by Ruth Melville

The town plans to address an issue related to posting timely information about legal town meetings on its website by hiring a assistant to the town clerk.

It is a requirement for holding such meetings that the agenda be posted  on the town website at least 24 hours in advance, and the notice must include information on how to connect to the meeting online. Minutes of every meeting also need to be posted. But as discussed at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on April 7, this process does not always go smoothly, and items have fallen through the cracks. Since agendas and minutes must come to the town clerk’s office for filing, First Selectman Matt Riiska proposed that the town hire an assistant to the town clerk to make sure that everything that needs to be posted to the website gets onto the website, and in a timely fashion. Riiska has also met with the town website committee to discuss the possibility putting links to the videos of meetings on the website as well.

The selectmen also discussed the need to raises fees for the use of both Tobey Pond and the Transfer Station. The fee for Tobey Pond is currently $60 ($40 for seniors), but last year the money fell about $15,000 short of the cost to the town. An increase to $70 ($50 for seniors) was proposed and accepted.

For the Transfer Station, the cost is now $60 for the first sticker, $40 for the second and $25 for a bulky waste ticket. But the cost per ton of solid waste removal is going up this year, from $92 to $105, which will mean about a $42,000 increase in annual expense to the town. An increase to $75 for the first sticker, $60 for the second and $30 for bulky waste was proposed and accepted. 

The question came up again of whether the town would be responsible for maintaining the road in the Haystack Woods housing project on Old Colony Road. The estimated cost is $3,500 to $4,000 a year, but there should be an increase in revenue to the town of $40,000 to $50,000 from the development. The decision will have to go to a town meeting, but the Board of Selectmen decided to send a letter to the Planning and Zoning Commission in support of the Haystack Woods project as long as it meets town requirements.

All but 10 participants in the town retirement plan have agreed to accept a lump-sum payout instead of monthly benefits, and town is looking to offer annuities to those who remain in the plan. The hope is by this time next year the change in the plan will provide the town with $800,000 to use for infrastructure projects. Riiska praised the work of the Retirement Plan Committee in reaching this settlement and thanked Susan MacEachron, chair of the committee, and Barbara Gomez of Town Hall for their efforts.   

Every year the town gets money, about $37,000, from the state’s Local Capital Improvement Program (LoCip) to use for local capital improvement projects. In the past the town has used the money to tear down the old ambulance building and the shed next to Town Hall. This year the money will go to help pay for EMS radios, for working with a lighting consultant for new lighting around Town Hall and the library, for fixing the fuel tank at the Public Works garage and for replacing the rear staircase at Town Hall.

Michael Cobb, Norfolk parent and musician, had emailed Riiska to ask whether he could hold a concert in City Meadow sometime in May to benefit the Botelle sixth grade. The musicians would be on the deck in the meadow, and the audience could spread out along the walkways overlooking the meadow. Riiska called for a motion to approve the concert, and it was approved.

Riiska met with the state Department of Transportation about repairing the wall on Route 44 just past the memorial green. “This is going to be a huge project,” he said. Design won’t be complete until May 2023, construction is estimated to start October 2023, and the project won’t be finished until summer 2025. Route 44 will not be closed, but it will be reduced to one narrow lane with a traffic light. The DOT is trying to figure out a way to reroute trucks around Norfolk.

In other business, Barbara Gomez read out a revised and streamlined town bus policy. Copies of the new policy will be posted on the town website and in the bus. The board also accepted a resolution stating that the town has received a grant of $5,200 from the state to prepare and adopt an affordable housing plan. All towns in Connecticut are required to have such a plan, and state has provided money for the process. Jocelyn Ayer, of the Northwest Hills Council of Governments, is managing this program for the towns in the COG.