6/2/23 A Message from First Selectman Bindelglass
Good afternoon,
Thank you to everyone who participated in making our Memorial Day celebration wonderful. It was a beautiful day and many, many folks showed up. Special thanks to the men of American Legion Post 160 who put together a great event every year and to Father George Coca.
I hope you will join many of your neighbors on Saturday from 3-6 PM at the Aspetuck Ashlar Lodge for a concert to benefit our sister city Sviatohirsk, Ukraine. It will be a great event, hopefully with nice weather. The concert is free so please stop by, but we hope you will make a donation as well. I will be speaking about my recent trip and Marshall Meyer, President of Ukraine Aid international will speak as well. Support of our sister city is a town wide activity which hopefully, we can all get behind. So far we have raised enough to buy the first big item on their wish list which was a dump truck. Unfortunately, they have so much rubble to move that the truck was their top priority, but they need so much more.
At the Board of Selectmen meeting last night we discussed funding the town's portion of the nest project at Barlow to improve the sports fields and buildings. As you recall, we approved $4.5 in bonding for Region 9 to do this. The expectation was that the town's would each contribute $250,000. Redding committed the funds from their ARPA money. Easton has been raising money privately and while I am told there have been commitments, it is unclear what has actually been collected. I plan to present the request for the board of finance to appropriate up to $250,000 which would then have to go to a town meeting. Depending on Region 9 being able to give more details, this may or may not be decided at this meeting. We also discussed the South Park property. the Blazes and New England Prayer Center made a proposal to purchase the land they are currently living and providing their mission services on including the house they live in and the barn on the property. The entire proposal can be found at: https://www.eastonct.gov/board-of-selectmen/pages/south-park-information The process will be that the selectmen have to decide whether to recommend the sale proposal to a town meeting for consideration under the land use ordinance. That decision will be made at our June 15 meeting.
The Aspetuck Health District has hired an outside consultant to do a community health needs assessment, (CHNA). A Community Forum is scheduled for September 21, 2023 at the Fairfield County Hunt Club, located at 174 Long Lots Road in Westport. The space can accommodate a large group, is conveniently located, and has plenty of parking. The Advisory Committee agreed to limit the event to in-person attendance only (no virtual option) to encourage robust conversation. The event is scheduled for 8-10:30am, with a breakfast and networking session from 8-8:30am and scheduled program from 8:30-10:30am. AHD will confirm technology capabilities and opportunity for small group breakout sessions.
The Community Forum is an opportunity to present the CHNA findings and generate meaningful dialogue about community health needs, challenges, and strategies.
There are two new additions to our town hall family. Congratulations to Justin Giorlando, our land use consultant, and his wife who welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Eleanor to their family last week. Also, please help welcome Leah Iannucci as our Human Resource Compensation Coordinator.
A reminder form the Town Clerk’s Office that June is Dog License month. Information can be found at https://www.eastonct.gov/town-clerk/news/june-is-dog-license-month-1.
On Thursday night we raised the pride flag and celebrated the beginning of pride month with a big crowd and wonderful speakers.
Have a great weekend and I hope to see you on Saturday,
Dave