Long-time readers here know that for some fourteen months I was chairing a Special Committee that was looking at ways to help preserve our town’s historic character. In the end, we passed a Demolition Delay ordinance – not the strongest in the nation, but one that got the town started in the right direction.The law went into effect on Tuesday and already it has come into play. An 1840 cottage, located behind a nursing home, could have been knocked down to allow the facility to expand. However, since the demo permit application was delay from December, it means the sixty day cooling off period kicked in.That gives interested parties the chance to raise funds in an attempt to preserve and relocate the cottage to another part of town and still let the nursing home have the space they need.Gotta say, it feels good that something worthy is the first structure so protected, even briefly.Meantime, my role as Moderator of the RTM has brought me unexpected media attention. All three local papers ran stories on the subject when I was first elected in November. Much of it seems to be based on my not being a lawyer but it turns out we’ve had many fine moderators stretching back over 20 years before my three immediate predecessors. This week, the Connecticut Post featured me in their weekly series spotlighting local folk.To my surprise and amusement, Heidi MacDonald picked up on this and included the link over at her Publishers Weekly blog, The Beat.