Government

Selectmen, Commission ID Wages Issue within NCPD

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Town officials this month discussed what they described as an ongoing salary issue among New Canaan’s finest. 

During the Ag. 6 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, members of the Police Commission asked the selectmen for percentage salary increases for the highest-ranking members of the New Canaan Police Department. Paul Foley, a member of the appointed body, asked the Board to increase the deputy chief and captain’s salary from 2.75% to 3%, and the chief’s from 2.75% to 3.5%. During the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference, Foley said these increases aren’t “quite where other departments are, but it gets them bumped up a bit.”

Foley said the increases would send a message to the rest of the staff that “there is some room for compensation increase.”

Foley said the department has been dealing with an issue where there’s a lack of individuals moving into administration positions.

Government

Town Officials Approve Request To Demo ‘Audubon House’ at Nature Center

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Town officials last week approved a request to demolish a long-disused town-owned building at the New Canaan Nature Center. During the Aug. 6 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, officials discussed the future of the “Audubon House,” a deteriorating 15-by-30-foot structure located across from the Oenoke Ridge nonprofit organization’s Visitor Center. 

Department of Public Works Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski asked the Board of Selectmen for authorization to enter into a contract with Fuss & O’Neill, a civil and environmental engineering company. 

The contract, in the amount of $4,355 plus a contingency of $800 (a total of $5,155), is required to perform the demolition of the rectangular structure, Zagarenski told the Board at its regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

Director of Public Works Tiger Mann said the cost is funded in the fiscal year 2024-25 budget in a $50,000 line item. The building originally served as a laundry facility for the late Susan Dwight Bliss, a New Canaan resident and philanthropist.

Government

‘We’ve Drastically Reduced the Population’: Town OKs Contract To Keep Geese Out of Mead, Kiwanis

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Town officials last week approved a $25,000 contract with a Greenwich-based company that visits Mead Park every day of the year to keep the Canada geese out. The Board of Selectmen during its July 9 meeting voted 3-0 in favor of the contract with Geese Relief, which also works for a fixed period each summer in Kiwanis Park. Parks & Recreation Director John Howe said the company “comes to Mead Park twice a day, every day of the year.”

“And we’ve drastically reduced the population of Canada geese in Mead Park,” he said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted in favor of the contract. Geese Relief brings border collies to Mead and also paddles out to the island in the park to “addle” Canada goose eggs there.

Amy Murphy Caroll

Broken Column on White Birch Road To Be Repaired

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. After six months, New Canaan officials are bringing to a conclusion the repair of the conspicuously broken column at the top of White Birch Road. As previously reported, one of the two columns located at the start of White Birch Road (opposite the off-ramp from Merritt Parkway Exit 37 northbound) was struck and damaged by a vehicle last December, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. 

Last Tuesday, during a regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen, held at Town Hall and via videoconference, Mann discussed a check he had acquired from the driver’s insurance company. Mann sought the approval of a request from the Department of Public Works to enter into a contract with a repair company to fix the column. “We received a check for the entire amount of $5,350,” Mann said.

Amy Murphy Carroll

‘It Frightens Me’: Selectmen Consider ‘Elevated’ Crosswalk Near Saxe Middle School

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Citing children’s safety concerns, town officials said last week that they’re thinking of creating a “bump” for motorists at a pedestrian crossing to Saxe Middle School. Many Saxe students use the crosswalk near Farm Road and Village Drive to get to and from school. Yet, despite signage and striping in the roadway, drivers regularly blow through the pedestrian crosswalk, Director of Public Works Tiger Mann said during the Board of Selectmen meeting last Tuesday. “We’ve put in flags and they have a monitor that is actually bent in the middle of the road and cars have still passed,” Mann said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.