Amy Murphy Caroll

Broken Column on White Birch Road To Be Repaired

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. After six months, New Canaan officials are bringing to a conclusion the repair of the conspicuously broken column at the top of White Birch Road. As previously reported, 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 last December, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. 

Last Tuesday, during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall and via videoconference, Mann discussed a check he had acquired from the driver’s insurance company. Mann sought the approval of a request from the Department of Public Works to enter into a contract with a repair company to fix the column. “We received a check for the entire amount of $5,350,” Mann said.

Amy Murphy Carroll

‘It Frightens Me’: Selectmen Consider ‘Elevated’ Crosswalk Near Saxe Middle School

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Citing children’s safety concerns, town officials said last week that they’re thinking of creating a “bump” for motorists at a pedestrian crossing to Saxe Middle School. Many Saxe students use the crosswalk near Farm Road and Village Drive to get to and from school. Yet, despite signage and striping in the roadway, drivers regularly blow through the pedestrian crosswalk, Director of Public Works Tiger Mann said during the Board of Selectmen meeting last Tuesday. “We’ve put in flags and they have a monitor that is actually bent in the middle of the road and cars have still passed,” Mann said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Board of Selectmen

First Selectman Pushes for ‘Zero-Based Budgeting’ [Correction]

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. New Canaan’s highest elected official this week called for the town to be even more fiscally conservative in its approach to contractors and vendors hired by the municipality. 

First Selectman Dionna Carlson said Tuesday that the town should move toward “zero-based budgeting” versus “carry-forward budgeting.”

“We’ll continue to get better at this process, but the way it should be done is we go out to our vendors and get an estimate for the year based on what we’ve made and what we buy,” Carlson said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. The comments came during a discussion of a blanket purchase order request from Public Works Director Tiger Mann regarding the town’s Water Pollution Control Facility. The purchase order includes 18 items totaling $532,667.50. 

Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll asked Mann whether the listed prices were “working off of last year.”

“Are you doing any inflation adjustments on this stuff?” Murphy Carroll asked. Mann said no, that DPW is “working strictly off of last year’s number.”

“We’re not making an adjustment per se,” Mann said.

Footer Featured Widget

Failed Pump Delays Opening of Kiwanis Pond to Wednesday

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Town officials on Tuesday approved an approximately $10,000 contract with a Danbury-based company to replace a well pump at Kiwanis Park. The “pond” or swimming hole at the Old Norwalk Road park is pumped out each spring and the pump runs through the summer season, according to Parks & Recreation Director John Howe. Town workers then go in and add more sand and other material to prep it for visitors, he told the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting. “This year we turned the pump on and we had basically a direct short,” Howe said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “The pump was fried.”

The opening of Kiwanis was delayed as a result, with the Rec Department sending out an email to passholders last Friday saying: “Kiwanis Park is CLOSED until further notice.

Government

Op-Ed: Budget Update and New Mill Rate

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[Todd Lavieri is chair of the Board of Finance.]
In our effort to continue to provide up to date information, here are some background facts and context to get everyone up to speed with where we are as we set the mill rate for next year’s budget which begins on July 1st. Right now, we are projected to finish the year with a $3.9 million surplus. Expenses will be about $1.8 million less than budgeted, and our revenue will be $2.1 million more than budgeted. While that is very good, it is a little below our earlier expectations driven by slightly less revenue in some areas. Our goal every year is to give our surplus back to the taxpayers and we will do it again this year.