Change The Dynamics And Let Newtown Flourish

To the Editor:

Newtown’s elected and volunteer leadership is made up of many remarkable people who have stepped up to the plate and contributed their time and talent on behalf of the public. But with the complexity and importance of Newtown’s issues growing as fast as its population, our town government needs greater diversity when it comes to the ideas on the table and the people making decisions.

The members and supporters of the Independent Party of Newtown are well known and have been putting in their own time and energy into Newtown’s decisionmaking process for years. Today, some of them are running for elected office and if they win, you can expect that the dynamics of Newtown’s town government will change for the better.

Whether it’s supporting our schools, securing Fairfield Hills for Newtown, or a call for greater public participation, IPN’s supporters have been engaged in or at the forefront of these issues all along.

I am impressed with the strong slate of candidates that IPN has put forward including Gary Davis, Po Murray, Brendan Duffy, Bob Murray, and others. Yet IPN is also endorsing candidates outside their party who have accomplished great things for Newtown. Joe Borst was the lone Legislative Council member to question the validity of a new town hall at Fairfield Hills; Robert Mulholland, Sr, a tireless advocate of Newtown’s Plan of Conservation & Development, Lillian Bittman, whose resume speaks for itself, and Ruby Johnson, the one person whose name and likeness deserves to one day adorn a plaque at the entry to the Fairfield Hills campus.

Early in the election season, IPN developed a very clear and concise platform of issues which has already elevated the level of debate in Newtown. Zero-based budgeting, for example, is a financial planning tool that I consider very effective. ZBB provides a complete picture of what each line item in a budget actually needs to cost and not just what it has been costing. That’s it, in a nutshell. In just the last few weeks, this topic has received more press in Newtown than it has in the past decade.

 Another IPN initiative which will be reviewed by the Fairfield Hills Authority at their next meeting is a request that the town’s plan to spend $10.5 million for new town offices be shelved for now so that we can first improve and complete a larger area of the campus where the new ball field is and the new Newtown Sports Academy will be built. It’s a great solution and I only wish this idea was also on the ballot next week.

Everyone in town government is working hard to help Newtown move forward. But this year, by voting for the IPN candidates and those candidates that the party endorses, we will change the dynamics of town government in a way that will help Newtown and its citizens to flourish.

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Hill Road, Newtown                   October 30, 2007