Brookfield Matters: Parks & Rec Gets New Digs, Town Earns Bright Idea Grant and More

BROOKFIELD, CT — In his latest edition of "Brookfield Matters" town newsletter, Brookfield's First Selectman Steve Dunn shared that the town earned an energy grant, Parks & Recreation is moving to a new office and the Meadowbrook Project cost has been lowered by $163,500. Read more below.

MEADOWBROOK PROJECT COST TO TOWN LOWERED BY $163,500
"When the actual cost of the project came in higher than our original estimate, I requested our Public Works department go to FEMA and ask them to consider adding to the grant they had awarded the town. They came back and awarded the town an additional $163,500, bringing the total grant awarded to $1,457,400. The town share of the total cost is $485,800. The town originally approved the issuance of bonds in the amount of $2,000,000 to do this project so the final cost to the town will be $1,514,200, less than the originally approved amount by the taxpayers.

PARKS AND REC DEPARTMENT MOVING TO OLD TOWN HALL
"WESTCOG, our main tenant at the Old Town Hall, has made a decision to move to new offices. The town has had a critical shortage of office space for employees at Town Hall as we have grown over the past 30 years since the present Town Hall was built. Since that time, no new office space has been available for town operations. With WestCog moving, we have been able to reconfigure the old Town Hall space to accommodate our other tenant, HRRA, and also be able to relocate our Parks and Rec Department to the Old Town Hall. After careful review, this move will allow residents to more easily obtain passes and interact with Parks and Rec. This move will allow the town to grow and better serve residents with very little expense. The move should take place in the next 60 days and we will keep everyone up to date on the actual move.

SELECTMEN "MEET AND GREET"
"Meet the Selectmen are held on the last Saturday of each month. Our next Meet and Greet is Saturday, September 24 from 9:00am to 10:30am at Panera Bread located at 143 Federal Road. We plan to choose different locations in town for the Meet and Greet each month. Please feel free to stop by with any questions you may have or to let us know what's on your mind.

BOARD OF SELECTMEN'S MEETING
"The next regular Board of Selectmen Meeting (BOS) will be held on Monday, September 12 at 7:30pm in Meeting Room 133 at Town Hall. You may view the attachments to the meeting packet on the Town's website using the Video on Demand link. The meeting will be live streamed on the Town's website and posted the following day on the home page in Video on Demand. We continue to work on improving access by indexing the video to agenda items so that viewers can easily go directly to the section of the meeting they are interested in seeing. The Board of Selectmen meetings can now be viewed on TV Channel 194 in addition to the Video on Demand, and are scheduled to be on Channel 194 every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 7:00pm.

• How do you feel about these issues? Send a letter to the editor by emailing wendy.mitchell@patch.com and let your voice be heard.

"Prior to the Board of Selectmen Meeting on 9/12, the Selectmen scheduled a Public Hearing at 6:30pm-7:00pm in Meeting Room 133 at Town Hall, to receive public comment and opinion on a proposed Fire Marshal Fees Ordinance. The Public Hearing notice and proposed Ordinance are filed at the Town Clerk's Office and may be viewed on the Town's website under News and Announcements and/or in the legal notices.

"Prior to the Board of Selectmen Meeting on 9/12, the Selectmen scheduled a Special Town Meeting at 7:00pm - 7:30pm in Meeting Room 133, regarding a request from the Water Pollution Control Authority to discontinue the Rollingwood Condominium pump station and connect via gravity to Grays Bridge Road and related improvements, for an appropriation, not to exceed $650,000, to fund the Project and to provide financing through temporary or permanent borrowings. The WPCA will levy benefit assessments in connection with the project. The Notice of Special Town Meeting and Bond Resolution are filed at the Town Clerk's Office and may be viewed on the Town's website under News and Announcement and/or in the legal notices.

"To help you reduce the amount of energy used in your home, Eversource is using the grant to offer Brookfield residents up to six LED light bulbs free of charge. You may exchange up to six incandescent or compact fluorescent light bulbs in any working order, for an equal number of long-lasting, energy-saving LED light bulbs, at no cost, while supplies last. You must bring your light bulbs and proof of Brookfield residence to the Light Bulb Swap in order to receive the 6 LED bulbs on Saturday, September 24 from 9:00am to 2:00pm at the Brookfield Town Hall parking lot at 100 Pocono Road. At that time, you may speak to their site experts to learn how you can save money and make your home more comfortable all year round. If you have any questions, please call 877-WISE-USE . (877-947-3873) or visit EnergizeCT.com. We also thank the Brookfield Energy Ad-Hoc Committee for their assistance in securing this grant for Brookfield."