Posts

Town faces lawsuit after DPW worker killed in North Main Street crash

Image
  North Main Street at Enfield Town Hall As some people noticed, Enfield got behind in its mowing schedule, in part, because of town employee lawn maintenance training. This training follows a crash in Sept. 2025 between a town lawnmower and a car on North Main Street at the town hall. A Department of Public Works employee operating the mower was killed. The town is being sued by the estate of Jamie Nickerson, the town employee. The plaintiff is his wife, Amy Nickerson. The lawsuit, filed in Hartford Superior Court, also names the vehicle driver, Alexander Torres. The lawsuit alleges the town was not following safety policies for regulating traffic around a worksite or meeting safety standards. It seeks unspecified monetary damages. Police have not released the accident report, citing an ongoing investigation. The lawsuit states the mower was being operated on the roadway during grass cutting and clean-up operations when the crash occurred. The lawsuit argues the town failed to fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Enfield will now allow anonymous blight complaints

Image
This is the revised blight complaint form. The anonymous complaint note is new and was approved by the Town Council June 1.  The Town Council this week has approved revisions to Enfield's blight ordinance and complaint procedures that allow anonymous complaints. This is a significant policy change. Enfield's new complaint form says that while anonymous complaints are accepted, they "may receive lower priority." But that doesn't mean they won't be enforced. The argument for anonymous complaints is that some residents may fear retaliation from neighbors, landlords, or property owners. The argument against them is that anonymous complaints can draw code enforcement into neighbor disputes. Will the change affect complaint volume? Possibly. In 2021, Florida adopted a state law prohibiting anonymous code-enforcement complaints. In 2022, the Sarasota News Leader reported that complaints in Sarasota County declined by 39% after the law took effect. Another notable cha...
Post a Comment
Location: Enfield, CT 06082, USA
Read more

Amazon in Enfield: A first glimpse of their plan

Amazon bought 200 acres of industrial land off Bacon Road in Enfield about a year ago. Until now, what they planned to do with was a guess. A zoning filing offers the first real clue. Amazon.com Services LLC has filed a zoning text amendment seeking to allow motor vehicle repair garages in the I-1 industrial zone under specific conditions. It appears on the May 28 PZC agenda, with a public hearing scheduled for June 25. The proposed amendment is narrowly written. It would allow fleet vehicle maintenance on site, but prohibit body work, outdoor storage, and battery storage. Whatever Amazon is planning, the operation will require maintaining vehicles on the property. Will this ultimately become a fulfillment center, regional distribution hub, delivery station, or something else is unclear. The May 28 meeting may give some indication. Implications for Enfield The filing comes at a time when Enfield's employer base is changing significantly. [Data from latest town audit] Top employers ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Enfield raises taxes, but the bigger fight is just beginning

Image
  The budget fight Monday was sharply partisan and along familiar lines: cuts versus spending, and tax rates versus services. But the debate is also being shaped by forces that have little to do with party politics. The Enfield Town Council adopted a budget that set the mill rate at 33.11, a 1.61 mill increase, or about 5.1%, for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Republicans opposed it and lost every vote to amend the majority proposal. The final vote was 7-4. The approaches could not have been more different. Carol Hall, a Republican councilor and state representative, said Republicans were aiming for roughly a quarter-mill increase, which she said would add about $3.85 a month to the tax bill of a $300,000 home. The adopted budget adds about $338 annually — roughly $28 a month — to the tax bill of a $300,000 home assessed at 70%. The biggest point of contention was a Republican proposal to reduce the Board of Education increase by about $1.9 million and instead use school reserve...
Post a Comment
Read more

Town Council to vote Monday on 5% tax increase

Image
  The Town Council will meet on Monday to adopt a budget that would raise the tax rate by 5.1%, setting up a debate over school reserves, deferred infrastructure spending, and the town’s long-term fiscal pressures. For a house with a $300,000 market value — and assessed value of $210,000 (70%) — the taxes would increase by $338 to $6,953.    Expect a vigorous debate and possibly some last-minute changes if deadlocks emerge. The proposed budget would increase the mill rate by 1.61 mills, from 31.5 to 33.11 mills. There are several fundamental tensions running through the budget debate. The special meeting is at 6 p.m. and will be on Enfield Television channel on YouTube. Special meetings typically do not include time for public comment.   The Democrats hold a supermajority on the council, with eight of the 11 seats. Theoretically, that should allow them to adopt a budget easily, but Democrats do not necessarily move in lockstep and disagreements could emerge. School f...
Post a Comment
Location: Enfield, CT 06082, USA
Read more

Enfield's five best things? No Kings protest makes the list

Image
  Someone was telling me yesterday about a group effort to list the five best things about Enfield. The first was Costco. Everyone struggled after that. Then there was a suggestion to add Raising Cane's. ​ Enfield doesn't have a movie theater, much in the way of parks, a mall, or a downtown. Our main library hasn't been renovated in decades and has more videos than Blockbuster. Too many of our restaurants are fast food. The fastest-growing occupation in town may be takeout delivery drivers. You need your car for everything. But the town does have a civic spirit. ​ Saturday's No King’s protest was my third one. Similar to the others, it attracted a good number of people. Perhaps not as many as the first one, but a lively turnout. ​ It was a chance to strike up random conversations and meet new people, something that is hard to do in Enfield. One fellow I met turned out to be an EHS grad from my era. I graduated in 1972, and my newfound friend in 1973. He had a rally-free...
Post a Comment
Location: Enfield, CT 06082, USA
Read more

Editorial: Enfield’s Revised Blight Ordinance Isn’t Ready for a Public Hearing

Image
  AI generated art via ChatGPT The Enfield Town Council tonight may set a public hearing date for a revised blight ordinance. In its current form, this proposal is not ready for public hearing and needs significant changes before moving forward. Anonymous Complaints While the ordinance itself still requires signed complaints, Enfield’s revised blight complaint form explicitly accepts anonymous complaints and signals that they may still be investigated. That represents a clear shift from the town’s prior policy, which discouraged anonymous filings and stated that the town was not required to investigate them. Historically, Enfield’s practice has been to reject anonymous complaints. For example, on SeeClickFix — the town’s reporting platform — a town official wrote in response to one blight complaint: “All complaints require a signature. Currently this complaint is showing anonymous. Please add your full name and contact information to this complaint.” That was the standard approach...
Location: Enfield, CT 06082, USA
Read more