Voters swiftly approved five housekeeping items on the agenda for the annual town meeting Monday night, but things turned contentious when a $40,635 allocation toward the restoration of City Meadow and a move to make the Town Clerk’s job an appointed position made their way to the floor.
The budget provoked little discussion except for the City Meadow line item. Since 2011, thousands of dollars in state and private funds have been invested in the site to create a stormwater collection system and to turn it into a natural landscape. Over the years, the meadow has become overrun with invasive plants and the Friends of the Meadow Committee is working to reverse this trend.
Some residents said townspeople were assured in the past that no tax dollars would ever be spent on the meadow and objected to the money being included in the budget. First Selectman Matt Riiska countered that the funding would not become an annual amount, and that private donations continue to support most of the restoration effort.
Using the example of a $220,000 home, he said keeping the $40,000 town contribution in the budget would add only $24 in taxes for the homeowner.
The vote was 71 to 36 to approve the budget as presented.
The final item on the agenda, making the town clerk’s job an appointed position, drew even more opposition. Riiska suggested the move, noting that many positions—such as the treasurer, land use administrator, tax collector and assessor—are key to a town’s operation and now require certification. Connecticut offers certification for town clerks, but it is not yet mandatory. Norfolk’s town clerk, Deborah Nelson, earned certification last year.
Riiska said he wanted to bring the issue to the floor to hear the public’s opinion because so many town hall jobs are changing and becoming more technical, but townspeople objected strongly to the proposal. Several said it would remove townspeople’s democratic right to choose their own officials. One person termed it “a power grab”; another said it was a “scary executive move.”
The proposal was rejected overwhelmingly.
Following the meeting, the Board of Finance convened and set the mill rate on the $8,241,889 budget at 22.49, down from 28.40 this fiscal year.