NEW HAVEN, CT — The Board of Alders voted Monday, Oct. 5, to borrow up to $27 million for the city's share of the Horn and Jackson wrongful-conviction settlements and approved about $1.8 million in tutoring and afterschool contracts. On Thursday, Oct. 8, the board's Finance Committee sent six items back to the full board with favorable reports, among them a rewrite of the city's purchasing rules and new off-peak prices at the Ralph Walker Ice Rink.
All three meetings this week were recorded and posted on the Board of Alders YouTube channel. Formal minutes had not been posted by Friday. The actions below come from the vote notes the city added to the posted Board of Alders agenda, the city's legislative records and reporting by the New Haven Independent.
Board of Alders
No alder voted against the settlement bonds; Ward 21 Alder Troy Streater abstained. Our story covers the vote. The board also gave Howd & Ludorf, the outside firm that defended the city in those suits, another $235,000.
The contracts for students, all running through June 2027:
- United Way of Greater New Haven, up to $700,000 for the New Haven Tutoring Initiative, approved the same night by unanimous consent.
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater New Haven, up to $304,000 for reading and enrichment programs for public school students, part of the New Haven Afterschool Initiative, passed in an amended version.
- New Haven Counts, up to $813,000 for math and sports programs under the same initiative. The board amended an order it had already passed.
Alders also approved a 10-year lease with Christian Community Action for 124 Sylvan Ave., with options to renew. Two ordinance changes that set one process for enforcing civil citations passed 25-0, as did a $37,451 transfer from the contract reserve to the salary account of the mayor's labor relations office. Another order closes College Street from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, between Wall and Grove streets, with a rolling closure between Crown and Grove, for an event Unite Here asked for. The board granted tax relief to Congregation B'nai Jacob and to several homeowners and car owners.
Several measures had a first reading and will come back for a vote later. They include a resolution asking Yale University to protect its institutional autonomy rather than settle with the Trump administration, rules for parking oversized and commercial vehicles in residential, park and cemetery zones, a new article on automated parking control systems, an update to the juice bar event process and 18 appointments and reappointments to city commissions.
Alders Frank Douglass, Mandy Martinelli and Leland Moore filed an ordinance that would create a short-term rental license program. As the Independent described it, rentals of 30 days or less would be banned unless the owner or a long-term resident runs them, and residents who rent out their own homes would need a license renewed every three years. The proposal went to the Legislation Committee and the City Plan Commission. If adopted, it would take effect Wednesday, March 31, 2027.
Finance Committee
The committee held its public hearing Thursday evening. The city's legislative records list a favorable report on each item, which sends them to the full board. Any changes the committee made will show in its minutes once they are posted.
- Purchasing code. The changes to four sections of the city's procurement ordinance that our preview described.
- Ralph Walker Ice Rink. The Parks Department's 2026-27 schedule for the rink at Blake Field leaves peak ice rentals at $425 for residents and $475 for nonresidents and brings in off-peak rates of $255 and $295 an hour. Off-peak would run 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 9 to 11 p.m.; peak covers 4 to 9 p.m. and weekends. Public skating stays at $8 for resident adults and $10 for nonresidents.
- Legal bill. An added $77,240.02 for the law firm Karsten & Tallberg. Corporation Counsel Allison Jacobs wrote that the cost came from the nearly five-week trial in Stefon Morant's civil rights suit against the city.
- Job titles. A police mechanic would become a lead mechanic and the Human Resources benefits administrator a benefits operations manager, changes the administration called budget neutral. A City Plan executive administrative assistant post would become an administration and finance manager, to be advertised at $74,178, below the $92,941 the city budgeted for it.
- Parking enforcement. A multi-year contract for Passport Labs Inc. to supply the city's parking enforcement software and equipment. The city chose the company from six proposals; the committee had taken no action on it Monday, Aug. 31.