Government

Town Approves $700,000 Contract To Demolish ‘Irwin House’

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved an approximately $700,000 contract to demolish Irwin House, the disused former residence in the Weed Street park of the same name. The contract with Stamford Wrecking Company will cover “the abatement and demolition of the Irwin House,” according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. “It was determined that the Irwin House and garage would be demolished in May of this year,” he told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “An 8-24 review was conducted and approved by P&Z to demolish the structures. The work performed under this contract will abate and remove all the structures.

Government

Motorists To Pay for EV Charger Use at Morse Court

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The Board of Selectmen last week voted in favor of a $15,500 contract with a local electrician to replace an EV charger in a municipal lot downtown with a new model that can charge motorists for its use. New Canaan-based Santella Electric will install the new EV charger in Morse Court so that it operates the same way as the two chargers in the Town Hall Lot. The town originally thought that Eversource, the power company, was eating the electricity bill generated from the Morse Court charger “but they weren’t,” First Selectman Dionna Carlson said during the elected body’s regular meeting, held Aug. 19 at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

She added: “So ee had that disengage and then we found out that we couldn’t with the existing EV charger charge, like we do here at the [Town Hall] Annex. And so this is the request to have a charger that we can actually charge residents or whoever wants to use them to use the electricity.”

Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the contract, presented by Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works.

Government

Selectmen Approve Maintenance Contract for Town Energy Source

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Town officials on Tuesday approved a maintenance contract for the town’s four Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units. A reason for the approval is that “when the units are running, they save [the town] money,” according to Department of Public Works Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski. “They also take power off the grid. They’re greener and work towards the town’s clean energy goals,” Zagarenski told the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. CHP systems generate electricity and capture the heat that would otherwise be wasted to provide useful thermal energy, such as steam or hot water, according to the CHP Alliance.

Board of Selectmen

Selectmen Approve Water-Related Repairs at Waveny House, Work To Start in June

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Repairs for moisture and water infiltration problems at Waveny House will start in June, with the hope of finishing “phase one” of the project in October, officials say. On Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen approved a $653,775 contract with New Haven-based G.L. Capasso Inc. to address Waveny’s ongoing leakage issues. The selectmen also approved $14,400 for interior kitchen repairs within the contract. “This approach will fix 95% of the leaks, and we will be able to reassess and do a deeper dive if further repairs are necessary,” Department of Public Works Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski told the selectmen at their 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 the contract.

Government

Selectmen Approve Contracts for Newly Renovated Police Station, on Track for June

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The Board of Selectmen this month approved a series of contracts for the newly renovated Police Department building on South Avenue, which officials say is on track for an early-June move-in. One $35,000 contract with a Shelton-based company, CDW-G, is for “monitors, smart TVs, brackets, cables, cameras” and other related equipment for the Police Department, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the New Canaan Department of Public Works. “We’re not hiring a vendor, we’re just going to purchase everything directly so we don’t have to pay any additional markups on it,” Zagarenski told the selectmen at their April 15 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

He continued: “So this includes all the wall-mounted monitors, TVs—there are about 26 in total—[it] covers training rooms, meeting rooms, conference rooms, dispatch, roll call, break rooms, detective bureaus offices, and a couple other miscellaneous ones.”

Funds for the hardware are available in the PD project budget, he said. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted in favor of the contract. The selectmen also approved two approximately $24,000 contracts—one for designing and installing irrigation systems for the new plantings outside the police station, and another to uninstall the emergency generator at the temporary police HQ downtown.