Eye on Town Government

by Ruth Melville

At the July 8 meeting of the Economic Development Commission, the first order of business was to welcome Jenna Brown as a newly appointed member of the commission.

Marie Lowe thanked the many people in town—including Matt Bannerman, Leo Groppo, West Lowe, Nash Pradhan, Christina Vanderlip and Leslie Watkins – for their work on the two new gateway signs, which have been erected to the east and the west of town on Route 44. She also thanked First Selectman Matt Riiska for his help in getting the granite and the Public Works Department crew for excavating the site and moving the stone. The final cost of the project was $1,400, and gateways group has applied for a grant to cover the cost. 

Motivated largely by the number of new residents in town, the EDC is preparing a Welcome to Norfolk reference guide. Michael Selleck described the guide as a simple black and white booklet, 20 pages long, with a map of the Norfolk Land Trust trails on the back and important town phone numbers inside, Town Hall, fire department, schools, churches, the transfer station and other local services. The expected cost is $2,800, and the commission approved a payment of $200 to Jake Renkert, who was hired to pull the project together, and $2,600 for photocopying and other costs.

Frisch said that she thought the booklet was a wonderful idea, but wondered how its cost would affect the EDC’s budget. Libby Borden responded that there was still money leftover to cover an additional project or two.

Jenna Brown reported that the weekly Friday night events on the green have been a great success and requested approval to pay Ann DeCerbo $500 for her work on designing the event flyer and for posting weekly updates on social media. The request was approved.

Weekend in Norfolk is coming up at the end of July. Frisch said that this year’s event will be smaller and lower key than in previous years, with less money spent on promotion. The list of mostly in-person events will be posted on the WIN website.

Frisch also has agreed to oversee the town website, and she told the EDC that Savage Frieze will be serving as photo editor. Leslie Battis will be leaving as website editor in August, but the town has hired a clerk to take over posting information on the website.

Kate Johnson reported that not much has happened recently with the Haystack Woods affordable housing project on Old Colony Road, which is still in a holding pattern. (See story on p. XX.)

In response to a question about traffic, Riiska said the town is putting up speed bumps on Golf Drive and Emerson Road, and people have requested more of them. The removable bumps come in pairs that cost $1,800, and there is one pair at each location. The town also has two solar-powered “Your Speed Is . . . ” signs from UConn’s T2 (Training and Technical Assistance) Center, which works with the state Department of Transportation on road safety. One of these signs will be set up on Mountain Road.

Future meetings of the EDC will be in person, but it will also be possible to attend via the Zoom link on the town website.