To the Editor:

It has recently come to the attention of many Newtown residents that contact information for elected and appointed officials has been removed from the town website. First Selectman Llodra unilaterally removed our elected and appointed official's personal e-mail addresses, their phone numbers, and their mailing address from the town website. In its place were either a group board/commission e-mail or new e-mails controlled by the town IT department. No procedures were put in place as to who or how people could see these e-mails.

The issue being raised is simple. Residents are being denied the ability to easily communicate directly with town officials in a way they are comfortable with. Anyone who does not have a computer or does not use e-mail could no longer have access to the phone number nor address of town officials. They simply were out of luck if they wanted to communicate with an official. In some cases taxpayers are being told to contact town employees rather than board members and thus no board member's contact information is available at all. The system put in place has limited functionality and no way to make sure the message is received. The system was poorly conceived, designed, and implemented, with no notice to the public of the planned changes and no chance to provide input on its design. Public funds were wasted redoing the website, correcting mistakes, and now requiring a fully or partial redesign.

After numerous complaints and even the Board of Finance questioning the appropriateness of the changes, the first selectman was finally forced to put some of the deleted contact information back up on the website. Now taxpayers can once again communicate directly to elected officials during and on the budget process. Other boards and commissions contact information is still grossly lacking.

The first selectman should be making it easier for residents to contact officials, not more difficult. The website should include (like it used to) officials' addresses so letters can be sent, their phone numbers so residents can elect to call, and private e-mail addresses so residents can communicate directly without going through a town controlled e-mail system. The method of communication should be up to the residents, not the first selectman, and these options should apply to all elected and appointed town officials.

Bruce Walczak

12 Glover Avenue, Newtown         February 22, 2017