The Borough of Newtown’s Board of Burgesses met on August 13 to discuss its remaining ARPA funds. Discussions included possible action for allocation of funds to Newtown Hook & Ladder to purchase new training equipment, Newtown Forest Association to secure the Deep Brook property, and the Town to fix the Mary Hawley bridge.

Burgess Jim Gaston said, “It’s been my experience that when Hook & Ladder asks for something, they need it.” Senior Burgess Chris Gardner and Warden Jay Maher echoed Gaston’s point, and they moved to allocate $24,000 to Newtown Hook & Ladder to purchase new safety training equipment such as roll-up door prop, smoke generator, and a forcible entry door prop. The motion passed unanimously with Gardner stating, “all fire companies can use this equipment.”

The burgesses then moved to discuss possible action on allocating funds to the Newtown Forest Association to assist in securing the Deep Brook property. The burgesses have discussed this possibility before, but ultimately decided that because Deep Brook is outside of borough limits, they do not want to allocate borough ARPA funds to the project.

Gaston said, “We’re beating a dead horse here, it’s not going to pass.”

Maher replied, “I’m just trying to open a door.” Gardner seemed to agree with this idea, asking if the NFA needs funds to maintain any trails that fall within borough limits. The discussion was tabled, but the burgesses are willing to work with the NFA if they come and ask for assistance with other projects within borough limits.

The town has asked the borough for assistance in repairing the Mary Hawley Bridge at the southern end of Ram Pasture on Hawley Lane. Burgess Maureen Crick Owen described the bridge as being “in dire need of repair.” The estimate to fix the bridge is $11,490, and that work includes grinding existing joints down for replacement and replacing fallen stones.

Maher described that price tag as “miniscule” for the amount of work that needs to be done on the bridge. The motion passed unanimously, and Gaston said the project is “a win-win” for the borough and town.

The burgesses opened up a previous allocation of $47,500 to Edmond Town Hall to assist in the replacement of doors within the building and to improve the internet connections throughout the building. The proposal needed an additional $350, increasing the total to $47,850 for the two projects. The motion passed unanimously.

The town gave some ARPA funds to the borough for assistance in the Sugar Street sidewalks and the Church Hill Road and Queen Street crosswalk project. Unfortunately, the Church Hill and Queen Street project never came to fruition, so the borough has $46,500 in Newtown ARPA funds to reallocate. Maher made a motion to allocate $6,500 to seal the new sidewalks on Sugar Street for the winter to help protect the concrete. The motion passed unanimously as well.

Crick Owen is still working closely with a website developer to create a new website for the Borough of Newtown that puts all zoning documents and regulations, event information, and fun facts about the borough in one place. Crick Owen said the developer has secured a photographer that is going to “spread beyond the center” of the town and capture some drone footage of the borough. She hopes the website will be live in mid to late October.

Borough Zoning Chair Doug Nelson was in attendance at the meeting and discussed possible zoning infractions with Burgess John Madzula. Gaston asked about the text amendment presented by David Ackert at the last public hearing, but Nelson said, “I can’t discuss this outside of a public hearing.” Nelson encourages all those who want to share their thoughts about the proposal to come to the next public hearing, which will be held on Wednesday, August 21 at 7 pm in the Lower Meeting Room of Edmond Town Hall.

The Borough of Newtown also allocated $16,500 from ARPA funds to demo and redo the sidewalk in front of 35 Main Street to be double wide, stamped concrete.

Sworn In: Two New Historic District Commissioners

At the top of the meeting, the burgesses made a motion to reappoint and swear in Karen Boyle as a historic district commissioner and Bruce Walczak as an alternate historic district commissioner. The motion for Boyle was passed unanimously and Walczak’s appointment was approved at the June meeting. Gaston swore them both in for five-year terms.

Other Borough News

Crick Owen is inviting all readers to the Mary Hawley Public Service Award Celebration on August 22, 5 pm, at Edmond Town Hall to celebrate Gordon Williams. This is the first year the award is being presented and Williams will receive $1,000 to give to a local charity of his choice. Crick Owen said, “It was unanimous that Gordon Williams was chosen as the first recipient of this award … he’s very deserving of this award” (See “Gordon Williams To Receive Inaugural Mary Hawley Public Service Award” in last week’s print edition and online)

Crick Owen also informed the burgesses that on Sunday, August 11, the Garden Club hosted a little toast at the Hawley Memorial Vault at Newtown Village Cemetery as the memorial celebrated its centennial this year. She said, “Bronson [Hawley] was there to speak and talk about Mary a little bit. It was a nice little gathering.”

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