Government

‘Probably the Worst Year’: Irrigation System Failure Affects Mead Park Tennis Courts

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Town officials say an unforeseen problem with a new irrigation system left the popular clay courts at Mead Park in poor condition this summer, though they’re expected to be back up to snuff in the fall. This was “probably the worst year, as far as I’m concerned, we’ve had with conditions, barring the years we didn’t open until June,” Parks & Recreation Director John Howe said of the courts. 

Addressing the Parks & Recreation Commission at its Sept. 10 meeting, he continued: “We ran into a few problems. With the new irrigation system that went into Mead Park … when they put it in, the pump controls went down. This caused us a lot of headaches. Conditions that weren’t great.

Government

Town Approves Contract for Dumpsters at Six Locations in New Canaan

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The Board of Selectmen during its most recent meeting approved an approximately $11,000 contract with a Middletown-based company to provide dumpsters at six locations in town. Those are the Fire Department, Police Department/Emergency Medical Services, New Canaan High School track and tennis courts, and Waveny field bathroom and west parking lot, according to Parks & Recreation Director John Howe. “Those are dumpsters we are using for the public, whether they’re disposing stuff after athletic things or [dog] poop bags or what have you,” Howe told the selectmen during their Aug. 19 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 $10,932 contract with Murphy Road.

Government

Selectmen Approve Furniture Contract for Waveny House Wedding Rooms

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Furniture will be put into the brides’ and grooms’ rooms at Waveny House as preparations are made for what officials are calling an “off the charts” wedding schedule. On Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen approved a $14,299.10 contract with Raymour & Flanigan to furnish Waveny House’s wedding rooms.

“We’ve done substantial updates on these rooms, including painting them a nice cashmere color,” Parks & Recreation Director John Howe told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “The next step is to get furniture in them.”

First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of the contract. The project is covered in the bride and groom rooms update section of the town’s budget. Parks & Recreation Office Manager Beatrice Watkins detailed the process of finalizing the contract.

Government

Selectmen Approve Contract for Maintenance of Paddle Tennis Courts at Waveny

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The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved an approximately $11,700 contract with an Orange-based company to make maintenance repairs on the town’s platform or “paddle” tennis courts at Waveny. The off-season summer work will include painting one court, tightening the screens, patching them and fixing some of the wood that surrounds them, according to Parks & Recreation Director John Howe. The contracted company, Reilly Green Mountain Platform Tennis Courts, “actually built the courts and they maintain them for us,” Howe told the selectmen at their regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. 

“We rotate it around and paint one court each year,” he said. The woodwork involves the courts’ lower walls that are removed for snow “and also the ‘texture 111’ [plywood siding panels] that goes down the side,” Howe said. First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectman Steve Karl voted 2-0 in favor of the $11,714 contract.

Government

Town Ups Contract with Provider After Rise in Bench Donations

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Town officials say that New Canaan is seeing an unusually high number of requests from residents who purchase honorific or memorial benches dedicated to loved ones. Typically, the Department of Public Works receives donations from locals who purchase benches and then the town itself assembles and places them in a location that makes sense—for example, in a park. This year, “we’ve actually had more than we normally have,” according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann. The benches in public places—which are consistent throughout New Canaan, following a Parks & Recreation Commission initiative in 2018—cost about $1,700 each and are purchased through a Gaithersburg, Md.-based company called Country Casual Teak, Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their April 15 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Normally, the town’s highest elected official, First Selectman Dionna Carlson, approves the purchases herself because the total comes to less than $10,000.