Time For An Open Discussion

On Fairfield Hills

To the Editor:

We must be told the truth about Fairfield Hills.

The Independent Party has been vilified because it wants answers to its many questions, but since they are not forthcoming, it is imperative that an open forum be held before another dime of our money is spent!

In all candor, I have been an Independent since the first day I had a right to vote, but to avoid any conviction for my association with this group, I write as a concerned citizen of Newtown and ask everyone to join me in insisting that such an open forum be held.

Let’s discuss both the needs and the costs of a new town hall.

I’ve been told that the numbers we have been given are not only based on costs that were estimated many years ago, but don’t include roofs, sewers, water, telephone, gas or oil lines — any number of the necessary things that have to be included in the final estimates.

The financial controls have been so weak that spending for one baseball field soared to $790,000 from the estimated $150,000 we were promised when the initial plans were drawn.

I need to be convinced that the Danbury Hospital will only agree to a facility there if Fairfield Hills includes a new town hall. Tell me of any other town in Connecticut where such a thing like this is true!

With reference to the other prospective lessees, who among them has put in writing their decision to lease only on the same basis? The only business that exists near the Edmond Town Hall is a delicatessen. Other businesses seem to survive quite well regardless of where they are located.

I would like to hear the math that was used to arrive at the leases under discussion. On the surface, obtaining one appears to be the best investment any developer could make.

The list goes on and on.

Please, if you are a concerned citizen, and you have to be, join me in asking for…demanding…an open discussion so that these and many other questions can be answered in front of us, rather than behind those closed doors.

I urge you to call our first selectman, Joe Borst, at 426-4201 today and insist that he arrange for such a public hearing, ASAP! Failing such an open forum, it is conceivable that we could be paying for Fairfield Hills for the rest of our lives. I can only hope I’m wrong.

Richard Cole

72 Main Street, Newtown                                      January 16, 2008