Board of Selectmen

Town Clerk: Moynihan’s Comments on Record-Keeping ‘Misleading’

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The town clerk is pushing back on characterizations that First Selectman Kevin Moynihan made last week in which he described her office as failing to digitize documents and records as other municipalities and town departments have. Moynihan during Thursday’s regular meeting of the Board of Selectmen said Town Clerk Claudia Weber “has not modernized” in a way that provides sufficient online access to records and that it’s been “a real hindrance” during the COVID-19 pandemic because it’s brought more people physically into Town Hall. Weber told NewCanaanite.com that officials had her muted during the meeting and so she was unable to respond to what she characterized as “misinformation.”

“The First Selectman’s comments were misleading,” Weber said in a statement issued after the meeting. “The New Canaan Town Clerk’s office has actually often been among the ‘first’ in terms of technology over the years.”

Weber’s statement continued, “Further, while the Land Record Index has been online for a long time, due to a previously made promise to our constituents, the actual images have not. Our residents wanted their privacy protected as much as possible.

Claudia Weber

Podcast: Claudia Weber and Miki Porta on Voting in Election 2020

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to New Canaan Town Clerk Claudia Weber and League of Women Voters of New Canaan President Miki Porta about the upcoming election. Anyone with a question about voting in 2020 can click here to submit it to the League. Here’s information from Weber on the absentee ballot process and a link to download an application for an absentee ballot, here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of voting via absentee ballot, and additional absentee ballot information can be found here on the Secretary of the State website. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

News

Robert Rizzitelli Sworn In as New Canaan Police Officer

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Robert Rizzitelli, a 25-year-old Monroe man now on track to become the newest member of the New Canaan Police Department, was born into a family of law enforcement. The Bridgeport native’s father is a detective sergeant with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department, his grandfather and uncle both served with Bridgeport Police Department and one of his cousins is with Trumbull Police Department, according to New Canaan Police Sgt. Brian Mitchell, the department’s training sergeant. “His heritage has instilled in him the morals and values that are integral to this profession,” Mitchell said on Wednesday morning from the front of a room in Lapham Community Center for Rizzitelli’s swearing-in ceremony. About 30 town officials, police, media members, friends and family attended the ceremony, including First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, Selectman Kit Devereaux and Town Clerk Claudia Weber, who administered the Oath of Office.

Government

‘We Have a Big Job Ahead of Us’: Moynihan Addresses Town as First Selectman at Swearing-In Ceremony

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On the eve of taking office, New Canaan’s newly elected first selectman told residents that he will strive to work on their behalf through collaboration and with purpose, transparency and accountability. Moments after he was sworn into the town’s top elected office Monday night, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan in a stirring, heartfelt speech told a standing-room only crowd at Town Hall that the major challenge facing municipal leadership is to understand and then deliver what residents want. “We made the case that we urgently need—must have—21st century cell service throughout New Canaan,” Moynihan said from the dais in the Town Hall Meeting Room, echoing a campaign pledge while addressing the town for the first time as its first selectman, flanked by Selectmen Kit Devereaux and Nick Williams.

“We said the longstanding problems of inadequate parking must finally be addressed and resolved. We pledged that as we aspire to provide the finest education to our children we must meet the need for more affordable housing to keep our seniors living among us.”

(His speech is published in its entirety below.)

Moynihan spoke toward the end of a high-spirited, at times lighthearted Oath of Office Ceremony that saw Town Clerk Claudia Weber swear in each member of the Board of Selectmen as well as Town Treasurer Andrew Brooks. Overseen by state Rep. Tom O’Dea (R-125th), it included an invocation from the Rev. Dr. Stephen Chapin Garner from the Congregational Church of New Canaan, Pledge of Allegiance led by Boy Scout Troop 70, singing of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” led by New Canaan High School seniors Kaitlyn Piotroski, Lauren Smith and Finley Vigliotti, introduction from O’Dea, comments from Rabbi Levi Mendelow of Chabad New Canaan Jewish Center and the Rev. Peter Walsh of St.

Government

Election 2017: New Canaan Sees Sharp Rise in Absentee Ballots Amid Contested Races

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The town since Oct. 6 has received 252 absentee ballots from New Canaan electors, officials said Wednesday—far more than had been executed in any of the last three local elections. In 2011, 2013 and 2015, the town executed 125, 185 and 178 absentee ballots, respectively, according to Town Clerk Claudia Weber. Those seeking absentee ballots must apply for them at the Town Clerk’s office. So far, a total of 340 absentee ballots already have been issued for this election, according to Weber. “We will easily go over 300 [executed absentee ballots],” she told NewCanaanite.com.