Residents of Connecticut’s Icebox do not want to shovel snow.
The upstairs meeting room in Town Hall filled beyond capacity Wednesday night and townspeople stood on the stairs to protest a proposed regulation that would have required them to clear their walkways of snow and ice within 24 hours of a storm.
The selectmen proposed the regulation after the town was sued last year by a pedestrian who fell on a sidewalk near the Church of Christ Congregational. The town settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
The item never came to a vote, however, as no motion to approve it was proffered.
“If no one makes a motion to approve it, it’s dropped,” said moderator Richard Byrne. “It’s been voted down before. Hearing no motion, we go to the next item on the agenda.”
The crowd broke out in applause.
The second item—refinancing a loan for River Place bridge—passed handily after a brief discussion.
The town has a revolving line of credit with NBT (formerly Salisbury Bank) at 2.25 percent. Because of the long delay caused by a two-year project shutdown, NBT wants the town to close it out and take a new one at 4.25 percent.
After all state reimbursements have been received, town can pay off an estimated $285,000 remaining loan over 10 years, or the Board of Finance can retire it immediately using money it received when it closed its defined benefit plan.