Ambulance Barn Vote

Republican muckrakers are trying to claim that I didn't vote on the ambulance barn. I simple look at the voter sheets shows that they crossed off my brother's name rather than mine. My brother hasn't lived here in years, is registered in PA and has no valid CT id. They know that.

In addition, Sue Kustosz was working the polls and will verify that I voted. There were only a couple of other people there at the time. We chatted for a while about various scenarios involving the new voting process.

Check your facts.

Bob K.

Library

In an article in the News-Times recently I was reported as saying the the Library needed a strategic plan for the 21st Century. I said nothing like that. The statement makes it sound like I think the folks running the library are not thinking about the future.

What I said was that the Library might consider changing its name. When any voter over 40 who hasn't been to a library in a while hears the word Library, they get a picture in their head of what a library was like when they were in school. That picture is not an accurate picture of what the Library is today.

I think that by changing the name to accurately reflect what the library does might help to erase any preconceived notions a voter might have about the value of having a library and where it might be located.

I also think that the library should remain on the green. It attracts many people to the green which helps to keep the green active.

Bob K.

Ambulance Barn

I have few comments on the Ambulance Barn. First, this never should have gone to referendum. This is a matter of public health and safety and it is more complex than appears. I think Town Council should have been more forceful in its support and should have kept it to a Town Meeting vote. I fear that a referendum will become too much of an emotional vote.

I think volunteers will provide a better service than a paid force at the levels of pay a paid force would likely receive. They clearly do this because they love it. We need to show them some respect if we expect to keep them. The current facility is an embarrassment.

To put the cost into perspective. We are proposing to borrow $3,000,0000. Assuming a 20 year payback at an interest rate of 6.5% that is about $270,000 per year. There are approximately 60 volunteers in the ambulance corps. Assuming that number stays constant over 20 years, that comes out to about $4,500 per volunteer per year.

Could we do it for less? Sure. We could put up a building of inferior construction and then pay more down the road when it has to be replaced or constantly fixed. Why not do it right the first time?

As for that rumor of there being 14 bathrooms in the place, not true. There is a men's room, a lady's room and a toilet by the laundry room.