Community News

Americans “tend to want to tidy [forests] up like our living rooms,” said Susannah Wood, chair of the Conservation Commission. But there is a growing awareness that leaving dead and decaying trees in a forest is an essential ecological element, an element that will be explored in a Saturday, September 5, talk at the Hub.

The term “Morticulture”—the scientific study and cultivation of dead wood and tree decomposition—was coined by forest ecologist Dr. Mark Harmon when he launched a multi-century log decomposition experiment in the 1980s to study how rotting wood supports ecosystems. 

“‘Morticulture’ is not new in the sense that we have known for a long time that decaying wood plays role in the health of a forest,” said Wood. “It provides food for all the little animals that live in it and the birds that eat them and homes for birds and animals that are hole dwellers and dead and dying trees. If you cut down all the dead trees, you’re depriving that ecosystem.”

To help spread the information, the Conservation Commission and the Norfolk Nature Alliance are sponsoring the talk, “Morticulture: The Abundant Life in Old & Dead Trees,” Saturday, September 5, at 4:00 p.m. The guest speaker will be Margery Winters, a naturalist and the program coordinator at the Roaring Brook Nature Center. 

“It’s an attempt to talk to the forestry industry—they may need the message even more than private property owners,” said Wood. “The decomposition of old trees is an important part of keeping our forests health and strong.”

To register for the talk, click here.

Two dates important for residents are on the town’s upcoming social services calendar. 

A representative from the Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging will do a presentation on Medicare and Medicaid Monday, October 5, at 11:00 a.m., discussing the changes to insurance for the upcoming year.

And on Wednesday, October 7, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., flu shots will be offered at the Town Hall for anyone 3 years of age and older. Covid-19 vaccines will be available along with pneumonia shots. Pre-registration is required. 

Call the Social Services Department for more information or to register for immunizations, 860-542-2887. 

Over the past week, members of the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department, town officials and members of the Fire House Building Committee have all signed the last truss for the new fire house, which will be hoisted into place during a ceremony Saturday, August 29, at 1:00 p.m. at the Shepard Road site.

The signatures will remain with the structure as a permanent reminder of the community members and officials involved in bringing the long-awaited project to fruition.

Members of the public, town officials, emergency services partners, and members of the media are invited to attend.

At a building committee meeting held August 20, it was reported that construction is proceeding at a rapid pace. The concrete slabs have been poured, and the masonry walls are rising. The metal decking over the training area was scheduled for installation this week and roofing is to begin on September 1. Electrical conduits have been run and the water main has been installed as far as the meter pit 

Authorization to do preliminary site work for a three-bay garage will be voted upon Wednesday, September 2, at 7:00 p.m. at Botelle School. The Board of Finance authorized an additional $125,000 for the site work. 

If approved, it would increase the overall project costs to $10, 525,000 while keeping the borrowing limit at the town-approved $4 million. At this point, the projected long-term debt for the project is expected to be about $3.7 million, even with the additional work associated with the future three-bay garage.

The firefighters hope to move into the new quarters in January, with final completion currently slated for spring 2027. 

A good book is hard to find—unless you go to the Norfolk Library’s annual book sale where thousands of books, 75 percent of which are hardcover, will be available this coming Saturday, Sunday and Monday, August 29 through 31 in a tent beside the library.

The books are donated from private libraries and are sorted into more than 30 categories by dedicated volunteers. Proceeds benefit the Norfolk Library Associates, which underwrites the library’s many cultural programs. 

There are hundreds of art and photography books, cookbooks, travel and garden books, and children’s books. Other categories include history, biography, literature, religion and philosophy, social sciences, animals, business and law, music and theater, technology, science, health, politics and foreign languages, and there are thousands of volumes of fiction.

About 500 rare and vintage books will be priced individually and sold inside the library. 

The sale opens at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and continues that day until 5:00 p.m. On Sunday the sale opens at 10:30 a.m., with remaining books being offered free from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. On Monday all volumes are free from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Boxes are provided, and credit cards are accepted; for more information contact the library at 860-542-5074 or email thenorfolklibrary@gmail.com.

The latest section of sidewalk to be upgraded around Station Place was finished this week, following removal of a tree next to the post office. “We will be putting in a new tree next month,” said First Selectman Henry Tirrell.

The tree was in an unfortunate spot next to the new walks and Tree Warden Matt Klimkosky marked it for removal. A public hearing was called before the tree was removed, where it was explained that, as feared, a major root had been severed while excavating for the new sidewalk.

Meanwhile, he hopes sidewalk work will continue along the west side of Station Place overlooking City Meadow. It is not anticipated that any trees will be harmed there.

Tirrell said funds were allocated for the sidewalk work under the road paving line item in the budget. About $350,000 to $400,000 was designated for paving Old Colony and Laurel Way Ext. with roughly another $50,000 for sidewalk work. 

“When Laurel Way is done, we will see if there is more room in the budget for sidewalks,” he said. “We want to replace them anywhere there are those old brick pavers.”

The town also has $47,000 in state Local Capital Improvement Program money that can be applied to local capital projects, including sidewalk upgrades.

First Selectman Henry Tirrell will present the concept of two new town committees when he meets with his Board of Selectmen September 2.

During a recent public hearing about the removal of a village tree, it was noted that the town does not have a maintenance plan for its public trees, something that local arborists have advocated for in recent years. 

It was suggested at the public hearing that the town establish a committee to oversee the maintenance of trees owned by the town.

“It’s something people are interested in,” he said. “The old trees on the village green are fantastic, but it is a question of when we should be planting new trees for when they begin to die off.”

Arborists at the public hearing also noted that the public trees have not been pruned for optimal appearance and health.

The second committee would look at the issue of speeding in town. Townspeople have urged measures to slow traffic along Route 44, which bisects the town, and along secondary roads. A traffic survey taken earlier this year showed most cars passing through town at 10 miles per hour or more over the speed limit. One vehicle sped through at more than 100 miles per hour.

Speed cameras have been a controversial issue in other Northwest Cornwall towns and a fact-finding committee could test the town’s sentiment.

Following an hour-long hearing Thursday night that showed public sentiment evenly divided over removal of a Japanese Zelkova tree adjacent the post office, Tree Warden Matt Klimkosky decided the tree must go.

The removal will include excavating the stump and root system prior to pouring a new sidewalk. A replacement tree will be planted in September. 

Klimkosky, an arborist, marked the tree for removal because of its proximity to ongoing sidewalk construction in the village center. It was feared that the roots of the 30-year-old ornamental tree would be damaged and, indeed, it was revealed at the public hearing that breaking up the sidewalk had already severed a large root.

Klimkosky said he worried both about the tree’s health, and that it might have been made unstable and could topple over in a storm.

Opinions about the tree’s future varied even among the arborists and horticulturalists in the room. Both Nash Pradhan, a landscape designer and horticulturalist, and John Anderson, a biologist and former executive director of Aton Forest, believe the tree could survive. Klimkosky first leaned toward trying to save it but, with the root severed, became more pessimistic.

“I would like to save the tree, but what if it succumbs?” he asked. “We would have to have a contractor come and do excavation around the new sidewalk. We wouldn’t be able to grind the stump or plant a new tree.”

“It’s a miracle this tree is surviving,” he continued. “It’s living in an inhospitable environment of asphalt and concrete. It’s periodically trimmed by the power company, its lower limbs are whacked by trucks, the town crew puts down salt on the pavement every winter.”

A 9 to 7 straw vote at the meeting showed a nearly even division of opinion about trying to save it, but Jeffrey Torrant, the contractor removing the old sidewalk and a fiscally conservative member of the Board of Finance, said he has pulled thousands of root systems out of the earth over the course of his career. The process usually leaves a “hole three times the size of the tree.” 

“If the tree dies in a year, why would you endanger a $50,000 sidewalk?” he said. “We don’t want to be penny wise and pound foolish.”

The Board of Finance agreed Tuesday night to put a $250,000 down payment on a $1,252,000 pumper firetruck, a move that would secure the lowest of six bids the fire department received last week. 

Residents will be asked to approve the move at a town meeting slated for Wednesday, September 2 at 7 p.m.

Quotes ranged from the $1.2 million bid to $1,545,703.

The town currently has $260,000 in its fire engine account and is seeking $885,000 in congressionally directed funding in the federal budget. The appropriation is supported by Senator Richard Blumenthal but must still be passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee, approved by Congress and signed by the president.

The new truck will be delivered in just under three years and will replace a truck that is currently 31 years old.

There was considerable variation in the bids received for items such as length of warranties, compartment space, wheelbase, fuel tank size and the like. 

The vehicle selected will be supplied by E-One of Ocala, Fla., one of the largest fire apparatus makers in the country and comes with a 20-year warranty for its body and a lifetime warranty for the water tank. It can carry up to 2,000 feet of four-inch hose.

The Board of Finance took a more cautious approach to a request from the fire department to restore a $350,000 equipment storage garage to its current building plan for the new fire house. The three-bay garage was cut from the plan to save money, but the firefighters argue that current cost projections for the overall project show that including it would still bring the project in below the $4 million borrowing limit approved by the town.

The finance members decided, however, that only preliminary work for the building such as laying the infrastructure for utilities and site preparation should be budgeted at this time, with construction to be undertaken later. They propose that $125,000 be designated for this purpose.

This item, too, must be taken to the town meeting.

Students will meet four new staff members when Botelle School swings open its doors for the new school year Wednesday, August 26.

Megan Schneider is replacing Sarah Ward as the upper intermediate teacher. Schneider, a Norfolk resident, has been co-director of the PTO Drama Club for two productions. She most recently was a substitute teacher at Botelle and prior to that was a special education teacher in Winsted.

The music department will see two new faces. Kathy Dravis, who formerly taught two days a week at the school, will be replaced by Chris Valerio, the new instrumental music teacher. Valerio will teach lessons and conduct band on Tuesdays. Valerio is a retired music teacher who taught in Torrington. Most recently he was the instrumental music teacher at Colebrook Consolidated School. 

Jeffrey Howard, the new general music teacher, will be in his classroom on Fridays. Howard instructs high school girls at a private school in the Berkshires and conducts toddler music lessons and summer music programs for all ages (including for the Boston Symphony Orchestra). He is experienced in stringed and percussion instruments and will conduct chorus for interested students in grades 3 to 6.

Instructional assistants Kelly Powell and Susan Wright are departing, to be replaced by Jennifer Rodgers, as an instructional assistant and SRBI interventionist. An SRBI interventionist is a specialized educator who provides research-based academic, behavioral or social-emotional support to struggling students. In the morning, she will work in the early primary classroom and in the afternoon will support students who need extra practice in reading and math.

In additional news, breakfast will be provided free to all students this year. Grab-and-go breakfast bags will be given to those children who sign up the day before. 

Applications for Free/Reduced lunches will be sent home on the first day of school.

The bus routes are prepared but to protect students’ privacy are longer posted on the school’s public website. Parents can email [mplasko.norfolk@snet.net ] Administrative Assistant Mary Pat Lasko, or call her at 860-542-5286, ext. 200. to get morning pickup and afternoon drop-off times. 

Parents who drive their children to school and/or pick them up should use the main entrance on the upper driveway. Students can enter the building at 8:20 a.m., but there is no supervision until that time. 

Students who arrive after 8:30 a.m. must be signed in in the main office by an adult. The school day runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for grades kindergarten through 6, and 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. for pre-kindergarten. 

The Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department is inviting residents to celebrate with it as the final roof truss of its new fire station is raised into place on Saturday, August 29, at 1:00 p.m. at the Shepard Road construction site.

The walls of the new structure have been going up, and the company currently anticipates moving its apparatus and fleet into the new building in January 2027. The remaining work, including paving, landscaping and plantings, is expected to be complete in May. 

In a statement, the firefighters termed lifting the truss into place “a special moment for our department” and extended its thanks to the townspeople and all those who have worked to make it possible.

“We’re getting closer every day, and we would love for the entire community to come out and share this moment with us,” they said.