Multi-tasking? It’s part of the job

SHARON — Sharon is a hospital town, which means the town clerk and her staff have more documents to file than those in other area towns. For Sharon’s town clerk, Linda Amerighi, though, it’s all good. “I’m never bored. I’m always learning something new.”“The Connecticut Town Clerks Association once listed more than 300 different jobs town clerks are responsible for,” she told The Lakeville Journal.During a one-hour interview with Amerighi in the town clerk’s office, it seemed 300 may be a low number.“We maintain the accuracy of their land records, their property,” Amerighi said, ticking off some of the services the clerk provides to town residents. “We are responsible for making sure that when documents come in they are recorded and indexed properly; this includes mortgages, refinancing, estates, liens and payments of liens. That aspect of the job is enormous in itself. Property and homes represent peoples’ livelihoods.“Real-property-related work takes up the largest percentage of what is required from this office because it encompasses so many different aspects. We also have to make that information available to title searchers and banks.”Amerighi has been the Sharon town clerk since Aug. 10, 1989. “I love my job,” she said. “It’s important in any job that you are constantly challenging your mental awareness and capabilities in being able to do what is required of you, and this job certainly does that.“Helping the public is important to me,” she said. “That’s why I am here. After 23 years, I still love my job.”To help her serve the public, she has two part-time assistants: Marie France-Corsini and Nancy Wadman.A lifelong and avid dog lover, Amerighi said she is passionate about dog licenses. “Providing dog licenses to residents is a small part of the office work, but it is very important for people to license their dogs. People should understand it is not just because the state gets money. It’s because a license is a dog’s way to find its way home. So many times I get calls from people saying, ‘I found a dog. It has a tag. Do you have the number?’ It’s such a quick way home for dogs. If found dogs do not have a tag, they just go to the pound.”Revenue from dog licenses goes into the state’s spay/neuter program, which helps people who cannot afford those procedures for their pets. The town clerk is also responsible for selling hunting and fishing licenses. Two years ago the state mandated use of a new computer system for sale of the licenses. When the first new computer was installed and didn’t work, the vendor provided a new one. To Amerighi’s frustration, the second one also failed.At that point, the “take charge” town clerk took matters into her own hands. She sent the second computer back to the vendor. And she began to advise license-seekers to do it themselves online. Anyone who has a state conservation number (meaning they previously had one of the licenses) can get the renewal at the town clerk’s office; the $1 fee goes to the town.Those are some of the tasks that bring the general public into contact with the town clerk. Some of her other jobs?“Election information; birth and death certificate information; marriage license information and marriage certificate information; how to find a notary public; how to become a justice of the peace; map information; property transfer information is available to the public including information on how much homes and property have sold for; zoning and other town regulations; inland wetlands regulations; subdivision regulations and subdivision and zoning maps.”And more. And as if that wasn’t enough to keep her busy, Amerighi also maintains the town’s website at www.sharonct.org. Much of that work gets done at home, on evenings and weekends.“One of the biggest things the town clerk’s office has done for people is increase their access to what we offer on our website. Our goal is to eventually have everything possible about the town on the website.” Town clerks are very busy during the municipal election years. Presidential election years mean even more work. “You have primaries, you have more phone calls, you have more calls for absentee ballots and there are more people requesting overseas presidential ballots,” Amerighi said.

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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).

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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.

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