The Fairfield Hills Authority Elects A New Chairman

By Susan coney

The Fairfield Hills Authority elected Robert Geckle as its new chairman Tuesday, marking a change in its leadership from when it was an ad hoc committee reporting to the Board of Selectman.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal thanked the members of the newly minted authority for their service on the group’s previous incarnation, the Fairfield Hills Ad Hoc Committee, expressing special gratitude to that group’s chairman and former schools superintendent, John Reed.

“I would like to thank John Reed for all the time, blood, sweat, and tears he has devoted to this committee,” said Mr Rosenthal. “He has already served our community in the past and continues to do so.”

The first selectman went on to thank all the members of the committee for giving their time and talents to continue to serve in managing the Fairfield Hills property. “A special thanks goes to Julia Wasserman for her guidance and wisdom,” Mr Rosenthal added.

The authority decided to table election of the vice chairman until the next meeting due to the absence of one committee member. Jan Andras was appointed as the authority’s clerk.

At the meeting, Maria DeMarco, representing the firm DeMarco, Miles and Murphy, the facility managers hired by the Town of Newtown to enforce security at the Fairfield Hills site, told the committee that there has been a considerable amount of trouble with dogs running loose on the property, posing a potential danger to the community. She said that individuals walking dogs at Fairfield Hills should follow the current state law that requires owners to keep control over their dogs at all times. She noted that “control” under the law is a loose term, meaning control by voice, hand signals, or leash — the interpretation of the law is left up to the individual.

Mr Rosenthal corroborated Ms DeMarco observations, saying that his office has received numerous reports of dog owners allowing their dogs to run loose and soiling the fields and sidewalks. He went on to say that some people are frightened by unleashed dogs. “The problem is that dog owners are allowing their dogs to go to the bathroom on the sport fields and then people go out and play in those fields,” he said.

Member Dick Sturdevant asked the group to consider placing receptacles on the site intended for dog waste disposal.

Security officials at the Fairfield Hills site have reported that one dog allowed to run loose chased a deer out into the road causing a car accident in which the dog owner was cited as being at fault.

Chairman Geckle suggested that the problem has gotten out of hand and proposed that the authority impose a leash rule at Fairfield Hills. Mr Rosenthal supported the idea, noting that the authority was certainly empowered to do so.

Authority member Bill Lavery asked if there was an area that could be set aside to allow people to run their dogs off leash.

“We could certainly check in to that,” the first selectman said, adding, however, “we have had trouble with coyotes this year, so people don’t want their dogs loose and interacting with coyotes.”

The authority voted unanimously to impose a set of rules and regulations requiring leashes for dogs to be presented at the group’s next meeting and then posted on the Fairfield Hills campus.

In other business, the authority voted to provide funds to Nancy Gould, landscape designer and master gardener in charge of doing the landscape plantings at the Fairfield Hills site, so that she might purchase plant material and arrange for sidewalk work to take place around the security house located on the corner of Wasserman Way and Trades Lane.

Ms Gould presented to the group a design and specific list of plants to be used in the project and stressed that timing was crucial since the master gardeners who were extending their services to Newtown free of charge through the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension program would only be available to do the planting until the end of September.

Ms Gould also emphasized that she preferred to get the sidewalk at the security location put in before the plantings were completed.  She presented to the committee costs and plans to complete three areas around the security house, the foundation of the house, around the electrical pad, and at a corner gate and parking lot area.

The committee agreed to provide up to $4,000 for plants and up to $5,000 for the installation of either a concrete or Bomanite walk way, allowing Ms Gould and her group of master gardeners the opportunity to begin immediately.