Author: kathrynwboughton@gmail.com

When the Planning and Zoning Commission reconvenes its hearing on the proposed firehouse next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Town Hall, there will be a new Zoning Enforcement Officer helping to guide the commission in its deliberations.

Karl Nilsen has previously worked in New Hartford, Colebrook, Burlington and Canaan, and “is very knowledgeable,” according to First Selectman Matt Riiska. He follows in the footsteps of Michael Halloran, who retired from the position this week. 

Marinell Crippen, who has served as secretary for both the P&Z and the Inland Wetlands Agency, will become office manager, working in Town Hall for two or more afternoons a week, taking charge of clerical work and directing calls to Nilson. Dates the office will be open are still to be decided.

The changes in staffing were suggested by Halloran during the Selectmen’s January meeting, when he said he believed the town’s needs could be served by eight to 10 hours of office help each week, with a ZEO being present in town once or twice a week.

Riiska noted during the meeting that it is becoming harder and harder for small towns to fill positions such as land use administrators, assessors and building inspectors because they do not generate the same amount of business as larger communities. 

“Unfortunately, it’s a situation that will only get worse because there is not enough work to keep them employed full time and the state wants more and more certification,” he observed.

Aquarion Water Company has begun the first stage of work associated with replacement of the retaining wall along Route 44 west of Norfolk. The company is testing the soil quality under the pavement as it prepares to move water lines prior to the extensive work the DOT will do to restore the wall. 

Sewer lines and overhead wires will also have to be moved. 

A state spokeswoman said Thursday that relocation of infrastructure could result in one-lane traffic while the work is underway. 

Because of the relatively narrow passage along that section of road, with a steep hill on the north side and homes and businesses on the south, it is expected that subsequent phases of the project will be intensive and will take as many as five years to complete.

“Everyone is hoping for four years,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska, “but there is a lot of work to be done in that area. It’s going to be a very disruptive project.”

The state spokeswoman said that the mafia blocks that currently stabilize the bulging stone retaining wall behind them will be removed and the hillside will be trimmed back, slightly widening the road and making it safer. “But there is not a lot of room there,” she said, observing that there is a cemetery on top of the hill. 

She said no contracts have been let yet and that the contractor that is selected will control the construction schedule.

Further complicating life in that section of town is the stalled work on River Place Bridge, which has been under construction since March 2022. The project hit a snag when it was discovered that the north headwall was not stable. The bridge has been redesigned but Riiska was informed last fall that it would take another year to complete the work.

“I’ve talked to them and asked them when they will get started on that,” he said. “It’s been going on forever.”

On a much happier note, he reported that the reconstruction of Maple Avenue steamed ahead through the winter months, making up for the months-long delay caused by remediation of the gas spill. He said he hopes the installation of the new drainage system will be complete by the end of the month.

“We might have to hold back a bit before we put in the sidewalks, depending on how wet the spring is,” he said. “If it is a dry spring, they will jump right in and form the sidewalks. Then they will have to remove the asphalt on the road, get the roadbed stabilized and put down the binder paving before doing the curbing. We hope to have things buttoned up by the end of May or in early June.”

He added that a benefit of working during the winter has been reduced disruption of traffic during the slower winter months and less dust getting into people’s homes.

America is a land of plenty, and it produces plenty of waste.

What to do with the mountains of garbage generated by American households is a pressing issue for Connecticut municipalities, especially with the final dissolution of MIRA (the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority) scheduled to take place no later than July 1, 2026.

MIRA, which once had a trash-to-energy burn plant in Hartford, receives and processes solid municipal wastes from 23 Connecticut towns. When its aging burn plant closed in 2022, refuse was (and is) loaded on trucks and shipped over the state’s borders to landfills in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The matter weighs on member towns in the Northwest Hills Council of Governments, where a committee has been formed to formulate a plan. “We’re working on a plan for after the fact,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska, a member of the committee. “Part of it is becoming part of a regional authority that would cover many of the Northwest Corner towns.”

Riiska said Norfolk produces about 750 tons of solid waste annually, another 300 tons of bulky waste and 165 tons of recyclables. “When I became first selectman in 2017, we were paying $72 a ton for solid waste disposal,” he said. “Next year, we will have to plan on paying $131 per ton, so it has gone up considerably.”

He said it is hoped that a regional authority can continue to use the Torrington hub. “We’re looking at that as a way station for the stuff to be taken out of state,” he said. “There are no landfills in Connecticut. Why are we dumping our trash on Ohio and Pennsylvania? It’s just like driving down the road and throwing your garbage out of the window.”

He said the state “desperately needs” a trash-to-energy generation plant. “I was under the impression that they had a group looking into it,” he said, “but I found out last week that they are not.”

“This is not going away—at all” he continued. “Anyone who thinks we can recycle our way out of this is very naïve.”

He said Norfolk is proactive about recycling trash, offering residents the opportunity to sustainably discard textiles, electronics, tires, metal, paper and single-stream plastic, metal and glass containers. “We don’t do a bad job in Norfolk, but some of the larger cities and towns won’t have the same response,” he said.

Other countries, even some American states, have tried alternate methods to encourage recycling. “One way is pay-to-throw,” he explained. “You buy biodegradable trash bags from the town. It’s the only bag you can use, and you can only put so much in them. It makes people think before they throw something away.”

Another possibility is to have community containers for organic kitchen waste that would be then be picked up by commercial composting services. Such services are used at the Salisbury/Sharon transfer site and in Falls Village. “But we don’t have a lot of restaurants or private schools,” he observed, saying the volume of material would be less in Norfolk. 

“If we didn’t have such a bad bear issue, we could put a composting bin at the transfer station, but we would need a lot of DEEP permitting.”

The town Economic Development Commission is pushing forward with its effort to identify priorities for future development in the center of town.

In a letter distributed this week, Co-Chairs Elizabeth Borden and Michael Selleck invited residents to participate in the planning process. They noted that the EDC has a mandate from the town Plan of Conservation and Development to encourage economic development and to attract more young people to town. 

“Achieving these goals will require far more than any commission or committee can accomplish,” they wrote. “It will take all of us to support new and existing businesses in town and to welcome young…and make sure they have what they need to thrive.”

The EDC met with townspeople and business owners last month to discuss the issue and review a list of suggestions submitted earlier. A working meeting will be held February 29 at the Norfolk Hub to strategize about how best to accomplish the defined goals.

In the meantime, the EDC is asking residents to make additional suggestions by describing what they want to see in Norfolk. Ideas should be submitted by February 15 by clicking here. Residents can send as many ideas as they wish.

Those who want to be a part of the process should contact Borden (Libbygp@aol.com) or Selleck (mks2548@gmail.com).

The Norfolk Library was swinging last Saturday night as the Library Associates celebrated their 50th anniversary. Despite a spate of nasty weather, residents flooded into the library to visit, enjoy hors d’oeuvres and drinks and listen to music of the past five decades.

On the walls were images of the town captured by turn-of-the-last-century photographer Marie Kendall, whose work constituted the first art exhibit sponsored by the associates in 1977.

State Representative Maria Horn presented a congratulatory citation and Library Director Ann Havemeyer offered a history of the work done by the associates over the decades.

Havemeyer lauded the group as the agency that brought the library back to life as a cultural center it was intended to be when Isabella Eldridge built it for the town in 1888. It was Eldridge’s wish, according to Havemeyer, that the building be more than a library, but also a place for concerts and lectures. “And during her lifetime, she made sure it was,” Havemeyer said.

Havemeyer invited the audience to vicariously go back to 1890 to hear a lecture on the history of Italian art given by Professor Arthur Frothingham of Columbia University. Conjuring up the scene, she said, “As you enter the building, you pass a miniature gondola sitting in a tank of water. The main hall is decorated with floral garlands in the colors of Italy, interspersed with Roman shawls, aprons, rugs and mats. A large photograph of the Colosseum is placed at one end of the hall, draped with Italian flags. The audience is treated to red, green and white Italian ices shaped like guitars and mandolins by Maresi Confectioners of New York, while a group of Italian musicians play their mandolins.” 

“This,” she said, “was the sort of unique and elegant entertainment Isabella produced.” When space became limiting, Eldridge added the Great Hall in 1911.

After Eldridge’s death, America descended into the Great Depression and the Second World War II and for 55 years the days of lavish entertainment became a distant memory, then, in 1974, the library trustees decided it was time to resurrect the library as a cultural center. Trustees Tibby Robinson and Martha Walcott took the lead. Walcott, an accomplished musician, thought the Great Hall would be perfect for concerts. She gave the library her Steinway baby grand piano, still in use today. Together, the women made phone calls soliciting help and a group of 10 women had their first organizational meeting in June 1974.

There was little money, barely enough to give concert musicians an honorarium—certainly not enough to purchase chairs to seat the audience. So, they decided to have a book sale, the first one taking place in 1976. The sale raised $650. The book sale grew dramatically over the decades until today it is eagerly anticipated by booklovers near and far and brings in thousands of dollars each year.

The associates’ first art exhibit was held a year later, and they have since hosted more than 250 artists. A carol sing on the weekend following Thanksgiving has been held for 45 years and fireside gatherings, held in the Great Hall, continue today. 

Currently, most of the programs and events at the library are funded by monies generated through the leadership and enthusiasm of the associates, including adult and children’s musical and literary programs, the library newsletter, additions to the audio-visual inventory of the library and other events or purchases not covered by the library’s annual budget.

In 1987, library director Louise Schimmel suggested that the all-women group consider the addition of men. Havemeyer noted wryly that such a radical move would not be made in a hurry. It would be another 17 years before men joined the group in 2004. The first man was David Davis, who was at the party Saturday.

The associates made significant contributions to the Preserve the Past for the Present capital campaign to restore the library and its red tile roof in 2015 and to the renovation of the Children’s Room in 2018.

A number of special programs are planned this year in celebration of the group’s anniversary. 

The Library Associates meet monthly and always welcome new members. For more information click here.

—Newsletter Editor

During January, Mental Health Awareness Month, Botelle Elementary School children have been exploring techniques that support students’ emotional well-being.

The school uses the RULER approach, an acronym that reminds them of the skills needed to Recognize, Understand, Label, Express and Regulate emotions. These skills increase emotional intelligence.

Principal Lauren Valentino notes that emotions affect learning and behavior and this idea is the foundation of the RULER approach. Teachers and school-based mental health professionals teach strategies to develop these skills. As students mature, they learn sophisticated words such as serene, disheartened, livid and ecstatic to help them accurately identify their emotions. 

They also use RULER tools: the Charter, Mood Meter and Meta-Moment. These strategies, tools and vocabulary, taught throughout all grades, develop greater ability to identify feelings and how to deal with them. Northwestern Regional School #7 also uses the RULER approach with its students.

Botelle’s School Charter, created collaboratively with students, families and staff, identifies the way students deserve to feel when at school. It reads, “At Botelle School we deserve to feel… Happy, Safe, Welcomed, Confident, Excited and Loved!” The charter is posted on signs throughout the building. Botelle graduate Liam Carrigan recently completed his capstone project at Northwestern by making a wooden plaque with the school charter etched on it. It now hangs outside the main office.

During Mental Health Awareness Month, students are learning strategies to practice mindfulness. Being mindful can help them feel the emotions listed in the school charter. Students learn to take a Meta-Moment to help them respond instead of reacting when gripped by a strong emotions. They learn to Sense (notice a change in the body or mind); Pause (wait and breathe to think more clearly); See Your Best Self (imagine your best self in the situation), and Strategize and Act (think of a strategy and try it).

Students will also attend an assembly with Crystal Sheehan from Be Well Community Yoga in North Canaan. She will lead students and staff in an immersive, whole body listening mediation designed to nurture the mind and body. This meditation, called a sound bath, is used to teach and practice mindfulness using singing bowls, rain sticks, gongs, percussions and chimes. In February, they will return to do yoga lessons with each class. 

Another community member from neighboring Colebrook, Peg Nelligan, is visiting Botelle with her therapy dog, Bonnie. Nelligan is a retired Northwestern educator and will bring Bonnie to Botelle weekly. “Bonnie and Peg will definitely help our students and staff feel excited and loved,” said Valentino.

The school’s theme this year is Celebrating All – Creating Community. “Let’s take a mindful moment to celebrate the community we are so fortunate to be a part of. Thank you for supporting our students in feeling Happy, Safe, Welcomed, Confident, Excited and Loved inside and outside of school,” Valentino concluded.

—Newsletter Editor

First Selectman Matt Riiska has been conferring with the state DOT about upcoming bridge projects. Riiska said work is being slated for 2025 on the second of two Mountain Road bridges, this one over Spaulding Brook just east of the intersection with Westside Road. 

Under a new payment formula, the federal government will pay 80 percent of the cost through its federal bridge program and the state the 20 percent that would formerly have been the town’s portion.

The existing bridge was constructed in 1955 and is a 21-foot-long, two-lane bridge in poor condition, according to a DOT presentation. Average daily traffic flow along the road is only 200 vehicles.

Rehabilitation of the bridge is not an option, according to the DOT. The new bridge would be a clear span rather than culverts and would provide wildlife crossings underneath it.

In addition to the Mountain Road project, the state will replace two South Norfolk bridges swept away in last summer’s flash flood. While the town will be held harmless of any cost for their replacement, the timeline remains with the state.

“There will be a lot going on in 2025,” said Riiska, explaining that he has also been meeting with representatives of Aquarion Water Company and the DOT to talk about replacement of the retaining walls along Route 44 west of the town center. “It is going to be a long project taking years,” he said. 

Sewer, water and power lines will have to be moved during the work. 

One-way traffic will be controlled by lights during the process. Riiska said he had told the DOT that traffic cannot be diverted on to Old Colony or Ashpohtag roads.

—Newsletter Editor

A revised edition of the Norfolk Conservation Commission’s Natural Resource Inventory has been completed and is available for sale at Town Hall, the National Iron Bank and the Norfolk Library at a price of $30. It is also available for free online.

The NRI offers fascinating insight into the geology, weather, soils, aquatics, plants and wildlife in Norfolk. It also includes information about open space and historical resources.

“It covers the town pretty comprehensively,” said Conservation Commission member John Anderson, one of the authors. “The inventory attempts to convey how many different resources we have and why they are important.”

The NRI is richly illustrated. “The photography is fantastic,” said Anderson. “We are blessed with many great photographers. [The late] Bruce Frisch contributed lot of photos and we dedicated this updated issue to him.”

Appendices include numerous lists. “One thing I am really pleased with is that the Inventory is unique to Norfolk. Some [town] inventories list species that are ‘likely to occur’ but we say these are ones that have been observed. If it is not on the list, we haven’t seen it yet,” Anderson said. 

“There is not much difference in the animals that were seen since the last one,” he added. “Most were already here, but we do have more specific information on bats. In the previous edition, one species wasn’t listed and others were possibilities, but with no absolute proof. Now, most of those bats have been discovered. Yes, we do have those, plus one additional species.” Happily, the endangered Little Brown Bat still makes the list.

“We also added Damsel Flies, Dragon Flies and some bees and moths,” he reported.

The number of bird species have increased, but other animals, such as the Northern Flying Squirrel “haven’t been seen for a long time.”

The inventory was compiled through collaboration with many other organizations, including the Agriculture Experiment Station and UConn. “There is climate data in the weather chapter gathered from both Great Mountain and Aton forests, the soils have updated because soil types change, and we have expanded the plant list.”

In the middle of the Inventory is a chapter on recommendations for other town agencies to pursue. “Some recommendations have been modified but many are the same. In many ways, that is the most important part. The rest is a reference list, but the recommendation section is what do you do about it. What difference it will make. There are so many recommendations, we knew there would be some push-back, but we all believe it important to put the recommendations in there.”

He said many of the recommendations would be handled by different town bodies in the normal course of business. But the Conservation Commission also works with groups on such things as invasive plants removal, replacing them with native species, and a stream continuity project, which promotes properly sized culverts so flooding does not occur. 

“We have a list of all the culverts in town and they have been evaluated by Housatonic Valley Association,” he said. “We know which ones are okay and which ones are not good for wildlife.”

The first edition, published in 2009 was created over three years by a subcommittee of the Inland Wetlands Agency. Just before it was finished, the Conservation Commission was formed and the subcommittee was appointed to it.

“A lot of what we do in Conservation is to try to find ways to educate,” Anderson explained. “We put on programs and hope to have a few meetings early this year about the NRI. It’s hard because it involves [scheduling with] other groups like the town administration, P&Z, the IWA, etc.”

The Natural Resource Inventory should be revised every 10 years. “We were a little late,” Anderson says, “but it was a bigger project than we thought it would be. We had to have it reformatted and that alone took a while. There are a lot of moving parts—we already have an errata page.”

—Newsletter Editor

Three years after it was gently lifted from its towering position above the Norfolk Church of Christ Congregational, the building’s steeple was hoisted back to its rightful spot over the sanctuary Thursday morning.

“This is Christmas all over again, to be able to get behind the scenes a little bit,” said Pastor Erick Olsen. “I was literally able to hold one of the mechanisms for the crane that lifted it up. It was wonderful.”

Designed in 1813 by master builder David Hoadley, the church, which is constructed on the same site as the first one built in 1760, included an elegant steeple that rose from a square clock tower in two octagonal stages capped by balustrades and a tall spire. It bravely endured 206 years of exposure to the elements in a town dubbed the “Icebox of Connecticut” before restoration began.

But an investigation revealed much deterioration and in fall 2020, the church was warned that even a 45-mile-per-hour gale could bring it tumbling down. It was lifted down on Dec. 23 of that year.

Plans were drawn to replace deteriorated wood, to repair decorative urns and arch balusters, to regild the weathervane and to strip, treat and repaint the spire. The clock tower also received much restorative attention and wood-clad steel columns were installed to support the weight of the steeple. 

With a successful capital campaign behind it, the church even had enough money to repair the belfry clock and chimes. The chimes will play a melody written for them by Robbins Battell, a grandson of the Norfolk’s first pastor, was born only four years after the church was constructed. His grandfather, Ammi Ruhamah Robbins, died the year the second church was built.

Lifting the steeple from its cradle to the top of the church was seamlessly accomplished but only after a chilly two-hour wait for the crowd gathered on the village green in 20-degree temperatures. The contractor decided to change the straps that would secure the steeple to the crane after noticing that they would not clear the spire on top of the structure. Then, when all was secure, it was learned that the steeple was frozen to the cradle. Torches were employed to free it from the icy grip. 

On Thursday afternoon, crews from Valley Restoration LLC were welding the new steel super-structure to the supports in the belfry. “That’s most of the job,” said Olsen. “In the near future, they will shroud the steeple in plastic so the men can heat it and work inside the shroud.”

The steel supports will be sheathed in new material replicating the original structure. Some of the original wood was preserved, but some was too badly deteriorated to be reused, according to Steeple Committee member Marie Civco. “It was rot, rot and more rot,” she said. “Someone said the only thing holding it together was the paint.”

“When it is done, it will look like a brand-new version of what was there,” Olsen predicted. 

When the finished steeple is unveiled this spring, the church will hold a celebration. “We want and need to recognize and celebrate the support we have received for this,” said Olsen. “To be pastor of a church that is clearly so important to so many people is humbling.”

—Newsletter Editor

The Selectmen looked at termination of the town’s defined benefit pension fund during their meeting this week and decided it would be wise to close the fund and offer annuities to those covered by it. 

“It is very solid defined benefit plan that basically ended in 2011 when we went to a contribution plan—something like a 401(k),” said First Selectman Matt Riiska. “We have six people who are retired who are still in the plan, and two that are still working. We will offer them annuities.”

Persons covered by the old plan will continue to receive the benefits they were promised. “They will receive payments based on their pay grade and years of service,” Riiska said, “but we can probably tap half of what is in the fund to help pay down the town’s debt service.”

There is close to $1.8 million in the fund.

Riiska explained that the fund became “way over funded” when interest rates rose. 

“We decided about three years ago that it would benefit the town to offer annuities [to the pensioners] and to close it. But annuities are more expensive when interest rates are low and it wouldn’t have benefitted the town so much then.”

Faced this year with a cluster of expensive and unbudgeted expenses, the Selectmen and the Board of Finance looked again at the fund and decided to close it and pursue annuities, freeing money to reduce the town’s debt service. With the debt service reduced, Riiska said new borrowing will be sought to cover capital items such as new boilers at the elementary school, keeping taxes lower.

—Newsletter Editor