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Belltown, Conn.Vol. I, No. 1
Founded 2026
The East Hampton ❦ Belltown, ConnecticutMercuryAlways Last... To Breaking News!
Late EditionThursday, Sept. 24, 2026
Sixteen minutes to read
Set from the Public RecordEleven meetings · Twenty-seven items · Sixteen minutes to readNames checked against the town roster

About the Paper

What happened, and what it means for you

The East Hampton Mercury reports East Hampton, Connecticut’s public meetings in pieces short enough to read in the time it takes to read a text message.

The item

Everything here is an item of sixty to a hundred and twenty words. Each one says what happened, with the vote count when there was one; why it matters, in a sentence; what comes next and when; and which meeting it came from, with a link to the video so you can watch it yourself.

There is no scene-setting and no color. A quote runs only when the quote is the news.

The six storylines

  • SchoolsThe school budget, the referendums, and what the Board of Education decides.
  • SewerSewer rates, the pump stations, and the council sitting as the sewer authority.
  • The LotThe town-owned lot next to the old Middle Haddam schoolhouse.
  • HousingZoning, the state housing rules, and affordable housing in East Hampton.
  • Town HallWho runs the town, who is leaving, and what the staff is doing.
  • MoneyTaxes, the grand list, land sales, and where the town's money goes.

Each storyline page is the whole running history of that fight, newest first.

The kinds of item

  • The Voteevery recorded vote, the count, and who voted no.
  • The Numberone figure, what it is, and why it matters.
  • Three Minuteswhat residents said at the microphone, grouped and counted.
  • The Datesomething you can put on a calendar.
  • Plain Englisha term a board used without explaining it.
  • Whoa person or a board, in about sixty words.
  • Still Opena question asked on the record that no one answered, carried until someone does.

What we leave out

Residents give their home address when they speak at a meeting. We never print it. When a young person speaks, we do not print their name. A Still Open item records that a question was asked and not answered, in the words of the person who asked it; it is not an accusation, and it comes down the day the question is answered.

The boards we follow

Who writes it

Items are written by Jack Beckett, staff writer. The East Hampton Mercury is a publication of The Charlotte Mercury, in the same family as The Farmington Mercury.