Government/Town

SPD Study Improvements in Progress

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As reported previously, the 59-page Suffield Police Department (SPD) Management Operational Study was released on October 30, 2019. It contains ten fundamental finding areas around criminal investigations, organizational structure, employee morale, training, and staffing. Progress is being made on addressing the 42 corresponding recommendations for those areas. Overall, Chief of Police Richard Brown targets 18-24 months to implement improvements and achieve accreditation. The study took place over eight months, during which time some impacting initiatives were either in development or being implemented.

Suffield Observations

Why are you asking me?

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I usually don’t miss opportunities to vote. I view the act of voting a secular sacrament. As with other faiths that issue calls to prayer, when the sign on the green summons Suffieldians to vote, I am compelled to respond.

Government/Town

Homeowners Benefit Progam Filing

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The Assessor’s Office would like to remind elderly and totally disabled homeowners that the filing period for the state and local Homeowners Benefit program is open and will end on Friday, May 15, 2020. This program will allow a credit on the June real estate tax bill to qualified taxpayers. The income limits are $37,000 for an unmarried homeowner and $45,100 for married homeowners, who must also be residents of this state, be age 65 by last December 31 or totally disabled and live in the home. New applicants must file an application by May 15, 2020; any current recipient of the benefit who has received a letter from the Assessor’s Office reminding them to apply this year must also apply no later than May 15, 2020 in order to continue to receive the benefit. Proof of income for 2019 is needed to apply.

Now and Then

Wise Old Owl Symbolism

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Following a few days of feeling unwell and unproductive, I asked the Observer to extend my October 15 deadline for the November issue. Ever gracious, the Editor invited me to take a few days off.

Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor

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The dust is settled now on your failed proposal to move the Town Highway Garage and “develop” Ffyler Place. You are quoted in the JI (Jan.29) as saying that “… it appears that Suffield residents believe the highway garage should stay where it is – and aren’t interested in economic development.”

Government/Town

Garage Relocation Voted Down

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The “NO” signs soon followed. This one was across from the West Suffield Post Office. About a quarter of Suffield’s eligible voters made their choices at the Town referendum on January 28, and they turned down the proposed Town Highway Garage relocation with two resounding NO’s. The vote was 3 to 1 on the first question: to relocate the garage and permit development of its parcel on Ffyler Place, using Tax Increment Financing. The second question was declined even more strongly: a 4 to 1 NO vote rejected buying an existing building at 1160 South Street, renovated for the intended use, for no more than $2.4 M plus the existing highway garage property.

Editorial

High Time for a Town Manager

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Recent events ranging from, among others, the problems with the Town Hall renovations, the development of Ffyler Place, the police department’s morale, and the stalled Bridge Street school/community center bring to a head the realization that complex problems face even a small town such as Suffield and that expertise in the area of public administration is needed.

Editorial

Let’s Change the Trend

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At the risk of being overly dramatic, I must say that without a reverse in direction, I fear that our society and democracy are in trouble. Self-interest, greed, hypocrisy, and the desire to beat one’s opponent at any cost seem to carry the day while civility, fair play, and a willingness to compromise are on life support in the public arena. Not only in politics is this true, but it is bleeding into other areas as well. Well-heeled parents pay to have their children’s SAT scores altered or bribe athletic directors to get their kids into prestigious schools. The Astros and the Red Sox cheat to win baseball games and a World Series and are not stripped of the championship honor.

Schools/Sports

Aces High Strives for the Prize

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Aces High, Team 176, our local team in the FIRST Robotics Competition, has been a great competitor ever since they were organized at Windsor Locks High School in 1995. Suffield joined in 1998, and the team won the National Championship in Florida the following year. Last year Aces High became Connecticut champion again and finished second in New England. In the 2019 world championship in Detroit, they performed well and reached the quarter-finals but lost the third match in that two-out-of-three elimination. These achievements are shared, because the carefully designed FIRST program has individual teams competing in three-team alliances, a teaching strategy that encourages cooperation and what FIRST likes to call “gracious professionalism.”

Every year a new game is announced, so each team has to design and build a new robot with capabilities matched to new challenges.

People/Business

Suffield Native Wins Gold in Hollywood

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For one Suffield family, the first week in February was one they will never forget. On February 2, in London, native son Greg Butler, along with Guillaume Rocheron and Dominic Tuohy, won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for visual effects for their work on the WWI film 1917. A week later, Butler found himself on the red carpet in Los Angeles, waiting to see if good fortune would strike twice and he would win the Oscar for Visual Effects for the same film. Although he felt that his team had a good shot at the prize, “there is always a level of uncertainty when you’re up against four other films that are worthy of a nomination.”

Butler at SHS on March 5 Greg Butler, Academy Award winner for the movie 1917, will speak on Thursday, March 5 at 7 p.m. at Suffield High School. This event is sponsored by the Suffield Public Library Foundation. 

The Academy consists of over 7,000 members – mostly actors –  divided into 17 branches according to their specialty.

Columns

Where in the World is the Observer?

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On a cruise that included the Virgin Islands, Dan and Diane Phelon took the October Observer to Ushuaia, the capital city of Tierra del Fuego in Patagonia. Patagonia is a large region including the southern end of both Argentina and Chile. The proud citizens of Ushuaia have expanded their motto to read “The City at the End of the World, the Beginning of Everything.”

People/Business

Good-bye Creamery

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Suffield’s old creamery, built in 1888 and pictured with a historical reminiscence in the December-January Observer as a small apartment house, stands vacant in early 2020, about to be torn down.

Government/Town

Valentine Fun and Bingo for Seniors

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The Friends of Suffield will once again host its popular Senior Valentine Social. 

This year’s feast – the group’s 33rd annual event – will include delicious lasagna with salad, roll, and cake. Local seniors are invited to join the festivities on Saturday, February 15 from 12:30 to 3 p.m. at the Suffield Senior Center. In the event of bad weather, the snow date is the following day, February 16, same time. Check in will begin at 12 p.m. for this fun filled afternoon of entertainment, bingo, door prizes, and the crowning of the King and Queen. All senior citizens in town are welcome.