Newtown taxpayers will be able to get a thorough understanding of the multimillion dollar emergency communications system upgrade they are being asked to endorse at the upcoming budget referendum by tuning in to an April 12 webcast hosted by The Newtown Bee.

This will be The Bee’s third new video project in as many weeks. This 5:30 pm forum will stream live on the newspaper’s Facebook site, and recorded via Zoom to be archived on its YouTube channel.

On April 27, local taxpayers will be called to the polls to vote on the town and school district budget requests, along with capital bonding authorizations for a $1.5 million gas boiler and LED lighting upgrade for the Reed Intermediate School; $3.7 million for a permanent Sandy Hook Memorial; and $5,041,933 — the remaining balance of the emergency radio system upgrade.

Voters are only being asked to authorize the balance because in 2020, under an executive order due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Legislative Council authorized $2.5 million for the first phase of the $7.5 million improvement. The funds authorized last year primarily paid for hardware and equipment that had to be ordered far in advance of the installation, which will commence later this year after the rest of the funding is okayed.

The April 12 webcast will open with brief remarks by First Selectman Dan Rosenthal. The panel will include:

*Sandy Hook Fire Chief and Newtown Emergency Management Director Bill Halstead;

*Newtown Emergency Communications Director Maureen Will; and

*Mark DeWolfe, a longtime local volunteer firefighter who assisted in developing the project.

The Newtown Bee is also co-hosting a webcast Monday, March 29, at 6 pm, focusing on youth suicide awareness and prevention. This event is presented in partnership with Newtown’s newly seated Suicide Prevention Initiative headed by Selectman Maureen Crick Owen and Commission on Aging Chair Anna Wiedemann. It will include panelists from the Newtown Middle School, the Newtown Police Department, and Connecticut Children’s health network.

On the following Monday, April 5, at 5:30 pm, The Newtown Bee will host an informational panel discussing the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial project and its related $3.7 million bonding authorization, also going before voters in late April.

Residents interested in learning more about the memorial’s development will hear from panel participants including:

*First Selectman Rosenthal with welcoming remarks;

*Newtown Public Building & Site Commission Chair Robert Mitchell;

*Permanent Memorial Commission Chair Daniel Krauss

*Designers Daniel Affleck and Ben Waldo of San Francisco’s SWA Group;

*Tara Vincenta from Artemis Landscape Architects of Sandy Hook and Bridgeport; and

*Construction manager Michael MacDonald from Downes Construction Company.

The webcasts will be produced and moderated by Newtown Bee Associate Editor John Voket.

All of The Newtown Bee’s panels, forums, and videos are free to view either live on Facebook or under the ‘Videos’ tab, or at youtube.com/user/thenewtownbee.