Volume 15, Issue 52
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
BOE moves budget to referendum unchanged
Here comes Easter!
By Stephanie Wilcox Town Times
Seen at the Middlefield Lions egg hunt at Peckham Park on April 4:Left, Julia Kosienski won the Easter basket by guessing there were 350 jelly beans when there were really 347! Below left, Jacob Kosienski is a two-fisted pailcarrier!
Top photo by Jen Schulten; bottom photos by Wendy Parker
Friday, April 10, 2009
After a public hearing on Tuesday, April 7, that consisted of both praise and criticism, the District 13 Board of Education voted to move the $31.8 million net budget for 2009-10 to referendum with no additions or deletions (see sidebar on page 3 for budget summary). During the public hearing, many people spoke in support of the 2.42 percent budget increase. “I want to commend the board and (Superintendent) Susan Viccaro for using very good discretion in working on the budget,” said parent Brad Jubelirer, who was an advocate of adding a teacher to the fifth and sixth grade at Memorial School to reduce class sizes. “You didn’t use an ax,
you used a scalpel blade.” Others felt the board didn’t cut enough, including Durham resident Donia Viola, who said she wasn’t pleased with the “very substantial budget” because, “I don’t think you tweaked it enough.” Viola compared Region 13’s 2.4 percent budget increase with Simsbury, Westbrook and Region 4 schools who all came in at one percent increases. She also asked the board why employees aren't giving back salary increases. In a follow-up conversation, Viccaro said she talked with all union employees in December and February about the budget, its challenges and possible layoffs, and asked if they had any ideas of ways to reduce the budget. See BOE budget, page 3
Middlefield town meeting votes to sell property, postpone server decision By Sue VanDerzee Town Times Middlefield has been buying property lately – Powder Ridge, the Merriam tree farm (if the court allows), but on Monday, April 6, a sparsely attended town meeting voted to sell some property. The parcel in question is located on Baileyville Road (Route 147) just north of Rover’s Lodge. The onethird acre piece is the site of a public water company, now run by the town, which serves only Rover’s. In the past, before the installation of sewers at Lake Beseck, the company served homes on both sides of the lake. However, as the homes hooked up to sewers, they were often able to drill their own wells. According to First Selectman Jon Brayshaw, the property “has been a nosebleed for the town.” The sanitarian goes there almost every day, and the well has been declared deficient by the Department of Public Health due to contamination. The town, now owners of this one-client public utility, have been ordered to drill a new well. In the interest of stopping the “nosebleed,” officials began to plan for sale of the parcel. Assessor Steve
Hodgetts valued it at $50,000. One audience member at the town meeting questioned whether that was high enough for waterfront property. However, because an easement for state highway drainage runs straight across the middle of the property, it is unbuildable. According to Brayshaw, the sale for $50,000 will net the town “around $40,000” since the agreement with Sam Babcock, owner of Rover’s Lodge, is that the town will still drill a new well, but he will be responsible for all the hook-ups and provision of a pump. Between legal fees and the drilling, town expenses are forecast to be about $10,000, but “then we’ll be
See Mfld. BOS, page 15
In this issue ... Calendar ........................................4 Devil’s Advocate ....................19-25 Libraries......................................36 Obituaries...............................40-41 Spotlight..................................30-31 Strong Spring Sports ..................42 Town Briefs ....................14-18 & 42