Annual meeting also agrees to expedite affordable housing

By Lloyd Garrison

In a well-attended and often spirited annual town meeting on May 11, an attempt to end the tenure of Resident State Trooper Greg Naylor failed by a vote of 54 to 34. When moderator Colin Tait announced the tally, the audience in Botelle’s Hall of Flags auditorium broke into applause. The clapping appeared to reflect both Naylor’s popularity and the release of considerable tension over the outcome of the debate. Ken Ludwig, who noted that Kent and Goshen had dropped their resident trooper to reduce costs, cited the more than $70,000 that the Town would save without Naylor. Those backing Naylor included Julie Scharnberg, Diane Funchion, Sharyl Marino and Sgt. Pat Sweeney of Barracks “B” in Canaan, who was off duty but appeared in uniform in support of his colleague. Less than full support developed for a long and often confusingly worded proposal to give the town’s enforcement officer the authority to impose a $100 fine for zoning infringements. It was the only item on the agenda to be voted down. Donald Torrant, who volunteered to serve as Norfolk’s representative to the Regional 7 Board of Education, received an appreciative hand from the audience, and a proposal to simplify steps in formulating a sub-division for affordable housing prompted many questions but passed with no dissent. There was only a brief discussion of the $6,068,944 budget for 2009-10, during which it was revealed that the town’s selectmen had declined raises. The budget passed by a voice vote without a single “nay.”

A contemplative Larry Freedman joined those posing challenging questions.

When the notion to renew Trooper Greg Naylor’s conttact finally passed, the Scharnberg family joined the many in the crowd who cheered the result.

Sgt. Pat Sweeney went to bat for Trooper Greg Naylor

Legal Scholar Colin Tait moderated.

Sharyl Marino made an ardent appeal for keeping Norfolk’s resident Trooper.

Finance Chairman Mike Sconyers’ budget passed without a single ‘nay’