A crosswalk at Church Hill Road and Queen Street, part of a “Cadillac project” of sidewalks and a crosswalk at the middle school that has been mutually funded by the Town of Newtown and the Borough of Newtown, is “stuck” with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, said Borough Warden Jay Maher.

Maher reported at the August 8 Board of Burgesses meeting that he had submitted three requests for information about any approvals or rejections of the plan, but it’s “been at a standstill” for the past four months.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Maher.

Maher was hoping to package the crosswalk work with the sidewalk work on Sugar Street, which is “ready to go,” since he believes the borough could get a better deal from a contractor by packaging both projects together rather than bidding them out separately.

“I’m confident we’d get a better price with them together,” said Maher.

Earlier this year, the town and borough agreed to mutually fund a sidewalk and crosswalk project, consisting of 1,400 feet of sidewalk along Sugar Street to Madison Drive, costing $194,000; and the crosswalk project at the intersection of Church Hill Road and Queen Street, costing $144,000.

The town is picking up $200,000 of the $338,000 cost using American Rescue Plan funds, leaving the borough to fund the remaining $138,000 for the project.

In other Borough of Newtown news, an oversight on the five recently installed “Welcome to the Borough of Newtown” signs will cost the borough $320 to correct. The signs were supposed to be double-sided, with “Welcome to the Borough” on one side and “Now leaving the Borough” on the other. An oversight led to the signs saying “welcome” on both sides, however.

“We thought the company would realize that we wanted them to be similar to the two sets of signs they did for the Historic District,” said Maher. “That they would be consistent with those.”

Maher wanted the company to correct the signs “but they won’t hear of it.” So the Borough is taking on the “modest expense” of putting small plaques over the sign that will change them to saying “now leaving.”

The burgesses appropriated money from its streets and parks line item to pay the expense.

Also on Tuesday, burgess Sarah Phillips reported that the Bicentennial Committee, set to celebrate the borough’s 200th anniversary next year, has “interested large sponsors” and is currently setting up an informational website.

The committee plans to send out Save The Date notices for a kick-off cocktail event at Marygold's event planned for May 2024. She said C.H. Booth Library and the Borough’s Historic District are both interested in participating, and the committee is looking to the schools for children’s artwork.

“There’s a good buzz around it,” said Phillips.

Burgess Maureen Crick Owen said she has been in contact with The Mary Hawley Society to see if they would be interested in participating.

Maher said the borough will “bend over backwards to assist in any endeavor necessary to keep this going.”

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.