I am receiving wonderful responses to these weekly updates. Feel free to catch me at Town Hall or email me at firstselectman@bethel-ct.gov if you have any suggestions to improve the communication.
We are making progress with website improvements. We had a meeting this week with a company specializing in websites for cities and towns. In addition to our communications and IT folks, I have included a few residents in the process. If you have thoughts or input, please send me an email at firstselectman@bethel-ct-gov.
If you own commercial or industrial property in Bethel, the annual Income and Expense have been mailed out. The returns must come back to the town by June 1st.
While traffic and safety have been a recurring theme in downtown, this week’s office hours discussion focused on Stony Hill. We have all seen the development on the North side of Rt 6. Unfortunately, there is no way to safely cross Stony Hill Rd. (US Hwy 6) to access the businesses across the street. I am told we have approached the state about a crosswalk near Big Y, but nothing has been approved. We are contacting the state again to see what we can do for the safety of our residents. In addition, there are growing concerns about the traffic and lack of turning lanes into some of the developments. The folks in town hall are looking into any options we might have going forward. My next office hours will be on Thursday, April 27th from 7 am to 8 am at Town Hall in Meeting Room A.
Tomorrow, Saturday, April 15, Danbury Public Works is hosting a Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off Event at 53 Newtown Rd. This opportunity is for the towns in the HRRA region, which includes Bethel. For all the spring cleaners in town, this is a great opportunity to part with old paint and chemicals. Please take a look at the flyer before you go for instructions on how to get rid of items that are not accepted tomorrow. hrra.org/household-hazardous-waste
The Parks and Recreation Summer flyer is with the printer and will be posted online next week. I encourage everyone to take a look at all the programs they have to offer. You never know what you might find!
Don’t forget, the town-wide budget referendum will take place next Tuesday, April 18th between 6am and 8 pm at your regular polling places. The “2023-2024 Proposed Town Budget" link on the Town’s home page will allow you to view the budget.
Next Saturday, April 22 is Earth Day! Earth Day kicks off with Trashapalooza, a town-wide clean up from 9 am to 11 am, followed by an Earth Day Fair from 11 am to 1 pm at the Municipal Center, with snacks, games & activities, live music, and educational tables. The celebration is sponsored by Bethel Parks & Rec, the Bethel Land Trust, Sustainable Bethel, and the Bethel Volunteer Fire Department.
A huge shoutout to the Bethel Varsity Winter Guard who are competing in the 2023 WGI World Championships this week in Dayton, Ohio. Their performance yesterday landed them in the Semi Finals and they will perform again today. The finals will take place tomorrow. Wishing all the members of Winter Guard and their fans good luck!
Have a great weekend!
Dan