To the Editor of Norfolk Now: I am a member of the Emergency Services Building Committee, writing with my personal response to the November editorial, “Just How Good is That View?” I was surprised by the editor’s question as to why the new Emergency Services Building is sited on the corner of Route 44 and Shepard Road. During the more than three years that the committee has worked on the project, there have been many opportunities for public information. There were numerous building committee meetings, several consultations with the Board of Finance and the Planning and Zoning commission, and a town meeting, all of which dealt with her question and many more. In addition, a phone call to any committee member would have elicited the information she sought. We await and welcome her call. I was also surprised by the statement that when it became necessary to downsize the original plans, new plans were “hastily approved by both the building committee and the Planning and Zoning Commission.” Unfortunately for us, nothing ever happened hastily. The building committee labored for more than two years in designing the original plan. Thus, when redesign became inevitable, the committee was well instructed in the building’s needs, as well as the requirements and restrictions that go with putting up a structure. Of course, the redesign was accomplished in a shorter period of time, although not “hastily” as the editor asserts. During the lengthy design and redesign process the committee consulted on several occasions with the Board of Finance and the Planning and Zoning Commission. Given the current financial climate, the Board of Finance held the committee to a budget of $750,000. The committee designed a modular building, smaller, simpler and less expensive than the original plan. The design meets the needs of the intended occupants, is fiscally responsible and attractive. With the $400,000 state grant obtained by the first selectman, the building is also economically a good deal for Norfolk at $350,000. Finally, I found that the tone as well as the content of the editorial was insulting to the bodies named and disparaging of their efforts and intentions. Our elected and appointed board and committee members do not deserve to have their efforts and intentions impugned. Like the editor, the committee is pleased that Norfolk will have a stick built structure after all. I believe that the town will be as proud of its new emergency services building as it is of the ambulance volunteers and the town trooper who will staff it. Susanne Funchion