A click-click-clicking sound filled the hallway of Town Hall South on Tuesday night, April 9, as Brad Accettella rolled a children’s bicycle into the Parks and Recreation meeting.

His company, Guardian Bikes ([naviga:u]guardianbikes.com[/naviga:u]), sells directly to consumers, he told recreation members. “Blemished bikes come back to the warehouse,” he said. Currently about 100 bikes, “in good shape,” are at a warehouse in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Mr Accettella “would love to donate to Parks & Rec,” he said.

He estimates a cost of roughly $3500 to ship them to Newtown.

“Really, this is one of the best gifts I’ve seen; we’re thrilled,” said commission Chairman Ed Marks. “It makes great sense.”

He then requested a motion to support the donation, which was quickly approved by commission members. They will now “find funds,” from an as yet undetermined recreation account to pay for shipping, said Mr Marks.

Recreation Director Amy Mangold “can’t wait for” a bike share program, where visitors to the new Community Center and Fairfield Hills campus can use them, bring them back, and practice bike riding, she said.

Rolling the bicycle closer to the commission, he noted its safe-brake system, SureStop, making the bike stop safely. “We focus on safety and kids learning to ride a bike,” he said. “This has a special braking system, so you don’t flip over the handlebars.”

He then briefly mentioned an incident that prompted the brake design, which is explained on the company website: “Our mission is accident-free biking. Our journey started when our founder’s grandfather was in a serious head-over-handlebar accident after grabbing his front brake too hard. The accident sent him to the hospital with several broken vertebrae in his neck. We were inspired to develop something new for bikes which would eliminate this accident from ever happening again.”

In 2013, the company introduced SureStop technology to the market, the site states. Guardian Bikes “was born” a few years later to “educate the industry on what a safer kids bike looked like.”

Assistant Director of Parks Carl Samuelson said he would find storage for the bikes and “look into bike racks” at the community center or at Fairfield Hills.

Commission members talked about providing helmets for bike riders, keeping track of the bikes, and potentially raising funds for additional costs.

Mr Accettella talked about the possibility of securing bike grants and also looking into “helping out” with helmets.

According to “Our Story” on Guardian Bikes’s Facebook page, “Guardian’s mission is to build the world’s safest kids’ bikes. We believe a bike should be a part of every childhood, but injuries shouldn’t. By engineering a way to make kids feel safe and confident while riding, we encourage them to be active and healthy by spending more time outdoors.”