Gresczyk: Paying Bills For Residents Saved Town Money


 

WINSTED - Town Manager Bruce Gresczyk said last week that the town made the right decision when it decided to pay for heat in an apartment building on Main Street, rather than relocate tenants who had lodged complaints about the cold.

Tenants in the Colt Building at 412 Main St. registered several complaints about a lack of heat this winter, Gresczyk said, and building and fire inspectors were called in to look at the heating system. The town manager said landlord Dick Colt had not paid to heat the building and that state law required the town to step in.

"State statutes require municipalities to take over heating for people in multifamily dwellings with three or more units if the ambient temperature drops below 55 degrees," Gresczyk said. "If the landlord doesn't mitigate the situation, the town is required by state statute to heat the building or relocate the tenants."

Gresczyk said relocating all of the tenants in the 12-unit building could have cost the town $50,000 or more. "In this case the prudent course of action was to heat the building at significantly less cost to the municipality."

A lien was placed on the property, the town manager added, and the town asked the landlord's bank, Capital Bank, to assume responsibility for the building, including appointing a receiver to manage finances there. The bank subsequently issued paperwork on file at Town Hall giving warning that legal paperwork is pending.

Though the situation is not good for the landlord or the tenants in this case, Gresczyk said, the town was able to do the right thing. "The town's position is secure," he said. "After all of the analysis I did, it turned out to be cheaper to heat the building than to put people in hotel rooms. Legally, we had to step in."

Gresczyk said the town made repairs to the heating system at the Colt building and paid for heat for about two weeks in January before working out a deal with the landlord's banker. Town Attorney Kevin Nelligan has been in contact with the bank to discuss receivership so the town will not be liable for future heating bills.

"My concern is for the safety of the inhabitants and fiduciary obligations to protect the town," Gresczyk said. "In the end, this worked out very well for the town and our costs were minimal."

 

Latest News

Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less