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.

Board of Selectmen
Talmadge Hill Railroad Crossing

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

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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.

Government

Town Approves Two Contracts To Ready Temporary Police Department HQ Downtown

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The Board of Selectmen last week approved a pair of contracts totaling about $73,000 as the town prepares to move the New Canaan Police Department into a leased building downtown while the agency’s headquarters on South Avenue undergoes a widely anticipated renovation. The Board of Education is expected to vacate its longtime home at 39 Locust Ave. on Aug. 24, and at that point the town will start outfitting the space to make it ready for NCPD, according to Joe Zagarenski, senior engineer in the Department of Public Works. (The Board of Ed is moving into a newly acquired town building at 220 Elm St.)

“We have about 12 weeks to fit out the space to make it ready for the Police Department to move in,” Zagarenski said during the selectmen’s May 2 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Board of Selectmen

Upper Ponus Ridge To Close from July to November for Bridge Construction 

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Ponus Ridge will be closed north of the Greenley Road intersection from July through November for a bridge replacement project, officials say. The Board of Selectmen last week approved about $1.4 million in contracts—80% of which is to be paid by the federal government—for work in constructing and inspecting the Ponus Ridge Bridge at Collins Pond. According to town Senior Engineer Joe Zagarenski, the official detour routes will be Greenley to West Road south of the work, and Dan’s Highway to West Road to the north. “That is official route,” Zagarenski told the selectmen during their regular meeting, held May 2 at Town Hall and via videoconference. “People are going to find other routes.”

Selectmen Kathleen Corbet and Nick Williams and First Selectman Kevin Moynihan voted 3-0 in favor of a $1,125,937 contract with NJR Construction and $272,950 contract with M&J Engineering.