To the Editor:
A recent booklet mailed to Easton residents by the Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) contained a reprint of an article titled “What is Going on in Easton?” by Brad Koltz, Publisher of the Easton Community Gazette which CRG claims has “information regarding serious issues in Easton.”
In the section of the booklet titled “Hidden Initiatives” there is some inaccurate information that I would like to correct. The article states that at a March 24, 2021 Board of Finance meeting Paul Lindoerfer proposed making an appropriation of $200,000 to “set up a fund to study options for establishing a new EMS building”. Paul Skrtich is the one who proposed the appropriation. The fund he proposed creating was a capital project fund towards the future cost of constructing a new EMS building. It would be created this year only if the final budget allowed for it.
A discussion of the usefulness of such a fund followed with input from Chairman Andy Kachele, Art Laske, Paul Skrtich, Ira Kaplan, Wendy Bowditch and me. The outcome was that it was the sense of the Board that, though we agree that EMS needs a new building, we need more information about the plan for the new building before deciding how best to fund it. At present the Board has no information about the scope or timing of the project. No motion was made to establish a capital fund.
The article continues saying “In addition, the minutes of a recent Easton EMS Committee meeting show that the town is in fact negotiating with the owner of an undisclosed property, one of three parcels under consideration for purchase for a new EMS building.”
But, if you read the minutes of the EMS Commission meetings for May 12, July 14, Sep 8 and Oct 13, you will see that it is not the Town but the Trustees of the EMS Association that are assessing sites for a new EMS building. There is an article in the Easton Courier on Oct 1, 2021 reporting on the EMS building project and EMS Chief Jonathan Arnold’s statement that the EMS Association is assessing whether they can fund the project themselves or whether town funds will be needed.
It appears that Mr. Koltz’s reporting on supposed hidden initiatives concerning the new EMS building are badly researched and inaccurate.
Paul Lindoerfer
Easton
