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“Easton is in pretty good shape,” Dunsby said in an interview. But there are a few issues he wants to tackle in the coming months, he said.
Among the issues he’s hoping to settle this year is the litigation surrounding the Saddle Ridge property. The town is currently in court after denying an 830-G proposal for affordable housing from the Saddle Ridge Developers in 2011.
The litigation is likely to continue over the year, but Dunsby said he hopes that it will be resolved before 2015.
“I’d like to explore making natural gas available to more residents,” he said. Currently, only a small part of the town has access to the natural gas pipelines. No definite plans have been made, Dunsby said, adding that he was still meeting with officials from Southern Connecticut Gas.
He said he also hopes the plans to add a cell tower in the southern end of Easton will move forward. A plan and a location for the tower has already been determined. That was presented to the Planning and Zoning board in January 2013 and approved.
The cell tower would cover a 2-mile radius that would include Town Hall, Samuel Staples Elementary School and Helen Keller Middle School.
Also, another item Dunsby hopes to cross off his list by the end of 2014 is the revamping of the town’s website “which needs work,” he said.
The town will also continue to work with the Greater Bridgeport Regional Council to get access to GIS, or Geographic Information System, to make town land records easier for residents and town employees to use.
Looking ahead to the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, Dunsby said there will likely be a hike in the town’s taxes due to increasing health insurance costs.
The budget process doesn’t get into full swing until February, when the Board of Finance begins to review the department budgets.
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