Government/Town

Retiring Officer Well Feted

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According to the dictionary, to fete is to honor with a celebration, and Officer Peter Osowiecki was very much honored at the big retirement party his friends held for him on April 5. Over 200 came to the Sun Valley Resort banquet hall in Stafford that evening, including fellow officers and leaders of the Suffield Police Department, along with a diverse crew of folks he had helped during his 30 years of service. Peter, who graduated from Suffield High in 1979, had begun his law enforcement career in Suffield as a dispatcher and supernumerary but soon became a certified officer. He served in a wide variety of assignments, which may not be unusual for a person of his competence. The main organizer of the party, Ashley McMann, now a key aid at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, said she first met Peter as one of the Police Cadets in the Police Cadet corps when he was the Corps advisor.

Government/Town

Preliminary 2019/20 Town Budget Proposed

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As of this writing, the Board of Finance is in the process of reviewing various department budgets and capital requests in order to propose the FY 2019/20 budget for the Town meeting on May 8.

Government/Town

Town Hall Contractors Selected

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As reported last month, the bid requests for renovating and slightly expanding the Suffield Town Hall were published in late February, with a response date of March 21. Seven architects and three construction contractors responded and participated in the mandatory walk-through. When the bids came in, five architect firms and two contractors had responded.  At their April 4 meeting, the Permanent Building Commission reviewed the seven colorful proposal booklets and evaluated the bidders’ qualifications, using an evaluation system Chairman Joe Sangiovanni had developed in connection with the proposed Community Center project some years ago. The system requires the commissioners to assign numerical scores in a number of relevant categories; then the scores are weighted by a relative importance factor for each category and combined to obtain an overall score for each bidder.

Government/Town

Assessor Filing Deadline

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The Assessor’s Office would like to remind homeowners that the filing period for the State Elderly/Disabled Homeowner’s Tax Relief Program will end on Wednesday, May 15.

Chris Herren Comes to Suffield

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“Chris Herren, a basketball legend from Fall River, Massachusetts, was an All-American, broke scoring records and was recruited by the nation’s top colleges. Herren realized his lifelong dream of playing in the NBA when he was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in 1999 and then traded to his hometown team, the Boston Celtics, before losing his career and almost his family to the disease of addiction. A person in long-term recovery, Chris inspires people to start the conversation on wellness and educate themselves on the disease of addiction. It is his hope that strength will be found in the struggle and communities will come together to address the issue of substance use disorder, advocate for effective treatment and embrace the power of recovery” (Herren Talks). On May 2, Chris will be speaking with grades 8-12 during the school day and will return for an evening presentation for parents and community members beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the High School Auditorium.

Government/Town

Towns Agree on Congamond Dock Fees

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The Town of Suffield has announced a payment in lieu of dock fees agreement with Southwick. The payment covers costs for maintenance, policing and public safety associated with the use of Congamond Lake by Suffield residents. Congamond Lake is situated within the boundaries of both towns. The five-year memorandum of understanding includes a $2,000 annual fee (to increase by $200/year) paid by Suffield to Southwick that encompasses yearly licensing charges for Suffield residential property owners whose dock(s), swim float(s), mooring(s) or buoy(s) are located in Congamond Lake. While the agreed upon payment relieves Suffield owners from their dock fees, town leadership emphasizes it does not relieve them from their obligation to register.