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North East finalizing plans for new Town Hall
Nathan Miller
Aug 18, 2026
The former Jehovah’s Witness hall at 5603 Route 22 south of the Village of Millerton awaits interior renovations to retrofit the building for use as North East’s new Town Hall.
Photo by Graham Corrigan
MILLERTON — Plans to renovate the former Jehovah’s Witness hall on Route 22 to serve as North East’s Town Hall will move forward, with construction expected to begin this winter, Town Supervisor Chris Kennan said.
North East Town Board members are expected to move ahead with existing plans for a new Town Hall building, scrapping an earlier idea to remove a courtroom from the floorplan.
Town Supervisor Chris Kennan read a prepared statement at the Town Board’s Thursday, Aug. 13, meeting praising the existing floorplan that was originally drawn in 2025 by engineering firm LAN.
He later said on Saturday, Aug. 15, that a representative from LAN will appear at Town Hall on Tuesday, Aug. 25, at 5:30 p.m. to talk board members and the public through the design. Kennan expects to start soliciting for contractors soon after and work to begin by winter.
“One of the reasons for now trying to really step on the gas is to enable this to be put out to bid so that contractors can have an indoor project for the winter,” Kennan said.
The move comes after three years of deliberation over the renovation plans. The town purchased the former Jehovah’s Witness hall in 2023 for $440,000. The Town Board put initial plans — designed by former Millerton resident Jeanne Vanecko — out to bid the following year, but ultimately rejected the bid because the estimated cost was too high.
Current plans are estimated to cost about $1.4 million, Kennan said. He compared that price tag to Town Hall projects in neighboring Pine Plains and Pleasant Valley, New York. Pine Plains is seeking to build a brand new Town Hall building, with costs expected to reach about $4 million. Pleasant Valley also opted to renovate an existing building, but those renovations cost more than $8 million.
The new Town Hall building will have space for independent offices for most town employees and departments, and more space for town records. The building has 4,513 square feet of floor space — nearly twice as much as the current Town Hall at 19 N. Maple Ave.
Additionally, the building will be fully compliant with the Americans With Disabilities act. The former Jehovah’s Witness hall is a single-story structure with no basement, so all records and government operations will be located on ground level.
And the plans boast a much larger board meeting room, which doubles as the town’s court. That room will have capacity for up to 40 people to attend government meetings.
Earlier this year, Town Board members considered contracting with a neighboring municipality for courtroom space. The move would have removed the courtroom, holding cells and judge’s chambers from the floorplan. Those talks fizzled shortly after the town’s justices — Casey McCabe and Dennis Johnson — spoke out against them in public comment during a June 11 Town Board meeting. Kennan said that criticism led to further talks with the town’s department heads to evaluate their needs and find a path forward.
“The more I’ve looked at it, the more I really feel we have a very good plan,” Kennan said.
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Millbrook Fire Department calls for budget increase
Graham Corrigan
Aug 18, 2026
MILLBROOK — Representatives from the Millbrook Fire Department appealed for aid at the Washington Town Board meeting last week.
The department is underfunded, fire district officials said. Old equipment, aging infrastructure, and a glut of new members have stretched the department to its breaking point. “Usually we’re the ones doing the helping,” said Fire Captain Kelly Tomasulo, “but today we’re asking you for help.”
The department covers 64 square miles, serving the Village of Millbrook and Town of Washington. Active firefighters contribute an estimated 30 to 50 hours per month, though officer hours can be far more. Members also devote time to fundraising intended to offset costs to taxpayers. The department is staffed entirely by volunteers, and responded to 955 emergency calls last year, equal to two to three calls per day.
The department’s budget totaled $991,000 last year. Of that, $600,000 is allocated to an ambulance contract with Empress EMS, which the department said is “on the cheap side.” They expect that number to double when the contract comes up for renewal next year.
That leaves $391,000 for the fire department’s remaining expenses, including apparatus maintenance, protective gear, training, fuel, utilities, and firehouse upkeep.
Equipment is also aging past recommended replacement timelines. The National Fire Protection Association recommends replacing apparatus after about 20 years; the department states several of its trucks are “well beyond that standard.” NFPA guidance also calls for gear to be replaced every seven to 10 years, but the department reports some of its gear is over 20 years old, and many members have only one set of gear, when two are recommended. Tomasulo said they have borrowed gear from neighboring departments just to equip the firefighters.
The department also cited space constraints at its firehouse, which was not designed for today’s truck sizes. Tomasulo said there are about 3 inches of leeway when returning a truck to the firehouse.
A silver lining in all this is Millbrook FD’s increased membership. At a time when many volunteer services are disbanding from lack of interest, approximately 50 people have joined the Millbrook volunteers over the past two years. But the department said this growth brings additional costs for gear and equipment as call volume, infrastructure needs, and equipment costs continue to rise.
As a point of comparison, the department estimates that replacing volunteer coverage with paid staffing for just three firefighters would cost between $240,000 and $315,000 per year, covering partial daytime staffing only. Nights, weekends, and major incidents would still require volunteer response under that scenario.
Before responding to a call, members complete state-mandated training. New York State firefighter certification includes roughly 80 to 100 hours of entry-level training and 120 to 160 hours for Interior Firefighter certification, plus annual safety training and ongoing drills. Basic EMT certification requires approximately 150 to 180 hours, with continuing education required every three years. Combined, the department states that firefighter and EMT training totals 350 to 450 hours before a member is fully qualified.
The department is asking the community to “support them, equip them,” and “stand behind them when they answer the call.”
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Capturing nature in writing at Great Mountain Forest’s inaugural writing retreat
Jacquelyn Drain
Aug 18, 2026
The retreat featured frequent walks through the woods around Yale Camp to take inspiration from nature.
Photo by Jacquelyn Drain
FALLS VILLAGE, Conn. — I know nothing about nature aside from my reverence for its beauty. I took one environmental science class nearly four years ago but that is the extent of my knowledge. Despite this I had the pleasure of being surrounded by not only nature enthusiasts but also experts at the inaugural Yale Camp Writers Retreat held at Great Mountain Forest.
The background of the retreat was an essential, calming character. The rustic and historic Yale Camp, founded in 1940, is nestled amongst 6,500 acres of woods on Canaan Mountain. With 15 hiking trails, the forest is home to beautiful scenery and creatures.
The retreat was created by author Tom Shachtman in honor of local writer Hal Borland. Borland lived on a farm on Weatogue Road in Salisbury, Conn., towards the end of his life where he wrote all but one of his classic books such as “When the Legends Die” and “High, Wide and Lonesome.”
All the retreatants varied heavily in background but we all came together to discuss the common interests of writing and nature. From corporate finance to lawyers to students, we all brought our individual expertise into the discussion and connected at meals and free time, forming genuine social bonds with strangers over a single similar interest.
After arriving around noon on Friday, I set up my bunk, introduced myself to my roommates for the weekend and began to outline my goals and mindset heading into the retreat. There is no better setting to journal than sitting on a porch in a rocking chair looking out at the vast trees and rolling hills of the Northwest Corner.
The first day I went on a guided nature walk to Old Man McMullen Pond. There was a perfect reflection of the light blue sky and bright clouds on the still surface as rushing water poured over a beaver dam next to the pond. I sat on a bench looking out at the magnificent sight in awe.
Over the course of the weekend I attended three different sessions led by varying nature writers. Todd Davis, a writer, poet and environmental science professor, discussed the importance of the natural world and how he conveys it in his writing, connecting nature to human experiences without exploiting it. Former Director of the Sharon Audubon Center Eileen Fielding gave a beginners’ explanation of ecology, which was personally much needed, and provided examples on how to communicate scientific information to be easily digestible for readers.
The most enlightening experience for me was poet and environmentalist Evelyn Reilly’s session on Ecopoetics, an idea created by poet Jonathan Skinner referring to how writing can change our relationship with the environment. In preparation for this session I was instructed to bring a nature poem by another writer that I enjoyed and a poem of my own creation. Before this assignment, I hadn’t written a poem since probably third grade. It was a daunting task, to say the least. But I put my head down and told myself it doesn’t have to be profound, you don’t have to be the next Mary Oliver, just write something. After I wrote it, my mom insisted on seeing it and when she began reading it out loud to my dad, I ran into the other room plugging my ears to not cringe at my work.
I showed up to the session on the second day, palms sweating, 14 copies of my poem in hand as well as a Rupi Kaur poem from her collection titled “Home Body.” Toward the end of the session, after discussing what it means to be an ecopoet and analyzing several examples, we broke off into groups of three to discuss. When it came time to discuss my poem after hearing from some of history’s greatest, I was shocked to receive positive feedback. Though I greatly desired approval from my peers, concerningly, I realized as they were reading it that it didn’t matter. I was happy with the message it conveyed and its connection between human life and nature. It didn’t need to be one of the great works of art, it worked well and that’s all that matters.
This retreat marked a much needed time of reflection, grounding and reconnection to why I write.
Having attended a religious high school, retreats are not a new experience for me. However, this was my first time being embedded in nature with the sole focus of writing. My relationship with creative writing is similar to that of an old friend whom I drifted apart from because I had neglected to give it attention and time. This three-day experience gave me the opportunity to reconnect with what it means to be a writer.
Despite being hugely out of my comfort zone surrounded by many new people — all of whom are much more experienced than myself — I received a sign that I was in the right place.
My favorite movie is “Dead Poets Society” and the film introduced me to the book “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau. In the movie, the main character paraphrases a line from the book which reads, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Reading the book has always been on my bucket list but landed on the back burner for many years.
The first night of the retreat featured a raffle for campers to choose from a selection of books. When my name was called toward the end I approached the table and my eyes immediately darted to a 1939 copy of the book. I immediately grabbed it and couldn’t put it down the rest of the weekend. I knew that book was there for me and I was in the right place to learn how to suck out all the marrow of life, as Thoreau professes.
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North East apartment conversion moves to public hearing
Jacquelyn Drain
Aug 18, 2026
Lilly Simons and Lauren Simons are proposing to turn the building at 185 Route 44 into an eight-unit apartment building. The structure once served as a restaurant and then as office space but has been vacant for several years, Lauren Simons said.
Photo by Nathan Miller
MILLERTON — The Greyhouse Apartment conversion occurring on 181-185 Route 44 made progress this week toward bringing the first housing to the Town of North East’s boulevard district following the area’s rezoning in April.
The North East Planning Board continued discussions on site plans for the apartments at their meeting on Aug. 12. The project, proposed by local petroleum distributor GRJH Inc., seeks to convert a former office building into eight apartments. Plans call for five one-bedroom apartments, two two-bedroom units and one studio.
At the meeting, mother-and-daughter duo Lauren and Lilly Simons presented on the changes made to plan drawings following the board’s last meeting on July 22. Since the meeting, the owners have agreed to install one EV charging station per the zoning requirements. Additionally, an inspection was done and concluded that the septic tank is not compromised in any way.
Despite these changes, there is still more that must be done in order to finalize the plans.
The town’s zoning law requires that a sidewalk be installed in front of the complex because it is in the boulevard district. However, there currently is no sidewalk along Route 44 to connect to at either edge of the property.
“We really can’t incorporate sidewalks without the rest of the development happening alongside with our budding property,” said Lauren Simons. “Do you want us to put a four foot sidewalk in front of our property going nowhere?”
Without existing sidewalks to connect to, consistency and location are large issues if individuals decide for themselves where and when sidewalks are installed.
“You’re basically saying whoever does it first decides for everybody where it’s gonna be,” said Dale Culver, chairman of the board. “What if the guy that finally starts the sidewalk decides ‘I don’t like their trees so I’m gonna put the sidewalk here,’ and then they are forced to take out those trees. I can see it happening.”
To curb this confusion, the board will draft an addendum for all plans moving forward until grants are found to create a pathway across Kelsey Brook and to install sidewalks on the road. The passage will state that property owners understand that they will be financially responsible for adding sidewalks in accordance with what the town decides in order to ensure consistency.
“Until we have a way for crossing Kelsey Brook, it is ludicrous to talk about putting sidewalks in,” Town Supervisor Chris Kennan said.
There was significant debate on whether or not the complex is required to provide an affordable housing unit. The zoning law states that if a complex has 10 apartments there must be one affordable housing unit. Beyond 10 a rounding system is used, meaning if there are 16 apartments that translates to 1.6 which would then be rounded up, requiring two affordable units. Confusion stemmed from whether or not the rounding applied to properties with fewer than 10 apartments which would then require the Simons to include an affordable unit.
“It’s just common sense to me that the language is crystal clear,” said Board Member Leslie Farhangi. “Less than 10 means no affordable housing unit needed therefore it stops, you don’t even go to the next section to consider rounding.”
The plans also include an office space on the first floor. The board stated that because the complex is not to be used for business purposes, it must be clearly defined that the office will not be rented out and will be used as a leasing office.
The board directed that before the next meeting, GRJH Inc. must present clarified information about the proposed lighting. Additionally, they must add the phrase “on site rental office use” to the plans to specifically define the proposed leasing office.
A public hearing has been set for Aug. 26 on the condition that the outlined changes be made to the plans with submission to the board at least a week before the hearing.
“We don’t want to hold the project up if it is going to create sorely needed units in our town,” Culver said. “But knowing on your end that the details have to be there.”
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Jeff Rosati
Millerton News
Aug 18, 2026
WEST CORNWALL — Jeff Rosati, 72, of West Cornwall, Connecticut, passed away peacefully on August 11, 2026.
Born in New Milford on January 18, 1954, Jeff was the devoted son of the late Kathren Valtrum.
After graduating from New Milford High School, he began his career with Eversource as a meter reader, dedicatedly serving the company for 42 years before retiring in 2014 as Chief Garage Mechanic.
In 1979, during a chance meeting while getting a haircut, Jeff met the love of his life, Bernetta (Marshall). Their love story was one for the record books, sharing a deeply devoted marriage of 45 years.
In 1983, Jeff and Bernetta found their forever home in Cornwall, building a life centered on hard work and quiet kindness.
In his retirement, “Little Jeffy” was happiest being outdoors or in his barn. He loved tinkering on projects, tending to his garden, and caring for his hummingbirds. A treasured friend who was always willing to lend a helping hand, he could often be found happily mowing the lawn or pulled over roadside on his beloved John Deere tractor catching up with neighbors.
Jeff will be profoundly missed by his loving wife, Bernetta; the Marshall family of Crane, Texas; and countless friends across Cornwall who held him dear.
A Graveside Service will be held at North Cornwall Cemetery, Rattlesnake Rd., West Cornwall, CT on Thursday August 20 at 11:00 a.m.
Memorial donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
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William O’Connell
Millerton News
Aug 18, 2026
AMENIA — William (Bill) O’Connell died peacefully surrounded by family at Sharon Hospital on Aug. 12, 2026, due to complications of cancer. Bill was born into a large Irish Catholic family in Bay Shore, New York, on March 3, 1964. After Bill completed kindergarten, the family moved upstate, settling on Depot Hill in Amenia, New York, where he was a lifelong resident. He attended Catholic School at Immaculate Conception, transferring to Webutuck Middle School in the sixth grade. He graduated from Webutuck High School in 1982.
As a child he was an avid (obsessed) fisherman, asking for a new fishing pole every year for his birthday. He was given permission to skip school every opening day of fishing season. He cherished fond memories of growing up as a “Depot Hill Gang” member. He enjoyed playing soccer, basketball, and baseball throughout high school. While hitchhiking home from his job as a lifeguard at the Millerton Town Pool, good looks and charm got him discovered. First as a print model, then as an actor in eleven television commercials and as an extra in a couple of movies. Anyone who knew him at that time was fair game for a ride to the train station or directly into the city for the many auditions he went to. He was a painter by trade, working in partnership with his brother Michael, at O’Connell Painting for many years serving the tri-state area. Bill was adventurous, loved to travel, and spent several months on a walk-a-bout through Australia and New Zealand. Bill was always up for a concert, a Giants game, or picking the freshest berries on the way to a cool fishing spot. He was well known locally at many recreational leagues for indoor soccer, darts, pool, cards, and golf. He was quite a competitor at everything he enjoyed. Bill and Michael organized the annual O’Connell Paint Can Open for many years, with loyal enthusiasts flying in to attend year after year. In the latter years, complications from multiple ailments made his life increasingly difficult, dulling his natural shine. The bright spot of that time was how patient and attentive he was while caring for his mother, Frankie. Being present in her daily life so she could remain at home. This obituary was lovingly composed by his siblings, who loved him dearly.
Bill was predeceased by his parents, John & Evelyn O’Connell, and is survived by his three siblings; Karen Grimaldi (Mark) of Salisbury, Connecticut, Michael O’Connell of Florida, and Kathleen Lacko of Casper, Wyoming; two nieces and three nephews, Connor Washburn (Hannah), Mickaela Grimaldi, Liam Girmaldi, Kenny Lacko, and Marykate Lacko, dozens of cousins, and countless friends who will miss him tremendously.
A graveside service and burial will take place on Thursday, Aug., 20, 2026, at 11 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Amenia, New York. Rev. Andrew O’Connor will officiate. A reception in Bill’s honor will follow at the Amenia Steakhouse. Memorial contributions may be made to the Amenia Fire Company & Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 166, Amenia, NY 12501. To send an online condolence to the family, flowers to the service or to plant a tree in Bill’s memory please visit www.conklinfuneral.com Arrangements have been entrusted to Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, NY 12546.
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