Government

Selectmen Raise Standalone Contract Approval Minimum from $10,000 to $15,000

By |

With little discussion, the Board of Selectmen this week decided to raise the minimum amount of contracts that require approval as standalone items at public meetings by half again as much. In recent years, the selectmen during bimonthly meetings have dedicated an agenda item and discussion to all contracts of more than $10,000 that require approval from their elected body, while contracts valued at $10,000 or less are approved in a block vote, nearly always with no public discussion. On Tuesday, First Selectman Dionna Carlson suggested upping that minimum to $15,000. “I know that in prior meetings there’s been a request to increase the threshold for contracts to come to us above the $10,000 dollar level,” Carlson said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “So we thought in an incremental stage to move it to $15,000 and so wanted to get your approval to do that.”

Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll readily agreed and the trio voted 3-0 in favor of the change after about 74 seconds of discussion.

Board of Selectmen

‘This Is Outrageous’: Selectmen Blast State’s Contractor as Water Main Project Faces More Delays; Repaving of South Avenue Up in the Air

By |

Town officials on Tuesday loudly criticized a years-long Aquarion water company project overseen by the state that’s already caused major inconvenience to New Canaan residents, saying that now South Avenue may not be repaved until next year. Made public in 2019 and launched in 2022 with a planned three-year schedule, Aquarion’s water main installation started on the eastern edge of New Canaan—along Route 106 at the Wilton line—and then wound its way past Lakeview Cemetery and up Harrison Avenue to South Avenue, where it’s running to Farm Road. Public Works officials said this summer that the project was entering its final phase, yet the repaving of South Avenue, which doubles as state Route 124, had to be pushed into the school year due to a six-week delay in Wilton from the contractor, Bridgeport-based Waters Construction Co. The town then worked out a compromise where Waters was to work for four straight Saturdays, doing trench restoration work and then milling and paving South Avenue from Harrison to Farm Road. Yet the contractor ignored the set schedule of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting instead at 6:50 a.m. on a recent Saturday and making the state “furious” enough to halt that road work altogether, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.

Government

Town: Green Grass Expected Late Fall at Irwin House Demo Site

By |

Town officials on Tuesday approved another $84,000 for the remediation of contaminated soils at the former Irwin House site. The funds—to be paid to the Stamford Wrecking Company following a 3-0 vote by the Board of Selectmen—hopefully will be the final payment in a demolition and abatement project budgeted for about $770,000 all in, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. The overall project is coming in about $29,000 over that spending plan, he told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Asked when the public can expect to see green grass on the site of the former Irwin House, Zagarenski said in October-November — so long as no further contaminants turn up. “I don’t suspect we’re going to find anything, but if we’re trying to find the clean limits and we hit into another area that’s [contaminated]—I don’t see it, I don’t foresee it happening, but there is that [chance],” he said.

News

‘The Worst That We’ve Ever Seen It’: July 21 Flash Flooding Damaged Waveny House Basement and Three Other Town Buildings

By |

The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Four town-owned buildings sustained flood damage during the July 21 storm that dropped roughly four-and-a-half inches of rain in approximately 35 minutes on New Canaan, with Waveny House suffering what one town official called the worst basement flooding ever recorded there. “This is the worst that we’ve ever seen it where it flooded the whole basement,” Buildings Superintendent Bill Oestmann told the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting Aug. 4 at Town Hall. “We got it all cleaned up and dry.”

South Avenue

Town Aims to Complete Most South Avenue Paving Before School Starts

By |

The Summer Internship Program is sponsored by the New Canaan Racquet Club. New Canaan officials said last week that they are optimistic that the majority of paving on South Avenue can be completed before students return to school, though the timeline depends on the successful testing of the newly installed Aquarion water main. During a Department of Public Works update at the Aug. 4 Board of Selectmen meeting, Public Works Director Tiger Mann said Aquarion has finished installing the new water pipe, which is now being filled, chlorinated and tested. If the line passes testing, the town plans to move quickly into the paving phase.