News

Newest New Canaan Police Officer Sworn In; Tam Receives ‘Officer of the Year Award’; 8 Officers, 3 Civilians Honored

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The New Canaan Police Department on Tuesday recognized eight officers and three civilians for outstanding service to the community during a ceremony that also saw the agency’s newest member sworn in by the town clerk. In addressing Nicole Vartuli, a Stamford native and Westhill High School graduate who is poised for training at the Connecticut Police Academy this year with an expectation that she will undergo field training with NCPD through the early part of 2018, Chief Leon Krolikowski said that “badge you were just issued represents public trust.”

“The public willingly puts this work in your hands and trusts that you will take care of them in the proper manner,” Krolikowski said moments after Vartuli had been sworn in by Town Clerk Claudia Weber. “They do not want this responsibility for themselves. My charge to you today is to do just that: Get it right. We have all heard about the stories of officers who have gotten it wrong.

News

‘We Strive To Hire the Absolute Best’: New Canaan Police Department Poised To Add Fourth Female Officer to Its Ranks

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Town officials on Tuesday started the hiring process for the New Canaan Police Department to take on a 28-year-old Stamford woman as its newest officer. The Board of Selectmen’s 3-0 vote in favor of the classification and compensation for Nicole Vartuli clears the way for the department to hire its fourth female uniformed officer, officials said. Vartuli, who underwent intense testing, was selected from a pool of 114 candidates, and the department is thrilled that such a decision improves the diversity of their officers, according to Police Chief Leon Krolikowski. “We strive to hire the absolute best person, and when it turns out to help diversity it is a great victory,” Krolikowski said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. He added: “It’s a very competitive market, and Stamford was actually on the cusp of hiring her, so we’re lucky that we got her.”

Vartuli has a degree in accounting, and was previously employed by the Stamford Police Department as a financial clerk, the chief said.

Government

Selectmen Unanimously Approve Higher ‘Extra Duty’ Rates for New Canaan Police

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a higher hourly wage for members of the New Canaan Police Department when they’re helping with traffic control for utility companies or at private functions—a fee typically paid by contractors rather than local taxpayers. The “extra duty” rate—as opposed to overtime, when the town pays an officer a higher rate for shift work—has not increased in eight years, police told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting. And at $60.32 per hour for an extra duty job that goes beyond eight straight hours or $67 per hour for work between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., the New Canaan Police rate has fallen behind nearby municipalities such as Darien, Wilton, Westport, Stamford and Greenwich, officials said. Those rates will increase to $70 and $77, following a unanimous vote by the Board of Selectmen at the meeting, held in Town Hall. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said “it’s important that we get these [police officers] to want to take these side jobs, because I think having a police presence in town is a good thing.”

“I know they have been involved when they are on extra-duty work, that they are in town to augment the police force and stop some very serious crimes and I think it really spreads out and becomes more attractive when you get more folks taking on these jobs.”

Police Lt. Jason Ferraro, presenting the proposed new rates to the selectmen, cited instances such as when an officer saved a choking person’s life on Elm Street while working an extra-duty job nearby, or when officers working extra-duty responded to motor vehicle accidents and even serious domestic incidents involving weapons as examples of how the work has helped New Canaan.

Government

Election 2017: Republican Kevin Moynihan Announces Candidacy for New Canaan First Selectman

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Town Councilman Kevin Moynihan on Tuesday afternoon announced his candidacy for first selectman. The Republican told members of the local press corps that he will seek endorsement from the Republican Town Committee for New Canaan’s highest elected office during this summer’s GOP caucus. A 36-year resident of New Canaan and married father of two kids who attended New Canaan Public Schools, Moynihan is poised square off at the July 18 caucus against incumbent Republican First Selectman Rob Mallozzi, who announced in March that he will seek a fourth term. Moynihan during the meeting with reporters from the New Canaanite, New Canaan Advertiser and New Canaan News said his priorities on the major issue of parking differ sharply with Mallozzi’s. “Rob’s priorities for parking are Town Hall employee parking and my priorities—because I really think it’s related to the real estate market and the attractiveness of the town to young families from Manhattan—is commuter parking,” Moynihan said during the meeting, held near the New Canaan train station and overlooking the Lumberyard lot.

Government

Selectmen Praise New Town Planner in Unanimously Approving His Status as Full-Time

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Saying the new town planner has hustled to get up to speed quickly on a number of complex issues that he’s handling well, officials this week moved him to full-time status. The Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting Tuesday voted 3-0 to advance Town Planner Steve Palmer to full-time status. “He has been a real pleasure to work with,” First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “He has brought himself up to speed very quickly, and I must say [Planning & Zoning Commission Chairman] John Goodwin has been very good with him as well, as a chairman, has really brought him along very well and has not been afraid to give advice as to past philosophies and that kind of thing.”

Hired in November, Palmer came directly from the municipal government of Westport, where he served in the same role, and since arriving in New Canaan has worked with P&Z, applicants and neighbors on a number of divisive land use matters. They include the sober house on West Road, which appears to be headed toward a compromise, the proposed redevelopment of the Roger Sherman Inn, which P&Z denied, Grace Farms, which is ongoing and Merritt Village, including emotionally charged discussions around the cemetery there.