Letter: First Selectman talks Beacon Falls

0
39

To the editor,

I had hoped I might be able to begin this month’s letter with an unofficial “Welcome to Spring,” but it seems winter and the polar vortex have other ideas for us. This winter has been an especially difficult one, and on behalf of our Public Works Department I’d like to thank the community for its collective patience and understanding. With salt and sand in short supply, we were still able to meet every storm with enough material to keep our roads safe. That ability came at the cost of being able to provide material to residents for their own use; we hope to be able to resume this service once our normal sources resume delivery to us. In the meantime, let’s all hope for a warming trend to arrive sooner rather than later.

Many of you are already aware that the Beacon Falls website has been updated completely since the appointment of our new volunteer webmaster, Mark Kolb. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to subscribe to the web page at www.beaconfalls-ct.org/Subscriber. Doing so allows you to receive email notification of updates to selected areas of the entire site, which is an extremely effective way to stay in touch with what is happening in town.

Putting weather concerns aside, the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance will begin preliminary discussions on the upcoming 2014-15 municipal budget. All departments, boards and commissions have submitted their budget requests, and now the difficult part begins as we work together to come up with a fiscally responsible and responsive budget to present to the taxpayers. The FY 2012-13 town audit will be completed prior to March 14, and despite preliminary reports which caused a great deal of public uncertainty, there are no irregularities in our books to report. My thanks to our finance department and the auditors for their diligent work.

We have sadly bid farewell to one of our most effective and recognized town employees, Corporal Brian Blakeman, who has left the police department as a full-time officer as he pursues different challenges, though he will remain on the force as a part-time officer.  I’d also like to welcome another new part-time officer, Jack DeOliveira, from Naugatuck.

Please contact me at the Town Hall at (203) 729-4340, email me at CBielik@townofbeaconfalls.com, or you may also follow me on Twitter @CJBielik for updates on important events happening around Beacon Falls, or stop by Town Hall.  I’ll see you there.

Sincerely,

Christopher J. Bielik

First Selectman

Beacon Falls

(Editor’s note: This letter is the March Beacon Falls First Selectman’s letter, which appears on the town’s website.)