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Town Council Renames Public Works Building in Honor of Neff

At a Town Council meeting on April 3, the council unanimously voted to name the public works building after former department director and community stalwart Peter Neff. The building will now be called the Peter Alan Neff Memorial Building.

The initiative to remain the building was started by residents Jane Scully Welch, Carol Walter, and Mary Schettino.

“I just think Pete was a great guy, and I really liked him. He did a lot for this town,” Scully Welch said of her reason for starting the campaign.

At the meeting current Public Works Director Todd Hajek and Public Works Commission chairman Brian Manware joined Walter and Scully Welch in speaking in favor of renaming the building. The commission unanimously approved the motion later in the meeting.

Mike Neff, Peter’s son and Clinton’s Emergency Management Director, said the family was touched by the move. “The family is just very appreciative of the idea. He sacrificed a lot of time for the town, and it’s great to see that recognized, and it’s an honor,” Neff said.

Before he passed away in 2021, Peter Neff was a familiar face to many in Clinton over the years. From 2008 to 2019, Neff served as the public works director in Clinton. Besides that, Neff was also a member of the municipal building committee, the police commission, the board of finance, and the Clinton Volunteer Fire Department, among other committees. Neff even served briefly as the interim town manager from November 2019 to January 2020 before the town hired its first town manager.

Even outside of municipal work, others knew Neff just from seeing him around town. His obituary stated Neff enjoyed “…walking through town where he always had a friendly smile for others.”

Neff moved to Clinton in 1978 after he and his wife, Lynn Kearns Neff, had a strong first impression of the town.

“We drove down West Main Street and we fell in love with the town, to be honest with you,” Neff told the Harbor News during a Person of the Week profile in 2020.

“We raised our kids here, and it was just a great place to raise a family. I think there’s an awesome amount of people that donate their time to keep the community going,” he further elaborated at the time.

Before working in Clinton Neff had a long career as a special education teacher as well as a science, math, and technology teacher.