Community News

The Norfolk Lions Club Ambulance is being pressed by a combination of factors as it faces a post-Covid world. Among them are decreasing volunteerism, a rising number of calls –many from neighboring Winsted—and the ever-increasing cost of doing business.

And the nature of the calls is changing, as well. Norfolk Chief of Service Kitty Hickcox said a larger number of responses are for mental health problems and drug-related emergencies. “There was an extreme uptick [in mental health] calls during Covid,” Hickcox said, “and it is still higher than pre-Covid.”

Connecticut regulations require two medically trained personnel on every run. “Usually, it is an EMT and EMR, as well as a driver,” she said. “There are a handful of times where we pass on a call because we don’t have enough people on the shift. Then, we have to go to mutual aid, usually from Winsted or North Canaan.”

Mutual aid can be a two-edged sword, however, and frequent calls from Winsted have pressed Norfolk’s crew. “Winsted benefits quite a bit,” she said. “More than 10 percent of our calls are to Winsted and [additional] calls probably gets cancelled the same number of times. Winsted could use a second full-time crew. As it is now, Norfolk and New Hartford pick up their slack.”

Hickcox said Winsted called on Norfolk 75 times in 2023, cancelling before the ambulance could arrive at least 40 times. Its in-town calls totaled 140, and it covered Colebrook, which is part of its coverage area, 27 times.

Because Norfolk has only one ambulance, the town is unprotected while the crew answers calls from neighboring towns.

She explained the domino effect that can result from mutual aid calls. If a town needs mutual aid, calls are routed through a list of ambulance services in neighboring communities until one can respond. It takes six minutes each time a call is forwarded to a new town. “The expectation is that you call 911 and an ambulance arrives in your yard,” Hickcox said. “But it can become a medical game of musical chairs. It can be 45 minutes that [a patient] lies on the floor.”

The Norfolk ambulance squad lost about 20 percent of its manpower during the pandemic but has succeeded in attracting enough volunteers to fill its ranks since then, sparing it the fate of other Northwest Connecticut towns that rely, at least in part, on paid EMTs. “But we always need volunteers,” said Hickcox. “That is probably our biggest challenge.”

If a town had to rely solely on a paid department it could cost more than $1 million annually.

“We have spent the last few years trying to fill the ranks. We have a fair number of retired people. We do really well with people in their 60s, who want a new challenge. We always say our volunteers range from 25 and 80.”

Many towns use junior corps to engage the next generation of volunteers, but Hickcox said Norfolk has no program for young people. “There aren’t enough kids in town,” she said, adding that Northwestern Regional School #7 no longer offers Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) or Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) classes.

Although there is no official program for young people in Norfolk, youths can still take part, however. “They can take an EMR class at 14 and an EMT class at 16, but they can’t be unsupervised until they are 18,” Hickcox said. 

There are always classes forming in nearby towns or online. Adults sometimes take month-long intensive training to earn certification. To qualify as an EMR requires 60 to 70 hours of instruction, while EMT courses consume some 250 hours. EMTs must take 40 hours of continuing education every other year. “It’s a long haul,” said Hickcox.

“A lot of people will say, ‘I’ll write you a check,’” she said. “I don’t want to say money isn’t important, but it’s not our biggest challenge. There’s always an excuse why they can’t join.”

Those who wish to volunteer can find application forms on the service’s website. https://norfolkambulance.com

The Norfolk ambulance service is funded by the Norfolk Lions Club, in-kind support from the town, memorial contributions and donations. 

—Newsletter Editor

Inflation may have eased marginally in the past few months, but the Norfolk NET Community Food Pantry is still seeing its impact on area families. On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, a total of 27 families were fed, a great increase over pre-Covid figures.

“It’s interesting,” said volunteer director Lynn Deasy. “When we started keeping statistics in January of 2022, we fed only eight different families each week for a total of 27 people. Now we are up to 42 families a week, or 114 people.”

 “In the past few weeks, we have had a couple of days where we were as high as 20 different people. My volunteers have rollerblades on. The numbers have just exploded,” she said.

The Pantry has nine volunteers. “We are so blessed. We couldn’t do this without them,” the director said. 

Deasy has seen little reduction in the cost of living. “I don’t see a decrease,” she said. “If you need food, you need a lot of other things as well. A lot of times people are just shifting things around, asking, ‘What bill will I pay?’”

The Community Food Pantry, located in Battell Chapel, takes a some of the worry out of current daily life. It is set up like a mini grocery store and patrons are allowed to choose what they like to eat, unlike some food banks, which hand out bags of pre-selected groceries. “We were trying to figure out why we are getting so many people,” Deasy said. “Everyone said, ‘Because you let me choose what to eat.’ We all have things we don’t like.”

She said there are no restrictions on the amount taken, except for meat or dairy products, which are limited to two meat items and three dairy products. “We do ask them not to come more than once a week and I tell them, ‘Pretend this is your weekly grocery shopping.”

An affiliated Clothes Closet serves anyone who needs clothing and bedding, and accepts donations of clean, lightly used items.

Since 2017, the food pantry has been operated under the auspices of Norfolk NET, a collaborative, grassroots organization that works to alleviate poverty. “The food bank has been around for 30 years and used to be operated through the Church of Christ’s discretionary account,” said Deasy.

“But we got feedback that some people didn’t like writing a check to the church. We talked with [First Selectman Matt Riiska] to see if we could go under the town, but that never really worked.” 

The group further explored becoming a nonprofit but were dissuaded by the tax filings required for 501(c)(3)s. In the end, the agency simply opened a bank account, and donations can be made directly to the Norfolk Food Pantry. “It makes it easier to budget and balance,” said Deasy.

“Mostly, we are trying to figure out what else we can be doing to increase support. We’ve upped our social media, and my sister is building a website. I think that will help. And the town pages [the Norfolk Hub’s eblast, norfolkct.org and the church pages] have gotten the word out,” she continued. “Without donations, we wouldn’t exist.”

People can support the food pantry by either placing non-perishable foodstuffs in a blue bin at the back of Battell Chapel, 12 Litchfield Road; bringing perishable items such as meat and milk to the food pantry during opening hours, or through monetary donations left with pantry volunteers or in the church office. 

While all donations are gratefully received, Deasy said that money may benefit the food bank more. They have a dedicated shopper, David Gourley, who assiduously seeks out bargains. “He loves to shop, and he is always looking for the best prices,” Deasy said. 

Each week on its Facebook page, the food bank lists foods that it particularly needs. This week it is seeking cold and hot cereals, oranges, apples, bananas, coffee, cranberry juice and egg cartons. Yes, egg cartons—Bill Arkuett’s hens are back on the job after their winter hiatus. 

The food bank is open Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 

—Newsletter Editor

The “slip and fall” lawsuit brought against the town after a pedestrian fell in the vicinity of the Congregational Church has been settled for an undisclosed amount.

First Selectman Matt Riiska told the Board of Finance this week that a settlement was agreed to before the trial could begin. “They settled at about 9:30 at night,” he said. A jury had already been empaneled. 

Riiska said the town’s insurance company will pay the settlement, but he is looking to the future and prevention of future accidents. A municipality is responsible by state statute for the maintenance of sidewalks, both repairing them and clearing them following storms.

He said he contacted Julia Scharnberg, head of the Historic District Commission, to discuss the issue. “I told her there are three choices,” he said. “We can remove the walks and put in grass, we could put in gravel walks or … well, we really can’t choose three, which would be to put in granite walks.”

He will also take an ordinance to a future town meeting that would require home and business owners to clear walks in front of their properties. 

—Newsletter Editor

Tuesday night the Planning and Zoning Commission approved two applications to construct a new firehouse on Shepard Road after imposing a number of conditions on the project.

The first application considered was for a lot line change to enlarge the firehouse property and the second was the proposal for the building and the grounds around the firehouse.

The conditions for the building site dictate that lights on all signs must be angled downward to reduce light pollution, that the transformer and generator be located at the rear of the lot, that the generator be tested during the day and that the generator and transformer be shielded from view and their sound muffled.

Additionally, the parking area on Shepard Road is to be reserved for City Meadow except during emergencies, access to City Meadow must be unfettered; three old trees on the eastern lot line must be removed and replaced, the air conditioner compressor must be located as far from the front of the property as feasible and be screened, a final set of plans must be submitted and the Zoning Enforcement Officer must receive timely reports about construction sequence, sedimentation control, site inspection and the like. 

Finally, the number of lights on the railing along the boardwalk leading to City Meadow must be cut in half,the Kelvin rating on exterior lighting cannot exceed 4,000 and within six months of the project’s completionthe fire department must create and submit a lighting use plan.

Approval of the firehouse plan came only after approval of the lot line application, stripping some land from City Meadow. Some of the conditions for this application mirrored those imposed on the construction plan. They are that the Shepard Road parking space be reserved for City Meadow, that appropriate signage designate the City Meadow parking lot, that the transformer and generator be located at the rear of the firehouse lot, that there shall be a handicap parking space and that a map clearly show the boundaries of the lot lines be filed with the land records.

Commission members debated at some length four conditions member Jordan Stern suggested: that two light poles earmarked for the front of the property be removed, that the brightness of the pole lights be lowered from 7,000 to 5,000 lumens, that the number of lights along the boardwalk be cut in half and that the Kelvin rating of exterior lights be set at 4,000.

Stern contended that the lighting plan as presented exceeded best practices standards cited by both the town’s consulting engineer and the engineers who created the plan. He suggested that the level of lighting could prove detrimental to neighboring property owners.

Commission member Christopher Schaut put forward another solution. He suggested that the fire department be given six months after completion of the building to live with the lot and to determine how much light is needed and when. The department would then have to present a lighting plan with times when lights could be dimmed or turned off.

Member Wiley Wood agreed. “It’s the use they make of them,” he said. “If they are used when necessary and toned down when not needed, I don’t see a problem.”

P&Z Chairman Tom Fahsbender cautioned that the commission was approving a firehouse, “not a residence or retail store.” 

“We should take the recommendations from the people who design firehouses and the people who use them,” he said. “It’s important that the conditions we put down don’t get in the way of safe operation.”  He said he liked Schaut’s proposal because it allowed flexibility. “The situation on the ground will determine what is helpful,” he concluded.

In the end, the commission incorporated two of Stern’s conditions, but rejected removing two light poles and limiting lumens to 5,000.

—Newsletter Editor

First Selectman Matt Riiska is taking a conservative stance on municipal spending for the coming year despite some good financial news in the third quarter of the fiscal year.

He told the Board of Finance Tuesday that his proposed 2024-25 budget would rise 2.5 to 3 percent if nothing is changed, but “I am working on getting it as close to no increase as I can.”

He said the town would forego some things this year, like budgeting $60,000 for tree removal, and he will use the town crew for work such as putting in a new sidewalk between Berkshire Country Store and the Post Office rather than contracting for the work.

But there is nothing he can do about the 19.2 percent ($345,000) increase in the town’s assessment for Region 7, which he termed “a killer.” The increase is based on the proportion of students sent to the school by the four member towns. Norfolk is sending six more students while the other towns are sending fewer.

Representatives of Region 7 will come to Norfolk March 27 at 6:30 p.m. for a budget presentation at Botelle School.

Norfolk endured an annus horribilis in 2023, with multiple financial disasters draining the town’s coffers, but there seems to be a turn in its fortunes as the new fiscal year approaches. It was reported during the meeting that a decision to close out the town’s defined pension plan and provide the pensioners with annuities should bring a residual $1.2 million to the town.

“To end up with $1.2 million will be very, very important in the coming year,” said Board of Finance Chairman Michael Sconyers. “It’s only March and we have already spent 84 percent of this year’s budget. It’s been a tough year.”

Riiska said he would recommend using some of the money to retire the debt on the windows and doors installed at the ambulance building. The town still has three payments to make for a total $392,692. “It would be wise for us to pay it off completely” he said. “We can’t take on debt until we pay off the debt we have.”

He said he is looking at refinancing the loan taken out last year for upgrades to Maple Avenue. Interest rates were not favorable at that time. “We have been talking to bond counsel and it was indicated we could save about $50,000 a year,” he reported. 

He said the Grand List went up about $4 million dollars this year, a modest amount, but that the town is going into a revaluation that could significantly increase property valuations. 

“Assessments have increased as much as 35 to 40 percent in some towns,” said Sconyers. “I think the Grand List will increase significantly.” He added that an increase in valuations does not mean taxes will go up significantly.

—Newsletter Editor

Details are being worked out for resuming work on River Place Bridge. The construction project was stopped in November 2022 when it was discovered that one headwall was not sitting on a firm foundation.

The project went back to the drawing boards and then had to reapproved by the state Department of Transportation, causing considerable delay. First Selectman Matt Riiska has been working with the engineers and construction company for a month to get the project up and running again. 

“I feel we have everything worked out now,” he said during the March 6 Board of Selectmen’s meeting. “We plan to get back on site by the middle of April.”

He said the additional work has added $1.1 million to the project, of which the town will be responsible for 20 percent. He is discussing the issue with the state. “I have been working with the state a lot,” he said during the Selectmen’s meeting, adding that the state has agreed to pay 100 percent of the cost on other bridges.

In other business, he reported that a new City Meadow Committee has been appointed consisting of Elizabeth Borden and Michael Selleck from the Economic Development Commission, George Cronin, Molly Ackerly, Doreen Kelly from the Community Association, Lisa Atkin from the Norfolk Foundation and Martyn Banks from the fire department. “I tried to get a diverse group,” Riiska reported. 

He said the committee will “push things along” with the needed removal of invasives and planning better ways to use the meadow for passive recreation. He reported that there was $7,000 left over from the work of a previous committee and that a donor has provided another $110,000 to accomplish the needed work. “We’ll be very careful about how we spend it,” he said.

Since City Meadow was first created as a recreational area, invasive plants have overrun it. Proposed work includes removing them and planting native plants.

The selectmen approved a resolution authorizing Riiska to formally apply for a $2.5 million Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection grant to help pay for the new firehouse. State Representative Maria Horn secured the loan for the town. 

The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the plans for the firehouse Tuesday night. 

—Newsletter Editor 

The town waited for years to replace the highly popular Big Green Slide at Botelle Elementary School after it was vandalized and there was considerable rejoicing last August when a new, slightly shorter slide was finally erected in its place. 

But now the new slide is broken and off-limits to the children who enjoyed zipping down its 60-foot length.

First Selectman Matt Riiska reported to the Board of Finance this week that Creative Recreation of West Hartford, which installed it, did not put footings below the supports. The slide has shifted and several flanges are cracked. He is in contact with the company and predicted that its repair will not cost the town anything.The new slide cost $80,000. Replacement became an issue in town, and it was not until ARPA funds and private donations were dedicated to the purchase price that it was restored to its pride of place above the school’s playing fields

The Region 7 Board of Education gave town officials from the four member towns a preview of expected spending in the 2024-25 school year Wednesday night, detailing the biggest increases in a $21,937,589 adjusted budget. 

The total budget would increase by $850,140 or 3.92 percent if passed as presented. There are projected to be 750 students next year in the middle and high school. That is down sharply from the average of about 1,000 students in recent years.

While New Hartford, the largest of the four towns, pays more than half of the costs of the school, this year Norfolk will have the largest percentage increase at 19.12 percent. Each town’s assessment is based on the numbers of students attending as compared to the other towns.

“We are in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska. “We had a small class graduate from Region 7 last year and a big one come in.

This year, Barkhamsted, which has endured significant increases in the past few years, will see a reduction because 29 fewer students will attend. Colebrook will send eight fewer students, New Hartford is down 11 and Norfolk is up by eight.

“It’s a very significant increase, $345,000,” said Riiska. “The cost is ridiculous.”

Wednesday night he pleaded with the regional board members to do what they could to trim expenses. “I think it’s an excellent school,” he said, “but I looked at the budget, and after I fell out of my chair, I am here to plead with you to do that you can lower that.”

He told the board last year was “horrible” for Norfolk financially with about $1 million in unexpected costs, some of which he hopes to recoup through insurance. 

All the town officials at the meeting were concerned about falling enrollments, both in their local schools and at Region 7. “I understand you have to have a teacher, if it’s five students or 25,” Riiska said, “but I would ask you to look at that a little closer.”

New Hartford First Selectman Dan Jerram noted that the number of teachers still hovers around 135 despite the falling enrollment and said the region must look closely the issue. “How will you take on this challenge?” he asked.

Enrollments are expected to continue to decrease through the end of the decade.

Region 7 Board Chairman Molly Sexton Reed said that budget does not include any new programs and reflects a reduction in staff by 2.5 teachers. Staff reductions are being achieved through attrition. For example, the Chinese program was eliminated when its teacher retired.

She said the budget is “very preliminary” and would be reviewed at a budget workshop before being taken to the individual towns for presentations. 

Giving a “very broad-brush” overview of the increases, she said, “The two biggest drivers are special education, where we had one or two students that we hadn’t budgeted for this year, and two coming in that are currently outplaced. The other major driver is the health insurance increase, which is up 10.95 percent. There is a 2.47 percent increase from those two factors alone.”

Another factor is a decrease in revenues from fewer out-of-district students paying tuition and a reduction in vo-ag funding from the state.  Sexton Reed said the school is trying to market itself to neighboring towns, which send students on a tuition basis, and is opposing the change in vo-ag funding.  

The yearly cost per pupil at the school is $25,453, placing it fourth among the nine Berkshire League schools.

Thursday night the Conservation Commission hosted a talk on lighting levels, a matter of increasing concern nationwide, and a topic of discussion during the Planning and Zoning Commission’s consideration of a plan for the new firehouse.

Leo Smith, executive director of DarkSky International, told a gathering at the Norfolk Hub that his interest in the subject was piqued when the property abutting his Suffield home was sold to a developer. Concerned about glare from lighting in the development, he approached the builder and, in concert with the manufacturer of the light fixture to be used, came up with a solution that directed the light down, rather than outward and upward toward the heavens.

It was the start of a career in activism for Smith that has led to legislation designed to reduce the intensity of exterior lighting and its effects on the quality of life for plants, animals and humans. In 2023, for instance, Connecticut passed legislation requiring commercial buildings to shut off non-essential lights in state buildings after 11:00 p.m. during periods when birds are migrating.

Smith said light pollution did not exist until 145 years ago when the incandescent light bulb was developed. It has worsened steadily, especially since LED lighting was introduced. “We don’t advocate not lighting,” said Smith, “but how do we design it so we light the pathway, but not the house next to it?”

He said Americans use 10 to 15 times the amount of light needed. If unnecessary lighting were to be eliminated, $3 billion to $7 billion dollars a year could be saved and 21 million tons of CO²  eliminated. “Ninety-nine percent of outdoor lighting is wasted,” he said. “Either it is not needed, or it doesn’t hit the target.”

He suggested common-sense solutions such as turning off lights when they are no longer needed and doing audits of street lighting in communities to eliminate lights not needed for public safety.

DarkSkies can send communities a template to use in creating a streetlight master plan.

In response to a question about car headlights, he said LED lights are more effective illumination, but also blind oncoming drivers. Europeans are now using a system that detects an approaching car and diverts the light temporarily toward the side of the road. “Three to five years from now you will see a lot of that in this country,” he predicted.

Another question concerned crime deterrence. Smith said that, counterintuitively, lighting around a home simply allows malefactors to get a blueprint of a property and makes home entry easier. Motion detectors that turn lights on when an intruder approaches are more effective, he contended.

He advocated for town ordinances that require professionally designed lighting plans to be submitted during the permitting process. “The key is to try to address this at the time the building permit is applied for,” he said. “That would be extremely effective because the developer would know it won’t be approved otherwise.”

—Newsletter Editor

Linda Filley, a Millbrook, N.Y., artist now exhibiting at the Norfolk Library, has always liked shoes.  “When I was 10 or 11, my mom stopped at a store that was having a sample sale. Because they were samples, all the shoes were in my size and she let me buy some two-toned flat shoes that I thought were the most wonderful thing in world,” she recalls.

Her passion for shoes has not dimmed, but today her shoes are not meant for walking. For the past 20 years, Filley has created fanciful footwear, whimsical artistic gems crafted from cardboard, bits of wrapping paper, old diaries, packaging materials and, yes, even the bright foil that wrapped candies brought home from Asia by her husband.

“I love going to estate sales and yard sales,” she said. “I pick up old wallpaper, maps, old sheet music … . My mother-in-law was a bookbinder, and I got a lot of her old marbling paper—I used that for the first shoes I made. It almost looked like denim with a waxy surface.”

In the deft hands of the self-taught artist, a couple of pages of old sheet music can turn into a long, pointy-toe slipper with roses, while a piece of discarded wallpaper may find new life as a high-heeled floral bouquet. 

Filley says her work is never predetermined and she finds inspiration everywhere. “I can’t stop,” she said. “I could be walking down the street and see a broken branch or a color out of the corner of my eye. Or perhaps it is a print or design. I can drive my family crazy.”

Each shoe is an original design and a one-of-a-kind creation, although each is informed by the character of the imaginary woman who will wear it. She works about five hours each day, surrounded by scraps of paper, odd bits of ribbon, mesh bags that once held onions and other commonplace items of modern life.

Filley always had an affinity for art but did not set out to be an artist. She left home at 16 and “wandered a bit….I did a bit of everything and wondered where it would all go,” she said.  Along the way, she enjoyed elaborately wrapping gifts for friends and family. Indeed, her first shoes were decorations made to top gifts she gave to two dear friends.

Before that, however, she spent many years crafting paper dresses that were signature elements in the windows of a store owned by her long-time friend, Maureen Missner. Missner had come home from a trip with a large wire mannequin. She turned Filley’s imagination loose on the mannequin, planning to use it as a window display. “I thought I could weave paper through it to make a dress,” Filley recalled. “I started doing dresses for the window seasonally and we had a nice following.”

When Missner saw the shoe on her present, she perceived another opportunity. “I started making shoes to complete the outfits,” Filley said. When Missner mounted a retrospective of Filley outfits, every shoe sold in one night.

Filley is no sentimentalist and readily parts with her creations. “They are all for sale,” she said. “I do have a couple of small ones that I like and that are not for sale. One of them I made out of an old diary with a roll of old stamps that became the strap.”

This is a return visit to Norfolk for Filley, who last showed her work at the library in 2017. “The people at the library are pretty special,” she said, “and the library is just beautiful.”

The show opened March 2 and will continue during regular library hours through April 4.

—Newsletter Editor