Government

First Selectman: New Canaan Will Add No Staff to Town Government Next Fiscal Year

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The town government in the next fiscal year will launch no new services and add no headcount to the municipal payroll, New Canaan’s highest elected official said last week. Department heads now creating spending requests for the 2017-18 fiscal year have been instructed “to keep budgets as flat as possible,” according to First Selectman Rob Mallozzi. “I think the staff is requisite with the job we are doing in all departments, so there will be no adds to staff,” he said during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held Dec. 20 in Town Hall. His comments come as New Canaan faces an approximately $400,000 shortfall in projected revenue from building permits in the current fiscal year, while the school district outlines what it has described as pressing capital needs.

Government

‘They Put Us in a Tough Position’: Town Officials Put Off $18,000 Payment to Architectural Firm on Assessment of Former Teen Center

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Town officials last week decided to put off payment to a Westchester-based architectural firm for services related to assessing the structural integrity and safety of the former Outback Teen Center building. Members of the Board of Selectmen said at their most recent meeting that they would contact White Plains, N.Y.-based KSQ Design about $18,000-plus that the firm billed New Canaan after a different company concluded—incorrectly, it turns out, though also based on insufficient materials provided by the town itself—that Outback was structurally unsound and unsafe. Selectman Nick Williams noted that an original report from Danbury-based Di Salvo Engineering Group did raise some confirmed problems with the Outback, “it also strikes me they made some mistakes the first time around.”

“Maybe we just call attention to it and say, ‘Hey, don’t do this again f you want to work in the town of New Canaan,’ ” Williams said at the sellectmen’s regular meeting, held Dec. 20 at Town Hall. “They put us in a tough position.”

Ultimately, First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said he would contact KSQ directly and find out “whether some kind of a discount is warranted.”

“I think we are pretty well-intentioned folks and I believe that we got ahead of ourselves because of the impact that that report had on a visceral level,” he said.

Government

Selectmen Signal Support for New Canaan Land Trust’s Purchase of Fowler Property

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Town officials on Tuesday morning voiced support for a special appropriation to help a local organization dedicated to land conservation acquire a wooded 6-acre parcel now available for purchase. Though the three-person Board of Selectmen stopped short of an official vote—the discussion of the Silvermine Road property came before the trio as a non-voting, informational item—the group spoke in favor of helping the New Canaan Land Trust buy it. At the time of the selectmen’s regular meeting, the Land Trust was seeking $320,000 from the town to close the $1,070,000 purchase (overall, $1.3 million is needed). Selectman Nick Williams said that he was “generally supportive” of the Land Trust’s efforts to acquire what’s called the “Fowler property,” named for its owner, award-winning zoologist and longtime New Canaanite Jim Fowler. “These opportunities do not come along that often,” Williams said at the meeting, held in Town Hall.

Government

‘What a Monumental Waste’: Selectman Bemoans Town Spending in FOI Matter

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One of New Canaan’s highest elected officials this week bemoaned what the town is spending in legal fees related to a Freedom of Information request. The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved payment of an $11,527.91 bill from a Hartford-based law firm that’s advising a panel of residents who met throughout the past year to make recommendations to the town’s major governing document. “What a monumental waste,” Selectman Nick Williams said of the payment during the group’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. New Canaan constituents on Election Day voted in favor of four of the five recommendations from the Charter Revision Commission, including what became a rather divisive question regarding the first selectman’s role on the Board of Finance. The volunteer group interviewed New Canaan leaders—both employees of the town and those who serve on municipal boards and commissions—in working toward its conclusions.

Around Town

With Drop in Revenue from Building Permits, Town Department Streamlines Staffing

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Fees collected through building permits have seen an overall decline recently, so the town department that issues them will operate with fewer staff members than usual for now, officials said Tuesday. The New Canaan Building Department will hold open a full-time position once an inspector leaves at year’s end and a part-time worker’s hours have been reduced from 20 to 10 per week, Chief Building Official Brian Platz told members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi and Platz both have seen a steady decline in the issuance of those permits that generate revenue for the town and worked together on a plan to staff accordingly. “We certainly have not fallen off any cliffs,” Platz said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. “I don’t think there is any cause for alarm.”

Total fees collected through building permits through the first three quarters of this calendar year are down nearly 30 percent from the same period in 2015, from about $1 million to $708,000, according to Building Department data.