Fairfield to move Wednesday Farmers Market to Central Park

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield City Council has approved moving the Fairfield Farmers Market to Central Park on Wednesday afternoons.

Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Darien Sloat asked the council during its meeting Monday night to move the market from its location on Howard Park to Central Park to increase its visibility, though just on Wednesday afternoons during the summer from 3-6 p.m. The market will still convene at Howard Park on Saturdays during the summer from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The first outdoor market of the season will be Saturday, May 1, at Howard Park.

No livestream

Monday’s city council meeting was not livestreamed on the Fairfield Media Center’s YouTube page, as it normally is. FMC Director Jason Strong said FMC planned to record the meeting and post it on its website, fairfieldmediacenter.com, within 24 hours.

YouTube suspended FMC’s account for one week in late March for allegedly spreading “medical misinformation” for livestreaming a City Council meeting March 22 during which members of the public shared opinions about COVID-19, masks and social distancing. YouTube took down the video of the meeting, though FMC later posted it on its own website.

Fairfield Media Center stated in a news release it is speaking with YouTube on how to avoid strikes on its YouTube channel that result in this sort of disciplinary action, particularly concerning the livestreaming of public meetings.

“We will keep the community posted as we move forward in these talks,” FMC stated. “We are hoping to have this issue resolved soon as YouTube seems very willing to work with us.”

911 dispatchers

The council discussed a proposal to change how 911 dispatchers are funded. The current model involves having the city cover the costs of personnel while the county covers the cost of equipment.

In a letter to the county, the city has expressed a desire to take over ownership of dispatch and then charge the other cities in the county and the county itself for use of the service.

A few months ago, the city sought to alter the agreement between the entities that use 911 dispatch in order to change how 911 personnel are funded because Fairfield officials believe Fairfield taxpayers are paying a disproportionate share of the cost.