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Just in time for Halloween, the brand new Great Bend Borough police department became operational on October 31. It took a few years of wrangling and backfilling, but Council persisted and, with 3 part-time officers in a new office and a dramatically stealthy black car, the 700 or so residents of the little town may rest easier. “It’s an accomplishment to have a police force,” pronounced Mayor Jim Riecke at the Council meeting on November 1. Mr. Riecke will oversee the operation of the department as the liaison between the Officer in Charge and Council.

On the balmy evening of November 3 Council hosted an open house at the town garage where the new department’s spare office is located, to let citizens and officers get acquainted over coffee, cider and donuts (!). The officers hadn’t arrested anyone yet in 4 days on the job, but county District Attorney Jason Legg was there to size up a potential source of new business. Two state troopers also attended, along with Sheriff Lance Benedict, who has a special interest since one of his deputies is Officer in Charge of the new police force, Jon Record.

There was a vacancy on the New Milford Borough Council from when former president Jim Carr resigned. Lawrence White was present at the meeting, who had been a lifelong resident of the borough and was interested in the position. The motion was made and accepted to appoint him to the slot. Despite the mayor not being present, Amy Hine was able to swear him in due to her status as a notary. The council applauded him. This was the first item of business at the November 3 meeting of the New Milford Borough Council.

A visitor questioned the existence of a wooden structure in the creek near the foundry. She was asking what the borough could do, being concerned that it would fall into the creek during a storm. She knew that DEP had looked at it. Ms. Gulick responded that they were aware of the situation, that DEP had been contacted, and that she and Ms. Hine had gone and met with FEMA to ask if there was anything the borough could do to help with it. The structure was on private property, it did not belong to the borough. There was a concrete thing there as well, which had pushed the water to the left side and she was concerned that it had undercut the bridge. DEP had noticed this as well. She said that if it was not taken care of the bridge would be shut down. That had also been discussed in the recent past. The visitor also mentioned the concrete wall by Al Vogel's, which Ms. Gulick reiterated the borough was working on. The difficulty was that the structure had been put in without a footer. The homeowner was aware of the problem and had been working on it. It had been damaged in the bad weather. It was said that they would continue the conversation with her.

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