Government
As Review of Town Charter Nears, Question of Police Role in Traffic Control Re-emerges
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The town could pay contracted certified flagmen about half of what police earn in overseeing traffic control jobs—such as for roadside tree work—and an upcoming review of New Canaan’s governing document may provide an opportunity to bring about the change, officials say. Under Article II, Section 54-41 of the Town Code, the police chief decides when traffic control is needed at such roadside jobs, and the Police Department is the go-to agency to staff them. Asked at the July 21 Board of Selectmen meeting about how the policy plays out in practice, Tree Warden Bruce Pauley said: “The police, they make the rules—what roads have to have traffic control.”
“And it pretty much involves every single road—there are rare exceptions,” he said at the meeting, held in the Training Room of the New Canaan Police Department. “It adds a certain amount of price to this—if this is $29,000 you can expect to pay $5,000 in traffic control. It adds up and it comes out of the tree budget which I am not happy with but it is the way it is.