To the Editor:
This letter serves as a thank you to all signers of the petition regarding the proposed Trumbull Senior/Community Center.
Thank you to the over 600 residents who signed the petition asking for the Study/Building Committee to put a halt to further spending and stop the process prior to a comprehensive, professionally written survey being mailed to each household.
Unfortunately, there is still work to be done. Sadly, the committee has not responded to this simple request to ask the taxpayers the following: Do Trumbull seniors want the current center renovated or do they want a new center? Do Trumbull residents want a new senior-only center or a true community/senior center, and if so, with what amenities? Where would Trumbull residents want a new facility to be located?
You should have received a letter from the First Selectman (https://goo.gl/6B0pF1), with not only his perspective and thoughts on the process but also containing inaccuracies and reliance on statistically insignificant survey results that the Committee admitted were flawed (minutes here http://goo.gl/VHbcWa). Rather than the requested survey asked for by so many on this petition, on social media and at committee meetings, it contains an open-ended question asking taxpayers to email him "your thoughts and suggestions."
Please take a moment and send an email asking for an independent consultant to create a professionally written survey, mailed to all homeowners, asking the questions above and any other questions or concerns you may have. Ask this consultant to also conduct public hearings and focus groups and have all information compiled to generate an independent report with the findings.
Stop this process before millions of dollars are spent on a facility that we don't know if our residents want or need.
Importantly, please cc the committee, as well as the Town Council so that our elected representatives see your concerns and also have a record of each response.
The First Selectman can be reached at trumbullcommunitycenter@trumbull-ct.gov.
The Town Council email hasn’t changed — it’s councilclerk@trumbull-ct.gov
To reach the Study/Building Committee co-chairs email Joe Pifko and Dan Marconi at jpifko@trumbull-ct.gov & dmarconi@trumbull-ct.gov.
Eric Paulson