Good afternoon,

The weather forecast is for extreme cold this weekend. Please be careful. If the need arises and you need help, please call the non-emergent line at the Easton Police Department at 203-268-4111.

The region 9 board recently approved renovations to the athletic complex at Barlow to be considered in their new budget which would include a second new turf field and better locker room/meeting facilities. Redding has allocated $200,000 of their rescue money to the project to pay their half for their town’s usage of the facilities in cooperation with the school. This is complicated in that we, the Board of Selectmen, as well as our Board of Finance believe that this is not an appropriate use of those funds. We have earmarked our funds for a new EMS headquarters, which unquestionably is a legitimate use for the money. This is an honest disagreement between the two towns as to the appropriate use of the funds and I respect Redding’s decision.  I just disagree.  There is already a significant private fund-raising drive going on in Easton intended for the field, but it has not been well publicized. I would urge you to contribute what you can. The contact person is Rich Cremin, [email protected].  Many in town, I believe realize that our children are disadvantaged by the lack of reliable field space available in inclement weather. Building an additional turf field at Barlow would be a huge benefit to our town and our children.  In the past when this was raised as a possibility, there were serious objections to building a turf field in Easton. This would solve that problem. I would urge you to consider what this could do for our town, and consider contributing.

Regarding the Aspetuck Land Trust purchase of South Park ±18.9 acres, we have completed the regulatory requirements for defining the exact boundaries of the property and are waiting for delivery of a map from the surveyor.  We will then get the required department signatures to file the revised map and associated deeds. Town council is drafting the deeds to go along with the filing and we expect this to be completed next week if all goes smoothly.

Regarding the recording of the easement, this will be completed concurrently with the survey map revision. The easement is defined by the boundary lines and, therefore, requires the borders to be recorded first. The easement is complete and ready to go with the filing.

Please note that the copy of the emergency services consultant report is NOT final. Some final edits will be made next week.

As a reminder, if you need to reach out to the Board of Ethics commission, please contact them at [email protected].  There is also information regarding this commission on the eastonct.gov website.

Stay safe and warm,

Dave