The Fairfield Hills Leases

To the Editor:

I commend Attorney Robert Hall for speaking at the selectmen’s meeting of January 7, and bringing forth the fact that the proposed lease agreements are not complete.

The town attorney stated that he was waiting for a return call from another lawyer to bring about small changes to be settled. What changes? Remediation of lead paint? Abatement of asbestos? Parking spaces at a cost of $1,400–$4,000 per space to be paid for by the town taxpayers or the funds of the FFH Authority? Who maintains the parking lots? Who pays for the installation of the lights? Who pays for the installations of utilities? Is it the town taxpayers? Is it the FFH Authority (does it have any bond money left)? Is it the tenants who will benefit from these leases? These costs are not small change!

Given the magnitude of the potential financial obligations of the town, it would not appear that the taxpayers will benefit from the leases. The former administration, as well as the FFH Authority, is pushing for First Selectman Joe Borst to sign these incomplete leases now before they have been finalized and fully reviewed. I commend Mr Borst for holding off until he is presented with acceptable and financially beneficial leases, a truly professional, prudent and measured approach for protecting the town. Better still, I would hope that a fully vetted cost/benefit analysis would be completed to see if any of the leases would really benefit the taxpayers, provide them an acceptable return on their investments or will they simply raise our taxes, increase traffic, and provide large profits to a few developers.

Early signing of any incomplete document is just plain ludicrous. Most important, the documents should protect the taxpayers from further expenditures and safeguard the citizens from future financial obligations. Putting forth more money to justify the path chosen by the FFH Authority (appointed by the previous administration) is unacceptable.

Kenneth Johnson

16 Chestnut Hill, Sandy Hook January 9, 2008