Government

‘Our Flagpole Should Not Be a Speech Mechanism’: Selectmen Pass New ‘Flag Policy’ for Town Buildings

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New Canaan’s highest elected official this week instituted a new “flag policy” for town buildings. 

First Selectman Dionna Carlson in introducing a draft policy Tuesday for the full Board of Selectmen to review noted that it wouldn’t apply to school buildings. Carlson said that during her first week in office she “had an individual come up to me and asked to fly another country’s liberation flag.”

“And I guess my predecessor allowed a week of flying that flag,” Carlson said at a regular Board meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“And I feel very strongly that the only flags that should be flown in municipal buildings are the American flag, the state of Connecticut flag and any town flag,” she continued. “I was thinking about school flags, and I really do believe that those should be reserved for the schools. The other thing that I’m trying to avoid is who gets to fly what flag when?…  If we did the school flags at the municipality, do we fly it for a football win? Then do we fly it for every debate [team] win?

Government

‘I Don’t Want Town Funds Being Used for This’: Carlson Pushes Back on Contract for Stanchion Repair

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Town officials decided Tuesday to wait for an insurance claim to be processed prior to repairing a low painted brick column that marks the start of a public road near the Merritt Parkway. One of the two columns located at the start of White Birch Road—opposite the off-ramp from Merritt Parkway Exit 37 northbound—was struck and damaged by a vehicle in December, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The “stanchion” is in the public right-of-way and helps delineate White Birch, a residential street, for motorists exiting the parkway, Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting by way of seeking approval of a $5,350 contract to repair it. Yet New Canaan’s highest elected official pushed back on spending taxpayer dollars on the project. “I’m just going to throw it out there: Why are we reconstructing this?” First Selectman Dionna Carlson said during the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference.

News
NCPD

Town To Acquire 15-Month-Old German Shepherd ‘Lito’ as New Police K-9 Dog

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The New Canaan Police Department’s new K-9 dog is a 15-month-old German shepherd who’s already working well with his handler here. K-9 Officer Sebastian Obando chose the name “Lito” for a special reason, according to Deputy Chief Andrew Walsh. “They leave the naming up to us,” Walsh told the Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting Tuesday, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “Officer Obando’s father’s nickname was ‘Miguelito’ and he passed away when Officer Obando was on field training with us. So he would like to name the dog Lito, and we think that’s a great thing to do.”

The comments came as Walsh asked for permission from the selectmen to spend $10,000 from a special account for the K-9 program to acquire the new dog.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Cell Coverage: Town Approves Contract for Updated ‘Street Test’

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a contract with a Seattle-based company for a long-awaited “street test” to understand cellular coverage in New Canaan. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 at its regular meeting to approve the $32,500 contract with Ookla. The vendor is the Utilities Commission’s preferred option for the test, the first step in obtaining clean, up-to-date, real-time data before decisions are made on the best ways to address coverage gaps. Commission member Christa Kenin, who presented to the selectmen with Chair Rich Townsend, said the appointed body was attracted to Ookla because “they are able to truly mimic the consumer experience.”

“Other vendors that came forward to us, if you could imagine—I’m oversimplifying it— they would just have an antenna on their car and drive around, but that is just catching a signal,” Kenin said at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

She continued: “What Ookla does is it is able to measure, is there a signal so can you initiate a call? And also voice and data will be tested in this.

Board of Selectmen

Town To Install Brick Sidewalks Past Walter Stewart’s on Elm

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Town officials this week approved a contract for work designed to improve the sidewalk on a heavily foot-trafficked area of upper Elm Street. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 during its regular meeting Tuesday to approve $1,965 in survey work in the area of Walter Stewart’s Market. 

The northern side of the sidewalk there is to get brick sidewalks and granite curbing installed, bringing it into the same style as much of downtown New Canaan, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “If you look, we have a brick sidewalk that leads from Elm Street, the downtown area, to the edge of Walter Stewart’s and then from the edge of Walter Stewart’s past Karl Chevrolet to Grove Street,” Mann told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. He continued: “We have brick sidewalks on the opposite side of the street. It’s one piece that’s in the middle that we weren’t able to complete at the time.