB Corp Counsels office) who all expressed concerns to me about the legality of this and that proceeding with this plan may open the city to a lawsuit.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteHRA Comments by NB Alderman Jamie Giantonio...
I have the utmost respect for HRA and the services they provide. Sitting through the CDBG grant process you see all the lives this agency touches and the great services they offer to our residents. However- a deal was negotiated for HRA to pay a below market price for a property, in exchange for 25 years of taxes and 25 years of not asking for exceptions. Taking that into account I felt at least the spirit of the deal should be honored- I was open to discussing a reduced tax rate but the rest of the common council did not feel the same.
I voted on the issue what I felt was best for the citizens of New Britain as a whole and was the sole no vote in a 10-1 approval. As far as I was concerned this issue was a done deal. The first I heard of this possible CPOA lawsuit was when the NB Herald Reporter Mr. Robert Storace called me and asked me for a quote. My comments about a "long legal process" came from discussion I had with attorneys PRIOR to me voting on this HRA item.
When I am actually given advanced notice about an item that will be on our agenda (in the case of this HRA vote I had a whole 5-6 hours) - I take the time to fully understand the item before voting on it. In this case I sought the opinion of several attorneys (Including getting the thoughts of an attorney that works in the NB Corp Counsels office) who all expressed concerns to me about the legality of this and that proceeding with this plan may open the city to a lawsuit.