To the Editor:

Twenty sides of A frames are made so the Highway Dept can put 10 signs all over our town.

Middle School is notified so the gym is not used after school on Monday and classes are moved for Tuesday.

Custodians are notified so they can lock up later at night, Monday and Tuesday. They need the lights on at 5 am so the poll workers can be let into the building safely on Tuesday to get ready for all of the residents coming to vote.

The Highway guys meet our staff early Monday and Wednesday to transport all the election equipment required. That is after they empty Sandy Hook Fire Department’s trailer so things can be transported.

The Police Department schedules someone to cover traffic flow at drop-off and pick-up time.

There are weeks of preparation by our office getting ready for this day, ie, hiring poll workers and training those workers; getting prices and arranging food for those workers that work from 5 am until at least 9 pm. (November elections can be much later); creating the template and printing the ballots; testing all the equipment and preparing forms for voting day — Carmella, the BOE IT expert, sets up our special wifi for the computer check-offs.

The fourth Tuesday in April is our chance to voice our opinion over the spending of our tax dollars. We have almost 19,000 registered voters. I would like to thank the 1,474 people who voted Tuesday.

Should we eliminate the automatic referendum and:

Change and have the Council set the budget, with the right to petition to hold a referendum?

Change the date to maybe a Saturday so most people aren’t working?

Change the time so the budget is set at least 22 days before absentees can be mailed?

Any change would require a charter revision so please speak up fast. A referendum runs about $10,000. Is this the best use of our tax dollars?

Is this process working?

Thank you,

LeReine Frampton

Newtown

Editor’s Note: The writer is the elected Democratic Registrar of Voters for Newtown.