Volume 20, Number 6 Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Durham Public Library Director Kilmartin to retire By Mark Dionne Town Times
“I love the way in Connecticut they say, ‘She’s our Librarian,’ with a capital L. She’s not the director, she’s our Librarian. That in itself is the title. I love that idea,” said Durham Public Library Director Valerie Kilmartin. Kilmartin will give up the title of our Librarian when she retires at the end of June after eight and a half years at the Durham Public Library. A native New Yorker, Kilmartin moved to Connecticut nine years ago. “Durham came along and it just felt
right,” Kilmartin said. “I feel very fortunate to have been the librarian here.” Formerly the director of branches for the Queens Borough Public Libraries - “all 61 of them” - Kilmartin experienced a “complete change” in environment in Durham. “This is very different, the population, the nature of the town, the familiarity everybody has with the library, how you’re known by the patrons and how you know them - a whole different sensibility. It was fun.” In the New York public liSee Retire, page 23
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Ramp up to ride Photo by Diana Carr
Skateboarder Alex Feniolo sets up for a run on one of the ramps at the skateboard facility at Peckham Park, Middlefield. The skateboard park was built in October 2010 and has been well-received by local kids and visitors, too. Read more page 18.
Budget passes, BOE members chosen at town meeting By Mark Dionne Town Times
Ride to Rockfall Photo by Lee Roski
This rail line runs through Rockfall. The Connecticut Central Railroad Records, Archives & Special Collections, at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries provides an extensive history about a cluster of rail lines that were revived to serve central Connecticut starting in the late 1980s. The opening of the line that runs through Rockfall and Middlefield is included in the archives. This week the Town Times tri-town tour finishes its journey with a stop in Rockfall. See more pages 8 and 9.
Friday, May 17, 2013
The May 13 Durham annual budget meeting featured votes to pass the town budget and elect two members to both the Board of Education and the Durham Middlefield Interlocal Agreement Advisory Board, but the most competitive race of the night was to select the meeting’s moderator. BOE member Norm Hicks was selected by a hand vote of 43-23 over David Montgomery to moderate the town meeting and also withstood a request that he recuse himself during the portion of the meeting dealing with BOE elections. The BOE elections were anticlimactic as there were two candidates for two seats. Raffaela Fronc, who has held a seat on the BOE for several months, won a full term. Fronc was nominated by Jen Zettergren, who praised Fronc’s energy and said, “She asks the very difficult questions every time she has the opportunity to do so.”
Accepting the nomination, Fronc said, “We’ve done a lot of work, there’s a lot more work to be done. I’m ready to do it.” Dr. Victor Friedrich, who has taught neuroscience at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, and UConn, will be a new member on the BOE. Friedrich spoke to the crowd of approximately 80 people about both his scientific background and his ties to Durham. Referring to grant-funded research, Friedrich said, “I’m used to the environment where we make budgets, we think about what’s going into the budgets and then we live with them.” Although technically only a resident for two years in Durham, where speakers at public meetings routinely mention that they and their parents were born in town, Friedrich talked about his ties to Durham. Friedrich’s prepared flyer noted that he and his family have been members of the Church of the Epiphany for
20 years and he talked about spending most weekends working his in-law’s Durham garden. “I picked a lot of Durham dirt out of my fingernails.” Fronc and Friedrich were elected to three year terms, expiring in June 2016. A town budget with $6,400,076 in total spending easily passed a voice vote. The budget represents a 7.8 percent increase over current town spending. Projected revenues bring the net total spending down to $5,290,555. Chris Flanagan and Robert Czarnecki were both re-elected unopposed to the DMIAAB.
In this issue ... Calendar ........................13 Government Meetings....3 Rockfall.........................8-9 Schools...........................10 Seniors...........................20 Sports.............................17