Selectmen Appoint Steering Committee For Tercentennial

Newtown’s Board of Selectmen appointed members of the Steering Committee of the Newtown Tercentennial Commission October 6 and approved the committee’s statement of purpose.

The committee’s chairman, Town Historian Dan Cruson, described the committee as a “stellar group” of people. “This will prove to be an exciting program over the next couple of years,” he said.

Vice Chairman Mae Schmidle said the tercentennial celebration “will be one of the most exciting and important events ever. The first order of business will be a logo. We’re looking for local talent.”

Mr Rosenthal asked Finance Director Ben Spragg to send a budget request form to Mr Cruson so the commission could apply for seed money for the celebration planning.

The selectmen also set a town meeting for October 23 at 7 pm in the conference room of Town Hall South to vote on an appropriation of $300,000 for the Board of Education for school-generated fees.

The selectmen also voted unanimously against a request submitted by attorney Stephen Savarese on behalf of a client asking that the town consider paying half the cost, or approximately $50,000, to paving a section of Wiley Lane. Residents of the road would pay the other half.

Public Works Director Fred Hurley has advised the board that it costs the $4,500 for gravel and grading of the 12- to 14-foot-wide dirt road and keeping it passable for emergency vehicles, according to a 1968 ordinance.

Town Engineer Ron Bolmer said he was concerned about drainage on the road if it were to be paved. Because of that, he said, since $100,000 was an estimated cost, “It could be more.”

Selectman Joe Bojnowski said since payback for the town’s portion of the expense would take 12 years, the town should continue to pay the $4,500 to maintain it.