On Thursday, Dec. 15, The Recorder ran an article by Domenic Poli about the Town of Orange receiving a $50,000 grant with 30 percent town match for the rehabilitation of the Butterfield Park playground.
The article was accurate as far as it went, but did not mention that to accept this grant, the town must appropriate the cost of the project before the end of 2016. To do this we have called a special town meeting for Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall Auditorium.
We apologize for needing to call a meeting during the holiday week, but it’s what we need to do to accept the grant. The Board of Selectmen have already started discussing how the decisions on what can be accomplished with this grant will be made. As quoted in the article, the money won’t go far given the cost of playground equipment. We intend to appoint a three-person committee to include Wally Herk. We have not yet decided if they would have final authority or make recommendations to the Board of Selectmen.
We’d be seeking people who could meet during the day to interact better with both staff and project contractors. Appointments would be made in January.
But the project doesn’t happen at all if we don’t get a quorum (75 registered voters) for the meeting on Dec. 28 or if the article fails to pass. If either of those happen, we will have to turn down the grant. Please come to the Special Town Meeting and make your opinion known.
Kathy Reinig
Orange