To the Editor:

At a Board of Selectmen meeting on 3/20/17, the consulting company hired by the Town of Newtown to help with the community center project, Diversified Project Management, presented new per square footage costs. On 2/13/2016, two months before the referendum on the community center, the average per sq ft price (wet space and dry space) was $232. As of now, the average per sq ft price to build the community center is $379, an increase of over 50 percent.

According to the DPM representative the 2/13/16 costs were "professional guesses and estimates" and were "low balled to get the project going." First Selectman Pat Llodra said, "What got us going down the wrong path on this issue of cost is this document. I didn't appreciate at the time how much these numbers were low balled in order to get this project moving forward."

This "low balling" and "professional guesses" are unethical and deceiving to the residents of Newtown, who in good faith, voted Yes on a project, largely based on these numbers.

Shame on them.

Cris Carvalho

5 Sunset Hill Road, Newtown         March 24, 2017