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Data
for emergency system sought
By: Scott Benjamin
10/20/2006
"It is confidential, and it will allow us to quickly
notify people during emergencies because we have the capacity to make up to
60,000 calls an hour," she said of the automated system.
The emergency network is being installed as a result of the availability of
$10,000 in federal Homeland Security funds.
Mrs. Will made a presentation Tuesday about the network, which is being
established by Emergency Communications Network Inc. of Ormond Beach, Fla.,
during a special meeting of the Board of Selectmen.
She said that residents and businesses could provide the information on the
municipal Web site in the "CodeRED Residential and Business Data
Collection" link or by calling her weekdays at the Police Department
headquarters at 203-740-4104.
"This will help us during school closing, winter storms and major
disasters," First Selectman Jerry Murphy said.
He said that it is "a geographical-based notification system" that
requires street addresses so that it could select which phone numbers to call
during emergencies.
On another topic, the selectmen voted unanimously to reconvene the ad-hoc
Senior Citizens & Veterans Tax Committee to review a recent state law
that allows people over the age of 70 to freeze their tax assessments.
Earlier this year, the town approved a tax credit and deferral program for
senior citizens.
An ad-hoc committee, which is chaired by former Selectman William Davidson,
had spent more than a year studying the issue.
The first selectman said that 256 residents have enrolled in the program and
that elected officials in other towns in the state have asked for copies of
the town's plan.
The ad-hoc panel was established to address concerns that elderly residents
living on fixed incomes were struggling to pay their taxes as property values
increased in Brookfield.
Mr. Murphy said the ad-hoc panel would study the differences between the
municipal program and the new state law and determine what impact any further
changes would have on the town's tax revenue.
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