By Matt Riiska

We have been dealing with the impacts of the coronavirus for almost two months and all I can say is thank you to everyone. It has been two months of Zoom meetings, face masks and hand washing, but together we will get through this. We will get back to normal, but for now we need to respect the guidelines set up by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State of Connecticut. 

As summer gets underway, the question I hear on almost a daily basis is when Tobey Pond will open. The State of Connecticut DEEP will not be opening their inland parks swimming areas until we can ease our social distancing requirements. Because Tobey is of a similar size to many of the state inland park swimming areas, we will not open Tobey Pond until mid-June at the earliest. I apologize for this, but we need to keep everyone, including the staff and lifeguards, safe and healthy. I want to inform everyone that when the gate is closed the swimming area is closed. We know many walk in, please do not do this. This not only jeopardizes our relationship with Great Mountain Forest, but also creates many concerns with our insurer. Thank you for your cooperation.

By the time you read this our 2020/21 Budget will have passed. At the request of the Board of Finance we have reduced the Town budget by 1 mill. This should reduce your tax payment by approximately 4 percent. I would like to thank the Board of Finance, the Board of Education and the Regional 7 Board of Education for their efforts to reduce the budget in this difficult time.

To reduce the budget, we are putting off the repair of Mountain Road bridge and the replacement of the oil tank at the school until next year. There will be a town meeting in early 2021 to address spending for these projects. In addition, we are looking into other projects that have been put off for some time: repaving Maple Avenue, Station Place and Route 44 sidewalks; bridges; a new fire house; and a new roof on a portion of Botelle School. With interest rates low and the possibility of state funding being unavailable, bonding might be our only option. We will be looking into our options and will report on this in future articles.

There has also been a lot of discussion regarding voting in the upcoming presidential primary and the general election in November. The presidential primary will be on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The governor’s Executive Order No. 7QQ will allow for voting by absentee ballot as an alternative to voting in person for those concerned about Covid-19. You will need to contact the town clerk’s office to apply for an absentee ballot. As for those voting in person, there will be procedures in place to keep poll workers and voters safe.

I want to congratulate our Botelle School, Regional 7 and local college grads and students. The past couple of months were supposed to provide you with some great memories about your final days in school. Instead I am sure you are going to have memories of limited interaction with your classmates, struggling with your online learning and frustration. But, you did it. You persevered and you did it. Great job! And a big thanks to the teachers and parents who had to learn as much about online learning and scheduling their time as their students did.

Take care, stay healthy and enjoy the summer.