Amy Murphy Carroll

ARPA: Selectmen Vote to Transfer Remaining $750,000 to Town’s General Fund

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voted unanimously to transfer all remaining funds from the American Rescue Plan Act or “ARPA” to New Canaan’s General Fund. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll during their regular meeting voted 3-0 to return the $747,634 to the fund so that the town can spend however it wants, rather than along ARPA-specific guidelines. Murphy Carroll, who served on a joint Board of Finance and Town Council subcommittee that made recommendations about ARPA allocations, said the federal dollars can be used to reimburse communities that lost revenue due to the pandemic. “We did lose approximately $3 million in revenue, and I was always a fan personally of pulling it in, because once you pull it into the town, you can use it for whatever purpose,” she said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference “If you allocate it directly this way, you have to really align with ARPA requirements. So I think it makes all the sense in the world for us to pull this in and then just allocate it out of our General Fund.

Government

Town Approves Contract for Fireworks at ‘Family Fourth,’ Set for July 6 at Waveny

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a $35,000 contract with a Douglassville, Pa.-based company to put on a fireworks show for the annual Family Fourth picnic at Waveny. The Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 in favor of the contract with International Fireworks Mfg. The popular gathering of local families is “a Norman Rockwell quintessential event,” according to Tom Stadler, chair of the Family Fourth Committee. “We’re getting everything in place right now,” Stadler told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “We have the garbage contract here, we’re working to get the bands lined up, get the food trucks lined up,” he said.

Board of Selectmen

Health Director: Department’s Permit Revenues Up 30% in Early Months of Online Platform

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The online permitting system that the town put in place just a few months ago appears to already be paying dividends, officials say. Revenues taken in by the New Canaan Health Department since the town began switching to the OpenGov platform in November are up 30%, according to Health Director Jenn Eielson. The reasons for the increase include that “I’m collecting the money right off the bat” and “nothing’s sneaking by anymore,” Eielson told members of the Board of Selectmen during a regular meeting Tuesday that was dedicated to the municipal budget. “You see everything,” she said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “And again, collecting the fee up front is huge because you’re doing the work, where before they were collecting on the back end.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Approve Contract for Drug Testing of New Hires and ‘Safety-Sensitive’ Workers

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved a contract with a Larchmont, N.Y.-based company to provide drug testing for new hires and “safety-sensitive” town workers. The latter group includes those who carry a commercial driver’s license or “CDL,” and they’re tested quarterly, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. “There are two separate pools in the DOT pool and the non-DOT pool based on their CDL licensing, and then from there, there’s a random draw,” Mann told the selectmen at a special meeting, held Jan. 17 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

He added, “We don’t take the draw. The company itself takes the draw.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Town To Issue RFP for Legal Services

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New Canaan’s highest elected official said Wednesday that the town will issue a request for proposals for legal services. First Selectman Dionna Carlson said that she hopes the firm that long has handled the town’s legal services, Westport-based Berchem Moses PC, will respond to the RFP. “It’s more of a philosophy that we’ve had them for two cycles of first selectmen, and it’s just good practice to go out” to bid, Carlson said during a special meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. The town has not issued an RFP for legal services since 2012—a block of time that encompasses the entire three-term tenure of the immediate former first selectman, Kevin Moynihan, a retired lawyer who routinely exceeded the legal budget. For example, in fiscal year 2021, the town spent $404,788.01 in legal fees to Berchem Moses against a budget of $300,000.