The Suffield Observer (https://thesuffieldobserver.com/author/lester-smith/page/12/)
On November 14, when Governor Ned Lamont signed a significant new bill that had been approved by both houses of the state legislature in September, he brought his entourage to an old tobacco warehouse on South Grand Street for the ceremony. The bill, the first in the country, brings Connecticut state regulations concerning hemp growing and processing into compliance with federal law.
The resignation of Suffield’s long-time town engineer, Gerry Turbet, reported in the December-January issue of The Suffield Observer, has been postponed a few weeks to allow a useful overlap with new town engineer Karen Isherwood, hired after a wide-ranging search and careful vetting.
The bridge had opened informally a few days before, but at mid-day on December 11, a couple of hours after a small group of state inspectors had their look, Town officials and staffers assembled for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Construction crews have been busy at the Town Hall, inside and out, since the winter weather has not been bitterly cold. The renovation work is well along, and interior photos available on the Town website now clearly show what the spaces will look like.
The plans for how Suffield Center came aglow at Christmastime grew after First Selectman Melissa Mack realized Bill’s Landscaping could readily put some lights on the trees at Suffield’s library after they had completed the occasional pruning job there.
For a moment, it seemed possible that Suffieldians who showed up at Veterans Park for this year’s traditional Veterans Day observance might have been surprised and disappointed. There had been no publicity for the event.
At the end of October, the “in-ground” crew from contractor NY Conn had completed their segment of the substantial renovation of the signal lights and related matters of the town center double intersection, so they packed up and went off to other projects.
“The Town established an Engineering Department by hiring a full time Town Engineer on August 15, 1988. Duties of the Town Engineer include work on road, drainage, and other municipal projects, advising and performing field inspections for the Zoning and Planning Commission, work with the Conservation Commission on drainage reviews and soil erosion and sedimentation control, coordination with various municipal departments, consultants, developers and contractors and responding to residents’ complaints on drainage and road concerns.”
In the third week of October the two big illuminated signs on South Street and Mountain Road, announcing that the Remington Street Bridge was out, got the opening date changed from October to November.
Exterior and interior work in the Town Hall Renovation project proceeds, with good progress. The second floor level is close to complete, and First Selectman Melissa Mack reported she had made a walk-through of the area where her office suite will be and was very pleased with what she saw.