Selectmen Approve Road Name Change, Discuss Budget Planning

The Suffield Board of Selectmen approved changing the name of Suffield's Two States Avenue to Two States Road at its meeting at Suffield Town Hall Wednesday night, clearing up a perplexing situation on the border of Suffield and Southwick, MA.

The change came after Alan Stearly, a resident of the road, requested the renaming to ease the efforts of visitors, delivery drivers, emergency service providers and others traveling to the area. The former Two States Avenue in Suffield shared its name but not its path with the nearby Two States Avenue in Southwick. The confusing situation was exacerbated by the presence of Southwick’s Two States Road.

“You can’t get to Two States Avenue in Suffield from Two States Avenue is Southwick,” Stearly said.

The selectmen’s decision means that there is now a single road, crossing the border between Massachusetts and Connecticut, called Two States Road.

Stearly and the other residents of the road, who couldn’t attend the meeting but signed a petition signifying their approval of the renaming, indicated they were happy to complete change-of-address forms and do the other work necessitated by the name change.

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“[Everybody] said this is a great idea,” Stearly said. “Why didn’t we think of it sooner?”

In other business, the Selectmen considered a request from Suffield Board of Finance Chairman Justin Donnelly to conduct some long-term budget planning and create a financial forecast for the next five to 10 years. The same request was made to the Suffield Board of Education.

First Selectman Ed McAnaney supported the idea, as did the rest of the board. He said the request will make the selectmen focus more on long-term financial situations and pointed out the benefits of having such a plan, including the possibility of saving the town money.

“I want to move ahead with it,” McAnaney said.

The selectmen decided to focus on producing a long-term plan in June.

In the short term, the town saved $32,000 because a bid for a required statistical revaluation of the town, submitted by Vision Government Services, was significantly less than the $120,000 set aside in the coming financial year’s budget.