Board of Selectmen

Town Approves $45,000 for Design of New Access Road Between Waveny and NCHS, Parking Areas

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Town officials last week approved a pair of contracts totaling about $45,000 for the design of a new access road connecting Waveny to New Canaan High School. 

The area east of the water towers will be converted from a milled lot to a proper parking area that will expand when the smaller tower comes down this fall, according to the Board of Selectmen. The access road itself will follow along the former footpath to the Summer Theatre of New Canaan tent, and also will be flanked with new parking spaces. The project will yield approximately 90 total spaces, more than twice what’s available there now, according to Town Engineer Maria Coplit. 

The two firms selected for design services and construction documents—Avon-based Richter & Cegan and Wilton-based McChord Engineering Associates—have been involved in the project since its conception, Copliet told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held June 23 via videoconference. 

The area is “currently disturbed for paths and haphazard parking,” Coplit said. First Selectmen Kevin Moynihan and Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams voted 3-0 in favor of the contracts. They total $27,140 for Richter & Cegan and $16,790 for McChord.

Government

‘They Know They Made a Mistake’: Town Goes with City Carting for New Disposal Contract

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After the town turned away from its longtime recyclables hauler due to difficulty with the Stamford-based company, municipal officials last week approved a new contract with the same company for disposal of brush and construction debris. At $137,400 per year, City Carting came back with the lowest bid for the work because they “want back in,” according to New Canaan Department of Public Works Assistant Superintendent of Solid Waste Don Smith. “They know they made a mistake,” Smith told members of the Board of Selectmen at their June 23 meeting, held via videoconference. 

“It’s the management that is the problem but actually the people that I deal with it’s not their fault it’s the ones above them that have caused major issues so they are trying to get back into the good side of things” Smith said. He added, “The lower guys are trying to make up for what the people up top have done, basically, just by ignoring us.”

He referred to an issue that surfaced last year, where town officials said New Canaan was paying $85 per ton on recyclables while Wilton was paying $65 per ton for similar services. Smith said in January that he’d been unable to reach City Carting to get an explanation for the discrepancy, and in April the town turned to a Danbury-based hauler.

Board of Selectmen

‘It’s An Attitude’: Selectmen Puzzle Over Lack of Mask-Wearing Compliance

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Saying she sees many people not wearing masks downtown, Selectman Kit Devereaux on Tuesday suggested New Canaan appoint a municipal worker to remind people to cover up. Groups of downtown visitors can be seen not wearing masks and “I don’t think it would be out of the realm have somebody walking around saying, ‘Would you please put a mask on?’ ” Devereaux said during a regular Board of Selectmen meeting, held via videoconference. “And do it routinely rather than sporadic signs or sporadic reminders,” she said. While First Selectman Kevin Moynihan and Selectman Nick Williams did not embrace the idea, they conceded that New Canaanites have been lax about masks in some situations and puzzled on how improve it. “We are trying to do as much as we can to remind people to wear masks,” Moynihan said, adding that he just received word that New Canaan has a new positive case of COVID-19 virus. 

“I was disappointed to see the high school parade without masks,” he said.

Government

Selectmen Devereaux and Williams Thank Mike Handler for Years of Effective Community Service

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Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams on Tuesday thanked New Canaan’s recently ousted emergency management director for his years of effective volunteer work on behalf of the community. Citing a petition that has garnered more than 1,800 signatures calling for Mike Handler’s reinstatement, Devereaux during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen said he’s owed “a huge ‘thank you’ for the years of service that he volunteered to our community.”

“Mike’s was a voice we heard over the years during times of emergency and he diligently and clearly and eloquently kept us informed and calm,” Devereaux said during the meeting, held via videoconference. “In my opinion, New Canaan should be celebrating the years of volunteer work that Mike gifted our town and for his dedication to our wellbeing. And whatever the misunderstanding that caused this event, it should not keep the town from acknowledging MH’s long and effective volunteer service to the community. I don’t think he has been thanked.”

The comments came during a general discussion of matters before the town.

Government

Town Re-Starts Enforcement of Two-Hour Parking Limit Downtown

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With more local businesses reopening and greater numbers of shoppers and diners visiting the downtown, municipal officials this week re-started enforcement of two-hour time limits for on-street parking. For two weeks, parking enforcement officers have been issuing “courtesy tickets” to motorists who leave their vehicles for hours on end in free spaces on Elm and Main Streets, among other streets downtown—not fining violators, but urging them to use what have been designated free municipal lots such as Morse Court, Park Street and Playhouse. Yet the meters in those lots also will be enforced again after August, following a 2-0 vote by the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting Tuesday. “I think it’s a good experiment to continue July and August with the free parking but I think to continue beyond Sept. 1, we hopefully will be much more back to normal by Labor Day,” Moynihan said during the meeting, held via videoconference.