Suffield

The Suffield Township Trustees discussed at their Dec. 24 meeting how to alleviate the difficult job of the road department to plow the snow on certain streets.

“We have a lot of dead-end roads that were put in a long time ago that are real challenging to plow snow on,” township Chair Jeff Eldreth said. “We talked about making temporary cul-de-sacs. On one, though, we really can’t because it goes around into a right-of-way, and the other would take some work because there are some huge trees and some utilities in the way.”

---

Suffield’s annual chili cook-off will be Saturday, Feb. 1 at Suffield Lions Park at 1128 Waterloo Rd. right next to Suffield Elementary School. If you want to enter a chili, you should arrive by 5 p.m. If you are there to taste the chilis and vote, you can arrive starting at 5:30 p.m.

“It’s gotten bigger and bigger every year,” Eldreth said.

The Suffield Lions Club and the Suffield League, the event sponsors, are asking for a $5 donation to taste the chilis.

---

The township’s annual “Welcome Santa” took place Dec. 1 at Suffield Town Hall. Santa Claus was there, the Field High School choir sang, and cookies and drinks were donated by the Suffield League.

Atwater

December saw the Atwater Board of Trustees finish obligating the ARPA (CARES) federal monies. The township was able to fund several projects, with a major emphasis on Town Hall repairs and updates that included work on the outside front, installing new acoustical material, HVAC work, installation of an AED, purchasing more padded chairs, tables and appliances, and the chip/sealing of the parking lot scheduled to be completed this year.

---

The Atwater Fire Department projects included resealing of the driveway, installing new LED lighting both inside and outside the building, and the purchase of new beds.

---

Purchases for the road/maintenance/cemetery department included much-needed equipment along with maintenance upkeep and tires for the trucks, excavator and John Deere tractor

---

The Atwater Historical House will receive much-needed repairs.

---

A $5,000 donation was made to the Randolph/Suffield/Atwater Food Shelf.

---

The 2025 organization meeting was held, with the following appointments: Thora Green was re-elected as township chair and fire department liaison; Charlie Harris was elected township vice chair and road/maintenance and zoning liaison; and Dale Wiley is liaison for cemetery, park, Town Hall and real estate.

---

A resolution was passed that notification for all township meetings, including any special and/or emergency meetings, will be posted on the township website calendar that can be found at atwatertwp.net. Click on the meeting title to see further details of the meeting.

---

Zoning inspector hours will now be 5 to 6:30 p.m. prior to the scheduled township trustee meetings. All zoning meetings will also be posted on the township website calendar.

---

Upcoming January meetings:

*Jan. 8 – Zoning Commission, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall (located at 1219 state Route 183)
*Jan. 14 – Board of Trustees, 7 p.m., Town Hall
*Jan. 27 – Board of Trustees, 7 p.m., Town Hall