NewCanaanite.com (https://newcanaanite.com/tag/dionna-carlson)
Prisoners of the New Canaan Police Department will be held in Norwalk while its location on South Avenue is under renovation, following Board of Selectmen approval of an agreement.
The newly elected Board of Selectmen during its first meeting Tuesday approved two contracts totaling approximately $70,000 for maintenance work on New Canaan’s baseball and softball fields.
The town owns 11 ball fields and eight of them have clay infields, according to Assistant Superintendent of Parks Ryan Restivo. The “recreational premium infield mix from Grove City, Pa.-based Dura Edge Products “has benefited our maintenance program and is the most important aspect of New Canaan’s renowned clay fields,” Restivo told the Board during its regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of a $24,086 contract with Dura Edge and $45,579 contract with Bridgeport-based Athletic Field Services.
The funds are available in the Parks Department capital infrastructure budget, Restivo said. The selectmen asked why the project needs a contingency (unexpected costs for AFS and because the delivery tonnage from Dura Edge may not be exact), whether the department could “true up” contingency totals each quarter to see whether they’re used (yes) and whether coaches are allowed to perform field maintenance (no). Carlson how many companies were approached for a bid on the project.
In her first public address as New Canaan’s highest elected official, Dionna Carlson on Tuesday night vowed to make good on a campaign vow to restore transparency, civility and teamwork to the office of first selectman. Addressing a standing-room-only crowd in the Town Hall Meeting Room during an Oath of Office Ceremony, Carlson said she was “full of gratitude” and felt “a deep sense of responsibility” on taking office. “I want to express my sincere thanks to all of you who supported me during my campaign,” Carlson told the crowd after she and her fellow members of the Board of Selectmen—Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll—as well as Town Treasurer Andrew Brooks had been sworn in by Town Clerk Claudia Weber.
She continued: “Your belief in me and your tireless efforts brought me to this moment, and I am humbled by your trust. As I step into this new role, I want to emphasize that I am committed to working collaboratively with members of boards, commissions, committees and our dedicated staff for the betterment of our entire community. Together, we will strive to address the needs and concerns of our residents and to ensure our town continues to thrive and prosper.”
Referring to the values of transparency, civility and teamwork, Carlson said they’re “not just words on a poster.”
“They’re the guiding principles that will shape my tenure,” Carlson said. “I firmly believe that an open and transparent government is essential for building trust and fostering a sense of unity within our community.
Take a minute to thank Dionna Carlson and Amy Murphy Carroll. Two of New Canaan’s most capable community volunteers raised their hands this summer because they’d grown concerned about the approach, tone and direction at the top level of our municipal government. Turns out nearly eight in 10 Republicans agreed. Yet at the time that Carlson (a Republican) and Murphy Carroll (a Democrat) announced, it was only rumored that the incumbent first selectman would seek an unimaginable fourth term, which of course he did.
Agreeing, if it came to it, to face off against someone with a track record of slighting perceived enemies required considerable strength and resolve. (We give credit here, too, to Republican Kimberly Norton, a Town Councilman who threw her hat in the GOP Caucus ring.)
It also required a willingness to absorb discomfort for the good of the town.
The entirely remade Board of Selectmen that will take office after the Nov. 7 election are “inheriting an untenable situation” with respect to affordable housing, one of the two women seeking the town government’s top job said Monday night. “We did not have to be in this position, but we are,” Democrat Amy Murphy Carroll said during the League of Women Voters of New Canaan debate (full video here), held at Town Hall. “And so what we need to do is we need to stop deflecting. Stop thinking if we don’t pay attention it’ll go away.