By Avice Meehan

Early May seems a long time ago, but the subjects addressed by the Board of Selectman at the May 6 meeting will remain topical for many months to come—first and foremost being the epidemic of speeding through Norfolk’s town center. Enabling online filing of building and other permits was also discussed as part of the longer-term solution to finding a new town building official. Most importantly, June 17 was announced as the likely opening date for Tobey Pond.

First Selectman Henry Tirrell reported on the first round of data collected by Sitestream, a company being considered by the town to provide automated traffic monitoring and ticketing of motorists driving 10 miles over the stated speed limit. His description of the data—“pretty remarkable”—could be considered an understatement. Out of 24,199 vehicles tracked over a six-day period at the junction of Routes 44 and 272, nearly 23,000 were clocked over the 25-mile-an-hour speed limit and some 13,816 would have been ticketed. The top recorded speed was 124 miles per hour headed down the hill toward North Street. “Ideally,” Tirrell noted later in the meeting, “it would not be our residents who are speeding.” The Sitestream data is just one part of a longer term process of assessing whether Norfolk might adopt automated ticketing, along with some other Litchfield County communities. Tirrell said efforts to track traffic speeds near Botelle Elementary School have been unsuccessful to date—one sensor was taken out in an accident—and would need to be redone. Ultimately, the matter would have to come before a town vote before a plan was submitted to the state Department of Transportation for review and approval.

In a subsequent conversation, Tirrell expressed ambivalence about tracking motorists, as well as deep concern about the safety of town residents. The section of Routes 44 and 272 that was studied includes a pedestrian crosswalk and St. Martin of Tours Church, in addition to the Shepard Road exit used by both the Norfolk Lions Club Ambulance and the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department. It also encompasses the entrance to Infinity Hall, which is the site of considerable activity on concert nights.

Speed bumps and automated speed signs are in high demand, Tirrell reported. A new sign has been placed on Westside Road near the intersection with Sunset Hill. Other locations include Loon Meadow Drive, Ashpohtag Road and Maple Avenue.

Following the retirement of James Clarke, who served as the building official for both Norfolk and Falls Village (Canaan), Tirrell said the town had secured temporary back-up from Colebrook’s William R. Volovski. He and the leaders of several other communities are working together to find a find a replacement, but the likely candidate will require the towns to change the way they operate and offer online permitting.

Tirrell told the Board of Selectmen that he has been evaluating two different systems to support online permitting: OpenGov (https:// opengov.com) and PermitLink (https://www. permitlinkusa.com). He reported that Permit-Link would cost about $4,800 a year and is already used by Goshen and Litchfield. It would connect directly to databases maintained by the tax collector and assessor and to the appropriate town office. In addition to Norfolk and Falls Village, the towns of North Canaan and Kent are also seeking a building official.

At the May 6 meeting, Tirrell also provided updates on a variety of projects around Norfolk, including the construction of the new firehouse. He reported that an application for

$880,000 in federal funding had been submitted to the offices of U.S. Senators Christopher Murphy and Richard Blumenthal and that they, in turn, brought it before the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It’s impressive that it’s gotten that far,” he said. The Board of Selectmen also voted to raise the disposal fee for regular tires to $6 and the fee for larger tires to $17 to ensure that the town can cover most of its costs. All other fees were left unchanged, including those for Tobey Pond and the transfer station. Finally, the board met in a special session on May 20 to appoint Tirrell as the town’s representative to the Northwest Recourse Recovery Authority, which will soon take control of the transfer station in Torrington.