By Susan MacEachron

The big slide at Botelle School will be replaced with the expenditure of $78,800 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds which was approved by the Board of Finance (BoF) at its meeting on March 8.

It is the second expenditure approved under the ARPA program. A new $74,000 generator for the Norfolk Sewer District was approved at the previous meeting.

At previous BoF meetings strong interest was expressed by several Norfolk residents to use ARPA funds to replace the slide, which was damaged by vandals approximately three years ago and has since been cordoned off. Riiska had estimated the cost at $40,000 to $45,000 but was waiting to receive a quote from Creative Playthings. He said with the quote now in hand, the cost is $78,800.

Several Norfolk residents attending the meeting expressed their enthusiastic support for the decision to repair the slide. How the new slide might be protected from future vandalism has not been determined.

First Selectman Matt Riiska reminded the BoF that it was within its authority to approve expenditures from the $241,200 ARPA funds Norfolk received this year. The advisory group Riiska appointed includes a BoF representative and several members of the Economic Development Commission.

After the allocation to the Norfolk Sewer District generator and the Botelle slide, Norfolk has $88,400 remaining of its 2022 allocation of $241,200 in ARPA funds.