In the July 25, 2025 edition of The Newtown Bee, an article was written concerning public participation by the town’s two Registrars of Voters at the July 16 Legislative Council meeting.

At that meeting, Democratic Registrar of Voters LeReine Frampton and Republican Registrar of Voters Erica Campbell spoke about pushback their office had been hearing over the budget cut to town curbside recycling pick-up.

The cut in question was part of over $1 million in cuts made by the Board of Finance in March and subsequently approved by voters through referendum in April. In spite of those cuts, and others made by the Legislative Council, residents faced a $1.81 million increase to their taxes.

As chroniclers of various issues in this town, one thing that struck The Newtown Bee Editorial staff from July at the meeting was when Frampton said voters “want to know when they voted to discontinue a service that has been in effect since 1991.”

It should be noted that The Bee reported on the cut for months including when it was first floated by First Selectman Jeff Capeci in his initial draft budget, when the money was restored by the Board of Selectmen at large, and again when it was cut a second time by the Board of Finance. It was mentioned when we lauded the Board of Finance for making difficult decisions in a tough budget year. It was also mentioned in all reporting leading up to the April 22 referendum. Perhaps the reporter could have mentioned it more prominently, but it was no longer a new development.

Be that as it may, The Bee is going to try and give its due diligence and shout loudly for those in the back: There is another chance for those opposed to the cut to curbside recycling to weigh in. The Legislative Council has set a public hearing for 7 pm Wednesday, September 3, in the Council Chambers at the municipal center, to discuss revisions to the ordinance controlling solid waste. The main aim of this revision is to remove all language pertaining to curbside recycling.

While it is too late this budget year to restore curbside pickup in the back half of this fiscal year — the Town will have no money for it — resident opposition to revising the ordinance could send a clear message to town officials that residents would like to see curbside recycling continue in the future. This is a chance for residents to weigh in and make their voices heard concerning this issue, and The Bee has been hearing the voice of the public in opposition to it through phone calls and letters. The September 3 public hearing will be a direct opportunity to weigh in with the town’s policy makers.

This once again underscores just how important and valuable a resource a local hometown paper can be. Possibly, if more residents were picking up their copy of The Bee and reading, or making newtownbee.com a regular stop in their online scrolling, they would have also known they were voting in April on something like curbside recycling, like our regular readers did. Hopefully this editorial catches their eye.