Government

Town Seeks Credits for EV and CHP Initiatives 

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The town is preparing to spend $35,000 with Deloitte Global to prepare documents to receive government credits and incentives related to the municipality’s electric vehicle and combined heat-and-power initiatives. 

The town stands to get back $100,000 to $131,000 for CHP initiatives and $7,500 per EV, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. Deloitte “will prepare and help submit under the Internal Revenue Code, Section 48, for an investment tax credit for the CHP at Lapham [Community Center],” Zagarenski told the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting Tuesday, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. He continued: “This requires them basically to submit a zero dollar tax return on behalf of the town, and then we get a credit against that for a certain percentage of what we spent on the CHP units. And then there’s a second effort that they will actually submit for commercial clean vehicle credits for our fleet of EVs. And these are just another incentive that’s out there that they’ll help us to obtain.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the contract.

Government

Town To Impose Fee for EV Charging Station Use in Town Hall Lot

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Town officials last week approved a fee of 53 cents per kilowatt hour for the electric vehicle or ‘EV’ charging stations in the Town Hall parking lot. The figure is expected to cover the cost of electricity for the town at the stations, according to Public Works Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski. The Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting also approved what Zagarenski called a “parking fee equivalent” of $1.25 per hour. “I say ‘equivalent’ because it’s calculated based on a charge rate of 7.2 kilowatts per hour divided by $1.25 an hour,” he said during the Board’s regular meeting, held Nov. 4 at Town Hall and via videoconference.

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.

Amy Murphy Carroll

Selectmen Remove Contingency Funding from Police HQ Design Contract

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The Board of Selectmen last week removed “contingency” dollars from a contract related to the Police Department building renovation—a change that the town’s highest elected official said she favors for certain kinds of work. The selectmen ultimately voted 3-0 in favor of the $58,650 contract extension with Jacunski Humes Architects LLC to provide professional design services for furniture, fixtures and equipment or “FF&E” design work. Yet the Board removed a $5,000 contingency that had been included in a request that town Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski brought forward for the project, which is being overseen by a volunteer committee. 

Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll raised a flag during the March 5 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “If this is a contract to evaluate furniture or other things, why do we have a contingency?” Murphy Carroll said. “Don’t we just have a contract to [say], ‘This is your job, to fit it out.’ And it drives me crazy when asked about the contingencies, but if this is like a professional service that we’re hiring for this phase, isn’t it inclusive?”

Zagarenski said “there might be a need” for contingency funds “if we ask them to do some of the high density storage equipment and those sort of things that are just on the fringe.”

“If you don’t want to put contingency into this, don’t put contingency in it,” he said.

Board of Selectmen

‘We May Want To Make Modifications’: Carlson Calls for Details in Security Plan

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New Canaan’s highest elected official on Tuesday called for more details of an ongoing initiative launched by the prior administration to bolster security in town. First Selectman Dionna Carlson joined fellow members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting in approving a $15,000 contract with Darien Electric to do the electrical work needed to install security cameras at undisclosed locations throughout town. Carlson also asked how many more cameras need to go up. “How much more do we have to do?” she said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“Who’s making the decision on where we’re putting the cameras?” Carlson said. She added that she’d like to schedule an executive session to discuss the matter in detail—out of the public eye, for security reasons.