Good afternoon,
The Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance met last night to recommend to a town meeting, that the town appropriate $1.266 million for the purchase of the radio frequency and dispatch upgrade for police and fire radios and infrastructure from the undesignated fund. The radio project has a total cost of $3.1 million. The Board of Finance decided to use the ARPA money in the amount of $1.8 million to avoid any danger of losing use of the funds which needed to be committed sometime in the next three months. This question will be put to a special town meeting on September 30, at 6:00 PM at Samuel Staples Elementary School, and then adjourned to a referendum to be held on October 8, from noon to 8:00 PM at Samuel Staples Elementary School. The undesignated fund is our rainy-day fund which has a balance of $7,387,435 presently. As our outside consultants told us, this project is critical for the safety of our emergency service workers and our citizens. Nonetheless, it has been approximately 20 years in the making.
There will be a second town meeting and referendum for the funding of the EMS building renovation in December when the actual cost is known. There is currently approximately $1 million of Local Community Improvement Project (LOCIP) money from the state which is available to the town, in addition to $700,000 being contributed to by the EMS foundation (thanks to all those who attended the awesome fireworks show last Saturday) and $396,000 of funds from another state grant for the exterior work at the new building, including septic, parking, and landscaping. In committing the LOCIP money to EMS, the Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen sent a strong message of their commitment to the EMS renovation as well.
I want to make you aware of and applaud something going on at Helen Keller Middle School. The administration has banned the use of cell phones during school. Several other towns have done this. I think we can all agree that cell phone usage, by all of us, is more than it should be. Particularly in children, it is clearly disrupting normal social patterns, and one of the results is an increase in social-emotional stress, and feelings of isolation that afflict many young people. This is well documented in the literature. While this is a great first step, I hope it will lead to further conversations as well as diminish the use of virtual contact in favor of true, human interaction. I also want to remind you about Easton’s Here to Help which is a community organization committed to helping youth and families. Their services can be accessed through their website at  www.eastonsheretohelp.org.   Please check it out.
New & Expecting Parents’ Workshop: Monday, Oct. 7 at 10 a.m. at the Easton Public Library. Please join us for a morning with Easton’s own Amy Fracassini of A Child’s Sleep. Ms. Fracassini is a certified sleep consultant, lactation educator, newborn care specialist, and postpartum doula. She will share her expertise and answer your questions. *Space is limited and registration is required. Please feel free to bring your other children.
Christ Church Easton is having their monthly Bluegrass Jam on Thursday, Sept. 26, from 7-9 p.m. Also, there will be a Blessing of the Animals service on Monday, October 7 at 9:30 am. For more info:Â www.christchurcheaston.com.
Mark your calendars for the 3rd annual Free Spirit Festival and Easton Lady in White 5K Run/Walk on Saturday, Oct, 26, Events include 5K starting at Christ Church, Kids “FUN RUN” & awards ceremony, Air Brush Tattoo’s, TEAC Fall Pop Up Market at the Park & Recreation office, and Story Time at the Easton Library. More information to come! Click here to sign up for Easton’s White Lady 5 K Run/Walk.
We are looking for some more folks to work on our committee fundraising for our sister city Sviatohirsk, Ukraine. Please contact me at the Town Hall if you are interested.
Have a great weekend!
Dave
