Facts Not Fiction, Regarding

Fairfield Hills/Town Offices

To The Editor:

I commend the Legislative Council for having the courage to support the Board of Selectmen’s efforts to move projects forward at Fairfield Hills.

For over 40 years town offices have been spread all over Newtown. Homeowners and business owners wishing to take out permits have had to shuttle back and forth between various offices to conduct business with the town. Employees of the town are in the same predicament, leading to waste and inefficiency for both taxpayers and the town. The current town offices at Edmond Town Hall are overcrowded and inefficient. The town clerk’s vault has been over capacity for storage of documents for quite some time.

In 2001, town residents were very clear in the direction they wanted for Newtown, when over 900 people voted for the acquisition of Fairfield Hills. It was clearly stated in the bond issue that part of the funding for the bond issue was to provide both town offices and Board of Education offices at Fairfield Hills. The voting on that day was part of the democratic process and must count. Neither a recreation center nor a senior center were ever part of the bonding.

Subsequently, the Board of Finance and the Legislative Council have adopted a Capital Improvement Plan that includes: school needs and a recreation/senior center. The funding of these programs are not an either/or proposition/choice. They all will be done. Renovations of a building at Fairfield Hills for a town hall will not stop these other projects from moving forward.

Renovating a building at Fairfield Hills for a town hall represents only ten percent of the Town of Newtown borrowing for capital projects over the next five years. If you don’t believe the above are true, you can go to the Town of Newtown website: www.newtown-ct.gov. All documents concerning Fairfield Hills are on the website.

Finally, it should be made clear that the Board of Education, Superintendent Evan Pitkoff, and Board Chairman Elaine McClure on two separate occasions met with town government officials to make it clear that the Board of Education would have offices at Fairfield Hills. They went so far as to give the architect the amount of space they would need. How any Board of Education member could not be aware of this is amazing.

Jay Gill

8 Spruce Drive, Sandy Hook                                    February 13, 2007