Fairfield Hills

Should Support Itself

To the Editor:

The school/town hall/Fairfield Hills situation in Newtown needs some management help. Have we gotten input from officials in well-managed towns, like Ridgefield’s First Selectman Rudy Marconi?

A few years ago, he pushed through something he called “the bundle,” a huge funding package to expand and build schools, as well as other facilities for other constituencies in town, so that everyone supported it. This replaced the small capital requests year after year without long-range planning. Ridgefield now has a new middle school, like Newtown, but also an addition on its high school, a large, standalone senior center, and a separate, new recreation facility with a pool. Also, a lake beach! Interestingly, they use their old, traditional town hall on Main Street with pride.

In Newtown, I have read things about the town hall being unsafe and inadequate for employees too. A big area of concern seems to be storage space for them — can a portable storage area be utilized? I think we need an up-and-down vote on simply using the old traditional town hall, versus the concept of building a new one. Then, we can make whatever the choice is, work.

Most importantly, we need to transition, immediately, from a Fairfield Hills that hemorrhages much-needed town funds, to something that adds to the town’s coffers. Some of the options might be distasteful, but we don’t have the luxury of using the entire property for the town. The property should not have been purchased by the town without a plan to make it support itself. It should not be taking money away from our schools and other town departments.

Lisa Romano

12 Phyllis Lane, Newtown                                         February 6, 2007