Community News

Should Weekend in Norfolk have food trucks in the summer? How can Sidewalk Sunday be improved? What other events would you like to see? Everyone is invited to an open meeting on Friday, November 6, at 6:00 p.m. at the Hub to give the WIN committee your feedback and suggestions for future WIN weekends.

Botelle Superintendent Kevin Case reported to the Board of Finance Tuesday night that the school closed out the 2025-26 fiscal year with an unaudited $60,146 surplus. At its September 1 meeting, the Board of Education voted to put 2 percent of its total budget—or $50,904 of the surplus—into its non-lapsing fund, as permitted by state statute.

The remaining $9,242 will be returned to the town’s general fund. Case said the non-lapsing fund can be used for future educational needs and reminded the finance board that last year the Board of Education tapped it for about $40,000 to repair the elevator.

He said negotiations with the teachers’ union wrapped up after only two sessions with agreement on a three-year package that will see salaries rise by 13.5 percent—4.1 percent in the first year, 4.47 percent in the second year and 4.93 percent in year three. This level of increase is consistent with other districts throughout the state and is the same as neighboring Colebrook.

“Of course, insurance goes hand in hand with salaries,” Case said. “Norfolk is one of the few districts that does not pay a portion of the teachers’ deductible, which saves a lot of money. Most boards of education give teachers half of the deductible. And the cost share the teachers pay is very high—25.5 percent of their insurance with the board contributing the remainder. It will go to 26 percent in years two and three.”

He said teachers’ salaries will increase incrementally: $27,000 in year one of the contract, $31,000 in year two and $35,000 in the third year 

Board of Finance Chairman Michael Sconyers said it is “hard to find an area of disagreement” with the package. “There is no windfall [for the teachers] in this,” he said.

Others board members noted that the 4 percent annual increases are just above cost of living. 

Case concluded by sharing the school’s new mission statement, which was hammered out after three conversations held by the school board with members of the community. It states, “Botelle School nurtures and educates children through compassionate guidance and meaningful learning experiences. Striving for excellence, we foster a culture of curiosity and belonging that empowers students to become creative, engaged and responsible contributing members of their community and the wider world.”

“We used those discussions to revise our statement,” he said, adding that every word in the statement matters.

Enrollment at Botelle is slightly higher than last year at 58 or 59 students. “We did have some twins move in, but we had a couple of families move out of town,” Case reported. 

It’s a scary season in Norfolk each October and this year there will be more scarecrows than usual adding their own particular flavor to the landscape. 

Local artist Erika Crofut and a band of student volunteers from the after-school Corner Club took advantage of a brilliant fall day Wednesday to create a parade of scarecrows leading from behind the library down to Station Place.

It starts with a blowsy, bosomy scarecrow in a navy taffeta dress kicking up her heels and directing pedestrians down the path past a unicorn and other whimsically clad figures. The students were invited to paint the scarecrows’ faces and, in the case of the buxom woman at the head of the trail, to paint her nails.

This year, the Norfolk Hub has invited families, individuals, businesses, nonprofits, organizations, and community groups to create one-of-a-kind scarecrows for City Meadow. 

Scarecrows will be displayed throughout City Meadow Saturday, October 17, through Sunday, November 1, creating a town-wide fall display. 

There will be a community gathering at City Meadow on October 17 from noon to 3:00 p.m. to celebrate the opening of Scarecrow Meadow with pumpkin painting for children, live local music, light refreshments and a chance to visit with representatives of local and community groups.

Visitors will be invited to stroll through City Meadow and vote for their favorites. 

Tuesday night, the Planning and Zoning Commission continued to weigh the wording of text amendments governing family camps and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and pondered provisions for a new regulation that would cover blight. 

P&Z member Jordan Stern has advocated strongly for revisions to the ADU regulations and argued the urgency of passing new standards after Rick Hahn appeared for Julia and Jonathan Gold of Beckley Road, presenting an application to create an accessory dwelling unit in an existing detached barn.

Stern argued the proposal was invalid because it didn’t meet three of the requirements in the existing regulations, including a provision that an ADU cannot exceed 40 percent of the primary residence. 

The application was accepted for consideration at the November 10 meeting, but discussion continued about proposed text changes for ADUs. “This is the exact kind of application that has driven me to write this regulation,” Stern said. “The current procedure for this application to go through is onerous.” He said the property owners could not ask for more than 740 square feet of living space in the ADU under current regulations, leaving much of the available space unused.

Of particular concern to members was wording governing how an ADU can be rented. Member Wiley Wood said, “The way it is currently stated, the owner would have be in residence the entire time the ADU is in use.”

Members agreed that many Norfolk property owners have multiple residences and might well be at one of them for extended periods of time. They tried out different combinations of words that would ensure that the owner had exclusive use of one of the dwelling units so both could not be rented at one time.

After much discussion, members were asked to bring potential solutions to the problem to the next meeting. 

Turning their attention to family campgrounds, commissioners seemed to settle on a five-acre minimum for such properties, with no more than five sleeping structures. They discussed at length what proportion of the property could be covered by structures—which could include such things as swimming pools and pickleball courts—and whether the sleeping structures could be residences with cooking facilities. Preference seemed to settle on only one building having a kitchen.

At present, the commission is focusing on tightening definitions for the existing regulations that would control blight. Zoning Enforcement Officer Stacey Sefcik said a new blight ordinance will be tackled later. “It’s more involved and will take more time,” she said.

It is hoped that final revisions to the ADU and family campground regulations can be determined by the November meeting and that public hearings can be scheduled for February after all proper notifications have been made to the Council of Governments and neighboring towns.

The Board of Education last week heard concerns from a parent about Botelle Elementary School’s collaborative classroom system and the use of iPads by students.

A parent attending the meeting said her child is one of only three first graders in a class combined with the second grade. “We recently had a pretty upsetting night where she was sobbing about how next year, saying when the second graders move on, she won’t have any friends left,” the mother related.

She was also concerned because her daughter reported that she had been using an iPad for a long time in the classroom; screen time is strictly limited in their home. When approached, the teacher reassured the family that iPads were used only during the time second graders were being tested.

“My kid was being put on a tablet to keep her busy,” the mother said. “These are small classes, so my expectation would be that they are given one-on-one time, and the fact that when it’s not convenient, they’re being put on an iPad was really upsetting to me.”

The mother, who works in the mental health field, cited studies of the negative impact use of such devices can have on children’s IQs.

She also questioned the $17,000 tuition fee charged non-resident families to send their children to Botelle, saying she has out-of-town friends who opted to send their children elsewhere. She asserted that neighboring towns are more proactive in boosting enrollments with non-resident children because they charge less.

Superintendent Kevin Case said out-of-town tuition rates in all Connecticut communities are based on per-pupil costs. In Norfolk, this is $30,000, largely because of fixed costs that drive the budget and a small student population. “I know the board has continually looked at what the tuition options are and decided that $17,000 is a more reasonable cost [than $30,000],” he said.

Case concluded that the Botelle educators and board members are “trying to think outside the box” to solve the enrollment crisis and encouraged community members with issues or questions to contact him.

On Wednesday, November 11th, there will be a Veterans Day Breakfast at Northwestern Regional School District No. 7, 100 Battistoni Drive, Winsted, CT at 8:00 a.m. followed by a program to honor and thank those who have served. Read more

The Rails to Trails Committee has received good news. It has confirmation that its application for an additional $226,155 for construction of the North Brook Trail has been approved.

The funding was allocated by Connecticut Recreational Trails Grant Program following a competitive review process conducted by Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) in partnership with the Connecticut Greenways Council. The funding for the Recreational Trails Grant Program was previously allocated by the State Bond Commission.

The additional funding is needed because of a delay by DEEP in approving a permit for the project, which has to pass over a substantial body of water created by beavers. The delay was long enough so the beavers raised and expanded the pond, requiring the boardwalk that will traverse it to be raised and lengthened. 

At the same time, the cost of materials and labor went up significantly, leaving a shortfall between the $399,000 state grant allocated in 2023 and the $774,406 bid that was awarded for construction this summer. 

The Church of Christ Congregational has closed its doors indefinitely because of safety concerns. Significant cracks have been observed in its barrel ceiling, leading to fears of a collapse into the sanctuary.

Worship and all other activities have been moved to the adjacent Battell Chapel, while a capital campaign gets underway to repair the 1813 ceiling. Even the historic bells that have only recently chimed out again from the restored church steeple have been stilled to prevent vibration that could precipitate a collapse.

Marie Civco, co-chair of the Steeple Committee and chair of the Windows Project committee overseeing restoration of stained-glass windows in the chapel and church, said the cracks were first noticed when preparing for the years-long restoration of the church’s iconic steeple. With the steeple restored, attention had shifted back to the preservation of windows until alarming news about an August 4 ceiling collapse in the Congregational Church in Putnam, Conn., was received.

Civco promptly scheduled an inspection of the Norfolk church by Paul Bastiaanse, president of Valley Restoration Inc., who oversaw the restoration of the steeple. He found that deterioration of the plaster ceiling had increased dramatically since last surveyed three years ago. 

Civco said “keys” are formed when plaster is applied over lath. The plaster presses up between the boards and laps over the top of them, creating tabs that hold it in place. As plaster ages over centuries these weaken and break, causing additional stress on those still in place.

Civco, who was seeking a $200,000 grant from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to finish the window project, quickly contacted the office to see if the grant application could be altered to focus on the ceiling. SHPO approved the change.

The $200,000 is a matching grant, so if parishioners and townspeople fully support the effort, $400,000 could be realized. With an estimate of $300,000 to repair the ceiling and additional costs to protect the altar window and organ, the grant could see the project through to fruition. It will be January before the church hears if it will receive the money.

Church leaders hope that people who admire the iconic New England church will donate toward its preservation, but Civco said they should not start writing checks yet. She explained that donations cannot be counted as matching funds until the grant is received.

The Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department will sell breast cancer awareness t-shirts at the Norbrook Brewery Farmers Market Wednesday, October 21, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. They are also available at the National Iron Bank in town through October and into November.

Online sales will be available throughout October and November.

The selectmen named members to two new ad hoc committees during their regular meeting Wednesday afternoon. 

A temporary committee was created to look at policies and procedures surrounding the maintenance of town trees and to perhaps recommend to the selectmen formation of a permanent tree commission. The move grew out of concern expressed at a public hearing regarding the fate of a village tree that was removed when a new sidewalk was constructed near the post office. 

During the hearing, local arborists remarked on the poor condition of trees in the village, including the venerable trees that shade the village green. 

Appointed to the committee were Conservation Commission members John Anderson, and Nash Pradhan, forester Ted Hinman and Selectman Sandy Evans. First Selectman Henry Tirrell and Tree Warden Matthew Klimkosky are ex officio members.

The second committee will look at the possible use of enforcement cameras to calm speeding traffic. The committee is charged with looking into the devices and, if they are found to be desirable, drafting an ordinance to take to a public hearing and town vote.

Traffic on busy Route 44 was tracked for six days this spring, with 24,000 vehicles passing the monitor near Infinity Hall. More than 13,000 were traveling at 10 miles an hour or more over the speed limit, with three clocked at more than 100 miles per hour.

Tirrell told the selectmen that he has mixed feelings about the speed enforcement cameras but concludes that they are needed to calm traffic. 

Named to the committee were Selectmen Tirrell and Leo Colwell, Richard Byrne, emergency management director, Mike Listorti, a firefighter and member of the Board of Education, Phil Brodnitzki, representing the Norfolk Lions Club’s ambulance service and Michael Selleck, representing the public. 

Each committee needs one additional member.

Tirrell had two other road-related items to discuss with his board: a request from a resident for a streetlight on a side road to enhance pedestrian safety, and a second appeal to change the name of a town road to honor an undisclosed person. 

Tirrell did not specify either location. He said he is unaware of policies covering either request and suggested that the town create them.

The selectmen concurred that both requests were problematic. Tirrell noted DarkSky proponents’ concerns about the effect of ambient light on wildlife and Evans predicted the town could soon be awash in requests for streetlights on side roads. 

Commenting that he’s never seen a road renamed, Tirrell said wryly, “We should have a policy so we know what to do if someone wants to change a street name 100 years from now.” 

The board concurred that changing a road name would be a headache for first responders, neighbors, the postal service and other agencies.