The Board of Selectmen (BOS) set a hearing date for Wednesday, July 21, to amend the town's water ordinance to allow for benefit assessments on the municipal water projects. Brookfield properties along the Northern Line (the northern half Federal Road), Barnbeck (from Orchard Street to Barnbeck Apartments at the intersection of Federal Road and 133), Silvermine (which runs the length of Silvermine Road and up Pocono) and the Southern Line (south from Route 133 to Danbury), which is still in the drafting stages, will be assessed according to a formula set by the Water Assessment Committee.

The formula is based on a similar one used by Danbury, where the total cost of installing each line is spread across the respective users based on the gross acreage of the property, road frontage, building units and the tax assessor's valuation of the property, each weighted equally at 25 percent. Areas where environmental issues are a concern, such as the gas stations around Four Corners during construction of the Northern Line and the area near Kohl's on the planned Southern Line, will also be assessed on an environmental factor.

The municipal water lines were either purchased or funded through the town, which will issue 20-year bonds, to be paid down through the assessments, after the ordinance revision is approved.

Selectman Howard Lasser expressed concern over the vague language relating to the pollution factor. "I'm just concerned that in the application of assessing a greater amount to a polluter that we don't run afoul of any charges of being arbitrary," he said, seeking to avoid possible future litigation.

"We recognized that there were going to be specific circumstances that might require adjustments," Anne Peters, an attorney with Carmody and Torrance and a specialist in water issues, explained. "You have to look at the sources of the contamination and the nature of the impact," she said, and overly specific language could lead to conflicts later. "The fundamental principle here is that the assessment has to be fair and the town has a great deal of flexibility to decide how to assess people fairly."

Lasser reiterated his concern about legal precedence. "Are there other towns where this concept has been implemented?" he asked, "I just wonder if it's so broad that in practical application it wouldn't stand up if we were to assess somebody."

Peters found only "one instance where this kind of assessment ordinance [assessing extra for environmental issues] was challenged and that was the Danbury ordinance. That's why we chose the model, it was the one that was reviewed by a court and it passed muster."

There may be challenges to the assessments, but there is a standard appeals process for grievances.

Other Business

• The BOS accepted a $10,000 donation from the Greater Candlewood Exchange Club (GCEC) to renovate the windmills at Happy Landings on Whisconier Road. The money came from a fund in memory of Brookfield resident Carl Borodenko, former owner of Brookfield Market and GCEC member.

  Paul Sedor, treasurer and past president of the GCEC, presented the money to First Selectman Bill Davidson and Mike Murphy of the Conservation Commission. "On a personal note," Sedor added that he helped his father hay Happy Landings when he was a child.

• Earlier in the meeting, Davidson spoke to some concerns raised by residents over spraying taking place at Happy Landings by the new caretaker Bill Stuart, of Stuart Farms in Bridgewater. "It bothered some residents that we did that spraying," Davidson said, "Some because there was no announcement, others because they were just concerned that there was no identification as to what was done."

  Davidson assured that the chemical was a mild herbicide ("Not pesticide," he noted.) that does not require signage or restrictive barriers. "Anybody could buy these products over the counter at a hardware store," he said.

  The property will be treated with lye in the fall to correct the pH balance in the soil and Stuart will begin to grow hay there next spring.

• A Special Town Meeting was called for August 2, at 7:15 p.m. at Brookfield High School, just before the BOS's monthly meeting, to vote on whether to act as a conduit to bond for the Old New Milford Road sewer extension. Similar to the municipal water lines, users along Old New Milford Road would be assessed to pay down the bonding.

  "Why is the town borrowing the money and not the WPCA?" Selectman Steve O'Reilly asked Nelson Malwitz, chairman of the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), which manages the municipal sewer systems.

  While the WPCA does have sufficient funds to cover the project outright, those are being held to pay down future benefit assessments against the costs of constructing their respective sewer lines. "It would be unfair to the other sewer districts that wouldn't be gaining interest on their sewer funds" if the their accounts were used for the Old New Milford Road project, Malwitz explained. Among a number of options, bond counsel and the BOF were in favor of this method as the cheapest, according to Malwitz.

  Residents in attendance will be asked to approve the proposal at the August 2 meeting.

• Residents received their tax bills last week, along with information about the revaluation currently underway. Davidson reminded residents that they can view and pay their tax bills online by check or credit card.

• Brookfield was recognized as a HEARTSafe community on June 24, representing the fact that the town has publicly-placed automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and at least 50 citizens and employees that know how to operate them in an emergency.

• The town will receive state funding in the amount of $750,000 toward renovating the changing room at Town Park Beach, pending approval by the State Bond Commission on July 13. That funding, if procured, will go toward the revised facilities upgrades portion of the Davidson administration's Brookfield Reinvestment Program, which failed at referendum on April 13. The BOS plans to include a revised proposal for the November 2 ballot.

• Controller Jay Wahlberg updated the BOS on the year-end financial standing. Revenues ultimately came in as projected in the 2009-2010 budget and expenses were $200,000 under budget, leading to a projected $200,000 surplus to add to the fund balance. Wahlberg will be giving a more in-depth review of the year's budget at Wednesday's Board of Finance (BOF) meeting. [Look for the story on Brookfield Patch Thursday morning.]

• An executive session meeting between the BOS, the Municipal Buildings Committee and legal counsel has been called for Thursday, July 22, to conduct an "in-depth review and evaluation of the financial and legal aspects of closing the high school project," Davidson said. Davidson also reported that the Senior Center is "looking at a September completion date."

• The BOS approved the creation of an ad-hoc Energy Committee for a probationary three-year period. The committee will be made up of Alice Dew (D), Peter Donnelly (unaffiliated), Jack Ludwig (R), Marcia Wilkins (unaffiliated) and Richard Knowles. After three years in operation, the BOS will have to consider an ordinance officially establishing the committee or disband it.

• Brookfield currently has positions open for a facility manager (full-time, non-union) and a zoning enforcement officer (full-time); the latter closes on July 21.