The Borough Board of Burgesses held a regular meeting on Tuesday, August 12, and continued the discussion of traffic calming and safety measures in the flagpole area.

Resident Karen Banks read a letter at the last meeting urging the Borough and Police Commission to take action in protecting pedestrians and motorists. This month, she wrote another letter continuing her urgency. Before the burgesses’ meeting, Banks went to the Police Commission first and presented the letter there.

The letter read in part, “A suggestion at the Burgesses meeting was made for installation of a short rumble strip on the southbound side of Main Street in the hopes of decreasing or at least slowing down drivers who pass on the right at the flagpole. The strip would go from the Oberg Building to the front of the Meeting House. I will request that Warden Joseph Maher put this in his report to the Police Commission.”

She added that she would like to see “more permanent crosswalk signs with solar powered flashing lights, similar to the signs on Glover, be installed on Main Street” near Edmond Town Hall and around the flagpole. Banks presented one more suggestion that was not previously heard at other meetings, and that is to remove the perpendicular parking spaces at the Meeting House and replace them with two parallel parking spaces in front to increase the visibility for motorists turning out of West Street onto Main Street.

The letter ended with a declaration, “I plan to continue bringing these safety issues up until something satisfactorily is done.” The burgesses then briefly discussed the issue.

Banks said that the Police Commission will not act unless the burgesses submit a recommendation for traffic calming measures, and Senior Burgess Chris Gardner said the burgesses “definitely will” write a recommendation.

Banks and Burgess John Madzula talked about how turning off West Street used to work in the old days, but with the rising number of cars on the road and the speeds increasing, both agreed that it is “not working.”

After this conversation, Warden Jay Maher then moved on to briefly discuss the Borough coverage under the town insurance policy. He handed Burgess Maureen Crick Owen a 38-page packet of information, which Burgess Jim Gaston said he would review and talk more about at the next meeting.

Another letter was read at Tuesday’s meeting, this one from Borough resident Jared Modzelewski seeking an exemption from the recent ordinance passed restricting e-bikes from using the sidewalks.

Modzelewski’s letter read, in part, “I’m writing this respectfully to request a letter of exemption from the new bike ordinance recently enacted in our Borough. As a responsible young father, I rely on my e-bike to transport my children to and from school and to run essential errands … However, I do not feel safe operating our e-bike on local streets, particularly given the prevalence of distracted driving … I feel that continued use of our e-bike under the constraints of the new ordinance places my children and me at risk. As a parent, I must prioritize their safety. Issuing an exemption would honor our commitment to safe, responsible e-bike use while protecting our family.”

Gaston responded to the letter saying, “Well, first of all, I think it’s illegal. You can’t create an exemption for one person unless you make an exemption for everybody.” He also noted, before Maher read the letter, that the ordinance has not even taken effect yet. The new ordinance goes into effect on September 1.

Madzula agreed, adding that creating an exemption would be “discriminatory.” Gardner added that he has never heard of an exemption like this, and Gaston reiterated his point that it would be illegal.

Maher concluded that conversation and moved onto the other items on the agenda.

Borough Taxes, Allocations, And Zoning

Maher reported to the rest of the board that 80% of Borough taxes have been collected. Ann Scaia, the Borough clerk and treasurer, then shared her treasurer’s report. At the end, she informed the board that there was $2,750.10 in legal fees and $666.58 in fees from Garden Club.

Burgess Sarah Phillips informed the board that there was about $4,200 left in the bicentennial fund, so the group motioned to pay the fees with the money from the bicentennial fund, close the account, and move what is left to the general account.

Then, Maher read the zoning report. The first line from that report was about 14 Church Hill Road and the old bank drive-through ATM. Maher said that a zoning permit was issued for Café Duo, a coffee shop.

There were a few other items on the report, one of them being the property at 69 Main Street. The report read, “additional paperwork still unresolved, waiting on owner.” Doug Nelson, the Borough Zoning Commission chair, talked a bit more about the property and the steps he will take to ensure compliance.

Maher said he thought the owners cleaned it up, but Nelson answered that they “just didn’t do a good job at it.”

“Essentially, not much has happened since the cease & desist was put up. Nothing has been received … I don’t know what the sense of urgency is there. I suspect there isn’t one, which means what we have we’re gonna see for a while unless we do something,” Nelson said.

Gaston suggested giving the owners a timeline, and Nelson said he would. He explained that after the second warning, fines are issued for noncompliance with the zoning regulations that could be up to $100 a day. Crick Owen and Gaston said not to give the owners a second warning and to start fining them if there is no response to the next letter. Crick Owen and Gaston pointed out that this has been ongoing for at least three months and needs to end.

Sidewalks And The Summer Flag

Maher said the Borough has finally received the permit for the redesign and construction of the Church Hill Road and Queen Street sidewalk project. He hopes that construction will start soon, citing this fall as a possibility.

Gardner then informed the group that the summer flag unfortunately had to come down due to a large tear. He plans to take it to a seamstress, though is not “optimistic” that she can fix it.

“It’s likely that we will have to keep the smaller flag up from here on in because a new flag for the summer costs about $800,” Gardner said. He then updated the group on the finial, saying that the contractor is waiting to coordinate with a company out of Danbury to get a lift to install the new golden globe.

Crick Owen then shared that John Rudolph, owner of Map Agency, received the silver 2025 Connecticut Art Directors Club Annual Award for his work on the new Borough website and the redesign of Edmond Town Hall’s website.

“I think that speaks highly to John and his talent,” Crick Owen said.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.