Government

OSHA Cites Issue at WWTP, Town Approves Funds for Pump Safety Guards

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Officials last week approved an approximately $17,500 contract with a Bridgeport-based company to create guards for a town facility after federal inspectors identified a safety issue. Last month, representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration walked through Department of Public Works buildings, as well as Town Hall and the newly renovated New Canaan Police Department—the first time that OSHA came for such an inspection since 2017, according to DPW officials. While in the Waste Water Treatment Plant, an inspector found that eight pumps showing about two inches of exposed, slow-spinning drive shaft on each side of the motor represent “a safety hazard,” according to Bill Oestmann, DPW’s superintendent of buildings. 

“And they say because it’s an exposed shaft it should be covered,” Oestmann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their April 7 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. The pumps, which are bolted to the floor in a lightly trafficked area of the plant, have been in place for more than 25 years “and they’ve been running with no problem, but OSHA felt that they needed some safety guards on these pumps,” he said. The Board—First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll—voted 3-0 in favor of DPW’s request to enter into a $17,600 contract with Hard Corps Iron Works to create those guards, which Oestmann described as a “kind of safety cage” that still will allow for repairs. 

Public Works Director Tiger Mann noted that “at the time of the installation it wasn’t determined we needed it because we asked the question at the time.”

The selectmen asked what kind of accident OSHA foresaw (someone’s clothing or very long hair perhaps getting caught), what is the height of the pumps (ground level), how often inspections happen (every five to seven years), where the funds are coming from (sewer fund contingency) and whether Board of Finance approval is needed (yes, received later on Tuesday).

Board of Selectmen

Town Approves Contract To Repave Dunning Road, Gerrish Lane and Part of Summer Street

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Town officials on Tuesday approved an approximately $290,000 contract to repave three New Canaan roads. 

The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to approve a contract for the repaving of Dunning Road, Gerrish Lane and the southern half of Summer Street, between Lakeview and East Avenues. 

The work will be paid for by Aquarion, which broke up the roads while installing water mains last year, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The contractor is expected to do the work in May “right after these parking lots here,” Mann told the selectmen at their regular meeting, referring to the Park Street and Playhouse Lots (a month-long job expected to start April 15), as well as the long-awaited repaving of Pine Street. “Once he [the contractor] mobilizes, he wants to stay, finish what he’s got,” Mann said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “Once we get this, I’ll talk to him about his timing.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 to approve the $293,650 contract with Norwalk-based FGB Construction. The Board asked whether Aquarion’s check to the town will include $26,500 in contingency funds built into the project estimate (the plan was to bill for $267,150 and have the water company hold the contingency), whether the transactions could be set up so that the contingency fee is set aside separately, such as in escrow, and then Aquarion is reimbursed for anything left over (yes) and whether the three roads in question have any striping (no, just stop bars).

Government

Price for Pass to July 4th Fireworks Up $5 to $40

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Town officials last week approved a modest increase to the price of a family pass to the New Canaan Fireworks set for Saturday, July 4. The new price, $40, is for those purchasing their passes early (up from $35) and it will cost $50 to buy a pass on the day of the picnic and fireworks show at Waveny. “This entrance pass has been in place for—I’ve gone back through the records that Tom [Stadler] has provided me for 10 years and our costs have gone up and I think it’s time that we at least increase the price from $35 to $40,” New Canaan Fireworks Committee Chair David Shea told members of the Board of Selectmen during their March 17 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “On the day of, it will go up to $50. So buy your passes early.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the increase. 

The passes generally are used on a per-vehicle basis for those driving into Waveny for the fireworks, or on a per-group basis for those walking in, officials said.

Government

Head of Housing Authority Voices Worries Over Parking Plan for Affordable Building on Parade Hill Road

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The head of the Housing Authority—an appointed body that oversees the town’s affordable housing complexes at Millport, Canaan Parish and Riverwood—last week voiced concerns regarding the allocation of parking spots for another planned affordable project in New Canaan. The same ratio of one parking space per unit that has been proposed for a 14-unit structure on Parade Hill Road is what’s already in place at Millport and “there is no question that it’s very tight,” Housing Authority Chair Scott Hobbs told the Board of Selectmen during its regular meeting, held March 17 at Town Hall and via videoconference. “And so I personally have some worries about the development down at Parade Hill,” he continued. “We found that—and luckily in our area there is a little bit of surplus parking that people could find—but one [space] is very, very, very tough in a suburban community like New Canaan.”

The comments came in response to a question from First Selectman Dionna Carlson regarding the assignment of parking spaces at Millport. She asked whether the leases there specify one car per unit (yes).

Board of Selectmen

Town Approves $485,000 Contract To Replace Sidewalks on Butler, Danvers and Whiffle Tree Lanes

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Town officials on Tuesday approved an approximately $485,000 contract with a Shelton-based company to replace aging sidewalks on Butler, Danvers and Whiffle Tree Lanes. The old asphalt sidewalks in the “South of the Y” neighborhood are at least 30 years old, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “There’s no new installation, just the replacement of existing sidewalks,” Mann told the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“It’s basically phase two of the project of the behind the Y,” he said. “We did Putnam [Road] last year. And then that was approximately $500,000.”

Selectman Steve Karl, a 25-year resident of the neighborhood, said sidewalks there are “all sunk and they’re all broken up and everything.”

“But I will say, Sunday when the weather turned two, I think it was two weeks ago when we had that really warm Sunday, I walked the neighborhood and I counted at least 56 people using the sidewalk, the new sidewalks that were there,” Karl said.