On Monday night the Hamden Legislative Council met for a Special Meeting and voted to accept a $500,000 gift fund from Quinnipiac University as part of a three year commitment.
After a public comment section Council President Dominique Baez motioned for an order authorizing Mayor Lauren Garrett to expend funds for the Quinnipiac University gift fund. The council motioned to move it to the regular agenda to open it up for conversation.
Chief of Staff Sean Grace opened the conversation with an overview of the $500,000 gift fund.
“A certain portion of that is really a remittance for our police and fire for the work that they do, extra duty work that they do for the university,” Grace said.
The portion is $300,000 of the gift fund. The rest of the funds go to other requests from both Quinnipiac and Hamden.
For the remainder, the university likes “to earmark the funds to very specific things that match up with their agenda as a university in the community,” Grace said. “And they had some asks, we had some asks.”
One of Hamden’s requests is funding — about $3,000 — for the Bear Path Composting Program in Hamden.
Included in Quinnipiac’s requests is money allocated to the police department to help fund the Police Activity League (PAL). $50,000 would be funded to PAL.
In a press release on June 6, Hamden Police Chief Edward Reynolds introduced PAL.
“PAL is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering positive relationships between youth, police, and the community,” Reynolds wrote. “Our mission is to promote partnerships through socio-emotional, educational, athletic and recreational programs designed to encourage trust and cooperation among law enforcement and community members.”
PAL offers programs to children ages eight to 18.
“We believe that by working together, we can create a safer, more supportive environment for our youth, strengthening the bond between our police officers and the community they serve,” Reynolds wrote.
Later on, District V Council Member Rhonda Caldwell questioned how the decision was made to allocate $300,000 of the fund to the police and fire departments.
“It is a set fee that several years ago, (the) previous administration arrived at (in) agreement with Quinnipiac,” Grace said. “They prefer to pay once a year, and have a specific dollar figure that they would pay, which helps them with their accounting.”
Grace said there “probably will be a discussion with them to revisit that at some point” and pointed out that it is being looked at closely.
Caldwell further noted that “there’s been no calculation on that, so this is kind of a ballpark number.”
“It’s not so much a, you know, a ballpark,” Grace said. “I think it matched up back when they made this, you know, several years ago, when this agreement was made with the town. That’s the figure that they arrived at then. And I’m assuming that then it matched up pretty closely to the actual dollar figure.”
Caldwell closed this portion of the discussion before moving on, noting that: “We don’t want Quinnipiac to be getting a deal because they have the money to pay.”
At Large Council Member Tom Figlar later brought up a question regarding money Quinnipiac previously donated to Hamden Middle School, inquiring if it was separate from this gift fund. The university had previously donated $48,000 to Hamden Middle School sports. This is different from the $500,000 gift fund accepted on Monday night. However, both are part of the three year commitment. The money donated to Hamden Middle School was part of year one and the $500,000 gift fund as part of year two.
The council then voted unanimously to accept the gift fund from Quinnipiac.
“Quinnipiac University is proud to continue its strong partnership with the town of Hamden and, President Marie Hardin recently presented the town with a $500,000 contribution to help cover the costs of essential police and fire services, while also supporting initiatives that align with the university’s mission,” John Morgan, associate vice president for public relations, wrote in a statement to The Chronicle.
The university donated to North Haven as well.
“We also remain deeply committed to North Haven, home to our North Haven Campus and five professional schools, reflecting Quinnipiac’s roots in both communities,” Morgan wrote. “The University has also made a $300,000 contribution to the town of North Haven to support shared priorities and services. Through volunteer programs, service fellowships and other engagement efforts, Quinnipiac faculty, staff, students and alumni are actively invested in making a positive difference in the region.”
