Opinion

Letter: Town Audit Committee Opportunity

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[Rob Fryer served as 2024-2025 Audit Committee chair.]
The town established an Audit Committee in 2016 by amending the Town Charter. It consists of five members appointed by the town council for three-year terms and members can serve a maximum of three consecutive terms. Chapter 62 of the town charter requires members to be “financial experts,” defined as individuals with “substantial audit experience…and…a basic understanding of governmental financial reporting and auditing.” CPA’s who are, or have worked, in public practice are generally suitable candidates but a CPA designation is not a requirement under the charter. Under Chapter 62 the committee has wide responsibilities including the selection of independent auditors, assisting other town bodies with the oversight of the preparation and auditing of the town’s annual financial statements, as well as oversight of compliance with relevant laws and regulations, enterprise risk issues and plans for corrective action to address identified risks. I am a CPA and retired senior partner at Deloitte and served two terms on the audit committee from 2020 to 2025, the last two years as the committee’s chairman. I have chosen not to serve a third term but technically remain a member of the committee until a successor is appointed and sworn in.

News

Letter: ‘Thank You’ from Rotary Club to New Canaan Community

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Speaking for the Rotary Club of New Canaan, I thank everyone who generously supported our “contactless,” drive-through Lobsterfest at the Waveny Park pool pavilion this past weekend. We sold over 1,000 meals, including 100 that will be prepared by our catering partners and delivered by our members to first responders this week. The traditional early fall Lobsterfest on the lawns of the Historical Society was not possible this year, but our enterprising members came up with a plan to keep the event alive for a 35th year and Steve Benko, Director of Parks and Recreation, made available the perfect location for a drive-through. We could not have done it without the SLOBS from the high school, who directed the traffic inside Waveny Park, in the rain on Friday and the sun on Saturday. 

NewCanaanite’s editor, Michael Dinan very kindly produced a podcast, interviewing one of our members, describing the planning for this year’s event. Michael also generously ran a banner across the top of NewCanaanite’s home page publicizing Lobsterfest, for which we are most grateful.

Opinion

Letter: An Important Time To Support Waveny LifeCare Network

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A few days ago, Waveny LifeCare Network sent an appeal for donations to its donor community noting it has suspended all visitations, including its 400 volunteers, in order to protect its residents and staff. On receiving the appeal, I called Waveny to better understand the challenges it is facing. Waveny is a not for profit organization dependent on donations to close the gap between revenue from its programs and the costs of its operations. 

The first thing I learned is that the popular Adult Day Care program has been suspended. This is a day program for seniors who live at home that takes place at the Farm Road campus. Waveny cannot run the risk of program participants who might be infected coming into the facility.

News

Letter: Safeguarding Waveny’s Name Amid the Oenoke Ridge Controversy

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I have struggled with mixed feelings – even cognitive dissonance – regarding Waveny’s Oenoke Ridge proposal, and now the period for public comment to the P&Z Commission has come and gone. My wife and I are New Canaan seniors, having lived here for 31 years, and recognize the need for housing units of the type and volume proposed as a way to keep more seniors living in town. We also greatly admire Waveny LifeCare Network and its work, believe that Waveny is well placed to undertake a project like this and thereby complete its service continuum, and understand how difficult it has proven to find a suitable location to build such a large structure. We are not neighbors of the proposed location. However, I drive to town almost every day along Oenoke Ridge: a gateway to downtown from the north of New Canaan, Pound Ridge and beyond.

News

Op-Ed: In Fields Project’s Wake, Town Treasurer Candidate Says New Canaan Can Do Better

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There is an old saying about construction projects: “good, quick, cheap – pick the two you want because you can’t have all three.” I don’t know enough about the $800,000 additional funding requirement to complete the turf fields / track project to suggest which of these criteria mattered most at the time the project was planned, nor will I repeat all that has already been written about this matter, which divided the Town Council. What I will say, as a CPA and candidate for Town Treasurer, is that town hall needs to learn from the mistakes that were made and install stronger financial controls over major capital projects, from the budgeting stage, through bidding and contracting, and during construction. In public / private partnerships such as this one, it is the town that has to make up the shortfall if additional private funds are not forthcoming. I am a director of a small gold mining company that has recently completed the development of a complex underground mine on time and on budget, for a cost of roughly ten times that of the fields project. We have undertaken other capital projects over recent years, smaller in scope, that have run over budget.