The Borough Board of Burgesses made a monumental decision at its October 8 meeting in accepting an official logo.

After having his first design denied last month, Map Agency Owner John Rudolph redrew his proposed logo design for the borough and presented it to Burgess Jim Gaston and Maureen Crick Owen ahead of Tuesday night’s meeting. With approval from Gaston, the logo was then presented at the meeting for approval.

The new logo is similar to the original design presented during the board’s meeting in September, but rather than one star, there are now five. The five stars and stripes represent the five neighborhoods of Newtown: the borough, Botsford, Dodgingtown, Hawleyville, and Sandy Hook.

In his new presentation Rudolph wrote the five stars “reinforce our location in the center of town, and recall why so many people in Newtown give directions with, ‘Starting with the Flag…’”

The logo was approved unanimously with excitement brimming from the table of burgesses.

Senior Burgess Chris Gardner called it “a home run.” Warden Jay Maher added, “It’s progressive but still lends itself to the future.”

With the new and approved logo, Map Agency is moving forward with the website design. Crick Owen hopes the website will be live in the next 30-45 days.

ARPA Doled Out

The burgesses began the meeting with $17,000 in ARPA funds remaining. During the Warden report, they discussed allocating $10,000 to Newtown Forest Association for Nettleton Preserve.

In reading his report, Maher said the funds would go “towards the stewardship costs to do the following, which is to extend the trail network to West Street [and] improve trail markers.”

The funds would additionally “restore the drainage swales to improve performance and install a rain garden to support the swale, manage invasives to reclaim the meadow, orchards, and vista. And anyone who’s been up and down Castle Hill can understand that that’s a big challenge with invasives,” he continued. “And perform an environmental study with soil testing for a baseline purpose for Castle Hill development if Castle Hill Development begins construction.”

Maher said, “Of all the requests that have come before me, I very much want to see this one realized.”

The burgesses opened a discussion regarding this request. Gardner opened by saying he thought the request was for $10,000.

“That’s beyond money well spent,” he said. “I was surprised when I saw the number, that’s all? I think it’s absolutely got merit, very important projects.”

Burgess John Madzula suggested giving NFA more money, but the allocation remained at $10,000.

“The idea is we have $17,000 left,” Maher said. “So, you know, we’re coming to the end of the day when we have to award this money.”

The motion was proposed and passed unanimously, leaving the borough with $7,000 in unallocated ARPA funds.

After the motion was approved, the tree warden’s report was read. Tree Warden Rob McCulloch suggested having all the trees on Main Street and Queen Street fertilized. The enclosed quote was for $8,000 from Newtown Arborist.

“I don’t know that we need to make a motion. The proposal is for $8,000, which is significant,” Maher noted.

McColloch’s report also included a suggestion that the work be done yearly.

Gardner said he would “be inclined to just use up the money to be honest … [the trees] are so important to the appearance of our downtown.”

Crick Owen agreed with Gardner.

“Let’s use the remainder of the money,” she added. “I mean unless you think something else is coming through, why wait until the 11th hour to determine what we’re going to use the money for?”

A motion was made to allocate the remaining ARPA funds towards deep root aeration fertilization for the trees. The motion passed unanimously.

Maher said, “So that basically does ARPA money … $548,000 and change.”

Crick Owen added, “A lot got accomplished.”

Sidewalks

Maher is working closely with the state DOT to complete the drawings for the Church Hill Road and Queen Street sidewalk project. Contracts need to be drafted and signed by the end of the year to comply with ARPA guidelines, he said.

“We have to have monies obligated — not allocated, obligated. So we actually got what the meaning of ‘obligated’ is, and that means contract,” Maher explained.

He also gave a celebratory update regarding the sidewalks outside 35 Main Street.

“We’ve had great success … with the replacement of broken-down sections of concrete and asphalt-covered sidewalk,” Maher noted.

“We did come over-budget on that project … I had mismeasured the width on the sidewalk,” Maher admitted. The burgesses utilized $2,440 from their $10,000 line item for sidewalks.

They were meant to have a resident present a case for another sidewalk addition from the Liberty and Peace Monument to Summit Lane, but the presenter was not in attendance. The burgesses have preliminary concerns about cost now that the ARPA funds have been accounted for.

Other Borough News

There was brief discussion regarding repainting the vault in Edmond Town Hall that currently serves as a holding cell for borough paperwork. Burgess Sarah Phillips is taking the lead on that project.

Maher is still waiting for a quote regarding the borough sign stolen in late August from the corner of Castle Hill Road and Taunton Lake Road, which has not been found or located. Phillips also shared that there is about $4,500 in the bicentennial fund.

“We made money on that whole ordeal,” Maher added jokingly. Phillips suggested using the money to buy a new sign.

Gardner also shared he is planning on changing the summer flag to the winter flag on October 26.

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