Community News

Talented writer/reporter wanted to report, write and produce a weekly town newsletter for the town of Norfolk, Connecticut.  Freelance position.

The mission of the Norfolk, Conn., weekly newsletter is to keep the citizens of the community well informed about significant events, the workings of town government, and any larger issues that town citizens may wish to follow.

Job Description

The Newsletter Editor is responsible for identifying relevant news items, attending and reporting on occasional town meetings and events, and writing succinct, accurate descriptions for the weekly newsletter and the town website, norfolkct.org.  The Editor also produces the newsletter by adding the week’s content to the website and sending it every Friday to subscribers (currently 550) via MailChimp.

The average newsletter contains a mix of about 10 articles along these lines:
3 to 4 event descriptions (selected from those written by the Events Editor)
3 to 4 community news articles 
1 or 2 occasional reported pieces in the series “How Our Town Works”
A list of the forthcoming week’s municipal meetings
A photograph may accompany one or more of the issue’s articles

The Newsletter Editor works with the town Website Committee to set strategy for the newsletter.  The newsletter is the communication of the town’s official website and, as such, articles must be unbiased, without identifying any one point of view; accuracy is vital.

Requirements:

Excellent writing skills
Demonstrated interest in investigative journalism, reporting
Attention to detail, copy editing skills
Reliable; able to meet deadlines consistently

The following are a plus:

Norfolk resident, familiar with Town Hall
Previous experience with WordPress and/or Mail Chimp
Ability to take photos to illustrate news stories

The Position:

This is a freelance position, requiring approximately 10 hours per week of time.  Compensation is a  monthly fee; the amount depends on skills and experience.

Interested?  If you’d like to see samples of past newsletters, please contact the webmaster here.  To apply for the position, please email cover letter, resume and writing samples to the same address.

—Webmaster

A State Trooper is now monitoring traffic on Route 44 Mondays through Fridays while crews work on new retaining walls west of the village center.

Traffic lights allow alternating travel over one lane, but some people have tried to run the light. 

“There have been all kinds of little mishaps” since the lights were installed, said First Selectman Matt Riiska.

Selectman Sandy Evans, ambulance service EMT, noted that if motorists jump the light, it is impossible to see if a car has entered from the other side. “It’s one thing to back up a car,” she said, “but it would be difficult if we had to back an ambulance out of that narrow, bumpy chute.”

Riiska said people who know the area also have been trying to avoid the light by using Ashpohtag and Old Colony Roads. “That will be a concern sooner rather than later,” he said. 

The DOT has altered its plans for reconstructing the section of road, cutting the disruption by more than two years, but it will still be two years more before the work is done. 

—Newsletter Editor

Townspeople are needed to serve on various town boards and commissions.

In Norfolk, as with many small towns, a handful of elected and appointed officials charged with planning and administering town business are supplemented by a dedicated group of residents who donate their time to the important work required. Many times, the same persons serve on multiple municipal bodies, and it is often difficult to find replacements when they resign. 

For example, two members, Chairman Tom Fahsbender and alternate Lisa Read, recently resigned from the Planning & Zoning Commission, leaving two vacancies.

At its Wednesday meeting, the selectmen appointed alternate Steve Landes to full membership. One alternate position was already vacant, so with the loss of Read and the change for Landes, there are now three P&Z alternate vacancies. 

Alternates attend meetings, can listen and comment on issues, but, unlike full members, do not vote unless a regular member is absent and the chair appoints them to temporarily fill that seat. 

Normally, boards and commissions recruit individuals to fill vacancies and then ask the Board of Selectmen to appoint them. If they do not find a volunteer within a certain amount of time (officially 30 days) the task falls to the selectmen. 

First Selectman Matt Riiska recently appealed for Norfolk residents to serve on the many other boards and commissions that have vacancies, including:

Three alternates for the Board of Assessment Appeals

A full member for the Northwest Mental Health Catchment Area Council

A full member for the Comcast Advisory Board

Two full members and one alternate for the Economic Development Commission

A Republican Registrar of Voters 

A full member for the Farmers Market Committee

Three full members for the Energy Advisory Committee

One full member for the Friends of the Meadow Committee

One alternate for the Historic District Commission

One Municipal Agent for Children

One representative for the Northwest Transit District

One full member for the Public Access Initiative (Internet)

Two alternates for the Recreation Committee

One full member and one alternate for the Town Website Committee

Anyone interested in serving in any of these posts should contact the selectmen’s office at 860-542-5829.

—Newsletter Editor

The story of a children’s book that took a 6,000-mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean and back has created quite a stir, according to Norfolk Library Director Ann Havemeyer, who has been interviewed by both BBC radio and NBC-CT.

The book, a copy of “Animal Ark,” was checked out of a library in Swaffham, Norfolk County, England, and was turned in at the Norfolk, Connecticut, library this month. 

The book had been dropped off in the local library’s outside return box and Havemeyer told the BBC that the library staff had no idea who left it and was perplexed about what to do with it until a chance encounter with English visitors provided a solution.

According to Havemeyer, the library workers “almost couldn’t believe it” when only a week after the book was discovered two tourists from Norfolk, England, appeared in the library. After chatting with the librarian, they agreed to transport the little book back to its proper home. “We are very happy it is back in its rightful home,” Havemeyer said.

The English library’s staff was equally delighted with the international odyssey the little volume had taken. “Quite how someone got confused and returned it to the wrong place, we have no idea,” they posted on Facebook. “Swaffham Library is very different to the Norfolk Library. Oh, and there’s the fact it’s literally thousands of miles away and across an entire ocean. But still, it made it there, and it has now made it back!”

—Newsletter Editor

A local man who works in Norfolk was detained this week by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), according to an attorney familiar with the incident.

He asked that neither his name, nor that of the person detained be revealed. 

A local group is forming “to help this individual and others unfortunately in similar circumstances,” he revealed.

“We’re just getting off the ground and we are not ready to put out a statement,” he said. “In today’s environment, [publicity] could be a two-edged sword.”

He explained that the man’s immigration case had been to court before but was closed with no determination of status made. “The immigration case was closed, but now, because of ICE’s arrest, it is reopened. He was not in danger of being deported and now he is,” said the attorney.

The man was taken from his home and later released.

The attorney said the man does not live in Norfolk but has been in the region for 12 or 13 years. He is gainfully employed, married, has a family, owns a home and has many friends in the community. 

“What they are doing is illegal, against the Constitution and morally wrong,” said the attorney.

—Newsletter Editor

The long history of Norfolk’s elegant library has been captured in a new book, “The Norfolk Library: History, Culture, Community,” that will be introduced at a celebratory reception on Sunday, February 23, at the library. 

The book is a fascinating glimpse into the legacy of Isabella Eldridge, a young woman who built the library in 1888 and who worked until her death in 1919 to turn it into a cultural center for the town. 

“She loved the library,” said executive director Ann Havemeyer. “She paid for everything—she even bought the books. She brought fresh flowers daily and personally welcomed visitors.”

So successful was Eldridge at making the library the core of the community that “Meet me at the libe” became a favorite town saying, according to the reminiscences of Karolina Kendall, daughter of 19th-century photographer Marie Kendall.

Havemeyer, who wrote the book, said the impetus to record the library’s history grew out of last year’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Library Associates. The Library Associates revitalized the institution after what Havemeyer calls “the quiet years” that followed Eldridge’s death, two world wars and a Great Depression. 

“Their vision was that the library should be again used for cultural enrichment,” said Havemeyer. “I wanted to write the history of the Associates, but when I started, I felt that should be part of a broader history of the library.”

She tells delicious tales such as the one about North Pole explorer Robert Peary, who was unable to visit Norfolk because of a snowstorm and another about the “missing librarian” Philemon Johnson, who absconded with $17,000 in town funds.

The book includes both historic pictures taken by Marie Kendall and modern ones taken by Christopher Little and Havemeyer. It was published by the Norfolk Historical Society and normally costs $45. It will be available at the reception, however, at a special discount price of $25.

The reception will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

—Newsletter Editor

Enthralled children laughed and clapped Wednesday afternoon when Bryson Lang presented a high-energy, family-friendly comedy and juggling show during Wednesday’s Corner Club at the Norfolk Library.

The show was the library’s way of saying “well done” to the students and staff at Botelle School, whose combined efforts led to a “School of Distinction” award from the state Department of Education this winter.

“No one had planned a party after the school got the award,” said Eileen Fitzgibbons, children’s services/events coordinator at the library. “So, we said, ‘Let’s have one here.’”

The Corner Club represents the long-time collaboration between the library and Botelle. “We started the Corner Club in 1989 as an after-school enrichment program,” Fitzgibbons said. “With a note from a parent, the children can take a bus from the school to the library. And sometimes I go up to the school to read to the children, which I love. It is a relationship that we want to continue to foster.”

The party ended with light refreshments, including homemade cookies from the newly opened Ice Box Café.

—Newsletter Editor

In recent years, the Planning and Zoning Commission in Norfolk has been presented with several applications for special permits that have elicited strong public reactions. The website editorial board has become aware that not all residents understand the procedures that applicants must follow and the kinds of considerations the P&Z must weigh. What follows is a very brief outline of how an application makes its way through to approval or denial.

Decisions in all instances are based on a lengthy set of regulations designed to protect public health, safety, convenience and property values. These regulations also help implement the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development, a visionary document that is updated every 10 years.

If wetlands are involved, the applicant must file simultaneous applications with the Inland Wetlands Agency and the P&Z. The Inland Wetlands Agency determines whether the proposal will have any impact on wetlands, watercourses and upland review areas (buffer areas around a wetland). By state statute, the Planning and Zoning Commission cannot act on an application until the wetlands agency reports its acceptance or denial. 

In a town that has been growing for more than 260 years, it is inevitable that zoning restrictions, first enacted in 1973, will not precisely reflect earlier development. Where a pre-existing house or business does not meet a given zone’s standards, it is designated as non-conforming and its physical structure(s) or use cannot be extended or expanded without a special permit granted by the commission or a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals, depending on the circumstances. 

To prepare an application, property owners often engage professionals such as landscape designers, soil scientists, architects and civil engineers. A site plan illustrating the placement of structures, septic systems, ancillary building and the like is prepared to show commissioners where they are located as related to property boundaries and wetlands.

Some zoning applications are so insignificant that they can be handled by the town’s Zoning Enforcement Officer, but others deemed to have greater impact require zoning commission consideration. Tables in Section 3.03 and Section 4.03 of the zoning regulations show what uses are permitted in each town zone and what level of permitting may be required for each. 

Some permitting requires a public hearing and some does not. If a public hearing is required, the public is invited to comment and/or enter evidence to support differing opinions, either in person or in writing. Written comments are read into the record. Application documents are available to the public for review in the town clerk’s office. (The application documents associated with some recent hearings have been posted on the town website, linked from the bottom of the various commission pages, primarily P&Z).

When the public hearing is closed, the commission can no longer accept new information or public comment. The commission members then discuss and act on the proposal. If a zoning board denies the applicant, it can do so “without prejudice,” which means it rejects an application at the current time but will allow the applicant to reapply with additional information or modifications. Some applicants opt to withdraw their applications before any denial to achieve the same result.

If a proposal is denied, an applicant can appeal the decision by the zoning enforcement officer to the Zoning Board of Appeals and then the courts. If it is an appeal from a Planning and Zoning Commission decision, legal action is pursued in court.

—Newsletter Editor

The Fire House Building Committee reduced the expected expense for the new fire house from $9.5 million to an estimated $8.3 million during a two-hour meeting Wednesday night. 

“It’s a pretty significant reduction,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska, who added that the committee had removed many items from the plan in prior months.

Among the decisions made Wednesday was to substitute overhead doors for bifold doors, use asphalt shingles instead of standing seam metal roofing; modify the plan for a three-bay garage, and eliminate a raised boardwalk from Shepard Road to City Meadow. “There’s nothing there now, so we decided to use gravel,” Riiska said.

The committee is not yet done with its review of the specifications. “There are couple of things we might revisit. Our goal is to get it as low as possible for the taxpayers,” Riiska said. 

Looking at funding, he said the town has been promised $2.5 million in state dollars and $2.2 million in pledges through a continuing capital campaign. Riiska also applied for $1.5 million in federal funds, which passed the appropriations committee at $1.25 million. It awaits congressional action.

“We’re still looking at other avenues for funding,” he said. He is now working on his budget and trying to determine how much money will have to be borrowed when all other funding sources have been tapped. 

Any shortfall in funding from other sources will have to be bonded, probably at more than 4 percent interest. The money would be in the form of a line of credit and the town would pay only interest during the 2025-26 fiscal year with monthly payments starting in the following fiscal year.

The town wants to go out to bid in March and the building will take about 18 months to complete once construction begins.

—Newsletter Editor

A pre-kindergarten screening for the Shared Services Integrated Preschool Program (SSIPP) will be held at Botelle School on March 20 and 21 to help identify children who may need intervention to perform successfully in school.

Parents concerned about their child’s development should call 860-379-2729 before 9:00 a.m. or after 3:00 p.m. to schedule a screening. 

Those parents interested in having their child attend SSIPP as a role model must also submit their child’s name now. Under state law, schools must provide the pre-k class for children with special needs. When there are additional spaces, neurologically typical and developmentally on-target children can also attend the blended classroom free of charge.

If there are more role model applicants than openings available, a lottery will be held during the week following the screening.

SSIPP serves the needs of children ages 3 to 5 who live in Barkhamsted, Colebrook, Hartland or Norfolk. It is located at Barkhamsted School and follows that school’s calendar. 

To be eligible, children must be age 3 by September 1 and have attended the screening. 

Botelle is also holding pre-kindergarten registration screening on March 18 from 1:15 to 2:00 p.m. for Norfolk children born on or before September 1, 2021. Parents should call the school at 860-542-5286, ext. 200, or email laskom@botelleschool.org to make an appointment. 

—Newsletter Editor