Government

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

By |

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

By |

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

By |

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

By |

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.

Board of Selectmen
Talmadge Hill Railroad Crossing

Cameras To Be Installed at Police Impound Area of Talmadge Hill Lot [Correction]

By |

The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved an approximately $9,000 contract with a Bay Shore, N.Y.-based company to install cameras and a monitoring system at Talmadge Hill Parking Lot. The security measure is intended to protect the New Canaan Police Department’s “impound lot” at the top tier of the Talmadge Hill lot, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. “This camera will perform double duty, as it will give us the first coverage that we have over in that lot,” Zagarenski told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “It’s been our overall goal for security for some years now. This will provide the view of the Talmadge Hill Lot for it.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted in favor of the $9,324.49 contract with A+ Technology & Security.